I like a good crackling historical drama. Make it American history, even better. Throw a President or two in there, we’re golden. So I was pretty stoked to see Frost/Nixon, which is just coming out on DVD and which I hadn’t gotten around to seeing in cinemas, despite my trepidations about Ron Howard’s directing. (Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always ride for Splash and Willow, and dude gets serious kudos for narrating Arrested Development. But the last decade—The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind—has been a massacre.)

The film dramatizes the series of interviews David Frost conducted with Richard Nixon in 1977 and the events leading up to them. And I have to say, Howard does a pretty good job of setting up the stakes—for Frost (Michael Sheen), it’s a chance to prove he’s not a lightweight, and for Nixon (Frank Langella), it’s an opportunity to exonerate himself in front of the nation.

Even if you know the outcome going in, they do a terrific job of making the confrontation electrifying. Really excellent acting and generally well-directed, save for the annoying documentary-style interviews with the supporting characters. I was disappointed, though, with a DVD extra called “The Real Interview” that turned out to be a seven-minute behind-the-scenes segment about recreating the interview, with only a few short clips of the actual thing.

I was also a bit let down by the extras (or extra—there’s only one, a music video) on The Wrestler, a movie characterized by director Darren Aronofsky’s excellent attention to detail. Still, if you haven’t seen Mickey Rourke as a washed-up grappler yet, you really should; it’s not a perfect film but it’s still a must-see, a fascinating lion in winter story anchored by Rourke’s brutally great performance.

Local filmmaker Chris Wynn’s documentary about Alzheimer’s, Forgetful Not Forgotten, has played around town a bit in the past year and now it’s available on DVD with a host of special features. You can get it online at forgetfulnotforgotten.com.