New on DVD: 'An Education' and 'Sherlock Holmes'

AN EDUCATION (PG-13) 3.5 stars

PLOT In this coming-of-age tale set in 1960s Britain, an innocent teenager (Carey Mulligan) learns about life the hard way when she falls in love with a handsome older man (Peter Sarsgaard). Screenwriter Nick Hornby and director Lone Scherfig adapted Lynn Barber's memoir to create a near-perfect drama that took the top audience prize for foreign film at Sundance last year. And the movie's three Oscar nominations - best picture, best actress and best adapted screenplay - were no fluke: Mulligan shines in this bittersweet drama, which also stars Alfred Molina and Emma Thompson, and Hornby's script is by turns witty and heartfelt.

EXTRAS Run-of-the-mill interviews with the cast and crew; deleted scenes; and commentary with Scherfig, Mulligan and Sarsgaard.

LIST PRICES DVD: $28.96; Blu-ray: $38.96

SHERLOCK HOLMES (R) 3 stars

THE PLOT Director Guy Ritchie puts his modern, rough-and-tumble mark on the classic Arthur Conan Doyle tale to mixed effect. Ritchie's approach, which a producer calls "the Guy Ritchie way - down and dirty," may bother purists, but the movie does have genuinely exciting set pieces, and Robert Downey Jr.'s interpretation of Sherlock, for which he won a Golden Globe, is charmingly off-putting.

EXTRAS A featurette titled "Sherlock Holmes: Reinvented" includes interviews with the actors, crew and director, and behind-the-scenes footage in the studio and on the London set.

LIST PRICES DVD: $28.98; Blu-ray: $35.99

- The Washington Post