Hatfields & McCoys
Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton as dueling rednecks over five hours? Sounds like an acceptable way to spend a weekend to me. I'm sure the History Channel rushed this out to stores so they could make room for 12 more hours of American Pickers on their programming block—not that I'm complaining. Seriously though, this mini-series has Powers Boothe (Rapid Fire), Tom Berenger (Platoon) and a script by Ted Mann (Deadwood), so the pedigree is more than stellar enough to warrant a gigantic chunk of your life.
Detention
Detention looks like one of the most original and promising films of the year. A serial killer named Cinderhella stalks the students of Grizzly Lake High School. During an epic day of detention, the kids figure out that it must be one of them. The trailers make Detention look like a comedic\horror mash-up of The Breakfast Club, Scott Pilgrim. Oh, and Josh Hutcherson is in it, so you can get your Peeta Mellark fix while waiting for Catching Fire to come out.
Scalene
A thriller reminiscent of Rashomon, starring Margo Martindale, who was last year's Best Supporting Actress Emmy winner for her brilliant turn as Mags Bennett in Justified. Martindale plays Janice Trimble, the mother of a developmentally disabled boy who is incarcerated for the rape of a pretty college student. Scalene is the closest thing to Hitchcock we've had in quite some time and a must-see for fans of perspective-shifting storytelling. Easily one of the best film's of the year so far.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXIV
With a staggering 24 volumes already out on DVD and more to come, it's hard to know which ones are worth picking up and which aren't. The easy answer is that they're all worth picking up because it's MST3K and, even at its worst, it's still pretty great (kind of like pizza). But the true fans need to know what films are featured, and Volume XXIV has some classics. With titles like Fugitive Alien, Star Force: Fugitive Alien 2, The Sword and the Dragon and Samson vs. The Vampire Women, you're definitely not going to regret adding this one to the collection.
