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 FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)

While it’s not the equal of How To Train Your Dragon, I really did dig Dreamworks latest CG-animated flick, Mastermind (Dreamworks, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), which concerns itself with the titular supervillain in a world that’s forever been tilted in favor of his superheroic contemporary since their births on nearby dying worlds, Metroman. But then Mastermind succeeds in killing his rival, leaving him in control of Metro City… And I’ll leave the rest to you. Bonus materials include a new short, an audio commentary, featurettes, and more.

It’s not a terribly nice thing to do to a butterfly, that whole putting it in a jar thing. Thankfully, technology has now found a way to created an Electronic Butterfly In A Jar ($19.99) that is creepily realistic in how it flutters about its glassy enclosure, right down to reacting to taps. Spooky cool!

Has it really been 11 years since the release of Memento (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), and its good to know that, even knowing its gimmick and end, it still holds up as a good watch, even more so in high definition. Bonus features include an audio commentary, featurettes, and interviews.

MGM has dipped into their catalogue for a trio of fan favorites and brought them into high definition – Rain Man (MGM/UA, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), Moonstruck (MGM/UA, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), and Last Tango In Paris (MGM/UA, Rated NC-17, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP). Rain Man sports a trio of commentaries, a pair of featurettes, and a deleted scene, while Moonstruck gets an audio commentary and a pair of featurettes.

It’s not nearly as cohesive, heartfelt, or funny, but Due Date (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP) clearly owes a debt to Planes Trains & Automobiles, as it pairs an unlikely duo forced together by circumstance (Robert Downey, Jr & Zach Galifianakis) on a cross-country road trip that meets with increasingly outlandish obstacles, the gimmick this time being the need to arrive before the birth of Downey’s child. Bonus materials include featurettes, additional scenes, and a gag reel.

Even if you’re not a fan of the musical, there’s no denying the power of the music – and the performances – in the Les Miserables: 25th Anniversary Concert (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP) makes it an epic affair aided & abetted by a beautiful high definition presentation, recorded live at London’s O2 Arena late last year.

Bring a little bit of Zim into your life with Invader Zim: Operation Doom (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP), which collects 13 episodes of alien fun.

Learn more about the formation of this incredible rock we all live on with the complete second season of How The Earth Was Made (History Channel, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.95 SRP), which features all 13 episodes covering everything from the Grand Canyon to Everest.

Watch drivers fight the elements with the aid of editing as nothing really happens in the fourth season of Ice Road Truckers (History Channel, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.95 SRP). That’s right, you’re pretty much just watching truck drivers drive back and forth and back and forth. Yup. Bonus features include additional footage.

Wrap up another season of the adventures of the legendary gunfighter Paladin in Have Gun – Will Travel: The Fifth Season Volume Two (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), which contains the last 19 episodes of the 5th season.

I’m sure everyone has hard the story of the rugby players whose plane crashed high in the Andes, and their desperate struggle for survival, including cannibalism. That story is explored in the documentary I Am Alive: Surviving The Andes Plane Crash (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP).

One of those cult classic films, The Last Unicorn (Lionsgate, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP) is now in high definition, which means you can now listen to the America songs in full surround glory. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, and galleries.

I’ve yet to come across one of the DC Universe Direct-to-DVD animated features that could hold a candle to the storytelling we got in the original Batman, Superman, and Justice League animated series, which is a shame, because it makes viewing adapted-from awful-comic-stories like All Star Superman (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP) all the more painful. The sooner Grant Morrison is gone from comics, the better. Bonus materials include audio commentary, featurettes, and bonus cartoons.

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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