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…)
It’s become cliché to call a Spike Jonze film “quirky”, but there’s a reason clichés become cliché, and his latest, Her (Warner Bros., Rated R, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP) is certainly a quirky, endearing little film in the Spike Jonze style. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a lonely professional letter writer in the near future rebounding from a difficult breakup, who finds his soulmate in the form of a fast-learning artificial intelligence named “Samantha” (Scarlett Johansson). Bonus materials include a trio of featurettes.
They can make brilliant human figures until the cows come home as their particular brand of magic becomes commonplace, but it’s not until you see something as epic as their ED-209 (Sideshow, $409.99) – the disastrously deadly peacekeeping robot featured in the original Robocop – that you can truly appreciate what Hot Toys can accomplish. As it’s in scale with the 1/6-scale figures (and the forthcoming Robocop), it’s a truly massive piece, and incredibly intricate in its detailing. Fully articulated, you could use this “toy” as a stop motion miniature, it’s just so good. And to plus its greatness even more, it even has a remote-operated sound feature which, at the touch of a button, plays a collection of ED-209 lines and sounds from the film. How cool is that?
Magnets and gyroscopes – two nerd tastes that taste great together, and that’s exactly the dynamic duo that’s combined in ball form with the Nanodots GYRO DUO: Magnetically Gyroscopic Balls ($24.99)… And they’re just what it says on the tin – A pair of magnets paired with gyroscopes that are just plain fun to play around with. Can’t ask for more than that.
It can be a dicey proposition fraught with peril, going back and revisiting past successes, but the triumphant trio of Mike, Bill, & Kevin manage it in true style with Rifftrax Live: Manos – The Hands Of Fate (Rifftrax, Not Rated, DVD-$12.95), which features an entirely new set of riffs on a Mystery Science Theater 3000 classic. As an added bonus, the disc also includes outtakes with commentary from the guys. Get it for the love of Torgo. He needs your love.
The most fascinating part of Star Wars Storyboards The Original Trilogy (Abrams, $40 SRP) are the storyboards from the original film, as they present not-yet-solidified characters in vaguely familiar yet by no means finalized designs, in a universe with limitless potential. By the time we get to the boards for Empire and especially Jedi, the universe is pretty well solidified and the boards seem more like a comic book for what we eventually saw onscreen.
Yeah, it should come as no surprise that Kenny Powers as a suburban dad would not last for long, so the fourth and final season of Eastbound & Down (HBO, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP) finds Danny McBride’s crass creation back in the swing of it after meeting up with an ex-teammate. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, outtakes, and deleted scenes.
Watching the documentary series Unsolved Mysteries Of The Second World War (Eagle Rock, Not Rated, DVD-$16.98 SRP) brought back fond memories of the kind of program that would fill the schedule of the pre-junk TV History Channel, when it would be endless hours of documentaries about World War II. This 3-disc set explores some of the lingering questions behind the war, from how much Churchill may have known about the impending Pearl Harbor attacks to why Hitler halted his troops before Dunkirk.
Making a pledge to remain firmly entrenched in the swinging single life winds a trio of friends (Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan) into plenty of mildly amusing situations when the chief proponent of the vow, Jason (Efron), meets a girl (Imogen Poots) who he can’t get out of his mind in That Awkward Moment (Sony, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$25.99 SRP). Bonus materials include featurettes and a gag reel.
Fedor Bondarchuk’s Stalingrad (Sony, Rated R, 3D Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP), which ties a love story into the historical German siege, suffers much the same problems as the film Pearl Harbor – a beautifully shot film about a fascinating slice of World War II history that is hobbled by a pointless shoehorning of romance and bland characters. It’s a shame they don’t let the history stand by itself, because it really is a good looking flick, particularly in 3D.
The mystery series based on Craig Johnson’s best-selling Longmire (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) books comes back for a second season of complications for Sheriff Walt Longmire as deep suspicions about the death of his wife and his wife’s killer come to the foe. Bonus materials include extended episodes and a featurette.
Hey hey! It’s time for this week’s soundtrack round up! So what cinematic audio delights do we have available this go round? There’s John Ottman’s score for X-Men: Days Of Future Past (Sony, $9.99 SRP), Bear McCreary’s Da Vinci’s Demon’s: Season 2 (Sparks & Shadows, $9.99), Patrick Cassidy’s Calvary (Varese Sarabande, $17.87 SRP), and Rachel Portman’s Belle (Varese Sarabande, $17.87 SRP).
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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