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…
Thank You For Smoking (Fox, Rated R, DVD-$29.99 SRP) is one of those flicks you walk away from thanking jebus that the filmmakers pulled no punches in their satire. What could have been a watered-down ersatz treatment of the tobacco lobby instead unspools as a hilarious indictment of our modern consumer culture. Aaron Eckhart’s performance as Nick Taylor – brilliant spin-meister for big tobacco – is a brilliant portrait of the devil with a wink and a smile, out to further his client’s cause in society and culture. This is definitely a must-see flick. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette, a Charlie Rose interview with the director and cast, and more. Smoke if you got ’em.
It’s encouraging and heartening to me that, even almost 60 years after he was created by Carl Barks, Scrooge McDuck has a rich enough mythology that amazing stories can still be spun by what Barks wrote all those years ago. The average person would think that modern Duck artist Don Rosa had mined all there was to be had in his 12-part epic masterpiece The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, but they’d be wrong. There’s are plenty of areas to be explored in Scrooge’s storied past, and Rosa has done that with the stories featured in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion (Gemstone, $16.99 SRP), which features seven tales reaching back into McDuck’s adventures in Panama, Java, the Old West, and the Yukon. There’s even commentary on each by Rosa. Here’s hoping for another volume in the near future… So get crackin’, Don!
While fans who have been snapping up the seasonal sets will have virtually every episode on the new 2-disc South Park: The Hits Volume 1 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.99 SRP) – save for the still-scathing Cruise indictment “Trapped in a Closet” – there is one overriding reason why fans of Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s cutout world will want to grab this as fast as they can. That reason? The first official release of the legendary short that started it all, “The Spirit of Christmas.” I honestly never thought I’d see the day. The other 14 episodes are just icing on the cake.
Conspicuously missing from the recent remastered re-releases of George Harrison’s catalogue was 1973’s Living In The Material World (Capitol/Apple, $29.98 SRP). That’s now been rectified via a special edition featuring a pair of bonus tracks (“Deep Blue” & “Miss O’Dell”), and a limited edition bonus DVD featuring a 5.1 remastered performance of “Give Me Love” from his 1990 concert in Tokyo, a video for “Living In The Material World,” and alternate/demo versions of “Miss O’Dell” and “Sue Me, Sue You Blues.” Here’s hoping that even more releases like this are in the offing, since there’s still plenty of unreleased material in the vaults.
Having a friend who was a big fan of The Greatest American Hero (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, DVD-$99.99), I can think of no better Christmas gift for him than the tin-encased collection of the complete 43-episode series, which is limited to an edition size of only 20,000. Why so limited? Well, in addition to the 80’s classic, the set also features a reproduction not only of Ralph Hinkley’s cape, but also an iron-on transfer and a copy of the famous alien instruction manual (which is a battery-powered delight). Believe it or not!
The end of the Baudelaire orphans’ tragic journey is nigh, but there’s one last piece of Lemony Snicket’s puzzle to piece together before resolving the series of unfortunate events, and the clues are to be found in The Beatrice Letters (HarperCollins, $19.99 SRP). The beautifully bound volume (the material itself is actually contained within a hardbound file folder) contains correspondence between Snicket and the doomed Beatrice. There’s just as many questions as there are answers (well, actually, there are more questions than answers), but there are plenty of clues for fans to chew on until volume 13 is released.
It’s been double-dipped already, but the Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Extraordinarily Deluxe Edition (Sony, Rated PG, DVD-$29.95 SRP) justifies its purchase price – and its very existence – with a brand new high definition transfer of the film that is truly spiffy. In addition to the bonus materials available on the previous special edition (including commentaries from the Pythons, sing-alongs, “How To Use Your Coconuts” educational film, “The Quest for the Holy Grail Locations,” 1874 BBC Film Night, unused ideas, trailers, and more), the new set features an animated medley of songs from Spamalot, Secrets of the Holy grail featurette, and a bonus 3rd disc with the film’s soundtrack album. Ni!
