The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
I admit that the pre-launch marketing blitz that preceded the premiere of My Name Is Earl turned me off to the show, so much so that I actually let my screener of the pilot sit on my desk, unwatched, for over two months. When I finally did get around to watching it, I realized that I had made a mistake in believing that something must be rotten in Denmark, and Earl was, in fact, a quirky little comedy worth watching – much to my surprise, considering NBC’s recent track record of ignoring its own comedy gems in favor of some real stinkers. If you want to see what I was so impressed by, pick up a copy of the first season set (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). Bonus features include commentaries on select episodes, deleted scenes with optional commentary, a behind-the-scenes featurette, a blooper reel, and a bizarro “what if” feature that presents an alternate universe version of the show called “Bad Karma.”
One of the more appealing aspects of My Name Is Earl is its use of music – a trait found amongst many of the more memorable shows of years past. Even better, it’s an eclectic mix of everything from Harry Nilsson’s “Joy” to Uncle Kracker covering The Band’s “The Weight” – with stops featuring Sammy Davis, Jr., Jerry Reed, and Matthew Sweet along the way. All of those tunes and more are features on My Name Is Earl: The Album (Shout! Factory, $18.98 SRP). A volume 2 would be nice, too.
Formerly bare-bones, the complete fourth season of The Bob Newhart Show (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) actually manages some decent bonus features in addition to the season’s 24 episodes. Those bonus materials include commentaries on 4 episodes, “A Second family” featurette, and a gag reel.
If that’s not enough Newhart for you, then you’ll also want to pick up his return to the stand-up stage he left in the 60’s in Bob Newhart: Button-Down Concert (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP). What’s great is that even after all these years, he’s still great on stage, and the delivery is every bit as sharp as the material.
It’s always a dicey proposition when an artist returns to a past success and decides to sequalize it. Sometimes it’s a success, and sometimes it’s an abysmal failure – it seems there’s very little in-between to be had. Luckily for fans of Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s legendary Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy, their thirty-years-on sequel The Captain and The Kid (Interscope, $13.98 SRP) is a successful return to a once-powerful well, exploring the lives of its creators in the period since their autobiographical epic. What’s more, Elton has retained the less-schmaltzy tunes and production methods of his last few albums, returning to the edgy, memorable sound of his hit-making past – which is perfectly complemented by some of Taupin’s strongest lyrics in years. Together, they produce a worthy successor and a solid listen.
Everyone knows of the various attempts that Salvador Dali and Walt Disney made over the years to work on a project, but did you know that there was also a shelved collaboration between Disney and Roald Dahl? Written by Dahl long before his classics, the wartime story The Gremlins (Dark Horse, $12.95 SRP) was optioned by Disney with the intention to turn it into a full-length feature. That film never came to be, but the Disney artists did wind up lavishly illustrating a hardcover edition of the story in 1943 – an edition that has been unavailable for the past 60 years. Dark Horse has lovingly restored every piece of artwork and is re-releasing that original hardcover (with a brand-new introduction from Leonard Maltin), and any fan of Dahl or Disney absolutely will kick themselves if they don’t snap up a copy of their own.
The sixth and final season of The Flintstones (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$44.98 SRP) may be best remembered for giving pop culture the gift of that interstellar imp, The Great Gazoo. This season also featured a take-off on Bewitched (with guest stars Elizabeth Montgomery & Dick York), movie spoofs, and the return of “Stoney Curtis.” The bonus materials this go wrong are awfully mediocre – do we really need a featurette with Stephen Baldwin? Still, at least we’ve now got the entire run of this classic primetime cartoon.
It can be quite embarrassing to admit a deep, dark secret. Especially one that is so incredibly embarrassing as to make you an instant object of ridicule as soon as the hidden shame is uttered aloud – but to hell with it, I’ll admit it… I actually enjoy watching America’s Funniest Home Videos. Like cocoa on a cold winter night or lemonade in summer, it’s a reliable, comfortable thing to spend an evening with. That, and I still find balls to the crotch, wedding guests tumbling on a dance floor, mugging babies, and piano playing cats quite funny. For those who share my guilty pleasure, there are 6 brand-new themed AFV releases to keep you company as the days grow shorter this Fall – AFV: Sports Spectacular, AFV: Nincompoops & Boneheads, AFV: Love & Marriage, AFV: Battle of the Best, AFV: Looks At Kids & Animals, and AFV: Home For The Holidays (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$ SRP each).
