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…
The 80’s were a brilliant golden age of movie comedies unlike any before or since – well, in my view, anyway. And no, I’m in no way denigrating comedies prior to or after that, but there was a special brand of comedy plied in the 80’s, and two of the best films of that era were Trading Places and Coming To America (Paramount, Rated R, DVD-$14.99 SRP each) – both directed by John Landis, and both starring Eddie Murphy. Best of all, these two films have gotten the special edition treatment, featuring newly-remastered prints, retrospective featurettes, vintage featurettes, trailers, and more. Now where’s my special edition of Spies Like Us? And yes, I’m serious…
It’s been a long gap since the last Seinfeld set (one can presume that it might have been delayed to let the Richards matter fade a bit), but we can finally dig into the seventh volume, featuring the penultimate 8th season (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$49.95 SRP). This was the season of “Yadda Yadda” and “Bizarro Jerry,” plus the season following the departure of co-creator Larry David. In addition to all 22 episodes, the exceptionally high amount of bonus material has been maintained, with commentaries, bloopers, behind-the-scenes featurettes and interviews, deleted scenes, “Sein-imation” scenes, and a documentary on the production of season 5 (“Jerry Seinfeld: Submarine Captain”).
Finally, the crimefighting Colt Severs – the unknown stuntman – is on DVD. The hay that he winds up in may be only hay, but this Lee Majors vehicle The Fall Guy (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) was a childhood favorite, most of it due to the legendary theme song (sung by Majors himself). The 6-disc set features all 22 first season episodes, plus a retrospective featurette. I can’t tell you how pathetically thrilled I am that there is actually a featurette that focuses solely on the theme song.
How many of you remember that on April 9, 2000, George Clooney produced a live version of the Cold War nuclear meltdown film Fail Safe (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP)? Presented in two separate performances on the East and west coast, it was a star-studded tour de force that gave a wonderful (and black & white!) slice of what the golden age of television might have been like, and after long being available overseas, you can finally get a copy of the program in the US.
The second season of Mission: Impossible (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP) arrives on DVD, featuring the new head of IMF, the legendary Jim Phelps (Peter Graves). The 7-disc set features 25 missions guaranteed to self-destruct after viewing… well, maybe not, but you still get the crackerjack team of Cinnamon Carter, Rollin Hand, and Willie Armitage (Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, and Greg Morris) doing the impossible.
The BBC have taken the storyline that featured the transition from the Tom Baker to the Peter Davison Doctor Who – precipitated by the nefarious machinations of the Master – and collected them in one easy 3-disc box set under the title Doctor Who: New Beginnings (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). The storylines featured in the set are “The Keeper Of Traken,” “Logopolis” (Baker’s swan song), and “Castrovalva.” As usual, the discs are packed with bonus materials, including audio commentary, interviews, documentaries, BBC news reports, trailers, deleted scenes, and much more.
Though the two sequels took a flaming nosedive in quality and story, there’s no denying that the Matrix trilogy was a visual feast of special effects whoa-wizardry. That visual flair makes them perfect fodder for showing off the a/v punch of high definition, which for me is the real reason to pick up the 4-disc Ultimate Matrix box-set in HD-DVD (Warner Bros., Rated R, HD-DVD-$119.99 SRP). This set is nearly identical in bonus content to the standard DVD Ultimate collection, so the real selling point is the absolutely stunning quality of the visuals themselves. Like I said, this is one of those reference discs you’ll pop in just to show off to your friends.
If you want a look at how snazzy a classic flick would look in high definition, then try the newly-released HD-DVD upgrade of Casablanca (Warner Bros., Not Rated, HD-DVD- $28.99 SRP) and prepare to be duly impressed. As far as bonus materials are concerned, it’s loaded with the exact same complement as the standard release – meaning a ton of quality stuff – but the real draw is the picture itself.
Kudos to Toho and Classic Media for another great pair of remastered Godzilla flicks – Invasion of Astro-Monster and Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster (Classic Media, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP). As with the previous special editions, both the original Japanese and American versions are presented, uncut, with audio commentaries and trailers.
Although it didn’t arrive in time to make into the pre-Memorial Day guide, I did spend a fair chunk of the recent holiday digging through the wartime treasures found in the second volume of Warner’s World War II Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP). The 6 films featured in the set are Air Force, Command Decision, Hell To Eternity, The Hill, 36 Hours, and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Not content to just release the flicks themselves, Warner’s has also loaded the discs with WWII-era shorts, classic cartoons, and vintage trailers.
Also post-Memorial Day was a trio of new 2-disc special editions of Fox wartime classics – Von Ryan’s Express, Twelve O’Clock High, and The Sand Pebbles (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP each). Bonus materials include audio commentaries, retrospective documentaries, new and vintage interviews & behind-the-scenes featurettes, trailers, and more.
