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 Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
There are many films from my childhood that I place upon a pedestal merely for sentimental reasons, despite glaring deficiencies in quality. You know exactly the type I mean. But then there’s Mary Poppins (Walt Disney, Rated G, DVD-$29.99 SRP), a film I loved as a kid, a statement I am not ashamed to make as it still holds up as a stellar film, with songs I know by heart to this day (having to sing “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” in elementary school certainly helps). The remastered 2-disc 45th Anniversary Edition is a welcome presentation of the film, with a fine audio commentary (with Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Karen Dotrice, Richard Sherman, and Robert Sherman), a brand new making-of documentary, a look at the misguided Broadway show, and a few more surprises.
There are a lot of low-cost portable video options out there, but there aren’t very many credit card-sized video players that will give you 2 GB of storage, a MiniSD slot, hours of playing time, AVI/MPEG ability, a built in external speaker, and included earphones for under $100. Well, ThinkGeek has got just such a Credit Card-Sized video player for only $69.99. Even if it’s just for running around with some vids on the fly, you really can’t beat that price for a nice little pocket player.
Long a legendary cult tape often whispered about but rarely seen, Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) – produced/directed/co-written by and starring Michael O’Donoghue – was originally intended to run as a special in Saturday Night Live‘s time slot in 1979. Unfortunately, what O’Donoghue delivered was so bizarre that the network decided it was unairable. I largely agree with them – this is pure alternative comedy, and not network TV fare. It’s also something every comedy fan should see at least once, even if it’s an uneven, scattershot affair. Bonus materials include “Mr. Mike’s Least-Loved Bedtime Tales” sketches from SNL, an audio commentary from co-writer Mitch Glazer, and Bill Murray’s on-air eulogy after O’Donaghue’s passing in 1994.
In 1976, a group of British comedy and music luminaries got together for a benefit show to raise money for Amnesty International. In 1979, this charity gathering was rechristened The Secret Policeman’s Ball, and over the years would feature members of Monty Python, Peter Cook, Fry & Laurie, Rowan Atkinson, Pete Townshend, Neil Innes, Sting, Jackson Browne, French & Saunders, and many more. Long available in the UK, all of the classic Balls are now available in the US in the form of The Secret Policeman’s Balls (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP). Bonus features include a 2004 retrospective documentary, rare comedy & music performances not featured in the original films, TV spots, news footage, introductions, and audio commentaries.
It seems like it’s taken years – because it has – but the we can now lay our mitts upon the eleventh and final season of Cheers (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP). Sadly, they’ve opted yet again to chintz on the bonus features so the retrospective special that aired before the finale is not present, and neither is the infamous drunken Tonight Show episode, which makes me think we’re going to be a complete series collection in the future, packed with an exclusive bonus disc. Those bloodsuckers.
Make the waiting for the next full season set a little easier with one of Nick’s holdover single-disc editions – Spongebob Squarepants: Spongicus (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP), featuring 8 episodes and an animation art gallery.
He could be like battery acid in your ears, but the diamonds in the rough more than made it worth experiencing the comedy of Sam Kinison. He’s specials are finally getting the treatment they deserve with the special edition release Sam Kinison Unleashed (Mill Creek, Not rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which features 1987’s Sam Kinison: Breaking The Rules and 1991’s Sam Kinison: Family Entertainment Hour, plus additional never-before-seen footage.
All I could think while watching Rock N Rolla (Warner Bros., Rated R, DVD-$34.99 SRP) is that if this is the film Guy Ritchie makes while his marriage to Madonna is falling apart, he’s probably got a great film in him now that the marriage is finished. It’s his usual tale of English gangsters and swagger a plenty, but there’s an energy that hasn’t been seen since Snatch. Bonus features include an audio commentary, an additional scene, and a featurette looking at Ritchie’s London. A Blu-Ray edition ($35.99 SRP) is also available with identical bonus features.