While the quality of the work itself varies – and much of the enjoyment stems largely from how you feel about a given artist – there’s no denying that Palm’s series collecting the work of various directors is a must-have investment for any aspiring filmmaker. Collecting their music videos, short films, animations, promos, TV spots, and much more – along with interviews, commentaries, and a deluxe illustrated book – the latest batch of discs to pick up are The Work Of Director Stephane Sednaoui, The Work Of Director Anton Corbijn, The Work Of Director Jonathan Glazer, and The Work Of Director Mark Romanek (Palm, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP each). Trust me – you want these discs.
I admit to really loving the deluxe, hardcover, archival editions that Dark Horse has been releasing of titles I never thought would get that kind of treatment. In the past, it was Doctor Solar and Magnus: Robot Fighter. Now, it’s the entire run – spanning four volumes – of Mike Baron & Steve Rude’s Nexus (Dark Horse, $49.95 SRP), all lovingly restored and presented, and ready for a place of honor on your shelf.
The more I watch of Avatar (Paramount, Not Rated DVD-$64.99 SRP) – whose entire 20-episode first season (“Book 1: Water”) has been released via a 6-disc, feature-laden box set – I can’t help but think that it feels more like a Cartoon Network series than its actual home network, Nickelodeon. Maybe that’s because it’s layered, action-adventure-mysticism-based mythology seems more like the pre-teen boy fare you’d find on CN. Regardless of where it’s berthed, it’s a beautifully designed, engaging show worth checking out, regardless of your age. Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes featurette with the cast & crew, commentary on the pilot, and two making-of featurettes focusing on the sound and the Korean animation studios.
It will probably come as a surprise to many children of the 80’s that Bill Cosby had a sitcom long before he played the head of the Huxtable clan. In 1969’s The Bill Cosby Show (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), Cosby played gym teacher Chet Kincaid. It features many of Cosby’s indelible idiosyncrasies and comedic nuances, but is a wholly different experience from his later hit series. This first season set features all 26 episodes, plus a new interview with Cosby.
Battlestar Galactica fans salivating over the impending third season can catch up with the 11 episodes of what is being billed as Season 2.5 (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). The 3-disc set features an extended version of the “Pegasus” cliffhanger, as well as deleted scenes, podcasts, and producer David Eick’s video logs.
Every time I dig into another set of Dick Cavett Show episodes, I’m left wanting more of his in-depth interviews with the icons of years past. The latest set is The Dick Cavett Show: Hollywood Greats (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), featuring 12 uncut episodes from Cavett’s show, with guests including Orson Welles, Mel Brooks, Kirk Douglas, Groucho Marx, John Huston, Marlon Brando, Frank Capra, Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Bogdanovich, Bette Davis, Robert Mitchum, Debbie Reynolds, Fred Astaire, Katharine Hepburn, and Robert Altman. Quite a list, no? The 4-disc set also features brand new introductions and an interview with Cavett.
The 70’s was an era of profoundly unhip people hosting talk shows that booked some incredibly hip guests, often providing a forum that many mainstream shows wouldn’t allow decidedly “unique” personalities. These “unhipsters” included Cavett, Mike Douglas, and Tom Snyder. It’s Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow program that has gotten the latest themed release with The Tomorrow Show: Tom Snyder’s Electric Kool-Aid Talk Show (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), which collects interviews with Dr. Timothy Leary, The Grateful Dead, Ken Kesey, and Tom Wolfe. Pick up the disc and pay careful attention to Snyder’s often bewildered – yet somehow delighted – face.
Though often dismissed as a lesser follow-up to Rocky Horror Picture Show, it’s a little bit disconcerting just how prescient Richard O’Brien’s Shock Treatment (Fox, Rated PG, DVD-$19.98 SRP) has turned out to be, with its meta-concept of a small Texas town as reality show… Imagine The Truman Show with Rocky Horror‘s brad & Janet all set to music. The new 25th anniversary edition includes a pair of retrospective featurettes, as well as the film’s theatrical trailers.
Before Oscars and the mountain life found him, Heath Ledger starred in the short-lived sword & sorcery series Roar (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), all 13 episodes of which have made their inevitable way to DVD. Surprisingly enough, it’s actually an enjoyable show that might have grown into another Hercules or Xena if given the chance.
