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…
I could say that the latest Cinematic Titanic offering, Legacy Of Blood (Cinema Titan, Not Rated, DVD-$14.99 SRP), is like a cross between King Lear, Brewster’s Millions, and House On Haunted Hill, but to even compare it to those far, far superior works is undersell just how abysmally awful Legacy Of Blood is. Thank Jebus, then, for the riffing of the CT crew, and their ability to make sweet, sweet lemonade from this massive lemon.
When I travel, I always have far too many electronics, far too many cords, and not nearly enough USB ports on my laptop to charge things. It’s always nice to have a backup plan, and the AC To USB Power Adapter ($9.99) is just such a plan. In a nutshell, it allows you to recharge all of your favorite USB devices via an AC wall socket. Sweet.
I’d say that reaching the 10th volume of the still-must-have collection of Charles Schulz’s groundbreaking strip is certainly worth celebrating – particularly when The Complete Peanuts: 1969-1970 (Fantagraphics, $28.99 SRP) features the first year that has all of the elements that I remember from when I read the strip as a kid. The one element that’s taken this long to lock in – and one that was core to the strip I remember – is the introduction of Snoopy’s avian companion, Woodstock. This is also a year that saw the occasional reference to the politics of the time – albeit very much conformed to Schulz’s universe – such as when Linus gets swept up in a teacher’s strike which leads to the firing of his beloved Miss Othmar (Fear not! She returns!). If you haven’t already begun collecting these volumes, start now. NOW!
It seems that Criterion is systematically going back and revisiting some of their more popular catalogue titles and giving them rather stunning new high-definition transfers and some new bonus features, and the latest title to get the A+ treatment is Robert Altman’s Short Cuts (Criterion, Rated R, DVD-$29.95 SRP). In addition to the aforementioned transfer – it puts the old Criterion set to shame – the 2-disc set features a video conversation between Altman and Tim Robbins, the feature-length making-of documentary Luck, Trust and Ketchup: Robert Altman In Carver County, a PBS documentary on author Raymond Carver, a segment from the BBC’s Moving Pictures on the screenplay, a 1983 audio interview with Carver, Dr. John’s original demo recordings, a featurette on the film’s marketing, deleted scenes, and the requisite Criterion booklet with essay.
Some may be watching slasher flicks this Halloween, but I will be celebrating All Hallow’s Eve by taking in the new Blu-Ray edition of Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein (Fox, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP). The picture is fantastic, and the bonus features are a port of the already-wonderful standard DVD special edition. Get it. Watch it.
George Lucas managed to extend his death grip into another beloved franchise, clutching Steven Spielberg in one claw and Indiana Jones in the other, and managing yet again to produce a lame monstrosity instead of what should have been a triumphant return of a cinema hero. Such was the travesty of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (Paramount, Rated PG-13, DVD-$39.99 SRP), a mess of a film with a mess of a script. It’s just a goddamn mess. Which is a shame, because Harrison Ford is the most engaged he’s been in years. The 2-disc set features a pre-production featurette, a tribute to Indy, a 12-part production diary, pre-viz sequences, galleries, and trailers. The Blu-Ray edition ($39.99 SRP) features the exact same bonus materials, but also sports a picture so good that it pisses me off even more that we still don’t have the original trilogy in HD.
All of the focus is on his stellar performance in Iron Man, but another of Robert Downey, Jr.’s great turns is getting a new special edition DVD – his starring role in the life of The Little Tramp, Chaplin (Lionsgate, Rated PG-13, DVD-$19.98 SRP). Richard Attenborough’s biopic is occasionally languid, but Downey is note-perfect in his portrayal of the complicated cinematic genius. Bonus features include a trio of new featurettes, a Chaplin home movie, and the theatrical trailer.
I don’t think it was as strong as the first season, but I still enjoyed the second season of The Sarah Silverman Program (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP) – particularly since it’s one of the rare comedies that understands the you can push the envelope, but you’ve got to still be funny, too. The 2-disc Season Two, Volume One contains 6 episodes, plus audio commentaries, a 2007 Comic-Con panel, digital shorts, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and more.
In the wake of the Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney Vault titles – those wonderful collections of text and reproductions of rare ephemera – we now get The DC Vault (Running Press, $49.95 SRP), which keeps the streak going. Text is written by Martin Pasko and Paul Levitz, and the ephemera goes all the way back to 1935. One thing, though – considering how integral he was to DC’s post-Crisis relaunch in the 80’s, why is there not a single piece of John Byrne art in the book? What’s up with that, Pasko & Levitz?
I’ll be perfectly honest with you – I was not a huge fan of The Matrix. I enjoyed the flick for what it was – a minor mind-f*** whose special effects and energy thankfully cancelled out most of its banal, overcooked pseudo-philosophizing and messianic overtones. But then came the sequels, which both – in quick succession – managed to top each other on the “Someone actually wrote this crap?” scale. Declining box office was proof enough – a fair number of fans who though The Matrix was the second coming (make your own jokes) left the theater feeling betrayed by creators who obviously had their grip locked firmly on something besides the story. Originally released in on standard DVD – and then the now-defunct HD-DVD – the 6-disc Ultimate Matrix Collection (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$129.95 SRP) makes its debut in Blu-Ray. The set still doesn’t quite make up for the lackluster flicks contained within… you can only gild a piece of crap so much – it’s still crap. But considering all the material you’re getting for the price – 6 discs full of featurettes, behind-the-scenes materials, interviews, documentaries, the entirety of both the Animatrix and The Matrix Revisited, commentaries (none with the elusive Wachowskis, alas, so no mea culpas) – it’s a decent deal if you’re inclined to snag it.
