This Weekend, Watch This
A comparison for the new releases for May 10-12, 2013
By Curt David
May 10, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Now Jack Dawson is sitting in First Class!
New movies are released into theaters every weekend. How do you decide which movie to watch? Some movies sound awesome (Basic Instinct 2), but then do not do too well commercially. Other movies star your celebrity crush (Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct 2), but then do not get much love critically. Still other movies are recommended by friends (but friends can be idiots). And if you are like 60%* of people, you are not even aware of which movies are being released, yet alone which movies you should pay your hard earned money on.

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 you should watch in the theaters.

For the weekend of May 10th, the new movies in wide release are The Great Gatsby and Peeples. Also in smaller wide-ish release is the movie Mud.


The Great GatsbyPeeplesMudWINNER
(1 point per category)
Clearest TitleThis movie seems based on one of those books you always read in high school.This movie seems misspelled. This movie is titled “Mud.” This is the perfect example of people going to see a movie based on the title alone. Point for The Great Gatsby.
Best Genre
and Rating		Drama
Rated PG-13 for some violent images, sexual content, smoking, partying, and brief language. 		Comedy
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug material, and language. 		Drama
Rated PG-13 for some violence, sexual references, language, thematic elements, and smoking. 		Three PG-13s, three 1/3 points.
Best Plot
(in haiku form)		Rich guy likes a girl
She’s married and has short hair
Drama and kissing		Guy meets girl’s parents
He wants to ask for her hand
Father disapproves		Outlaw in hiding
Befriends two young boys for help
He loves a woman		The plots in word forms don’t sound too amazing. The word outlaw will give Mud the point.
Best TrailerPROS: The movie has a lot of good actors and looks visually stunning
CONS: You still might not know what the movie is about after the trailer, but at least it’s a book		PROS: The trailer says “Tyler Perry Presents”
CONS: I did not laugh a single time.		PROS: The trailer looks suspenseful and well-acted, made me sit at the edge of my seat
CONS: Other than hoping the main character has his child clearance checks, there are no cons 		While Mud isn’t technically a wide release this weekend, and while The Great Gatsby does look visually wonderful....Mud will win the point for Best Trailer. It was good.
Coolest Lead ActorLeonardo DiCaprio from Titanic, Inception, and The Departed. Craig Robinson from The Office and Hot Tub Time Machine. Matthew McConaughey from A Time to Kill and How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days. Matt and Leo will split the point for coolest actor (although I personally like Craig the best).
Best CastJoel Edgerton (Warrior), Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers), Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man), and Carey Mulligan (An Education)Kerry Washington (Django Unchained) and a smaller role with Ana Gasteyer (SNL)Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) The Great Gatsby has a great cast. Point.
Best Street Cred
For the Production		Writer and Director Baz Luhrmann also wrote and directed Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet.Writer and Director Tina Gordon Chism also wrote Drumline. Writer and Director Jeff Nichols also wrote and directed Take Shelter. I like how there are three directors who also write screenplays. For now, Baz will win the point for the most street cred.


So out of a maximum of 7 points per movie, The Great Gatsby scores 3 and 5/6 points, Mud scores 2 and 5/6 points, and Peeples only scores 1/3 point (but they’ll win the gold star).

You may interpret this column for your own movie preferences. For example, if you've seen the past five Tyler Perry movies, feel free to watch Peeples. 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 Great Gatsby is the best movie to watch this weekend (but check out Mud sometime!).
Conclusion 2: Each week I give a gold star to the movie with the best tagline. The other two movies didn’t really have taglines, so Peeples will win with “She comes from good Peeples,” which helps explains that the character’s last name is Peeples.
Conclusion 3: Anyone else think that The Great Gatsby’s plot is very similar to The Count of Monte Cristo?

*Statistic is completely made up.