Courtesy of a new US distribution deal with Fremantle Media, a pair of long-running British dramas are getting their US DVD debut with the release of the complete first seasons of both The Bill and The Sweeney (BCI, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP each). For American viewers, the best way to explain them is that The Sweeney is like a grittier Starsky & Hutch, and The Bill is like a Brit Hill Street Blues. Both sets are packed with bonus features, including commentaries, featurettes, galleries, and more.
The fearless Officers Jon and Ponch and their oh-so-very-80’s tales of the motorcycle-mounted California Highway Patrol are now at your digital beck-and-call with the complete first season of ChiPs (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). The 6-disc set features all 22 episodes, plus trivia from Erik Estrada, and a spotlight on him, as well. Whither Larry Wilcox?
Even though some may cry foul based on who owns the site these words appear on, I legitimately did enjoy the largely lightweight dramatic romantic comedy (dromedy?) Catch & Release (Columbia Pictures, Rated PG-13, DVD-$28.95 SRP), which stars Jennifer Garner as a woman recovering from the sudden death of her fiancé who moves in with his best friends (one of which is played by Mr. Kevin Smith, yes, and another is Quick Stop’s own Sam Jaeger). They all attempt to cheer her up, but it’s the standoffish one (Timothy Olyphant) that, wouldn’t you know it, she becomes romantically drawn to. Typical. Bonus features include a pair of audio commentaries (one of which is writer/director Susannah Grant and, yes, Mr. Smith).
Unlike the sad “lost episodes” of Chappelle’s Show that Comedy Central released last year, as far as money-making exploitation goes, at least the single-disc Best of Chappelle’s Show (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) does actually contain some of the show’s best material – everything from the blind white supremacist Clayton Bigsby to Rick James.
There’s nothing quite like the dulcet tones of Jim Backus coming from that near-sighted senior citizen, Mr. Magoo, and you can now purchase the complete collection of all 26 full shows (130 cartoons) from the 60’s television adventures of The Mr. Magoo Show (Classic Media, Not Rated, DVD-$26.95 SRP). The 4-disc set is completely remastered, and also contains a reprint of a vintage 1963 Magoo comic.
By all accounts, Ocean’s Thirteen has recovered from the mediocre fumble that was Ocean’s 12, but not having seen the flick, the only thing I can comment on is the soundtrack album of the David Holmes score (Warner Sunset, $18.98 SRP)… which is quite good. Great, even. I hope the film is, too.
Considering his bad luck when it comes to keeping quality shows on the air, congrats to Denis Leary for the ongoing success of Rescue Me, which is about to enter its fourth season. The complete third season (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$49.95 SRP) is now out on DVD, picking up after the devastating events that wrapped up season 2, and left the 62 Truck crew reeling. If you haven’t experienced the show yet, snap up all 3 seasons post haste. The 4-disc set features all 13 episodes, plus 5 featurettes, a location tour, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes clips, a blooper reel, and a Rescue Me comedy short.
The madcap misadventures of the prisoners of Germany’s most inept Stalag return for one last run of adventures in the sixth and final season of Hogan’s Heroes (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP). Th 4-disc set features all 24 episodes of Colonel Klink-thwarting escape attempts, but sadly no real resolution. “Nussing” indeed.
The second Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis Collection (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$29.99 SRP) features 5 of the latter flicks made by the duo before their less-than-amicable split. Fully restored, the 3-disc set presents Pardners, Hollywood Or Bust, Living It Up, You’re Never Too Young, and Artists and Models.
You know that Warner Bros. is serious about dusting out every corner of the Hanna-Barbera library when you get the complete first season of their early 70’s sitcom Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$44.98 SRP). Like an animated precursor to King of the Hill with more than a passing influence from All In The Family, starring Tom Bosley as blue collar everyman Harry Boyle, who’s culturally adrift in the Age of Aquarius. The 4-disc set features all 24 episodes, plus a retrospective featurette.
Is it wrong that I didn’t know that USA’s Dead Zone was still on the air? Well, it is, and the complete fifth season is now on DVD (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP). The 3-disc set features all 11 episodes, plus a pair of behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and four audio commentaries.
Shake your groove thang to a brand new special edition of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (MGM/UA, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), the Aussie drag comedy which has steadily become a member of that exclusive pantheon of films that have become bona fide cult classics. Bonus features include an audio commentary, a retrospective featurette, deleted scenes, outtakes, the original theatrical trailer, and more.
The CW need not bother trying to do an anachronistic, teenybopper soap version of the Robin Hood legend, because the BBC has beat them to it. Think I’m being too harsh? Check out the complete first season of their Robin Hood (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$79.98 SRP) and see what I mean, as it’s simply too sickeningly slick for words. The 5-disc set features all 13 episodes, plus commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and character profiles.
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…
-Ken Plume
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