How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
September 9, 2008
Welcome to How to Spend $20, BOP's look at the latest DVDs to hit stores nationwide. This week: Amy Poehler gets preggers, the Dude turns 10 and Judge Judy yells at people.
For people who want to know what happens when two of the funniest women in comedy align (all that's missing is Kristen Wiig): Baby Mama
After separating from the Weekend Update desk in 2006 due to Tina Fey's burgeoning comedy career, best friends Fey and Amy Poehler reteamed earlier this year for Baby Mama, developed from the creative mind of writer-director Michael McCullers (Austin Powers 2 and 3). In the film, Fey plays a successful single businesswoman, Kate (think Liz Lemon copy), who like any woman at 37 decides it's high time she has a kid. However, when she learns her plan would no longer be possible, Kate gets a South Philly working girl (Poehler) to become her surrogate mother. All for the most part is okay until the surrogate shows up at Kate's doorstep, begging for a place to stay.
Ultimately, the flick was hit-or-miss with the critics, who over at Rotten Tomatoes rated a barely fresh 61% positive. The comedy didn't disappoint at the box office, where it managed to double its $30 million budget.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, alternate ending, deleted scenes, Saturday Night Live: Legacy of Laughter featurette, From Conception to Delivery: The Making of Baby Mama featurette.
For people who want to know what Jeff Bridges was doing pre-Obadiah Stane: The Big Lebowski (10th Anniversary Edition)
Similar to how Joel and Ethan Coen are following up their Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men with Friday's release of the much lighter Burn After Reading, the duo did a similar thing a decade ago by releasing cult comedy The Big Lebowski two years after Fargo. The former, released in 1998, celebrates its 10th anniversary with a special anniversary edition DVD.
Featuring an eclectic soundtrack, unconventional dialogue and fantastic dream sequences, The Big Lebowski stars Jeff Bridges as the title character, an avid bowler from L.A. who actually prefers going by a simpler name: "the Dude." The story picks up when he's mistaken for a multimillionaire of the same name, which leads the Dude into scrounging around for a million-dollar ransom to free the real rich guy's kidnapped wife. John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore and John Turturro also star.
Disc includes: The Dude's Life featurette, The Dude Abides, The Big Lebowski Ten Years Later featurette, The Lebowski Fest: An Achiever's Story featurette, Flying Carpets and Bowling Pin Dreams: The Dream Sequences of The Dude featurette, interactive map, Jeff Bridges' photo book, Making of The Big Lebowski featurette, photo gallery.
For people who never thought someone with a name like Beatrix Kiddo could be so feisty: Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2 [Blu-ray]
Finally getting their due on Blu-ray are the opening two chapters in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill franchise. (Rumors of a possible sequel - or two - haven't quite died yet). The revenge drama, starring the perfectly-cast Uma Thurman as a deadly bride who has some unfinished business to take care of, is chock full of homages to earlier film genres, like martial arts movies, Japanese samurai and spaghetti westerns. Half of the fun is trying to figure out the original source of Tarantino's material. Even better, now you can watch that unforgettable buried alive scene just as it appeared in theaters.
Kill Bill Vol. 1 disc includes: The Making of Kill Bill Vol. 1 featurette, bonus music performances by The 5, 6, 7, 8's. Kill Bill Vol. 2 disc includes: Deleted scene, Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of Kill Bill Vol. 2 featurette, Kill Bill Vol. 2 Premiere featurette.
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