How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
March 23, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who didn't know the ‘60s could be so fun: Mad Men: Season Three
The third season of AMC's excellent original series, Mad Men, contains some of the series' best and most memorable episodes to date. The season's third episode, actually, "My Old Kentucky Home," is Mad Men at its finest. During a Kentucky Derby party, Pete Campbell absolutely shreds it on the dance floor while Roger adorns black face for a singing number that will leave you feeling very uncomfortable. Other events include a dinner party hosted by the busty Joan and her hubby, where among other things, Joan proves she's as skilled at playing the accordion as the great "Weird Al" Yankovic. And in one of my favorite B-stories the show has ever done, the reasonable and upright Peggy smokes pot with some Sterling Cooper co-workers. Thankfully, one of her mates remembers to stuff his coat between the door and the floor.
As much fun as the third season turned out to be – commit to memory that episode six marks the occasion when Lois rides over a bloke's foot with a riding lawnmower – it's also regrettably spotty. We, too, are fed storylines we've seen before (i.e. Don cheating on his wife; this time with a schoolteacher). It's these bits that cause the season to drag some. And for people who enjoy Don's work at SC, they'll be disappointed to learn that hardly any plot advances within the confines of the advertising office. Hell, one episode takes place in Rome! So, don't be expecting to see Don doing his thang like this or even like this. You'll have to refer to seasons one or two for that.
It's worth mentioning that the third season finale was a huge risk for Matthew Weiner and his team of writers. Events unfold that completely change (completely!) the game we've been watching for three seasons. But, as you'd expect, the finale is expertly executed. When the credits crawled, I didn't know whether to just go through with the seizure or slap my face with a glass of water to re-awaken my being.
Beginning this week, AMC is airing encores of the third season to prep for season four, which is expected to begin this summer.
Disc includes: Audio commentaries, Medgar Evers: An Unsung Hero documentary, Clearing the Air: The History of Cigarette Advertising featurette, We Shall Overcome: The March on Washington featurette, Mad Men Illustrated featurette, Flashback 1963: An Interactive Look featurette
For people who didn't know Bill Murray is just as loveable as an animated Badger as he is a person: Fantastic Mr. Fox
It's a tough sell to call a Wes Anderson movie "unexpectedly great," but that's exactly what you get here with Fantastic Mr. Fox. I'm a lover of most of his works – yay! to Rushmore, yay! to Royal Tenenbaums, yay! to Life Aquatic, resounding NAY! to The Darjeeling Limited – yet there was something about Fantastic Mr. Fox (its animation? its story?) that turned me off. Given my bad feelings about the torturous and boring Darjeeling, I figured Wes had hit a dry spell, with Fox being the writer-director's second consecutive dud. But I went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox in theaters anyway and loved it to pieces. It's quirky. It's fun. It's everything you'd expect in a Wes Anderson flick. Except this time the lead characters are stop-motion animals.
Pixar pretty much owns the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars, so Up's win – which was a foregone conclusion – should have surprised absolutely no one. But, if I had it my way and could leverage enough votes like some of Hollywood's biggest power players, I would've swayed opinion toward Fantastic Mr. Fox. Clooney is, well, Clooney and Jason Schwartzman is perfectly cast as his son, Ash.
Disc includes: Making Of featurette, The Look Of featurette, From Script to Screen featurette, The Puppet Makers featurette, Still Life featurette, The Cast, Bill and His Badger featurette, A Beginner's Guide to Whack-Bat featurette, Fantastic Mr. Fox: The World of Ronald Dahl featurette
For people who want to know whether Sandra Bullock can pull off being a blonde: The Blind Side
Sandra Bullock deservedly won an Oscar for her work in The Blind Side. In the flick, Bullock plays a thick skinned, thickly accented Southerner whose kind heart rescues an oversized boy literally from the streets and into her home. Through practice and discipline, the boy (Michael Oher) learns to excel at football, eventually earning a spot on the University of Mississippi's football squad and then the Baltimore Ravens, his current team. The movie was a mega hit for Warner Bros., earning an unexpected, albeit gigantic $253.4 million Stateside (to date). Anyone who told you they knew The Blind Side would cross $250 million after earning a respectable $34.1 million over its opening weekend is probably bluffing.
As good as Bullock is in the movie – remarkable in and of itself, given that Bullock has stated publicly that she felt miscast from the get-go – the movie is just okay. Best Picture worthy? Certainly not. It's charming and sweet and makes you feel all good inside, but the writing is pretty shoddy and the drama is on par with what you'd expect to find in your average primetime TV show. But at the end of the day, a movie like The Blind Side instills hope for the hopeless, and proves how rewarding the act of giving can sometimes be.
Disc includes: Michael Oher Exclusive featurette, Sidelines: Coversations on The Blind Side featurette, Acting Coaches: Behind The Blind Side featurette, The Story of Big Quinton featurette, deleted scenes
For people who wonder how dated early Pixar films will look in Blu-ray: Toy Story/Toy Story 2 [Blu-ray]
In case you missed it, Toy Story 3 finally arrives in theaters this summer after an 11-year hiatus from the silver screen. I'm pretty stoked about it, and you should be too. Pixar proved in 1999 that it could do sequels with Toy Story 2. And based on films like Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up, I'm all but certain Disney's sister studio can handle second sequels as well. Out today are Blu-ray versions of Toy Story and Toy Story 2. For those of you waiting for the opportunity to re-watch Toy Story's first two chapters, now's your chance to pounce.
Toy Story disc includes: Toy Story 3 sneak peek, Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: Blast Off featurette, three animated studio shorts, Buzz Takes Manhattan featurette, Making Of featurette, Filmmakers Reflect featurette, deleted scenes, design galleries
Toy Story 2 disc includes: N/A
March 23, 2010
Blu-ray
The African Queen (Commemorative Edition)
Bigger Than Life (Criterion Collection)
The Blind Side
Brothers
Days Of Heaven (Criterion Collection)
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove
Mad Men: Season Three
Men Who Stare at Goats
Phantom Punch
Red Cliff (Director's Cut)
Red Cliff: Part 1 (Director's Cut)
Red Cliff: Part 2 (Director's Cut)
Sanjuro (Criterion Collection)
Smokin' Aces (2-Movie Collection)
Spring 1941
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Trinity Blood Collection
Yojimbo
DVD
7th Heaven: The Tenth Season
The African Queen (Commemorative Edition)
Bigger Than Life (Criterion Collection)
The Blind Side
Brothers
Days Of Heaven (Criterion Collection)
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Father Knows Best: Season Four
Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove
The Lair: The Complete Third Season (Widescreen)
Life with Derek: The Complete Third Season
Mad Men: Season Three
Men Who Stare at Goats
Phantom Punch
Red Cliff (Director's Cut)
Red Cliff: Part 1 (Director's Cut)
Red Cliff: Part 2 (Director's Cut)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Sixth Season
Seraphine (Widescreen)
Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Series (Gift Set)
Tami Show (Collector's Edition)
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Yojimbo