PICK OF THE WEEK:
Ford at Fox
(Fox)
Easily the most impressive movie-lover box-set this season, Fox’s mammoth collection offers 24 early John Ford titles (most previously unreleased), a new doc about the auteur, reproductions of lovely ephemera, and a coffee-table-worthy photo-book. Some titles are also available in less expensive new sub-sets.
Superbad
(Sony)
The Apatow gang (via director Greg Mottola) hit paydirt again this summer, with a comedy that managed to pair endearing human characters with outrageously filthy gags. I loved it myself, and am thrilled about the copious bonus goodies included here. On Blu-ray and DVD.
Erik the Viking
(MGM)
Terry Jones’ 1989 comedy-adventure never got the love his earlier Monty Python films did. He’s out to rectify that with a “Director’s Son’s Cut” that slims it down to 79 minutes.
Pirates of the Caribbean:
At World’s End
(Disney)
Maybe I’m absentminded this morning, but I can’t seem to remember what this movie’s about or who’s in it …
BOOB-TUBE CORNER: Some have called The Wire (HBO, season 4) the best series ever put on TV. While it certainly has competition, I can’t argue with the general sentiment: David Simon’s Baltimore crime series is a brilliant, dense, and moving saga. On the other end of the crime-and-punishment spectrum is 24 (Fox, season 6), which gets sillier every year but is one heckuva guilty pleasure. •
This article appears in Dec 5-11, 2007.