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…)
While it looked as lush and lavish as we’ve come to expect from Pixar, the trailers for Brave (Walt Disney, Rated PG, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP) didn’t leave me with a great desire to actually see the film, or any real idea of what exactly it was about. Having finally seen it, though, the film itself was done a disservice by its marketing, because it’s an absolute gem of a story in both conception and execution, focusing on the all-too-rare relationship between a daughter and her mother – in this case the headstrong Princess Merida who chafes against the expectations of her courtly mother, Queen Elinor, who disapproves of her daughter’s tomboyish demeanor. Everything comes to a head when Merida finds out about her upcoming nuptials – a long-standing social convention that is a foregone conclusion leaving her at the mercy of whichever pre-selected suitor from three clans should succeed at a challenge of her choosing. And… well.. no spoilers. Just see it. Bonus materials include the new Pixar short “La Luna”, audio commentary, featurettes, extended scenes, an alternate opening, galleries, and more.
Ever had a piece of electronic equipment go wonky on you, needing only a quick bit of solder to fix it right up? Well, now you can snag a quick all-in-one Solder Tool Kit ($15.99) from Thinkgeek, containing a 25w soldering iron with stand, long nose pliers, wire strippers, side cutters, and a sponge for tip cleaning. No solder, though, as that would make shipping difficult, but you can easily pick that up locally.
Complementary to Brave, also making its debut is the 2nd Pixar Short Films Collection (Walt Disney, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which brings together 12 shorts, from Ratatouille‘s “Your Friend The Rat” to Brave‘s “La Luna”, plus audio commentaries and student short films from Pixar luminaries.
Already long-available as a spectacular, feature-laden special edition DVD set, never did I imagine that the great Dick Van Dyke Show (Image, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$349.98 SRP) would make its way to high definition. But considering the show was show on film, the results are truly stunning. If that weren’t enough, not only does the set port over all of the previous bonus features, but also adds the TV Academy tribute to Carl Reiner, a 50th anniversary Q&A, a color test for the legendary “It May Look Like A Walnut”, cast appearances on The Danny Thomas Show, a “Kick The Habit” radio spot with Dick Van Dyke, and a safety council reel. Get this set immediately.
It’s the third complete collection of Father Ted (Channel 4, Not Rated, DVD-£29.99 SRP) we’ve gotten, but 3 time’s the charm as this set supplements the bonus features available in previous sets with a brand new retrospective documentary and newly-recorded audio commentaries with both Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews (the previous set feature the duo only on the 3rd series, leaving Graham to go solo on Series 1 & 2). So yes, this is the one to get. Again.
Peter Serafinowicz is brilliant. He just is. If you’re following him on Twitter (you should be), you know that Peter will periodically go on joke runs based on prompts from his followers, coming back with compact, economical jokes that are sublime. A Billion Jokes! (Volume One) (Boxtree, £12.99 SRP) brings many of those together into the perfect gift for that special someone in your life. Who likes to laugh. If they don’t like to laugh, THIS WILL CHANGE THEIR LIFE.
One of my absolute favorite Carl Barks Donald Duck stories also happens to be a holiday tale, and it forms the centerpiece of the latest collection from the fine folks at Fantagraphics Books. Donald Duck: A Christmas For Shacktown (Fantagraphics, $28.99 SRP) is a beauty, as are the other handful of tales included, along with some wonderful essays and informational articles.
And since you’ve picked up the Donald collection, make sure you pick up the equally as lovingly presented 4th volume of Floyd Gottfredson’s run on the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, House Of The Seven Haunts (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP). Alongside the Peanuts collection, these books reinforce the assessment that no one is doing archival comic collections as well as Fantagraphics.
Considering how much air there is between the two halves of the season again, it makes sense that the BBC would throw fans a bone by releasing Doctor Who: Season 7 Part 1 (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP) , collecting first 5 episodes – “Asylum Of The Daleks”, “Dinosaurs On A Spaceship”, “A Town Called Mercy”, “The Power Of Three”, & “The Angels Take Manhattan” – plus the “Pond Life” shorts, a pair of episode prequels, a Comic-Con featurette, and the “Science Of Doctor Who” special.
We’ve had Bridge On The River Kwai and Dr. Zhivago for years, but the David Lean film most have desired to see in full high definition glory in their home theater was the epic of epics, and finally – FINALLY – Lawrence Of Arabia (Sony, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$26.99 SRP) has arrived. And the wait was worth it, because the restoration work done on the film is simply remarkable, blowing away the already lovely DVD of yore. The 2-disc set also includes a making-of documentary, retrospective featurettes, interviews with Peter O’Toole and Steven Spielberg, newsreel footage, theatrical trailers, and more. I shouldn’t have to convince you – so go get it.
He’s known for writing some of the finest, densest songs ever to be sung on stage, and one of his most challenging efforts gets a marvelous star-studded go that was thankfully documented with Stephen Sondheim’s Company (Image, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP). You can’t go wrong with a cast that includes the likes of Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, and Patti Lupone.
