New on DVD this week: Two notable Oscar-nominees

January might be slow as far as theater releases go, but for DVDs? Oh yeah, we're in luck. The newest DVD and Blu-ray releases look extremely promising, and for those of us who need to watch the Oscar nominees, well, we now have our chance. Plus, there's a great horror documentary about the Nightmare on Elm Street series being released on Blu-ray (for the first time) that I am sure will interest fans of the films and the genre in general.

But let's start with the marquis DVD releases: Tom Hanks did not get an Oscar nomination for Captain Phillips, but the film itself is up for Best Picture, and actor Barkhad Abdi was nominated as Best Supporting Actor as well. If you haven't seen Captain Phillips, you now have your chance, well before the Academy Awards ceremony in March.

Blue Jasmine is Woody Allen's latest, and it was a critical darling. Many of my Woody friends believe it's one of his best films, in fact. Cate Blanchett has already won the Best Actress Golden Globe and SAG awards for her performance as fallen New York socialite Jasmine in this movie. I'd say that makes this one required viewing for all of us. In addition, Sally Hawkins was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Woody Allen also grabbed a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Blue Jasmine.

As far as other major releases go this week, I'd include Machete Kills. While this latest Robert Rodriguez film didn't exactly get great reviews, fans of Machete will no doubt want to see it.

And one other big note: If you haven't seen Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, you should. This documentary came out in 2010, but now it's out in a special Blu-ray edition. For those of us who grew up with the Nightmare franchise, this is definitely worth seeing, if for no other reason that the nostalgic value. Anyone else care to weigh in here? I felt like overall, it was one of the better horror documentaries I've ever seen.

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