New on Blu-ray & DVD: February 19

Ben Affleck's award-winning Argo arrives; the Game of Thrones second season; Keira Knightley & Jude Law in Anna Karenina; Top Gun soars onto Blu-ray 3D; Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome; and much more new on DVD and Blu-ray this week…

Ben Affleck proves that The Town and Gone Baby Gone were no fluke with this engrossing, absolutely unbelievable true tale that manages to effectively balance well-earned laughs alongside moments of sheer terror. Taken from declassified government files about the real-life Iran hostage crisis that consumed headlines at the end of the turbulent '70s, Argo finds a bearded Ben playing a CIA "exfiltration" specialist who comes up with an audacious plan to extract the six Americans: devise a fake Hollywood sci-fi movie called Argo as a cover to allow a rescue team in behind enemy lines to pull it off.

Keira Knightley reunites with director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) for this lushly produced, epic love story adapted from Leo Tolstoy's classic novel. The beautiful wife of one of Russia's most esteemed men (played by Jude Law), Anna's world is turned upside-down when she falls for a dashing cavalry officer (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson), ensuing in a passionate affair that will shock a nation and change the lives of everyone around her.

The HBO hit returns, darker, deeper, more mystical and more intense in its second season. Based on George R.R. Martin's best-selling series A Song of Ice and Fire, Thrones is not just for the Dungeons & Dragons set. The lushly produced, magical, medieval fantasy features Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance and Lena Headey in a sexy, action-filled drama of scheming kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and noblemen as they vie for power in a land where summers span decades and winters can last a lifetime. Bonus Material includes a comprehensive "making of" the penultimate episode "Blackwater," an in-depth look into the War of the Five Kings and meticulous histories and character profiles which explore the amazing production elements that went into making the second season so compelling.

Battlestar Galactica fans rejoice! The long-awaited spin-off pilot is now available on Blu-ray with liberal doses of everything that fans have grown to love about Galactica, from the blue military uniforms and riveted gangplanks to the incredible visual effects, awe-inspiring dogfights and now a heavy dose of 1978-style Galactica Cylon Raiders. The stand-alone film follows young Viper pilot William Adama's (played by Luke Pasqualino) first mission after being assigned to the Galactica during the first Cylon War. So say we all!

Tom Cruise has the need for speed in the 1986 film that vaulted the star to A-list status, now on 3D Blu-ray! Cruise plays Maverick, a hot-shot pilot who gets the opportunity to train at Top Gun, the Navy's elite flight school. There, he clashes with other pilots (including Val "Iceman" Kilmer) and falls for a beautiful civilian instructor (Kelly McGillis) while engaging the enemy in the skies above. Also starring Anthony Edwards, Meg Ryan and Tom Skerritt, the film was directed by Tony Scott and co-produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

Star Wars legend Mark Hamill plays against type with an incredibly memorable performance in this gritty gangster set piece, which follows a group of gangsters who reunite for dinner -- fresh sushi atop a naked girl -- several years after a diamond heist gone wrong. Determined to find out where the missing diamonds are, they torture one of the members who last had the jewels in his possession. Directed by Kern Saxton, the film boasts such co-stars as Tony Todd, James Duval and Noah Hathaway (yes, the former child star who played Boxey on Battlestar Galactica in the '70s) -- and features cameos by Danny Trejo, Sonny Chiba, Michael Biehn and Jeff Fahey.

Something Sinister this way comes from the producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious. Ethan Hawke plays Ellison Oswalt, a dad and true crime novelist who discovers a box of mysterious, disturbing home movies at his family's new home. Soon, a strange, sinister entity begins to appear on images all around the house, plunging Ellison and his family into a nightmarish experience of supernatural horror.

The Halloween party of the year turns into a comedy of errors in this funny and outrageous family ensemble comedy. Victoria Justice plays a teen whose popularity is in jeopardy when she is forced to track down her kid brother instead of going to THE party of the year. Yet her kid brother shows her what popularity is all about -- and her rush to find her brother with her nerd neighbor shows her that popularity might not be exactly what she really wants. Jane Levy, Johnny Knoxville, Thomas Mann, Ana Gasteyer and Chelsea Handler star.

A young, unknown Viggo Mortensen stars in this '80s indie cult classic from action director Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2), his first feature-length U.S. film. In it, a spooky prison becomes a supernatural battleground when the specter of a man executed for murder returns seeking vengeance from the brutal guard who was aware of his innocence. The lives of the inmates hang in the balance as Forsythe and Sharpe lock in demonic combat. Also starring Chelsea Field and Lane Smith. Special features include commentary with Renny Harlin, the all-new featurette Hard Time: The Making of Prison and more.


Also available from Scream Factory: The Nest and Terror Vision/The Video Dead double feature.

Christopher Guest's hilarious, spot-on ensemble follow-up to Waiting for Guffman is finally on Blu-ray! The faux documentary follows a colorful array of dog owners as they groom their four-legged best friends for the ultimate competition: The Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. The hilarious cast includes Guest alongside Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Poser, Jane Lynch, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban, Larry Miller, Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Begley, Jr., John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean and Michael Hitchcock.

The 1948 Irving Berlin musical classic starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland dances onto Blu-ray! Astaire plays Don Hewes – abandoned by his long-time dance partner for the Ziegfeld Follies, he decides to show who's who what's what by choosing a random girl from the chorus line and turning her into a star. Special features include outtakes, radio promos, commentary by Ava Astaire McKenzie and John Fricke and more.

Five quintessential animated Dr. Seuss TV classics find a home under one roof in this wonderful compendium -- The Lorax, Green Eggs and Ham and Other Stories, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Cat in the Hat and Horton Hears a Who! -- fully remastered and featuring a booklet of rare Dr. Seuss artwork.