Watchlist
Notable DVD releases for March 12th
By Max Braden
March 13, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Circus act or James Bond trap? You be the judge.
Every week, I search through movie release schedules to find movie rentals that I would have otherwise missed for lack of TV advertising. I'll watch the big name releases along with everyone else, but I know from experience that sometimes the box office failures, critically panned, straight-to-DVD, and independently financed movies that nobody's heard of can offer some real hidden gems. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. This column is dedicated to bringing awareness to those potential treasures. Listed alphabetically, each movie includes a list of notable cast members, a basic plot summary, its DVD and/or cloud release date (based on Netflix - other services may have the movie earlier), and the basic reason why the movie caught my attention. With any luck, one or more of these will catch your attention, too. My four picks of the week are listed at the end of the column.

Here's my watchlist of DVD and cloud releases for the week of
March 12th:

Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away
Who: Erica Linz, Igor Zaripov, Lutz Halbhubner, Dallas Barnett, Matt Gillanders, John Clarke
What: This is a family-friendly fantasy romance made from elements from previous Cirque du Soleil performances. A woman follows an acrobat into an alternate world.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: This would be a good choice for family viewing, since the Cirque du Soleil group is known for lavish and amazingly athletic performances.

The Devil's in the Details
Who: Ray Liotta, Emilio Rivera, Joel Matthews, Raymond J. Barry
What: A crime thriller set around Mexican drug smuggling. Liotta plays a former SEAL called upon to rescue an innocent man from being forced to help a cartel.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: Liotta's direct-to-video movies aren't great, but I still enjoy watching him in them. Barry may be better known as Arlo Givens in the TV series Justified.

The First Time
Who: Dylan O'Brien, Brittany Robertson, Christine Taylor, Victoria Justice, Molly Quinn
What: A romantic comedy set in high school about a guy stuck in the friend zone, but eventually is distracted by another girl.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: I don't recognize the two primary actors in this movie, but it caught my attention because of the supporting cast: Taylor, wife and costar of Ben Stiller, and Molly Quinn, who plays the daughter of Castle in one of my favorite TV series. Plus, I enjoy (perhaps masochistically) friend-zone high school romances, even if they're not John-Hughes quality.

Freaky Deaky
Who: Billy Burke, Christian Slater, Crispin Glover, Michael Jai White, Andy Dick, Bill Duke, writer Elmore Leonard
What: A twisty crime comedy based on the novel by Elmore Leonard. Set in the early 1970s, former '60s radicals, some poor, some now rich, are scrambling for a stash of money. Burke plays a police officer, Glover plays a rich guy still sporting long, untamed hair.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: Leonard's known for being the source or writer for the fun crime stories Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Out of Sight, and the TV series Justified, so that pedigree alone is enough to get me to watch. Burke plays one of my favorite TV heroes (Revolution) right now. I also really like Crispin Glover's work since Back to the Future. Michael Jai White is a kickass martial artist and it will be fun to see him in a more comedic role. And I always have to support badass Predator actor Bill Duke.


The Man With the Iron Fists
Who: Lucy Liu, Russell Crowe, David Bautista, RZA, Rick Yune, Jamie Chung, Eli Roth
What: I don't see Tarantino directly involved, but he's listed as a presenter on this movie, which almost looks like a spin off of Kill Bill Part 2. It appears to be set in 19th century rural China, where a selection of warring clans fight for some hidden gold. Crowe plays a British soldier. RZA stars and also directs. Roth wrote the screenplay; he acted in Inglourious Basterds but is also known for writing the Hostel series. TMWTIF is rated R and violent to be sure, but probably not as bloody.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: Liu in a Tarantino-esque kung fu action flick is a seductively deadly combination, with Crowe thrown in for fun.

Rise of the Guardians
Who: Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine, Jude Law, Isla Fisher
What: An animated adventure from DreamWorks featuring a group of folklore characters: the Boogeyman (Law), jealous that nobody's believed in him in centuries, starts striking fear into children and making them lose faith in Santa (Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Jackman), the Tooth Fairy (Fisher), and the Sandman. Jack Frost (Pine) is called upon to save the day.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: This was a big Thanksgiving release, but not big enough to be in the top three box office earners in its opening weekend. For all the bluster in the movie, I thought it was incredibly boring, and the animation wasn't great. There are some nightmarish horses, but I don't think this movie should be too scary for kids.

SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden
Who: Cam Gigandet, William Fichtner, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Xzibit
What: Think of Zero Dark Thirty but focused more on the SEAL team than the investigation. This is a made-for-TV action title, unrated by the MPAA.
When: March 12th - DVD, Ultraviolet, and streaming
Why: I've kept a lookout for Gigandet since he appeared in the fight movie Never Back Down, and Fichtner, who's had a long list of intimidating-and-unscrupulous characters, is always worth a rental for me.

The Sessions
Who: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood, Adam Arkin, Rhea Perlman
What: Based on a true story, in the 1970s, a poet mostly paralyzed by polio decides to experience sex for the first time in his late 30s by hiring a sex surrogate. Bloodgood plays his caretaker and Macy plays the priest he goes to for advice.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: Hunt received an Oscar nomination and she and Hawkes received Screen Actors Guild nominations for their performances. Hawkes is a previous Oscar nominee for his role in Winter's Bone and does an excellent job in this movie portraying the limitations of someone paralyzed by polio. Their scenes are nude and sexual, but not gratuitous. The tone is more about intimacy and emotion, and is light-hearted. I recommend it.

Silent Hill: Revelation
Who: Adelaide Clemens, Carrie-Anne Moss, Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Malcolm McDowell, Deborah Kara Unger, Martin Donovan
What: The sequel to the 2006 movie adaptation of the sci-fi horror video game, where a girl finds herself in an alternate reality of a town populated by a witch cult and paranormal creatures. The first movie featured Mitchell as the girl's mother; this sequel focuses on Sean Bean as her father.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: I haven't played the video game or seen the first movie, so I'd hesitate to jump in (especially since I'm not a fan of this type of horror), but the visual effects look nifty. Plus I'm a fan of Bean and McDowell.


Skyfall
Who: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Albert Finney
What: Bond returns to duty after nearly dying on a mission and faces off against Mr. Silva (Bardem), who seems bent on killing M. The climax takes place at Bond's childhood estate, called Skyfall. Harris plays his partner, Whishaw plays Q, Fiennes plays an MP, and Finney plays a groundskeeper.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: This is the biggest box office performer in the Bond series to date, in its 50th year. There are some eye-rolling plot moments, but Bardem plays a deliciously sinister villain and there are a lot of great references to the Bond canon. Adele's theme song was featured at the Oscars and won the award for Best Song.

Smashed
Who: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally
What: A romantic drama, where a couple's relationship is largely based on heavy drinking, but sobering up creates all sorts of problems.
When: March 12th - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: I fell in love with Winstead in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, so I'd like to see her star in this drama. Spencer of course has an Oscar from her performance in The Help. And Nick Offerman has been fantastic in his stoic role as Ron Swanson in Parks and Rec.

This Must Be the Place
Who: Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch, Harry Dean Stanton
What: Penn plays a very bizarrely dressed and soft/high-pitched voiced former rockstar named Cheyenne who embarks on a journey to restore his father's honor by tracking down a former Nazi.
When: March 2nd - DVD and Ultraviolet
Why: Watching the trailer, Penn's character looks and sounds so weird that you have to wonder if the movie is supposed to be a joke. I feel like watching it to see how the heck they pull it off.

Venus and Vegas
Who: Eddie Kaye Thomas, Donald Faison, Jaime Pressly, Abraham Benrubi, Molly Sims, Joe Rogan
What: A heist comedy about a group of buddies who try to steal some poker chips from a warehouse own by the mob in Las Vegas.
When: March 12th
Why: Thomas is most known for playing Finch in the American Pie movie series, Faison for playing Turk in the TV series Scrubs. I could go for a light comedy/heist like this.

What I'm watching this week:
Based on a goal of watching 200 movies per year, I try to watch - or limit myself to - four movies per week. The big movie this week of course is Skyfall, which I recommend as a Bond fan, particularly because of the performances and the Bond history. The other "big" movie (missed by most audiences when it was in theaters) for me is The Sessions, for the award-worthy performances. Having seen those two already, I'm looking forward to Freaky Deaky for the Elmore Leonard pedigree. I'll finish the week with some good old fashioned action mayhem in The Man With the Iron Fists which boasts a tagline of "You can't spell Kung Fu without F and U."

Coming next week:
Anna Karenina, Argo, Atlas Shrugged Part II, Bachelorette, The Big Picture, The Factory, Price Check, Riddle, Rust and Bone, and Zero Dark Thirty