Can you feel it in the air? This year has been so dull in nearly every arena from what the strike did to television to the worst first half in film in many years. Even the sports world has been a little dull. But heroes have started to emerge to pull us from our pop culture doldrums (Michael Phelps and Wall-E come to mind) and things are about to, as Diddy would say, "pop off". We're looking down the barrel of what is likely to be one of the best postseasons in baseball history, the football season is about to start, movies are getting better, and DVD is about to go INSANE with releases-per-week. Oh yeah, there's a whole new TV season coming too. There are too many movies, TV shows, DVD releases, video games, sporting events, etc. in just the next few weeks, that the DVD releases that don't get as much publicity as their brethren are even more likelier to fall between the cracks. We need Play All now more than ever. You have a few more days before we're really in the thick of things. Clear your schedule and hit Play All.

Everybody Hates Chris: The Third Season
Studio: Paramount
Created by: Chris Rock
Features: Cast and Crew Commentaries on Selected Episodes, Deleted Scenes, Director Webisodes, "Off-the-Cuff" Cast Interviews, Chris Rock: V.O. Session Unplugged, Location, Location, Location, More Ms. Morellio-isms, Slaver Slav Music Video, Gag Reel

Everybody Hates Chris is a perfect show to catch up with on DVD. If you're like me, you've thought the show was funny every time you caught it but never really made it into appointment television. There are a lot of episodes of Everybody Hates Chris that I haven't seen, even though I've always liked it when I have tuned in. There just isn't room for everything in the season pass of my DVR. And sitcoms are always a great thing to have on DVD. You can pop one in when you've got 22 minutes to kill or just to unwind before bed. Everybody Hates Chris was one of the few shows to produce 22 episodes in the strike-shortened season. Loosely based on the real childhood of Chris Rock (and narrated by the best stand-up comedian alive), Everybody Hates Chris is always clever and incredibly well-paced. The ratings aren't what they were in the first season and probably never will be again but this is a show that gets the job done. It makes you laugh on TV or DVD.

My Sassy Girl
Studio: Fox
Starring: Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford
Features: None

"She's Beautiful, Smart, Funny, and Totally Crazy." Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford were both on the verge of stardom just a few years ago, but they are in a similar boat now, watching their movies go straight to video and probably wondering what's around the corner. Cuthbert went from magazine covers and household name status from her role on 24 to a string of bad career choices including the barely-released The Quiet and Captivity. Her last widely released movie was 2005's House of Wax and her last two, He Was a Quiet Man and My Sassy Girl went straight to DVD. Bradford stole hearts in Bring it On and Swimfan but appeared in lesser films like Heights, Happy Endings, and The Echo since then (an exception would, of course, be the actor's interesting turn in Flags of Our Fathers and we have yet to see what he'll do with his role in W. as one of the future president's college buddies). With both of these actors struggling on their way in or out of the celebrity door, why do I root for them? They both feel like they still have life in their careers and do enough interesting things on-screen that I hope people see My Sassy Girl, their romantic comedy that's clearly all there in the tagline above. Read the tagline, look at the cover, and you'll know what to expect here - wild girl loosens up straight-laced guy. But the girl and the guy in this situation are above-average young actors who, despite my better judgment, I want to see get ahead. Check it out.

NCIS: The Fifth Season
Studio: Paramount
Starring: Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Dean Murray, Cote de Pablo, and Lauren Holly
Features: Cast and Crew Commentaries, Requiem Revisited, NCIS Season 5: Stem to Stern, The Dressing Room: The Costumes and Wardrobe of NCIS, NCIS On Location, From Pauley to Abby: Hairspray, Lipstick and Tattoos

Who watches NCIS? Seriously, it's one of those shows that has been on five years (a lifetime in today's market) but I don't think I know anyone who watches it. Someone out there is not just keeping this show on the air but turning it into a bigger hit year after year. NCIS always does remarkably well in the ratings. The fifth and most recent season averaged close to 16 million viewers a week, the highest total in the show's history and a ranking of #10 on the entire year. TEN! NCIS will probably be on another decade, even if you don't know anyone who watches it. If you are one of those millions of people, the fifth season hits DVD this week. NCIS stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a federal law enforcement agency that deals with crimes related to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. We've said it before and we'll say it again - no one is starting their DVD collection with the fifth season of a show. Fans of the series, most of whom probably already have the first four will be happy to know it's out and even happier to know that it comes with an impressive collection of special features including four commentary tracks with cast and crew (including Mark Harmon).

No Blood No Tears
Studio: Genius Products
Starring: Jeon Do-Yeon, Lee Hye-Youn, and Jung Jae-Young
Features: None

"Enough is Enough." This week's Asian entry in the cinematic smorgasbord that we like to call Play All is the legendary No Blood No Tears. Originally released in South Korea in 2002 and available before from A.D. Vision in 2005, the film is being rereleased on DVD by Genius Products, a current leader in Asian action. Considering its widespread availability before this week, one would expect that this new release would come with cool special features. It doesn't. So, you have to love Asian cinema to be interested in No Blood No Tears, a film by Ryu Seung-Wan about a some bad-ass chicks. The movie is about a jaded female cab driver who gets in trouble with the mob. She teams up with the girlfriend of a vicious gangster to try and steal a nasty loan shark's money. Of course, that doesn't go well. Expect a lot of blood and tears, despite the title.

Purple Violets
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Starring: Selma Blair, Edward Burns, Debra Messing, and Patrick Wilson
Features: None

"A Second Chance For a First Love" What happened to Edward Burns? He was once the "next Woody Allen". Now his movies don't get released in theaters. And it's not like he doesn't have star power. Yes, female leads like Selma Blair and Debra Messing may not guarantee a theatrical release, but you would think that adding the up-and-coming Patrick Wilson (Little Children, Lakeview Terrace) and Burns himself to the cast would have landed Purple Violets a limited release in your town. Instead Purple Violets was released on iTunes in November and was supposedly the first movie to be exclusively distributed digitally on the iTunes Store. Now it hits DVD in a limited release, hoping to find a romantic comedy audience exhausted from a summer of superhero movie and R-rated comedies. Purple Violets stars Blair as Patti, a promising writer who runs into her first love, played by Wilson. Wilson happens to be best friends with Michael (Burns), who happens to also be the ex of Patti's best friend Kate (Messing). Friends, lovers, lots of talking - it sounds like prime material for Burns. If you don't know what that means, check out The Brothers McMullen and She's the One. If you do, check out Purple Violets.

The Untouchables: Season 2 - Volume 2
Studio: Paramount
Starring: Robert Stack, Neville Brand, Walter Winchell, Paul Picerni, Nicholas Georgiade, Abel Fernandez, and Steve London
Features: None

A spot should be held on the top ten list of cool lead characters in television history for Robert Stack's portrayal of Elliot Ness in The Untouchables. The hit show ran from 1959 to 1963 and featured Stack as the legendary lawman who fought every day to bring down the criminal empire run by Al Capone. Seasons ran a little differently back then, so shows like The Untouchables are being released in more than one volume per season sets. The second volume of season two features 16 episodes that aired in 1961 with titles like "Testimony of Evil" and "Death For Sale". Of course, the only way The Untouchables is available on DVD is in its original presentation, full frame and with only a mono channel of sound. Don't use this to show off your home theatre. Use it to remind yourself the epitome of cool that was The Untouchables.