Robot Chicken: Star Wars is probably the biggest release this week.  Seth Green’s show, populated by action figures and dolls, is an often hilarious satirical look at geekdom.  This DVD collects the single episode that centered around Star Wars.  It was quite hilarious.  The DVD release boasts commentaries, deleted scenes and behind the scenes material.  And with a price-tag of $8-$14 it seems like it would be a no-brainer for any fan of Star Wars or Robot Chicken to get.  Your taste buds can’t repel flavor of this magnitude.

There’s a really interesting Alfred Hitchcock: Studies in Fear collection hitting the streets today that is a preposterously good deal.  It’s $7.98 and 2 discs of 10 Hitchcock movies.  It has three of his early silent efforts (including his first feature “The Lodger” which was about Jack the Ripper) and the other seven or his early British efforts including the original Man Who Knew Too Much with Peter Lorre and Jamaica Inn with Charles Laughton and an extremely young Maureen O’Hara.  A lot of these movies haven’t been widely available before and others you can pick up for cheap in any dollar store, but a collection of this size and importance for less than eight bucks is a must have for any serious student of suspense or cinema.

In British TV releases today comes Spaced.  I don’t think this was ever previously available in the US but it’s a comedy TV show starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg and largely directed by Edgar Wright.  That in itself is reason enough to check it out, but the fact that pretty much every nerd who has seen it over at Aint It Cool News insists that it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread puts it over the top.  It’s about $35 for the whole series and it’s something I’m keen to check out and I imagine you would be, too.

The last movie on the list today is a revamped Criterion edition of Akira Kurosawa’s post-war noir masterpiece High and Low.  Once again pairing Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura in a brilliant film, Kurosawa weaves an intense morality play that is fascinating to watch unfold.  Mifune plays King Gondo, a shoe manufacturing magnate, who is on the cusp of a deal that will ensure the security of his company and the quality of his product forever.  Things go poorly when when his son is kidnapped.  A ransom is demanded and it’s about the same amount of money as he has for this deal to go through and solidify the holdings in his company.  Knowing that ultimately his son is more important, he agrees to simply pay the ransom.

Unfortunately, there’s been a mix-up.  It wasn’t his son kidnapped at all.  It was his chauffeurs son (who was best friends with his son and were playing together when the abduction occurs.)   When the kidnapper realizes this, he doesn’t relent.  He still wants the money from Gondo.

Should he still pay?

This film is a solid 10.  You guys need to watch more Japanese cinema and this new Criterion release of High and Low is a pretty good jumping on point.