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…)
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, The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP), a worthwhile spin as a film (and a ground-shaking home theater experience with a decent sound system). Bonus materials include a clutch of behind-the-scenes featurettes and a nice summation of Nolan’s franchise run.
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 Pivot Power Mini ($24.99), which opens up to accommodate those bricks. Neat, huh?
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 Finding Nemo (Walt Disney, Rated G, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP) plus the welcome bonus of Up (Walt Disney, Rated PG, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), which finally gets a 3D home video release to match its original theatrical presentation. As its CG, the conversion process for Finding Nemo is entirely organic, and freshens the film nicely (not that it needed it, but it’s a pleasant bonus to be able to see it this way). All of the bonus features from the original Blu-Ray releases have carried over for both titles, including commentaries, featurettes, shorts, and more. As with Disney’s previous deluxe editions, both 5-disc sets contain the 3D, standard Blu-Ray, and DVD versions of the films. Here’s hoping we get the final clutch of Pixar flicks – including The Incredibles, Wall-E, Ratatouille, and A Bug’s Life – are converted soon.
‘Tis the season to mock and riff with the residents of the Satellite of Love, as Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXV (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$59.97 SRP) arrives bearing another quartet of episodes many thought would never get a release, including season 1’s Robot Holocaust and Season 8’s debut Revenge Of The Creature. Also included are Kitten With A Whip and Operation Double 007 (retitled on the packaging as Operation Kid Brother), plus a pair of spotlight featurettes on Josh Weinstein & Bill Corbett, intros from Joel & Mike, and a look at Creature director Jack Arnold. Keep it up, Shout!
After a few years of less-than-appealing films, Steven Spielberg rebounded with the enjoyable chase flick Catch Me If You Can (Paramount, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$22.98 SRP), starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the true-life tale of con man Frank Abagnale’s cat & mouse game with the FBI agent (Tom Hanks) hot on his trail. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes and photo galleries.
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 Butter (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), which finds a long-reining champion (Ty Burrell) asked to step down – a move unacceptable to his destructively social-climbing wife (Jennifer Garner), so she decides the enter the competition herself in order to reassert her family’s dominance. Her plans, however, are derailed when a 10-year-old prodigy enters the picture. So yeah… Butter carving. Bonus materials include deleted/extended scenes and a gag reel.
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 The Simpsons: Season 15 (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.99 SRP) and Futurama: Volume 7 (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), both of which are available in high definition with the usual compliment of bonus materials, including what remains some of the best audio commentaries you’ll find, plus featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.
If you’ve never heard of one of Australia’s best-kept comedy secrets, dive into the character comedy of Chris Lilley’s We Can Be Heroes (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), wherein he plays all 6 contestants competing for the title Australian Of The Year. Bonus materials include a behind-the-scenes documentary, extended episodes, deleted scenes, and bloopers.
And spinning off from Lilley’s We Can Be Heroes is his arrival in the US with the series Angry Boys (HBO, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP), which focuses on 6 new brilliantly-observed characters, from a former surfing champion to a Japanese mother. Bonus materials include deleted scenes, music videos, and bloopers.
Nothing says “Happy Holidays!” like the Francis Ford Coppola 5-Film Collection (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which brings together in one package the recent high-definition masters of Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Apocalypse Now Redux, The Conversation, Tetro, and One From The Heart (which is exclusive to this set).
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. Beasts Of The Southern Wild (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is a film like that, and its young star, Quvenzhane Wallis, is perfect within that magical tale. Just watch it. Bonus materials include featurettes, deleted scenes, auditions, and a short film.
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 Hope Springs (Sony, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP), which presents us with a calcified couple (Tommy Lee Jones & Meryl Streep) decades into their relationship who journey to a couples retreat in hopes that the counselor (Steve Carell) can help them rediscover what sparked them in the first place. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, alternate takes, featurettes, and a gag reel.
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 Eastbound And Down (HBO, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP). Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and outtakes.
After the piecemeal releases, you can now pick up Power Rangers: Super Samurai (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) in its complete form, featuring all 20 episodes plus featurettes and a music video.
