Play All is busy this month. So busy that half of the titles in this week's column actually came out last week. You'll have to do the research to figure out which ones, but all six are available now and that's all that really matters. In an era of increasingly diverse delivery systems for movies - both Microsoft and Sony made massive leaps forward this week in their venture to make your DVD player obsolete - release dates don't mean what they used to. And this is one of the most crowded months of the year in the world of DVD. So, forgive us for not getting to College Road Trip until a week later. We apologize if it made the last seven days of your life more difficult than it would have been if you knew there was another Martin Lawrence family comedy on DVD. Wipe your tears and check out the diverse selection in this week's two-for-one extravaganza that we like to call Play All.

Andre Techine: 4-Film Collector's Edition
Studio: Lionsgate
Starring: Patrick Dewaere, Philippe Noiret, Manuel Blanc, Emmanuelle Beart, Daniel Auteuil, Catherine Deneuve, and Elodie Bouchez
Features: None

Lionsgate continues to put together a diverse and fascinating collection of mini-box sets featuring some incredible directors and stars from overseas. In recent months, we've seen releases that serve as sampler sets for Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve, and Sophia Loren. They're all great sets. The latest is from a lesser-known name and features more recent material but is just as interesting a box. Featuring performances by international greats like Philippe Noiret, Emmanuelle Beart, and Catherine Deneuve, the Andre Techine: 4-Film Collector's Edition is the foreign language release of the month. Deneuve stars in '81's Hotel Americ, which is joined on the first disc by the Cesar Award-winning (the French equivalent to the Oscar) performance by Manuel Blanc in '91's I Don't Kiss, a film that was also nominated for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress. The second disc includes the Cannes Film Festival hit from 1993, My Favorite Season, which again stars Deneuve with the great Daniel Auteuil. The final film in this great set is the best, Wild Reeds from 1994, which won the Los Angeles, New York, and National Society of Film Critics awards for best Foreign Language Film that year, along with Cesar Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Writing, and Most Promising Actress. If you're even a slight fan of French cinema, pick up the Andrew Techine set. It's a must-have.

The Boston Strangler: The Untold Story
Studio: Genius Products
Starring: David Faustino, Andrew Divoff, Kostas Sommer, Joe Torry, and Corin Nemec
Features: Feature Commentary, Trailer

This is why we love Play All. You couldn't get further from Andre Techine's Wild Reeds than Michael Feifer's The Boston Strangler: The Untold Story. Apparently, what wasn't told involves turning a real-life tragedy into a horror film. Honestly, these kind of flicks make me a little sick. Imagine if the Saw movies were true stories. They'd be even more stomach-turning. The idea of turning the real crimes and murders of someone into entertainment is a really tough call. I know, I know - Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho have their foundation in true stories, but it takes a lot of artistic license to take true horror and turn it into entertainment. The word artistic and the phrase "straight-to-DVD movies with David Faustino of Married With Children" don't usually go together. I hate to judge a film on its concept and not its execution, but real-life horror is bad enough, does it need to be a movie too? If you're a true crime fan, Boston Strangler includes a feature commentary with the star, writer/director, composer, and editor. It's sure to make someone happy when they're looking for a new horror movie in a season where there aren't too many at the multiplex.

College Road Trip
Studio: Walt Disney
Starring: Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symone, and Donny Osmond
Features: Gag Reel, Alternate Opening & Endings, Deleted Scenes, "Double Dutch Bus" Music Video, On The Set: Double Dutch Bus, Raven's Video Diary, Two Audio Commentaries

Speaking of horror movies...All kidding aside, this is the DVD of the month that is probably the least-directed at my demographic (mid-30s male with no kids). There aren't a lot of folks like me reaching for ANYTHING with Donny Osmond or Raven-Symone on the cover, much less both of them. Add to the mix that this G-rated comedy clearly just marks another film in the continuing family-fication of the once edgy Martin Lawrence, and it's gonna have to be a desperate day before I pop in College Road Trip. But Play All isn't as much about opinion as it is information and this Disney comedy clearly has at least some audience out there. Looking at the box for College Road Trip, it appears that this comedy includes a frustrated father figure (Lawrence), a teenager about to go to college (Raven-Symone), Donny Osmond, a kid in goggles, a couple of girls I don't recognize, and a pig. Yep, another one of those. Seriously, College Road Trip is about an over-protective father who goes along on a girls-only road trip to check out colleges. Apparently, it's "a nonstop, laugh-out-loud, madcap adventure that'll drive you silly." Well, it will drive you something.

