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…)
It’s become cliché to call a Spike Jonze film “quirky”, but there’s a reason clichés become cliché, and his latest, Her (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP) is certainly a quirky, endearing little film in the Spike Jonze style. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a lonely professional letter writer in the near future rebounding from a difficult breakup, who finds his soulmate in the form of a fast-learning artificial intelligence named “Samantha” (Scarlett Johansson). Bonus materials include a trio of featurettes.
They can make brilliant human figures until the cows come home as their particular brand of magic becomes commonplace, but it’s not until you see something as epic as their ED-209 (Sideshow, $409.99) – the disastrously deadly peacekeeping robot featured in the original Robocop – that you can truly appreciate what Hot Toys can accomplish. As it’s in scale with the 1/6-scale figures (and the forthcoming Robocop), it’s a truly massive piece, and incredibly intricate in its detailing. Fully articulated, you could use this “toy” as a stop motion miniature, it’s just so good. And to plus its greatness even more, it even has a remote-operated sound feature which, at the touch of a button, plays a collection of ED-209 lines and sounds from the film. How cool is that?
Magnets and gyroscopes – two nerd tastes that taste great together, and that’s exactly the dynamic duo that’s combined in ball form with the Nanodots GYRO DUO: Magnetically Gyroscopic Balls ($24.99)… And they’re just what it says on the tin – A pair of magnets paired with gyroscopes that are just plain fun to play around with. Can’t ask for more than that.
It can be a dicey proposition fraught with peril, going back and revisiting past successes, but the triumphant trio of Mike, Bill, & Kevin manage it in true style with Rifftrax Live: Manos – The Hands Of Fate (Rifftrax, Not Rated, DVD-$12.95), which features an entirely new set of riffs on a Mystery Science Theater 3000 classic. As an added bonus, the disc also includes outtakes with commentary from the guys. Get it for the love of Torgo. He needs your love.
The most fascinating part of Star Wars Storyboards The Original Trilogy (Abrams, $40 SRP) are the storyboards from the original film, as they present not-yet-solidified characters in vaguely familiar yet by no means finalized designs, in a universe with limitless potential. By the time we get to the boards for Empire and especially Jedi, the universe is pretty well solidified and the boards seem more like a comic book for what we eventually saw onscreen.
Yeah, it should come as no surprise that Kenny Powers as a suburban dad would not last for long, so the fourth and final season of Eastbound & Down (HBO, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP) finds Danny McBride’s crass creation back in the swing of it after meeting up with an ex-teammate. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, outtakes, and deleted scenes.
Watching the documentary series Unsolved Mysteries Of The Second World War (Eagle Rock, Not Rated, DVD-$16.98 SRP) brought back fond memories of the kind of program that would fill the schedule of the pre-junk TV History Channel, when it would be endless hours of documentaries about World War II. This 3-disc set explores some of the lingering questions behind the war, from how much Churchill may have known about the impending Pearl Harbor attacks to why Hitler halted his troops before Dunkirk.
Making a pledge to remain firmly entrenched in the swinging single life winds a trio of friends (Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan) into plenty of mildly amusing situations when the chief proponent of the vow, Jason (Efron), meets a girl (Imogen Poots) who he can’t get out of his mind in That Awkward Moment (Sony, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$25.99 SRP). Bonus materials include featurettes and a gag reel.
Fedor Bondarchuk’s Stalingrad (Sony, Rated R, 3D Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP), which ties a love story into the historical German siege, suffers much the same problems as the film Pearl Harbor – a beautifully shot film about a fascinating slice of World War II history that is hobbled by a pointless shoehorning of romance and bland characters. It’s a shame they don’t let the history stand by itself, because it really is a good looking flick, particularly in 3D.
The mystery series based on Craig Johnson’s best-selling Longmire (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) books comes back for a second season of complications for Sheriff Walt Longmire as deep suspicions about the death of his wife and his wife’s killer come to the foe. Bonus materials include extended episodes and a featurette.
