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…)
Over forty years on, and The Great Escape (MGM, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP) is still an absolute cracker of a film, and now it finally sparkles and shines in high definition via an ace (and long-awaited) Blu-Ray release, featuring an audio commentary and a clutch of featurettes.
Though we caught a glimpse of them at the beginning of The Motion Picture, it wasn’t until Star Trek III: The Search For Spock that the Klingons were place front and center as the cinematic baddie, with the main heavy, Kruge, being played by the legendary Christopher Lloyd. Also making its debut was the design for their ship, the Klingon Bird Of Prey ($69.99), which is now available in plastic form from the fine folks at Thinkgeek and Diamond Select Toys, fully kitted out with LEDs and sounds from the film. If that weren’t enough, you can get it in two different forms – regular look, and a transparent plastic “cloaking” version.
I haven’t quite figured out their release methodology, but I’m delighted all the same that Fantagraphics has added another volume to their growing Carl Barks library with the release of Donald Duck: The Old Castle’s Secret (Fantagraphics, $28.99), the centerpiece of which is the titular tale of Donald & his nephews being sent to investigate Uncle Scrooge’s haunted ancestral home. More of these, please.
It’s been so long since they came out that I’d forgotten just how much I liked the amiable East Meets West comedies starring Owen Wilson & Jackie Chan – Shanghai Noon/Shanghai Knights (Touchstone, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$26.50 SRP), both of which make their high definition debut in a single double feature release featuring all of the bonus features found on the original DVD release, including commentaries and deleted scenes.
The battle to overthrow the Observers begins in the 5th and final season of Fringe (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), as Walter Bishop and the Fringe team race to decipher the clues necessary to reclaim the Earth. Bonus materials include audio commentary, featurettes, the 2012 Comic-Con panel, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
You have to dig through a lot of reality show crud in order to see them still operating under their name, but when something like the wonderful WWII From Space (History Channel, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP) comes along – in which the conflict is presented from a satellite-eye view, allowing for greater context – it makes me lament the History Channel’s recent focus on all of the substandard programming that hides documentaries like this.
Well, the best I can say about Jack Reacher (Paramount, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is that it’s another in the long line of recent Tom Cruise actioners, filled with high-octane actiony action in which Cruise plays an ex-military investigator tasked with solving a crime… with ACTION. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and a clutch of featurettes.
You’ve got Brainiac, the miniature Kryptonian city of Kandor, and Supergirl in the latest DC Universe Animated movie Superman: Unbound (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP), which also sports a couple of featurettes, bonus cartoons, a preview of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and is guaranteed to be better than Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel.
What’s great about the Guillermo del Toro-produced Mama (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) is that it’s a horror film that depends on genuine shocks rather than gristle and gore, weaving its disquieting tale into a masterful psychological ride. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, the original short it was based on, a featurette, and deleted scenes.
With Baz Luhrmann’s big screen adaptation hitting screens, now’s the perfect time to partake of the BBC’s documentary The Great Gatsby: Midnight In Manhattan (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which looks at the troubled genius behind the novel, author F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In a bizarro move facilitated by the odd way in which the BBC once treated the creation of characters for Doctor Who, the character of K-9 is a free agent, which allowed for the creation of a kid’s show titled, appropriately enough, K-9 (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.97 SRP), which brings the robotic dog to a late 21st-century London now ruled by aliens, where he aids a group of kids in their rebellion against the government. Bonus materials include a making-of documentary and an interview with the star himself.
CBS continues to roll out their classic TV westerns, wrapping up the adventures of Paladin with the final season of Have Gun Will Travel (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), and the eighth season of Gunsmoke (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP). They’re also dropping the complete miniseries adaptation of James A. Michener’s epic Texas (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP).
And hey, for this week’s soundtrack releases, we’ve got E.C. Woodley’s score to Antiviral (Lakeshore Records, $9.99 SRP), and pianist Joohyun Park performing The Film Music Of Michael Nyman (BSX Records, $19.19 SRP).
You can never have too much Doctor Who tat in your life, and with that in mind, you can chase the Doctor with the blind-boxed Doctor Who Titans Vinyl Figures ($13.99 SRP each). With 16 different characters including The Doctor, Cybermen, Daleks, Silurians, the TARDIS and chase figures, that’s a whole lot of box opening.
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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