This Week in DVD

Be gone, February! May the Ides of March bring in some more exciting DVD releases!

Wait a minute, the Ides is the beginning, right?

*Gasoline Alley and Friends: I know nothing about these old movies based on the long-running comic strip (I guess it wasn't as long-running at the time the movies were made), but I can tell you this set, which features a few other comedies, is the official DVD of the Month at In the Balcony. And VCI sent me a 35% off coupon for it via email.

*Johnny Legend Presents Groucho! James Dean! and Marilyn!: It's hard to get info about these kinds of releases, but I found the details on this website. This DVD includes the 1949 pilot of "You Bet Your Life," the Jack Benny episode with Groucho, the Benny program with Marilyn Monroe, and an early James Dean TV appearance in 'The Campbell Soup Showcase"called "Something for an Empty Briefcase." The cover touts vintage commercials and other goodies, too. A lot of this is out there from other sources, but if you get a deal on it, this might be a good package.

*Breaking Bad Season 1: I still haven't seen more than the first episode of "Mad Men," but I did catch AMC's other breakout hit...and I enjoyed it, much more than I anticipated. I'm no fan of "Malcolm in the Middle," but Bryan Cranston is great in this.

*Summer Heights High Season 1: An Australian comic plays a bunch of different wacky characters in this high school comedy. I caught the first episode on an HBO free preview, and while I didn't think it was funny enough to make me want to resubscribe, I'd probably watch more. Hey, how's that for an incisive review?

*What Just Happened?: What's the only thing more commonplace in Hollywood than preposterous decisions being made? That's right: Hollywood making movies about preposterous decisions being made in Hollywood. Here's another one. Based on the memoirs of producer Art Linson, this features Bobby DeNiro and a host of other stars, and it sounds kind of funny, but the word on it is almost universally blah.