THE LIST: DVDs, CDs and books hitting stores week of Dec. 15

DVDS
  “The Hangover” (R; also available in unrated edition): A wild Caesars Palace bachelor bash spells trouble for pals (Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms) who party so hard they can’t remember anything from the night before — including where they left the groom (Justin Bartha) in this rude, crude ’n’ lewd romp from “Old School” director Todd Phillips.
  A romp of a different kind: Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” (R), an epic World War II “Dirty Dozen”-meets-“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” spoof/homage, set “somewhere in Nazi-occupied France,” about a relentless SS colonel (Christoph Waltz), Jewish GIs (led by macho Brad Pitt) collecting Nazi scalps and a young survivor of a Nazi massacre (Mélanie Laurent) running a Paris movie house — and plotting revenge.
  Elsewhere on the recent-release front, “Brokeback Mountain” director Ang Lee lightens up with “Taking Woodstock” (R), a fact-based human mosaic of a comedy, about the son (comedian Demetri Martin) of Catskills motel owners who helps a displaced rock festival find a new home — on neighbor Max Yasgur’s dairy farm. In “The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard.” (R), Jeremy Piven plays an ace liquidator who specializes in bringing dead car lots back to life; Ving Rhames, David Koechner and “The Hangover’s” Ed Helms co-star. “G-Force” (PG) follows specially trained animal spies (Tracy Morgan, Sam Rockwell, Nicolas Cage and Penélope Cruz supply the voices) battling a diabolical billionaire (Bill Nighy) in a kid-friendly hybrid of “Mission: Impossible” and “The Wind in the Willows.” And in the French comedy “The Girl From Monaco” (R) a high-powered lawyer (Fabrice Luchini) falls for a treacherous TV weathercaster (Louise Bourgoin) instead of focusing on a high-profile murder trial.
  Leading today’s welcome-to-Las-Vegas lineup: “The Other Man” (R), a romantic thriller featuring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Antonio Banderas; “Year of the Fish” (not rated), a modern-day “Cinderella” set in New York’s Chinatown; and the award-winning “Sita Sings the Blues” (not rated), an animated musical account of filmmaker Nina Paley’s failed marriage, filtered through the Indian epic the Ramayana. And with a new Sherlock Holmes invading multiplexes in the highly unlikely person of Robert Downey Jr., a variety of previous Holmes portrayals return to DVD, including Christopher Plummer, whose Holmes tracks Jack the Ripper in 1979’s ripping “Murder by Decree” (PG), Peter Cushing in five 1960s BBC tales featured in “The Sherlock Holmes Collection” (not rated) and Robert Stephens in director Billy Wilder’s unjustly unsung 1970 “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes” (PG-13), part of a different “Sherlock Holmes Collection” that also features Michael Caine as a bumbling actor hired to play Holmes (by Ben Kingsley’s brainy Dr. Watson) in the 1988 comedy “Without a Clue” (PG).
  Topping today’s TV-transfer list: “Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie” (G), “George Lopez: Tall, Dark & Chicano” (not rated), “The Paper Chase: Season Two” (not rated), “The Tudors: The Complete Third Season” (not rated), “Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season Three” (PG), “Robot Chicken: Season Four” (not rated) and the recent PBS “Masterpiece Mystery” offerings (both unrated) “Collision” and “Place of Execution.”

CDS
  Alicia Keys, “The Element of Freedom”: She just may be the most vital pop singer of her generation, the rare crooner who writers her own songs, actually sings them live and has more to offer than a never-ending series of curves.
  Yes, Keys has set the bar for contemporary popsters so high, that Lady Gaga couldn’t reach it if she was standing on Britney Spears’ shoulders.
  With her latest disc, Keys come with more galvanized, piano driven torch songs that testify to her stiff upper lip. 
  Go ahead, enjoy a little “Freedom” from the norm.
  Also in stores: Animal Collective, “Fall Be Kind (EP)”; Julian Lennon/James Scott Cook, “Lucy (EP)”; Pet Shop Boys, “Christmas (EP)”; Robin Thicke, “Sex Therapy: The Session”; Phil Vassar, “Traveling Circus”; and The Willowz, “Everyone.”

BOOKS
  “Witch and Wizard” by James Patterson: Fifteen-year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit find themselves in the middle of a maelstrom after the New Order seizes control of everyday life and kids begin disappearing.
  The sister and brother are separated from their parents and thrown into prison, but soon they discover they have wondrous powers. It will be up to them to hone their new abilities as a witch and wizard in an attempt to save themselves, their parents as well as society.
  Also expected out is “Nanny Returns” by Emma McLaughlin. In this sequel to “The Nanny Diaries,” Nan, while considering starting a family of her own, is drawn back into the life of Grayer X after the teenager makes an unexpected visit. Against her better instincts, Nan tries to help Grayer and his brother survive their parents’ divorce.
  Also hitting shelves: “The Farmer’s Daughter” a collection of stories by Jim Harrison; “Ticket to Ride (Sam McCain, Book 8)” by Ed Gorman; and “Too Much Money” by Dominick Dunne.