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…)
Hot Toys has been slowly rolling out their Avengers: Age Of Ultron figures over the last few months, with the bulk of our established heroes now available. Add to that list their latest, and greatest, 1/6-scale take on the god of thunder, Thor ($219.99). With three previous takes on the character, they’ve further refined the small nuances in capturing Chris Hemsworth’s likeness, and have also upped the ante with the delicate sculpting of his hair. It’s uncanny. Frighteningly so. As usual, the scaled costuming is spot on, and an extra wow factor comes from the internal light/glow gimmick built into a bonus version of his hammer, Mjolnir. It’s an impressive addition to the lineup, and has me even more excited to see what they’ve done with Marvel’s cosmic big baddie, Thanos.
As his big epics have left me largely cold in recent years, I think I prefer the quieter sophistication of the Spielberg we find in Bridge Of Spies (Dreamworks, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), a true tale of a Cold War spy exchange starring the perfect pairing of Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance, as a Brooklyn lawyer and the Russian spy he’s tasked with delivering to Moscow. Bonus materials include a clutch of featurettes on both the history and the production.
It feels like there’ve been dozens of releases of Walt Disney’s first animated feature film, from VHS to laserdisc to DVD to Blu-Ray, but the latest Blu-Ray edition of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (Walt Disney, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$36.99 SRP), the “Walt Disney Signature Collection” edition, manages to find even more bonus materials from the company’s archives, including an interview with Walt about the film, a never-before-seen alternate sequence of Snow White meeting the Prince, and more.
Leave it to Robert Redford to make a potent and powerful modern ode to journalism with Truth (Sony, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$34.99 SRP), which is based on the true story of the CBS News controversy that cost Dan Rather his position as the face of that organization’s news division. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, and deleted scenes.
The latest DC Comics direct-to-home-video animated feature adapting J.M. DeMatteis’ Batman: Bad Blood (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP), as a hellish evening leaves Batman missing and the extended Bat-family of Nightwing, Robin, Batwoman and the mysterious Batwing to pick up the pieces. Bonus materials include featurettes and a sneak peek at Justice League vs. Teen Titans.
The blood continues to flow freely as supernatural shenanigans persist in the second season of From Dusk Till Dawn (E1, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.98 SRP), as relationships are changed up amidst complications aplenty. The 3-disc set is loaded with bonus features, including audio commentaries, featurettes, con panels, and more.
This week’s deep dive into the many wonderful releases from PBS can be split into nonfiction and fiction. So let’s start off with a pair of prestige drams – the 6th and final season of Downton Abbey (PBS, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$59.99 SRP) and the Ridley Scott-produced Civil War miniseries Mercy Street (PBS, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$44.99 SRP). Bonus features on Downton include a trio of featurettes, while Mercy Street gets featurettes and deleted scenes.
On the nonfiction front, we’ve got the beautiful photography of the BBC’s Earth’s Natural Wonders: Living On The Edge (PBS, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) and The Best Of Big Blue Live (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), filmmaker Stanley Nelson’s examination of The Black Panthers (PBS, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), an exploration of the assassination of James Garfield in American Experience: Murder Of A President (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), the remarkable tale of America’s forgotten labor struggle in American Experience: The Mine Wars (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), and the Nova special Making North America (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP), about the elemental forces which shaped our continent.
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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Even though it comes before the other recently discovered 2nd Doctor adventure The Web Of Fear, 
My nephew has a birthday coming up, and his choice of party theme for this year is “Doctor Who”. But how best to properly theme a timelord-centered affair? Well, Thinkgeek has you covered when it comes to the treats, as you can make anything from ice to candy to cupcakes with their 
Far from the studio and theme parks that bear his name, The Walt Disney Family Museum – located at San Francisco’s Presidio – has been quietly celebrating the artistic legacy of that pioneering visionary through exhibits that span the breath of his life and accomplishments. While it may be a healthy trek to visit the museum in person, they’ve released a clutch of incredible books that any fan of animation, Disney, or just art in general should have on their shelf. Taken in tandem, two of the tomes – 
Now that it exists, it seems only natural that Hayley Campbell’s 
Fully remastered in high definition from the original film elements, John Wayne stars as the titular cattle baron in 
The best documentaries are the ones that present a topic you never knew you wanted to know more about until they present that topic to you and you think, “Gee, I really wanted to know more about this.” Case in point? The new documentary about the original queen of comedy, 
I would have loved a straightforward historical epic about the tragic volcanic end of 
For more years than I can recall, the amiable scholars at Twomorrows have been publishing a wide range of magazine and books chronicling every nook and cranny of the comics, creators, characters, and companies fans know and love. They’ve taken that love and scholarly approach to the next logical step, having launched a must-have document of four-color history in the 
With the fifth season of 
Dig into a pair of historical documentaries from the Smithsonian Channel with 
Get your DDB drama fix with a trio of new releases, including the ninth seasons of both the long-running cold case procedural 
If you’ve been steadily dropping a not-insubstantial amount of money on the massive Ultimate Editions of the Harry Potter films on Blu-Ray, you know that you don’t yet have the big sets for the final two Deathly Hallows films. To those fans, the absolutely gigantic 
I plan on doing some international traveling in the near future, and everyone I talk to who has done the same has warned to remember a decent power converter. Thankfully, Thinkgeek now offers the perfect solution – the 
Universal’s 100th anniversary celebration has proved to be a remarkably wonderful year for getting highly desired catalogue titles released in high definition, and the streak keeps going with fully remastered editions of classics like 
How can you not love a film from the artsy brains at Aardman Animation? You can’t. Which is why you’ll love their latest – 
The first season was a somewhat shaky, often off-putting affair, but the second season of 
I admit, I was one of the naysayers who looked at ABC’s attempt to milk the Disney fairytale library for a soapy primetime drama that was equal parts Buffy and Dark Shadows as a sure-fire failure, but 
After a debut season that arrived with a bang, the second season of 
It’s a little early for Halloween, but 
When you’ve got a title for a documentary like 
It’s probably for the best that the 4th season of 
The live action film was an abysmal mess, but there’s some fun to be had in 
Criterion rolls out another pair of classy films with a classy treatment – Whit Stillman’s 
Adding to the rich history of the BBC’s exploration of pre-history is 
It’s potentially disastrous when the day after taking his first hit, the high school valedictorian learns that his school will be giving its students a drug test. With his scholarship on the line, what’s a panicky kid to do but hatch a plan to get his entire school high so everyone fails. 
