By DNA Smith
PICKS OF THE WEEK
“The Expendables” (R) — Let’s be clear from jumpstreet: “The Expendables” is a bad movie, unabashedly so, and that’s what makes it so much campy good fun. Sly Stallone and Company have a ball-bouncingly awesome time in this loud, goofy homage to the One-Man Wrecking Crew flicks of the 1980s. In addition to the cameos by Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the film also stars Jason Statham, Dolf Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Steve Austin and Randy Couture. The dialogue is corny, the explosions (and the pecs!) are huge, and the plot is irrelevant. Just pop some corn, crack open a brew, sit back and watch stuff blow up real good.
“Beauty and the Beast” (Two-Disc Diamond Edition) (G) — Disney’s classic tale of a bookish young woman who tames the heart of a gloomy prince and teaches him to love again has been digitally restored with enhanced picture and sound. The two-disc set includes three versions of the movie: the original theatrical version, the special extended edition, and the original storyboard version. Among the many special features is a sing-along mode, so you can chime in along with the film.
“The Complete Metropolis” (NR) — Throughout the years there have been scores of home-video releases of Fritz Lang’s 1927 science-fiction masterpiece — all of them incomplete and the transfers usually taken from muddied public-domain prints. Thankfully, a complete print of the film was discovered in Buenos Aires and painstakingly restored by the Murnau Foundation — including 23 minutes of footage thought lost forever. Now, after nearly three-quarters of a century, the public can finally see — in high definition — “Metropolis” as it was meant to be experienced.
“The Pillars of the Earth” (NR) — Based on the novel by Ken Follett, this critically acclaimed miniseries of medieval intrigue and forbidden romance stars Ian McShane and Donald Sutherland. The construction of a massive “cathedral of light” is the centerpiece of this historical fiction, which includes plenty of the Machiavellian machinations and bodice-ripping that fans of “The Tudors” and HBO’s “Rome” seem to delight in.
TV SERIES
“The Tudors” The Complete Series
“7th Heaven” The Final Season
“Married … with Children” The Complete Series
“Lennon Naked”
“Murder She Wrote” Complete Twelfth Season
“Deadwood” The Complete Series
“Batman Beyond” The Complete Series
“Wagon Train” The Complete Season Two
“Space Precinct” The Complete Series
“Durham County” Season 2
© 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.