(Enlarge) Tom Hanks brings home Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons" with the help of European allies.

Maybe not all roads lead to Rome this week, but two of the better ones do. For starters, Rome is where Ron Howard and Tom Hanks spent much of 2008, filming their long-awaited sequel to "The DaVinci Code" that now comes to video as "Angels & Demons," (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated PG-13, DVD $28.96; Blu-ray Disc $39.95).

Author Dan Brown has a weird love-hate thing going with the Catholic Church. Even as he set about planning gruesome deaths for four prominent cardinals and hatching the terrorist destruction of Vatican City, he was calling upon crack Harvard "symbologist" Robert Langdon (the returning Tom Hanks) to comb through the history and traditions of the church with loving care.

On film, director Ron Howard quickly gets us following Langdon's labyrinthine trek around Rome in what becomes a two-and-a-half hour scavenger hunt. It seems an arcane faction of Pope-hating scientists with historical roots has stolen an "anti-matter" energy module more destructive than a nuclear bomb. Langdon has less than four hours to decipher a trail of hidden clues to where it has been stashed if he is to stop the countdown and save the Vatican.

Hanks is always watchable, even when he's walking -- or, in this case, running -- through a role, and Howard has surrounded him with a cast of strong European actors like Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgaard, Ayelet Zurer and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Wasting little time on romance or characterization, they work to keep things moving at a peppy clip that simply exhausts every impulse to scoff or snicker.

The DVD also includes a look at Dan Brown's bestseller, the scientific evidence pertaining to "anti-matter" research and some typical behind-the-scenes movie features.

Return to 'Rome'

For a closer look at the twisted beginnings of the Roman republic and its whole theological backstory, a drama-lover could hardly do better than the just-released "Rome" The Complete Series (HBO Home Entertainment, rated TV-MA, DVD $99.98; Blu-ray Disc $139.99).

Both seasons of that excellent HBO-BBC mini-series have been available separately on DVD, and they looked pretty terrific. But this is the first time both have been offered in one package, and the Blu-ray Disc will have all good pagans wishing to make a special offering to the gods of high-definition: It is, in three words, jaw ... droppingly ... gorgeous.

Here again is that richly handsome first season, which took home four Emmy Awards in 2005 for its well researched art design and casting. Traipsing back and forth between the houses of patricians and plebes, examining the shifting loyalties to Julius Caesar as he dallies with Cleopatra in Egypt and jockeys for political gain, it is almost too much to take in -- making repeat viewings especially welcome.

All the narratives come to a head in season two as all of Rome must re-define what it means to be a civilization in the wake of Caesar's assassination in the Senate, Mark Antony's retreat to the arms of Cleopatra and the consolidation of powers by the treacherous Octavian as Rome's first emperor.

The new box sets include all of the previous audio commentaries from historical consultants and guest directors. There are also multiple documentaries on the making of both seasons and in-depth looks at Octavian's life, the social hierarchy of ancient Rome, and the historical basis of that legendary romance between Antony and Cleopatra.

On Blu-ray, the series comes across with six times the detail and color definition, and the surround stereo overwhelms with the sounds of street life, echoing palace fountains and savage battleground cries. Also exclusive to Bu-ray are interactive guides to the history and bloodlines of the various Roman factions.

New for Christmas

•"Four Christmases" (New Line/Warner Home Video, rated PG-13, DVD $28.98; Blu-ray Disc $35.99). Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play an elitist married couple who regard passing the holidays with their divorced parents and working-class relatives a fate worse than death. This mean-spirited comedy sets out to prove how right they are, and no one comes off looking well. Novice director Seth Gordon hammers home slapstick gags about baby puke and pregnancy kits while painting the various households as full of petty, small-minded bumpkins. One extended sequence involves them all attending a Nativity play at the local church where the congregation and the whole Joseph-and-Mary manger episode are mocked and belittled. Wouldn't you think that producers sinking their money into a new Christmas movie might draw a line at insulting Christians?

•"Santa's Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws" (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, rated G, DVD $29.99; Blu-ray Disc "Combo Pack" $39.99). You either adore or detest the "Air Buddies" franchise of family comedies in which a group of puppies speak to one another in the voices of children while getting themselves in tight spots. This direct-to-DVD is the fourth in the series. A critical "power icicle" at Santa's North Pole home is melting -- though the cause is not climate change, thank goodness. Santa (George Wendt) fears that it is due to the world's forgetting "the true meaning of Christmas," which is defined here as putting others' needs above one's own. One of Santa's pups, son of Santa Paws, runs off to visit the Buddies and see what they can do about saving Christmas. The blending of live dogs and computer-generated critters and backgrounds is not always successful, though the pups are dependable scene-stealers. The discs come with various sing-along videos and other tot-pleasing extras.

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