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…)

I had worries that The King’s Speech (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) wouldn’t live up to all of the kudos that had been thrown its way, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a genuinely enjoyable cinematic experience about a very personal struggles of a very private figure, held together by a genuinely stellar cast. Bonus materials include a behind-the-scenes featurette, a cast and director Q&A, and a look at the history behind the story.

Yeah, I love me some novelty cameras, and the Midnight Shot NV-1 Night Vision Camera ($129.99) is certainly a novelty camera. As you’ve probably already begun to suspect, besides taking decent 5MP regular photos, it also allows you infrared night vision shots, which is pretty darn snappy. Is the novelty worth it? If you want to be able to take night vision shots at a reasonable price, yes.

It’s an embarrassment of riches from the fine folks at Fantagraphics as they deliver not one, but two fantastic comic collections for aficionados to dive into. Not only do we get the 15th volume of The Complete Peanuts (Fantagraphics, $28.99 SRP) covering the years 1979-1980 and featuring an intro from Al Roker, but we also get the 5th volume of EC Segar’s Popeye (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP), Wha’s A Jeep, which introduces us to the magical Jeep. Both volumes? Brilliant.

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, Spike Lee returned to New Orleans for a follow up to his documentary When The Levees Broke. The equally powerful return is documented in If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don’t Rise (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), which finds the still depressed community facing the consequences of the BP Oil spill while still trying to keep the spirit of NOLA alive. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and additional interviews.

The arrival of the Handmade Films library in high definition continues with both a hard-bitten action flick and farce – Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa, starring Bob Hoskins & Michael Caine, and Alan Bennett’s A Private Function (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$17.98 SRP each), starring Michael Palin & Maggie Smith.

Not only great films make it to Blu-Ray – sometimes you get catalogue releases like the one-two punch of Mortal Kombat & Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.98 each). Bonus features are limited to a video game trailer and the theatrical trailer.

MGM cranks up their on-demand program (similar to the programs already in place over at Warners and Universal) with a clutch of obscure catalogue titles including an early turn from William Shatner in The Explosive Generation (MGM, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), Gregory Peck in Billy Two Hats (MGM, Rated PG, DVD-$19.98 SRP), The Great Cathouse And Cathouse Thursday (MGM, Rated PG, DVD-$19.98 SRP), Eric Roberts in The Ambulance (MGM, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP), Maximillian Schell in Return From The Ashes (MGM, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), and the Edgar Allan Poe-based Buried Alive (MGM, Rated R, DVD-$19.98 SRP).

I’m sure that the Jack Black-starring bastardization of Gulliver’s Travels (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is exactly what Jonathan Swift had in mind when he wrote his 18th century political and social satire, urine jokes and all. The Blu-Ray edition sports a clutch of featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.

Take another show off the uncompleted list as the 6th & final season of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) arrives, sporting all 24 episodes including the memorable blooper episode. You know you want to spend one last bit of time with James Avery.

If all of that story and character just seemed like filler to you, you’ll probably want to pick up Glee: Encore (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), which boils the show down to just the music performances from season 1.

While Sideshow Collectibles has been doing quite good work with their 12″-scale Star Wars figures over the years, sometimes one of their pieces stands head and shoulders above that already-stellar work into the realm of sublime recreation, closely matching its onscreen counterpart. Such is the case with their 12″ Gamorrean Guard ($199.99), which features not only a perfect sculpt of Jabba’s piggish brute, but also an expertly tailored leather and fur costume. A brilliant piece.

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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