This Weekend, Watch This
A comparison of the new releases for January 7, 2011
By Curt David
January 6, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
More likely than not, each weekend there is a movie that you have never heard of in the theaters. I'll save you the hassle of researching every movie, by comparing the new releases for each weekend in this column. Then, I'll tell you which movie to watch.
For the weekend of January 7th, the movies in wide release are Season of the Witch and Country Strong.
| Season of the Witch | Country Strong | WINNER (1 point per category) | |
| Clearest Title | This movie clearly will be about a witch. Now we just have to know if it will take place in summer, fall, winter, or spring. | I don't know what this movie will be about, nor why the adjective follows the noun. | Season (I hope it's autumn) of the Witch wins the point for clearest title. |
| Best Genre and Rating | Adventure
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence, and disturbing content. | Music Drama Rated PG-13 for thematic elements involving alcohol abuse and some sexual content. | You can always watch adventures in the theaters. Music Drama wins this round for its unique genre. |
| Cleverest Tagline (out of 5 stars) | "Not all souls can be saved"
Not sure about the theological accuracy of this quote, nor about how much this tagline makes me want to watch the movie. 1/5 stars | "It doesn't matter where you've been as long as you come back strong"
Longest tagline I've ever typed, but at least its a little more inspirational than the last one 2/5 | Country Strong barely wins this round of the diametrically opposed taglines. |
| Best Part of Trailer | Keira Knightley look-alike. I was interested in the witch character, but no interest in the random battle scenes. | Inspirational, musical, perhaps tear-inducing trailer. | Country Strong beats the crap out of its competition in this round. Point. |
| Coolest Lead Actor | Nicolas Cage from Con Air, Face/Off, and National Treasure. | Gwyneth Paltrow from Se7en, Shakespeare in Love, and Iron Man. | Two great actors, but Gwyneth makes me want to see movies more than Nic- point for her. |
| Best Cast | Ron Perlman (Hellboy) and Christopher Lee (Saruman from Lord of the Rings) | Tim McGraw (Blind Side), Garrett Hedlund (Tron), and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl). | Perlman and Lee are amazing actors, but wouldn't we all rather watch Tim, Garrett, and Leighton? Point for Country Strong. |
| Best Street Cred For the Production | Director Dominic Sena has also directed Swordfish and Gone in Sixty Seconds. | Gwyneth Paltrow really sings in the movie! | Season of the Witch needs another point so the director can have it, but really, it's frickin awesome that Gwyneth really sings. |
So out of a maximum of 7 points per movie, Country Strong scores 5 points and Season of the Witch scores 2 points.
You may interpret this column for your own movie preferences. For example, if you are going to watch the Oscars, feel free to watch True Grit or the King's Speech this weekend. However, if you are still on the fence, please read the following conclusions from the scientific data gathered in this column.
Conclusion 1: On paper, Country Strong is the best movie to watch this weekend.
Conclusion 2: Face/Off is the only time I remember watching a film where the entire theater clapped in the middle of the movie. (I believe at the scene where the daughter jack knives the bad Travolta).
Conclusion 3: The Top 5 chart of 2011 will begin a month or two from now, otherwise you would just look at a chart this week where Country Strong and Season of the Witch have all the first and second spots. Until then, here are the Top 5 movie titles, actors, actresses, casts, taglines, and trailers for the year of 2010...click here.