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…)
I really could have done without the over-the-top violence, because I actually found the story behind Kick-Ass (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) to be pretty damn good, adapted from the comic book of the same name that envisions what it might be like for a real-life teen to decide to become a superhero-styled vigilante. What elevates it, though, is an impressive cast – including Nic Cage in the first flick in ages where I’ve actually enjoyed his presence. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, a marketing archive, gallery, and a bonus standard DVD.
In these dark, depressing, overheated days, there’s one thing that can still manage to bring a smile to even the most jaded countenance. I bet you’re wondering what I’m talking about. Why, I’m talking about Star Trek Interactive Tribbles ($14.99-$19.99), which vibrate and make all of the noises that Tribbles do, available in both a large and small size.
It’s not often that you find a smart, funny kiddie comedy that’s just as enjoyable for the adults, and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid (Fox, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP) manages to achieve placement in that rarified air with a classic outsider tale that plays like a modern day Christmas Story. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted diary pages.
While The Nightmare Before Christmas gets all of the attention, director Henry Selick’s stop-motion follow-up adaptation of Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach (Walt Disney, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) finally gets its time in the sun with a beautiful high definition transfer special edition, with a behind-the-scenes featurette and a music video.
Very rapidly, now, studios are cranking up their catalogue high definition conversions, which leads us to this week’s trio of releases from MGM – Kalifornia, Bull Durham, & the long-awaited Escape From New York (MGM, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP each). Both Escape & Kalifornia are featureless, but Bull Durham comes with commentaries and a clutch of featurettes. All 3 releases come bundled with the standard definition DVD disc as well.
He made a lot of movies, but the most memorable ones are includes in the high definition Elvis: Blu-Ray Collection (Warner Bros., Rated G, Blu-Ray-$49.98 SRP). Not only does it include Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas, but also the concert film Elvis On Tour. As far as bonus materials go, both films contain making-of featurettes.
It’s slight and really doesn’t maintain itself very well, but Date Night (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) does have the benefit of Steve Carrell and Tina Fey as its leads, as a humdrum married couple whose attempt at a night out goes quickly into action-packed farce mode after they impulsively grab another couple’s dinner reservation. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, PSAs, and a gag reel.
It’s not the films you generally think of when you hear his name, but there’s a nice look at the kind of films that sustained his career in the TCM Spotlight Errol Flynn Adventures collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). Included in the set are Desperate Journey, Edge Of Darkness, Northern Pursuit, Uncertain Glory, & Objective, Burma!. Bonus features include short subjects, newsreels, and trailers.
Want to know a lot about a certain subject in a fast, easy, and entertaining way? Well, the folks at The History Channel have marshaled their massive library into a new initiative of single-disc “Instant Expert” releases, each of which focuses on a single topic. The first batch to come down the pike include Ben Franklin, The Story Of Oil, Egypt, The Mayflower, The French Revolution, and Beowulf (History Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$14.95 SRP each).
David Starkey dives deep into the history of Britain’s ruling class in the documentary series Monarchy (Acorn, Not Rated, DVD-$79.99 SRP), taking viewers on a 1,500-year journey through power, blood, and battle.
Film criticism has been condensed down to its purest form in the collected release of Four Word Film Reviews (Adams Media, $9.95 SRP), in which Benj Clews and Michael Onesi summarize the likes of Jurassic Park with “Visitors feed the animals.” and Jaws with “Eat ship and die.”
Having recently acquired the rights to release Roy Budd’s scores, Silva Screen launches right in with a sparkling release of Budd’s score to the original Get Carter (Silva Screen Records, $12.98 SRP). Fans of the film and score aficionados alike will want to snap this up ASAP.
Long a favorite of tape-trading fans, the very lovely, little-seen 1984 documentary Henson’s Place (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) arrives on DVD and is worth a look by anyone who fancies themselves a Muppets fan. The disc also include a look at the 1885/86 Jim Henson Company Yearbook, with an introduction by Michael Frith.
It seems awfully soon after the Brit-centric, Frank Oz-helmed remake of just a few years ago, but the American audience got its own version of Death At A Funeral (Sony, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.95 SRP) which at least makes the smart decision of keeping Peter Dinklage on in what still amounts to a frothy, if slight, farce. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
So two volumes simply weren’t enough? Well, perhaps you’ll finally get your fill with Saturday Night Live: The Best Of Will Ferrell Volume 3 (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), which is two more volumes than any of the original cast. Think about that for a moment.
It’s schlock of the utmost caliber, as Joe Dante rips off Jaws in the Roger Corman produced Piranha (Shout Factory, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$26.97 SRP), and it’s even goofier when you view it in high definition. Bonus features an audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers, radio/TV spots, trailers, and more.
Did you know that Hawaii Five-O ran for 12 seasons? I mean, by the time you get to Hawaii Five-O: Season 9 (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$49.99 SRP), it’s pretty much running on autopilot as Chin Ho, Danno, and Detective Steve McGarrett track down criminals on the Big Island of Oahu. The 6-disc set contains all 23 episodes.
Thanks to Charlie Brooker’s brilliant deconstruction of this soap opera dramatization on the loves and lives of the 19th century painters in question, I can’t really take Desperate Romantics (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) too seriously. Perhaps you can. The 2-disc set contains a pair of featurettes.
