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Welcome to How to Spend $20, BOP’s look at the latest Blu-ray discs and DVDs to hit stores nationwide. This week: Larry David stages a Seinfeld reunion, Leonardo DiCaprio goes island hopping and Nip/Tuck becomes a blip on the radar.

Pick of the Week

For people who take comfort in Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards working on the same television show again: Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Seventh Season

What was once planned as a one-off mockumentary titled Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm has strangely transformed itself into HBO’s longest-running scripted series*. And, given its similarities to that other beloved sitcom of the ‘90s, Seinfeld, Curb’s lengthy run on pay cable makes it seem like Seinfeld never went off the air.





Curb’s ties to Seinfeld were very evident in the show’s seventh season, which, among other things, is about Larry’s efforts to assemble a Seinfeld reunion show after accepting a sizable offer from NBC. The Curb universe and Seinfeld universe met for realsies in the season finale, where storylines were on par with an average episode of Seinfeld: Julia Louis-Dreyfus accuses Larry of leaving a stain on an antique table, Jerry and Larry criticize Julia’s book release party for being too short, and so on.

NBC, desperate for a hit, will try to replicate Curb’s success next season with a show not unlike the HBO staple. The Paul Reiser Show, scheduled to debut as a midseason replacement in 2011, is a semi-autobiographical sitcom revolving around former television star Paul Reiser. Reiser, who hasn’t worked on television in years – both in real life and on the show – recruits the help of his friends to figure out his next career move.

*Well, once its eighth season, scheduled to air in 2011, completes its run

Disc includes: The Seinfeld Reunion: It Could Only Happen on Curb…featurette, Rebuilding the Seinfeld Sets featurette, Larry David as George Costanza featurette, A Seinfeld Moment on Curb: Interview with Larry David and the Seinfeld Cast featurette

For people who think Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio should work together as much as possible: Shutter Island

With the way things have been going as of late, Dennis Lehane is poised to be as much a household name as wifey favorite Nicholas Sparks. Except in Lehane’s case, his storytelling is something to aspire to and, thankfully, doesn’t force his lead characters to suffer from terminal diseases. Three of Lehane’s novels – Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island – have been adapted for the screen. And it wouldn’t surprise me much if his 2008 book, The Given Day, follows suit.

Marketed as equal parts mystery, psychological thriller and horror, Shutter Island reteamed Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio in a movie that gave both men their best box office opening yet. After a three-day take of $41 million, Shutter Island completed its run with $127.8 million in the domestic kitty and another $166.5 million from foreign theaters.

Disc includes: Behind the Shutter featurette, Into the Lighthouse featurette

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