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…)
Matt Stone & Trey Parker show no signs of flagging in the seventeenth season of South Park (Comedy Central, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP), as it contains the truly epic “Black Friday” trilogy, which is the show at its social pop commentary best, The 2-disc set contains all 10 episodes, plus the standard clutch of mini-commentaries and deleted scenes, plus a new #socialcommentary feature, with behind-the-scenes tweets from the official @SouthPark account.
The soul stealers at Hot Toys continue their magical miracles with their latest take on Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow (Sideshow, $189.99), this time portrayed with her updated look in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. While the costume has seen only minor changes over the course of her three figures (dating back to Hot Toys’ take from Iron Man 2), the biggest change is in both her maturing head sculpt and different hairstyle, accomplished once again by astonishingly well-realized rooted hair rather than a sculpt. The figure has the usual complement of extra hands and wrist gauntlets (featuring her “widow’s bite” lasers), plus a pair of pistols ad a cell phone. And did I mention again how eerily realistic she is?
Some of the freshest, funniest sketch work being done on TV can be found in the third season of Key & Peele (Comedy Central, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP), as the duo tackle everything from paintboobs to PB & J. The 2-disc set contains a best of seasons 1 & 2 special, “The Van & Mike Show”, and a gag reel.
It seems the US is taking a page from the UK’s longstanding policy of quickly releasing episodes to home video prior to a big season box set with the drop of Doctor Who: Deep Breath (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP), which sports the feature-length debut of modern Who‘s 8th season and Peter Capaldi’s Doctor. To make the impulse purchase a little sweeter, the BBC have added in a behind-the-scenes featurette, a prequel, “The Real History Of Science Fiction: Time” documentary, and last year’s live special in which Capaldi was announced as the Doctor.
If there’s one reason and one reason alone to watch the BBC’s The Musketeers (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.96 SRP), it’s to catch the mighty Peter Capaldi in his turn as Cardinal Richelieu. And really, isn’t that enough? Bonus materials include a quartet of featurettes.
A landmark science fiction anime gets the high definition treatment it deserves with the 25th anniversary edition of Ghost In The Shell (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), which means if you’ve never seen its mind-blowing craziness, now is the perfect time to do so.
It definitely grew on me, and by the end of its first season, I was looking forward to spending time with the crack ensemble of Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$44.98 SRP). The 3-disc set contains all 22 episodes, plus deleted scenes.
Sure, it’s not the Belushi/Aykroyd black comedy I was hoping for, but the Seth Rogen/Zac Efron Neighbors (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) still has its comedic moments, many coming from Rogen aging into the role of one-half of a young couple (with Rose Byrne) whose quiet suburban life in their new home with their newborn child is ruptured when a college fraternity moves in next door, fronted by frat boy Efron. And then they go to war. Of course. Bonus materials include an alternate opening, deleted/alternate scenes, featurettes, and a gag reel.
It’s as lowbrow as most Chuck Lorre comedies, but there’s no denying the appeal of leads Allison Janney and Anna Faris in Mom (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$44.98 SRP), which finds Faris as a newly-sober single mom thrown up against her own mother (Janney) as comedic sparks fly. The sole bonus feature is an often-funnier-than-the-show gag reel.
For those of you who still watch the seemingly neverending pandering emptiness and truly wasted ensemble cast of Big Bang Theory (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$44.98 SRP), the seventh season is more of the same, including a decided increase in guest stars and wacky t-shirts. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes, the 2013 Comic-Con panel, and a gag reel.
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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Made on a shoestring but with verve to spare, 