Warners has looked into the vaults and dug up four new-to-DVD flicks for their Sidney Poitier Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated/Rated PG, DVD-$39.98 SRP) – Edge Of The City, A Patch Of Blue, Something Of Value, and A Warm December. All 4 films contain the theatrical trailers, while A Patch Of Blue also contains an audio commentary with director Guy Green and a stills gallery.
Okay, for the sole reason that it stars John Denver and John Rhys Davies, Higher Ground (Sony, Rated PG, DVD-$19.94 SRP) is worth picking up. Do you really need a stronger argument than that? And there’s a plane! In Alaska! Come on!
It did nothing at the box office, but Pride & Glory (Warner Btos., Rated R, DVD-$28.98 SRP) is a good, solid cop & crime drama in the 70’s tradition, starring Ed Norton, Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, and Noah Emmerich as a cop family that make some tough choices and must face even tougher consequences. The sole bonus feature is an in-depth making-of documentary. A Blu-Ray edition ($35.99 SRP) is also available,
Love is in the air – and Valentine’s Day is fast approaching – so it should be little surprise that Warners is releasing a Romance Classics Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$39.92 SRP), bringing together a quartet of catalogue romantic flicks – Palm Springs Weekend, Parrish, Rome Adventure, & Susan Slade. Bonus features are limited to the theatrical trailers.
Take Old School and make it about rock & roll dreams, and you’ve pretty much got The Rocker (Fox, Rated PG-13, DVD-$29.98 SRP), starring Rainn Wilson as a middle-aged rocker who gets a second chance at stardom 20 years after being unceremoniously booted from his 80’s hair band. Bonus features include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, a gag reel, interviews, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a music video, and more. A Blu-Ray edition ($39.98 SRP) is also available, featuring identical bonus materials.
Yes, I recall many a Saturday morning watching The All New Super Friends Hour (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP), starring all my favorite DC superheroes Wonder Twin sidekicks Zan & Jayna, and Gleek the space monkey as the fought injustice from the iconic headquarters, the Hall of Justice. This 2-disc second volume wraps up the show’s first season with 32 episodes and a special featurette on the Wonder Twins phenomenon in pop culture.
Paramount isn’t the only studio catching up on catalogue releases – Fox also brings their own basket of back titles to high definition with Drumline (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), Unfaithful (Fox, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), Stargate: The Ark Of Truth (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.99 SRP), and Antwone Fisher (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP). All 4 titles feature the same complement of bonus features as their standard DVD counterparts.
I admit it – with all due shame – I did watch at least the first season Blossom when it originally aired. In retrospect, I’m not sure why. It’s certainly your standard sitcom fare – except with a dancing Mayim Bialik. Am I being too hard on it? Well, you can judge for yourself with Blossom: Seasons 1 & 2 (Shout! Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP), which collects all 37 episodes of those first 2 seasons, plus retrospective featurettes, the original pilot, and audio commentaries. Did you ever think Blossom would get such a wealth of bonus features? Me neither.
Another admission – there was a period when I read John Grisham novels. I’m not going to apologize – it’s a phase many go through, and then we move on. That means, however, that I’ve seen the quartet of films contained in the John Grisham Courtroom Collection (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13/R, DVD-$39.98 SRP) – The Pelican Brief, The Client, Runaway Jury, and A Time To Kill. They’re certainly all solid flicks, in a cable kind of way.
The second and final season of The Invaders (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$36.98 SRP) – starring Roy Thinnes as the witness of an alien landing who tries desperately to convince the country of impending danger – arrives on DVD in a 7-disc set featuring all 26 episodes, plus an audio commentary, intros, and an interview with Thinnes.
It’s not as good as he’s managed be lately, but Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Genius, Rated PG-13, DVD-$28.95 SRP) goes a long way towards proving that the dark days of the 90’s and early aughts are behind writer/director Woody Allen. Continuing his expat streak, this time the story takes us to Barcelona, and centers around a pair of Americans (including Scarlett Johansson) who are swept up by a Spanish Casanova (Javier Bardem) and become romantically entangled with him and his volatile ex-wife. As usual for an Allan disc, there are zero bonus features.
