MST3K: Volume XXXI, The Turkey Day Collection
DVD
Director: Lewis Collins, Alex Nicol, Jeff Lieberman, Harold Kress
Writer: Jo Pagano, John Kneubuhl, Jeff Lieberman, True Boardman
Cast: Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot
Shout! Factory
Not Rated | 480 Minutes
Release Date: November 25, 2014

In the not-too-distant future…

The latest collection of episodes from Mystery Science Theater 3000 celebrates the cult television series’ Turkey Day tradition. First held in 1991 to commemorate the show’s third anniversary, the MST3K Turkey Day marathon aired on Comedy Central from midnight, November 28, to 6:00 a.m. on November 29.

The annual Turkey Day marathon aired on Comedy Central until 1995, and the Sci-Fi Channel ran a Thanksgiving MST3K marathon in 1997, unofficially known as Turkey Day ’97. Last year, Shout! Factory produced an online six-episode marathon of MST3K episodes, hosted by Joel Hodgson to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary.

Now Shout! Factory is bringing the tradition home with MST3K: Volume XXXI, The Turkey Day Collection. This collector’s edition set includes four turkeys: Jungle Goddess, The Painted Hills, The Screaming Skull, and Squirm.

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day today over at Amazon today is the How I Met Your Mother: The Complete Series DVD Box Set for only $64.99 (that’s 64% off the list price of $179.98).

This 28-disc DVD set comes with all nine seasons of the CBS television sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which was narrated by Bob Saget, and starred Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, and Cobie Smulders.

Guardians of the Galaxy was the unexpected hit of the year, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you will get a chance to experience the superhero film unlike any other that everyone has been talking about when it hits Blu-ray and DVD on December 9th. We had a chance to talk to James Gunn, the director of the film, about some of the bonus material. The special features on the Blu-ray/DVD include a behind-the-scenes look at filming, bloopers, deleted scenes that provide more context and backstory, what Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel’s recording sessions looked like, how they used the motion capture technology for Rocket Raccoon and Groot, and much more.

During the event, Gunn talked about how the film didn’t exceed his expectations, finding bonus material to add to the Blu-ray/DVD, working with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, being surprised as how much freedom he had on Guardians, Phase Three, and why the film resonates so well with audiences. Hit the jump for more.

This week’s edition of The Digital Wire has so much Blu-ray and DVD release info coming out of its news-hole only a dam constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers could contain the flood. Soak it all up folks because I’m taking next week off to cover the home video department of Geeks of Doom’s annual Holiday Geek Gift Guide.

Below you’ll find info on several future home video releases complete with technical specs, release dates, and links to pre-order at Amazon. We would greatly appreciate it if you use those links to order because a small percentage of each order helps keep this website running at max power. The cover art for certain titles has yet to be finalized.

Sands of Iwo Jima
Blu-ray|DVD
Directed by Allan Dwan
Story by Harry Brown; Screenplay by Brown and James Edward Grant
Starring John Wayne, John Agar, and Forrest Tucker
Olive Films
Release Date: November 11, 2014

When it comes to vintage war movies Sands of Iwo Jima is about as old-fashioned as they can get. It was one of the last memorable features made by the late Allan Dwan, a Canadian-born filmmaker who had began working in the motion picture industry during its pre-sound infancy, and it starred silver screen legend John Wayne in one of his most iconic leading roles. In the decades that followed Sands‘ theatrical release, war movies got meaner, bloodier, and introspective about what it means to kill for your country, so Dwan’s film can’t helped but be regarded today as an antique from a different era of cinema history.

However, that hardly means Sands of Iwo Jima doesn’t bring to the table many of its own virtues, the most important being that it’s highly entertaining and features the Duke stepping outside his movie star comfort zone to deliver an actual performance to rank with his turns in the classic westerns Red River and The Searchers. At this point in his career Wayne had been firmly established as a star of big screen westerns and war epics. During World War II he saw celluloid combat in The Fighting Seabees, Flying Tigers, Back to Bataan, and John Ford’s They Were Expendable. Wayne could always be counted on to provide a hearty stew of sensitivity and machismo and marshal the war effort with his effortless performances. Sands wasn’t his last combat film, but it was probably one of his best.