Watchlist
Notable DVD releases for September 10, 2013
By Max Braden
September 18, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Some guy named Melllvar wants to speak to us.
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:

September 10th (click the movie title to see the trailer)

The Black Waters of Echo's Pond
Who: Danielle Harris, James Duval, Mircea Monroe, Nick Menell, Electra & Elise Avellan, Richard Tyson, Robert Patrick
What: A horror about some friends who go on vacation to Maine, discover an old game board, and in playing it release demons that possess them and make them start killing each other. Sort of a bloody Jumanji.
When: September 10th - DVD and online on demand
Why: I noticed this title while tracking Robert Patrick, but it seems from the trailer that he just plays a small role of the old cranky owner of the spooky island that intimidates the Scooby Doo gang. Compared to the twist of The Cabin in the Woods and the intensity of Evil Dead, this just looks like another cheap generic horror movie.

Love Is All You Need
Who: Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Sebastian Jessen, Molly Blixt Egelind
What: A Danish romance set in Italy. Dyrholm plays the mother of a soon to be bride (Egelind). A happy situation is otherwise ruined by Dyrholm's character's recent cancer diagnosis and the discovery that her husband is having an affair with a younger woman. Then while traveling to Italy for the wedding she meets the father (Brosnan) of the groom (Jessen) and immediately they're off on the wrong foot. The engaged couple also have problems of their own. But wedding movies have happy endings.
When: September 10th - DVD and online on demand
Why: A wedding movie set on the Mediterranean starring Brosnan makes me think immediately of Mamma Mia! This isn't a musical, but I expect similar tone - light comedy, a little drama, and complications that ultimately get forgotten by the inevitable happy ending. Note that many of the scenes with the Danish actors are subtitled, but I wouldn't call this a foreign language film.

Peeples
Who: Craig Robinson, Kerry Washington, David Alan Grier, S. Epatha Merkerson, Ana Gasteyer
What: A comedy set during a family reunion in the Hamptons. Washington plays the daughter of the family, and Robinson plays her fiancee who shows up with the intention to propose.
When: September 10th - DVD and online on demand
Why: Despite being advertised as "Tyler Perry presents Peeples," he didn't write or direct this one. Still, his presence as a producer leads to a product that I expect is similar to his others: lightly humorous comedy instead of uproarious comedy. I'd give this one a pass but for the presence of Craig Robinson, just to see what he does with the role.

Petunia
Who: Christine Lahti, Thora Birch, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Michael Urie, Brittany Snow, Tobias Segal, David Rasche, Jimmy Heck
What: A family drama/comedy about the dysfunctional Petunia family. Lahti plays a therapist whose husband (Rasche) wants a divorce, Birch just married one of their sons (Thomas) but may be pregnant by another (Heck), and the third brother (Segal) has a crush on a married man. (Urie and Snow).
When: September 11th - DVD and online on demand
Why: I came across this title while tracking Brittany Snow, who I liked in Pitch Perfect, and was pleasantly surprised to see Rasche in the cast, since he was hilarious in the 1980s TV show Sledge Hammer. Apparently he delivers a strong dramatic performance in this movie. Petunia is also one of the few appearances Thora Birch has made since she became famous for American Beauty and Ghost World over a decade ago. The trailer for the movie makes it look like they've walked the line between silly and pretentious.

Star Trek Into Darkness
Who: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anton Yelchin, Bruce Greenwood, Peter Weller, Alice Eve, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Morrison
What: The sequel to JJ Abrams' reboot/alternate timeline of the franchise. The cast returns with the addition of characters Dr. Carol Marcus (Eve) and John Harrison (Cumberbatch).
When: September 10th - DVD and online on demand
Why: I saw this in the theater and as with most audiences enjoyed it - Cumberbatch makes an excellent villain and the pacing moves along well. But something about this cast doesn't carry the magic that the originals had, and the alternate timeline almost seems to be the product of putting the series story elements in a blender and then reassembling them like MadLibs. Still, if you're at all a Star Trek or sci-fi or adventure fan and haven't seen this yet, see it.

War Flowers
Who: Christina Ricci, Jason Gedrick, Tom Berenger
What: A Civil War drama set in North Carolina. Ricci plays a wife and mother living with her daughter and waiting for their soldier to come home. Gedrick plays a Yankee soldier left for dead on their doorstep, and they care for him the best they can, despite many obstacles. Berenger plays a general and Gedrick's father.
When: September 12th - DVD and online on demand
Why: There's some decent talent here - Ricci's received many accolades during her career, and Berenger was nominated for an Oscar long ago. Gedrick first became notable in the late 1980s as pilot Doug Masters in the Top Gun knockoff movie franchise Iron Eagle. The setup for the movie immediately makes me think of Cold Mountain. Unfortunately, the trailer (which steals music from The Last of the Mohicans) makes it look like the movie's production quality is lower than a made-for-TV project.

Wish You Were Here
Who: Joel Edgerton, Teresa Palmer, Felicity Price, Antony Starr
What: A psychological thriller about two couples from Australia who go on a vacation to Cambodia. When one of them (Starr) disappears and the investigation begins, the friends start turning on each other.
When: September 10th - DVD and online on demand
Why: I first noticed Edgerton over ten years ago when he appeared in The Hard Way with Guy Pearce. He's worked since then but only recently became notable to American audiences when he costarred with Tom Hardy in Warrior. Teresa Palmer starred in on of my favorite movies this year, Warm Bodies. I interested in seeing both their performances as well as finding out what the mystery is here.

What I'm watching this week:
The big movie this week of course is Star Trek (2, if you count that way) Into Darkness. It's a fast paced adventure and worth it just to see Cumberbatch's performance. I haven't seen the other movies, and there are two that interest me most. I'd first go with Wish You Were Here because of the presence of Joel Edgerton and Teresa Palmer. I expect that psychological thriller to be a little bit of an effort, so the other movie that interests me is Petunia. It looks like a movie that has a good balance between comedy and drama without going overboard on either. As second tier choices, Love Is All You Need looks like an easy, ultimately pleasant romance, perfectly suited for Pierce Brosnan. Peeples is a Tyler-Perry-esque comedy drama that I'm hoping is elevated in humor by Craig Robinson and also by Kerry Washington. The last two I think are choices that are limited to appeal to genre fans: War Flowers for Civil War and Ricci fans, despite the low production quality, and The Black Waters of Echo's Pond for horror fans.

Coming next week: Behind the Candelabra, The Bling Ring, Disconnect, Epic, Greetings From Jeff Buckley, Java Heat, Scenic Route, War of the Buttons, World War Z