New Release Wall: Left Behind, The Guest and a Couple Pretty Italian Things

It’s a real mix of good times and stinkers to warm you up during this chilliest of weeks! Out on DVD as of Tuesday, January 6th: 

Left Behind

It’s kind of amazing that Left Behind, with its 2% Critic Rating on Rotten Tomatoes, pulled in at such a low spot on Vulture’s definitive 10 Worst Films of 2014 list (it’s #8). Apparently it’s not only bad in a formal/aesthetic sense, it’s also boring – which is pretty surprising, considering it’s about the apocalypse. Sam Adams from CriticWire wrote: “This Apocalyptic thriller is like a negative master class: If you want to make a decent movie, just do the opposite of everything Left Behind does. Not only is it a persistent eyesore, it’s fundamentalist propaganda devoid of anything remotely resembling Christian values. You know you’re making a sky-high dungpile when even Nicolas Cage looks like he’s questioning his decision to show up.”

I can’t wait to see it.

The Guest

I don’t know HOW I let myself miss this in theaters last year – this movie looks seriously awesome. AND, it showed up on multiple top 10 of 2014 lists written by folks whose opinions I respect. Phil Noble Jr. over at Badass Digest wrote in his great review, “Filmmakers are starting to ask some interesting questions about exactly what kind of person could keep their cool during a chaotic shootout, walk away stoically from an explosion (in slow-motion, no less), or deliver a perfect one-liner after brutally snapping someone’s neck. The makers of The Guest have arrived at a novel conclusion: our heroes are fucking maniacs.”

Salvo

A brooding, Italian gangster film that critics apparently love – I’m intrigued! The visuals in the trailer were sharp and beautifully lit – and even this short sample carries some heavy tension. Manohla Dargis at The New York Times wrote, “A soulful romance, an existential action flick and something of a miracle movie – the appealing slow-burner Salvo hovers at the crossroads of genre.”

Also out on DVD this week:

• Boyhood – We seriously love this movie at MMT, but you probably know that already.
• No Good Deed – Rafer Guzman at Newsday wrote, “The final plot twist is about as fiendishly clever as an episode of General Hospital. Is that a spoiler? You’re welcome.”
• Get On Up – James Brown lovers unite!
• Horns – No one seems to know what this movie is supposed to be – YA romance? Horror? Crime thriller? Who knows.
• Two Night Stand – The general verdict on this romcom is “close but not quite.” Better luck next time guys.
• Atlas Shrugged: Who is John Galt? – Seriously, who is bankrolling these shitty Atlas Shrugged movies? Is anyone watching them? There are three. This looks so boring.
• The Longest Week – Words critics frequently used to describe this movie: hollow, tiresome, smug, pretentious. Too bad, because I love Billy Crudup, admittedly sometimes against my better judgment.
• Dinosaur 13 – A documentary about archeologists, dinosaur bones, and injustice, apparently.
• Ways to Live Forever – Critical consensus is that this is an uplifting – if not super realistic – movie about the saddest stuff imaginable: kids with cancer.
• The Houses October Built – Found footage horror film about Halloween haunts.
• Miele (Honey) – An unsentimental, aesthetically lovely Italian movie about the trickiness of euthanasia.
• The Pleasures of Being Out of Step – A documentary about a jazz writer. People like it.