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Welcome to How to Spend $20, BOP’s look at the latest Blu-ray discs and DVDs to hit stores nationwide. This week: Jersey Shore digs into Miami, and Milla Jovovich and George Clooney take down some baddies.

Pick of the Week

For people who don’t respect themselves: Jersey Shore: Season Two

Just thinking about Jersey Shore makes me feel like I need to take a long, hot shower. So, let’s just say I’m less than thrilled to be saying anything at all related to those gross attention whores who’ve got a new DVD out today to promote. Yet compiling a list of new picks without mentioning Jersey Shore would be like removing chicken from your diet. It’s essential to MTV and what it considers television, and all but needs to be discussed in this space.

Now, the two of you who follow this column even more closely that I do will probably remember that I had kinder words to say the last time a season of Jersey Shore was made available on DVD. Honestly, what was I thinking? Back at home with an unexpectedly free afternoon to do whatever I pleased, I chose to catch up on Jersey Shore with my sister and got sucked in pretty quickly to their stupid, stupid antics. I’ve since learned better and can say, with confidence, that I will never again catch another minute of whatever it is they do to their bodies, each other and the city they happen to be sexing in.

MTV missed out on a golden opportunity for a stocking stuffer by releasing season two today instead of a week ago. Sure, season three premieres about a week and a half from now, but I wouldn’t suspect our attention spans to have gotten that bad. Plus, MTV’s New Year’s Eve programming will be an excuse to promote Jersey Shore anyway, so I really can’t get behind the idea of releasing the season three days after Christmas. But alas, I’m not in on decisions like that – and god, how thankful I am for that!

Disc includes: N/A

For people who wish they were cool enough to be named K-Mart, too: Resident Evil: Afterlife

The Resident Evil movies have never fared well with critics, and yet that has little to nothing to do with how the franchise performs at the box office. In fact, the movies have earned more money with each outing, and not the other way around – prompting the successive sequel to go into production. This is especially true of the films’ worldwide grosses. Afterlife, for example, earned a full 100% more worldwide ($292 million to $146 million) than Extinction, its predecessor. And Extinction had, up to that point, been the bar for Resident Evil dollars.





Sadly, I wouldn’t consider myself a gamer. In fact, the original Super Mario Bros. games on Nintendo are my idea of fun – especially No. 2 (it’s soo hard!) – so the thought of running around trying to gain the upper hand against an evil organization known as, you know, the Umbrella Corporation doesn’t sound appealing.

Disc includes: Behind the scenes featurettes, audio commentary, Undead Vision featurette, deleted scenes and outtakes

For people who like vintage-looking movie posters: The American

Besides being good at his day job, I think what I like most about George Clooney is his knack for taking on a bevy of distinctive characters and movie types. Johnny Depp is the king of this sort of thing – and rightfully so – yet I feel like George deserves to be talked about in this fashion, too. His last four films alone were Up in the Air (your standard, charming Clooney), The Men Who Stare at Goats (your goofy O Brother, Where Art Thou?/Burn After Reading Clooney), Fantastic Mr. Fox (stop-motion, sly-as-a-fox Clooney) and finally The American, a flick in which he plays an assassin hiding out in Italy. In the opening scene alone, he’s shot at before shooting and killing two people.

Because hey, staring down the barrel of a gun positioned by Clooney before going lights out is a fine way to go.

The American kinda came and went with little fanfare. Actually, when I was looking over movies to talk about here this week, I hesitated a second before I remembered what The American was. “Oh… The American!” It premiered over Labor Day weekend and, according to The Numbers, was out by Halloween. It earned $35 million in the States (against a $20 million budget) and another $10 million worldwide.

Disc includes: N/A

December 28, 2010
Blu-ray
The American
And Soon the Darkness
Battlestar Galactica: Razor
Boiler Maker

DVD
Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Everything (New Packaging)
The American
And Soon the Darkness
Archer: The Complete Season One
Baccano: The Complete Series
Battlestar Galactica: Razor
Boiler Maker
Jersey Shore: Season Two
Jersey Shore: Seasons 1 & 2 (Double Feature)
Legendary (Special Edition)
Merantau
Peanuts: A Charlie Brown Valentine
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Twelve
The United States of Tara: Seasons 1 & 2 (Double Feature)
United States of Tara: The Second Season