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…)
The abysmal Cloverfield pretty much broke me of any desire to see another “found footage” flick, but Chronicle (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) manages to be an unaffected pic about a trio of teens who suddenly find themselves with superpowers – And react as you would expect from teens. Just check it out. Bonus materials include a deleted scene, pre-viz, and camera test.
If you’ve been champing at the bit to determine whether you’ll be sorted into Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin, you can find out whether you’ll be a hero or a zero with your very own Harry Potter Sorting Hat ($24.99). It’s not an exact replica of the screen prop, but it’s a close enough representation for the price to be a lot of fun. Just don’t expect to be pulling any swords from it.
I shouldn’t have to tell you that Reggie Watts is brilliant, but I suppose I just did. And since I did, I may as well tell you that his latest special/album, Reggie Watts: A Live At Central Park (Comedy Central, $12.41 SRP) is also brilliant. And a must-see/hear. So go do it already.
Really, the first one, starring Joe Don Baker, is the only one really worth watching, but if you’ve wanted to own the lot in high definition, you can now pick up Walking Tall: The Trilogy (Shout Factory, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.93 SRP), and follow the big-stick- justice of southern Sheriff Buford Pusser. Bonus materials include a brand new documentary, a vintage featurette, TV spots, and trailers.
Like Tommy Boy before it, we’re probably to a time, with its high definition release, that someone, somewhere probably considers the raunchy college kids Road Trip (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$22.98 SRP) to be a classic. Honestly, someone probably does. All of the bonus materials carry over from the DVD release, including featurettes and deleted scenes. Note: This title is a Best Buy exclusive.
It’s almost summer, which means it’s time to start thinking about how you’ll be spending all of those sunshiny days. One thing I’ll certainly be doing is penciling some NERF battles with my nephews, and I’m sure it comes as no surprise that there’s a clutch of new toys hitting shelves. So this summer, arm yourself with the water blasting NERF Super Soaker Electrostorm ($9.99 SRP), which fires a battery-powered stream of H2O. Ah, but it doesn’t end when the sun goes down with the NERF N-Strike Rayven ($29.99, which fires 18 rounds of glow-in-the-dark darts. Or how about the glow-in-the-dark disc-launching NERF Vortex Lumitron ($29.99 SRP)? Or just get them all, and let the battles begin!
It’s a position fraught with peril, but now you can name yourself Hand Of The King with your very own reproduction Game Of Thrones: Hand Of The King pin (Dark Horse, $12.99 SRP). It’s an exact replica of the prop used in the HBO series, though you should probably avoid asking too many questions, if you value your head.
The excellent series of Music On Film books taking an in-depth look at remarkable aural cinema takes on Dr. Frankenfurter in the enjoyable Music On Film: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Limelight Editions, $9.99 SRP). Find out all about the long, strange journey the film took from stage to screen.
How about a clutch of new TV on DVD titles for you? How about the Robert Urich in the first volume from the 3rd season of Vegas (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$36.98 SRP)? Or Mike Connors as street tough PI Joe Mannix in the complete 6th season of Mannix (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP)? Finally, you’ve got the high pressure situations handled by the Strategic Response Unit in the fourth season of Flashpoint (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$42.99 SRP), which is the only set to feature bonus materials – a trio of featurettes.
How do you compress 13.7 million years of Earth’s existence into one concise special? Seems like a tall task, but it’s one History Of the World In Two Hours (History Channel, Not Rated, 3D BluRay-$29.95 SRP) attempts to do, from the stellar formation of the planet all the way up to today – and all presented in high definition 3D.