I didn’t know what to expect from Fresh Meat (Channel 4, Not Rated, £14.99 SRP), and only knew that it was created by Jesse Armstrong & Sam Bain, the team behind the brilliant Peep Show, and that it featured a group of university housemates. Would it be a sitcom? A drama? A farce? Thankfully, it’s its own thing – a blend of comedy and drama, with a nuanced ensemble. Just brilliant. Bonus materials include deleted scenes, a behind-the-scenes tour, and outtakes.
One of the nicest holiday surprises was the addition of a new set of characters and specials to the seasonal viewing rotation in the form of a pair of elves who are part of the team that makes people’s homes ready for Santa’s arrival. Now you can get all of the specials in one place – and high definition! – via the Prep & Landing: Totally Tinsel Collection (Walt Disney, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$20.00 SRP), which also sports bonus featurettes and more.
Seeing as how we’re so close to all of the extant stories being available on DVD, it’s no surprise that the BBC has been going back and revisiting some of their earlier releases and improving the presentation and adding bonus materials. The latest special edition is Doctor Who: The Claws Of Axos (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP), wherein Jon Pertwee’s 2nd Doctor tries to uncover the too-good-to-be-true secret of the Axons. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, continuities, and more.
Derren Brown is brilliant. And scary. Scary, and brilliant. And the idea that Derren Brown might try out his mental act on you? Terrifying. So, thankfully, I can enjoy being a non-participant in Derren Brown: The Experiments (Channel 4, Not Rated, £13.99 SRP), a collection of four trials devised by Brown, one of which even creates an assassin. Just watch it. Bonus materials include additional footage and audio commentaries.
A quartet of frustrated suburban schmos who just happen to be the local neighborhood watch uncover an alien plot to destroy the earth in The Watch (Fox, Not Rated Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which could have been a truly memorable sci-fi-comedy mash-up if it didn’t keep misfiring. Even the cast – including Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill – never quite click. The one saving grace, though, is the brilliant Richard Ayoade, who steals every scene. Bon us materials include featurettes, deleted scenes, alternate takes, and a gag reel.
It’s a softball of a film, but Nia Vardalos’s little film that could My Big Fat Greek Wedding (HBO, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP) is still an amiable comedy, now making its high definition debut in a 10th anniversary special edition featuring an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a brand new retrospective featurette.
Amy Heckerling reunites with her Clueless star Alicia Silverstone in the genre-bending Vamps (Anchor Bay, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP), which finds Silverstone paired up with Krysten Ritter as a pair of time-shifted vampires still playing the club scene after decades of eternal youth, who both hit a snag that make them reconsider eternity in the face of love.
A few years back, Hot Toys released a 12″ version of Iron Man in his original cobbled-together Mark I armor. The detailing of the suit itself was incredibly detailed and screen accurate. The Tony Stark head under the mask, though, left a little to be desired. Well, Hot Toys has decided to revisit it with Iron Man Mark I 2.0 ($219.99), which manages to plus the already-stunning suit while also presenting an accurate Tony Stark sculpt up to Hot Toys well-established high standards. Add the light-up features and a themed base, and you’ve got a pretty good reason to run over to Sideshow and snap one of these up as quick as you can, because this is definitive.
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 
Fans were lucky to get one – MAYBE 2 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collections each year during the old Rhino days, but Shout! Factory has really stepped up the pace as we now get their THIRD release, 
Sometimes you just have to sit back and admire a piece of equipment that takes a standard device and just plusses the heck out of it. Such is the case with the 
As much as I love Derren Brown’s various series (and I do love them so), I think I dig his live shows even more. There’s something supremely entertaining seeing a master mentalist and showman at work in front of an audience, where the energy is palpable. His latest show to make its way to DVD is 
The cast has been shaken up (Deputies Garcia, Johnson, & Kimball are absent and Joe Lo Truglio and Ian Roberts have joined as Deputies Rizzo & Declan) and the comedy has gone even more into the realm of bizarre slapstick, but the sixth season of 
Thee Beebs roll out of classic Doctor Who continues with a pair of new releases. The first comes from the William Hartnell years – 
Celebrate the launch of Apollo 11 and mankind’s trip to the moon with 
While most of the attention has been paid to contemporaries like Peter Cook, John Cleese, and David Frost, let me take a moment to give some proper attention to “The Two Johns” – Bird & Fortune – and the numerous gifts they’ve given to the field of brilliant satire. Much of their recent contributions are featured in 
What otherwise might be an interesting, enjoyable thriller turns to mush when it stars Nic Cage, which is a shame when 
Personally, I can’t get into the charm and wit of The Prairie Home Companion. Regardless, I did enjoy the documentary 
I’m not going to mention what recent film 
It’s not the feature-laden special edition that some were hoping for, but at least we have a nice, widescreen, spiffy high-def edition of 
Like most procedural shows, by the time you’ve seen a half-dozen episodes, you’ve pretty much seen all the rest – for good or ill. 
