This Weekend, Watch This
A comparison of the new releases for October 7, 2011
By Curt David
October 7, 2011
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 (Surprisingly, Kill Bill, A Time to Kill, and To Kill a Mockingbird all have different genres). 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 (Dear Catherine Zeta-Jones, I have even seen your movie Death Defying Acts).
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 October 7th, the movies in wide release are The Ides of March and real Steel.
| The Ides of March | Real Steel | WINNER
(1 point per category)
|
| Clearest Title | A Julius Caesar movie? | A movie about metal? | These titles are generic. Ides of March will get a point for an iconic phrase. |
Best Genre
and Rating | Drama/Thriller:
Rated R for pervasive language.
| Action/Sci-Fi/Drama:
Rated PG-13 for some violence, intense action, and brief language.
| I guess kiddos will need to see Lion King again this week. Both movies split the point for having a genre or two. |
Cleverest Tagline
(out of 5 stars) | "Ambition Seduces. Power Corrupts"
This tagline makes the movie sound interesting. If only I knew what the plot was...
2/5
| "Courage is stronger than steel"
Inspirational.
1/5
| I like how only four words can be really powerful. Point for Ides (sorry Steel, you had five words). |
| Best Part of Trailer | It seems like an Oscar worthy drama about the political arena. Looks good. | AWESOME! Fighting robots. Father-son story. Perfect movie. | Oscar worthy movies are good, but sometimes you just want to see robots fighting each other. Point for Real Steel. |
| Coolest Lead Actor | George Clooney from ER, the Ocean's 11 trilogy, and The Perfect Storm. | Hugh Jackman from the X-Men trilogy, the Prestige, and Australia. | Crap, my guy friends just caught me internet searching George Clooney and Hugh Jackman...I swear it was for this column. (They can split the point) |
| Best Cast | Ryan Gosling (Drive), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Mission: Impossible III), Paul Giamatti (Sideways), Evan Rachel Wood (Across the Universe), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny) | Evangeline Lilly (Lost) | This round wasn't even fair. Point for The Ides of March. |
Best Street Cred
For the Production | Writer and Director George Clooney (WHAT????!?) has also written and directed Good Night and Good Luck. | Director Shawn Levy has also directed Date Night, Night at the Museum, and Cheaper by the Dozen. | George Clooney is a man of many talents and easy on the eyes, or so I hear...point for George. |
So out of a maximum of 7 points per movie, the Ides of March scores 5 points and Real Steel scores 2 points.
You may interpret this column for your own movie preferences. For example, if you want to watch a mix of I, Robot and The Blind Side, feel free to go watch Real Steel. . 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 Ides of March is the best movie to watch this weekend.
Conclusion 2: Wow, The Ides of March won by a wide margin, but I personally would rather watch Real Steel.
Conclusion 3: Shawn Levy has nothing to do with the movie American Pie. I thought he did. Perhaps I combined Seann William Scott and Eugene Levy.
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