Being There

We’re down to just over a week to go until Christmas and Hanukkah is already here, so hopefully by now you don’t need our help coming up with great gift ideas. In the first volume of our gift guide, we looked at the recent Beatles remasters as well as Beatles Rock Band. Vol. 2 focused on live albums. This time we’ll take a quick peek at some of the recent DVD and Blu-Ray titles that have hit store shelves over the past few months.

Saturday Night Live: The Complete Fifth Season

Saturday Night Live: The Complete Fifth Season

The 1979-1980 season of Saturday Night Live marked a turning point of sorts. From the get go, viewers had to get used to the fact that Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi had left the show. Of the seven original Not Ready For Primetime Players, only Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris were left, along with Bill Murray, who had joined partway through the second season.

Harry Shearer was brought in as a new cast member for Season 5 and a number of writers, including Al Franken and Don Novello, made more appearances in sketches. One thing that didn’t change was the wide variety of talented hosts and musical guests who appeared on the show. These included Steve Martin, Blondie, Eric Idle, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Rodney Dangerfield and David Bowie, among many others.

Many SNL insiders, including Lorne Michaels, thought Season 5 would be the show’s last. Who knew that thirty years later it’d still be going? However, when SNL returned on November 15, 1980 for its sixth season, the cast consisted entirely of newcomers. Lorne Michaels and the writers had also left.

The Hangover (Unrated Two-Disc Special Edition)

The Hangover (Blu-Ray pictured)

The Hangover features Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis as a trio of friends who travel to Las Vegas with a friend to celebrate his bachelor weekend. Who knows what kind of trouble these guys found themselves in, but we get to share with them the confusion of what they’re left with (whether it be a missing tooth, a baby or better still, a missing groom). Out Tuesday on DVD and Blu-Ray, this “Unrated” package includes a wide variety of bonus features, including nonstop improv from the scene-stealing Ken Jeong.

Inglorious Basterds (2-Disc Special Edition)

Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds is undeniably one of Quentin Tarantino’s finest films, posing the question of “What if a bunch of Jewish American soliders had taken things into their own hands and won the war?” Some have criticized Tarantino’s treatment of the subject matter as sensationalist. After all, we’re still dealing with a relatively touchy subject that happened in our grandparents’ lifetimes. However, there’s something very satisfying about poetic justice. And we get it with this film, now available in a two-disc special edition on both Blu-Ray and DVD.

Spectacle: Elvis Costello with… [Season One]
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As the Sundance Channel in the U.S. and CTV in Canada get set to air a second season of Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, viewers at home can now experience the fantastic first season on this 4-disc Blu-Ray or 5-disc DVD set. Episodes included feature such luminaries as Smokey Robinson, Lou Reed, Tony Bennett and Elton John, as well as relative newcomers like Jenny Lewis, She & Him, Jakob Dylan and Rufus Wainwright. Each one of these episodes has been extended to include performances not televised, as well as behind the scenes footage.

Being There also recommends:

Up (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)
Dexter: The Complete Third Season
Julie & Julia
(500) Days of Summer (available Dec. 22/09)
Gimme Shelter: The Criterion Collection [Blu Ray]

This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Film, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.