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…)
Last year, Sideshow made quite the splash with their absolutely incredible 1/6-scale R2-D2, from accurate detailing and a ridiculous amount of accessories right down to its impressive lighting effects. The only downside, however, has been the tortuously long wait for his persnickety companion. But that wait is now over. And was it worth it? Yes. Yes. A thousand times YES. The 1/6-scale C-3PO ($229.99) is, if not perfect, pretty damn near to perfect. The sculpt and paint job are spot-on to his appearance in A New Hope, including the forehead dent from the Tusken Raider attack (the Sideshow exclusive version include a swappable bonus arm stump from that tussle’s aftermath). He’s fully articulated right down to his fingers, and even the hydraulics on his arms slide. Best of all, though, is the light feature for his eyes, which is activated via a touch sensor on the back of his head. So yes, this IS the droid you’re looking for.
Waffles. Who doesn’t love waffles. And Star Wars. Everybody loves waffles and Star Wars. So, how can you possibly resist a Star Wars Death Star Waffle Maker ($39.99), that allows you to cook up a delicious treat that looks exactly like the Empire’s ultimate weapon? That’s right. You can not hope to resist its awesome power. Don’t resist it. Give in to the dark side of the waffle.
It seems I’ve been waiting ages for it to get its turn, but the new high definition edition of Charlie Chaplin’s classic The Kid (Criterion, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.95 SRP) is well worth the wait, as they’ve done a fabulous restoration job. The film truly has never looked better. Bonus features include an audio commentary, a video essay on Jackie Coogan, interviews, deleted scenes, newsreels, rare footage, and much more.
It was an odd, almost exquisite chore to sit through Danny Boyle & Aaron Sorkin’s meditation on the exhaustingly complicated Steve Jobs (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP), as you can certainly appreciate what he was able to accomplish, but you also get a better sense of just what an awful human being he was, in many ways, which makes this less a celebration than a condemnation, albeit with great appreciation for his accomplishments. Bonus materials include audio commentaries and a featurette.
While Johnny Depp’s performance as notorious Boston gangster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP) is pretty darn powerful, it’s difficult to get past the almost cartoonish make-up job that he’s been given, which gives the film an unintentional gonzo air. Which is a shame, really, because it’s an otherwise solid piece about Bulger’s manipulation of the FBI to rid himself of the Italian mob. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes, including one about the manhunt that led to fugitive Bulger’s eventual capture.
Take a trip down the mine and relive the harrowing true tale of the 33 Chilean miners trapped for 69 days far underground in The 33 (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP), with a fine cast of largely unknowns led by Antonio Banderas. Bonus materials include a pair of featurettes and the theatrical trailer.
Olive films continues their fine tradition of releasing high definition titles from deep, deep catalogue with the Blu-Ray debut of the totally 80s Beat Street (Olive Films, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), the romantic drama Moonlight And Valentino (Olive Films, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), and Nic Cage & Samuel L. Jackson in Amos & Andrew (Olive Films, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP).
That’s it. The vaults are empty. The barrels have been scraped. It’s the Poppocalypse. We now have The Brady Kids: The Complete Animated Series (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) on DVD. With its dancing pandas. The 3-disc set contains all 22 episodes.
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’d asked a fan a few years back if they’d ever see the notorious Sandy Frank episodes – episodes which Frank supposedly loathed – on DVD, they probably would have sighed and said “No. Probably not.” Well, never say never, because the Sandy Frank films begin their roll out in 
How can you not like the simple, straightforward 
It’s not a great film, but the thing I love so much about 
As it’s Olympics time, it should come as no surprise that Warners has chosen this moment to release the long-awaited high definition debut of 
While the 80’s were loaded with high school comedies, the 90’s seemed to roll out the high school reunion comedies, and while it’s no classic, I remember enjoying the straightforward fun of 
Journey back to a much simpler time when the late Whitney Houston could star in a wholesome flick like 
And leapfrogging ahead, the BBC recently produced a story from the 1948 London games in 
When five juvenile delinquents doing community service are caught in a freak electrical storm and develop superpowers, you get 
There’s definitely some Whedonverse DNA evident in 
The Schwarzenegger 
Even more so than the godawful live action Cat In The Hat, you can’t get a more wrong-headed take on the brilliance of Dr. Seuss than the crass adaptation of 
It’s been a few years, so it should come as no surprise that another new edition of Mel Brooks’ 
While HBO is loaded with classy shows like Game Of Thrones and Veep, Cinemax gets to have a knock-down, dragout action series like 
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 
While it’s not the Blu-Ray editions that everyone (me included) was hoping for, the new special editions of the Back To The Future trilogy are worth a look see. The original 
I’ve got hundreds and hundreds of slides and negatives from years of pre-digital photo archives. That being the case, I’m always keen on new and easier ways to try and digitize this wealth of images – including a nifty slide/negative scanner that Thinkgeek offered, and I featured a few months back. Well, now they’ve gone and begun offering a newer, spiffier 
Another catalogue classic making its way to high definition is the director’s cut of 
Also hitting Blu-Ray is David Cronenberg’s surprisingly accessible 
Uber-curmudgeon Victor Meldrew returns in the 
It’s not quite as incisive as it could be, but Oliver Stone’s 
When all hell breaks loose in a small town, are you going to call the police? No. The FBI? No. The military? Of course not! Ninjas? THEY DON’T HAVE PHONES!! No, the person you’re going to call to sort it all out is B-movie legend Bruce Campbell – and that’s just what the small town of Gold Lick does in the fun little goof 
It’s certainly not their finest hour, but I sort of kind of dig the better aspects of 
It’s by no means a disaster, but it certainly would have been nice if Bernie Mac’s final film were better. 
