This Weekend, Watch This
A comparison for the new releases for September 20-22, 2013
By Curt David
September 20, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com

A lot of people seem to feel this way about Paul Dano.
New movies are released into theaters every weekend. How do you decide which movie to watch? Some movies sound awesome (Muppets from Space), but then do not do too well commercially. Other movies star your celebrity crush (Scarlett Johansson in The Island), 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 63%* 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 September 20th, the new films opening in wide release are Battle of the Year and Prisoners.



Battle of the Year: The Dream Team in 3DPrisonersWINNER
(1 point per category)
Clearest TitleWow, this sounds like a sequel or something, but I never heard of it before. Wow, this sounds like an interesting movie with prisoners, but I never heard of it before.Maybe I should have watched more advertisements this week. Both movies will get 1/2 point each.
Best Genre
and Rating		Music
Rated PG-13 for language and some rude behavior. 		Drama/Thriller
Rated R for disturbing violent content including torture, and language throughout		Perfect week. Two genres. Two ratings. Two 1/2 points each.
Best Plot
(in haiku form)		A basketball coach
Gives discipline to dance troupe
World Championships 		Two girls abducted
Dads take law into own hands
Cops ineffective 		Both plots seem good for their respective genres. The tie continues- another 1/2 point each.
Best TrailerPROS: Dancing movie
CONS: but I wasn’t super impressed with the dancing, and there was Chris Brown		PROS: So many good actors, high quality film
CONS: heavy subject matter, not super original		While the trailer didn’t change my life, Prisoners gets a full point this round.
Coolest Lead ActorJosh Holloway from Lost. Hugh Jackman from the X-men trilogy, Les Miserables, and The Prestige. I thought Josh seemed a little out of place in this movie, but no matter, Hugh wins the point this round.
Best CastChris Brown (Takers)Jake Gyllenhaal (October Sky), Viola Davis (The Help), Maria Bello (History of Violence), Terrence Howard (Crash), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine)The easiest point awarded in this column’s history.
Best Street Cred
For the Production		Writer and Director Benson Lee also wrote and directed the documentary Planet B-Boy, based upon the world dance competition. Director Denis Villeneuve also directed Incendies, which was nominated for a foreign language Oscar. Both newer directors (at least for me), another 1/2 point each.


So out of a maximum of 7 points per movie, Prisoners scores 5 points (and a gold star) and Battle of the Year scores 2 points.

You may interpret this column for your own movie preferences. For example, if you actually knew about this dance competition before this movie, feel free to watch Battle of the Year. 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, Prisoners is the best movie to watch this weekend.
Conclusion 2: Each week I give a gold star to the movie with the best tagline. I don’t believe Battle of the Year has one, so Prisoners' “Every moment matters” wins the gold star.
Conclusion 3: Battle of the Year would have been the perfect title for a sci-fi action movie.

*Statistic is completely made up.