Watchlist
Notable DVD releases for July 16, 2013
By Max Braden
July 18, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com

What do you mean, I look like a 1960s TV dad?
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 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:

July 16th (click the movie title to see the trailer)

The End of Love
Who: Mark Webber, Shannyn Sossamon, Michael Cera, Jason Ritter, Amanda Seyfried, Aubrey Plaza, Jocelin Donahue
What: Mark Webber plays a young single father trying to take care of his toddler while also trying to make a living. His developing relationship with a single mother (Sossamon) makes him take a hard look at his life. Webber also directed the movie.
When: July 16th - DVD and online on demand
Why: This is a great indie cast. Webber is probably best known for playing the singer of Sex Bob-omb in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which also included Cera and Plaza in the cast. I fell for Sossamon when she first appeared in A Knight's Tale and wish she were in more roles. She and Webber look like a good pair in this movie, though it appears to be more focused on him and his kid. It looks well done and has the potential to be one of those dramas that really scores with the few people who end up seeing it.

Erased
Who: Aaron Eckhart, Liana Liberato, Olga Kurlenko
What: An espionage thriller starring Eckhart as a regular CIA guy with a daughter whose world is suddenly turned upside down and he has to try to figure out why the CIA is now trying to kill him. Kurlenko plays the agent conducting the manhunt.
When: July 16th - DVD and online on demand
Why: From the trailer this movie looks like a cheap knockoff of The Bourne Identity, and with any other actor in the lead, it may have been just a cheap knockoff. But Eckhart brings something different to the table with his age and experience, both grounding it and elevating it at the same time. In that way it shares something with Taken. There might be a nifty chase or fight sequence - I'd be watching it for those elements anyway - but for me the primary reason to watch this is for Eckhart's performance.

Evil Dead
Who: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Bruce Campbell
What: A cabin-in-the-woods horror reboot of the original The Evil Dead from 1981. In this version, four friends go to the cabin to help a friend detox, but discovering a demonic book brings a demonic possession that starts killing them off.
When: July 16th - DVD and online on demand
Why: I remember watching the original movie on the sly when I was younger. It was typical '80s - a combination of underground and commercial horror, and the series became more about comedy than horror as it developed. That's pretty much how you get The Cabin in the Woods. This reboot looks like its going back to the terrifying side of horror. That's not normally my genre, but I'd watch this to see how it compares to what I remember.

Flying Lessons
Who: Maggie Grace, Hal Holbrook, Christine Lahti, Jonathan Tucker, Cary Elwes, Michael O'Neill
What: Grace stars in this drama as a woman who returns to her small hometown after her big life has overwhelmed her. Tucker plays an old boyfriend, Lahti plays her mother, and Holbrook plays a man struggling with Alzheimer's disease.
When: July 16th - DVD and online on demand
Why: Ag.

Hunky Dory
Who: Minnie Driver, Aneurin Banard, Robert Pugh, Haydn Gwynne
What: Minnie Driver stars in this light drama as a teacher in Wales in the 1970s who wants to put on a school musical that merges classic and modern in order to get her students motivated to express themselves.
When: July 16th - DVD and online on demand
Why: Watching the trailer for this movie made me think that inspirational teacher movies are like vigilante or dirty cop movies in the crime genre, except instead of Dirty Harry blowing away punks, Minnie Driver is blowing away teenage apathy. My favorite of this genre is Mr. Holland's Opus, and I don't expect this movie to surpass that, but I like Minnie Driver and would be happy to watch her in this.

Jack the Giant Slayer
Who: Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson, Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Bill Nighy, John Kassir, Ewan McGregor
What: A big green-screen live-action adventure presentation of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale, starring Hoult as a farm boy who saves a princess from some giants, and prevents a royal coup, with the help of the king's guard. Nighy and Kassir play heavily animated heads of a two-headed giant named Fallon.
When: July 16th - DVD and online on demand
Why: I see this as a companion movie to Oz The Great and Powerful - both prioritizing the green screen spectacle over substance. I really liked Hoult's casting in Warm Bodies, but he looks out of place in this movie. I'll watch it but I don't expect it to end up anywhere near my favorites for the year.

Just 45 Minutes From Broadway
Who: Tanna Frederick, Judd Nelson, Julie Davis, Jack Heller, David Proval, Diane Salinger, Harriet Schock, Michael Emil.
What: An oddball comedy drama about a family of actors and their crazy relationships with each other. Frederick plays a recently dumped actress who returns home to the family for their annual Passover weekend reunion, with plenty of crying, laughing, and arguing as a way to explore the difference between acting and being real. The movie began as a play by Henry Jaglom.
When: July 16th - DVD
Why: As a child of the '80s I feel compelled to keep track of all the Breakfast Club actors, so Judd Nelson's name is the reason this came up in my search. It almost looks compelling but since I can't stand movies about characters who are actors or writers (it just feels so self-indulgent every time), I'm skipping this movie.