The Blu-Ray catalogue express pulls up to the station with another carload full of titles, this time straight from Fox. Getting the high definition treatment are the much-requested 
It’s no Pixar, but there’s a simple pleasure to 
There’s nothing especially upsetting or horrific or even interesting about 
It’s not the best looking CGI animated flick, but my nephew certainly likes the off-kilter tale of 
Long before the lackluster Masters Of Horror, another anthology series sought out horror masters for a slightly better clutch of stories – 
It’s a saccharine, fluffy mess, but I’m sure there will be plenty of sales for the newly-arrived-in-high-definition 
It can be plodding, but Spike Lee’s 
No longer a full season set, fans will have to make do with only the first 19 episodes in 
If you want a crash course in pretentious cinema, look no further than the world-struck-blind-by-a-plague-and-devolves-into-chaos-but-Julianne-Moore-isn’t-blind 
They may be on the simple side, but that’s exactly what you’d hope when putting on one of the 4 DVDs (comprising 32 episodes) in the 
Shout Factory picks up the ball after Universal walked away following the release of the first season with 
We still don’t have the original 60’s series (I want it more than a hula hoop), but we get another Alvin & The Chipmunks themed episode collection, 
Yeah, I tried. Still don’t like 
Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Curt Swan, Fred Hembeck… Yes, Fred Hembeck. Destroyer of universes, gentle mocker, ooner of lamps, and master of four-color mirth, our very own Fred Hembeck has been honored with 
Although my interest was certainly piqued, I in no way expected to be as swept up as I became in HBO’s miniseries on the political life of our 2nd president, 
Going in, I had my reservations about 
As far as classic seasons go, I’d have to include the 4th season of 
I’ll never escape a jungle prison with nothing more than bubblegum and a fire ant, but I admit to feeling just a little bit MacGyver-ish when wielding the 
Not realizing just want kind of legs the series would wind up having, Fox originally released the first season of 24 as a borderline bare-bones DVD set. Eager to rectify that mistake (and get fans to purchase a second version), we’ve now got 
Rest assured that not only is Steve McGarrett back in the fourth season of 
After losing themselves in the wilderness of HD-DVD for a year, Paramount has come in from the cold with a full embrace of the high-def victor, Blu-Ray, with a clutch of releases to get up to speed. They all sport the same bonus features as the standard definition discs (save for Bee Movie, which does have some exclusive materials), but fancy-pants cinephiles can now pick up 
There’s always something mildly off-putting about reunion movies featuring the aged cast of beloved TV shows. Maybe that’s because they’re usually frozen in our memories looking and acting like they did when we last saw them, regardless of how time has since treated the actors. Such is the case with the pair of flicks contained on the 
If you made up the story of Raymond Burr’s life, you would call it a an outrageous soap opera fabrication – but the truth is just as outrageous as fiction, as you’ll discover in the biography 
Since everyone and their brother seems to be releasing westerns from their catalogues these past few months, it makes sense that Lionsgate would want to revisit 
I think I’m going to coin a new term for 
If you never got around to picking up either 
Not one, but two more actresses get the featured collection treatment – Sophia Loren and Catherine Deneuve. The 
The one-armed man is still on the loose in the first volume of 
When a TV show is successful, there’s always the a certain amount of curiosity as to whether the characters would transfer to the big screen. Sadly, Don Adams’s Maxwell Smart did not do too well in the transition, which meant the sublime genius that was Get Smart became the tepid disappointment of 
It’s a bit of a grab bag, but 
All good things must come to an end, and so must things that lived a few years beyond their shelf life – the eighth and final season of 
Having long ago given up on watching it since being disappointed when after its first few outings on Adult Swim and the first season DVD, I was curious to see if my opinion would be changed by the second season of 