TOP PICK — VIDEO GAME
Namco Museum Megamix
(Namco Bandai)
As much as we love games that look like big-budget action movies (Call of Duty, Red Dead Redemption), sometimes we yearn for a simpler time in video games. The 24 on this Wii collection take us back to old-school arcades, when Pac-Man and Galaga gobbled all of our quarters. Some games are more classic than others, and the remixes are a new-school blast.
DVD
Gamera Double Feature
(Mill Creek)
Apparently they're still cranking out giant-monster movies in Japan. And this set (on Blu-ray, to boot!) gathers two of them starring the flying, fire-breathing turtle: 1995's Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and the following year's Gamera: Attack of the Legion. They're just as awesome as the '60s movies that launched the series, with bigger budgets and monsters.
CD
Paul McCartney & Wings:
Band on the Run
(MPL/Concord)
McCartney's best album, from 1973, gets the deluxe treatment here — three discs (two CDs, one DVD) loaded with his strongest post-Beatles material. The second CD includes different versions of songs from the first disc. The real gold is on the DVD, which includes old music videos and a look at the album-cover shoot with badass actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee.
DVD
Rare Cult Cinema
(Mill Creek)
There's a good chance you've never seen any of the dozen movies gathered on this set. And unless you're a connoisseur of movies like The Kidnapping of the President or My Mom's a Werewolf, you probably never heard of them either. Still, there's plenty of tasty '60s and '70s cheese here — everything from cheap westerns to political thrillers that aren't too thrilling.
CD
Marc Ribot:
Silent Movies
(Pi)
Ribot has added sonic textures to records by everyone from the Black Keys and Norah Jones to Elton John and Robert Plant. This solo instrumental record is filled with all kinds of noises — most played by Ribot and collaborator Keefus Ciancia. It's a striking work that reveals new layers with each listen and a perfect album to warm up to on a cold winter night.
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