The "This Weekend, Watch This" column started on October 2, 2009, which means that the title of this column "Year in Review," isn't really true. It's more like a quarter-of-a-year in review. In the last three months of 2009, I have written about the 37 movies that have had a wide release. Each week, before seeing any movie, I would compare the new releases and give points to the movies with the best title, best genre and rating, best tagline, best trailer, best lead actor, best supporting actor, and best street cred in the movie (usually the director). When the seven points were distributed, the movie with the most points was declared the movie to watch this weekend. Read on for the analysis of the past three months and for the first "This Weekend, Watch This" Awards!
How to Compare all 37 movies
For this quarter-of-a-year in review, I wanted to rank all of the movies based on the amount of points I gave them. However, a movie was sure to garner more points if it had less competition at the box office that week. For example, Couples Retreat was the only wide release during its first weekend, so without any competition it won six of the seven points. Last week, Sherlock Holmes was among five new releases. Despite looking like a much better movie than Couples Retreat, it only won 2.5 points, because Nine, Up in the Air, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and It's Complicated were also competing for the seven points. Therefore, in order to rank the 37 movies, I took the number of points earned multiplied by the number of movies released in the weekend. (Couples Retreat had 6 points X 1 movie = 6 points total, and Sherlock Holmes had 2.5 points X 5 movies = 12.5 points total).
In the chart below, the 37 movies are ranked based on how good the movie looked before it was released. Also included in the chart are the movies' Rotten Tomatoes Score (aka the percentage of critics that gave it a positive review. Typically, a score around 60% and above is considered a "fresh" movie, and a score below is considered "rotten.") I have also included the Rotten Tomatoes ranking of the 37 movies. After the chart, I will analyze how the effectiveness of the "This Weekend, Watch This," columns were in determining the movies that should have actually have been watched each weekend (in other words, were the "This Weekend, Watch This" movie picks also critically praised).
| Rank |
Film |
Points Earned |
# of Movies |
Adjusted Points |
Rotten Tomatoes Score* |
RT Rank |
|
1
|
A Christmas Carol
|
3.75
|
4
|
15
|
55%
|
16
|
|
2
|
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
|
3.5
|
4
|
14
|
37%
|
26
|
|
3
|
Sherlock Holmes
|
2.5
|
5
|
12.5
|
69%
|
12
|
|
4
|
The Blind Side
|
3.33
|
3
|
10
|
71%
|
11
|
|
5
|
Brothers
|
3.33
|
3
|
10
|
57%
|
14
|
|
6
|
Nine
|
2
|
5
|
10
|
40%
|
24
|
|
7
|
Invention of Lying
|
3
|
3
|
9
|
57%
|
14
|
|
8
|
Paranormal Activity
|
2.25
|
4
|
9
|
82%
|
7
|
|
9
|
Where the Wild Things Are
|
2.25
|
4
|
9
|
73%
|
10
|
|
10
|
Ninja Assassin
|
2.83
|
3
|
8.5
|
31%
|
27
|
|
11
|
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
|
2.83
|
3
|
8.5
|
93%
|
1
|
|
12
|
Avatar
|
4
|
2
|
8
|
83%
|
4
|
|
13
|
2012
|
4
|
2
|
8
|
39%
|
25
|
|
14
|
Up in the Air
|
1.5
|
5
|
7.5
|
89%
|
2
|
|
15
|
Whip It
|
2.5
|
3
|
7.5
|
83%
|
4
|
|
16
|
Everybody's Fine
|
2.33
|
3
|
7
|
46%
|
21
|
|
17
|
Invictus
|
3.5
|
2
|
7
|
76%
|
9
|
|
18
|
Planet 51
|
2.33
|
3
|
7
|
23%
|
31
|
|
19
|
The Men Who Stare at Goats
|
1.75
|
4
|
7
|
53%
|
17
|
|
20
|
The Princess and the Frog
|
3.5
|
2
|
7
|
83%
|
4
|
|
21
|
Amelia
|
1.45
|
4
|
6
|
21%
|
32
|
|
22
|
Couples Retreat
|
6
|
1
|
6
|
12%
|
35
|
|
23
|
Did You Hear About the Morgans
|
3
|
2
|
6
|
14%
|
34
|
|
24
|
Michael Jackson's This is It
|
6
|
1
|
6
|
80%
|
8
|
|
25
|
Pirate Radio
|
3
|
2
|
6
|
60%
|
13
|
|
26
|
Law Abiding Citizen
|
1.25
|
4
|
5
|
24%
|
28
|
|
27
|
The Fourth Kind
|
1.25
|
4
|
5
|
18%
|
33
|
|
28
|
The Stepfather
|
1.25
|
4
|
5
|
11%
|
36
|
|
29
|
Zombieland
|
1.83
|
3
|
5.5
|
89%
|
2
|
|
30
|
Armored
|
1.33
|
3
|
4
|
47%
|
20
|
|
31
|
Astro Boy
|
1
|
4
|
4
|
48%
|
19
|
|
32
|
Twilight Saga: New Moon
|
1.33
|
3
|
4
|
28%
|
30
|
|
33
|
Old Dogs
|
1.33
|
3
|
4
|
6%
|
37
|
|
34
|
Saw VI
|
1
|
4
|
4
|
45%
|
22
|
|
35
|
Alvin and the Chipmunks:Squeakquel
|
.5
|
5
|
2.5
|
24%
|
28
|
|
36
|
It's Complicated
|
.5
|
5
|
2.5
|
52%
|
18
|
|
37
|
The Box
|
.25
|
4
|
1
|
44%
|
23
|
* Rotten Tomatoes score as of 12/27/09.
