Widescreen tidbits: Cult favorites return, 'Wonder Woman' departs
Before the internet gave a platform to everyone with a computer or smartphone, some crafty engineering novices resorted to unlicensed radio signals to take their messages to the masses. Christian Slater plays a high school radio pirate in "Pump Up the Volume," a 1990 cult favorite getting its first Blu-ray release on Feb. 23.
The teen-angst drama hasn't been commercially available in years - not even on streaming platforms - and will be released under Warner Bros. "Archive Collection" banner. What does that mean? Smaller production runs of films that have niche audiences.
It will be interesting to see how "Pump Up the Volume's" tale of a teen rebel who exposes wrongdoing at his Arizona school holds up 31 years later; the Blu-ray will be a nice replacement for the old pan-and-scan VHS copy I bought at Suncoast Motion Picture Company all those years ago.
Other "Archive Collection" titles coming in February include: "Baby Doll," a 1956 Oscar-nominated drama from director Elia Kazan and writer Tennessee Williams; the 1935 adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," starring Ronald Colman as Sidney Carton; the 1951 version of the Broadway favorite "Show Boat," with Ava Gardner; and Doris Day in "On Moonlight Bay."
Check out all of the archive's specialty titles at wbshop.com.
Fighting the seven evil exes
Eleven years after its debut, "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" is back. No, not the graphic novels. No, not the Michael Cera movie, either. The video game, a retro beat-'em-up affair with gameplay and graphics that recall the NES days. In 2010, it was a digital exclusive for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 - no physical copies. In 2014, it was pulled off both systems' online marketplaces and thought to be gone forever.
But Ubisoft likes to make money, and gamers like me who missed it the first time around can now play "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - Complete Edition" on just about any platform you can think of. (Well, OK, specifically: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Stadia and even the new Amazon Luna.)
"Scott Pilgrim" lets you play as the title character or one of his friends (Ramona Flowers FTW) in a side-scrolling fighting game that has the shopping system from "River City Ransom" and the four-player co-op fun of Konami's awesome arcade games like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and "The Simpsons." This would be perfect for a game night on the couch with friends ... in six months or so. I hope.
Quick, to the invisible jet!
This weekend is your last chance to catch "Wonder Woman 1984" on HBO Max - the superhero sequel will disappear from the streaming service on Monday, Jan. 25. If you are a subscriber to HBO through your cable provider, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Hulu or other services, you already have access to HBO Max. Come for Pedro Pascal's campy turn as Wonder Woman's nemesis, stay for the great movie library. (A sleeper recommendation: "Underwater," a 2020 sci-fi/horror yarn with Kristen Stewart that will delight fans of "Alien.")
• Follow Sean on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.