And while you’re picking up the DVD, why not pick up Frederik Wiedmann’s score to 
Charlie’s dead and Alan and Jake soon find a naked millionaire played by Ashton Kutcher replacing him in the awkward 9th season of 
It’s a shame that 
Like Ron Perlman? And Katey Sagal? And bikers? Then the complete fourth season of 
It’s taken a few years, but I may finally be coming around to 
After the awful Muppets, I find watching Jason Segel’s gurning to be difficult to take, so it’s lucky that 
A trio of HBO sitcoms ending their runs get their home video release all at the same time – 
It has been on the decline for years, but it was clearly evident during 
R.L. Stine continues his mission to traumatize children, a mission you can experience via the first two volumes of his new anthology series airing on the Hub network, 
I’m not exactly sure why the Turtle costumes in Saban’s 
Those fans that have only experience the butchered editions of weird and wonderful The Mighty Boosh that have been running on Adult Swim need to run – not walk – to their favorite DVD emporium and snag copies of the new-to-the-US unexpurgated editions of The Mighty Boosh seasons 1-3 that have now been collected into the massive 
During my mother’s recent cancer battle, she spent her final week at home. While at home, I set up a pair of 
After 10 years spent off the air, wandering the wilderness of feature film development, the crew of the mining ship Red Dwarf return for a brand new adventure in 
The most brilliant parodies always come from a place of deep understanding – and often affection – for the particular thing being parodied. Such is clearly the case with Peter Kay’s brilliant send-up of reality talent competitions whose full title – deep breath – is 
The Warner Bros. Archive Collection does it again, this time releasing 
Really, the nifty on-demand catalogue service The Warner Archive Collection is the only way we’ll get the short-lived and rather mediocre but fascinating sci-fi series 
I was one of the Disney fans who marveled at the clarity that the restored Platinum Edition of Snow White revealed, making the film look like it was made in the last 10 years – not 70 years ago. Well, the new high definition Diamond Edition of 
You can have your fancy, expensive, often bizarre, more faithful, Tim Burton-directed version of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, but I will always, always love and prefer 
I’ve gotta say – I really & truly love the amazing, unique, and altogether nifty pop art books that Abrams Comicarts have been putting out – their entire selection of which is worth a look see. Case in point is the new 
Oh, and also from Abrams, have a look-see at 
Originally created for IMAX theaters, 
After a lapse in copyright that allowed it to move from Warner Bros. to Paramount, 
Slowly but surely, we’re catching up on the releases of Gordon Ramsay’s excellent cooking show, 
You know, I’m not entirely sure it hasn’t been forever since the last season release of the still-classic, still-hilarious 
I have nothing against the Shannon Doherty years of the low-rent “reality” candid camera frightfest 
Even though I find the show the dramatic equivalent of beige paint drying, I still find Patricia Arquette watchable in 
Reflect on an incredible body of work by a much-missed actor with the new 
It’s quite rare when I actually enjoy a romantic comedy, only because the plot developments are as obvious as a truck on the side of your ear, so it really comes down to a decent enough script and a good clutch of actors to pull the whole thing off. With 
Does anyone actually enjoy 
As you might expect, the soundtrack to Drew Barrymore’s roller derby flick 
I really have no other ammunition with which to recommend the CG-animated special 
At the end, the show was a shadow of its heyday high, but the cast of 
Sam Raimi decided to abandon the tepid Spider-Man movies and return to form with the schlock-happy horror of 
Will Ferrell’s big screen take on the schlocky Sid & Marty Krofft Saturday morning classic 
I can’t tell you just how much I really, really don’t like the live action 
I think the final product has been a mixed bag, with none shining too terribly brightly, but if you’re keen on buying the recent animated direct-to-video movies starring your favorite Marvel Comics superheroes, you can now get the whole lot in the 
It’s frustrating that 
I’ve never been a fan of Oliver Stone’s violent social commentary 
Before you gawp at the live action flick, take in the classic animated version of Maurice Sendak’s 
Do people still watch 
If you’re not able to drop the cash for the more expensive Spotlight collections, or just want a nice sampler, then you’ll want to check out 
I tried desperately to avoid obvious swimming metaphors to talk about this title, but in the end, I lacked enough willpower to refrain from saying you should dive right in to the 
Sensing it had been far too long since a new release and that brand awareness might be slipping, MTV has dug through the hall closet to scrape up enough material to fill 
I certainly tried, but I could never find enough of a toe-hold to get interested in 