Chart Analysis
- There were 13 movies that were rated Fresh by RT (Rotten Tomatoes) - above 60%. To make number crunching easier, there were 15 movies that were rated above 57% by RT.
-Technically, a horrible movie could be released into the theaters, without any competition, and win all seven of the TWWT (This Weekend, Watch This) points. Therefore, the movies that are considered TWWT-Fresh, should be the movies that have a total greater than seven in the adjusted points total. There are 15 movies that are TWWT-Fresh.
-To determine the relationship between the predicted TWWT movies and the critical response, let's compare how many of the top 15 RT movies were in the top 15 TWWT movies. The answer: 10 of the 15 RT movies were also in the top 15 TWWT movies. In other words, 66% of the time a movie that looks good before it is released (as determined by TWWT) will also be critically praised.
-The outliers. The five TWWT movies (of the top 15) that were not RT-Fresh were Nine, Ninja Assassin, 2012, A Christmas Carol, and Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. In fact, A Christmas Carol and The Vampire's Assistant were the top two TWWT movies of the whole year! Do these five outliers discredit the entire TWWT columns? Definitely not (especially because I plan to continue the columns through 2010). Ninja Assassin has the coolest title in cinema history, and based on the title alone, should have been the best movie ever. It's a shame it wasn't. Everyone already knew 2012 was going to be critically panned, but I still believe it would be a fun movie to watch. Nine is currently getting end-of-the-year award nominations, and A Christmas Carol is a safe bet to watch this holiday season. All this to say, the RT scores aren't the only indicator of how good a movie turned out to be. But, even I can't justify The Vampire's Assistant score, other than to say, sometimes a movie looks intriguing before being released into the theaters.
-The other outliers. The five RT movies (of the top 15) that were not in the top of the TWWT were Invictus, The Princess and the Frog, Michael Jackson's This is It, Pirate Radio, and Zombieland. Pirate Radio almost did not make it into a TWWT column because of not being released into that many theaters. Invictus, The Princess and the Frog, and This is It all won their weekends of TWWT and were declared the movie to watch that weekend! They just had lower adjusted point totals. All this to say, TWWT columns can consistently pick the good movies you should watch each weekend. But, even I can't justify Zombieland's poor TWWT score, other than to say, sometimes a good movie isn't recommended because it is competing against another awesome movie (Invention of Lying!).
1st Annual TWWT End-of-the-Year Awards (actually end-of-the-last-quarter-of-the-year awards)
Best Actor
The award goes to George Clooney for winning three different TWWT weekly acting awards. He won for Men Who Stare at Goats, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Up in the Air.
Honorable mentions go to three actors who won two TWWT acting awards: Kristen Bell (Couples Retreat and Astroboy), Bill Nighy (Pirate Radio and Astroboy), and Meryl Streep (The Fantastic Mr. Fox and It's Complicated).
Best Trailer
The award for Best Trailer goes to the trailers that actually made me go out and buy a movie ticket. It's a three-way tie between Invention of Lying, The Blind Side, and Avatar.
Best Tagline
The award for Best Tagline goes to any tagline that was so pun-y that it was restated in the conclusions of the TWWT column. It's a three way tie between "No Goats, No Glory," (The Men Who Stare at Goats), "Play Dad," (Old Dogs), and "Holmes for the Holiday" (Sherlock Holmes).
Best TWWT Event
The best moment of TWWT short history is when the very first TWWT column was linked to Ricky Gervais' blog.
A quote from one of the TWWT columns:
"Conclusion 3: If you put something on the Internet, anybody can read it. (Ricky Gervais read my first column, said, "This is fun though," and posted a link of it on his blog. Go to http://www.rickygervais.com/thissideofthetruth.php, scroll down to Week 86/Sept/Oct., and click the "This is fun though" link .)"
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