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 persnickety relationship between divorcees Oscar & Felix continues in the complete third season of the original Odd Couple (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP), featuring another 23 episodes fully remastered and just as funny as always. This is the season that found the duo arrested and put on trial, and even getting Murray the Cop as a temporary roommate.
Long the most artistically underappreciated of the Beatles, I’m tired of people slagging on Ringo Starr. Frankly, his albums have been the most consistently enjoyable and fun. Not every piece of music has to be an artistic opus, and Ringo always comes back to remind us that sometimes you just want a strong backbeat and a sing-along. There’s plenty of that to be found on his new album, Liverpool 8 (Capitol, $18.98 SRP). Also, there’s a very touching tribute track to the equally underappereciated Harry Nilsson, who was a good friend of Ringo’s.
Newly remastered and with new bonus materials, the 40th Anniversary Edition of Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds (A&E, Not Rated, DVD-$129.95 SRP) rockets onto DVD at a reduced price, in a smaller package, and just as wonderfully kitschy as it’s always been. The 12 disc box-set features all 32 episodes, plus an exclusive pop-up episode, making-of featurettes, an interview with Anderson, and still galleries. Fab!
I can give or take the modern colorization process, but I appreciate the fact that it requires an often pristine restoration of the original black & white print. Such is the case with the new 2-disc editions of Ray Harryhausen’s sci-fi classics It Came From Beneath The Sea & Earth Vs The Flying Saucers (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$24.96 SRP each), which feature both pristine black & white and the colorized versions, plus audio commentaries, featurettes, interviews, and more.
As light as a bubble and just as dense intellectually, I admit that the modern teen comedy take on Snow White – Sydney White (Universal, Rated PG-13, DVD-$24.98 SRP) – is watchable only because the oddly effervescent presence of star Amanda Bynes. Bonus features include featurettes, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and more.
Things are heating up as story elements begin to come together in the second volume of Avatar: The Last Air Bender – Book 3: Fire (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP) with the invasion of the Fire Nation and the Day of Black Sun. Bonus materials include audio commentaries and a packed-in mini comic.
If catching a wave is unreasonable, at the very least you can catch the complete third season of Hawaii Five-O (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP). The 6-disc set features all 24 of Steve McGarrett’s crime-solving adventures in the land of the luau. Bonus features are limited to the original episode promos.
It’s been years, but the second season of Barney Miller (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$29.95 SRP) has finally dropped. The 3-disc set features all 22 episodes from the classic cop comedy’s sophomore outing. If you’ve yet to discover Barney Miller, now the time to pick up both sets.
The clever cons of the UK’s Hustle (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) are back with a 4th season and a potential new addition to the team when Mickey Bricks goes on sabbatical. The 6 episodes are full of the usual robbing from the filthy rich to feed themselves, this time including a porn baron, a charity crook, and a nasty nursing home owner – and even make their way to LA and Vegas. The sole bonus feature of the 2-disc set is a behind-the-scenes featurette.
Setting action pics aside, Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) steps into the family comedy milieu in The Game Plan (Walt Disney, Rated PG, DVD-$29.99 SRP), starring as an egotistical pro footballer living la vida single whose bacchanal gets a dose of cold water when the 8-year-old daughter he never knew existed shows up on the doorstep of his bachelor pad. What follows is inoffensive, affable hijinks and heartwarming developments aplenty. Bonus materials include behind-the-scenes featurettes, bloopers, deleted scenes, and more.
If you were expecting the soundtrack to Juno (Rhino, $13.98 SRP) to be a goofy collection of indie tunes, then you’re expectations have been met, as the disc features tracks from Belle & Sebastian, The Moldy Peaches, Antsy Pants, Kimya Dawson, and Cat Power – but there’s also tunes from The Kinks, Sonic Youth, and Buddy Holly.
Erudite and dryly, slyly witty, the British TV adaptations of Noel Coward have been brought together in one box via The Noel Coward Collection (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$79.98 SRP). The 7-disc set features 7 of Coward’s plays, and 6 dramatized short stories. Bonus features include a documentary interview with Coward, additional interviews and performances, radio plays, and more.
The next generation of Hong Kong action star arrives in the US in Fatal Contact (Genius, Not Rated, DVD-$24.95 SRP), and that man is Jacky Wu Jing. After watching this tale of a Kung Fu Olympian who finds himself competing in an underworld fighting circuit, I think we may have the next Jet Li on our hands. The 2-disc special edition features an audio commentary, interviews, featurettes, and more.
Not nearly the camp nightmare of the second film but not quite the gothic beauty of the comic in its golden period, the first season of Swamp Thing (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP) is still a relatively faithful – and respectful – adaptation of the avenging spirit of the swamp. The first season set contains all 22 episodes, plus exclusive interviews with co-creator Len Wein and actor Dick Durock.
As offbeat and passionate as the flick itself, the soundtrack to Wristcutters: A Love Story (Lakeshore Records, $18.98 SRP) features select cues from Bobby Johnston’s score, as well as tracks from Gram Parsons, Gogol Bordello, Artie Shaw, and Joy Division.
For the most part, I’ve enjoyed the relaunch of Doctor Who. I think it’s fun science fiction, even if it’s a bit hamfisted and plothole-ridden at times. With that in kind, was looking forward to the spinoff series Torchwood (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$79.98 SRP), which brought the character of Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) to the forefront as the head of the Cardiff, Wales branch of the super-secret extraterrestrial investigation unit that was formerly a big baddie in the Who-niverse. Think of it as a cross between MI5 and The X-Files with a much more adult slant towards it’s storytelling than Who, which is aimed for a more family-friendly level of storytelling. Unfortunately, in reality, Torchwood wound up being a poorly written, poorly executed mishmash of contrived characters in convoluted, often contradictory stories that lacked any internal logic. It’s like a slow motion trainwreck, stretched across 13 episodes. The only saving grace – and it’s not enough to save the series – is Barrowman, who deserves a much better show than this. Here’s hoping they can pull this out if the pit in series 2. The 7-disc set features all 13 episodes, plus audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, outtakes, video journals, and deleted scenes.
I dig that the soundtrack to the upcoming Mama’s Boy (Lakeshore Records, $18.98 SRP) focuses almost exclusively on a New Wave vibe. What that means is we’ve got The Jam, Scanners, The Rheostatics, Billy Bragg, and Mark Mothersbaugh. Excellent.
Finally, if you want to make sure your weekend viewing contains a bit o’ culture, there’s the recent BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), starring Rupert Penry-Jones and Sally Hawkins as starcrossed lovers Frederick Wentworth and Anne Eliott.
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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