I still cannot comprehend why ABC cancelled Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP). It was an improv show with a single set – dirt cheap – but it was one of the most gut-bustingly funny shows to spend a half-hour with. With regulars Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, Brad Sherwood and host Drew Carey, it was must-see TV. I’m quite happy that we’re finally getting season sets (sort-of) with the release of Whose Line: Season One Volume One, containing the first 10 episodes. What’s even more brilliant, though, is that the outtakes and gag reels featured on the set are completely uncensored – and believe me, these guys knew how to go spectacularly off-color. More sets in a hurry, please.
Compared with Sinatra’s almost sterile duets package – during which Frank never met a single one of his singing partners – Tony Bennett’s star-studded Duets: An American Classic (RPM Records, $18.98 SRP) is positively energized by the fact that Tony actually recorded every track with his guests. The guest list is a thing to marvel at – including Paul Simon, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bono, Elvis Costello, The Dixie Chicks, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, and more – and the tracks themselves are fantastic. Give it a spin.
Before his regular spotlight on The Daily Show, I had no idea who Lewis Black was. Who would have thought that he’d be one of the most caustic, insightful, and hilarious political comedians of our generation. In an age where we our lives as Americans seem to be lived in a perpetual state of irony, Black is a welcome slap across the collective face. Which is all to say that you should definitely allow yourself to be pleasantly slapped by his latest stand-up special, Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP). The DVD features 15 additional minutes of footage, plus 5 additional pieces.
It’s been a few months since Warner Bros. unveiled one of their fantastic “Signature Collection” box sets, but they’ve certainly returned with a pair of must-haves for any film fan. Humphrey Bogart: The Signature Collection Volume I & Volume II (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP each) have, as their centerpieces, the newly remastered 3-disc special edition of The Maltese Falcon – which features both the 1931 & 1936 versions of the film, as well as an audio commentary, Warners’ 1941 “Night At The Movies” (with a vintage newsreel, musical short, and cartoons), trailers, makeup tests, 3 radio show adaptations, and a newly-produced documentary (“The Maltese Falcon: One Magnificent Bird”) – and the 2-disc special editions of Casablanca and The Treasure of The Sierra Madre, which feature audio commentaries, featurettes, documentaries, Warners’ “Night At the Movies,” radio shows, trailers, and more.. That alone should be reason enough to pick up the sets, but if you need more proof, they also feature Bogie in Across The Pacific, High Sierra, They Drive By Night, Action In The North Atlantic, All Through The Night, and Passage To Marseille. Each film features its own complement of “Night At The Movies”, with additional featurettes, radio shows, commentary, and even blooper reels.
As the new 2-disc special edition proves unequivocally, even four decades on, Brian Wilson was a certified genius. The newly remastered 40th anniversary edition of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (Capitol, $29.98 SRP) features both the mono and stereo versions of the album, plus a DVD with 5.1 mixes. The DVD also features a new edit of the 1997 “Making of Pet Sounds” documentary, Brian Wilson interview material from 2003’s “Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live In London,” a previously unreleased discussion between Wilson and Sir George Martin, a trio of 1966 promotional films, and a photo gallery.
Amid Amidi has provided a much-needed fill for a gap in animation history with his comprehensive look at the UPA-style of design that came to prominence in the 1950’s. The book is Cartoon Modern (Chronicle, $40.00 SRP), and it’s packed with not only a ton of information on the period and the artists behind it, but also loaded with artwork, which makes it a tome to sit with on a cold winter day and fully take in at your leisure. One disappointment, though, is that I always get a certain sense of elitism from Amidi’s discussion of design, dismissing the contribution of story to great animation and over-elevating the art itself. In animation, I believe the two go hand-in-hand in creating the pieces that truly strike a chord in a viewer. Still, a minor quibble for an overall great book.
