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’m sure I’m not the only Turtle fan baffled that we have yet to see a Blu-Ray release of the show’s first season, but Nick is pretty clockwork with their single-disc releases, the latest of which is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Good, The Bad, And Casey Jones (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which sports six season 2 episodes including the introduction of the titular teen titan. The disc also contains 6 bonus shorts plus a featurette.
Last year, Sideshow released a wonderful premium format statue of Batman’s nemesis, the Clown Prince of Crime himself, The Joker. As stunning as that piece was, it made the wait for his companion that much harder. Why? Because Sideshow’s premium format take on Harley Quinn ($359.99) is pretty darn great, capturing the classic look of Paul Dini’s lovestruck psychotic creation perfectly. If you haven’t snagged your own Harley yet, what are you waitin’ for?
In the pre-Star Wars days of 1975, director Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to realize a ridiculously ambitious and deeply heady feature-film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic Dune, featuring the music of Pink Floyd and designed by the likes of H.R. Giger and Moebius. And it all fell apart in spectacular fashion. Now, the tale of this aborted film is presented in the brilliant documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune (Sony, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$40.99 SRP), and it’s well worth a watch. Also be sure to watch all of the deleted scenes, which provide additional insight and color to an already trippy experience.
The banality of evil is certainly present in the smirking, small town bank president face of Donald Rumsfeld as he glibly defends his awful legacy in Errol Morris’s grimly compelling documentary The Unknown Known (Anchor Bay, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP). Bonus materials include an audio commentary, a four-part op-ed, and the 3rd Report of the Secretaries of Defense from 1989.
It’s still not the equal of the beautifully executed Avatar, but there’s still plenty to recommend as its follow-up finds firm footing in The Legend Of Korra: Book Two – Spirits (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$35.98 SRP), which throws viewers into the future of the Avatar spirit which now exists within the titular teenage girl. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, featurettes, and animatics.
New to high-def, there’s an old school charm to 1959’s Operation Petticoat (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), a Blake Edwards-directed naval comedy starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis as skipper and junior officer of the underdog submarine U.S.S. Sea Tiger, whose premature wartime ship out to sea is righted by the addition of a group of stranded Army nurses.
It’s an overly-lavish spectacle that certainly befits its Vegas venue, but there’s no denying that Elton John: The Million Dollar Piano (Eagle Rock, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP) features a Captain Fantastic that still knows how to belt out his decades of hits in spectacular fashion. Bonus materials include a making-of featurette and a bonus trio of performances recorded in Kiev.
Johnny Depp’s string of cinematic bad luck continues with the unfortunately inert sci-fi thriller Transcendence (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP), in which Depp plays scientist working to create a sentient machine that combines intelligence and emotion, who is forced to become his own guinea pig in order to save his work from anti-technology extremists. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes and viral videos.
The folks at Mill Creek should make a lot of guilty pleasure-seekers happy with their latest batch of Sony catalogue high definition releases, which brings to Blu The Legend Of Billy Jean (Mill Creek, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$9.98 SRP), Flatliners (Mill Creek, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$9.98 SRP), Anaconda (Mill Creek, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$9.98 SRP), Donnie Brasco (Mill Creek, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$9.98 SRP), Gridiron Gang (Mill Creek, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$9.98 SRP), and Last Action Hero (Mill Creek, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$9.98 SRP).
Nickelodeon has a nifty little batch of releases sure to fill those seemingly endless summer days for the kids in your life, starting with a pair of releases from an old favorite – Rugrats: Outdoor Shenanigans & Rugrats: Reptar Returns (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP each). Bu that’s not all! They’ve also got a pair of triple-threat releases, each featuring episodes from a trio of their most popular shows – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob, and Sanjay & Craig – Heroes In Action & Robot Invasion (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP each).
Far from an “Oh” face, much of Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac: Volume I and Volume II (Magnolia, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP) will leave you with an “Ew” face, as we get a rather disturbing portrait of an emotionally and physically abused young woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her journey of self-discovery. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes.
When one of your chief blurbs comes from Telemundo, you know you’re in for a mindless bit of action fluff, and that’s exactly what the Arnold Schwarzenegger pic Sabotage (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP), as the iron not-so-giant stars as a DEA agent rooting out a criminal element within his team. Bonus materials include a featurette and deleted scenes.
Michael McKean channels a bit of his Spinal Tap alter ego as a famous rocker helped in his search for a new band by Elmo and Abby in Sesame Street: Learning Rocks (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), and that bit of niftiness is plussed when the one and only Donald Glover also makes a trip to the Street.
This week’s soundtrack round-up brings Michael Giacchino’s score for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (Sony Legacy, $11.88 SRP), Jeff Russo’s score for Fargo: Season 1 (Sony Legacy, $9.99 SRP), and Marco Beltrami’s score for Snowpiercer (Varese Sarabande, $14.99 SRP).
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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