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…)
Over forty years on, and The Great Escape (MGM, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP) is still an absolute cracker of a film, and now it finally sparkles and shines in high definition via an ace (and long-awaited) Blu-Ray release, featuring an audio commentary and a clutch of featurettes.
Though we caught a glimpse of them at the beginning of The Motion Picture, it wasn’t until Star Trek III: The Search For Spock that the Klingons were place front and center as the cinematic baddie, with the main heavy, Kruge, being played by the legendary Christopher Lloyd. Also making its debut was the design for their ship, the Klingon Bird Of Prey ($69.99), which is now available in plastic form from the fine folks at Thinkgeek and Diamond Select Toys, fully kitted out with LEDs and sounds from the film. If that weren’t enough, you can get it in two different forms – regular look, and a transparent plastic “cloaking” version.
I haven’t quite figured out their release methodology, but I’m delighted all the same that Fantagraphics has added another volume to their growing Carl Barks library with the release of Donald Duck: The Old Castle’s Secret (Fantagraphics, $28.99), the centerpiece of which is the titular tale of Donald & his nephews being sent to investigate Uncle Scrooge’s haunted ancestral home. More of these, please.
It’s been so long since they came out that I’d forgotten just how much I liked the amiable East Meets West comedies starring Owen Wilson & Jackie Chan – Shanghai Noon/Shanghai Knights (Touchstone, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$26.50 SRP), both of which make their high definition debut in a single double feature release featuring all of the bonus features found on the original DVD release, including commentaries and deleted scenes.
The battle to overthrow the Observers begins in the 5th and final season of Fringe (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), as Walter Bishop and the Fringe team race to decipher the clues necessary to reclaim the Earth. Bonus materials include audio commentary, featurettes, the 2012 Comic-Con panel, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
You have to dig through a lot of reality show crud in order to see them still operating under their name, but when something like the wonderful WWII From Space (History Channel, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP) comes along – in which the conflict is presented from a satellite-eye view, allowing for greater context – it makes me lament the History Channel’s recent focus on all of the substandard programming that hides documentaries like this.
Well, the best I can say about Jack Reacher (Paramount, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is that it’s another in the long line of recent Tom Cruise actioners, filled with high-octane actiony action in which Cruise plays an ex-military investigator tasked with solving a crime… with ACTION. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and a clutch of featurettes.
You’ve got Brainiac, the miniature Kryptonian city of Kandor, and Supergirl in the latest DC Universe Animated movie Superman: Unbound (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP), which also sports a couple of featurettes, bonus cartoons, a preview of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and is guaranteed to be better than Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel.
What’s great about the Guillermo del Toro-produced Mama (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) is that it’s a horror film that depends on genuine shocks rather than gristle and gore, weaving its disquieting tale into a masterful psychological ride. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, the original short it was based on, a featurette, and deleted scenes.
With Baz Luhrmann’s big screen adaptation hitting screens, now’s the perfect time to partake of the BBC’s documentary The Great Gatsby: Midnight In Manhattan (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which looks at the troubled genius behind the novel, author F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In a bizarro move facilitated by the odd way in which the BBC once treated the creation of characters for Doctor Who, the character of K-9 is a free agent, which allowed for the creation of a kid’s show titled, appropriately enough, K-9 (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.97 SRP), which brings the robotic dog to a late 21st-century London now ruled by aliens, where he aids a group of kids in their rebellion against the government. Bonus materials include a making-of documentary and an interview with the star himself.
CBS continues to roll out their classic TV westerns, wrapping up the adventures of Paladin with the final season of Have Gun Will Travel (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), and the eighth season of Gunsmoke (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP). They’re also dropping the complete miniseries adaptation of James A. Michener’s epic Texas (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP).
And hey, for this week’s soundtrack releases, we’ve got E.C. Woodley’s score to Antiviral (Lakeshore Records, $9.99 SRP), and pianist Joohyun Park performing The Film Music Of Michael Nyman (BSX Records, $19.19 SRP).
You can never have too much Doctor Who tat in your life, and with that in mind, you can chase the Doctor with the blind-boxed Doctor Who Titans Vinyl Figures ($13.99 SRP each). With 16 different characters including The Doctor, Cybermen, Daleks, Silurians, the TARDIS and chase figures, that’s a whole lot of box opening.
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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I already loved Paul Feig’s buddy-cop follow-up to Bridesmaids, but what makes The Heat (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) even better in its Blu-Ray debut – well, besides all of the great outtakes and featurettes – is that it also sports a bonus commentary with the original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, & Josh Weinstein) doing what they do best. It’s like icing on an already tasty cake. A cake made of Melissa McCarthy & Sandra Bullock. Yeah… That got kind of weird at the end there.
While I don’t view it being as incredible as some of my fellow geeks, I can certainly roll with and dig the unabashed enthusiasm which Guillermo del Toro has infused in every giant monsters versus giant robots moment of Pacific Rim (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$64.99 SRP). So, yes, it plays like the fever dream of a 10-year-old, but I’d rather have more fever dreams like this than the crass reality of Michael Bay’s Transformers. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and featurettes.
