If you really use your imagination you can pretend that Argo is a Batman prequel; ya know, what with Ben Affleck and all. Argo: The Declassified Extended Edition ($45) delivers the 129-minute cut of the movie. It also features a boatload of new bonus content, a 64-page photo book, and a handful of replicas from the Academy Award-winning dramatic thriller set during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Spoiler Alert: There’s no Batmobile.
Many of us had relegated Ben Affleck to the celebrity recycle bin; forgetting all about the talents he showed in 1997 with Good Will Hunting, and associating his name with Gigli and Jennifer Lopez (he’s married with kids to Jennifer Garner). But he’s back in a big way with Argo ($25), which is based on the true story of a joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran. Affleck stars and directs the film, and though he’s not up for a Best Director at the Oscars next week, Argo is up for Best Picture. It’s also been winning plenty of awards already.