FRED Entertainment

Tag: Alice

  • Win ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS on DVD!

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    In conjunction with BBC Home Video, we’re giving away two (2) copies of ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS on DVD.

    Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, April 17th.

    Enter the contest!
    Email:
    First name:
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    Official Rules

    No member of FRED Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

    No Purchase necessary to win.

    Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

    One entry per day, per person.

    All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, April 17th.

    The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

  • Win ALICE IN WONDERLAND on DVD!

    contestheader.jpg

    In conjunction with BBC Home Video, we’re giving away two (2) copies of ALICE IN WONDERLAND on DVD.

    Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, April 17th.

    Enter the contest!
    Email:
    First name:
    Last name:
    Street Address:
    Address Line 2 (if needed):
    City:
    State/Province/Whatever:
    Zip Code/Postal Code:
    Country:
    Birth Month:
    Birth Day:
    Birth Year:

    Official Rules

    No member of FRED Entertainment or their immediate families may enter.

    No Purchase necessary to win.

    Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

    One entry per day, per person.

    All submitted entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, April 17th.

    The winner must allow 4-6 weeks after notification of win to receive the product.

  • Weekend Shopping Guide 3/22/13: There And Back Again

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    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 can understand in a world where Bridesmaids has already come down the pike a comedy like Bachelorette (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) might seem redundant, but this tale of a group of high school friends (Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fisher) who are slammed back together for the wedding of their friend (Rebel Wilson) and proceed to make a disaster of the hours leading up to the ceremony proves itself worthy just by dint of being a funny romp with winning performances. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, a featurette, and bloopers.

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    When I first saw Peter Jackson’s return to Middle Earth with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$44.95 SRP), I was disappointed in what a messy anticlimax it was, right down to the unresolved ending. But then, much like the same arc I took with the original Lord Of The Rings films, my opinion has softened and I’m becoming affectionate towards it, though I probably won’t really embrace it until the extended cut arrives later this year. For now, though, the theatrical cut is available, along with 2+ hours of the video featurettes released over the course of the production.

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    I was quite looking forward to the big screen adaptation of the legendary stage musical Les Miserables (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP), and while in many ways it’s a suitably epic adaptation of an epic piece of stagecraft, it’s also baffling in some of its off-putting execution… In particular, how director Tom Hooper seems to shoot the entire thing in close-ups. Instead of focusing on the film, I found myself counting nose hairs – not exactly the experience I was hoping for. Still, it’s worth a spin, if only for the music, and its sheer bombast. Bonus materials include a handful of behind-the-scenes featurettes and an audio commentary.

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    A cult film in the best sense of the word, Timerider (Shout Factory, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$19.93 SRP) is a little 80’s ball of fun about champion off-road racer Lyle Swann (Fred Ward) who accidentally gets sent back 100 years into the past – The Old West, to be exact. When bandits steal his bike, he’s got only his wits, a lovely outlaw, and an Exxon map to try and get back to the present. Oh, Michael Nesmith – Why aren’t you still producing movies? Bonus materials include an audio commentary, interviews, and a storyboard gallery.

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    With his Oscar win for Lincoln still fresh in people’s minds, it’s not surprising that the BBC is dropping a pair of releases spotlighting Daniel Day-Lewis with the straightforwardly named Daniel Day Lewis Triple Feature (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) – featuring How Many Miles To Babylon, The Insurance Man, & Dangerous Corner – and the mini-series My Brother Jonathan (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP).

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    Shout Factory continues to be a savior for completionists hoping to get to the end of their TV show collections, with the release of The Hardy Boys: Season Three (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$24.97 SRP), Law & Order: Criminal Intent: The Final Year/11th Season (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.93 SRP), and MadTV: Season Two (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP). All praise to the fine folks at Shout – Heck, they even release nifty titles like Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.97 SRP).

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    Classic Doctor Who fans will probably want to check out the BBC’s 1986 production of Alice In Wonderland (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$14.97 SRP), as it’s written & directed by longtime Who writer Barry Letts, and produced by Terrance Dicks. Also being released is the 1973 BBC production of Alice Through The Looking Glass (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$14.97 SRP).

