The Latest on DVD: Mickey & Judy & Fred & Mario

The latest and greatest available on DVD this week:

The Classics:

• Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Vol. 2 - A new box set collecting the following new-to-DVD tuners (all available separately as well):
• Words and Music- Starring Mickey Rooney.
• The Pirate- Starring Judy Garland.
• Royal Wedding and The Belle of New York- Starring Fred Astaire.
• That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans- Starring Mario Lanza.
• That's Dancing!- The compilation doc hosted by Gene Kelly. I wore out an old VHS copy of that last film back in the day, so it is nice to finally see it on DVD. Other classic boxes this week include sets devoted to:
• Doris Day & Rock Hudson Comedy Collection- Includes Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers.
• Elvis Presley MGM Movie Legends Collection- Includes Clambake, Frankie and Johnny, Follow That Dream and Kid Galahad.
• Frank Sinatra MGM Movie Legends Collection- Includes The Manchurian Candidate, Guys and Dolls, The Pride and the Passion, A Hole in the Head and Kings Go Forth.

New in Thrillers:

• Zodiac- Jake Gyllenhaal stars in David Fincher's serial killer thriller.
• The Number 23- Jim Carrey stars in Joel Schumacher's numerical thriller.
• The Host- The Korean horror thriller.
• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer- The French olfactory thriller.

More New Releases:

• Nomad: The Warrior- The Kazakhstan historical epic complete with 300-ish cover art.
• Renaissance- An animated noir featuring the voice of Daniel Craig.
• Cashback- The full-length version of the Oscar-nominated short. I have seen the short and there was gratuitous female nudity all throughout it (I haven't seen so much p*ssy since The Aristocats), so I can't imagine what the feature will be like.
• The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection- Speaking of shorts, classic cartoon fans rejoice as the toons of Woody, et al are finally released on DVD. (Thus concludes are p*ssy and Woody coverage for the week.)

Foreign Faves Return:

• Raise the Red Lantern- Starring Gong Li.
• To Live- Also starring Gong Li.
• Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring- A French double feature.
• Hard Boiled- A two-disc "ultimate" edition of John Woo's actioner.
• Les Enfants Terribles- Jean-Pierre Melville's classic gets the Criterion treatment.

TV on DVD:

• Weeds - Season Two
• The Ultimate Underdog Collection Volume 1
• The Ultimate Underdog Collection Volume 2
• The Ultimate Underdog Collection Volume 3- All just in time to cash in on the upcoming Disney movie.
• The Secrets of Isis - The Complete Series- This was a Saturday morning version of Wonder Woman that should get some parties around here excited.

Of Gay Interest:

• Tan Lines- Coming-of-age on the beach.
• Boys in Love Collection, Volume 1- A box set collecting the romantic comedies The Trip, Everyone and Under One Roof.
• Pet Shop Boys: Cubism in Concert

Click on the individual links to purchase them at Amazon.com.