Originally released last year, this holiday season gets to see the stop-motion musical extravaganza It’s A Spongebob Christmas (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$22.99 SRP) in high definition splendor, plus an additional 10 episodes making their Blu-Ray debut, in addition to the original DVD bonus features and 2 brand-new featurettes. How happy holidays is that?
It’s got a marvelous ensemble cast and is celebrating its 10th anniversary, but there’s no shaking the feeling that Love Actually (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP) is the cinematic equivalent of an earworm – a manipulative romantic comedy that burrows beneath your skin and latches on to your heart. Am I wrong? And if that weren’t enough frothy Richard Curtis for you, you can also pick up the new edition of Notting Hill (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP).
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of High Plains Drifter (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP) in high definition style as Clint Eastwood’s “Man With No Name” is hired by the townspeople of the lawless desert town of Lago to defend them from a trio of deadly gunmen.
I never really understood the massive appeal of Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary rock opera until I had a chance to see the Jesus Christ Superstar: Live Arena Tour (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP) and then yeah, I understood. The bombast is perfectly captured by a stellar cast, including Tim Minchin, Melanie C, Ben Forster, and the happy surprise of Chris Moyles. Bonus materials include a Webber intro and a featurette.
CBS continues top open up their TV vaults to series long-requested and ones, honestly, I never saw coming. From the long-requested category comes the complete fourth season of The Beverly Hillbillies (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP) and the complete third season of Petticoat Junction (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP). From the didn’t see that coming column, we get the complete first season of Gentle Ben (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), starring Clint Howard and a bear. And it even has audio commentaries from Clint and his father Rance.
The fine folks at Mill Creek continue to be your go-to destination for massive amounts of packaged catalogue titles at ridiculously low prices in their 12 and 8 film collections. So, let’s take a deep breath and see what their latest offerings are. We’ve got the 8-movie Deadly Secrets Collection (The Messengers, The Body, Mary Reilly, The Harvest, April Fool’s Day, The Nines, Ring Around The Rosie, Already Dead), the 8-movie Red Alert Action Collection (Attack Force, Stealth, Into The Sun, Breakout, XXX: State Of The Union, The Contractor, Simon Sez, The Fan), the 8-movie Captive Comedies Collection (Hollywood Homicide, The Freshman, Hudson Hawk, Cops & Robbersons, Lone Star State Of Mind, A Fine Mess, Excess Baggage, Life Without Dick), the 8-movie Operation Payback Collection (Knock Off, The Russian Specialist, Second In Command, The Hunt For Eagle One: Crash Point, Scenes Of The Crime, Conspiracy, The Point Men, Truth Or Consequences NM) (Mill Creek, Rated R, DVD-$9.98 SRP each), the 12-movie Top Of The Class Collection (Winter Break, Whirly Girl, The Good Student, Freshman Orientation, The Foursome, Rock My World, The Young Graduates, Liar’s Moon, The Virgin Queen Of St Francis High, Cheerleaders Beach Party, Choices, Guess What We Learned In School Today), and the 12-movie Under Fire Collection (Straight Into Darkness, Special Ops, Under Heavy Fire, Seal Team VI: Journey Into Darkness, The Last Rites Of Ransom Pride, Casablanca Express, Commandos, Desert Commandos, Saigon: Year Of The Cat, Tuareg: The Desert Warrior, Cold War Killers, Time To Die) (Mill Creek, Rated R, DVD-$9.98 SRP each). Whew!
Ah, but it’s not just bargain-priced films that Mill Creek has been releasing – they’ve also brought their economy pricing to television, as well. First and foremost, you can pick up the entire 94-episode of run of Steve McQueen’s Wanted: Dead Or Alive (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), including a bonus DVD and featurettes. Also available is the complete seasons one & two of the sitcom Wings (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), the 2nd season of the Michael Landon feel-good vehicle Highway To Heaven (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), and the TV-movie double-feature of The Snow Queen & Terry Pratchett’s The Hogfather (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP).
It’s remarkable that the geriatric cast of Roy Clarke’s Last Of The Summer Wine (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) made it to the millennium, and now you can flash back to the year 2000 with the latest release of their comic misadventures in idyllic Yorkshire Dales.
Nickelodeon pulls together a handful of holiday adventures from a pair of their small tyke kiddie shows with Bubble Guppies & Team Umizoomi: Into The Snow We Go (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), featuring a trio of festive episodes.
Take a high definition tour of our national parks with Death Valley: Thriving Land Of Extremes and Acadia: The First National Park East Of The Mississippi (Mill Creek, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$9.98 SRP each). Both are simply stunning explorations that are just this side of actually being there.
Through the powers that be I have been given 5 copies of Guillermo del Toro’s actioneer HELLBOY 2 to give away on DVD. Those of you who have seen it know how well Guillermo has made a sequel that doesn’t feel like a cash-in and has every bit of oomph of its predecesor. The film is flat out fun and visually dazzling. It’s worthy of any fan’s collection and, coincidently enough, makes a great stocking stuffer come this Christmas. (Or, maybe you’re a greedy kind of person and want this magic all for yourself. I can respect that.)