Hey hey! It’s time for this week’s soundtrack round up! So what cinematic audio delights do we have available this go round? There’s John Ottman’s score for X-Men: Days Of Future Past (Sony, $9.99 SRP), Bear McCreary’s Da Vinci’s Demon’s: Season 2 (Sparks & Shadows, $9.99), Patrick Cassidy’s Calvary (Varese Sarabande, $17.87 SRP), and Rachel Portman’s Belle (Varese Sarabande, $17.87 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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Though the plot machinations don’t make a lick of sense if you think about them and it feels like more of a slog than the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, there’s just enough bombast and verve to make Christopher Nolan’s button on his Batman trilogy, 
Thinkgeek time! We all know the awkward impossibility of trying to get a pair of massive power bricks plugged into the same wall outlet. Well, accomplish that feat and charge a pair of USB devices to boot with the brilliant little 
Flick by flick, Pixar is converting their entire catalogue to 3D, and you can strike another modern classic from the list as we get the 3D conversion (and its debut in high definition, to boot!) of 
‘Tis the season to mock and riff with the residents of the Satellite of Love, as 
After a few years of less-than-appealing films, Steven Spielberg rebounded with the enjoyable chase flick 
Would you expect butter carving to be the root of all evil – from sex and blackmail to scandal and greed? Well, that’s just what it is in the enjoyably Midwestern-askew 
I don’t know if we’ve ever seen a synchronicity where both of Matt Groening’s animated ventures have seen home video releases on the same date, but we’ve got it with 
If you’ve never heard of one of Australia’s best-kept comedy secrets, dive into the character comedy of Chris Lilley’s 
And spinning off from Lilley’s We Can Be Heroes is his arrival in the US with the series 
Nothing says “Happy Holidays!” like the 
When a film comes along that’s just beautiful and unique and yes, magical, I hesitate to make it smaller by trying to describe it. 
Every so often, a film comes along that’s unafraid of operating on a purely senior adult audience, hanging its drama – and comedy – on seasoned performers playing their actual age. Such is the case with 
After a sojourn south of the border Danny McBride’s crude Kenny Powers comes almost full circle as he heads to Myrtle Beach, SC to try and resuscitate his baseball career in the 3rd season of 
After the piecemeal releases, you can now pick up 
For all its desperation to make itself a loving homage to Spielberg, Super 8 is a crass wannabe next to Nick Frost & Simon Pegg’s alien road trip 
Adding to the mystery presented to viewers all those years ago, the introduction of River Song in the episode “Silence In The Library” found the enigmatic Dr. Song in possession of her very own Sonic Screwdriver, given to her by The Doctor in the future and an advanced version, no less. Now you can own your very own 
If you tend to think of Mickey Mouse as nothing more than a bland corporate spokesman, prepare to be both fascinated and delighted by the incredible comic strip adventures of the 30’s by Floyd Gottfredson, collected for the first time in 
Oh, they’re coming fast & furious now. What, you ask? More classic Doctor Who adventures – this time the Tom Baker story 
Let’s all forget about the American abomination and just re-watch the from-front-to-back enjoyable 16th season of the original UK 
Although only one of them was made as a period piece, enough time has passed that both 
If you’re a big fan of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett’s post-MST3K endeavor Rifftrax, you owe it to yourself to partake of the heightened energy of a pair of recent live show releases that were originally beamed to theaters around the country – 
With the recent resurgence in popularity of Nickelodeon’s 90’s line-up – or, at least Nickelodeon’s acknowledgement that there is a fanbase out there – it should come as no surprise that those fans will now be able to pick up the complete first season of 
I’ve made no secret of my intense hatred – borne of even more intense disappointment – in 
If Pineapple Express was a stoner action flick, than the rather obviously named 
While Pixar and Dreamworks get most of the attention, let’s not overlook the equally enjoyable films from other studios that don’t get the attention, like Blu Sky Studios fun, funny tale of a domesticated macaw intent on returning to his roots in South America in 
I admit, there’s a fondness in my heart for 
Get your fix of manly-man movies in high definition with the release of both 
I’m a big fan of Berkely Breathed’s children’s book 
During that period when Hanna-Barbera was just crankin’ out feature-length specials of just about all of their characters, George & Jane Jetson’s eldest daughter got her own, featuring a witch, a teen idol, aliens, and even Elroy. And the folks at the Warner Archive Collection have made 
Oh, the 80’s was just packed full of mediocre animated series that inspired dedicated fans who’ve grown up to have disposable cash and a desire to relive their rose-tinted memories – Which is why we have 
It’s still not The Hudsucker Proxy, but I’m still happy about the high definition arrival of 