A little bit The Exorcist, a little The Omen, and a little Japanese horror, 
Take a very funny Australian sitcom about a white trash mother and daughter, remake it, put it on NBC starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair, and watch all of the funny disappear. Such is the sad case with the first season of 
Oh, Power Rangers – you never seem to stop, like some kind of Energizer Bunny. The latest iteration is hitting DVD with 
Ever since seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark as a wee child, Indy’s iconic headwear has held a special fascination for me. Even going back 15 years, I contemplated trying to get a fedora of my own – but the price was quite prohibitive (or, at least, relative to my finances today). Still, the dream persisted, and on a trip to Disneyland a few years back I picked up one of their $35 officially licensed fedoras – and I was happy. It looked close enough to the real thing for me to feel like I finally got what I’d always wanted. Ah, but then 
We’ve now officially reached – and passed – the middle of 
With all that attention being paid to the man with the hat, let’s turn our eye towards the original Lucasian franchise that was driven into the ground with an unfortunate return, Star Wars. Before the release of the prequels – even before the release of the special editions – there was an incredible behind-the-scenes tome that was released. Though out of print for years, it was brought back into print a few years back, and it’s celebration of an unsullied Star Wars universe warms my frosted heart. Packed with hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos and detailed information, get your own copy of 
Although still largely unknown in the US, I’m quite the fan of mentalist/magician/illusionist/creepy guy Derren Brown. I heartily recommend you pick up the DVD documenting his live tour 
It’s been so long since their airing that I barely remember the episodes features in the 5th season set of 
Although his smarmy, opportunistic, and ultimately destructive behavior became cartoonish in his last years as prime minister, it’s a film like writer Peter Morgan and director Stephen Frears’ 
Long before her turn as Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah Jessica Parker was teamed with Amy Linker in the 80’s prototype for My So-Called Life, 
Longtime readers of this column will know I’m a sucker for historical documentaries, so keep that in mind when I say I watched 
If you’re an armchair adventurer, you might want to pick up a copy of 
If you’ve not yet seen 
Often – and unfairly – overshadowed by the much showier Platoon, 
After four seasons of Jim Nabors bumbling around as the titular 
You’ve got to love BBC period dramas – and I do. They’re lush, they’re dependable, and they’re usually packed with top-flight actors. Such is the case with 
I was an avid Saturday morning cartoon watcher during the 70’s and 80’s, and even I don’t remember that there was such a beast as the 
Not one to let the dead rest even a moment, George Romero returns with another installment in his seemingly never-ending zombie saga, 
If watching war flicks over the labor day weekend seems kind of old hat, you might want to try taking a look at the veritable wagonload of westerns making their way out of the vaults. First out the gate is Fox, which has dropped 
For sheer volume, though, MGM has opened up the floodgates with 
If you’re in the mood for a great drama that features Eddie Izzard (and really, who isn’t?), try the Region 2 release 
Surely I can’t be the only one that had zero interest in National Treasure, and even less interest in its sequel, 
Take Party Animal, mix in The Hills, and add a bit of the envelope pushing of Queer As Folk – oh, and set it all in the UK – and you’ve got the basic formula for 
The be-uniformed crusaders of the Judge Advocate General’s office return in the sixth season of 
I still believe the film is an unwanted return to a franchise whose potential was dashed upon the rocks of a mediocre first outing, but there is something to be said for Harry Gregson-Williams’ score to 
Hoping to fill the void left by Jeff Foxworthy’s departure from the sitcom scene, redneck compatriot Bill Engvall received the eponymous 
Broadway-philes can give a spin to the new revival cast recording from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 
BROWN: Oh, hugely. You can do stuff on TV but not be particularly much of a live performer. I think it’s just one thing to get something on TV – most of the kind of drama and pace of it will probably come from the editing of the show, and the style and the look of the show. On stage, it’s just me for three hours, and I’ve got to try and keep everybody constantly entertained. That really is just me. So it’s a different set of skills on top of actually making the stuff work. For me, it’s much more exciting, I much more prefer that, and I look forward to hopefully, in time, doing something on Broadway, because it’s a real buzz.
BROWN: Al Pacino. It’s probably the least successful that I’ve done. I think it’s on the website, if it’s been updated. But yeah, I always found him very difficult. Really wanted to paint him and have that in the collection, but it’s never been in my… you know why it was? You know, he’s got a very kind of expressive face. It’s not for lack of features to exaggerate, but I could never get it right. It’s sort of all right, the one that I’ve done, but I don’t know if it’s…
BROWN: Yes. It’s only the most recent one that I think works for me. There were quite a few previous ones that were not very good. How you see yourself isn’t how other people see you, so if you’re painting somebody else, and you know when it’s right, because it kind of clicks into place, and I can hear their voice talking when it works. You just look at it and it’s like looking at a photograph, and the picture triggers all the associations that looking at the real person would. Whereas yourself, that click doesn’t happen, because you don’t think of yourself in the same was you think of other people. You don’t hear the person’s voice and you think of them, and all those sorts of things. It’s just guess work, in the end. It’s just, “Yeah, that looks like what’s in the mirror, so I’ll stick with that.” It’s only this last one that…