Picture This!
Studio: Fox
Starring: Ashley Tisdale and Kevin Pollack
Features: The Making of Picture This Featurette, Cell Phone Confessions, GR8! Scene-Specific Texting, Picture This Trivia Quiz, Creating A Concert: Filming The "Shadows Of The Night" Performance

Going for a lot of the same audience but falling much shorter is Picture This!, a TV movie starring High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale that debuted on ABC Family just last week. It's an interesting release pattern in today's instant gratification market - TV one week, DVD the next. Trying to turn the fame handed to her by being in the HSM phenomenon, Tisdale makes a lateral move from the Disney Channel to ABC Family as (gasp) a high school senior named Mandy Gilbert. The not-so-popular girl hooks up with the school's hottest guy (Robbie Amell) as a date to the party of the year, but she gets grounded by her overprotective father (Kevin Pollack). Using tricks like her new, must-have video phone, Mandy has to outsmart both her new guy's ex-girlfriend and her dad to become the belle of the ball. As the official site says, "Popularity can come and go, but good friends will always be in the picture." Use this as a double feature with College Road Trip for family fun. Or with Boston Strangler for the most diverse two-fer ever.

Step Up 2 The Streets
Studio: Touchstone
Starring: Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman, Will Kemp, and Cassie Ventura
Features: Deleted Scenes, Music Videos, Outtakes, Lead Actor Robert Hoffman Video Prank, Outlaws of Hip Hop - Meet the '410', Through Fresh Eyes: The Making Of Step Up 2

Step Up was one of the biggest surprise hits of the summer of 2006, making a stunning $114 million worldwide. No one saw this one coming and it proved that there could be a huge audience for teen- and dance-driven dramas like this one. Hence the arrival of Feel the Noise, How She Move, and more Step Up wannabes in the last few years. No "highbrow" critic would admit it, but Step Up has been one of the more influential flicks of the last two years. Just look at the copycats. When a budget like this one produces a $21 million domestic #1 opening, a sequel is only a matter of time. In this case, that matter took only eighteen months. But stars Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan didn't return for Step Up 2 the Streets and the film fell a little short of expectations domestically, opening with less than the original and making a bit less stateside. Funny enough, Step Up 2 the Streets actually made more worldwide ($144 million) than the first one. Maybe we'll get a third. "Step Up 3-D"? Until then, the 2 the Streets DVD is a pretty complete one with five music videos, deletes scenes, outtakes, and featurettes.

Trapped Ashes
Studio: Lionsgate
Starring: Ryd Ishibashi, Tahmoh Penikett, Amelia Cooke, Lara Harris, Michele Pelletier, Rachel Veltri, John Saxon, Henry Gibson, Scott Lowell, Tygh Runyan, Luke MacFarlane, Jayce Bartok
Features: Filmmakers and Cast Commentary, Stanley's Girlfriend: Director's Cut, The Girl With Golden Breasts: Original Cut, A Look Inside: 5-Part Making of Trapped Ashes, Deleted Scenes

The anthology movie has never really thrived, but that doesn't stop people from trying. Sure, I love parts of The Twilight Zone: The Movie, but when one of the first flicks you think of when you hear "anthology movie" is Tales From the Darkside: The Movie, you know you're in trouble. The problem is that anthology movies feel like TV. Why pay $10 before parking and popcorn for TV? But DVD is another story and horror fans are going to be drawn to Trapped Ashes just because of the names involved. The great Joe Dante (Gremlins) headlines the five horror directors who made Trapped Ashes and he's joined by Sean Cunningham (Friday the 13th), John Gaeta (Oscar winner for the visual effects in The Matrix), Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop), and the notorious Ken Russell (Altered States). Just the involvement of Dante and Russell makes Trapped Ashes a must-see for horror fans. Go and must-see it.