De Niro and Clooney Take on The Vampires at the Weekend Box Office
Posted on December 5, 2009
Hard to see anyone knocking the teenage vampires off their perch this weekend — especially as Up In the Air is only in limited release — but a few old stalwarts are reporting for duty and ready to try.
UP IN THE AIR
The Story: A romantic tale of what happens when a frequent-flying corporate downsizing consultant (George Clooney) faces life on the ground
The Pitch: In the Company of Men meets Love Happens
Who It’s For: Grown ups, some in business suits.
Cause for Hope: It’s currently the Oscar front-runner for whatever that’s worth.
Cause for Concern: Spliced-in interviews with actual lay-off victims are put slight damper on ensuing hilarity.
Defamer Enthusio-Meter: 8
EVERYBODY’S FINE
The Story: A widowed man (Robert De Niro) hits the road to repair his relationships with his grown up children.
The Pitch: Terms of Endearment meets Analyze This
Who It’s For: People don’t live in cities where Up In the Air is opening.
Cause for Hope: With each new bad choice, the chances increase that that De Niro will stumble into a good movie soon.
Cause for Concern: The combined awkwardness of De Niro, Kate Beckinsale and Drew Barrymore trying to create touching feel good moments could actually cause injury to unprepared viewers.
Defamer Enthusio-Meter: 3
ARMORED
The Story: A group of security guards plan to heist their own armored truck.
The Pitch: Heat meets Police Academy
Who It’s For: Hard core heist enthusiasts only.
Cause for Hope: Very strong cast for a B-genre film including Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich and the return of the much missed Fred Ward.
Cause for Concern: Sadness that all the above are in this movie may drive one to despair.
Defamer Enthusio-Meter: 3
BROTHERS
The Story: When a marine (Toby Maguire) is taken captive, his wife (Natalie Portman) believes him to be dead and finds comfort with his deadbeat brother (Jake Gyllenhaal).
How Did This Happen: Coming Home meets Beautiful Girls
Who It’s For: Strong intense drama fans
Cause for Hope: Solid cast including Sam Sheppard and director Jim Sheridan is always formidable.
Cause for Concern: Story may be too gimmicky by half; Natalie Portman’s supernatural luster is fast fading.
Defamer Enthusio-Meter: 7
TRANSYLMANIA
The Story: Horror spoof about a college in vampire-land.
The Pitch: Scary Movie meets Dude Where’s My Car
Who It’s For: People for whom no laugh is too easy.
Cause for Hope: Was co-directed by a brother team, which means each only gets half the blood money for making this.
Cause for Concern: The fourth generation of spoof films gives signs of being unkillable.
Defamer Enthusio-Meter: 2
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