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…
In a world of slick softcover trade paperbacks collecting classic comic book stories, kudos must be paid to DC for presenting all four volumes of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus (DC Comics, $49.99 SRP) on rough, high quality paper that preserves all of the four color bombast of Kirby’s sci-fi master-epic. The visuals are nothing short of eye-popping delights, and the storytelling is as giddily loopy as I remember. Volume 2 has just come out (Get the first volume – NOW!), featuring an introduction from Walt Simonson and an afterword by Mark Evanier. I can’t wait for the final two volumes.
After loving the first season so much, I was leery that they’d somehow drop the ball in the second season of My Name Is Earl (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). Thankfully, my concern was quickly dismissed as soon as the season unrolled, and it proved to be as well-written, loony, and beautifully performed as the previous year (what other show would cast Norm MacDonald as the son of the character played by guest star Burt Reynolds?) The 4-disc box set features all 22 episodes, plus audio commentary on select episodes, web cam footage, bloopers, Earl as a telenovela, and more.
Say what you will about the growing cult of Apatow, but the man does know how to put together a funny flick with a heart. Heck, I’d even go back as far as The Cable Guy with that assessment – which was long before the critical and financial success of 40-Year-Old Virgin. Apatow has managed it again, this time with partner-in-crime and star Seth Rogen (a schlubby Tom Hanks is as an apt description as any). Rogen stars as the developmentally arrested father-to-be in Knocked Up (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$30.98 SRP), whose condom-less one night stand with an E! on air host (Katherine Heigl) leads to a rocky road to becoming an adult. The 2-disc unrated extended edition is the way to go, featuring an audio commentary, deleted/alternate scenes, featurettes, video diaries, gag reels, and more.
There’ve been any number of albums that have gotten deluxe treatment in recent years, but I’m ecstatic that Elvis Costello’s My Aim Is True (Hip-O, $29.98 SRP) has joined their ranks. The fully remastered album is loaded with 12 outtakes and demos, plus a bonus disc with a live performance from 1977 at the Nashville Rooms, as well as a 5 track soundcheck. Sweet.
The cat and the mouse are back with the 3rd volume of the Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP), featuring 35 classic duels – 15 of which are in CinemaScope widescreen – all of which look fantastic. Bonus materials include a featurette on the duo’s history, plus Joseph Barbera’s final Tom & Jerry short, The Karate Guard.
I’ve waited years for Steven Wright to do another comedy album, and I’m happy to say that I Still Have a Pony (Comedy Central Records, $12.98 SRP) finds the low-key master in fine form. More, I say!
Who knew William Friedkin still had it in him? While it’s no Exorcist, Bug (Lionsgate, Rated R, DVD-$29.98 SRP) is a disturbing character piece about an abused young waitress, fearful of her ex-husband, who begins an association with a drifter… Which leads to a psychological nightmare of disturbing proportions. Bonus features include an introduction, audio commentary, and interview with Friedkin.
Long before he was intoning over unsolved mysteries, Robert Stack was gangbuster Elliot Ness in The Untouchables (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP). The second volume of Season 1 is now available, featuring the final 14 episodes of the legendary show’s premiere, digitally remastered. The 4-disc set also features a bonus Lucy Show episode, “The Gun Moll”.
If you’re in an anime mood this weekend, why not check out Tekkon Kinkreet (Sony, Rated R, DVD-$26.96 SRP), which is based on the manga Black & White, about a pair of street urchins who defend the city of Treasuretown from various evils, including Yakuza and aliens. Bonus features include an audio commentary, interviews, and a making-of documentary.
I don’t know who I like more in the FBI meets mathematicians procedural Numb3rs (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$54.99 SRP) – David Krumholtz as the nerdy crime-solving mathematician alongside his FBI agent brother (Rob Morrow), or Judd Hirsch as their lovably eccentric father. The jury’s still out in that, and what’s also out if the complete third season – featuring all 24 episodes, plus commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a blooper reel, and more.
What Tracy Ullman was to the 80’s, Catherine Tate is fast becoming in the new millennium. A master of character work, her Catherine Tate Show (SRO, Not Rated, DVD-$29.99 SRP) features characters that border on the grotesque (particularly foul-minded, elderly Nan), but the sketches are quite a laugh. The disc features all 6 episodes comprising series 1, but sadly no bonus materials.
