Lost: The Complete Collection out on DVD/Blu-ray (Tue.)
Watch it end all over againLost completists will swoon for this feature-laden, 36-disc box set, which comes out Tuesday and includes goodies like the senet game from the last season, a spooky black light, and an ankh. Featurettes include close looks at the locations and props and funny interviews between the producers and celebrity fans. If you are only looking for Season Six, that standalone set also comes out the same day, and all sets include the never-before-seen 14-minute epilogue -- featuring the “new man in charge” -- that supposedly addresses some of the infamously unresolved plot points, such as the polar bear. Waaaaalt?
Place an order and check out full episodes at ABC’s website.
The 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards (Sun.)
Television's finest Line right up and place your bets! (Or, at least, your predictions.) Will newcomers Glee or Modern Family usurp 30 Rock in the battle of best comedies? Will Lost win a pity statue for its frustrating last season and beat awards darling Mad Men, the phenomenal Breaking Bad, or campy long shot True Blood? And will Conan O’Brien also collect an Emmy for destroying The Tonight Show brand? Conan’s Late Night replacement Jimmy Fallon hosts Sunday’s 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards (live on NBC at 8pm ET / 5pm PT) and will hopefully both bring the funny and perhaps work in his killer Neil Young impression.
Don't remember who was nominated? Check our guide to the major nominees.
An extended Avatar returns to theaters (Fri.)
Bigger, longer, and uncut Feeling blue because of the BP oil spill? Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña) return to the big screen exclusively in 3D or IMAX theatres Friday as director James Cameron adds nine minutes to his anti-corporate, pro-environment mega-blockbuster and releases it back into theaters for an end-of-summer victory lap. At an additional cost of nearly 10 million dollars, the new footage includes an extended love scene between Jake Sully and Neytiri, more about the death of Na’vi warrior Tsu’tey, and a Sturmbeest hunt. Believe it or not, an even longer version of Avatar is said to be coming this winter on Blu-ray/DVD.
Find a preview at the official Avatar website.
Mafia II (Tue.)
Another good fellaThe long-awaited follow-up to the 2002 PC original, Mafia 88, Mafia II (out Tuesday for PC, 360, and PS3) takes place between 1945 and 1955 and is set in the fictional city of Empire Bay. You play the unstereotypically named veteran Vito, who returns home from the violence of WWII only to enter into an even more violent world of crime. As a sort of Grand Theft Auto: The Godfather, shootouts and car chases peppered with a seriously killer soundtrack that includes Louis Prima, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and many more make up the ambitiously cinematic gameplay.
Join the community and check out the demo at the game’s official website.
Spike Lee's If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise on HBO (Mon.)
Another portrait of post-Katrina New OrleansSpike Lee directs this follow-up to 2006’s When the Levees Broke 88, his award-winning, impassioned documentary about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Five years after Katrina, Lee returned to the Gulf Coast and some of his original interview subjects to see what changes have been wrought, and what issues -- poverty, racism, corruption, environmental harm -- persist. Though most of the documentary was shot before the BP oil spill, the last hour is devoted to the area’s latest disaster. The four-hour, two-night documentary premieres Monday and Tuesday (at 9pm each night) on HBO.
You can find more information, including a conversation with Lee, at HBO’s website.
Tomorrow Morning by Eels (Tue.)
Another dose of EThis relatively upbeat—or at least, not overtly despondent—Eels album, released on Tuesday, is the last of a trilogy that includes 2009’s sexy Hombre Loco: 12 Songs of Desire 70 and January’s so-called divorce album, End Times 71. The prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist E (Mark Oliver Everett) croons and only occasionally growls on his ninth album, accompanied by whimsical instrumentation and his usual excellent troupe of backing musicians.
Get E news, a tracklist, and tour dates at the Eels website.
Closing the book on last week
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Weekend Box Office Champion (Estimated, U.S. only; source: Boxofficemojo.com) | |
|---|---|---|
| The Expendables 45 | $16.5 million; 2nd week at #1 | |
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#1 Album on Billboard 200 (Source: Billboard.com/Nielsen SoundScan) | |
| Eminem: Recovery 62 | 6th week at #1 (including 2-week gap) | |
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Top-Rated Primetime Broadcast Show (Source: Nielsen) | |
| America's Got Talent (NBC) [Wed] | 10.7 million viewers; week of 8/9-8/15 | |
