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Here are the week's best releases from the pop-culture universe:

By Michael Gallucci 

CD -- Amputechture: Our favorite prog-metal band, the Mars Volta, has made a career out of 10-minute songs, incomprehensible lyrics, and an obsession with dead things. Its third album is blissfully more of the same. Whatever it lacks in brevity and subtlety, it makes up for in sheer force. This is one planet they'll never demote.

DVD -- Brazil: Terry Gilliam's brilliant 1985 fantasy flick gets a spiffy new high-definition transfer and surround-sound remaster that makes its Orwellian landscapes all the more spectacular. In addition to commentary by Gilliam, this DVD (available in single- and triple-disc editions) features a longer director's cut that includes footage from both the American and European versions of the film.

VIDEOGAME -- NASCAR 07: One of the most realistic racing games (for PS2 and Xbox) is about more than 180-mph turns and wipeouts. It's also about training with some of the sport's greatest drivers, tinkering with your ride till it suits your skills, and blowing all your cash in one-on-one contests with NASCAR legends. And the new Adrenaline Meter -- which charts just how many perilous situations you can withstand before you wimp out -- separates the Tony Stewarts from the Stephen Leichts.

MOVIE -- The Science of Sleep: Michel Gondry's latest mindfuck is less tidy than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but it's every bit as majestic. Gael García Bernal plays a shy graphic artist who regularly escapes to a dream world. Along the way, he falls in love with his neighbor. This surrealist romantic fable -- filled with animation, stop-motion puppets, and some nifty camera tricks -- is an eye-popping marvel.

CD -- Wonder Wheel: Like Mermaid Avenue, Wilco's two-album collaboration with Billy Bragg, this disc by Jewish folk combo the Klezmatics borrows its lyrics from previously published work by Woody Guthrie. The music -- composed by the band -- ranges from traditional-sounding ballads to rabble-rousing rockers.

DVD -- Zoo TV Live From Sydney: U2's grandest tour yielded this concert souvenir, available for the first time on disc. Filmed at Australia's Sydney Football Stadium in 1993, the hits-filled set features "One," "Where the Streets Have No Name," and "With or Without You." It's a visual and aural treat. Bonus items include an enlightening documentary and a karaoke track featuring "Numb," the Edge-sung drone. If you can't sing that, hang up your mic.

COURTESY FLUSH, PLEASE -- House of Carters: Nick Carter was the most insufferable of all the Backstreet Boys. Baby bro Aaron was a teen-pop brat who boasted more smarm than talent. On this weekly reality TV series (premiering at 9 p.m. Monday on E!), the washed-up pair shack up with their three sisters. Nick had to legally emancipate himself from his mom's clutches a couple years ago. If only it were that easy for him to liberate himself from this self-indulgent mess.