How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
June 29, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
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
For people who think Area 51 is overrated: Warehouse 13
Without critical darling and fan favorite Battlestar Galactica on its schedule, newly rebranded SyFy was caught in an uncomfortable position about a year ago when it found itself in need of fresh and original programming. Four months after BSG’s series finale, Warehouse 13 premiered to the sweet tune of 3.5 million viewers, the network’s third largest debut to date. And, but the end of the season’s 12-episode order, Warehouse 13 would become SyFy’s most successful series… ever.
From exec producers Jack Kenny and David Simkins, Warehouse 13 follows two U.S. Secret Service agents who are reassigned to the titular Warehouse 13, a government secret that houses supernatural goodies. They both retrieve missing objects and uncover new ones.
Disc includes: Deleted scenes, Artie-Facts featurette, Saul Searching featurette, What’s in the Shadows featurette, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe featurette, “Claudia” audio commentary, “Implosion” audio commentary, “MacPherson” audio commentary, “Pilot” audio commentary, “Pilot” podcast, gag reel, SyFy featurettes, season 2 sneak peek
For people who aren’t really sure what a lightning thief actually does: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, in the running with Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl for longest movie title in Hollywood, did decent biz for its distributor, 20th Century Fox. Produced for $95 million, the fantasy-adventure adaptation of a similarly titled 2005 book grossed $88 million in the States and another $137 million abroad.
Paired with expectedly big home media sales, future Percy Jackson titles will likely be produced. And Fox has plenty of material to work from, too. Its source material, from author Rick Riordan, is a series of five books, with the fifth and final one released in May 2009.
Disc includes: Deleted scenes, Secrets of the Gods featurette, Inside Camp Half-Blood featurette, Discover Your Powers quiz
June 29, 2010
Blu-ray
Alice in Wonderland
Beautiful
Black Sabbath: Paranoid (Classic Albums)
Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be The Same
The Crazies
Crazy
Don McKay
The Doors: When You're Strange
The Eclipse
Everlasting Moments (Criterion Collection)
Heroes Two
Hot Tub Time Machine
How The Earth Changed History
Jonathan Miller: La Boheme
Kill Switch
The Leopard (Criterion Collection)
Loose Screws: Screwballs 2
National Geographic: A Traveler's Guide to Planets
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
Stolen
Uncle Sam
The Warlords
The White Ribbon
Wicked Lake (Director's Cut)
DVD
13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: The Complete Series
Alice in Wonderland
America's Test Kitchen: 10th Season
Beautiful
Bonnie's Kids (Special Edition)
The Closer: The Complete Fifth Season
The Crazies
Crazy (Widescreen)
Don McKay
The Doors: When You're Strange
The Eclipse
Everlasting Moments (Criterion Collection)
The Graduates (2 Disc Collector's Edition)
Hal Sparks: Charmageddon (Widescreen)
Hot Tub Time Machine
How The Earth Changed History
How The Earth Was Made: The Complete Season Two
Kill Switch
Leave It To Beaver: The Complete Series (Set)
The Leopard (Criterion Collection)
Mad About You: The Complete Fourth Season
Paranormal Cops: The Complete Season One
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Pretty Bird
The Real McCoys: Complete Season 4
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
Stolen
Warehouse 13: Season One
The Warlords
The White Ribbon