What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:15:57 PDT

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. Pickings were a bit slim, I have to say. But hey, it's nice outside. We should all get some fresh air anyway this week, right?

National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Just as the big action-adventure blockbusters roll into theaters this summer, here's a blast from the past (er, a blast from last December). National Treasure: Book of Secrets is available for home viewing, just in case you want more of that genre right now. This is the second in the successful Disney franchise about a group of adventure seekers looking for treasure via American history. In this installment, Nicholas Cage stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates and goes on the hunt with his pals for the truth behind the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth.

It's a wee bit hokey and a lot goofy, but at the end of the day, a lot of moviegoers really like these flicks. Plus, it is nothing if not a family-friendly PG-rated action-adventure that kids will get a kick out of. Special features include cast bloopers and outtakes and featurettes titled "The Book of Secrets: On Location," and "Street Stunts: Creating the London Chase." One featurette struck me as particularly funny: "Inside the Library of Congress" (woo-hoo!).

One more kid-friendly title so

The Muppet Show: Season Three
It's hard to believe some of my favorite shows of the past are still not completely available on DVD (hello, people in charge of Ally McBeal: come on already!) and The Muppet Show is no exception. The show was on the air from 1976-1981 and and now Season Three is yours to love and adore at home. Season Three took place from 1978-1979 and included guest stars ranging from Gilda Radner, Raquel Welch, Sylvester Stallone, Big Bird, and Alice Cooper. I'm still amazed at the diverse group of celebrities the creators of the show were able to convince to hang out with a bunch of Jim Henson puppets.

It's a great show to introduce to a new generation of kids and so much fun for those of us raised on it to take a trip down memory lane. Special features include featurettes title, "Muppets On Puppets" and "A Company of Players" as well as some muppets commercials.

Jason Segel to Make Muppet Movie

BuzzSugar — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:29:30 PDT

This is some of the most endearing movie news I've heard in a long time: Jason Segel (star of Freaks and Geeks, How I Met Your Mother and the upcoming comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall) will collaborate with director Nick Stoller on a new Muppets movie. Here's the cute part, though: He got the idea from his Forgetting Sarah Marshall character. Variety has more:

In Sarah Marshall Segel's character writes a Dracula musical performed by puppets. Those cloth creatures were custom-made by the Henson puppeteers, and the experience emboldened Segel to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie when he was invited in for a general meeting with exec Kristin Burr. Segel got a deal in the room and enlisted Stoller to co-write and direct the project.

I just love the idea of Segel being struck with the inspiration to do a Muppets movie while working with puppets, it makes me think that he could sense Jim Henson's spirit. Or something. In other Muppet news, did you know that there is a MuppetWiki? It's true!

Are you excited to see the Muppets on the big screen again?

Segel photo courtesy of CBS
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