DVD Diggers - 10/10/04

By Rafe Telsch: 2004-10-10 00:00:00

Welcome to this week’s DVD Diggers, now with less sodium!

If you haven’t checked out last week’s Shawshank Redemption two disc set yet, get thee to a shoppery now! It’s an amazing set, so full of stuff that I haven’t been able to finish it for review yet. Unfortunately it’s getting passed by some DVDs that absolutely have to be finished in the next couple of days (as well as the premiere of the new season of “Celebrity Poker Showdown”), but the review will be here eventually. Until then, just know that it’s one of those rare “must haves”.

Two Pack Sugar?

I’ve mentioned before when I’ve found two pack DVD sets of interest, whether it’s because they’re actually worth paying attention to, or because of the insanity of the combination. With the holiday season upon us two packs are becoming huge, with a ton of new combinations coming out this week. This can be good, making DVDs affordable by selling them in sets, but only if it’s worth getting both discs. Here’s what is being packed together this week.

The biggest sets of interest should be the collection of 28 Days Later... packed with The Omen. Horror movies don’t get much better then either of these and putting together a classic thriller with a modern day flick is a brilliant idea. If I didn’t already have 28 Days Later..., this would be a must buy for me. The same goes for the slightly strange (yet somewhat cool) combination of Master and Commander and Cast Away.

On the other hand, sometimes you have movies that are being two packed in order to get rid of excess stock of less successful DVD releases. That’s the case with this week’s release of Breakin’ All the Rules. You can get your copy of the special edition of Breakin’ All the Rules by itself, or you can get it packed in with one of five different movies: Baby Boy, Booty Call, You Got Served, The Brothers, or Two Can Play That Game. Overexposure anyone?

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Merry Christmas, man

Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier every year. Halloween isn’t even here yet, and already Christmas decorations are starting to sprout up in stores. One of these years, Santa Claus is going to go up right alongside the Fourth of July Fireworks. So why should DVD be any different?

As everyone knows, the most popular Christmas tale is A Christmas Carol and this week sees the release of two different versions of the story. Basically it’s a “Pick your Scrooge” situation. You can have the gruff old goat of George C. Scott, or the animated happy-go-lucky, yet still malicious sounding Tim Curry. That’s a hard decision, to make, so as usual my preference will be the muppet version with the fantastic Michael Caine.

A Christmas Carol isn’t the only holiday tale coming out this week though. The Arnold Schwartzeneggar overlooked comedy Jingle All the Way finally comes out of Fox’s moratorium and sees the light of day again. I know not many people cared for the flick, or at least most people who did enjoy the film kept quiet about it, but it’s a fun little movie. I’ve enjoyed most of Ahnold’s comedies, and this one is no worse then any of the others. If you don’t like Jingle then try Robin Williams’ overlooked comedy Toys which is also a lot of fun.

Of course, if you don’t want to try either of the more interesting and imaginative comedies, you could always resort to the Home Alone series, where they stretch the same single gag over four movies. Even Maculay Culkin got tired of the same old schtick time after time and ducked out after two flicks, but if that’s what floats your boat...

TV on DVD

The main reason children today get into so much trouble is because of the television. I’m not blaming what’s on the tv these days, but instead what isn’t on. Luckily with one of this week’s DVD releases, parents who remember the “good old days” can rectify things with their offspring.

Many a week I would come home from school to find one of ABC’s notorious “After School Specials” teaching me why drinking was wrong, or sex was wrong, or how my parents still loved me even though they were separated, my mother was a lesbian, and my sister was dating my grandfather. Unfortunately the current generation doesn’t get those kind of lessons from television, instead getting the more “sophisticated” teachings of Dr. Phil or Jerry Springer. Thankfully, this week two volumes of those classic “After School Specials” are being released on DVD, ready to be put on the shelf next to “Schoolhouse Rock” no doubt. Pick this one up and make sure your kids are raised right!

Continue that education with cartoons that work for parents and adults. For the first time on DVD comes the first and second seasons of “Ren & Stimpy”. Of course, in a world with “South Park”, “Ren & Stimpy” aren’t half as controversial as they used to be, but they’re still loads of fun. Also new this week is volume 3 of “Invader Zim”, which means they’re now putting out volumes of the Irkin Invader’s adventures quicker then I can pick them up. Also worth mentioning (although not a cartoon) is the quirky series “Eerie, Indiana”, which was kind of an “X-Files” for kids, although it predated “The X-Files” by two years. I still have fond memories of the television show where the possibilities of vampires and werewolves lurked, and kids were kept in giant tupperware containers to keep them young.

Boo!

Steven King is having the best week on DVD though, with releases of his made-for-television adaptation of “Salem’s Lot” and his short lived television series “Kingdom Hospital”. I honestly wanted to put “Salem’s Lot” on our review list this week rather then mention it here, but the “Salem’s Lot” has no extras to mention, making it difficult to review it as a DVD. It’s a real shame too, since it looked like a promising adaptation. I just wish producers would start to realize the extras on a disc are just as important as the film/tv series itself.

Finally comes the worst case of timing/marketing ever. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but on the heels of the Jimmy Fallon/Queen Latifah comedy of the same name comes season one of “Taxi”. Unlike the movie, this is the good “Taxi” with Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito, Andy Kaufman, and Christopher Lloyd. The character of Jim Ignatowski alone probably could have helped the Fallon movie do at least one star better. Skip the film and pick this one up instead. I guarantee you’ll laugh more in one half hour than in the entire time Queen Latifah is on screen.

Of course, don’t forget that “Arrested Development”’s first season is only a week away from DVD. Seriously - show of the year. It’s fantastic. Check it out!

Wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole

Finally, I wasn’t going to mention this week’s two-disc special edition release of Halle Berry’s Gothika, but none of the Cinema Blend critics wanted to touch it, which may be a sign right there. I mean, we’re talking about the crew that reviewed Gigli and Starship Troopers 2, and they still wouldn’t touch this. It doesn’t speak very highly of the movie, does it?

I guess that’s just as well though. This “Special Edition” is the type of DVD we should have gotten on Gothika’s first release, instead of just a bare bones version. We probably shouldn’t reward this kind of blatant double dipping with any sort of review.