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    How about this week’s soundtrack round-up? First up, you’ve got Bear McCreary’s score for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (La-La Land Records, $19.98 SRP). Meanwhile, George Fenton scores the latest beautiful documentary from the BBC, Frozen Planet (Silva Screen Records, $14.99 SRP). Then there’s the Cliff Martinez score to the Robert Redord-starrer The Company You Keep (Sony Pictures Classics, $13.99 SRP). Finally, there’s the soundtrack to SOS Titanic (Silva Screen, $14.99 SRP), composed and conducted by Howard Blake.

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    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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  • Weekend Shopping Guide 2/4/11: A Very Merry Unbirthday

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    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…)

    You can take your high definition Beauty & The Best and Lion King – I’ve been patiently waiting to see Disney do another stem to stern remaster of one of their classic titles, and I’m happy to say that their refurbishment of Alice In Wonderland (Walt Disney, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) looks absolutely stunning… I’d even go as far as to say “pristine”. The bonus features – including vintage TV specials, a deleted song, and pencil tests – are carried over from the original DVD release, with the exclusive addition of a Walt Disney introduction to the 1959 TV showing, reference footage introduced by Kathryn Beaumont, and a companion’s guide to Wonderland.

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    So, what if you’re a Doctor Who fans who wants any fannish material you own to be practical, as well? You get the Doctor Who: 11th Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver Screwdriver ($19.99), which houses an honest-to-gosh screwdriver within its diecast shell, featuring both phillips and flathead tips. See? Now you can be a DIY nerd.

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    It’s been years since I saw the film – probably since the director’s cut was released on DVD – but I still like Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous (Dreamworks, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP), even if it is too often sugar-coated and cute in its period nostalgia and reverence for the music of the era. The high-def Blu-Ray edition of the aforementioned Director’s Cut has finally been released, but only as a Best Buy exclusive, which features an intro & audio commentary from Crowe, featurettes, a music video, an interview with Lester Bangs, Crowe’s Rolling Stone articles, and more.

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    I found the film itself to be overlong and a bit plodding, but I can find no fault in Jamie Foxx’s performance as the legendary Ray Charles in Ray (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP), which makes its high definition debut with a special edition featuring all of the bonus materials from the original DVD release, including an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and an introduction from director Taylor Hackford.

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    Boy, it’s been years since the last season release, but out of the blue comes the complete fourth season of the only helicopter action show of the 80’s, Airwolf (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). The 5-disc set contains all 24 episodes.

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    In the past year, the Saturday Night Live: Best Of discs have been getting a refresher release, featuring additional bonus content like outtakes, dress rehearsal sketches, and just plain more regular sketches. The two newest additions to the refresher course are Saturday Night Live: The Best Of John Belushi & Saturday Night Live: The Best Of Chris Farley (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each).

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    In the 8th volume of MI-5 (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), we find the team off to recover a kidnapped teammate after they thwarted Russia’s planned London attack, but as you might expect, things aren’t quite what they seem. Bonus materials include audio commentaries and a pair of featurettes.

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    While Warners has been a clear forerunner in releasing beautiful high definition special editions of their catalogue classics, but other studios are catching up, and Fox has done so with a pair of very nice releases in An Affair To Remember and All About Eve (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP each). Both films look and sound great, and both feature audio commentaries and a clutch of featurettes and documentaries.

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    Warner’s Archive Collection dips into the vaults and pulls up a collection that just so happens to coincide with the 100th birthday of its star, Ronald Reagan – the Brass Bancroft of the Secret Service Mysteries Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, $19.95), which contains a quartet of B-movies wherein Reagan’s Agent Bancroft thwarts spies and smugglers.

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    I’m not a fan or horror films, but I did enjoy the almost sublime terror that builds up within the vampire flick Let Me In (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which is due almost entirely to the performance of the preternatural Chloe Moretz (last seen in Kick Ass). Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and galleries.

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    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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