Johnny Rollerfeet's Echo Chamber

Top of the Pops: Bridesmaids – The summer comedy that finally let women dominate the funny spotlight. It’s no surprise this was going to happen, nor that it was done by SNL writers/actresses. Possibly the funniest thing I’ve seen this year. I actually had tears in my eyes, I laughed so hard.

Classic Re-Issue: Dumbo – I’ve had issues with Disney’s iron-fisted control over home releases of their classics, but when they do it, they do it so well. I can’t wait to hear/see “Baby, Mine” in Hi Def.

Snake Oil: Supernatural Giftset: Season 1-6 – Sure, go ahead and waste some cash on a boxset for a TV show that’s still on the air.

Read about more new releases at Watch/Re-watch.

Top of the Pops: Thor – The worst of the Avenger lead-in films, yet still worth seeing in anticipation of (our Geek Lord and Master) Joss Whedon’s upcoming feature. It is also available in nauseating 3D, and in the Best Buy exclusive packaging with a comic book.

Classic Re-Issue: Citizen Kane – While it doesn’t hold up to contemporary standards, it repeatedly demonstrates why it is possibly the most referenced U.S. film of all time.

Snake Oil: The Rocky Horror Picture Show – True fans already have a better version of this released last year, so I’m not sure who will buy it.

Read about more releases this week at Watch/Re-watch.

Top of the Pops [Contender #1]: X-Men: First Class – Most home movie dollars this week will be spent with this movie. It’s not bad, particularly for comic book fan-boys — although considering my huge crush on Jennifer Lawrence, my judgement is questionable.

Top of the Pops [Contender #2]: Hanna – The best big budget release this week is this one. Sometimes when you have a top-notch director, the best actors, and an incredible score you can create an instant classic. I’ll watch this movie repeatedly.

Classic Re-Issue: Scarface – I suppose getting Scarface on Blu-Ray is manly, but a real man probably should get the Scarface with Limited Edition Humidor set.

Snake Oil [Contender #1] - Community: The Complete Second Season – I can’t believe Community is only going to be released on DVD, and I refuse to buy it until I can get it in higher quality.

Snake Oil [Contender #2] - Big Momma’s House, Big Momma’s House 2 – 20th Century Fox wanted to do a favor for all the Martin Lawrence fans who _loved_ the first movie and _hated_ the second one, so they split up the already-released two-in-one combo set…or is it the other way around?

Snake Oil [Contender #3] - Children of the Corn – This re-release is Image Entertainment’s foray into getting extra sales pre-Halloween with the “Midnight Madness Series”.

Read about more new releases at Watch/Rewatch.

Top of the Pops: Madea’s Big Happy Family - Next time someone says Hollywood doesn’t respect Tyler Perry, show them today’s release list. There’s no recent big theatrical release on today’s schedule other than this. Much like African American History only gets one month, Tyler Perry only gets one week.

Foreign Surprise: Norwegian Ninja – This was the first (or second?) thing I saw last year at Fantastic Fest. It is a trippy, yet somehow faithful, parody of the classic 70s spy thriller genre…with ninjas.

Classic Re-Issue: Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing, Raising Arizona, The Coen Brothers Collection - If you aren’t buying the full boxset, don’t tell me and we can still be friends.

Snake Oil: The Mummy Trilogy – All of these were already available on Blu-Ray, so unless they just wanted to offer _really_ patient fans a bargain then this is just pandering.

Read about more new releases at Watch/Re-watch.

Top of the Pops: The Beaver – Entertainment Weekly has an interesting article about re-watching old Mel Gibson movies cast in the light of his more recent tabloid life. What happens when a complete asshole makes a movie that may actually be good, but no one wants to see him in it?

Foreign Surprise: Troll Hunter – If you missed this in theaters earlier this year, then you really missed something special. I went into this (at Fantastic Fest last year) on the verge of abandoning the fake-umentary genre, but this fun and chilling movie reminded me that a well made monster movie can show up in any category.

