By Peter Covino

Lifestyles Editor

The countdown to Oscar's big night continues with just two more weeks until the Academy Awards, but it can be Oscar night every night in your living room with the release of so many Oscar-winning and nominated films on Blu-ray and DVD.

Last week (go to Aroundosceola.com Entertainment) was part one of some of the newest Oscar-winning as well as  classic films just released.

The award-winners continue with The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, All Quiet on the Western Front, Cold Mountain, plus a few more surprises.

Maybe they really don't make 'em anymore like All Quiet on the Western Front (in stores Tuesday). This is one of the first films to win best picture honors back in 1930, and it is the second 2012 restoration release from Universal Pictures to celebrate the studio's 100th anniversary.

I watched this a few nights ago for the first time (from start to finish) and even for a movie buff such as myself I was thinking “get ready for some really old black and white film with lots of the hammy acting,” so common in the first “talking pictures.”

Yes, there are a few scenes that date this classic, but mostly this is a masterpiece from start to finish along with some great cinematography, and Lewis Milestone's direction holds up well alongside today's directing stars.

This is one of the major anti-war films of all-time with its tale of impressionable young German men volunteering to fight for the Fatherland in the Great War. World War II was still nine years away in Europe when this movie debuted.

When the hail of bullets and bombs finally comes to a halt by the film's end, they are almost all dead. War is hell indeed and usually senseless.

All Quiet on the Western Front has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 Greatest American Films as well as one of their Top 10 Most Epic Films.

The Blu-ray combo features a DVD version and digital copy for portable devices. Bonuses include an introduction by Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne, collectible hardcover book packaging and memorabilia. The set also features a rarely seen silent version of the film.

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War is still bad, but much more romantic in Cold Mountain (Lionsgate 2003) a Civil War-era film that Oscar gave a best supporting actress nod to Renee Zellweger. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

A good companion piece to Gone With the Wind (but not as long) Cold Mountain is about a group of men in Cold Mountain, N.C., who join the Confederate Army. Foremost is Inman (Jude Law) who leaves the love of his life Ada (Nicole Kidman). She waits and waits for his return as the war rages on. There are lots of epic battle scenes if the romance part gets in the way, but hey guys, this is Valentine's Day weekend.

The film also stars Brendan Gleeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman and Donald Sutherland.

Blu-ray debut features include several deleted scenes, a “making of” documentary; audio commentary with director Anthony Minghella; and the Climbing Cold Mountain documentary.

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The romance continues this Valentine's Day weekend (and a world war as well) in The English Patient (Lionsgate), the Best Picture winner of 1996.

This sprawling epic does take some time to get through at 162 minutes, but if you like that old-fashioned feeling in a movie that pretty much has everything, The English Patient is just what the doctor ordered.

Ralph Fiennes (with lots of supporting help from Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas) is a young Hungarian count on his deathbed toward the end of  World War II. Binoche plays his nurse and his recent past is slowly revealed in a series of flashbacks.

If you like this movie, and there is a lot to like about it, it is worth a second viewing just to get through all of the multi-layers that unfold here.

This  Blu-ray release includes special features such as audio commentary by director/writer Minghella (he also directed Cold Mountain); the CBC documentary Making of The English Patient; A Historical Look at the Real Countalmasy; deleted scenes and interviews with the cast, crew and filmmakers.

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Romance doesn't mean Best Picture status, but it certainly helps.

Shakespeare in Love (1998, Lionsgate) is yet another Academy Award winner making its Blu-ray debut.

This features a great script, actors, set design costume etc. William Shakespeare himself would undoubtedly give it a thumbs up.

This is young Will Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes this time) fumbling to get his career started in Elizabethan England. It is a cleverly written story as Will soaks up his own life experiences, including his pursuit of Lady Viola (Gwyneth Paltrow) as he writes a play that will eventually become Romeo and Juliet.

It is funny, in a Shakespeare kind of way. And you don't have to like Shakespeare to fall in love with Shakespeare in Love, but it certainly would help.

Paltrow won Best Actress and Judi Dench was a supporting actress winner playing Elizabeth I.

Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth and Ben Affleck also star.

Blu-ray features include audio commentaries, a feature on the film's Academy Award-winning costumes; deleted scenes and more.

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Lady and  the Tramp didn't win any Academy Awards when Disney released it in 1955, but this restored Blu-ray film should leave you howling for more.

This is a Disney Diamond Edition film, a three-disc set featuring the Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy. This week's list of Blu-ray films is quite impressive, but if there is any film on this list that you might find yourself going back to over and over again, it is Lady and the Tramp.

CGI animation may look great, but it doesn't compete with the hand-drawn painted storybook work done here. And it is amazing in Blu-ray.

This is also a wide-screen film, unlike Disney's earlier features. Cinemascope was really catching on by the time this film was in production, so they opted to go to the wide-screen format after work had already started.

And it features one of the better Disney storylines as well with its cute and compelling tale of a cocker spaniel named Lady, and her loving home (until the aunt moves in) and her romance with that rascal, Tramp.

If you love Disney songs Lady and the Tramp has them for sure and Peggy Lee doing the singing (as those Siamese cats in “We are Siamese, If  You Please” as a Peg, a female hound dog who has been around the block a few times doing “He's a Tramp.” The songs also include “Bella Notte” from the films most famous scene and one of the most  romantic in all of film —Lady and Tramp sharing spaghetti at an Italian restaurant.

There are many bonuses in the set including deleted scenes, a never-heard deleted song, a “making of” featurette; Inside Walt's Story Meetings of and more.

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Here come the bonuses.

Note: These may appear only in the online edition of this review because of space limitations.

Prepare to be totally blown away if you have never seen City of God (Lionsgate Blu-ray release).

This was released on Blu-ray for the first time late in 2011.

This Brazilian film was nominated for four Academy Awards in 2003 (director, adapted screenplay, cinematography and film editing) and it deserved even more recognition.

Think Goodfellas with younger guys and major poverty and you get a close approximation of what City of God is all about.

The story spans some 20 years in the lives of a group of boys but centers mostly on one that enjoys killing, Li'l Ze and another, Rocket, who is trying to escape the slums and violence of the City of God area of Rio de Janeiro.

There is a lot of violence, pretty much what you would expect in this kind of film, but some stunning visuals as well. Thumbs up to Fernando Mereilles for giving us this amazing film.

The Blu-ray makes it all the more compelling.

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Heavenly Creatures: The Uncut Version features Academy Award winner Kate Winslet in her big screen debut as well as an early effort by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. It is a winning combination.

This film (which was nominated for best screenplay) debuted in 1994, and it only looks better with time. And in remastered Blu-ray.

It is the true story of two young girls (Winslet and Melanie Lynskey) who share a fantasy world that grows in intensity. When their parents become concerned about their relationship (the story takes place in  early 1950s New Zealand) and try to keep them apart violence the fantasy turns to madness and murder.

Jackson shows what may have been some early inspiration for the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the fantasy world sequences.  Lord of the Rings was also filmed in New Zealand.

The new version includes ten additional minutes not shown in the theatrical release.