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 already loved Paul Feig’s buddy-cop follow-up to Bridesmaids, but what makes The Heat (Fox, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) even better in its Blu-Ray debut – well, besides all of the great outtakes and featurettes – is that it also sports a bonus commentary with the original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, & Josh Weinstein) doing what they do best. It’s like icing on an already tasty cake. A cake made of Melissa McCarthy & Sandra Bullock. Yeah… That got kind of weird at the end there.
While I don’t view it being as incredible as some of my fellow geeks, I can certainly roll with and dig the unabashed enthusiasm which Guillermo del Toro has infused in every giant monsters versus giant robots moment of Pacific Rim (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$64.99 SRP). So, yes, it plays like the fever dream of a 10-year-old, but I’d rather have more fever dreams like this than the crass reality of Michael Bay’s Transformers. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and featurettes.
Originally released last year, this holiday season gets to see the stop-motion musical extravaganza It’s A Spongebob Christmas (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$22.99 SRP) in high definition splendor, plus an additional 10 episodes making their Blu-Ray debut, in addition to the original DVD bonus features and 2 brand-new featurettes. How happy holidays is that?
It’s got a marvelous ensemble cast and is celebrating its 10th anniversary, but there’s no shaking the feeling that Love Actually (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP) is the cinematic equivalent of an earworm – a manipulative romantic comedy that burrows beneath your skin and latches on to your heart. Am I wrong? And if that weren’t enough frothy Richard Curtis for you, you can also pick up the new edition of Notting Hill (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP).
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of High Plains Drifter (Universal, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP) in high definition style as Clint Eastwood’s “Man With No Name” is hired by the townspeople of the lawless desert town of Lago to defend them from a trio of deadly gunmen.
I never really understood the massive appeal of Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber’s legendary rock opera until I had a chance to see the Jesus Christ Superstar: Live Arena Tour (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$26.98 SRP) and then yeah, I understood. The bombast is perfectly captured by a stellar cast, including Tim Minchin, Melanie C, Ben Forster, and the happy surprise of Chris Moyles. Bonus materials include a Webber intro and a featurette.
CBS continues top open up their TV vaults to series long-requested and ones, honestly, I never saw coming. From the long-requested category comes the complete fourth season of The Beverly Hillbillies (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.99 SRP) and the complete third season of Petticoat Junction (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP). From the didn’t see that coming column, we get the complete first season of Gentle Ben (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), starring Clint Howard and a bear. And it even has audio commentaries from Clint and his father Rance.
The fine folks at Mill Creek continue to be your go-to destination for massive amounts of packaged catalogue titles at ridiculously low prices in their 12 and 8 film collections. So, let’s take a deep breath and see what their latest offerings are. We’ve got the 8-movie Deadly Secrets Collection (The Messengers, The Body, Mary Reilly, The Harvest, April Fool’s Day, The Nines, Ring Around The Rosie, Already Dead), the 8-movie Red Alert Action Collection (Attack Force, Stealth, Into The Sun, Breakout, XXX: State Of The Union, The Contractor, Simon Sez, The Fan), the 8-movie Captive Comedies Collection (Hollywood Homicide, The Freshman, Hudson Hawk, Cops & Robbersons, Lone Star State Of Mind, A Fine Mess, Excess Baggage, Life Without Dick), the 8-movie Operation Payback Collection (Knock Off, The Russian Specialist, Second In Command, The Hunt For Eagle One: Crash Point, Scenes Of The Crime, Conspiracy, The Point Men, Truth Or Consequences NM) (Mill Creek, Rated R, DVD-$9.98 SRP each), the 12-movie Top Of The Class Collection (Winter Break, Whirly Girl, The Good Student, Freshman Orientation, The Foursome, Rock My World, The Young Graduates, Liar’s Moon, The Virgin Queen Of St Francis High, Cheerleaders Beach Party, Choices, Guess What We Learned In School Today), and the 12-movie Under Fire Collection (Straight Into Darkness, Special Ops, Under Heavy Fire, Seal Team VI: Journey Into Darkness, The Last Rites Of Ransom Pride, Casablanca Express, Commandos, Desert Commandos, Saigon: Year Of The Cat, Tuareg: The Desert Warrior, Cold War Killers, Time To Die) (Mill Creek, Rated R, DVD-$9.98 SRP each). Whew!
Ah, but it’s not just bargain-priced films that Mill Creek has been releasing – they’ve also brought their economy pricing to television, as well. First and foremost, you can pick up the entire 94-episode of run of Steve McQueen’s Wanted: Dead Or Alive (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), including a bonus DVD and featurettes. Also available is the complete seasons one & two of the sitcom Wings (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), the 2nd season of the Michael Landon feel-good vehicle Highway To Heaven (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), and the TV-movie double-feature of The Snow Queen & Terry Pratchett’s The Hogfather (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP).
It’s remarkable that the geriatric cast of Roy Clarke’s Last Of The Summer Wine (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) made it to the millennium, and now you can flash back to the year 2000 with the latest release of their comic misadventures in idyllic Yorkshire Dales.
Nickelodeon pulls together a handful of holiday adventures from a pair of their small tyke kiddie shows with Bubble Guppies & Team Umizoomi: Into The Snow We Go (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), featuring a trio of festive episodes.
Take a high definition tour of our national parks with Death Valley: Thriving Land Of Extremes and Acadia: The First National Park East Of The Mississippi (Mill Creek, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$9.98 SRP each). Both are simply stunning explorations that are just this side of actually being there.