Like Raymond before it, its sister (brother?) show must also eventually come to end, and so it does with the complete 9th season of King Of Queens (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$29.95 SRP). The 2-disc box set features all 12 episodes, but not a single bonus feature in sight.
We all knew it was coming, and so we get the 2-disc special edition of the Oscar-nominated culture clash Babel (Paramount, Rated R, DVD-$34.99 SRP), containing a feature-length production video diary from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
Fewer and fewer people are aware just what a funny comedian Robert Klein was in his prime when his comedy specials practically ruled cable. Rediscover Klein in the comprehensive box set Robert Klein: The HBO Specials 1975-2005 (SRO, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP), which collects 8 specials across 4-discs, with a newly recorded Klein interview as a bonus.
Thousand-year-old invisible dogs, double agents, wicked twins, the cast of Laugh-In, and more can be found in the complete fourth season of I Dream Of Jeannie (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$39.95 SRP). The 4-disc box set features all 26 episodes, but there’s no magic to be found in the lack of bonus materials.
Fans can experience the Jam live in concert direct from Italy courtesy of Pearl Jam: Immagine In Cornice (Rhino, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP). There are no bonus materials, but certainly plenty of music.
If you’ve got the yearning to put on a show but none of the drive, then why not sit back and watch the plucky cinematic duo of Mickey & Judy do it for you with enough energy a town in the 4 films contained in the Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$59.92 SRP). Fully remastered and as sparkling fresh as their stars, the four flicks are Babes In Arms, Strike Up The Band, Babes On Broadway, and Girl Crazy – and wouldn’t you know, they’ve all got introductions from Rooney, commentaries, radio shows, and more. In addition to a portfolio of photos, the set also contains a hardbound collector’s booklet with a bonus DVD containing additional goodies.
Take another trip to visit the tenants of Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) with the complete second season of Craig McCracken’s still-fun and still-imaginative kid comedy. The 2-disc set features all 13 episodes, plus promos, a music video, a gallery of friends, and end of episode gags.
If you were to make Friends a dramedy and relocate it to LA – and make Ross into Barry Watson – you’d pretty much have What About Brian (Buena Vista, Not Rated, DVD-$59.99 SRP), The complete two season run is available in one hand 5-disc box set, featuring audio commentaries, featurettes, and an unaired episode.
If you want a unique love story this weekend, check out the Middle East complicated lovers of Torn Apart (City Lights Home Entertainment, Rated R, DVD-$26.98 SRP), starring Adrian Pasdar and Cecillia Peck.
Get some great tunes on the cheap via Universal Music’s new “Number Ones” line of releases (Hip-O, $13.98 SRP each), which feature over a dozen tracks spotlighting either an artist, genre, or period. The initial batch includes Hard Rock, Classic Disco, Kool & The Gang, Modern Rock, 60’s Soul, 70’s Soul, 80’s Soul, 90’s Soul, 60’s Pop, 70’s Pop, 80’s Pop, and Stevie Wonder. Heck, they even come in nifty Earth-friendly packaging, for all of you music-loving tree-huggers.
It’s not Stephen King’s finest cinematic moment, but there have been far worse outings than Cujo (Lionsgate, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP), which gets a 25th anniversary edition featuring an audio commentary and a 3-part making-of documentary.
Docurama’s DVD-based film festival returns for another convenient bout of quality documentary viewing with a trio of new titles. Plagues & Pleasures On The Salton Sea (Docurama, Not Rated, DVD-$26.95 SRP) focuses on the eccentric characters that make their lives around California’s infamous inland ocean, with bonus interviews, audio commentaries, shorts, and more. Building Bombs (Docurama, Not Rated, DVD-$26.95 SRP) shines the spotlight on the sleepy South Carolina town of Aiken, which is home to America’s nuclear bomb-making apparatus – bonus features include interviews, rare archival films, a gallery, and a featurette on the film’s censorship by PBS. Finally, there’s The Panama Deception (Docurama, Not Rated, DVD-$26.95 SRP), about the reasons behind the 1989 invasion of Panama, featuring bonus interviews, featurettes, and more.
Karl Malden & Michael Douglas return in the second volume of The Streets of San Francisco‘s first season (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP), featuring the final 13 episodes of the duo’s TV exploits as a pair of homicide detectives on the beat in the city by the bay. Where’s my Douglas commentary?
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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