How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
September 8, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com

I can't believe Eric didn't like our Christmas episode.

Welcome to How to Spend $20, BOP's look at the latest DVDs to hit stores nationwide. This week: Dunder Mifflin stays afloat (even in this troubled economy), Amy Poehler introduces us to "the mayor" and Requiem for a Dream goes through the Blu-ray treatment.

Pick of the Week

For people who wonder if we're ever going to get to see Mose again: The Office: Season Five

A few years back, there was serious talk about stretching NBC's hit comedy, The Office, into a one-hour show. In the literal sense, that never happened. However, with the series' fifth season weighing in at a hefty 26 episodes (including two one-hour episodes), enough action transpired in a single season to have you thinking The Office doubled up all along.

It's hard to believe that the most recent season of The Office was the one where the staff participated in a Biggest Loser-like challenge, where Michael mistakenly called Jan's baby Assturd at a baby shower and exposed how little he knows about Bruce Springsteen at an auction, and where Andy tried his best to be Oscar's gay wingman on a business trip to Winnipeg. Hard to believe because it seemingly happened so long ago. (And we're still months away from other memorable developments, like the infamous post-Superbowl episode, the Michael Scott Paper Company and the staffers cuttin' a rug at Michael's impromptu dance party. Not to mention all that happened between Jim and Pam).

At any rate, available today is all that season five goodness. Most of it's great – like the aforementioned "Café Disco". Some of it's not – "Moroccan Christmas". Yet at the end of the day, you've got to hand it to the show's talented staff of writers (and actors) for making us consistently laugh for more half-hours this season than any other comedy on broadcast television.

Disc includes: Deleted scenes; audio commentary; gag reel; 100 Episodes, 100 Moments featurette; Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Presents The Office featurette, The Office promos, webisodes

For people who would go peacockin' with Aziz Ansari on any night of the week: Parks and Recreation: Season One

So many people were confused with what Parks and Recreation was (and was trying to be) when it premiered on NBC in April. Was it the rumored Office spinoff announced in spring 2008? Would Rashida Jones play her Office alter-ego, Karen? Was it a cheap rip off, or a series that settled more comfortably on the "brilliant" end of the mockumentary spectrum?

If anything, those quick six episodes, which center on a mid-level bureaucrat who – among other things – takes it upon herself to turn an abandoned construction pit into a park, taught us that NBC had yet again greenlit and aired another Thursday night comedy worth your full attention. But that's not to say the first season came and went without a hitch, as the show hit many of the typical bumps and bruises that highlight a freshman series' first year on the air. Viewers complained that the show's male characters were all bad apples, that Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope wasn't all unlike Steve Carell's Michael Scott and that much of its comedy was just, well, unfunny.

Even so, these growing pains are important to a show's history, and all play a part in the process of a series looking to find its footing, increase its audience (and fanboys) and extend its run past that initial episode order. In Parks and Recreation's case, the series' storylines (and more importantly, its comedy) got stronger with each passing week. And, things even ended on a note bearing little resemblance to the show we thought we were initially handed. (Which, come to think of it, sounds a lot like The Office and 30 Rock when they were first making their way on air).

Both Parks and Recreation and The Office pick up again on NBC for their second and sixth seasons, respectively, on September 17th.

Disc includes: Audio commentary, deleted scenes, producer's cut of the season finale

For people who have never looked at infomercials the same way again ever since witnessing Ellen Burstyn destroy herself OR For people who thought Christopher McDonald was already evil enough in Happy Gilmore: Requiem For A Dream (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]

As if Requiem for a Dream's unforgettable, haunting ending didn't already make you want to take a steaming, hot shower after watching it in standard definition, a director's cut of the Darren Aronofsky classic is now available in Blu-ray. Watch at your own risk, fool.

No seriously, gouging your eyes out may or may not be a common side affect exhibited by viewers immediately following a screening of this film.

Disc includes: Audio commentary; The Making of Requiem for a Dream documentary; deleted scenes; Memories, Dreams and Addictions: Ellen Burstyn Interviews Hubert Selby Jr. featurette; The Anatomy of a Scene featurette; trailers and tv spots, cast/crew information

For people who think it's only a matter of time before we see Crank 3 (in 3-D!) in theaters: Crank 2: High Voltage (Special Edition)

The Crank franchise ain't a cash cow for Lionsgate like its biggest series – Saw – is. Made for reportedly $12.9 million, the Jason Statham actioner grossed less than a million more than that in domestic dollars. Yet the title will probably prove to be quite lucrative on the home video market, prompting the studio to likely go ahead with another installment. Because really, what else does Statham have to do? Star in a period drama? Heck no!

Picking up where Crank left off, which includes, Chev Chelios freefalling from a helicopter, landing on a parked car AND surviving to tell about it, the sequel finds the hitman embarking on an electrifying chase through Los Angeles to track down the evil man who stole his nearly indestructible heart in exchange for a battery-powered one.

Disc includes: Audio commentary, Making-Of documentary, Crank 2: Take 2 featurette, digital copy

September 8, 2009
Blu-ray
Catwoman
Crank 2: High Voltage (Special Edition)
Creepshow
Dance Flick (Unrated)
Dead Calm
Equator: Reefs of Riches
Exit Speed
Freddy Vs. Jason
Friday Director's Cut
Fringe: The Complete First Season
Menace II Society (Deluxe Edition)
The New World (Extended Cut)
The Office: Season Five
Over The Top
The Postman
The Quick And The Dead
Requiem For A Dream (Director's Cut)
Set It Off (Deluxe Edition)
Silverado (Includes Book)
Sleep Dealer
Sphere
Valentino: The Last Emperor
Wild Asia: Island Magic

DVD
Bedknobs And Broomsticks (Special Edition)
Crank 2: High Voltage (Special Edition)
Creepshow
Criminal Minds: Season 4
Dance Flick (Unrated)
Dog the Bounty Hunter: Best of Season 5
Friday (Director's Cut)
Friday (Deluxe Edition)
Fringe: The Complete First Season
Hollywood Hoodlums Collection (2-Disc Edition)
Homicide (Criterion Collection)
Mad Monster Party (Special Edition)
Menace II Society (Deluxe Edition)
The New World (Extended Cut)
Nitro Circus: Season One
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency: Season 1
The Office: Season Five
The Office: Seasons 1-5 (Set)
One Foot in the Grave: Complete Series
One Foot in the Grave: The Christmas Specials
Parks & Recreation: Season One
Pirates Of The Seven Seas (2-Disc Edition)
Requiem For A Dream (Director's Cut)
Scream Collection (Triple Feature)
Set It Off (Deluxe Edition)
Smallville: Seasons 1-8 (Set)
UFC 99: The Comeback
Worst Week: The Complete Series