Your mission: Predict the opening weekend (Fri-Sun) totals for this week's releases. The deadline is Friday night at Midnight EST.
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This weekend brings us four drastically different movies from totally different genres: A suspense thriller, a sci-fi adventure, a always fun horror movie, and a sports hero film that is based on a true story.
Well that about covers it. Later.
As if I could get away with that. I mean I could - nobody actually reads this stuff anyway.
From the director of American Gangster (it says so right on the poster) and the movie that brought Russell Crowe into the mainstream limelight - Gladiator, Ridley Scott brings us Body Of Lies. The story is about a CIA operative played by Leonardo DiCaprio (who seems to pop up in movies every two years) who uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan. Now I don't know what Mr. Jordan has been doing since his retirement - but I am pretty sure he is spending more time on the golf course than supporting terrorist activities. Yeah, I know - lame joke. It's late - I'm tired - Sue me.
Make no mistake about it - I am a big Bill Murray fan, so when I saw on the previews that he would be in The City of Ember, it immediately gained mucho popularity points. Now whether this film goes along the path of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (a movie I loved - but I nobody else did) or one of his many movies where he actually steals to show remains to be seen. Here he plays the mayor of the City of Ember, an underground city that has flourished for generations of the surface of the earth becomes uninhabitable. The problem is, the city might generator is failing and it is up to two teenagers in a race against time to find the mystery behind the city before the lights go out on The City of Ember - Permanently.
It just wouldn't be October if we didn't throw some good horror movies into the mix now wouldn't it? The Great Pumpkin delivers us Quarantine, where a television reporter (played by Jennifer Carpenter of "Dexter" fame) and her cameraman (played by Steve Harris) respond with the Los Angeles Fire Department to a 911 call from a small apartment building. Needless to say, someone in that building was infected with something pretty nasty and the CDC has a few things in mind for the gang. Sounds just what the horror movie buff (played by Me) ordered.
Finally, we have The Express, the story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. That in itself is an admirable task, but the story shows how Davis (played by Rob Brown) overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to become a monster running back for the Syracuse Orangemen. Set in the 1960's - Davis broke one racial barrier after another to help alter the way fans look at men of his color. The story of Ernie Davis is truly amazing, but there is NO way I am buying Dennis Quaid as a football coach. Just ain't gonna happen.






