Classic Re-Issue: The Women in Cages Collection – I’m just going to leave this link here for whoever might be excited about this kind of thing.

Snake Oil: Swingers – It’s already available in several Blu releases, so this is just an opportunity to re-release it in a cheap version.

Read more new releases at Watch/Rewatch.

Top of the Pops: Paul – This is not the last part of a Pegg/Frost comedy nerd triple feature. It is funny enough, but it won’t meet the expectation of Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz fans. Without Edgar Wright’s touch, you can see where a great producer/director adds value. Go see Attack the Block.

Classic Re-Issue: Fast Times at Ridgemont High – While I have never been a fan of the low brow comedies of the 80′s, this was one movie that made the exception. Intertwined with stoner one-liners are some genuine moments of real life sex education. Cameron Crowe came out swinging with his writing debut here, and set the tone for a successful career.

Snake Oil: It’s a two-fer this week! Dazed and Confused comes out on Blu-Ray in a cheap one-off release but if you can wait just two more months true fans will want to get the Criterion Collection release. Echo Bridge is re-releasing The Lookout on Blu-Ray with an inferior print cropped to a “more convenient” aspect ratio while the superior quality 2007 Miramax release is still available.

Read about more releases this week at Watch/Rewatch.

Top of the Pops: Rio – If Dreamworks is always playing second fiddle to Pixar, what is Fox Animation? I love the Angry Birds Rio game on my iPhone.

Classic Re-Issue: Better off Dead – John Cusack was on a roll in the mid-80s, and this was the best of that era. It still remains as one of the funniest heart-warming teen comedies not directed by John Hughes.

Snake Oil: Black Sheep/Tommy Boy, Braveheart/Gladiator, Coming to America/Trading Places, Defiance/Enemy at the Gates, The Godfather/The Godfather Part II, Shooter/Italian Job, Shutter Island/Primal Fear, Wayne’s World/Wayne’s World 2 – More combo discs of things already released on Blu-Ray. This is surely the signal that Blu-Ray is the de facto standard of home video releases.

Read about more releases this week at Watch/Rewatch.

Top of the Pops: Source Code – One of the first movies that played the prime venue at SXSW this year was also one of my favorite of the festival. It’s not the most complex mystery, but it is done well. I would think offering a Source Code/Knowing combo set would actually cost less, since you’d have to pay most people to watch (or even own) Knowing, but it’s available for some reason.

Classic Re-Issue: The Blues Brothers – Seriously the most soulful movie of all time. On top of the comedic wonders of its stars, cameos from prime-era James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Cab Calloway make this as perfect a musical comedy as may be possible.

Snake Oil: Donnie Darko: 10th Anniversary Edition and S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale – Dipping into the pockets of Darko fans, the studios are releasing another Blu-Ray edition of the first movie, and a Digital Copy added version of the second.

Read about more releases this week at Watch/Rewatch.

Top of the Pops: Limitless – How did I miss an action movie starring my wife’s not-so-secret boyfriend, Bradley Cooyer, that rated a decent 70% at RT? Now’s the time to remedy that miss.

Classic Re-Issue: Amélie – Enterprising collectors have found region-free versions of this from other countries, but if you didn’t want French(-Canadian) or Australian words all over the cover you can now get a US language copy.

Read about other releases this week at Watch/Rewatch.

Top of the Pops: The Lincoln Lawyer – The best thing I can say about this is how funny the episode of 30 Rock titled “The Rural Juror” is. This movie, however, is by-the-numbers, giving very little reason to be watched.

Classic Re-Issue: Brazil – The best film Terry Gilliam has ever made. Not as silly as Monty Python, not as incomprehensible as Jabberwocky, not as uncomfortable as Tideland — just the right amount of strange and funny.

Snake Oil: Rango and Arthur (2011) – I’m going to continue this crotchety old man rant until I die. Release your f’ing movies on f’ing release day (particularly if there’s nothing unique about your movie that would require a special release day.)

Read about more new releases this week at Watch/Rewatch.