Once again, Im behind this week, and we have a lot of ground to cover, so Ill try to keep this short. If you want to pick up any of these DVDs, Deep Discount DVD has a special sale through this Saturday, where you can use a coupon code (email me if you would like it) to save 20% off of one order. Combine that with the already-low prices, no tax and free shipping, and you can get some fantastic deals on this weeks releases. The deals are so good that I didnt even pick up a single DVD at Best Buy this week. Ill list prices on a per-title basis.
The Iron Giant was portrayed as a simplistic kids story, but it is actually one of the most intelligent and riveting animated features I have seen outside of Pixar. As an animated film, it was tragically mis-marketed, and in fact was the last feature produced by the Warner Bros. Feature Animation Division before it closed its doors completely. Director Brad Bird pitched the idea to his next animated feature, and the studios turned it down, so he took the idea to Pixar, where it became their first feature by an outside director, The Incredibles. To contrast with the poor performance of The Iron Giant, The Incredibles made three times as much money in its opening weekend than The Iron Giant made in its entire theatrical run. Now, some of that can be attributed to the dim view taken of traditional animation these days, not to mention the do-no-wrong Pixar movie machine, but some of the blame has to lie with Warner Bros. poor handling of the film.
Luckily, The Iron Giant has gained new appreciation on home video, resulting in this new Special Edition release of The Iron Giant. You get a new commentary with the director and various animation and story personnel, 18 minutes of deleted scenes, and various featurettes on the making of the film, including a look at Vin Diesel as the voice of the gravel-throated title character. Combine this with an all-new digital transfer and a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix, and you have the best DVD deal this week, for only $11.11 after discount.
Rounding out the series is Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Seventh Season. After Buffys death in the season five finale, the show took on a decidedly darker tone (as opposed to the relatively cheerful mood after Buffys death in the season one finale). This somber mood continues with season seven, where the threats to the Scooby Gang become more epic in both scale and import. For example, I will tell you that a major character has an eye gouged out during the season, although to maintain some level of suspense, I will refrain from telling you which eye is destroyed. (This fact can safely be used as a matter of suspense, since it is of relatively little consequence.) In any case, season seven wraps up the series reasonably well, and if you already have the previous six seasons, I recommend picking this one up as well. Only $32.91 after discount.
Ah, college! Im sure that most of us had a college roommate with multiple tapes of The Kids in the Hall. (Isnt that a weird coincidence?) And if youre like me, then you probably started taping the show off yourself, and suffered through the butchered Comedy Central versions. Well, throw away those dusty tapes and replace them with the new DVD set of The Kids in the Hall: The Complete Season Two (1990-1991). Theyre releasing these at a rate of about one per year, so go ahead and spoil yourself! If youre a sucker like me, you paid full price by preordering the first season directly from the website (and got it several months ahead of everyone else). Dont do what I did; pick up the new set from Deep Discount DVD for only $28.78 after discount.
You know its a great week for DVD releases when a brilliant show like The Office ends up fourth on the list! If you have BBC America, then stop what youre doing and write a note to yourself to record The Office when it airs. Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) called it the funniest show on television. It won two Golden Globes this year, one for Best Television Series—Musical or Comedy (beating out Arrested Development, Monk, Sex and the City and (ugh) Will and Grace), and one for Best Actor—Musical or Comedy for the series star and co-creator, Ricky Gervais. But why take my word for it? Record it and watch it. Like most British shows, each season is very short; The Office ran for two seasons of six episodes each, and The Office Special (out today) is the two-hour series finale.
The show is simply fantastic, but I have to warn you that it is not your typical comedy. After seeing numerous promos for the show, I watched the first episode. I thought it was depressing, and it really made me feel uncomfortable. Then I watched it again later, and thought it was hilarious. The show has no laugh track, and it is filmed in a documentary style. You dont have the typical setup line, punch line” format typical of most sitcoms. I realize that the more I explain it, the worse it is going to sound, so you just need to check it out for yourself. As for The Office Special in particular, I would have to agree with the review in the San Francisco Chronicle that calls it quite possibly the finest closing chapter ever for a TV series.” In fact, go ahead and read the whole review; I have duplicated some of that information here, but it goes into more detail about the brilliance of the show.
If you already have the previous DVDs of seasons one and two, you can pick up the special for only $13.71. But if you dont own any of the previous DVDs, just trust me and pick up The Office: The Complete Collection, which includes both seasons plus the special, for only $34.53.
Okay, these have been taking far too long, so Ill shorten this up a bit. Space Ghost Coast to Coast is a talk show where an animated host (Space Ghost) interviews real celebrities. Have you ever seen one of those bits where they interview a big star, but they intercut fake questions with their responses to other questions? Some fake interviewer will ask, Have you ever eaten a radioactive space turnip?”, and then theyll cut to Willie Nelson saying, Yes,” and everybody laughs, but you know that Tom Cruise was actually answering the question, Do you enjoy acting?” or some other moronic question. Well, this show is kind of like that, except after Space Ghost asks the question, Willie Nelson will respond with, Yes, I think one time in the 70s, I did eat a radioactive space turnip.” In other words, they dont fake it. They actually ask these A-level celebrities (well, B-level or lower) these questions, and their reactions are often entertaining. Now theyre collected on Space Ghost Coast to Coast: Volume 2. If you dont believe me, just read the reviews on the back of the box. Includes commentaries on all episodes, the original Andy Merrill pilot, pencil test, the Matt Groening raw interview, and more. Only $18.51 after discount.
Elf is out on DVD this week. Will Ferrell is very funny. Its actually pretty clean. Its a very sweet movie, and a little sentimental, so its perfect for this holiday season (with holiday season” being defined as the period between Labor Day and Christmas Day, apparently). $13.71 after discount.
So thats it for this week! I dont see any upcoming weeks that are quite as packed, but things dont slow down completely until after Christmas. You might want to keep that credit card in your front pocket, just in case.