Solomon Kane
Who: James Purefoy, Max von Sydow, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Pete Postlewaite, Jason Flemyng
What: A fantasy action film set in the early 17th century, starring Purefoy as a former English mercenary who has become a pacifist, but falls back into battle against an evil sorcerer as a way of saving his own soul from the Devil. Von Sydow plays his father, and Postlethwaite and Hurd-Wood play Puritan victims of the sorcerer (Jason Flemyng). The character of Solomon Kane originally appeared in the late 1920s in the pulp magazine Weird Tales.
When: July 16th - DVD and online on demand
Why: Anything set in the Elizabethan era automatically has my attention, and putting Purefoy in this role seals the deal for me. I'm also a big fan of Von Sydow and Postlethwaite even though I suspect they aren't in this movie for long. This movie actually finished filming in 2008 and was shown at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, eventually getting a small U.S. theatrical release in late 2012; Postlethwaite died in 2011 after appearing in Inception and The Town.

Movie 43
Who: Dennis Quaid, Greg Kinnear, Common, Seth MacFarlane, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, Richard Gere, Kate Bosworth, Jack McBrayer, Aasif Mandvi, Justin Long, Jason Sudeikis, Uma Thurman, Bobby Cannavale, Kristen Bell, John Hodgman, Leslie Bibb, Chloe Grace Moretz, Patrick Warburton, Gerard Butler, Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, Halle Berry, Snooki, Elizabeth Banks, Josh Duhamel
What: Over a dozen comedy skit sequences featuring more big name actors than you'd ever get in a full feature, all doing crazier comedy than you'd ever expect.
When: June 18th - DVD and online on demand
Why: This reminds me of comedy compilations like Kentucky Fried Movie and Amazon Women on the Moon from decades ago. The comedy in this looks to be more based on shock value than actual humor, but it's like tuning in to Saturday Night Live when an actor is hosting and out of their element - it makes me curious to see what happens.

Stoker
Who: Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode, Nicole Kidman, Dermot Mulroney, Jacki Weaver
What: A thriller starring Wasikowska as an 18-year-old named India Stoker who had been living with her father (Mulroney) until he dies suddenly, and she goes to live with her estranged mother (Kidman). Her traveling uncle (Goode) also shows up, and suddenly people start disappearing.
When: June 18th - DVD and online on demand
Why: I'm a big fan of Goode since I saw Imagine Me & You. I'm expecting him to be the highlight of the movie, playing a very twisted and charming character.

This week has a long list of releases, none of which I've seen yet. The big movie everyone's most aware of would be Jack the Giant Slayer but since I wasn't especially moved by the colorful Oz The Great and Powerful, this one isn't at the top of my list. The one I want to see most is Erased because it offers the action of a Jason Bourne or Taken movie with the maturity of actor Aaron Eckhart. The other action movie that has my attention is Solomon Kane, which I don't expect to be good, but because its Puritan-era setting is a favorite genre of mine, I still expect to get something out of the experience. And I like Purefoy and Postlethwaite. I'm also a big fan of Matthew Goode, which is the main reason I want to see his seductively dangerous character in Stoker. Nicole Kidman looks like she could be bad in a good way in it too. There are plenty of big name actors in Movie 43, and with so many vignettes it's possible that there's something funny in there, but ugh, based on the trailer I saw the chances of that are slim. (Note: I previously included Stoker and Movie 43 in my June 20th Watchlist due to a release date mixup) Both The End of Love and Flying Lessons both look like decent dramas, and both involve romances. I'm not super eager to grab them, but I wouldn't be surprised if some good potential will be realized when I watch them. Hunky Dory and Just 45 Minutes From Broadway take a lighter approach to drama, which might make for easier viewing, but that also means they can be less challenging and fulfilling. Still, I like Minnie Driver, and fans of the theater might be drawn to Broadway. Finally, fans of horror will certainly want to check out Evil Dead not only for its pedigree, but because it looks effectively scary and reviews have been positive. If you're up for a movie marathon, check out the three Evil Dead movies starring Bruce Campbell from 1981 to 1992 that led to this reboot.

Coming next week:
Arcadia, Ginger & Rosa, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Kiss of the Damned, Love and Honor, Phantom, Welcome to the Punch