Remember last week when I told you to save your pennies for this week? This is why. There were no less than seven serious contenders for the Pick of the Week. This is an excellent week to finish your Christmas shopping.
First, the DVD releases:
- 7th Heaven – The Complete Fifth Season
- 12 Angry Men (Decades Collection): This should be mandatory viewing. It’s an utterly fantastic film.
- 24 – Season Six
- Arctic Tale
- Battlestar Galactica – Razor (Unrated Extended Edition)
- Bob Hope MGM Movie Legends Collection: Includes “Alias Jesse James,” “Boy, Did I Get The Wrong Number,” “The Facts Of Life,” “I’ll Take Sweden,” “The Princess And The Pirate,” “The Road To Hong Kong” and “They’ve Got Me Covered.”
- Buster Keaton – Comedy Legend: It doesn’t specify what’s on the set, but it’s hard to go wrong with almost eight hours of Buster Keaton.
- Carrie
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Decades Collection)
- A Christmas Too Many
- Daniel Boone – Season 6
- Diagnosis Murder – The Third Season
- Erik The Viking
- The Essential John Ford Collection: Includes “The Frontier Marshall,” “My Darling Clementine,” “Drums Along The Mohawk,” “How Green Was My Valley,” “The Grapes Of Wrath” and “Becoming John Ford.”
- The Fever
- Fiddler on the Roof (Decades Collection)
- Ford At Fox – The Collection: This is the ultra super box set, complete with “The Grapes Of Wrath,” “How Green Was My Valley,” “My Darling Clementine,” “Drums Along The Mohawk,” “Young Mr. Lincoln,” “Tobacco Road,” “The Iron Horse,” “Wee Willie Winkie,” “The Prisoner of Shark Island,” “Up The River,” “Four Men And A Prayer,” “Judge Priest,” “When Willie Comes Marching Home,” “Steamboat Round The Bend,” “3 Bad Men,” “Hangman’s House,” “What Price Glory,” “Doctor Bull,” “Four Sons,” “Pilgrimage,” “The World Moves On,” “Born Reckless,” “Just Pals” and “Seas Beneath.”
- The Graduate (Decades Collection)
- Grafters – The Complete Second Season
- Guys and Dolls (Decades Collection)
- Highlander – The Complete Animated Series
- House of Payne – Volume One, Episodes 1-20
- Ingmar Bergman – Four Masterworks (Criterion Collection): Includes “Smiles of a Summer Night,” “The Seventh Seal,” “Wild Strawberries” and “The Virgin Spring.” I’ve only seen two of those four, but they were both fantastic.
- Instant Star: Season Two
- John Ford’s American Comedies: Includes “Up The River,” “Judge Priest,” “When Willie Comes Marching Home,” “Steamboat Round The Bend,” “What Price Glory” and “Doctor Bull.”
- John Ford’s Silent Epics: Includes “Just Pals,” “Four Sons,” “The Iron Horse,” “Hangman’s House” and “3 Bad Men.”
- Larry The Cable Guy’s Christmas Spectacular
- The Last Man On Earth
- Law and Order: Special Victims Unit – The Fourth Year
- Mad Max (Decades Collection)
- Moonstruck (Decades Collection)
- The Nanny Diaries
- Naruto Uncut Boxed Set, Volume 5 (Special Edition)
- New Street Law – The Complete First Season
- Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End
- Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End (Two Disc Collector’s Edition)
- Rocky – The Complete Saga Collection
- Saturday Night Live – The Complete Second Season: This was part of the era in which SNL was funny to sober people.
- Some Like It Hot (Decades Collection): Very funny. This was the American Film Institute’s choice for the funniest american film ever made.
- Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog Box Set: Had you told me ten years ago that Mario and Sonic would ever be combined in the same product in any way, I’d have said you were nuts.
- Superbad – Unrated
- The Sure Thing (Decades Collection)
- Touched By An Angel – The Fourth Season (Vols. 1-2): Volume 2 also available individually.
- Wallace and Gromit: The Amazing Adventures: You can’t go wrong with any collection including “The Wrong Trousers.”
- West Side Story (Decades Collection)
- When Harry Met Sally (Decades Collection)
- Will and Grace: Season Seven
- The Wire – The Complete Fourth Season
- Witchblade, Vol. 3
Now, the Blu-Ray releases:
- 20 Million Miles To Earth (50th Anniversary Edition)
- Cast Away
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith
- Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End
- Superbad
The HD DVD releases are as follows:
Finally, the pick of the week. This is a tough one to decide. 12 Angry Men is an amazing movie, particularly when you consider that virtually all of it is filmed in a single room. Some Like It Hot is funny start to finish, ending with one of cinema’s best final lines of dialogue. Wallace and Gromit always entertain. The first season of Battlestar Galactica is great, and very welcome in a high definition format. John Ford and Buster Keaton were both masters of their art. The “Decade Collection” series seems to have chosen a lot of great options. Still, when it all comes down, none of these are the pick of the week. Instead, I have to go with the Ingmar Bergman set from the Criterion Collection. I’ve reviewed The Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring already. If you’ve got those two, plus two others likely of comparable quality, all produced and released by the Criterion Collection company, you’re in excellent shape.