Packaged in a handsome lucite slipcase, the Alfred Hitchcock: Premiere Collection (MGM/UA, Not Rated, DVD-$119.98 SRP) collects all of the Master of Suspense’s early, pre-Universal films, restored and remastered with a slew of bonus materials. The films in question are A Lodger: A Story Of The London Fog, Sabotage, Young And Innocent, Rebecca, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Notorious, and The Paradine Case. Those new bonus features include audio commentaries, interviews, making-of featurettes, trailers, and more.
I caught an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba! the other day, and if any show can rightfully claim the mantle of “Kiddie Show Beloved By Stoners”, it’s this intriguingly bizarre combination of music and costumed characters, If you doubt me, check out Yo Gabba Gabba!: The Dancey Dance Bunch! (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP). The sole bonus is a “Meet The Dancey Dance Bunch!” featurette. Oh, and good times. The show’s first album is being released digitally on iTunes, as well – titled, shockingly enough, Yo Gabba Gabba.
While you’re pining for the next Spongebob season set, get a quick fix of recent episodes with Who Bob What Pants (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP), The single-disc release features 6 episodes, plus a quartet of shorts and an animatic for “What Ever Happened To Spongebob?”.
In the VH1 series Scott Baio Is 45… And Single (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, DVD-$19.97 SRP), viewers followed the renowned lothario C-lister as a mid-life crisis found him assessing his commitment issues by visiting with his past loves (including, yes, Erin Moran) leading up to being able to commit to his current girlfriend. It may not be much of a surprise to find out that Scott Baio Is 46… And Pregnant (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, DVD-$19.97 SRP) finds Baio a married man with a child on the way – and with even more commitment issues cropping up. What a shock.
In these troubled, troubling times, I recommend anyone with an open mind should check out the wonderful documentaries of Richard Dawkins, conveniently collected in The Richard Dawkins Collection (Channel 4, Region 2, Not Rated, DVD-£29.99 SRP). The docs contained in the set are The Genius Of Charles Darwin, The Enemies Of Reason, and Root Of All Evil?.
Easily the film that cemented William Hurt as an actor to be reckoned with – and a bizarre one, at that – was his turn in Kiss Of The Spider Woman (City Lights, Rated R, DVD-$34.98 SRP), which is getting a remastered special edition. The bonus features include newly-produced documentaries, a slide-show commentary, the theatrical trailer, and more.
Sweeping and epic in the most glorious, classic sense of the word, the foreign language Mongol (New Line, Rated R, DVD-$27.98 SRP) is the incredible tale of the rise of a simple man named Temudgin and how he rose to secure his place in history as the warlord Genghis Khan. Give it a spin.
If you’re the head of NASA’s multi-million dollar manned mission to Mars and you find out that to send the astronauts would result in disaster, what would you do? Well, if you were the head of the mission in the cult classic Capricorn One (Lionsgate, Rated PG, DVD-$19.98 SRP), you’d coerce the astronauts into faking the landing on a soundstage – but when they find out that the only way to maintain the hoax is for them to be killed and have it passed off as dying during re-entry, they make a break for it. The new special edition features an audio commentary with director Peter Hyams, a retrospective featurette, and trailers.
It was truncated due to the writer’s strike, but the eighth season of CSI (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$84.98 SRP) should be noted for essentially being the swan song for doughy-faced William Petersen from the role that somehow made him famous. The 5-disc set features all 18 episodes, plus featurettes, a pair of audio commentaries, a deleted scene, and a bonus episode of Without A Trace.
It may not be brilliant, but there’s certainly something loveable about any show that casts both Patrick Warburton and David Spade. Rules Of Engagement: The Complete Second Series (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$29.95 SRP) features all 15 episodes, plus bloopers and minisodes of Newsradio and Diff’rent Strokes.
I’ll be honest with you – the only real reason that I ever watched an episode of Nash Bridges (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) is because it costarred – alongside Don Johnson – the great Cheech Marin. There. I said it. The 2-disc set features all 8 first season episodes, plus audio commentaries, interviews, a writers roundtable, and more.
Indulge your schlock horror bone with the brand new Ghost House Underground imprint, formed by Ghost House Pictures founders Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, which debuts with 8 titles full of terror and gore aplenty (Lionsgate, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP each). The launch titles include Room 205, The Last House In The Woods, Brotherhood Of Blood, Trackman, No Man’s Land: The Rise Of Reeker, Dance Of The Dead, The Substitute, and Dark Floors. All of the flicks feature audio commentaries, featurettes, galleries, and more.
It could have been a hokey mess – and there is still some hokinees about – but Liberty’s Kids (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) is a fun little animated series for kids that makes the American Revolution come alive. In a nutshell, the series follows a pair of young reporters for Benjamin Franklin (voiced by Walter Cronkite) that must navigate the shifting sands of war.
His time in office may be fast coming to an end, but you can still watch the second season of Lil’ Bush (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP). The 2-disc set features audio commentaries, animated shorts, animatics, and a music video.
Science nerds (like me) can geek out to the complete second season of The Universe (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$44.95 SRP), covering topics like cosmic holes, dark matter, astrobiology, colonizing space, cosmic collisions, and much more. The 5-disc set features all 18 episodes. Onward, nerds!
It has been a long, long time since the release of the second season, but fans and interested parties can now partake of The Partridge Family: The Complete Third Season (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$29.95 SRP). The 3-disc set features all 25 episodes, plus minisodes of Charlie’s Angels and Diff’rent Strokes.
Terence Malick’s epic tale of Captain John Smith and the Jamestown settlement’s relations with the Native American populace, The New World (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$20.98 SRP), gets even more epic with an expanded director’s cut, containing over 30 minutes of new material. The disc is otherwise featureless, and the film is flawed, but the visuals are nice.
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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