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5 - HARRY POTTER YEARS 1-5
The last Harry Potter book may have come and gone, but studio Warner Brothers apparently still has a lot of magic up its wizard’s sleeve to be able to rearrange and repackage its Harry Potter movies on DVD. This issue features 2-disc editions of all five movies to date, bundled in a trunk and emblazoned with the Hogwarts crest. There is about three hours worth of bonus material in total, though much of it is like the lightweight HBO “First Look” featurettes. The coolest bonus item in the set is an interactive DVD game, much like the popular Scene It! Series. For the three children who have not read the books yet, there are five collectible bookmarks, plus 16 collectible trading cards. Not included is a copy of the spell that will continue to convince audiences that the three young leads are still young and unsullied, don’t take their clothes off on Broadway, and are years away from being able to legally buy a round at the premiere after-party.
6 - HELP! [2-DISC EDITION]
The Beatles’ 1965 follow-up to A Hard Day’s Night, previously available as a barebones single platter from MPI, has gotten a gorgeous restoration and the Special Edition treatment (and boy, is it special). The second disc includes a 30-minute making-of featurette, a missing scene, a look at the restoration process, reminiscences from the cast and crew plus trailers and radio spots. Die-hards might spring for the Deluxe Edition, which features a copy of Richard Lester’s annotated shooting script, 8 lobby card repros, a poster and a 60-page book featuring a lot of rare photographs, though casual fans will find it difficult to justify the $100+ price tag. McCartney fans will surely enjoy the 3-DVD collection The McCartney Years, featuring a bounty of visual material from The Cute One’s career, post-Fab Four. The late George Harrison’s supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys (featuring Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison), has a 2 CD/1 DVD collection featuring all their music, behind-the-scenes video footage and 5 music videos. Ringo fans with children (or who were children in the early ‘70s) should pick up Fred Wolf’s enchanting animated feature, The Point (1971), which features a Ringo narration and the music of Lennon pal Harry Nilsson.
7 - HAIRSPRAY [LIMITED EDITION GIFT SET]
If the single- or double-disc versions of this summer’s musical hit (a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical based on John Waters’ 1988 movie) does not slake the good, mostly-clean funster in you, then upgrade to this real purdy gift set. It includes the 2-disc, feature-rich “Shake & Shimmy” edition of the movie, a customizable mini school locker (with keys) that comes in “Penny (Pingleton) Pink” or “Link (Larkin) Lime,” six sheets of stickers with which to decorate and an exclusive tote bag. For those John Waters fans who prefer their oddball hero naughty, check out the riotous one-man show, John Waters: This Filthy World. Waters narrates a documentary about a filthy world of another kind – the ecological disaster known as the Salton Sea in Christopher Metzler’s fun and fascinating film festival favorite, Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea.
8 - LED ZEPPELIN: THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME [2-DISC SPECIAL EDITION]
Anyone who could get a ticket/mortgage their house for a ticket to see the one-time-only Led Zeppelin reunion show – and that’s most everybody – will want to own this document of the legendary trio of 1973 shows at Madison Square Garden. Three decades of grousing by ZepHeads over the 1976 theatrical release’s incomplete presentation must have struck a power chord, because the Brothers Warner have restored all the songs that had remained unnamed (on the cutting room floor). It looks and sounds amazing, and Jimmy Page’s guitar solo on “Over the Hills and Far Away” is so nad-slamming that you’ll begin to consider that maybe he did sell his soul to The Devil just before Led Zeppelin IV came out. Other additions include “Misty Mountain Hop,” “The Ocean” and “Celebration Day” (also available on the new 2-CD soundtrack), with 40 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage on the DVD. The pricier Collector’s Edition includes all this, a bigger box and a T-shirt (that you very likely won’t be wearing to the reunion show).
TOMORROW (AT NOON): Magnificent Desolation: Walking On The Moon, the massive United Artists’ 90th Anniversary Mega Set, the friggin’ awesome Family Guy: Friggin’ Party Pack and Heeere’s Johnny: The Definitive DVD Collection From The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.