Slowly but surely, the Disney animated feature library is getting the 2-disc “Platinum Edition” treatment, although I think that the quality level – and intelligence – is not quite as good as the original 2-disc special editions of flicks like Emperor’s New Groove, Tarzan, and Atlantis. The new edition of The Little Mermaid (Walt Disney, Rated G, DVD-$29.99 SRP) does sport a very stunning remastered picture and soundtrack (even if Disney has done their PC revision to a few scenes), and bonus features (I don’t consider a crappy music video with a Disney Channel “star” a bonus feature, mind you) including an audio commentary, deleted scenes, The Little Match Girl animated short, a making-of featurette, a Hans Christian Andersen featurette, and a virtual tour of the aborted EuroDisney Little Mermaid ride.
And speaking of The Little Mermaid, while the remastered soundtrack is very much appreciated on the new 2-disc special edition of the soundtrack (Walt Disney Records, $15.55 SRP), the 2nd disc full of those aforementioned Disney “stars” butchering the tunes is definitely a waste of plastic. The only halfway decent track is Raven-Symone’s “Under the Sea,” but even that is an overproduced piece of pop trash that completely drowns a great song.
I admit that, as the death and depowerment count of some major characters in the third X-Men installment began to rack up, I found that I couldn’t care less. In fact, I’ve been so disappointed by Marvel’s mutant movie franchise as a whole, that I hoped the title The Last Stand (Fox, Rated PG-13, DVD-$29.98 SRP) was a literal acknowledgment to all those who’ve detested the pathetic scripts and ham-fisted adaptations of favorite stories and characters found in all 3 films – people like me – that it was all coming to a merciful end. If only. The story this go round has to do with Frasier and some cure for mutants with wings and blue skin, and Juggernaut running around, and… Oh, who cares. The DVD features a pair of audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and 3 alternate endings – none of which are any better than the one they wound up with.
He seems incapable of cranking out anything worthwhile now, but all it takes is a spin of the new unrated director’s cut of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) to remember why we once gave a damn about Guy Ritchie. Watching the energy, intelligence, skill, and verve he displayed then makes me wonder what in the hell has happened to him since. Besides Madonna. The bonus features are limited to featurette on the film’s cinematography, and a rather ho-hum compilation reel of the flick’s expletives.
Modeled after the Disney Treasures DVD releases of rarities, Disney Comics: 75 Years of Innovation (Gemstone, $12.99 SRP) features two dozen rare Disney comic stories from across the breadth of those aforementioned 75 years, starring Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Scrooge, Br’er Rabbit, Jose Carioca, Li’l Bad Wolf, and more. Some of these stories have never been reprinted before, and it’s well worth picking this up just for them.
Currently available as a Target exclusive, the 2-disc DVD-licious! collection of some of the best highlights and interviews from The Ellen Degeneres Show (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) is a breezy, fun watch. Ellen is a natural talk show host, never upstaging the guest, but completely unafraid to make things fun and interesting. What I can’t believe is that the show has been on for over three years. Time certainly does fly.
The fourth season of Ellen (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$49.95 SRP) is the one that featured the PA announcement heard ’round the world, as not only the character, but also Ellen herself loudly and proudly came out of the closet. It’s a shame that her sitcom went downhill creatively after this landmark season, since it would have been even more powerful a statement if she’d been able to keep the show going for years after. The 3-disc set features all 25 episodes, plus an audio commentary with the writers of “The Puppy Episode.”
Even though this seems to be the 47th release of the film on DVD, those bastards have probably added just enough new bonus material – including newly-remastered picture and sound – to make picking up the Scarface: Platinum Edition (Universal, Rated R, DVD-$29.98 SRP). The 2-disc set features deleted scenes, documentaries, and clips comparing the theatrical and TV versions of the film.
It was only a matter of time before someone decided that a series following the real-life adventures of an Indiana Jones-type would make for interesting TV, and that show is Digging For The Truth (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$49.95 SRP). Following explorer/survival expert Josh Bernstein into the heart of the Andes in search of El Dorado or Ethiopia on the trail of the Ark of the Covenant, it’s an engaging archeological journey through history. Heck, he’s even got the hat for it. The 4-disc set features all 13 first season episodes, plus a “History in the Making” featurette.
