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…)
Get the full at-home 3-D experience of their theatrical releases with the new 3-D editions of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, & Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney, Rated G, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP each). All 3 are eye-popping treats that look and sound really, really good on your massive 3DHDTV. The bonus features are exactly the same, including audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, roundtables, production art, and much more. These new 3-D sets even come with the standard Blu-Ray & DVD, plus a digital copy. Why would you buy these films any other way?
If your kid is both a LEGO and a Star Wars fan, then they’re probably in need of a place to put all of those piles of bricks. Well, with the ZipBin Star Wars Storage Case ($19.99), they can not only keep their LEGOs in there, but they can also unzip it for a themed play area.
I don’t see it as quite the abomination that some purists have made it out to be, and it’s not like Pixar hasn’t done sequels before, but the best I can say about Cars 2 (Walt Disney, Rated G, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP) is that it’s an enjoyable film that largely treads creative water, but that’s fine. It’s fun. And, of course, the kids will watch it on endless repeat as parents rue the introduction of dozens of new toys they’ll have to buy. Besides looking stunning in 3D, the 5-disc 3D edition is loaded with an audio commentary, two brand new short subjects, featurettes, deleted scenes, artwork, and more.
While it’s not the feature-laden special edition I was hoping for, I’m still delighted that we’ve gotten one of my favorite holiday flicks, Scrooged (Paramount, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP), in high definition just in time to gather the family around the big screen this holiday season. Now put a little love in your heart.
Even if you’re not terribly curious about the entertainment industry, there’s no denying that His Way: A Portrait Of Hollywood Legend Jerry Weintraub (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is an engaging documentary about an industry veteran as colorful in his own way as his contemporary Robert Evans. Give it a spin and you’ll be hooked. Bonus materials include additional footage.
Join Victoria Justice and the kids at Hollywood Arts High School for more singing, dancing, and ventriloquism in Victorious: Season 1 Part 2 (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP). The 2-disc set contains 9 episodes plus the iCarly crossover special, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a music video.
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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It’s a terribly bleak meditation on aging and not terribly suitable for kids who aren’t in the middle of an existential crisis, which may be an odd assessment to some considering I’m talking about 
There’s something oh so juvenile but oh so fun about having 
The 25th anniversaries are coming fast and furious, as hot on the heels of Back To The Future comes 
A few years ago, mentalist/sorcerer supreme Derren Brown released a book that provided tantalizing glimpses into his life but largely served as a sort of overview to the methodology behind his magic. Now, however, he’s returned with a proper autobiography, 
A few years back, when the 
It’s not nearly as enjoyable or as cohesive as Band Of Brothers, but there’s still plenty of fascinating history – and accompanying visuals – to be had in its follow-up mini-series, 
It’s a growing trend to create books packed with reproductions of ephemera, and you can add the Harry Potter film franchise to that list with the release of 
I’ve made it this far in my life without ever having seen 
Just in time for the holidays – and hot on the heels of his stage comeback – you can pick up the complete 5-season run of 
It’s a big ol’ festive mess of a film, but I have a special place in my heart for 
Join photographer Murray Fredericks as he travels into the remote, dangerous, formidable, and breathtakingly beautiful Lake Eyre, a massive salt lake in the north corner of South Australia. The documentary, 
It’s clearly Robert Rodriguez’s attempt to make the same impact on the Predator franchise that James Cameron made with Aliens, but Rodriguez’s 
My unwavering love for Star Wars has wavered quite a bit since George Lucas slapped us with the prequels, but occasionally something comes along that reignites that enthusiasm, if only for a brief time. One of those flares came when flipping through 
There may be only one Highlander, but they made the unfortunate decision to follow up the decent fantasy flick 
A sci-fi schlock classic makes its DVD debut as 
It’s not spaceflight or Everest, but using IMAX to shoot and present the works of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings is certainly a unique, and interesting, use of the format, as shown in 
When he’s not busy giving directions to a god of thunder, Kenneth Branagh has been starring as Inspector Kurt Wallander in the BBC’s latest mystery series 
If you want to look at a dull, lifeless reimagining, look no further than the awkward tedium that is 