Like Cops with even more junkies and dealers, Spike’s reality series DEA: Detroit (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) makes its way to DVD. The 2-disc set also features an uncut episode of Real Vice Cops.
Now that the classic specials have all gotten their due, the remastered edition treatment is turning towards the lesser of the Peanuts specials with You’re A Good Sport, Charlie Brown (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP). The disc also contains the bonus special You’re The Greatest, Charlie Brown and a new featurette about the inspiration for Sport‘s dirt biking storyline. Where’s my special edition of Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown?
One must marvel at the ability of The Love Boat (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$36.98 SRP) to bring together such an incredible amount of B, C, & D-list talent on an episode-by-episode basis. It’s actually ludicrous just how many stars decided to try a some not-so-exciting and new. The 3-disc Season 1 Volume 2 features 13 episodes plus episode promos.
Oh, Disney. What am I to do with The Secret Of The Magic Gourd (Walt Disney, Rated G, DVD-$29.99 SRP)? About a little boy and his magic gourd? Tell me, Disney – what am I going to do with that? Bonus materials include bloopers, a music video, and a behind-the-scenes featurette.
Comedian Russell Peters delivers a one-two punch with a combo set of his stand up DVD and CD, Russell Peters: Red, White And Brown (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP). Bonus features include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a pair of featurettes.
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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All kudos, salutations, exaltations, hurrahs and huzzahs to Darrell Van Critters for assembling a long overdue and absolutely brilliant tribute and celebration of The Art Of Jay Ward Productions (Oxberry Press, $49.95 SRP). From Crusader Rabbit and Rocky & Bullwinkle to George Of The Jungle and Superchicken, it’s packed with artwork and information about the artists and the studio itself. Did I mention how brilliant this book is? Because it really is brilliant that such a wonderful tome now exists. So go get it. Quickly.
To say that Fruitvale Station (Anchor Bay, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is a sobering film is an understatement, as it dramatizes the tragic shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) by San Francisco BART officers on New Year’s Day 2009 – which was captured on cameras by his fellow passengers. Bonus materials include a filmmaker Q&A and a featurette.
After mainly focusing on shorts-based released for their DVD line – most likely due to ease of rights issues – the fine folks at Rifftrax have been increasing their feature-length releases, with a pair of brand new ones to ring in the new year. If you’re in the mood to extend your holiday celebrations, there’s the disturbing Santa’s Village Of Madness, or the somehow not quite as creepy Ghosthouse (Rifftrax, Not Rated, DVD-$9.95 each). Just get them both.
Fox has opened up their vaults again, going all the way back to the high definition debut of one of the very first Academy Award winners, 1929’s Sunrise (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), packing it with an audio commentary, deleted scenes, trailers, and featurettes. Also arriving in high def are 1967’s In The Heat Of The Night (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), with commentary & featurettes, and 1985’s A Chorus Line (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), with the original theatrical trailer.
The surprise announcement that his younger brother is getting married sets off a chain reaction of bitterness and recrimination between the long-divorced but still very angry parents of Carter (Adam Scott), a man who is still caught in the emotional maelstrom of that dissolution in A.C.O.D.: Adult Children Of Divorce (Paramount, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). It’s a wry little comedy marked by a stellar cast, including Catherine O’Hara, Richard Jenkins, and Amy Poehler. Bonus materials include cast & crew discussions, PSAs, and outtakes.
Watching Kevin Bacon be Kevin Bacon is the real reason to watch the spotty The Following (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), as it finds him cast as a former FBI agent brought back into the fold when a serial killer he put away nine years earlier (James Purefoy) escapes from death row intent on revenge and with a loyal cult of followers spread far and wide dedicated to carrying out his master plan. Bonus materials include an audio commentaries, featurettes, and deleted scenes.
