How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
October 28, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who knew Bluto was a zit before he told us: Animal House (30th Anniversary Edition)
Made on a budget of only a couple million dollars, Animal House surprisingly scored more than $140 million in domestic theaters when it was released in July 1978. Arguably the father of the gross-out film genre, the sex comedy celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with a brand new DVD, packed with an assortment of goodies like a feature-length documentary about the classic.
Of course, this is one those movies that needs no synopsis refresher. If you're in the dark, then you're probably not going to go out and get this anyway. What's that? You've never heard of double secret probation?
Disc includes: Animal House's 30th Anniversary documentary (98 minutes), Animal House: The Inside Story featurette, The Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion featurette, Scene it?: Animal House, Where Are They Now?: A Delta Alumni Update.
For people who enjoy sunflower seeds: The 4400: The Complete Series
What was originally scheduled to be just a one-off miniseries turned into much more than that. Up until its cancellation last year, The 4400 was a gargantuan hit for the USA Network, which kept the sci-fi series on air for more than a season due to better-than-anticipated ratings. However, that same justification — the ratings — contributed to its eventual decline. With low numbers in its fourth season, The 4400 got the boot, despite ending its run on a cliffhanger.
The series, from co-creators René Echevarria and Scott Peters, revolves around a group of 4,400 people that are deposited in the foothills near Mount Rainier, Washington. As early as 1946, each of them disappeared at various times in a beam of white light (cliché, but bear with me for now). Obviously disoriented, members of the 4400 group, none of whom have aged from the time of their disappearance, remember nothing and do what they can to figure out what exactly happened.
Disgruntled by the cancellation, fans of the show emulated successful television mail-in campaigns (Jericho's peanuts, Roswell's Tabasco sauce) by sending sunflower seeds to USA Network (a favorite of 4400 character Dr. Burkhoff). But alas, the movement didn't go over quite so well. The end result? The 4400 remains dead and USA Network now has a boatload of sunflower seeds.
Disc includes: Video introduction, audio commentary, The 4400: The Ghost Season featurette, deleted scenes.
For people who like to sit next to the guy at the movies who just can't shut up: Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary
What can I say? We're celebrating anniversaries this week at How to Spend $20. Ten years younger than Animal House, Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a series airing on Comedy Central (and later Sci-Fi Channel) that poked fun at (mostly) old, cheaply made Sci-Fi movies through comments made by characters watching the movie along with you.
What they were actually watching never really mattered. A lot of the titles are ones I (and you) have never heard of, like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and, my personal favorite, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies. You just can't make this stuff up.
Disc includes: A 3-Part Look at the 20-Year History of MST3K featurette, 2008 San Diego Comic-Con International Reunion Panel featrette, original trailers, exclusive MST3K lobby cards, limited edition Crow figurine.
For people who always get confused in thinking it was Kathy Griffin who starred in NewsRadio, and not Vicki Lewis: NewsRadio: The Complete Series
Starring Dave Foley, Phil Hartman, Maura Tierney, Andy Dick, Vicki Lewis and Joe Rogan (and later Jon Lovitz), NewsRadio is arguably the very definition of an ensemble comedy. Set at a fictional news radio station, WNYX, in New York, the series followed the behind-the-scenes happenings of the station's staff, who in the show's pilot have to deal with the arrival of a new news director (Foley). Fans of the show applauded its satirical takes on news stories, witty pop culture references and sophisticated humor. NewsRadio also had its fair share of absurdism, including episodes set in space and aboard the Titanic.
Similar to what happened after the death of star John Ritter on ABC's 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, the nail went into the coffin for NewsRadio following the murder of Phil Hartman prior to filming season five. Though the show lasted for the full season, it never went any further than that.
Disc includes: Audio commentary for 50 episodes, gag reels, cast interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, table reads, One Man NewsRadio featurette.
For people who knew Journey to the Center of the Earth was not a sequel to last year's Journey to the End of the Night, also starring Brendan Fraser: Journey to the Center of the Earth
Whenever I plug a movie starring Brendan Fraser (besides Crash, of course), you can bank on the fact that it's probably a slow week. Case in point: Journey to the Center of the Earth is out on DVD. One of two summer movies for the actor (the other being that dreadful sequel for The Mummy franchise), Journey to the Center of the Earth, which has been adapted countless times by a number of studios and TV networks, finds Fraser as lead character Trevor Anderson, a professor who takes an expedition to — where else? — the center of the Earth (and in 3D!) In the process, he also figures out what happened to the dinosaurs.
You can expect a sequel from New Line, too. Director Eric Brevig is quoted as saying he'd be down for making another Journey flick, so long as people "embrace the movie and want to see these characters on another adventure." Guess what. They do. Worldwide, this one earned just shy of $200 million (about half of that total coming from the States). Who's stoked?
Disc includes: Audio commentary, A World Within Our World: Various Historical Hollow Earth Theories About What Lies Beneath Our Planet's Crust featurette, Being Josh: Profiling 12-Year-Old Costar Josh Hutcherson featurette, How to Make Dinosaur Drool featurette, Adventure at the Center of the Earth Challenge featurette.
October 28, 2008
2008 Wimbledon Official Film
Abbott & Costello: Complete Universal Pictures Set (Set)
American Hormones
Anti-Gay Hate Crimes
Assault! Jack The Ripper
Baraka (Special Edition)
Between Something & Nothing
Beyond
Billy the Kid
Black Magic
The Black Pearl
Bloody Moon
Body of War
Boston Celtics: 2007-2008 NBA Champions (Collector's Edition)
British Open Championship: 2008 Official Film Golf
Carlos Mencia: Performance Enhanced
Christmas Caper
Countertenors
The Creek
Cruel World
Dead Space: Downfall
Doomsday Clock
Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: The Complete Series (Set)
Final Patient
The Flintstones: The Complete Series (Set)
Girlfriends: Seasons 1-5 (Set)
Girlfriends: The Fifth Season (Widescreen)
Good Times: The Complete Series (Set)
Jewel: The Essential Live Songbook
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
The L Word: The Complete Fifth Season
The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection
Millennium: The Complete DVD Collection (Gift Set)
One California Day
The Other Half
Paradise Lost (Collector's Edition)
Pieces (2-Disc Edition)
The Polar Express (3-D and 2-D)
Quench
Red (Widescreen)
Run For Your Life
Sanford & Son: The Complete Series
Sara Bareilles: Between The Lines / Live at the (Includes Music CD)
Sister, Sister: The First Season
Steve Harvey: Still Trippin'
Stone (Special Edition)
Sway (Widescreen)
Tinker Bell
Tom Petty & Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream
War & Remembrance: The Complete Series
The Watcher In The Attic
Wifey (Widescreen)
Witchblade Collection (Boxed Set)
Zombie Strippers (Special Edition)