While it makes me feel achingly old to see it’s the 25th anniversary edition, it is nice that John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP) has arrived in high definition, featuring an audio commentary, documentary, and a featurette on the origins of “The Brat Pack”.
Watch a once-promising show completely collapse under its own mismanagement and limp to a perfunctory demise via the 4th and final season of Heroes (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP). The 5-disc set contains all 18 episodes, plus audio commentaries, deleted/extended scenes, and featurettes. A Blu-Ray edition ($79.98 SRP) is also available, with the same bonus materials plus an exclusive featurette.
Proving that Sesame Street is all about following trends instead of setting them nowadays, their latest DVD release features Abby Cadabby in Sesame Street: P Is For Princess (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), which at least features Paul Rudd as a prince.
Oh, The 80’s. You gifted us with so much pop culture detritus that clogs every nook and cranny of the brains that lived through you. Included in that clutter is the short-lived TV series Max Headroom (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$49.97 SRP), whose 14 episodes are included in this new collector’s edition set. Bonus features include retrospective featurettes and a cast roundtable discussion.
Calling back to the likes of Voltron, Robotech, and Battle Of The Planets, Adult Swim’s Titan Maximum (Adult Swim, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) is a stop-motion riff on that big robot pop culture well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite live up to the previous series from its creators, Robot Chicken. We’ll see if it gets its sea legs should it move forward. The disc contains 9 episodes, animatics, commentaries, featurettes, a table read, and more.
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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As a child, I must have watched Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) dozens of times on SelectaVision videodisc, and remained baffled as to why it never seemed to get a DVD release while every other Peanuts production seemed to be making its way into the modern age. Well, finally my long wait is over, and the remastered film looks fantastic in its original widescreen theatrical ratio.
Disney’s incredible series of fully remastered and expanded soundtrack special editions continues with the 4-disc Fantasia: The Legacy Collection (Walt Disney Records, $23.98 SRP), featuring both conductor Leopold Stokowski’s original score as well as the modern Irwin Kostal re-recording, plus bonus tracks of the aborted Clare de Lune sequence and Sterling Holloway reading both “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “Peter & The Wolf”.
Overshadowed by splashier studio fare like Big Hero 6 and How To Train Your Dragon 2 in theaters, home video is the perfect second chance to experience the delightfully offbeat animated comedy Book Of Life (Fox, Rated PG, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), about a young man who embarks on a hero’s journey into a trio of memorable worlds in order to reunite with his true love. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, a brand new short, featurettes, and a music video.
The performance sparks you hope for when you hear that Robert Downey, Jr. is playing a big city lawyer who returns to his childhood hometown when his estranged father, a local judge played by Robert Duvall, is accused of murder are there in spades in the brisk The Judge (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP). Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, and deleted scenes.
Catch up with Cartoon Network’s continuing winning streak of quirky animated kids fare with the inaugural DVD releases of Clarence, Uncle Grandpa, and Steven Universe (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, DVD-$14.47 SRP each). Both sport the first dozen episodes plus the original pilots.
I didn’t think it possible to release so many quality new-to-HD catalogue releases each month, but the folks at Olive consistently prove me wrong, as they drop a new clutch of beuts including Frank Capra’s A Hole In The Head (Olive Films, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), Paul Winfield & Cecily Tyson in the biopic King (Olive Films, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), Gregory Peck in the Korean War film Pork Chop Hill (Olive Films, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), David Duchovny & Minnie Driver in Return To Me (Olive Films, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP), and Moms Mabley’s Amazing Grace (Olive Films, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$29.95 SRP).
You take the good, you take the bad, you add ’em up and there you have The Facts Of Life: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$199.99 SRP), a 26-disc mega collection of all 201 episodes of the uneven but firmly ensconced in the pop culture firmament 80s sitcom. Bonus materials include a new cast reunion, the episode of Diff’rent Strokes that acted as the backdoor pilot, and more.
While you’re waiting for the next full-season Blu-Ray collection, bide your time with the single-disc Regular Show: Mordecai Pack (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, DVD-$19.82 SRP), which collects 16 episodes of bizarre goodness.
Even a broken watch is correct twice a day, and such is the case with Keanu Reeves in John Wick (Summit, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), who fits the titular role of an ex-assassin who mercilessly pursues a group of young thugs who make the mistake of attacking him like a glove. So yeah. See it. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and featurettes.
It’s sad that the latest DC animated film, Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP), is saddled with such dark and dreary and preciously self-important material from the modern DC canon, as there’s plenty of talent and potential being thrown at this tale of Arthur Curry reclaiming the Atlantean throne as a deadly threat to the Justice League looms. Bonus materials include featurettes, cartoons, and a preview of the next animated adaptation, Batman vs. Robin.
Jeremy Renner stars as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Webb in Kill The Messenger (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP), the true-story of a Webb’s discovery of link between US intelligence agencies and Central American drug smugglers in which the CIA used cocaine profits to fund the Contra rebels. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and featurettes.
Hoping to expand with an aging audience, Dora explores adolescence in Dora And Friends (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), as she leaves Boots behind in favor of a quartet of human friends to go on adventures with, four of which are included in this inaugural release.