The perfect antidote to the grating US version is a dose of the original power trio in their latest season with Top Gear 20 (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$18.98 SRP), which finds Clarkson, Hammond, and May racing against a yacht in New Zealand, blast across Spain, and seek the world’s fastest taxi. Bonus material includes Stig Cams and James May’s Greatest Moments in Top Gear History.
By the time we get to the third season of Enterprise (Paramount, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$129.99 SRP), any lingering franchise goodwill I had towards the show had long since evaporated in the face of a relentlessly mediocre offering, so the baby steps this season began taking to try and right the sinking ship very much smacked of too little, too late, but at least they were an improvement. Little did the show know, however, that this would prove to be their penultimate season of a voyage cut short. Bonus materials are, as with the previous Blu-Ray releases, where the real gems reside, with a brand new, wonderfully candid set of documentaries as well as new audio commentaries and all of the previous DVD features.
If you’re in the mood for a prestige mystery that manages to maintain it’s edgy drama throughout, try Top Of The Lake (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP), which starts with a pregnant 12-year-old-girl who walks out into the freezing waters of a lake. She refuses to reveal who the father is, and then disappears from town… leaving behind more than one mystery for an inexperienced detective (Elisabeth Moss).
As the new episodes have slowed to a trickle, the Spongebob machine keeps on rolling by introducing a character-centric collection – Patrick Squarepants (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) – which brings together 14 episodes centered around everyone’s favorite be-shorted starfish.
Just in time for the debut of the fifth season (naturally) comes the complete fourth season of Archer (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). From the Bermuda Triangle to the Vatican, it’s a globe-hopping clusterfuh of Archerian proportions. Bonus materials include Archer Live! and a featurette.
It’s largely disposable entertainment, but Runner Runner (Fox, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) is fine as thriller, with engaging performances from Justin Timberlake as a Princeton grad student who believes he’s been swindled by a gambling tycoon (Ben Affleck), so he heads to Costa Rica and winds up gambling more than he anticipated in a high stakes game between the Tycoon and the FBI. Bonus materials include deleted scenes and a featurette.
Every once in awhile, The History Channel manages to set aside their godawful “reality” programming in favor of something truly enlightening and, dare I say, classy, like The Universe In 3D (History Channel, Not Rated, 3D Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), which brings their astronomical science series into the 3rd dimension.
Get your final fix of the period police drama Copper (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.98 SRP) with the second and final season, set in New York City on the brink of Lincoln’s assassination in a metropolis at war with itself. Bonus materials include set tours and featurettes.
The supernatural Three’s Company that is the US remake of Being Human (E1, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.98 SRP) rolls along with the release of the third season, which finds our vampire, werewolf, and ghost (plus Nora) struggling to keep their secrets hidden as things get more and more complicated. Isn’t that always the way? Bonus materials include featurettes, bloopers, and the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con panel.
Only a handful of releases of the long-running BBC series remain with the release of Last Of The Summer Wine: Vintage 2001 (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP), featuring the ongoing comic misadventures of Holmfirth’s pensioners.
When you can watch the story of a woman on the coast of Scotland who crafts fishing lures that are renowned the world over for both their efficacy and their beauty and be absolutely enthralled, THAT is the mark of the true power of a well-crafted documentary. So do give a spin to Kiss The Water (Virgil Films, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) and see if it lures you in as well.
It’s a new year, so howzabout a new round-up of soundtracks currently available for your listening pleasure? We’ve got Howard Shore’s The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug (WaterTower Music, $18.99 SRP), Anchorman 2 (Universal Republic, $11.88 SRP), Marcelo Zarvos’s Reaching For The Moon (Lakeshore, $9.99 SRP), Johnny Klimek & Reinhold Heil’s I, Frankenstein (Lakeshore, $15.35 SRP), and Rolfe Kent’s Labor Day (Warner Bros., $18.47 SRP).