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…
(Also, please support Quick Stop by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)
The remastered editions of Star Trek: The Original Series (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$129.99 SRP) – the ones with new special effects and restored prints – got a shot at a high definition release a few years back. Sadly, Paramount was backing the HD-DVD horse at the time, and they only got as far as releasing a hybrid DVD/HD-DVD of the first season. Well, now Blu-Ray is on the scene, so we’re getting a pure Blu-Ray high definition release featuring not only the remastered version of the show, but the original as well. Bonus features are largely ported over from that original release, including rare home movies, featurettes, trivia, and more. Regardless, the series looks beautiful in high-def, and here’s hoping for the speedy release of seasons 2 & 3.
If you want a graphics tablet just for the occasional use and don’t want to drop a ton of money on a deluxe one, the SuperPen Graphics Tablet ($49.99) is for you. It’s a nice introductory piece of equipment that incorporates both the pen and a mouse, and will certainly help you get the hang of a tablet’s drawing and writing versatility.
When people ask me why I tend to prefer British comedies to their US counterparts, I have only to point to a show like Pulling (MPI, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) to prove my case. In a nutshell, it revolves around a trio of twenty-something single women keen on sex, drink, and maybe even love. Trust me – it’s great, and definitely worth a spin. Bonus features include a pair of audio commentaries, interviews, featurettes, and deleted scenes.
It is with no small irony that Kate Winslet won an Oscar for her role in The Reader (Genius, Rated R, DVD-$29.95 SRP) so soon after sending up herself in Extras, revealing what actors have to do to score the gold. The film itself is quite an engrossing tale of a love, frustration, and lies in post-war Germany. The DVD contains featurettes, deleted scenes, and the theatrical trailer. A Blu-Ray edition ($34.98 SRP) is also available, with identical bonus materials.
There’s simply too many television shows in the studio libraries for even the most diligent company to release in a timely fashion. Stepping in to help get that TV product out is the fine folks at Shout! Factory, who have built a reputation in licensing and releasing top-notch TV-on-DVD releases that have until now fallen through the cracks. The series getting complete first season sets from Shout! are Rhoda, My Two Dads, Room 222, Malcolm & Eddie (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP each), California Dreams, and The Paper Chase (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$44.99 SRP each). All of the sets save for Malcolm & Eddie & The Paper Chase contain newly-produced retrospective featurettes with the show’s casts.
One new TV-to-DVD set that special kudos must go to Shout! Factory for is the release of the complete first & second seasons of Mr. Belvedere (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$44.99 SRP). “Back in the day”, as the kids say, I rarely missed an episode of Mr. Belvedere, a sitcom that seemed a cut above the rest of its family-based contemporaries (I place it alongside |Family Ties). The 5-disc set contains all 29 1st & 2nd season episodes, plus a newly-produced retrospective featurette with the cast.
The actually decent animated adventures of ol’ webhead continue in The Spectacular Spider-Man: Volume Four (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$19.94 SRP), which collects another 4 episodes from the series, including appearances from The Black Cat, Venom, and The Sandman.
It’s the second of the cobbled-together attempts by Warner Bros. to utilize their extensive animation back catalog, and while the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie featured new interstitial animation directed by Chuck Jones, The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (Warner Bros., Rated G, DVD-$14.98 SRP) was directed by another classic Warner legend, Friz Freleng. As a bonus, they’ve also put the new-to-DVD late 80’s short Box Office Bunny, as well as From Hare To Eternity & Pullet Surprise.
It’s pretty much your standard, cliched girl vs. girl comedy, but at least Bride Wars (Fox, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) features nice performances from Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson as a pair of best friends who find their respective weddings accidentally booked on the same day at New York’s Plaza Hotel. Mild hilarity ensues. The Blu-Ray edition also sports a standard DVD, and bonus features include deleted scenes, featurettes, and interviews.
I periodically try, but I still don’t enjoy Seth MacFarlane’s American Dad (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). Just can’t get into it. I know many can, and those are the people that will be picking up the 4th volume, whose 3 discs feature 14 episodes plus audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and a trio of featurettes.
I know there were fans of it, but I never really could get into the 90’s animated adventures o Marvel’s mutants, The X-Men. For those that did, though, you can now pick up X-Men: Volume 1 and X-Men: Volume 2 (Buena Vista, Not Rated, DVD-$23.99 SRP each), featuring the first 33 episodes of the series and its sometimes baffling mish-mash of continuity.
Universal jumps into their library and comes up with a batch of pre-code films (much like Warners and Fox) for their first Pre-Code Hollywood Collection (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). The set features 6 films from that wild & wooly era – The Cheat, Merrily We Go To Hell, Hot Saturday, Torch Singer, Murder At The Vanities, and Search For Beauty.
Universal also dips into the archives to release a restored 75th anniversary edition of Cecil B. Demille’s Cleopatra (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP). Bonus features include an audio commentary, featurettes on Demille and star Claudette Colbert, and a look at the pre-Production Code era.
It’s still flawed and not terribly good, but Punisher: War Zone (Lionsgate, Rated R, DVD-$34.98 SRP) comes a hell of a lot closer to capturing the comic book character than the last big screen attempt. Bonus features include an audio commentary and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
It’s pretty paint by numbers, but kudos must go to The Uninvited (Dreamworks, Rated PG-13, DVD-$29.98 SRP) for at least attempting to try a little bit of horror sans all of the Saw-esque gore – even if the tale of a pair of sisters encountering more than they expected whilst investigating the past of their father’s fiancée, who also happened to be their deceased mother’s caregiver. Bonus materials include a featurette, deleted scenes, and an alternate ending. A Blu-Ray edition ($39.99 SRP) is also available, with identical bonus features.
We’re up to the sixth season of Mission: Impossible (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP), and would you believe that Jim Phelps gets a message EVERY EPISODE that launches the team into globe-spanning action? Would you believe that? Because it happens ALL THE TIME. The 6-disc set contains all 22 episodes.
I never thought we’d reach the end, but another TV show’s DVD journey is over with the release of the 9th and final season of The Waltons (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), as the family enters the post-war peace of the late 40’s. The 3-disc set features all 22 episodes.
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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