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…
Put another notch in the post, as Pinky & The Brain wraps up its DVD release with the third and final volume (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$44.98 SRP) of attempts at world domination. The 4-disc set features the final 22 episodes, plus a featurette focusing on the show’s fans hosted by Pink & The Brain themselves, Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche. At the same time, make sure you snag the penultimate 3rd volume of Animaniacs (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$44.98 SRP), which brings us 25 episodes closer to the toon trio’s wacky finale. The 5-disc set also contains a featurette on the art of the show, as well as a tribute to composer Richard Stone.
Double your fun at the expense of the less-than-professional officers of the Reno Sheriff’s Department with the one-two punch of the complete 4th season of Reno 911! (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.99 SRP) and the big screen Reno 911!: Miami (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$29.99 SRP). The 4th season set features all 14 episodes, audio commentaries, officer profiles, and an extended scene. Meanwhile, Miami sports a trio of audio commentaries (two of which are in character), extended scenes, PSAs, footage from the premiere, and more.
When he’s at his best, David E. Kelley is responsible for some damn fine, often quirky, often funny, and genuinely human dramas. Two of those notches in the “excellent” column are making their DVD debut – the complete first season of Picket Fences (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) and the first volume of episodes from The Practice (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). The 6-disc Picket Fences set contains all 22 episodes, plus a retrospective featurette with interviews from Kelley and the cast. The Practice set contains the first 13 episodes of the show’s inaugural season, as well as a retrospective featurette.
The 80’s really were the age of John Lithgow. The World According To Garp, Buckaroo Banzai, Footloose, 2010, Harry And The Hendersons – the decade was literally littered with Lithgow cinema. One of the most memorable cable staples had to be The Manhattan Project (Lionsgate, Rated PG-13, DVD-$19.98 SRP), which featured the wonderfully 80’s story of a bratty, genius teen rebelling against his mother’s nuclear physicist boyfriend (Lithgow) by building a nuclear bomb for his science competition project by stealing plutonium from her boyfriend’s lab during a daring nighttime raid involving a remote controlled truck, swapping said plutonium with Prell shampoo mixed with aluminum foil. Whew! And now, this classic is a special edition DVD, with an audio commentary, a trio of retrospective featurettes, a trivia track, and the original theatrical trailer.
Raymond Burr’s legendary (and not yet hefty) lawyer returns in the first volume of episodes from the second season of Perry Mason (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP). The 4-disc set features 15 episodes, but not a single bonus feature in sight. Justice is not only blind, but cheap.
Jim Broadbent turns in another memorable performance as Frank Aungier Pakenham, the 7th Earl of Longford, in Longford (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP) – the true story of the respected Earl’s attempts to fight for release and rehabilitation of the convicted child killer Myra Hindley (Samantha Morton), and the consequences his altruistic campaigning had on his reputation. Bonus features include a featurette about the actual “Moors Murders” and an audio commentary.
Watching Lindsay Anderson’s If… (Criterion, Not Rated, DVD-$39.95 SRP), it’s hard not to imagine Stanley Kubrick viewing Malcolm McDowell’s intense performance as violent, anarchic boarding school student Mick Travis – central to this electric portrait of the odd, Draconian pecking order that permeates those famed Brit school institutions – and not making the decision there and then that McDowell would be perfect for his not-yet-produced A Clockwork Orange. This new 2-disc edition of If… features an audio commentary with film critic & historian David Robinson and McDowell, a TV special spotlighting the film, a video interview with actor Graham Crowden, the documentary Thursday’s Children, and a behind-the-scenes booklet.
John McClane is about to blast back on the big screen, which is why now is the time to make sure you have the new Die Hard Collection set (Fox, Rated R, DVD-$39.98 SRP), featuring the special editions of the first 3 films, plus a bonus 4th disc containing a brand new retrospective documentary and a preview of Live Free Or Die Hard.
All good things must come to an end, and that applies two-fold to the third and final season of Deadwood (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$99.98 SRP), as both an incredible series and the lawless, frontier era of the town itself come to an end. The 6-disc set features all 12 episodes, plus a quartet of audio commentaries, a historical featurette, a spotlight on the relationship of Swerengen & Bullock, and a photo gallery of the historical Deadwood.
Long before you needed to wash his mouth out with soap due to his expletive-soaked performance in Deadwood, Ian McShane starred as antiques dealer and part-time detective Lovejoy (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). The 80’s were truly a golden age of moonlighting detectives who obviously couldn’t find a safer hobby. The 3-disc set features all 10 first season episodes, plus an interview with McShane.
Also hitting shelves is the first volume of the penultimate third season of Irwin Allen’s Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). The 3-disc set features 13 episodes, plus a David Hedison interview. But why oh why does Fox insist on continuing to release some of their TV product on accursed double-sided discs?
Before “Hoo-has” became his acting style, there was a much more nuanced Al in days past. Case in point is a pair of newly-released catalogue titles, The Panic In Needle Park (Fox, Rated PG, DVD-$14.98 SRP) and Author! Author! (Fox, Rated PG, DVD-$14.98 SRP). This is not to say that he’s incapable of good work in recent times, as a trio of overlooked flicks in the Pacino: An Actor’s Vision collection (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP) will attest, featuring Chinese Coffee, The Local Stigmatic, and Looking For Richard. The set also contains a bonus disc with the documentary Babbleonia, Pacino’s self-produced retrospective of his own career.
It may be unassuming and saccharine, but there is a nice simplicity to Miss Potter (Genius, Rated PG, DVD-$28.95 SRP), which stars Renee Zellweger as the titular author of the children’s classic The Tale of Peter Rabbit. The story revolves around the romance of the sheltered Beatrix and her publisher, played by Ewan McGregor. Bonus features include an audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a music video, and the theatrical trailer.
Continuing the well-established legacy of the Disney Double-Dip, here comes a new special edition of The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh (Walt Disney, Rated G, DVD-$29.99 SRP). At least it is nicely remastered, and bonus materials include a making-of featurette and the classic short A Day For Eeyore.
Atlantic Records 60: The House That Ahmet Built (Rhino, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is literally a rarity, performance, and interview-filled documentary about the founding and legacy of Atlantic Records and its founder, Ahmet Ertegun. It’s a wonderful trip down memory lane, and the music on show – including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Ben E. King, Eric Clapton, and more – proves what an amazing legacy it is.
No dry museum tour, Simon Schama’s Power Of Art (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP) is an electrifying journey into the creative process, venturing back to the events, politics, environment, and personality that big banged out eight iconic pieces of art. The 3-disc set features audio commentaries and a interview with Schama.
And let’s wrap things up this week with a pair of pieces from Gentle Giant‘s line of Star Wars animated-style maquettes. While the C-3PO and Jawa statue (which stands appox. 8″) is a regular edition available directly from Gentle Giant and is limited to an edition size of 4500 ($80), Yoda and R2-D2 is this year’s convention exclusive, with an edition size of 2500 ($80).
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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