Sadly, you don’t get the 3-D experience of their recent theatrical re-release, but the high definition versions of 
There have been diecast replicas made in the past, and while I miss the replacement of the stainless steel body for plastic, it is pretty damn cool to have a 
It’s Christmas at Easter as those nifty chaps at Rifftrax bring you a DVD release of their holiday 
When Mr. Fox (George Clooney) takes his thieving ways a bit too far, the wrath of the local human farmers is brought down around the heads of his friends in family in We Anderson’s delight, stop-motion animated 
I think a comedic take on sword & sorcery epics has been a long-time coming, and I just wish that Comedy Central’s take on it – 
The 3rd season of 
It’s not nearly the mess that some have made it out to be, but as satirical films about the illogic of war and the military go, 
It never quite lived up to the fun and adventure of its predecessor, but by the end of 
For all those (including myself) who have accused Steven Spielberg of being an emotional button-pushing, saccharine filmmaker, watch 
I think the quicker we can forget that the AMC remake of the brilliant 60’s series ever happened, the better, because this take on 
Fans of low-budget, direct-to-video horror will want to pick up the “8 Films To Die For” comprising the 4th edition of the After Dark Horrorfest – 
Overshadowed by the arrival of Mike Tyson, Robert Townsend’s 
If you’d like to partake of a brilliant, fascinating documentary snapshot of what seems like a distant age – even though it’s only 40 years ago – take a look at 
The 3rd volume of 
Celebrate Easter with a pair of new-to-DVD specials, the first of which is 
Remember Ken Wahl? Remember Wiseguy, the show in which he starred as the FBI deep cover agent Vincent Terranova, out to take down the mob from within. Now you can get all 4 seasons in one handy set. 
Well, now we know that while Jeff Bridges was filming the role that would earn him an Oscar, his brother Beau was co-starring in a direct-to-video sequel with Bindi Irwin – 
First and foremost, take a moment to celebrate the glorious demise of the ill-conceived American version of Spaced with the news that this July brings the release with the original Britcom that put Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jessica Hynes, and Edgar Wright on the geek map. Loaded with bonus features from not only the UK release, but also exclusive to the US edition, this is a must-have set. Keep an eye out at your favorite online retailer or DVD emporium.
By the third season of 
For years now, I’ve been reiterating that you should buy, post-haste, the comedic sci-fi novels of Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. Every one so far has been a gem, and he’s managed to keep the plate spinning with his latest tale of slow-witted detective Frank Burly, 
With a new Indy flick in the offing, it was a foregone conclusion that we’d see some form of re-release on the original trilogy – and so we have with the 
Cinema geeks rejoice! Universal has seen fit to collect 10 of their catalogue’s most genre-tastic titles into one box set – 
As much as I liked the “official” history found in the deluxe tome To Infinity And Beyond, it’s nice to have a complementary, unauthorized book about the early days and rise of Pixar to balance out the picture, and David Price’s 
The movie’s not yet in theaters, but everything I’ve seen of Kung Fu Panda has made me keen to do so. It’s taken awhile for rival studios that the way to fight Pixar is not to make knock-off Pixar flicks, but to realize the same thing that Warners did in their heyday – leave the heart to Disney and focus on the comedy instead. If you want to whet your appetite for this flick, look no further than 
I wasn’t alive to experience firsthand growing up in the 50’s, but I’m certainly aware of the shows and celebrities that made up the pop culture diet of that generation. If you’re as interested as I am in that period, you’ve got to get yourself a copy of 
It’s been 10 years since the passing of the Chairman of the Board, and Warners has seen fit to celebrate his passing with a quartet of box sets celebrating Frank Sinatra’s cinematic legacy – 
Everyone’s favorite sleuthing antiquities dealer returns in the complete third season of 
It’s not like I would have paid to see it in the theater, but 
The fourth season of 
Just when my nephews have nearly burned out the previous release, along comes 
One of my nephews is fast approaching the one-year mark, and getting him to sleep is quite a feat with all that teething going on. We’ve found that a big help in the seemingly never-ending battle is Nickelodeon’s 
The off-color puppets are back with 
Have you ever picked up a book and thought “This is an idea that was a long-time coming…”? I thought that very thing when I thumbed through 
You’ll weep, you’ll awww, you’ll get plenty of points from your significant other if you pick her up a copy of the new 
Like According To Jim, 
Surprisingly enough, Sean Combs acquitted himself quite well in last year’s TV adaptation of 
One of those programs that will always grab my attention if insomnia or boredom has me scanning channels at 4 in the morning is anything with forensic examiner Dr. Michael Baden. An all-new edition of