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…)
As a child of the 80’s, I was absolutely taken with Ghostbusters when it came out. I had the toys, I used to pretend I was a Ghostbuster, and before everything turned sour with Ghostbusters 2, I delighted in the Saturday morning adventures of the guys on The Real Ghostbusters. After a few disappointing single-disc collections from Sony, Time Life has hit the ball out of the park with the wonderfully packaged The Real Ghostbusters: Volume 1 (Time Life, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). The 5-disc set features the first 30 Real Ghostbusters episodes, episode introductions, visual commentaries, isolated music & effects tracks, featurettes, interviews, and much more.
You know, life can be a bit uninteresting sometimes. And serious. Every once in a while, you want something totally, utterly frivolous to just goofily look at with a dopey smile on your face. Something like a solar powered glow-in-the-dark lightbulb encased in lucite. That’s exactly what the Glow Brick ($25.99) is. And it’s just fun. Is that so wrong?
It’s just been remade with Martin Clunes, but the original Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin (E1, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP) is a true comedy classic, focusing on the running breakdown of a cog in a machine far beyond his control. Do, do, DO give it a spin. The 4-disc set contains all 21 episodes, plus a look at star Leonard Rossiter’s film work, and a long-lost Christmas sketch that reunited the cast three years after the series ended.
Why is it that we get bucketfuls of tripe on TV here in the US, but the UK gets a wonderfully quirky rom-sit-com like Gavin & Stacey (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP)? Gavin & Stacey are a pair of twenty-somethings who have been talking with each other for months while at work – in different offices. You see, they’ve never met face-to-face. It’s when they do that we pick up their story, as we see their relationship develop through the eyes of their friends and family – including Rob Brydon and James Cordon. It truly is a little joy, and is worth importing. Bonus features include audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and outtakes.
One of those shows that I watched intermittently when it was on, always enjoyed it when I did, and am now happy to catch up on via DVD all these years later gets its second season release. Spin City: The Complete Second Season (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP) contains all 24 episodes of the Michael J. Fox gem, but sadly no bonus materials this go round.
I went into The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (Criterion, Rated PG-13, DVD-$34.98 SRP) hoping I’d come out the other side feeling I’d seen an amazing flick. Sadly, when I eventually did reach the other side – and it felt like it was years later – all I felt was exhausted and a bit put off by a sense that director David Fincher could have tightened things up quite a bit, and not seem so obvious in making the film DEEP and IMPORTANT and a reverse-aging Forrest Gump. The film has been released as a 2-disc special edition containing an audio commentary, interviews, featurette, and more. A Blu-Ray edition ($39.99 SRP) is also available, with identical bonus features.
Picking up where Rock Profile and Dead Ringers left off, Star Stories (Channel 4, Not Rated, £29.99 SRP) is a series that impales celebrities with a comedy shiv, sending up the tabloid fodder with giddy pleasure. The box-set contains both series 1 and 2, plus extended/deleted scenes, featurettes, rehearsals, and outtakes.
Fans are still buzzing over the recent new Doctor Who Easter special, as the adventures of the 10th Doctor rapidly come to a close. Let’s go back to the adventures of Doctors 4 & 7 with a pair of new DVD releases – the Tom Baker E-Space Trilogy (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP) and the Sylvester McCoy outing Battlefield (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP). As usual with these Who discs, they’re absolutely loaded to the brim with commentaries, featurettes, documentaries, galleries, interviews, and more.
It’s the chemistry between Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson – as a pair of strangers whose chance encounter in London leads them both to believe that perhaps romance is not dead- that carries the romantic comedy Last Chance Harvey (Anchor Bay, Rated PG-13, DVD-$29.98 SRP). It’s a fresh pic, and worth giving a spin to. The 2-disc set features an audio commentary, a making-of featurette, and the theatrical trailer.
The first season came out a few months back, but now fans can pick up the Blu-Ray edition of Dexter: The Second Season (Showtime, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.99 SRP) and watch all that splatter in full high definition. Bonus features are identical to the standard release, with the addition of BD Live featurettes and podcasts.
Ol’ Blue Eyes is back with a pair of brand new, remastered deluxe additions to the Frank Sinatra Collection – My Way and Live At The Meadowlands (Concord Records, $18.98 SRP each). My Way also features a pair of live bonus tracks (“For Once In My Life” & “My Way”).
Knowledge is power – or, at the very least, interesting – and such is the case with Niall Ferguson’s documentary The Ascent Of Money (Channel 4, Not Rated, £19.99 SRP), which traces the history of the financial world from the 14th century to the present, illuminating its rise and explaining the stock market, what causes a bank run, inflation, and the problem we’re all in now.
The series was released years ago on DVD, but the classic Japanese animated series Gigantor (E1, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) has been restored and augmented with commentaries, interviews, and more for its first volume re-release. The 4-disc set contains the first 26 episodes.
Josie Lawrence & Miranda Richardson star as a pair of Englishwoman who hope to escape their drab lives by heading to the Italian Rivera in Enchanted April (Miramax, Rated PG, DVD-$29.99 SRP). Think of it as a Merchant/Ivory Thelma & Louise. The new special edition features an audio commentary.
New year, new kids, but the teens of Roundview College are just as awkwardly randy in the 3rd series of Skins (Channel 4, Not Rated, £24.99 SRP). The new batch is not as affecting as the old guard, but here’s hoping they grow into the roles in the same way. The 3-disc set contains bonus stories, audition footage, featurettes, and more.
It’s not the massive batch of previous months, but Paramount continues their release of catalogue titles on Blu-Ray with a trio of new discs – Saturday Night Fever, Grease, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Paramount, Rated R/PG/PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP each). Bonus features are identical to their standard DVD cousins.
The original Broadway cast recording of Gypsy (Masterworks Broadway, $13.98 SRP) – yes, the production starring force of nature Ethel Merman – gets a completely remastered and expanded 50th Anniversary Edition, featuring additional tracks not on the original album release, plus interview segments with composer Jule Styne and Gypsy Rose Lee herself.
If your kids are not yet aware of the classic Disney characters – that’s Mickey, Donald, Goofy, etc. – pick up the latest Mickey Mouse Clubhouse release, Mickey’s Big Splash (Walt Disney, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) and get them acquainted with this affable CG kiddie series.
When a movie’s main selling point is that it stars not only George Wendt, but also Joey Piscopo (Joe’s son, of course!), it’s understandable that you may be somewhat wary. Or really wary. Well, Saturday Morning (Lightyear, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) is a harmless romantic comedy about a hapless schlub (Piscopo) who finds that when normal people sleep in on Saturday mornings between 6am-8pm, the world becomes a veritable utopia. Could love be in the offing? What do you think?
I very rarely am blown away by 12-inch collectible figures. Sure, there’s a wonderful novelty to seeing pop culture icons shrunk down with masterful detailing, but perhaps I’ve just become jaded after all of these years of seeing such fine work. That said, I was well and truly impressed with Hot Toys 12″ Iron Man: Mark III ($159.99), currently on offer from the fine folks at Sideshow Collectibles. The price point may seem a bit steep, but considering it’s a Japanese import and the extreme detailing – you would not believe all of the moving flaps and hydraulics on offer – it’s actually pretty fair. Not only do you get a swappable Robert Downey Jr. head and 3 pairs of hands, there’s also an LED light feature that illuminates the eyes, palms, and chest. And, if you’re desire for Iron Man collectibles is still not satiated, Sideshow is also offering a pretty spiffy life-size Iron Man Bust ($699.00), which is limited to only 1500 pieces and stands an impressive 24″ high (not to mention featuring cool LED eyes).
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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