This Weekend, Watch This
A comparison for the new releases for December 7-9, 2012
By Curt David
December 7, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com

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New movies are released into theaters every weekend. How do you decide which movie to watch? Some people could pick a movie based on the title (You may be surprised to rent POTC and get either Pirates of the Caribbean or Passion of the Christ). Some people watch trailers (misleading), some people listen to their friends (friends can be idiots), and some people only go to the movies if their Hollywood crush is on the screen (My alphabetical actress crush list...V is for Sofia Vergara).

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 December 7th, the only new movie in wide release is Playing for Keeps. It brings back my #1 celebrity crush, Catherine Zeta-Jones to the theaters. I’m wary of this movie, so I’ll tell you seven other Catherine Zeta-Jones movies to watch instead.


Playing for KeepsWhat Catherine Zeta-Jones movie you should watch instead
Clearest TitleThis clearly sounds like a romantic comedy. The best Catherine Zeta-Jones movie is the one where she got an Oscar in the Best Picture of the year: Chicago.
Best Genre
and Rating
Romantic Comedy
Rated PG-13 for some sexual situations, language, and a brief intense image.
My second favorite CZJ movie is Entrapment. It’s fun and I’ve never met someone who didn’t like it (other than critics). It has a New Year’s Eve themed caper plot- watch it this month.
Cleverest Tagline
(out of 5 stars)
“This holiday season, what do you really want?”

3/5 - Actually, I wanted Catherine Zeta-Jones back in theaters
The movie that made her a superstar, and her third highest-ranked-movie-she-starred-in on Rotten Tomatoes is The Mask of Zorro. I also enjoyed the sequel The Legend of Zorro.
Best Part of TrailerIf you like any romantic comedy that comes along, here’s another one for you. Catherine Zeta-Jones plus Tom Hanks plus Steven Spielberg = The Terminal. It’s Hanks’ movie, but a wonderful movie to watch none the less.
Coolest Lead ActorGerald Butler from 300 and Phantom of the Opera. And one of my top five favorite romantic comedies is The Rebound. It wasn’t released in the USA (now it’s on Netflix), so I had to go to another country and watch it- and it was worth it! All ten times I watched it.
Best CastJessica Biel (7th Heaven), Dennis Quaid (The Parent Trap), Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), and Catherine Zeta-Jones.Ocean’s 12 is another good movie to watch. Watch the whole Ocean’s trilogy (Catherine Zeta-Jones is only in the second one. I liked that movie better than most other people)
Best Street Cred
For the Production
Director Gabriele Muccino has also directed The Pursuit of Happyness. Finally, another multi-Oscar winning movie, is Traffic, where Catherine was nominated for her first Golden Globe award.



So out of a maximum of 7 points per movie, Playing for Keeps wins all seven points by default.

You may interpret this column for your own movie preferences. For example, if you have access to one of the other seven movies I listed, feel free to watch them. 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, Playing for Keep is the best movie to watch this weekend.
Conclusion 2: Catherine Zeta-Jones also won a Tony for the Broadway musical A Little Night Music. I got her autograph after one of her performances.
Conclusion 3: I wish Catherine Zeta-Jones was going to be in The Hobbit next week.