After a pair of alien seed pods buried in the Antarctic permafrost are found, the 4th Doctor must fight to stop the voracious plantlife Krynoid. Complicating matters, one of the men who make off with a pod gets infected and becomes a monstrous Krynoid which, along with Tom Baker’s Doctor, are featured in the Doctor Who: The Seeds Of Doom Collectors’ Set (Underground Toys, $49.99 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
##
Prepare yourself for the long delayed third installment by picking up the new high-definition releases of the wonderful 
If you’re like me (and of course, you are), you’ve probably been swept up in the dangerously addictive game of DrawSomething. And if you’re still like me (YOU ARE), you find having to use your finger to draw an incredibly frustrating experience. Well, throw frustration aside with the 
This month brings a pair of long-awaited stories from Sylvester McCoy’s 7th Doctor, even if one of those is pretty close to the nadir of the series. First, the good news is that 
As far as sequels go, few are more delightfully meta than the underappreciated (particularly at release) 
Before he made a few clunkers (and quiet, you – I love Popeye), Robin Williams starred in a pair of gems that finally make their debut in high definition – 
Hey! Guess what? The loveable Rifftrax Trio returns with the DVD release of another of their recent live performances with 
Remember when we didn’t know who Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd were? And then a film called 
It has all of the bizarre excess that’s always proved off-putting to me in their TV work, but fans will probably love 
Continue the Universal 100th anniversary celebrations with a lovingly restored presentation of the swinging 60’s Rock Hudson/Doris Day classic 
As if Valentine’s Day weren’t enough, director Garry Marshall returns with another kitchen sink cast romantic something or other based around 
After years of waiting, fans of Mr. Rourke & Tattoo can finally partake of 
If you only know him from Derrick Comedy or Community, you owe it to yourself to partake of Donald Glover’s first stand-up special 
Who doesn’t love being able to launch things at friends, foes, and family alike with their very own desktop catapult? Particularly when that desktop catapult launches safety-friendly foam balls? Well, that’s just what the 
Further closing the hole in fans’ complete collection of every episode, a pair of rather good Jon Pertwee 3rd Doctor stories – 
I’m delighted that my goof buddy Loren Bouchard’s brilliant 
While Meryl Streep is certainly wonderful in the role, it’s a shame that 
It’s one of those not-terribly-good releases that curious and completionist genre fans have been asking about for years, so they’ll be delighted to get 
Kudos to director Brad Bird for helming 
Just when you thought it was safe to assume that David Attenborough and the BBC’s nature documentary team couldn’t possibly top themselves comes the incredible beauty of 
Time for another soundtrack round up for all of you fans of cinematic scores – you know who you are. First up is David Arnold & Michael Price’s score from the BBC’s superb 
Kiddies and hipsters alike will rejoice at the release of 
While most of the talk has been about Michael Fassbender’s part in Steve McQueen’s 
As if Frozen Planet weren’t enough, another visually stunning nature documentary hits home video this week with 
Elmo gets supersized in 
Fans can pick up the 7th volume of Seth MacFarlane’s often overlooked other series, 
The adventures of Ben 10 come to a close with 
The second season of 
Dance your weekend away – or at least watch the master do it – with a pair of deep catalogue release from the Warner Archive Collection starring the great Fred Astaire – 
How about a clutch of new releases from the History Channel? On the good side, you have a pair of documentaries worth a look-see, with 
It’s n ice that the original adaptation of John Le Carre’s 
If you want to make your weekend decidedly Kubrickian, why not go about your life and run your errands wearing your very own 
There are quite a few ways that 
I’m not about to go and say it’s anything brilliant, but as far as family films about the Easter Bunny as played by Russell Brand go, 
It’s not very often that a stage play makes the transition to film and retains its single location, and even rarer that it actually works, but 
Fans of ABC Family’s series about a high school student leading a double life as a fashion house intern, 
Jonah Hill’s blink-and-you-missed-it 
MGM opens their vaults for more releases from their MOD Limited Edition Collection. Titles this time around include John Huston’s 
While many of you are waiting for the cinematic arrival of The Hunger Games, there are many who claim that it’s ripping off a now-legendary cult Japanese action flick that’s getting a deluxe treatment with 
I’m still not sold on the exaggerated realistic character design they chose for Herge’s famous characters, but there’s enough verve and energy to make Spielberg & Jackson’s 
If you want a nice and easy geek-friendly LEGO set for kids who might not have the skill or patience to tackle the larger sets, the 
Arrested development and the delusion that goes with it is front and center in 
It seems every month is a holiday for fans of the Doctor’s classic adventures as we get not only a special edition of the 10th anniversary special with 
Ah, but that’s not all of the new classic Who you’re getting this week! Oh no, no, no! There’s also a newly restored special edition of Patrick Troughton’s tin-plated tussle with cyberdoom in 
Anyone who has had a loss that is at the same time sudden yet lingering will understand the power of a film like 
It was only a matter of time before Martin Scorsese’s 
It’s always a delight to get new Wallace & Gromit material, even if it’s in the form of interstitial around a spotlight on r3eal life gadgets and contraptions in 
The fine folks at Rifftrax have released a brand new pair of cinematic bombs made wonderfully hilarious – the dime store creature feature 
You know another installment of a film franchise is in the offing when the back-catalogue is dusted off for release, so it should come as little surprise that the forthcoming American Reunion brings the Blu-Ray debut of 
They’re certainly not up to the quality of the original, but there’s enough charm and storytelling competence to make both 
The Warner Archive Collection has dug up a pair of Jim Brown rarities from the 70’s for your viewing pleasure. 