By my calculations, the fifth set of Benny Hill (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$49.95 SRP) should be the penultimate collection of hill’s bawdy, gut-funny long-running Thames show, covering the years 1982-1985. This was the era of the leggy “Hill’s Angels,” who are interviewed in a newly-produced featurette.
Watching the first season of Thriller (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$79.95 SRP), it’s as if some of the best (and worst) of Hammer horror style had made it to the small screen. The stories definitely are of the old school horror bent, full of ghosts, psychosis, and oodles of Satanists. Even better for the viewer discovering this series, its also jam-packed with the kind of stars only a British series of the 70’s could deliver, including Bob Hoskins, Stephen Rea, Patrick Macgee, and even Hayley Mills. Bonus features include interviews with creator Brian Clemens and the directors, plus episode introductions.
It seems the stuff of TV movies, but Unknown White Male (Genius Products, Rated PG-13, DVD-$24.95 SRP) is a documentary which follows the true story of Doug Bruce, who woke up on Coney Island with total amnesia. Chronicling his struggle to put his life back together – from family, friends, and career to just his own sense of self – it’s a sometimes poignant, sometimes joyous, sometimes sad study of what defines a person’s life. Bonus features include featurettes, deleted scenes, interviews, and more.
Sci-Fi’s decision to cancel what was still an enjoyable series continues to be puzzling, but fans in mourning can assuage some of their pain by picking up the complete ninth season of Stargate SG-1 (MGM/UA, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). In addition to all 20 episodes, the 5-disc set features behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentaries on all episodes, and a continuation of the SG-1 Directors Series.
There’s just something about seeing The Munsters in color that’s slightly… wrong. See if you agree with me by picking up The Munsters: Two Movie Fright-Fest (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), which contains both Munster, Go Home! and The Munsters’ Revenge.
No one is going to call 1961’s animated Dick Tracy Show (Classic Media, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) a great show, but it was reasonably faithful to Chester Gould’s classic strip. This 4-disc set features the entire 130-episode run.
It’s been an incredibly long wait, but the second volume of Transformers: Armada‘s first season (Rhino, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP) – ending the series, in fact – has finally touched down, featuring the final 26 episodes of the ultimate battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons.
I’m still not entirely sure to make of Danny Elfman’s Serenada Schizophrana (Sony Classical, $18.98 SRP), his foray into orchestral composition as opposed to film composing. I think I like it. It’s definitely a unique experience.
I’m still not sure what the purpose is behind Disney Dossiers: Files of Characters From The Walt Disney Studio (Disney Press, $24.95 SRP). Supposedly, it’s meant to be evocative of files kept by casting agents with information about a certain actor and their “type,” strengths, and background. Unfortunately, this results in a rather awkward collection of characters with uninteresting “Yeah, I know that” text and a poor selection of artwork accompanying it. Why can’t we get the incredibly informative Disney Encyclopedia of Animated Characters back in print? Or a deluxe collection of classic model sheets for the company’s heavy hitters? Please? No more of these cutesy, unsatisfying gimmick releases, thank you.
Often overlooked, some of the most uniquely quirky TV programs being produced today are coming out of Canada, and the series Corner Gas (VSC, Not Rated, DVD-$29.99 SRP) certainly fits the bill. It’s an oddball premises, to be sure, but the show focuses on the life of gas station proprietor Brent LeRoy, whose station is located in the sleepy town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, which is full of the usual complement of off-kilter characters. The complete third season has just come out, featuring all 19 episodes plus an hour-long documentary.
It’s hard to imagine a time when someone pitching the idea of doing an undercover agent infiltrating a gang of bank-robbing surfers would be a green-lightable affair… And then to stack the deck by casting Keanu Reeves as the agent and Patrick Swayze as the gangleader… I mean, it’s just mind-blowing. You can relive those heady times with the new special edition of Point Break (Fox, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP), featuring deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a retrospective documentary.
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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