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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: John Cusack lets go of modern conveniences, Timothy Olyphant tries on an Iowan accent for size and SyFy discovers its next big thing.

Pick of the Week

For people who will never look at a hot tub the same way again: Hot Tub Time Machine

What I respect most about Hot Tub Time Machine is that it makes zero effort to hide its stupidity. Like Snakes on a Plane, the movie’s title clearly notes everything you need to know. There’s a hot tub… that’s also a time machine. Oh, and Chevy Chase, who’s undergoing a great deal of career resurgence thanks to this movie and his hilarious work on NBC’s Community, is its repair man. I mean really, could you ask for a better set up?

Save for John Cusack’s character, Hot Tub Time Machine pulled a Hangover by donating its spotlight to relatively under the radar comedians. Rob Corddry (The Daily Show), Craig Robinson (The Office) and Clark Duke (Sex Drive) – along with Cusack – play a fun foursome who mistakenly travel about 24 years into the past after mistaking a hot tub time machine for just a regular old hot tub. (Amateurs). When they awake to find the locals sporting feathered hair and mini skirts instead of iPods and Blackberries, it all but dawns on them that they’ve made a huge mistake.

While I liked Hot Tub Time Machine for what it was, make no mistake that the comedy in this thing is pretty sophomoric. Actually, the gross-out gags are among the most foul I’ve ever seen. Yet the movie also has its share of amusing pop culture references and running jokes. Chief among them is Crispin Glover’s turn as Phil, a one-armed bellhop who puts himself in many dangerous situations so as to make you think he should lose both arms.

Disc includes: Production: Acting Like Idiots featurette, Chevy Chase: The Nicest Guy in Hollywood featurette, Totally Radical Outfits: Dayna Pink featurette, Crispin Glover: One-Armed Bell Hop featurette, deleted scenes





For people who think Timothy Olyphant doesn’t look quite right anymore without a cowboy hat on: The Crazies

At a time when iconic horror movies seem to be remade as often as a college kid prepares a bowl of Ramen noodles, it becomes important to separate the memorable gems from the projects you should do the favor of avoiding. The Crazies, apparently, belongs in the former category.

Starring the red-hot Timothy Olyphant, the movie maintains a fresh 72% rating over at review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. That’s an extremely high figure for an American horror remake. Off hand, the lone Stateside horror remake I can recall reviewing as well would have been The Ring, and that scored a 71% fresh rating over eight years ago. Consider The Crazies, about an Iowan town whose water supply is poisoned by deadly toxins, as part of an exclusive group.

Disc includes: Audio commentary, Behind the Scenes featurette, Paranormal Pandemics featurette, The George A. Romero Template featurette, Make-Up Mastermind in Action featurette, The Crazies Motion Comic Episodes (1 and 2), Visual Effects in Motion featurette, storyboards

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