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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 weeks of
May 14th & 21st (click the movie title to see the trailer)

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III
Who: Charlie Sheen, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Katheryn Winnick, Patricia Arquette, Aubrey Plaza, Dermot Mulroney, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Stephen Dorff
What: Charlie Sheen plays the title character, and artist who falls apart when his girlfriend dumps him. Schwartzman plays his friend, and Murry plays some sort of tour guide with a double life. This R-rated comedy features some absurd elements, and looks like a faster paced Wes Anderson movie.
When: May 14th - DVD
Why: Sheen must have his fans, considering how well 2 And a Half Men did in TV ratings before he started #winning on Anger Management. The appeal for me is the presence of Schwartzman and Murray (both Wes Anderson alums) and the oddball humor. Writer-director Roman Coppola received an Oscar nomination for writing the screenplay for Moonrise Kingdom.

Texas Chainsaw 3D
Who: Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Tania Raymonde, Gunnar Hansen
What: A young woman finds out she's due an inheritance and property from a distant grandmother, and the road trip to claim it leads her directly to the chainsaw-wielding serial killer Leatherface. This movie is a sequel to the 1974 movie that started the franchise and does not feature actors or story elements from the subsequent films.
When: May 14th - DVD and online on-demand
Why: Fans of gore, and particularly this series, will probably be interested. I won't bother because I've never seen the first movie (or the sequels). Reviews were weak, and despite having this highest nominal opening weekend of the franchise, adjusted for inflation, this is probably one of the poorest box office earners of the lot.

A Haunted House
Who: Marlon Wayans, Essence Atkins, David Koechner, Nick Swardson, Cedric the Entertainer
What: Basically a spoof of Paranormal Activity, Wayans and Atkins play a married couple who use home video to track a poltergeist that molests them while they sleep. The other actors come in to try to exorcise the demon.
When: May 21st - DVD and online on-demand
Why: Since it follows the pattern of Paranormal Activity, this movie is also boring enough to almost put you to sleep before it startles you back awake with crude physical humor. I haven't seen Scary Movie 5 yet but I feel like it has to be at least more watchable than this.

The Last Stand
Who: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eduardo Noriega, Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville, Peter Stormare, Luis Guzman, Jaimie Alexander, Zach Gilford, Harry Dean Stanton, Genesis Rodriguez
What: An action movie starring Schwarzenegger as a small town Arizona border sheriff who faces off against a violent, escaped Mexican drug lord, played by Eduardo Noriega. Knoxville plays the sheriff's trigger happy deputy, and Whitaker plays an FBI agent tracking the drug lord.
When: May 21st - DVD and online on-demand
Why: This is Schwarzenegger's first starring role in ten years (Terminator 3), due to his temporary role as the Governor of California. The movie looks like his typical action flicks from the 1980s, with plenty of big guns and generic one-liners, just older. That makes watching kind of compulsory for guys of my generation, even if we've moved past that phase.

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