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…)
Louis CK proves yet again why he’s one of the finest practitioners of stand-up today with Hilarious (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP), a feature-length exploration of life after 40, newly-divorced with a pair of young daughters, in a world of increasing frustration. Get this disc. Get it now.
I love desktop gadgets, if only because they provide a welcome – and inherently evil – distraction from actually getting down to the mounds of work at hand. So imagine my delight when I learned I could get a desktop item that not only provides a visual lure, but also a geeky one? That’s what you get with the Doctor Who Levitating TARDIS ($34.99), which features a tiny floating TARDIS (the magic being the battery powered magnets in the stand). Spin it and watch it go round and round and round and round, and realize that you’re traveling forward in time… with no work getting done whatsoever.
I don’t think it’s his best, but there’s no denying the brutal power of Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (MGM/UA, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), a lot of which is conveyed by its amazing cinematography. That’s what benefits the most from the new high definition special edition, with every spot of black blood brutally crisp. New bonus materials include audio commentaries, a clutch of featurettes, a feature-length documentary, newsreel footage, a shot-by-shot comparison of the real fight to the film’s version, and Cathy Moriarty’s appearance on The Tonight Show.
Whoever thought to assemble a Rat Pack of female television comedy greats – Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick & Betty White – into a sitcom of their own should be given a promotion. In the meantime, you can pick up the complete first season of Hot In Cleveland (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP) and see for yourself. Bonus materials include the original pilot, featurettes, and bloopers.
Sergio Leone’s epic Once Upon A Time In America (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP) makes its long-awaited high definition debut, and the wait will vanish from your mind as soon as you lay eyes on this truly stunning transfer of a film that has to be seen by anyone in the least bit interested in cinema. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, the theatrical trailer, and an excerpt from the documentary Once Upon A Time: Sergio Leone.
Some doubted it would ever happen, but they were all proven wrong when Futurama (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) returned to the airwaves with 13 brand new episodes, all of which are contained in this 5th Volume set, complete with audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.
The new year brings a pair of new classic Doctor Who releases from the seemingly bottomless catalogue, this time reaching all the way back to Patrick Troughton’s Doctor for The Dominators (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) and then on to Tom Baker for Meglos (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP). Bonus features are the usual complement of commentaries, featurettes, interviews, and more.
Of all the companies with deep TV catalogues, Paramount/CBS has been the most consistent in releasing their titles, often sticking by and finishing runs while other companies left theirs by the wayside. All this is to say they’ve released another clutch of deep catalogue titles, including Vegas: The Second Season Volume 1 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$36.98 SRP), Hawaii Five-O: Season 10 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$54.99 SRP), Gunsmoke: Season 4 Volume 2 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP), The Lucy Show: Season 3 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) – which is loaded with a bonus documentary, clips & commercials – and The Andy Griffith Show: 50th Anniversary (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), which includes 17 classic episodes plus the Danny Thomas Show episode that acted as a pilot and the TV movie Return To Mayberry.
Continuing to fulfill its remit to release deep catalogue titles sure to make cinephiles happy, the Warner Archive just dropped Two-Faced Woman (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.95), a romantic comedy which is also the last film of the great Greta Garbo.
The further we get away from it and the more I try and revisit it over the years, I find myself less and less impressed with Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning Dances With Wolves (MGM/UA, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), which plays as being far too impressed with itself and its own perceived greatness. Still, it looks nice, and it looks even better in high definition. The new special edition contains audio commentaries, deleted scenes, featurettes, and a retrospective documentary.
As cringeworthy as both the original Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm could be, the comedic situations of Peep Show (Channel 4, Not Rated, DVD-£19.99 SRP) easily trump them both in sheer awkwardness. Don’t believe me? Watch the Christmas dinner episode of series 7. So delightfully sour.
Another in The History Channel’s long line of “historical” series that have only the slightest of historical content to justify their claim that there’s historical content, Top Shot (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$34.95 SRP) drops a team of marksmen into challenges based on “historical” feats, from gunfights to sniper missions. The 4-disc set contains the entire first season, plus additional footage and interviews.
I admit, after the departure of the original cast, my interest has declined from season to season of Skins (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), as the current batch of actors and storylines in season 4 just don’t seem to have the same freshness. Shame, really, as the show continues to use great guest stars. The 3-disc set contains audio commentaries, featurettes, interviews, and trailers.
Ostensibly launched as a way of highlighting positive news stories, Russell Howard’s Good News (Channel 4, Not Rated, DVD-£19.99 SRP) is really just a nice excuse to collect funny clips from the news and the internet and provide a pleasant vehicle for comedian Russell Howard. This best-of collection also sports the unaired pilot, deleted scenes, audio commentary, and a featurette.
Sadly, the massive Looney Tunes: Golden Collections are a thing of the past, which leaves us with single disc releases Looney Tunes Super Stars: Foghorn Leghorn & Friends & Looney Tunes Super Stars: Tweety & Sylvester (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP each) the only releases of classic Warner cartoons, but at least we can take solace that these contain cartoons previously unavailable.
We’re nearly at the end with the release of the penultimate fourteenth season of ER (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP), in which the staff of County General starts to remember some of the ghosts – of both patients and staff – that are still lingering around in a place which has had such a long history. Bonus materials include deleted scenes, a Paley Q&A for the 300th episode, and a gag reel.
The comedy talent may be plentiful, but the quality of the sketches are just as scattershot as your average episode of Saturday Night Live in the first season of Funny Or Die Presents (HBO, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), which plays as the collection of web shorts it really is.
Originally released on DVD nearly a decade ago, the epic TV miniseries Shogun (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$79.99 SRP) – starring Richard Chamberlain as a stranded English navigator who finds himself swept up into feudal conflict in 17th century Japan – has been fully refreshed both visually and aurally, and loaded with a select scene commentary by director Jerry London, a multi-part making-of documentary, and a trio of historical featurettes.
If you can get past some of their garbage shows about aliens and the end of the world, History does still manages to put out some real gems that should be seen, including the 5th season of their astronomical wonderfest, The Universe (History Channel, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.95 SRP), which is best seen in high-def.
As it stars both Patrick Warburton and David Spade, I always hope that Rules Of Engagement (Sony, Not Rated, DVD-$29.95 SRP) will be a better sitcom than it actually is – Which, granted, is my problem, not theirs. I just wish the material lived up to the performer’s ability. The fourth season set contains all 13 episodes.
While The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP) is exactly the kind of mildly entertaining ranch fest we’ve come to expect from these outings, it’s a bittersweet affair as it features the last recorded appearance of a great comic (and truly nice guy), Greg Giraldo. Bonus materials include featurettes and interviews.
Sadly, Yogi’s Great Escape (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$14.95) was one of the low-budget, haphazard TV movies that Hanna-Barbera produced starring their classic characters, and looks and feels every bit its cheapness. But hey, at least The Warner Archive has allowed completists and the curious to get it.
Ben 10 has moved beyond Alien Force with the first volume of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien – Escape From Aggregor (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), which sports 10 episodes plus a look at the making of the video game.
I’ve long been a fan of the animated maquettes being produced by the fine folks at Electric Tiki, which are distributed by the equally fine folks at Sideshow Collectibles. When they got the Disney license a few years back, I was quite excited to see exactly whet characters they’d tackle, and so far I haven’t been disappointed. Case in point is their beautifully sculpted Roger Rabbit ($124.99), which features a swappable hand holding either a balloon or a hot dog on a stick. You know you want to get this.
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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