This Weekend, Watch This
A comparison of the new releases for February 4, 2011
By Curt David
February 4, 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 February 4th, the movies in wide release are The Roommate and Sanctum.
| The Roommate | Sanctum (3D) | WINNER (1 point per category) | |
| Clearest Title | Based on my experiences with roommates, this movie would have to be a horror movie. | How have I never heard this word before in my life? Sounds like an internal organ or a sci-fi movie. | Nope, it's like the word sanctuary- a sacred place. Not clear though, so The Roommate scores today's first point. |
| Best Genre and Rating | Thriller
Rated PG-13 for violence and menace, sexual content, some language, and partying. | Thriller
Rated PG-13 for language, some violence, and disturbing images. | BOOORING! Can't we get some different genres up in here? Each movie will split this point. |
| Cleverest Tagline (out of 5 stars) | "2,000 colleges. 8 million roommates. Which one will you get?"
I like it a lot! Definitely adds realistic creepiness to the psycho roommate in the movie. 4/5 stars | "The only way out is down"
I don't get how that helps you get out of the cave back to safety. 2/5 | 2,000 colleges. 8 million roommates. I get the guy who is addicted to Dawson's Creek and Nyquil. (The Roommate wins best tagline). |
| Best Part of Trailer | The change from the innocent first 60 seconds of the trailer to the trippiest last 60 seconds of the trailer. Oh, and hot college girls killing people. | It nicely tells you the entire plot of the movie (but now I don't know if I even have to watch the movie anymore). Oh, and hot underwater disaster scenes. | Neither of these trailers stand out, I just want to watch The King's Speech. I guess they'll split the point again. |
| Coolest Lead Actor | Leighton Meester from Gossip Girl and Country Strong. | Ioan Gruffudd from Fantastic 4 (Mr. Fantastic) and King Arthur (Lancelot). | I could go either way, but I think I'll give Ioan the point because he played iconic characters. |
| Best Cast | Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), Alyson Michalka (Easy A), Frances Fisher and Billy Zane (both from Titanic). | Richard Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge!) and Alice Parkinson (you don't know her, but she looks like Emily Deschanel from Bones). | My teenage sister is really excited about the cast from The Roommate. It'll win the point for this round. |
| Best Street Cred For the Production | Executive Producer and writer Sonny Mallhi has also produced The Strangers, Shutter, and The Lake House. | Writer Andrew Wright is an accomplished underwater explorer and helped produce the IMAX movies Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep. | Andrew has produced films for James Cameron and has made over 40 documentaries making me certain that the visual effects will look good in Sanctum. Point. |
So out of a maximum of 7 points per movie, The Roommate scores 4 points and Sanctum scores 3 points.
You may interpret this column for your own movie preferences. For example, go see The Roommate if you want to watch attractive women or go see Sanctum if you want to watch attractive men. 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, The Roommate is barely the movie to watch this weekend.
Conclusion 2: If you haven't seen Fantastic Four or King Arthur, then you probably have seen Ioan from the movie Titanic. He had a little part - 5th Officer Harold Lowe.
Conclusion 3: Do you want to watch an excellent thriller? Go rent Salt. Just saw that for the first time last week and I think it changed my life.