DVDs With Dean: November 2008

November is shaping up to be a hot month for DVD releases and the new titles are coming fast and furious as Black Friday and Christmas approaches. The TV-show-box-set trend continues with at least one being released each week of the coming month. Meanwhile, many film releases are getting the three-disc treatment, which is wonderful news for all of us DVD dweebs. November also brings a new film in the Criterion Collection with an English version that people who skipped film school may have already seen.

November 4th

The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy finally gets an official box set… and it probably wasn’t worth the wait. However, if you did hold off purchasing the individual movies and you don’t want to wait for the eventual full Saga release, grab this one. For the completest, Lucasfilm is also rolling out a Classic Trilogy set that features matching packaging, but no additional content.

The new release hit for this week is Get Smart (2 Disc Special Edition). I enjoyed this as a fun adventure flick and will probably pick up the two-disc edition.

TV drops some heavy nostalgia bombs with magnificently complete sets of Batman – The Complete Animated Series and Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series Collection. I was less of a fan of Fraggle Rock, but I must own the Batman set to be certain that I raise my eventual offspring correctly. It is, in my opinion, probably the greatest television cartoon that was ever made.

The first week of November also brings Reaper: Season 1, which feels a bit late. I guess that as the show was on the verge of cancellation, it was likely debated whether or not to release the first season on DVD.

Re-releases are light this week, with only a Waterworld: Extended Edition hitting shelves. Blu-Ray fans will likely go ape over the release of all the Planet of the Apes films in (perhaps far too clear) high-definition. I imagine the clarity of these new versions will make it easier to see where the monkey masks end.

November 11th

This week’s big release is Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which gets a three-disc edition and a lavish Collector’s Set. Both sets include the same three discs, while the latter comes bundled with a nifty statue, book and other accouterments.

Two animated movies drop next to each other this week and I am personally pulling for Kung Fu Panda to annihilate Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Though, the DVD performance of Clone Wars will be of little consequence to George Lucas, who’s busy swimming in money like Scrooge McDuck.

The TV bounty this week is both good and expensive. Besides the great and silly Scrubs Season Seven we get the complete The Sopranos series, which comes with a full 33 discs of awesome. This set represents a combined 112 Emmy nominations, so the hefty price tag (around $280) is justified. If you balk at the Sopranos’ price tag, a cheaper option might be to upgrade your copy of Firefly to Blu-Ray. This release might be enough to get me to buy a Blu-Ray player myself… followed by a new TV… and a HD receiver. Another great buy this week is The Cosby Show: 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition, which includes eight seasons of magic for less than 100 bucks. Pick it up, it’ll make ya smile.

The best option for a re-release DVD this week is Oliver Stone’s JFK Ultimate Collector’s Edition, perhaps cashing in on anyone who loved W and wants to catch Stone’s last presidential movie. If you love conspiracy theories you should own this one.

November 18th

We get a pair of great new releases this week with Wall-E, which is available in a three-disc special edition, and Tropic Thunder which gets the two-disc treatment.  For the ladies, there is The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 which only comes out in a single-disc release. I’d say this one is missing both an audio commentaries and a special feature on the creation of said pants.  I will eventually buy two of those (guess which ones) and will rent Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson which is reported to be a fascinating documentary on this pop culture icon.

In television, look for Bones Season Three and the Charmed: The Complete Series.  The Charmed set comes in a nice limited edition ‘magic tome’ case which I find physically appealing, kinda like those who watched this show for its “content” found it.. er, eyecatching.

One significant re-release for this week is  300.  I really like this new ‘Limited Collector’s Set’ (which includes a new documentary surrounding the legend, a hardcover version of the original graphic novel and all the extras from the original DVD release) but I bought the two-disc set last year and I don’t feel particularly thrilled about upgrading. However, anyone who missed out on the initial release can enjoy the sweetness of the extra goodies in this set and not miss out on anything.  The rest of the re-releases are Cannibal! The Musical: 13th Anniversary Edition which features the creators of South Park goofing off in a Troma-esque setting. This edition also include the infamous “drunken” commentaryl. The Criterion Collection gets a boost from an English language version of Bottle Rocket. This was director Wes Anderson’s (Rushmore, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) first film and his long standing relationship with Criterion prompted them to release the only movie of his that wasn’t previously part of the Collection. I’ll buy this one for sure.

November 25th

It’s almost all new releases this week, and few of them are’nt even worth mentioning I usually expect an epic selection of DVD goodness on the week of Black Friday, but this year looks to be a disappointment.

Hancock is probably the best of the bunch followed by the made-for-TV movie 24: Redemption which kick-starts the next season of the series by the same name. The rest includes the pathetic Eddie Murphy “comedy” Meet Dave and the almost-as-inept Space Chimps.  We also get the holiday film Fred Claus which I will probably rent this year, and a DVD release of A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All.  If you missed this one on TV or loved the episode the first time around, you’ll want to pick this one up.