Yeah, I’m not entirely sure anyone is supposed to understand what’s going on in Tarsem’s big Greek mythology epic 
Director Ralph Bakshi’s animated films are an acquired taste, and one I never have acquired. I can certainly see his passion, but the movies don’t speak to me. But there are plenty of people who have a special place in their heart for his fantasy film 
As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the legendary maritime disaster, it’s perfectly understandable that the History Channel is collecting together a trio of their best documentaries on the subject into 
Michelle Williams certainly deserved her Oscar nomination for her turn as Marilyn Monroe in 
I’m not exactly sure what they were thinking with the overly-slick, utterly baffling new take on 
Do you like penguins? Do you like them dancing? Do you like them talking with the voices of Elijah Wood and Robin Williams while they’re dancing? Did you like all of this when it was in an animated movie called Happy Feet? Then you’ll like the equally ingratiating 
For 
How do you compress 13.7 million years of Earth’s existence into one concise special? Seems like a tall task, but it’s one 
It’s still not my bag, but for those that enjoy Adult Swim’s 
After being pressured into reading the books by the taskmaster John Hodgman, I quickly became a fan of George RR Martin’s sprawling fantasy series A Song Of Ice & Fire. It was with excitement and some trepidation that I awaited the arrival of HBO’s adaptation of the first book, taking its title as the title of the overall television series – 
You want to make all of those videos you’re filming with your tiny little iPhone look even better, right? Well, the 
It’s not one of their official 100th anniversary releases, but there’s certainly something to celebrate about the high definition release of Alfred Hitchcock’s 
The Universal 100th anniversary celebration continues with a quintet of catalog releases – 3 on DVD and 2 new-to-Blu-Ray. The trio of standard definition titles are William Powell & Carole Lombard in 
If you want a trip down memory lane but don’t feel like shelling out for a full season set, Paramount’s “Fan Favorites” line (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP each) features single-disc “best of” releases from 7 different classic series, selected from across their full run. These series featured in this initial wave are 
The BBC are releasing the additional seasons from a trio of their dramas, dropping 
I’m still not entirely sure why a remake of 
Fans rejoice, for another new collection of true adventure comes to DVD with 
Those lovely nature documentarians at the BBC dive into the fascinating lives of whales and dolphins with 
In what has become de rigeur for any marginally successful film, fans of the film are getting a deluxe presentation of Ben Affleck’s Bostonian heist flick with 
Currently available as a Target exclusive, the complete second season of 
The sad thing is that 
It feels a little odd to be writing about a children’s picture from Martin Scorsese, so it’s probably easier to understand when you realize that one of the key figures in 
If you’re looking for a purchase for both a Star Wars and a LEGO fan who may be too young for the more complicated sets, the 
With the release of 
Rowan Atkinson returns as the bumbling superspy in 
Written by the late Dwayne McDuffie, 
Take Buffy and mix in heavy metal and The Evil Dead and you’ll get the gonzo horror/comedy of 
It caused a controversy when it was released, probably because 
Tween boys with their eyes glued to Cartoon Network will probably want to pick up the first release from the adventure series 
It’s a little slow-going at times and uneven, but the good of 
Are you steampunky? Have you ever wished you could wear a tiny little folding telescope on your ring finger? So you could feel all steampunky and adventurous and ingenious? Well, Thinkgeek brings you 
I’m sure it’s just a personal hang-up of mine, but I’m not much of a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, especially as he’s somehow become the go-to guy for vintage biopics of egomaniacal men. The latest is Clint Eastwood’s otherwise nicely made 
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s big Tintin film is about to hit home video, and the massive amounts of development and concept art that went into making it is presented in 
And speaking of incredible behind-the-scenes books, now that the massive 8-film series has wrapped, you can explore all of the cinematic magic that went into making JK Rowling’s boy wizard come to life with 
For years, Newmarket Press has been putting out some quite nice making-of and screenplay books for various films, and this Oscar season brings a pair of tomes from this year’s nominees. First up is 
I wasn’t expecting much, which is probably why I was pleasantly surprised by the working man’s revenge flick 
You can watch Tudors and French Cardinals all you want, but in Italy the power center also had a family name, and it’s that powerful dynasty that’s the subject of 
It’s no Shrek, which I see as a definite plus for spin-off film 
Fighting the nefarious likes of Simon Bar Sinister and Riff Raff, the dated though still fun cartoons featured in the 10-disc 
A pair of Showtime series are dropping their latest seasons with the arrival of post-prison new life in the Big Apple 
Join 
