This Weekend, Watch This
A comparison for the new releases for April 11-13, 2014
By Curt David
April 11, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com

We heard you missed us! We're back!
New movies are released into theaters every weekend. How do you decide which movie to watch? Some movies sound awesome (The Ladies Man), but then do not do too well commercially. Other movies star your celebrity crush (Amy Adams in Leap Year), 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 32%* 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 April 11th, the new movies in wide release are Draft Day, Oculus, and Rio 2 (and the movie The Raid 2 has a smaller release).


Draft Day OculusRio 2WINNER
(1 point per category)
Clearest TitleFOOTBALL!OCULUS! (?)SEQUEL TO RIO!Sequel to Rio wins the first point.
Best Genre
and Rating		Sport Drama
Rated PG-13 on appeal for brief strong language and sexual references 		Horror
Rated R for terror, violence, some disturbing images and brief language		Animation
Rated G		Oh la la, Three different genres and plots! 1/3 point each.
Best Plot
(in haiku form)		Football Manager
Gets fired if bad draft day
He’ll need a good plan 		Bad mirror kills folks
Two siblings try to kill it
Cause mirror killed mom		Last two blue macaws
Find more birds in Amazon
Action and Singing		Mirror horror plot. I haven’t seen that one yet. Point.
Best TrailerPROS: Looks well-acted
CONS: The whole trailer had people in a room talking about draft day		PROS: Not your typical horror trailer, because it was about an evil mirror!
CONS: None (you only think a killer mirror is dumb when the trailer is over)		PROS: Seems like a funny cartoon for kids, and adults would enjoy it too
CONS: None that I can tell		Rio 2 has the best trailer. Point.
Coolest Lead ActorKevin Costner from Dances with Wolves and Robin Hood: Prince of ThievesNone that I recognized yetVoice of Jesse Eisenberg from Zombieland and The Social Network. Kevin Costner wins this point.
Best CastJennifer Garner (Alias), Denis Leary (Rescue Me), Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist), and Sean “P. Diddy” CombsNone that I recognized yetThe voices of Kristin Chenoweth, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Tracy Morgan, Will i Am, and many more. Draft Day and Rio 2 split this point.
Best Street Cred
For the Production		Director Ivan Reitman also directed Ghostbusters and Dave. Writer and Director Mike Flanagan also edited a lot of tv series.Writer and Director Carlos Saldanha also directed three Ice Age movies. And Draft Day and Rio 2 will split this last point as well.


So out of a maximum of 7 points per movie, Rio 2 scores 3 and 1/3 points, Draft Day scores 2 and 1/3 points (and a gold star), and Oculus scores 1 and 1/3 points.

You may interpret this column for your own movie preferences. For example, if you haven’t seen a horror film in a while, feel free to watch Oculus. 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, Rio 2 is the best movie to watch this weekend.
Conclusion 2: Each week I give a gold star to the movie with the best tagline. Usually I don’t go with cheese, but I liked Draft Day’s “The greatest victories don’t always happen on the field,” as compared to Oculus’ “You see what it wants you to see,” and Rio 2’s “He’s villainous, she’s venomous.”
Conclusion 3: Do you know what’s happening in Brazil this summer? Real football aka the World Cup!

*Statistic is completely made up.