Lee's 'X' -- with lots of extras

Denzel Washington, Spike Lee

Warner Home Video, $29

In conjunction with Black History Month, Warner is releasing this superlative two-disc edition of Spike Lee's epic biography on the controversial civil rights leader who was slain in 1965.

Denzel Washington received his first Oscar nomination for best actor in this 1992 release; he lost the Academy Award, though, to Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman."

The set includes the Academy Award-nominated 1972 documentary "Malcolm X" and a well-produced, thought-provoking new documentary, "By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Malcolm X."

The latter relates the trials and tribulations Lee endured to get the film made.

Lee introduces 10 deleted scenes and supplies the

strong, no-holds-barred commentary track along with cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, editor and second unit director Barry Alexander Brown and costume designer Ruth Carter.

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Shark Tale

Voices of Will Smith, Jack Black

DreamWorks, $30

This hip-hop 3D animated comedy from DreamWorks is nominated for an Oscar for best animated film of 2004. But it also has the misfortune of being in competition against "The Incredibles" and "Shrek 2."

Reviews were decidedly mixed for this tale about a small fish with big dreams named

Oscar (Will Smith) who becomes a hero to the fish metropolis when he pretends he has killed the son (Jack Black) of the godfather of sharks (Robert De Niro).

The DVD includes games for the kiddies and even dance lessons so viewers can learn to dance like Oscar and his fish pals. For adults there are

technical bloopers and an enjoyable behind-the-scenes excursion into the production. Directors Bibo Bergeron, Vicky Jenson and Rob Letterman supply the breezy, fact-filled commentary.

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The Notebook

Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams

New Line, $28

This unabashed romantic drama -- based on the four-hankie weepie novel by Nicholas Sparks -- was one of the surprise hits of the summer of

2004.

Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams play teenagers from opposite sides of the track who meet and fall in love in a sleepy Southern town in the summer of 1940. In the present day, James Garner plays an elderly man living in a senior citizen home who reads the story of the two lovers to a woman (Gena Rowlands) suffering from Alzheimer's.