Things kicked off proper with To Kill A Mockingbird, and Universal keeps the excitement of their 100th anniversary going with a fully restored, absolutely beautiful high definition presentation of their WWI epic 
You don’t have to be lonely or irresponsible to want an 
The now-companionless 11th Doctor puts his own spin Narnia with World War II and plenty of trees thrown in for good measure in the latest Christmas adventure 
The Doctor & Peri land on barren Androzani Minor in the middle of violent human/android keruffles & find celery useless against stickyballs in the final Peter Davison adventure 
The TARDIS materializes inside a ship full of fraidy-cats paralyzed by flat-footed psychic aliens fond of onesies but not humans in the William Hartnell story 
Watch as the History Channel continues to fritter away its reputation with another volume of the lamentable 
The less than dynamic duo return to snigger and snark for a new generation with the release of 
I know it should no longer impress me, because they’ve done it with each of their classic high definition releases, but Disney’s restoration of their newest Diamond Edition, 
Celebrate special events in aeronautic style with the incredibly easy to use (and quite beautiful) 
Following up on his stellar turn in series 5, Murray Gold keeps the roll going with his music for 
It’s very much of the period, but there’s no denying that the chemistry between Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw as two star-crossed lovers is what made 
Collecting together a trio of character-based live specials from earlier in his career, 
If you’re in the mood for a brilliant little two-hander, Cormac McCarthy’s 
If there’s one overriding takeaway from the Harold & Kumar movies, is that they’re really not interested in anything much besides giving audiences a pleasant viewing experience. In that, 
Lucas Cruikshank’s internet sensation Fred Figglehorn returns for another adventure in the spooky 
In the mood for a small character drama this weekend? Give a spin to 
Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson star in the charming little drama 
Tween girls will probably want to snap up the Disney Channel movie 
As part of their 100th anniversary celebration, Universal has cleaned up and presented a pretty-damn definitive high definition edition of 
Do you like magnets? I like magnets. Do you like tops? Heck, who doesn’t love tops! Well, now you can chocolate and peanut butter them to get the 
If Monty Python defined British comedy for the 70’s, it was Channel 4’s inaugural comedy show The Comic Strip Presents that set the tone for the strident comedy of the 1980’s. Featuring the likes of Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Alexei Sayle, and Robbie Coltrane, the short comedic films are absolute gems and required viewing for anyone who considers themselves a comedy lover. 
I’m a massive fan of the legendary Marvel Comics series Fantastic Four, which means I dove into the exquisite history of the book’s creation and golden age – 
While I applaud Paramount for dipping into the coffers to take the time and considerable cost necessary to high definition upgrade (via original film negative and effects materials) the whole series, I wish the 
As far as thought-provoking science fiction flicks go, 
The Blu-Ray pact between Miramax and Lionsgate brings another pair of catalogue releases to tick off your waitlist – the Academy Award sweeper 
If you’re going to revisit a beloved horror film, you should probably at least try to be up to the challenge. Sadly, the new “prequel” to John Carpenter’s 
What do Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant do when they’re bored? They send the decidedly reticent Karl Pilkington on tour of the wonders of the world in 
I’m always interested in products that take up less room but still accomplish a job I need, which is why the 
It’s a new year, and waiting for us in the bright and shiny are a pair of new classic Doctor Who releases – the Jon Pertwee story 
Want to know just how snowed under I’ve been for, oh, ages? I actually missed that a pair of new Rifftrax shorts collections AND a Rifftrax holiday special had been released on DVD. Rectifying that glaring oversight, I’m here to recommend you rush over and pick up your very own copies of 
I resent a sports film that makes me like it in spite of it being a sports film. Because I really do not like sports. So damn you, 
What does work, though, is HBO’s miniseries adaptation of 
Want to be depressed this holiday season with a fearsome piece of plausible disaster? Then kick back with some egg nog and candy canes and watch 
You may not remember (though fans most certainly do), but there was a massive outcry a few years back when the first couple of seasons of both Roseanne & 3rd Rock From The Sun hit DVD. The trouble? Instead of the original broadcast versions of the episodes, the DVDs featured the edited syndication cuts. Yeah, so fans were not happy. Well, thanks to the fine folks at Mill Creek, you can now get 
The kids will feel a seasonal chill from 
Though it’s produced by Martin Scorsese and one of the writers from The Sopranos, the period piece 
It’s the end of the road for Steve McGarrett as we finally arrive at the 12th and final season of 
Buoyed by still-powerful performances from Gary Oldman & Chloe Webb, 
I have to be honest in saying I’m not much for the dimensional beastie hijinks of