In many reviews that greeted Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, critics opined that Steven Spielberg's heart didn't seem to be into the fourth screen outing of the iconic adventurer, which explained the movie's sluggish feel. But on the extras-laden two-disc Special Edition sets of the film (Paramount Home Entertainment, $40 DVD and Blu-ray), there is plenty of proof to suggest that whatever the movie's faults, a lack of Spielberg enthusiasm was not one of them.

An unusually detailed look at the making of a giant blockbuster, the supplements on the discs run more than three hours (which is longer than the film itself). All the major players, from Spielberg and producer George Lucas to cast members Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen and Shia LaBeouf, participate.

Beginning with the decade-long wait for a screenplay that would lure Spielberg back to the Indy realm, the various documentaries and featurettes explore every conceivable aspect of the film's making, from the search for a Fedora hat that would perfectly match the one Ford had worn in the first three films to the various titles bandied about (Spielberg's favorite? Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Giant Ants).

Spielberg admits he initially resisted Lucas' idea of bringing aliens into the story, even though it was a nice fit with the 1950s setting, because he had already made too many movies about visitors from outer space. But once Lucas explained they weren't really E.T.s but ''inter-dimensional beings,'' the director relented. No matter that those beings happen to look a lot like traditional movie aliens and fly around in a giant saucer.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull cost an astonishing $185 million to make, but the DVD helps you understand where the money went -- for example, the students walking around during the film's ''Marshall University'' sequence were all carting vintage notebooks and texts in their arms. The attention to detail was scrupulous, and even if it couldn't make those CGI-sequences any more believable (the monkey-vine setpiece may be one of the worst in Spielberg's canon), they do belie the claim that the filmmakers' hearts simply weren't in it.

`CAPRICORN ONE'

An enjoyably preposterous thriller about NASA trying to pass off actors on a movie set as man's first landing on Mars, the 1978 hit Capricorn One has long been a staple of late-night cable and network TV. The new Special Edition DVD (Lionsgate, $20) feels like something of a revelation, since you can now appreciate the movie in its full widescreen glory.

Director Peter Hyams (Outland, The Star Chamber, 2010) provides an engaging commentary track to the film in which he begins by saying he hasn't seen the movie since it was first released, so his reactions to it are more spontaneous than usual (for example, he admits that seeing O.J. Simpson playing one of the astronauts now gives him chills). Hyams, who also wrote the script, talks about his inspiration for the story, which wasn't an intent to expose NASA as a sham (he's a huge fan of the space program), but was more a reaction to his generation's tendency to believe everything they saw on television as fact, the way his parents took everything they read in newspapers as the unquestionable truth.

The director points out trivia that may not be immediately apparently to the viewer, such as the way the camera never leaves the inside of Elliott Gould's vehicle during the breakneck runaway-car sequence. Hyams admits the scene was a lot more exciting when seen on a giant movie screen, but it still works pretty well today. He has nothing but praise for his star James Brolin, who was so gung-ho to make the film he even acquiesced to having a live scorpion crawling around on his face. The DVD also includes a featurette titled Flights of Fancy: The Politics and Paranoia of Capricorn One, which examines the film's paranoid (some might say prescient) view of the intermingling of government and big business.

`THE MATRIX'

Anyone looking to show off their Blu-ray set-up to skeptical friends need look no further than The Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-Ray (Warner Home Entertainment, $130), a deluxe box set that includes the entire film trilogy and an accompanying 35 hours of extras spread across three discs.

The films, which are replete with shadows, darkness, black leather and sickly greenish hues, look so astoundingly good they border on 3-D, and the accompanying Dolby TrueHD tracks capture the movies' complex sound mixes down to the tiniest detail. The picture and sound are so impressive they almost make the two sequels bearable, although no one who owns the set will be able to resist chapter-skipping to the prolonged car chase from The Matrix Reloaded and enjoying 20 minutes of high-definition home video heaven.

Unlike the HD-DVD set released last year, the Blu-ray incarnation includes a high-def version of The Animatrix, a feature-length collection of animated shorts inspired by the films' mythology that are better than either of the two sequels. The disc's transfer is even more eye-popping than the movies themselves, which makes Warner's decision to have the set's mammoth collection of behind-the-scenes documentaries available in standard-definition only a little more forgiveable. To quote the famous Keanu Reeves line from the first -- and best -- movie: ``Whoa.''

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