Get your literary drama on with a pair of releases from A&E sure to delight the higher-brows amongst you. The first is the 
Curious how timing works out such that the 5th season of 
See Brits survive a post-apocalyptic wasteland and make the journey to a distant planet to make a new start in 
My nephews will be delighted to see another volume of the Frosty Freezy Freeze fans and crime-fighting duo back for another batch of episodes in 
Some are fascinating, but I’m not one for re-living that horrible day, but from a historical perspective the documentaries collected in the 
If I were to choose the giant robot cartoon that left the biggest mark on my childhood psyche (after Transformers), it would have to be Voltron. Watching the 7 remastered episodes contained in 
In what amounts to a summer comedy storm, a pair of brilliant catalogue titles make their high definition debut looking and sounding better than they ever have – 
Over the years, the fine folks at Thinkgeek have done plenty of cool in-house products, but the one that evokes the most delightful gut response is the 
For years there was doubt they could even be licensed for release, but there’s cause for much rejoicing because the entire 5-film giant turtle run is being released in the box set 
While I could care less about the awful sequel 
I have to make a confession to you – as a child of the early 80’s, I collected Smurfs. I had a lot of Smurfs. I used to search high and low for certain Smurfs. I used to watch the cartoon. I was Smurfy. Well, now that Belgian artist Peyo’s little blue creations have hit the big screen, Abrams has released a lovely retrospective book, 
It’s a middle ground between the sophistication of the original animated Batman, Superman, & Justice League and the more juvenile Teen Titans, but 
As much as I enjoy Tracy Morgan as a comic performer on 30 Rock, the stand-up featured on his first stand-up special 
I enjoyed the small town eccentricity found in the first season of 
I could do without the revised director’s edition, but I am a fan of the original take of 
I thought the first film was goofy fun perfect for kids of all ages, but there were diminishing returns as the series went on, even though all 3 of Robert Rodriguez’s original Spy Kids films are entirely watchable. Now, you can own 
He’s a little bit older and the threats are a little bit tougher, but you still pretty much get what you’ve come to expect from the franchise in 
If you want to see a true comedy of awkwardness that far eclipsed the fictional show that brought it all about, watch as Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal travels to Russia in order to help adapt a local version of the show in the documentary 
Many fans feel it was cancelled too soon, but perhaps they’ll be consoled re-watching the 4th and final season of 
The little red furry one decides to change his name by adding a “J”, which your kids can see happen (and learn, too) in 
Now that the troubled yet promising series has wrapped, the entire five season run of 
Graham Linehan – with Arthur Matthews – is one half of the creative team behind the legendary britcom Father Ted. With 
You can add realistic graphics and motion sensing to your heart’s content, but my heart will always hold the Nintendo games of my youth closest of all. So, in the age of the Nintendo DS, how can one bring some high quality handheld gaming to those vintage games? Well, with the 
Transplanting Ferris Bueller from the big screen to the small screen was a bit of a disaster. Well, a complete disaster, actually. The show that did manage to pull off a high school comedy about a teen who knew exactly how to navigate the pitfalls and perils with smart scripts and a great cast was 
After all of those recent, wonderful album remasters, it was only a matter of time before we got the remastered single-disc hits album 
I would not be disappointed if the 5th season of 
Female comedians are a rarity compared to the number of male comedians, and female comedy troupes are even rarer. It’s a damn shame on both counts, and it means one should support those that are out there – including the stars of the Channel 4 series 
Another TV show heretofore absent from DVD that Shout has gained the rights to and dropped a first season release on is 
Get a unique view of the moon landing via the coverage from the across the pond on 
Often overlooked, Rod Stewart produced a few classic albums in his day, and a pair of those have been revisited for deluxe editions. The first is the hit-laden 
Still Spike Lee’s finest outing, the still powerful 
Nobody pulls off upper-class white trash like Danny McBride, and that’s more than evident in the uneven but occasionally brilliant first season of 
Time for another round of comic shenanigans in Hooterville’s Shady Rest Hotel, with the release of the complete second season of 
It was never as good as its parent show’s best seasons, but by the fifth and final season of 
I have absolutely nothing to say about 
Action? Sure. A big heist gone bad the brings revenge down on the head of a New Orleans Police Detective? Check. The cop is John Cena? Yeah. The movie? 
Because I know you demanded it, you can now partake of the live action 
Disney extends their corner on the Princess market with their Disney Channel original