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…
With the advent of DVD, watching a concert film in your own home theater became a pure, unadulterated delight. Perfect sound and restored picture combined to reinvigorate legendary concerts, and the latest to get the full treatment is Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same (Warner Bros., Rated PG, DVD-$20.97 SRP), which documents their incredible 1973 run of concerts in New York City. Bonus features include 2 bonus performances, vintage TV footage, a 1976 radio profile of the band by some young chap named Cameron Crowe, and the theatrical trailer.
While you’re at it, make sure you pick up the new 2-disc greatest hits collection Led Zeppelin: Mothership (Atlantic, $24.98 SRP), containing 34 tracks spanning their all-too-brief 12-year career. The set also features a bonus DVD, with rare live performances in concert and on TV.
You could easily derail creatively when you decide to follow up such a lean, well-crafted flick as the original 28 Days Later, which reinvented the zombie genre with a indie grit and energy. Surprisingly, 28 Weeks Later (Fox, Rated R, DVD-$29.99 SRP) mostly succeeds as a sequel, which expands the action as we revisit a decimated London undergoing repatriation under the supervision of the US military 6 months after the Rage virus has been eradicated. Or has it? Of course not! Geez… It’d be pretty pointless to make another flick if there were no zombies, eh? Bonus features include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, animated graphic novels, and the theatrical trailer.
The sudsiest soap of the 90’s continues its march to DVD with the third season of Melrose Place (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$54.99 SRP). The 8-disc set features all 30 episodes, plus a trio of featurettes.
It still plays like a saner, more blasé version of The Osbournes, but there’s still plenty of situational humor to be gleaned from the second season of Gene Simmons Family Jewels (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$34.95 SRP). The 3-disc set features all 21 episodes, plus a featurette and a bonus episode.
The undersea adventures of the futuristic submersible Seaview continue in the second volume of the classic 60’s Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea‘s third season (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). The 3-disc set features an additional 13 episodes, plus an audio interview with Richard Basehart and David Hedison interviews.
Warner’s Leading Ladies Collection gets a second volume (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP), with flicks featuring Joanne Woodward A Big Hand For The Little Lady, Susan Hayward in I’ll Cry Tomorrow, Jacqueline Bissett & Candice Bergen in Rich And Famous, Diane Keaton in Shoot The Moon, and Sandy Dennis in Up The Down Staircase. Bonus materials include an audio commentary on Shoot The Moon, a rare newsreel on I’ll Cry Tomorrow, and a making-of featurette on Rich And Famous.
The original iteration of CSI gets a seventh season release (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$89.99 SRP), featuring all 24 episodes, 7 of which feature audio commentaries, and 6 behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Always a one-joke fairytale parody with poor animation and character design, Shrek The Third (Dreamworks, Rated PG, DVD-$29.99 SRP) is the perfect example of franchise pushing its luck and going broke. Tired and tiring, even the nice surprises of the first two films are driven into the ground – see Puss in Boots. Bonus features include lost scenes, a bunch of mildly interesting featurettes (although the ability to learn the Donkey Dance was appreciated), outtakes, and more.
If you were to somehow make HBO’s Tell Me You Love Me both funny and watchable – and transport it back to the early 70’s – you’d have the anthology series Love American Style (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$31.99 SRP). This 3-disc volume of the show’s first season features the first 12 episodes, each of which contains 2-4 stories of love, and is worth checking out if only for the incredible guest casts.
I love watching the original Wild Wild West (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP), if only to remind myself how much fun the TV adventures of Federal Agent James T. West and sidekick Artemus Gordon were compared to that hideous big screen take that is quickly receding into the rearview mirror. The 6-disc 3rd season features all 24 episodes, completely remastered and worth a spin.
Long the star of movies from B to Z, I get a kick out of watching Peter Graves most memorable performance outside of A&E and numerous Mystery Science Theater episodes, as Mission: Impossible‘s agent Jim Phelps. The 7-disc third season set (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP) features all 25 episodes. Think of it as 24… with Peter Graves.
If Bob Dylan can get a top-notch documentary like Don’t Look Back, then surely an icon like Tony Bennett deserves Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP) – a career retrospective produced by Clint Eastwood, packed with rare footage and interviews with the man himself, interviewed by Eastwood. As a bonus, there’s a segment of Tony and Clint piano side, as well as a separate disc with Bennett’s performance from the 2005 Monterey Jazz Festival.
After he was Perry Mason, Raymond Burr was San Francisco Chief of Detectives Ironside (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP), who returns as a consultant after a shooting leaves him wheelchair-bound. Solving touch crimes with a crack staff, it makes shows like CSI look shallow and cold by comparison. The 7-disc second season set features all 26 episodes.
You can’t get any more self-descriptive than Ice Road Truckers (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$34.95 SRP), the “those guys are crazy” hit of the year which follows the true-life truckers whose job it is to transport multi-ton loads to remote Canadian mining outposts during the brief 2-month span that they can travel across the frozen lakes. Insane, no? The 3-disc set features all 10 first season episodes, plus the pilot and five behind-the-scenes featurettes.
By now, the Santa Clause franchise is just an easy paycheck for Tim Allen and an amiable viewing experience. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (Walt Disney, Rated G, DVD-$29.99 SRP) follows the formula note for note, giving Allen’s reluctant Claus a way out of his situation… But it may come at the cost of Christmas becoming the frigid domain of Martin Short’s Jack Frost. Bonus features include an audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, an alternate opening, a music video, a blooper reel, and more.
As shoddy as the script for Deck The Halls (Fox, Rated PG, DVD-$29.99 SRP) is, the onscreen pairing of Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito is just irresistibly appealing. The film itself – about a pair of dueling neighbors eager to win the title of holiday season king – is exactly the kind of seasonal wallpaper that you want to have on hand when the extended family is in town. Bonus features include an audio commentary, interviews, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and bloopers.
Little Britain Abroad (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$14.99 SRP) takes Matt Lucas and David Walliam’s grotesque cast of characters – including Lou & Andy, Daffyd, and Vicky Pollard – outside the sceptered isle and into the wider world. Bonus features include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, Comic Relief sketches, a documentary, and more.
After a contentious changeover in which the show’s creator and guiding force left the show, Gilmore Girls (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) wrapped up with its 7th and final season, in which the lives of mother & daughter Lorelei and Rory get a nice little bow. The 6-disc set features all 22 episodes, plus an additional scene, a trio of featurettes, and a season montage.
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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