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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They rebuilt him… Better… Stronger… Faster… And now, after an interminably long wait, 
As a child in the early 80’s I remember the magical joy of coloring pieces of thin plastic that, when cut out and put in the oven, would shrink and thicken into tiny little 2-D plastic figurines. Yes, I’m speaking of 
In the mid-60’s, a trio of producers named Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner stepped from the surging counterculture and into the mainstream conservative milieu of Hollywood and crafted a definitive TV property with the manufactured pop band/TV show The Monkees. Seeking to move into films, they developed a decidedly unorthodox film for The Monkees written by good friend and Corman regular Jack Nicholson. After it bombed miserably, they hit paydirt with an era-defining film – Easy Rider. High definition version of both those films – plus the rest of their output (Five Easy Pieces, Drive, He Said, A Safe Place, The Last Picture Show, & The King Of Marvin Gardens) – in the box set 
For decades, Fritz Lang’s silent masterpiece – a visual and conceptual feast that his inspired scores of filmmakers – has been a fractured film, with whole chunks of footage and sequences that were in the debut cut deemed lost forever. Well, never say never, as recent discoveries have allowed the fine folks at Kino to assemble the complete 
Earlier this year, Kino also began releasing its extensive Buster Keaton collection in high definition, with the result being a trio of must-have releases for any aficionado of cinematic comedy – 
When HBO’s brilliantly dark western Deadwood began its first season, the time period within the series was only a few weeks following the massacre of Custer’s troops in 1876. Into the lawless South Dakotan town rode two men – one a bitter ex-lawman, and the other a man looking to start a new life – and both ran afoul of the local heavy who owns half the town. What followed was an epic drama of operatic heights, and one you can watch in its entirety in high definition with 
Your perennial holiday viewing just got a high definition upgrade with the Blu-Ray release of 
Killing time between now and when the globe-trotting Cars 2 comes out next summer? Well, you can dip into brand new adventures featuring everyone’s favorite hillbilly tow truck in 
The complete runs of both the classic Batman and Superman animated series have already made their debut as box sets, as well as Justice League, so the last to get the treatment arrives with 
It’s not really a brilliant series, but Gerry Anderson’s 
It’s certainly not as well-known or well-loved as shows like Space: 1999 or Thunderbirds, but completionists are sure to rejoice at the arrival of Gerry Anderson’s 
As the little Fockers will be making their way to the big screen shortly, it makes sense that Blu-Rays of 
We’re now into the second season, and I’ve pretty much written off 
Most people think of Romeo + Juliet or Moulin Rouge when they think of Baz Luhrmann and over look the dance-happy 
It’s been a long string of single-disc releases leading up to the release of 
Beginning after his emigration to the Big Apple in 1971, 
The Warner Archive has decided to celebrate the holidays be bringing together the holiday episodes of everything from The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father and Alice to Mama’s Family and Dr. Kildare in the 
The Warner Archive Collection continues to release titles no sane fan would ever think they’d eventually get their hands on, and I’d say the complete animated spin-off of The Dukes Of Hazzard – 
In an attempt to further turn themselves into Spike, the History Channel’s 
I’ve become less and less interested in seeing Tom Cruise on screen in recent years, and was hoping that the True Lies-esque bit of a blast thrill ride 
After Santa and his canine BFF travel to New York and the big man loses his memory, it’s up to the doggie to make sure Christmas is achieved in the saccharine sweet 
You know how long it’s been since 
For every surprisingly enjoyable bad idea like Pirates of the Caribbean comes a misfire dud like 
Real-life lovers Drew Barrymore and Justin Long have gone down the path of many actor couples by immortalizing their relationship as an onscreen duo, with their particular vehicle being 
Rob Reiner shoots straight down the middle with his amiable adaptation of young love novel 
It’s no Ben 10, but Cartoon Network’s 
Part of me cringes to say this, but I’ve begun to think that YouTube sensation Fred Figglehorn is this young generation’s Pee Wee Herman, particularly after seeing the feature-length 
As always, it’s rather pointless to criticize the Twilight movies, as the rabid, massive audience care’s not what anyone has to say about their beloved pap-fest, and the same rule applies to 
While the MST3K version is still near and dear to my heart, it is fun to see the restored original 
Matt Smith’s tenure as the new Doctor on Doctor Who isn’t the only change that producer Steven Moffat has wrought – there’s also a brand new 
One of the things I eagerly await is the arrival of a new volume of classic Charlie Brown & co., and 
You know what other book always delights me when it arrives? A new installment in the wonderfully awkward misadventures of dim-witted detective Frank Burly, courtesy of author John Swartzwelder (writer of 59 episodes of The Simpsons). The latest is 
There’ve been plenty of young actresses tackling vintage royalty in recent years, but a gold crown to Emily Blunt’s portrayal of a young Queen Victoria in the appropriately named 
There’s many a stand-up release that comes down the pike where I merely shrug my shoulders and say, “Eh.” And then there’s the new release from Reggie Watts, 
With 
It’s by no means a bad film – in fact, 
I still haven’t figured out what I think of 
A trio of cryogenically frozen astronauts return to an asteroid-devastated, rough-and-tumble post-apocalyptic Earth 150 years in the future in Gene Roddenberry’s 
What doe Tom Selleck, Yul Brynner, Leonard Nimoy, and Sam Elliott have in common? They all star in at least one of the three movies contained in Warners 
If you were to make the It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World of romantic films, it would be director Garry Marshall’s 
You know the Warner Archive is dedicated to fulfilling every obscure nostalgic wish when they release Kid ‘N Play’s 
Many have wondered why some of the flicks being tackled by the folks at Cinematic Titanic weren’t addressed during their Mystery Science Theater run. Personally, I’m glad they weren’t – because it would deprive us of the top notch, stellar writing that a fully engaged and broken in Cinematic Titanic is now giving viewers, which comes from years of additional experience. It’s as if movie riffing has gone Bionic, and they’ve got full kung-fu grip, to boot. If you don’t believe me, check out their latest offering – a wretched waste of celluloid called 
Kick off the new year in a classy way with a pair of new special editions featuring Audrey Hepburn’s legendary star turns in 
With all of the stuff that comes in for feature in the shopping guide, being able to take good photos of said collectibles is definitely a plus. The best way to get a good photo is to construct a light box… But who has the time for that? That’s right – none of us. So your best bet is to pick up the handy 
The UK Channel 4 series 
As with most of these documentaries, there’s much to find fault with in so sweeping a project as 
Never ones to let a re-release go un-re-released, The Weinstein Company dusts off Jackie Chan’s 
Relive all of the absurdity found in each in every episode of 
You know that Blu-Ray has finally arrived as a format when you can purchase a snazzy, high definition copy of a cinema classic like 
I had high hopes for 
There’s a turgidness to director (and co-writer) Ed Harris’s western 
The residents of the Springfield Retirement Castle will be delighted with the arrival of the complete second season of Andy Griffith’s top flight southern lawyer, 
Mysterious abound as we plow through the quartet of episodes features in the second volume of 
The third installment is on the way, which means you can now partake of both of the previous installments of Kate Beckisndale doing something or another in both 
The classic tale of love & power gets a pretty decent update in 
Brad Garrett’s middling sitcom ‘
In the era of elevated morons like Joe the Plumber, a film like 
They still insist on releasing the 80’s Alvin & The Chipmunks series in unsatisfying single-disc collections, the latest of which focuses on the boys female counterparts,