If it wasn’t for the presence of Dennis Haysbert, I probably wouldn’t watch The Unit (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP), about an autonomous special forces unit of the U.S. military operating both Stateside an abroad. I could watch Haysbert read the phone book… And the fact that Robert Patrick is there to read it with him in this series – well, I’m sold. The complete first season set features all 13 episodes, plus commentary on the episode “SERE” and an “Inside Delta Force” featurette.
It’s hard to remember a time when the brand of “National Lampoon” upon a film actually meant a mark of quality (as opposed to a direct-to-video, groan-worthy cheapie), but during the 70’s, Lampoon was a synonym for the highest, and most subversive, comedy to be found. One of the key architects of the Lampoon style was Doug Kenney, a brilliant comic writer and thinker whose far-too-brief life is chronicled in A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever (Chicago Review Press, $24.95 SRP).
In an age of the US “spreading democracy,” then Our Brand Is Crisis (Koch, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) should be required viewing. The documentary follows a team of political consultants – including James Carville – as they head to Bolivia to manage the campaign for Bolivian presidential candidate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, including everything from ads to speeches to smear campaigns. It’s a sobering view of just what kind of influence we’re bringing to the world stage.
If I’m going to be completely honest with you, I never watched Hart to Hart (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$49.95 SRP) for the jet-setting adventures of Jonathan & Jennifer Hart (Robert Wagner & Stafanie Powers). No, I used to watch the show strictly for the lovably gravely-voiced retainer of the Harts, Max (played by the great Lionel Stander). Crikey, I miss him. Every show needs a Max. The 5-disc seasoned season set features all 20 episodes, but bonus features are nowhere to be found.
Honestly, any flick that stars Robert Culp has got a leg up in my book. That Eric Fleming’s The Almost Guys (Karma Films, Not Rated, DVD-$15.00 SRP) is also a very funny tale – about a pair of repo men (Culp and Fleming) who find a major league baseball pitcher bound & gagged in the trunk of a repo three days before the World Series and hatch an absurd plot to come out ahead on the deal – is icing on the cake. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, Fleming’s short films, and the theatrical trailer.
Known largely for his hit “Secret Agent Man,” is takes the 2-disc Secret Agent Man: The Ultimate Johnny Rivers Anthology (Shout! Factory, $24.98 SRP) to fully present just how many memorable tunes we owe to Rivers rocking delivery, including “Midnight Special,” “Poor Side of Town,” and more. Give it a spin and find out for yourself…
They’d done the deed, and the fourth season of Moonlighting (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) is when you could feel the cracks beginning to form, as Bruce Willis’s film career heated up and Cybil Shepherd’s ego began to expand exponentially. At least we got more Curtis Armstrong. The 3-disc set features all 14 episodes, plus commentaries select episodes.
Before he was a superstar with the power to bankrupt studios with his asking fee, Jim Carrey was the star of high-concept, low-budget comedies that struck a chord with audiences, propelling him to the fiscal superstardom he enjoys today. A pair of those early flicks comprise the Ace Ventura box set (Warner Bros., Rated PG, DVD-$19.98 SRP), featuring newly remastered (and widescreen) versions of Pet Detective and When Nature Calls. Pet Detective contains an audio commentary with director Tom Shadyac, TV spots, and the trailer, while When Nature Calls is limited to that flicks’ trailer. The set does, however, contains a 3rd disc with 3 episodes from the Ace Ventura animated series. Aaaaaaallllrighty then.
Packed with trivia, artwork, rarities, and more information about the man of Steel than you can shake a forest full of sticks at, The Krypton Companion (Twomorrows, $24.95 SRP) more than lives up to its name as a veritable cornucopia of Superman trivia and minutiae. As always, Twomorrows has released a tome that will excite and interest fans both hardcore and casual, celebrating comics as entertainment first and foremost.
If you’ve been fretting over exactly how you can pull off the perfect schlock horror filmfest this Halloween, rest your weary brow and snag the first three volumes of Elvira’s Movie Macabre double features (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each). Hosted by the Mistress of the Dark, this 1981 series featured our ghoulishly beautiful host introducing the worst of the worst – films like Count Dracula’s Great Love, The Werewolf Of Washington, The Devil’s Wedding Night, The Doomsday Machine, Legacy of Blood, and Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks.
Although I’m sure the added bonus features – including a sing-along, deleted scenes, interviews with Travolta & Newton-John, footage from the DVD launch party, and more – the real stand-out of the “Rockin’ Rydell Edition” of Grease (Paramount, Rated PG, DVD-$19.99 SRP) is the miniature leather jacket that adorns the DVD case. It’s a truly nifty, very frightening collectible.
