Film studios have recently discovered a way to inject new life into their back catalogs without the need to spend money on marketing, retail shelf space, or overstock storage. MOD, or manufacturing on demand, means they don’t press the DVD until you order it. MGM’s Limited Edition Collection is a relative newcomer to the game, but their enthusiasm has already put them at the forefront of this new distribution effort to make currently unreleased titles available for your viewing pleasure. Every month The MOD Quad will list a recent batch of releases and highlight four of them in detail. (Eric “Quint” Vespe is doing a more thorough job over at Ain’t It Cool News (where does he find the time?! does he not need to sleep?!) so be sure to check out his Vault Dweller column as well.) April’s highlights include The Happy Thieves, The Destructors, Old Dracula, and one of my dad’s favorites, Defiance. (The first couple installments of The Mod Quad will be playing catch-up as the DVDs arrived late, but we’ll settle into a monthly routine soon enough.)

This week I am pleased to bring you the most epic Blu-ray report in the history of my musings about the format. As you may have noted, I’ve taken the past two weeks off and have missed quite a few titles. So I’m playing catch up.

Rob Hunter loves movies. He also loves signing up for random medical trials and psychological experiments. These two joys come together in the form of cash money payments that he receives every week and immediately uses to buy more DVD’s.

Kevin Carr drags you kicking and screaming into the weekend with reviews of My Bloody Valentine 3D, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Notorious, Hotel for Dogs and Defiance.

Neil is hob-nobbing around Park City, Utah with his flunkies, hoping to score some make-out moments with John Stamos or Garry Shandling. So, Kevin is left in the Magical Studio in the Sky with special guest host Kristin Dreyer Kramer from NightsAndWeekends.com to talk January releases.

I dunno if Martin Luther King Jr. would be impressed with this lineup cluttering up the holiday in his name — movies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop. How about Hotel for Dogs?! Aren’t you fed up with dog movies by now?! Add to that lineup My Bloody Valentine 3D.

You may remember last year when one adventurous fan created 2007: A Year for Drama, a pretty cool little video montage of some of the year’s more memorable films. That same guy is back this year with 2008: The Cinescape, a similar montage set to Sigur Ros.

As is customary this time of year, it is my duty (and honor) to present you my list of the Ten Best Films of 2008. And in the past year we’ve seen an interesting range of films, have we not?

When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind? Is it visions of sugar plums dancing in your head? Is it the thought of your favorite holiday movie being aired 57 times on television? Apparently for Hollywood, Nazis come to mind when they think of Christmas.

Sure, he’s this generation’s James Bond, but that’s not all there is to Daniel Craig. Including, but not limited to showing up in photos from the upcoming Ed Zwick film Defiance.