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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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 
The epic films of David Lean are an essential part of any cinematic library, and the first to make the transition to high definition is the sweeping 
Robots are cool. So is brushing your teeth. Go with me on this… When you combine a toothbrush and a tiny little motor, you get the uber-cool 
I’m always leery of a new take on 
It’s been a few months and the new series has been hitting our shores, so hat means it’s time for another clutch of classic [Doctor Who] DVD releases. This time, we get a pair of Jon Pertwee adventures – 
Using the Poppinsonian maxim of a spoonful of sugar, Paramount has dipped into their catalogue for a trio of new-to-Blu-Ray releases, the first of which is the aforementioned sugar – 
Presented by Sir John Gielgud, 
While the new Blu-Ray edition of 
The comedy isn’t terribly nuanced, but there is a sucker punch level of laughs to be had from Leigh Francis’s grotesque creations in 
Universal dips into the vaults for the latest in the Backlot Series, 
You remember [The Santa Clause]? Where Tim Allen assumes the mantle of Santa Claus and family-friendly, heart-warming hilarity ensued? Well, replace Allen with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and make the former wrestler the titular mythical creature of 
Their marriage may not have been the happiest, but there’s no doubt that both Carole King and James Taylor knew how to write a song, which is evident on their recent reunion concert disc 
The films are good, but Universal’s new Blu-Ray/DVD flipper discs are still an unwelcome abominations – which is a shame, since the trio of catalogue titles – 
Recently re-released as a Blu-Ray special edition, the Colin Firth version of 
David Lynch’s adaptation of 
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where technology has failed and mankind is living by a thread after a plague sweeps the land, 
Featuring rare footage from his own personal collection, 
In the mood for a mildly entertaining romantic comedy with likeable actors that won’t cause upset and will quickly wash off after it’s all over? Well, then 
Remember that surprisingly chilling horror film a few years back about a team of female spelunkers who are hunted by subterranean creatures during an expedition gone wrong? You know, [The Descent]? Well, now it all gets a bit naffer with 
I’m not a fan, but there are plenty of kids who adore the little red monster and will probably happy tap along with 
A surprising and welcome arrival on DVD is the second volume collecting 
While not as funny as some of their previous television incarnations, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in the second season of 
Cross Doo Wop with [The Sunshine Boys] and you have 
It’s a bit disconcerting as you try and process the age difference in the 70’s-filmed [Honeymooners Specials], which brought the cast back together for one last spin as The Kramdens and The Nortons, but once you get into it, the old magic is there. 
Translated from its smash Broadway run and bringing Andy Griffith and Don Knotts together on screen for the first time, 
With Memorial Day right around the corner, Warners has dipped into the archives for some manly men classics to release as part of their TCM: Greatest Classic Films Collection. The first, 
By the time we reach the 
Tony Stark becomes a teenage superhero in Nickelodeon’s 
See a man do some incredibly foolish things to his body in the name of adventure in 
It’s another quarter of episodes to entertain the kiddies with 
It seems like there’s been a couple hundred editions released, but the new special edition of 
The year 1971 brought the still-developing sister of Charlie Brown – Sally – and made her a fully-realized character, which is why her face adorns the cover of 
When just about every device you can think of requires some kind of battery – particularly those quickly devoured AAs – having a top-notch rechargeable battery system is an economic must. To that end, I present the 
Graham Linehan – with Arthur Matthews – is one half of the creative team behind the legendary britcom Father Ted. With 
We were given a tease of them a few years back in the big ol’ Superman box set that came out, but now the fully restored official release of 
My absolute favorite iteration of the Justice League continues to get the nice, prestige treatment it deserves (even if the characters aren’t getting it in current DC continuity) with the snazzy hardcover release of 
Warner Bros. has an immense catalogue of titles. Thousands and thousands of them. And even with their aggressive DVD release schedule, there’s no way they can get to all of them – and, economically, some of the titles have such a small appeal that it’s just not viable to do a wide release on them. Those who thought their chances of picking up some of those obscure titles were nil can rejoice in the introduction of Warner’s new Archive Collection – 
Warners and TCM turn their spotlight to another actor for a themed box set, this time delivering the 
You’ve seen all of the wonderful production art behind their feature films, well now you can pick up a handsome volume looking at 
There’s something about seeing classic musicals in full high-def that brings the energy, music, and production design to the fore. For a good example, check out the new editions of 
I thought Click was amiable fun, so I found myself enjoying the latest in Adam Sandler’s family-friendly fare, 
It’s one of the most unique animated series ever made for TV – a collaboration between French writers and Japanese animators – and there’s some fun nostalgia in tripping through the complete run of 
I’m reminded of the old days of videocassette (and my old videodiscs) when I see Disney deciding to get back into the habit of releasing themed collections of their animated shorts under the Walt Disney Animation Collection banner. The first trio are 
Explore the life and death of the 16th president with a pair of fascinating documentaries – 
It’s no Pixar flick, but 
You know those type of “prestige” pictures that have the word “PRESTIGE” attached to a club that they bludgeon the audience with, in order that we fully understand that we’re watching a “PRESTIGE” film? 
And one Oscar nominee brings an Oscar winner out on Blu-Ray, with the release of the Coen Brothers’ 
Blake & Krystle get married as – would you believe it? – Alexis schemes in the first half of 
Elmo gets a new color scheme that Kermit would find familiar in the environment-centric 
As much as I disagree with the loss of Christopher Robin, my nephews do like the CG My Friends Tigger & Pooh and the latest release, 
On the surface you could say that Jim Carrey covered much of the same ground in Liar Liar as he does in 
Rejoice, parents and recreational drug users! A new release of everyone’s favorite bizarre kiddie show comes to DVD with 
After only seven years, it’s finally senior year on 
Wrap up the first season of 
