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…
Every once in a awhile, a nicely quirky romantic flick will come down the pike and reassure me that there’s still some life in cinema, and my cynical outlook is only 99.9% correct. The latest movie to keep things from redlining is Wristcutters: A Love Story (Lionsgate, Rated R, DVD-$26.98 SRP), a unique tale of love in the not-quite-afterlife – a drab location where those who commit suicide are sent to. Into this humdrum existence enters, improbable love springs into the heart of Zia (Patrick Fugit)… And to say anymore would spoil it. Just give it a spin. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, delete scenes, and more.
A rather beautiful tale about a pair of young boys, Amir and Hussan, in pre-Soviet Afghanistan whose friendship is torn apart, leading the now-adult Amir to try and set things right, The Kite Runner (Dreamworks, Rated PG-13, DVD-$29.99 SRP) was certainly an enjoyable flick, and worthy of a spin. Bonus features include an audio commentary, a featurette, images, and the theatrical trailer.
I’ve been waiting a long time for a proper remastered special edition of Bonnie and Clyde (Warner Bros., Rated R, DVD-$20.98 SRP) and we’ve finally got it. In addition to the aforementioned remastering (and it does look sweet), the 2-disc set features a newly-produced suite of documentaries celebrating the film’s 40th anniversary, the History Channel profile on the real couple, wardrobe tests, additional scenes, and trailers.
In some ways, age has not been kind to Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm (Criterion, Rated R, DVD-$39.95 SRP). This suburban soap opera set at the height of an emotionally repressed winter in 1973 – powerful when I first saw it years ago – now seems heavy-handed and almost farcical in its plot twists. Still, it’s compulsive viewing, and Criterion has done a wonderful job in the remastering process. The 2-disc edition features an audio commentary from Lee and producer/screenwriter James Schamus, a newly-produced documentary, deleted scenes, an interview with novelist Rick Moody, and more.
Unexpectedly, an extended cut of Walk The Line (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP) has hit DVD. It’s not a fundamentally different film, and largely just allows the narrative to breathe a little more. Of note, though, is that the 2-disc edition is loaded down with bonus features, including an audio commentary, extended musical sequences, deleted scenes, featurettes, and more..
Spend some quality time with the seedier side of the law with the third volume of Warners’ Gangsters Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP). Fully remastered and straight from the vaults, the set features Smart Money, Lady Killer, Picture Snatcher, Brother Orchid, The Mayor Of Hell, and Black Legion. Bonus features include audio commentaries, vintage featurettes and newsreels, cartoons, and more.
US Secret Service Agents James West and Artemus Gordon face off for the last time with the evil Dr. Loveless in the fourth season of The Wild Wild West (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). The 6-disc set features all 24 classic episodes that go a long way towards washing away the bitter taste of that horrid big screen take on the material from a few years back.
I think it’s a sign of how little good sci-fi comes down the cinematic pike nowadays that there is a fondness for the decent – tho far from exceptional – Gattaca (Sony, Rated PG-13, DVD-$19.94 SRP). It’s a slick flick and features a fine, blunt moral about the strength of the human spirit and such, but it could just as well be a TV movie. The new special edition does, at least, feature a new transfer, as well as new interviews with the cast in addition to the bonus materials from the previous release.
For years, it seemed like the 3 available seasons of Sliders were going to be it. In quite a surprising move, the 4th, penultimate season is now available (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) – making the release of the 5th and final season seem like a plausible reality. The 5-disc set features all 22 episodes, but sadly no bonus materials.
Fox releases a trio of new noir flicks from deep in the vaults – Dangerous Crossing, Daisy Kenyon, and Black Widow (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each). Special featurettes include audio commentaries, featurettes, galleries, trailers, and more.
Birds are in the air and the green is coming back to the trees, which means it’s time for Baseball-themed films to make their way to DVD. A pair of classic Baseball flicks – one old school and one modern – have gotten new special editions just in time for spring fever. Pride Of The Yankees & Eight Men Out (MGM/UA, Not Rated/Rated PG, DVD-$14.98 SRP each) contain behind-the-scenes featurettes, an audio commentary (from John Sayles on Eight Men Out, and more.
Okay, I’ve watched it twice now, and I still don’t know what the hell Richard Kelly is trying to say with his future-LA-after-the-fall ensemble piece that plays like Stanley Kubrick channeling Robert Altman. I dug Donnie Darko something fierce when I first saw it, but Southland Tales (Sony, Rated R, DVD-$24.96 SRP) just leaves me – not so much cold, but bewildered. By all means, give it a spin and see if you can figure it out. Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes featurette and an animated short (Boy, what I wouldn’t give for an illuminating commentary…).
Robert Stack returns as G-Man Eliot Ness in the first volume of The Untouchables‘ second season (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). The 4-disc set features 16 Capone-hounding episodes and more fedoras than you can shake a stick at.
By the time it reached its third season, the Party of Five (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$39.95 SRP) had pretty much grown to a cast of 7 regulars, including the core Salinger clan. Honestly, the show never did a thing for me, but I know there are fans out there that loved it during its heyday. The 5-disc set features all 25 episodes, plus “minisodes” of The Facts Of Life and Silver Spoons.
Have a Yul Brynner-thon with a trio of catalogue releases – one of which actually finds him with hair – with Kings of the Sun, Solomon and Sheba, & Taras Bulba (MGM/UA, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP each). The discs are all bare bones, but the flicks are at least a nice flash back to old school epic filmmaking with only the slightest of hyperbolic touches.
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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