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This week's new releases, available Tuesday, by Jay Bobbin of Zap2it, are rated on a scale of one to four, with * equivalent to a poor rating and **** meaning excellent.

TWILIGHT

***

Countless fans of Stephenie Meyer's popular book series eagerly awaited the first screen adaptation, and they showed up in such force, a sequel got the go-ahead the day after this movie opened.

Director Catherine Hardwicke's appropriately moody version casts Kristen Stewart as heroine Bella, whose adjustment to a new high school encompasses her attraction to the magnetic Edward (Robert Pattinson) -- a vampire, as she soon learns. Billy Burke, Cam Gigandet and Nikki Reed (who also worked with Hardwicke on "Thirteen") also are featured. DVD extras: "making-of" documentary; audio commentary by Pattinson, Stewart and Hardwicke; extended and deleted scenes; music videos; Comic-Con featurette.

PUNISHER: WAR ZONE

**

Some movies based on Marvel Comics characters are inspired, but this purposely frantic adventure isn't exactly one of them.

Appropriately muscular Ray Stevenson ("Rome") succeeds Thomas Jane and Dolph Lundgren in the title role of an avenger who makes a new enemy in the so-called Jigsaw (Dominic West), whose face is rearranged during a punishing showdown that results in an FBI agent's death. Much additional mayhem ensues. Julie Benz ("Dexter") and Wayne Knight, alias Newman of "Seinfeld," also star.

ELEGY

***

True romance transforms a middle-aged professor, played with trademark expertise by Ben Kingsley, in this drama from "My Life Without Me" director Isabel Coixet. Usually loose with affairs of the heart, as proven by his loose relationship with a businesswoman (Patricia Clarkson), he gets much more serious - and potentially self-destructive - when he becomes involved with a considerably younger graduate student (Penelope Cruz). Screenwriter Nicholas Meyer's adaptation of a Philip Roth story also features Dennis Hopper, Peter Sarsgaard and singer Deborah Harry. DVD extras: "making-of" documentary; audio commentary by Meyer and producer Gary Lucchesi.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

***

Told before in numerous screen incarnations, the classic Emily Bronte romance has its latest version in this British rendering recently televised by PBS as a "Masterpiece" offering.

Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley inherit the roles of Heathcliff and Cathy, the couple whose shared, intense love is doomed because of their familial relationship.

Additional cast members include Andrew Lincoln ("Love Actually"), Kevin McNally and Sarah Lancashire.

BARNEY MILLER: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON

***

DVD releases of the 1970s police-precinct sitcom haven't exactly been speedy in coming, but the show's fans will be pleased to have access to this latest collection from the ABC show.

Hal Linden has the title role as the New York squad's captain, with Abe Vigoda (who got his own spinoff, "Fish"), Max Gail, Jack Soo and Steve Landesberg as several of the detectives under his stewardship.

In a two-part episode included here, the gang is quarantined at the station house.

JAG: THE EIGHTH SEASON

***

NBC may have let the military-drama series go after its first year, but the fact that it went on to reach this round -- and beyond -- on CBS remains a testament to the loyal fan base the show developed.

David James Elliott and Catherine Bell continue as Navy attorneys Harm and Mac; among the episodes is a story saluting nurses who served in World War II, as well as one that makes Harm the defendant following a murder that hits close to home.

Coming soon:

BOLT

March 24

A canine (voice of John Travolta) believes he's actually the superpowered character he plays on television in this animated, Oscar-nominated Disney fantasy. Miley Cyrus also is heard.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE

March 24

James Bond's (Daniel Craig) revenge trail leads him to an ecology-minded villain (Mathieu Amalric) and a woman (Olga Kurylenko) with her own score to settle.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS --

A GALAXY DIVIDED

March 24

The animated spinoff of producer George Lucas' classic saga continues with a compilation of episodes from the Cartoon Network series.

SEVEN POUNDS

March 31

Will Smith stars as an apparent Internal Revenue Service employee who uses what's at his disposal to change the lives of seven people dramatically.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

March 31

The recent winner of eight Academy Awards - including best picture - filmmaker Danny Boyle's popular, India-based drama stars Dev Patel and Freida Pinto.