How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
July 22, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
For people who can tolerate animation even worse-looking than South Park: Robot Chicken: Star Wars
Robot Chicken's Emmy-nominated special, Robot Chicken: Star Wars, finally hits stores today after airing on Adult Swim just over a year ago. Though Family Guy's homage to Star Wars (titled Blue Harvest) is perhaps better known than this special, Robot Chicken actually beat the pop culture behemoth to air by about three months. In the special, Seth Green and his team of stop-motion animators unload a series of off-beat sci-fi sketches, all relating in some way to Star Wars. Sketches include Darth Vader making a collect call, Obi-Wan having some lightsaber problems and George W. Bush discovering his Jedi powers. (Man, can you imagine what kind of world we'd be living in if this wasn't fiction?)
At a list price of $14.98, however, this is probably the most you'll ever pay for 22 minutes worth of content (minus the extras, of course). Seriously, 15 bucks for a single episode? That's like dropping more than $200 for the 14-episode fourth season of The Office when it's released in two short months. I love you Michael Scott, but not that much. Sheesh.
Disc includes: Video commentary, animation meeting, on-air bumps, trailers, behind the scenes, alternate audio, time lapse, photo gallery, panel presentations, episode commentary.
For people who need to get Kevin Spacey's role in Fred Claus out of their systems: 21 (Deluxe Edition)
Partially based on Ben Mezrich's 2003 bestselling book, Bringing Down the House, 21 stars Jim Sturgess as one of a group of real MIT hotshots who literally took Vegas by storm, using code skills, hand signals and other nifty tricks to take down millions at the blackjack table. Led by professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), the five students – including the blue eyed (or is it brown eyed?) Kate Bosworth – try to not let greed get the best of them, all while doing their best to stay off the radar of casino security officer, Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne).
Dissed by critics but more or less enjoyed by casual moviegoers, 21 turned out to be a lucrative little project over at Columbia, collecting just over $80 million domestically – including two straight weekends at number one – against a $35 million budget.
Disc includes: Filmmaker commentary, digital copy of the film, making-of featurette, 21: The Advantage Player featurette, Money Plays: A Tour of the Good Life featurette.
For people who like watching L.A.'s finest erode their bodies with more fakery (and no, we're not talking about boob jobs...this time): L.A. Ink: Season 1
A spin-off of TLC's original Miami Ink, L.A. Ink premiered to big numbers – nearly three million viewers – when it made its debut last August, good enough for the cable net's most-watched series debut since 2003. The reality show follows the happenings inside High Voltage Tattoo, owned by famed artist Kat Von D, who previously starred on Miami Ink before having a falling out with that studio's owner, Ami James.
Each L.A. Ink episode follows a number of customers who visit the studio and examines their motivations for choosing specific tats. Because High Voltage is located in Hollywood – where the shop's minimum tattoo costs a staggering $200! – the series benefits from a slew of celebrity customers (Miami Ink does too, but on a smaller scale). Notable guests include actors Eric Balfour and Jesse Metcalfe, stuntman Steve-O, rapper Eve and others.
Disc includes: One-on-one with the cast of L.A. Ink featurette.
For people who didn't take kindly to Journey to the Center of the Earth: The Mummy (Deluxe Edition) / The Mummy Returns (Deluxe Edition)
So there's another Mummy movie coming out in about a week. Wait, what's that? You didn't know about it? Okay, maybe I shouldn't be all that surprised. Like the new X-Files flick, advertisements for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor have been particularly (what's the word?)...slim. It seems like the Mummy sequel is some guarded secret that Universal is afraid to share.
To counteract the studio's lack of elation for the rebooting of a seven years dead franchise, Universal is releasing The Mummy and The Mummy Returns on Blu-ray for the first time (HD DVD editions have already been on the market for quite some time). Now's your chance to get your hands on some vintage Brendan Fraser – you know, before he started appearing in bombs like it was his job (Crash is your lone exception, Brendan!)
Disc includes: First look at The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Unraveling the Legacy of The Mummy featurette, An Army to Rule the World featurette (part one on The Mummy disc and part two on The Mummy Returns), U-Control picture-in-picture (allows viewers to look behind the scenes while watching the film).
For people who think Brits do comedy better: Spaced: The Complete Series
Starring that guy (Simon Pegg) from the beloved Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and more recently, Run Fat Boy Run, Spaced was a British situation comedy that ran for two seasons from 1999 to 2001. Stateside, Bravo even gave a show the go ahead back in 2002, but just four of the series' 14 total episodes actually aired. Known for its quick cuts, frequent pop culture references and experiments in Dali's surrealism, the series followed two London 20-somethings (Pegg and Jessica Hynes) who unexpectedly get to know each other in a cafe before posing as a couple to land a relatively cheap flat in a nice neighborhood.
Due to unexpected success from Shaun of the Dead and then again with Hot Fuzz, Pegg confirmed that ideally he'd like to bring the show back, but at this time no formal commitments to a third season have been made.
Disc includes: Outtakes; trailers; commentary with Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson and special guests Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Matt Stone and Diablo Cody; Skip to the End feature-length documentary; Spaced Jam by Osymyso; exclusive Q&A; cast and crew bios; raw footage.
July 22, 2008:
Abel's Island
Alfred Hitchcock: Studies In Fear (Set)
American Slapstick Volume 2
Arizona Summer
Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning
The Best of Heathcliff
Big Dreams, Little Tokyo (Widescreen)
Bird
Bishop Neil C. Ellis: Wave of Glory
Black Coffee
Blues In The Night
The Boston Strangler: The Untold Story (Widescreen)
Bruce Nauman: Make Me Think
Brutal Massacre: A Comedy
Burn
Campus Corpse
Case Closed: Season 1
Case No. 2001 (Widescreen)
Celine (Widescreen)
Comedy Central's TV Funhouse
Comedy Classics 100 Movie Collection (Set)
Dark Honeymoon
Death Valley
Director's Cut
Dirty Money
Duck
Every Dogs Day
Evil Behind You
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Explode
Family Favorites 100 Movie Collection (Set)
Flatland: The Movie
Greener Mountains
Heartbeat Detector
High And Low (Criterion Collection)
High Life
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Into the Arms of Strangers
Island of the Great White Shark
Jack Benny: Laugh Out Loud
JC in the Hood
Las Vegas: Season Five
The Last Winter (Widescreen)
Lethal Kills
Lost Concerts: Tony Bennett
The Making of an Army
The Marzipan Pig
Modern Day Mountain
Murder City
Mushrooms
NFL: In Just One Play
Norah Jones: Live from Austin
The Perfect Storm
Pete Kelly's Blues
Picture This!
Pray for Morning
Round Midnight
September Dawn (Widescreen)
Shark Week: Ocean of Fear (Widescreen)
Short Films About Life & Death
Six Reasons Why
Snuff
Spies & Lies
Steve-O: Out On Bail
Strangest Cartoons Ever Made: Volume 1
Superhero
Take No Prisoners
Taliban II: Revival
Tammytown
Till The Walls Fall
Towards Darkness
Turn the River
Twin Daggers (Widescreen)
Two Tickets to Paradise
Urban Legend
Without Light
Without the King