Pick of the Week

Welcome once again! It is that time of the week where I pick my most desired title from the new crop of releases. This week doesn't yield all that much in terms of big titles, but it was still pretty easy to choose one: Looney Toons Golden Collection Volume 2.

It was just about a year ago when Warner Brothers unleashed the first round of shorts upon us, and there was much rejoicing. It was a fantastic set, the cartoons looked and sounded fantastic and we couldn't wait for another helping. That time has arrived. The second volume is here with 60 more shorts on 4 disks. I usually don't go into all of extras, but take a look at this:

• 60 classic cartoons restored, remastered, and uncut
• 30 commentary tracks
• 2 documentaries
• 9 behind the scene featurettes
  Music-only tracks, audio sessions, TV tribute shows, rareties, a new 2004 cartoon, "Daffy Duck for President" and more
• Disk 1 (Bugs Bunny) - The Big Snooze; Broomstick Bunny; Bugs Bunny Rides Again; Bunny Hugged; French Rabbit; Gorilla My Dreams; The Hare-Brained Hypnotist; Hare Conditioned; The Heckling Hare; Little Red Riding Rabbit; Tortoise Beats Hare; Rabbit Transit; Slick Hare; Baby Buggy Bunny; Hyde and Hare
• Disk 2 (Road Runner/Tweety) - Beep Beep; Going Going Gosh; Zipping Along Stop Look and Hasten; Ready Set Zoom; Guided Muscle; Gee Whiz-z-z-z; There They Go-Go-Go; Scarambled Aches; Zoom and Bored; Whoa Be Gone; Cheese Chasers; The Dover Boys; Mouse Wreckers; Bear for Punishment
• Disk 3 (Road Runner/Tweety) - Bad Ol' Putty Tat; All Abir-r-r-d; Room and Bird; Tweet Tweet Tweety; Gift Wrapped; Ain't She Tweet; A Bird in a Guilty Cage; Snow Business; Tweety Pie; Kitty Kornered; Baby Bottleneck; Old Glory; The Great Piggy Bank Robbery; Duck Soup to Nuts; Porky in Wackyland (B/W)
• Disk 4 (All-Star Cavalcade of Hollywood Parodies) - Back Alley Oproar; Book Revue; Corny Concerto; Have You Got Any Castles; Hollywood Steps Out; I Love to Singa; Katnip Kollege; The Hep Cat; Three Little Bops; One Froggy Evening; Rhapsody Rabbit; Show Biz Bugs; Stage Door Cartoon What's Opera Doc; You Ought To Be in Pictures

Now, if that doesn't entice you, I'm not sure what will. I love the Looney Toons and cannot wait to get my hands on this!

Other titles to look for:

• 2009 Lost Memories. This is a thriller from, I believe, Korea, that I have been looking forward to for awhile.
• Onmyoji II. Japanese fantasy, the original was unique, I hope the sequel keeps it going.
• Dr. Strangelove: 40th Anniversary Edition. Kubrick classic in a newly restored edition with a bunch of extras.
• Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2. This is another set I am looking forward too, I love Star Trek.
• The Complete Denis Leary. Who didn't like Leary when he was at the top of this game. Chain smoking, fast talking hilarity.
• Mutant X: Season 1. A decent syndicated series, a bit corny, but still fun.
• Slayer: Reign in Blood - Still Reigning. Over 20 years and still going strong.
• Around the World in 80 Days. Not a good movie in the least, but I am a sucker for Jackie Chan, who also happens to be the best thing about this movie.

And lest we forget, coming this Friday is a surefire big seller. That big seller would be none other than: Shrek 2. Set for a Friday release as a ploy to eat into opening day box office results of Pixar/Disney's The Incredibles. I guess this can be a sort of unofficial second pick of the week.

If you haven't seen it, you must. It is a riot that actually has a story and develops characters. A sequel that is on par with it's great original. It also brings us a great new character, Puss N' Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas). It is rare that a sequel stands up to the original, especially int he land of kids films, Toy Story excepted of course. A fun story that is as full of jokes for the adults as it slapstick for the kids. An all around excellent movie for the family.

This is a great example of what can be accomplished with animation. Not everyone is going to like it, but that isn't really the point. What we have is top notch animation, a great voice cast, an interesting story, just everything it takes to make a good film for the family. Highly recommended. PS: Make sure you get the widescreen version, a lot of the packs only contain the inferior full screen!