With the exception of 2004’s confused and awkward misstep She Hate Me, Spike Lee has been on a roll as of late. When Lee gets it wrong, it can be hard to watch, but when he’s on, he can be a thrilling filmmaker. The 25th Hour, from 2002, had moments of sheer brilliance, and this year’s Inside Man is as sharp a heist flick as has come down the pipe in the last few years.

Another 2006 Lee release didn’t see action in many cinemas, as it was originally a TV production and it had a limited theatrical release. But now non-HBO subscribers can check out When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, a documentary, made a year later, about Hurricane Katrina’s impact on the city of New Orleans and its people. The three-disc set includes a feature-length “epilogue” and commentary from Lee.

M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water was probably the most ambitious failure of 2006. If you didn’t check out Lady while it was in theatres, it’s almost worth a rental; the movie fails so completely, on every possible level, and does it with such fanfare, that it’s almost impressive to watch. —Mark Slutsky