The Live at Montreux series of concert releases rolls along with a 1986 Eric Clapton performance and a 1973 set from Canned Heat (Eagle Vision, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each).
It was only a matter of time before a book was written that catalogues and celebrated that most popcorn of movie genres – the disaster flick. Disaster Movies (Chicago Review Press, $18.95 SRP) contains write-ups on everything from The Poseidon Adventure to The Hindenburg – no cinematic disaster is too obscure.
I wouldn’t call them classics, but no self-respecting horror fan will want to pass up the five films featured in the 3-disc Boris Karloff Collection (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) – Night Key, Tower of London, The Climax, The Strange Door, and The Black Castle. And with Halloween coming up, it’s time to start lining up flicks for those ghoulish fests.
I have never been a fan or Ron Howard as a director – as a Taylor and a Cunningham, sure, but as a director, not so much. One of his more palatable flicks, for me, was Backdraft (Universal, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP). Honestly, I’m not sure why. Maybe it was Kurt Russell. Either way, it’s now got a 2-disc anniversary edition, with an intro from Howard, documentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.
Like an old workhorse, the 6th season of King of Queens (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$39.95 SRP) is simply a sitcom that knows its characters and its parameters, and is dependable week-in and week-out. No big surprises, just a reliable chuckle-fest that doesn’t feel the need to aim any higher than what’s proven successful.
Adhering closer to the source material than the feature films it spun out of, the animated Return To The Planet Of The Apes (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) had a trio of astronauts arriving on the simian planet, which now featured a civilization of cars and planes, in addition to Cornelius, Zira, and General Urko. Lasting only 13 episodes, the complete run is now available separate from last year’s mega-box set.
There’s nothing like viewing a low-rent 80’s cheesefest like Hunk (BCI, Rated PG, DVD-$9.98 SRP) to bring back find memories of a simpler time in American cinema, where a pitch like “Faust reimagined as the Devil offering a dweeb the ability to become a hunk in exchange for his soul” gets – not only made, but made with James Coco as the Devil. Oh, the 80’s…
With the 2nd volume of its second season, the complete run of He-Man and The Masters of the Universe (BCI, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP) has now been immortalized on those shiny, data-packed discs for fanboys the world over to place upon their shelves. The 6-disc set features those final 32 episodes – but like previous sets, it’s positively packed to the rafters with bonus materials, including a trio of episode commentaries, a pair of episode storyboards, and 2 brand-new behind-the-scenes documentaries (as well as the two artist postcards). Never in a million years did I think that He-Man – He-Man! – would get this kind of deluxe treatment, but it just goes to show what an amazing company BCI is when it comes to their releases (Disney could learn a thing or three from them).
And speaking of series I never thought I’d see on DVD, add BCI’s complete series release of both Blackstar and Space Sentinels/Freedom Force (BCI, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP each). Not only do we get all 3 series, but both sets also contain commentaries, documentaries, interviews, galleries, and more. Do you hear that, Disney? That’s the sound of another company doing animated series releases *right*. My one gripe, though, was BCI’s use of double-sided discs, which I detest… So kudos on the bonus materials and releasing the series, but nega-kudos for the choice of medium.
Final Resting places of horror luminaries, haunted houses, eerie locales, and more are detailed in Creepy Crawls (Santa Monica Press, $16.95 SRP), author Leon Marcelo’s handy guide to taking a fiendish road trip of your own, following in the footsteps of all things macabre.
When every franchise under the sun is getting its own box set (hello, Leprechaun!), you knew that the killer doll with the overalls wasn’t far behind – which is to say yes, there is a Child’s Play collection featuring all 4 sequels (the first flick is not included), titled Chucky: The Killer DVD Collection (Universal, Rated R, DVD-$29.98 SRP). Containing Child’s Play 2, Child’s Play 3, Bride of Chucky, and Seed of Chucky, the set also features audio commentaries on Bride and Seed, plus featurettes.
Give it enough time, and everything, everyone, and every property under the sun will eventually be made into an action figure. Cinema buffs might want to adorn their desks with Dark Horse’s Movie Icons collection ($24.99 SRP each). Below, you’ll see Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Charlie Chaplin, and Steve McQueen (with baseball – you know the flick). Each figure comes in a film canister package, and is ready for you to finally enact that Chaplin/Laurel & Hardy brawl.
So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…
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