March 2009 - Movie SmackdownÂ®

Duplicity (2009) -vs- I Love You, Man (2009)

March 21, 2009 Sherry Coben 3

Finally, weâ€™re faced with a weekend of hard choices at the movie theater. Fresh and new and full of promise. The long cold winter of my cineastâ€™s discontent is over. No more dutiful catching up with all those earnest Oscar winners and also-rans. Beyond Januaryâ€™s formulaic chickflicks and hapless mall cops. Beyond Februaryâ€™s horror franchises and Marchâ€™s glowing blue phalluses. Hallelujah! Movie stars Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel have been tag-team tearing up the small screen, relentlessly charming and ubiquitous in their Herculean efforts to lure you into your local theater to help them win their crucial opening weekends. But where to go first? Which star vehicle gets you the most entertainment mileage for your time and money?
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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) -vs- The Long Riders (1980)

March 20, 2009 Jay Amicarella 5

The saga of the real-life James Boys, their friends, the Youngers, Millers, and (hiss) the Fords has been a Hollywood staple for almost a century, and for every film, there has been a different interpretation of the legendary Missouri outlaw. Jesse has been depicted in wildly differing films as outgoing, stoic, easygoing, stern, voluble, and taciturn. “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” dares to suggest that the man that newspapers of the day compared to Robin Hood was no more than a vicious thug, who may have been going mad from the stresses of being hunted 24/7.
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Dr. Manhattan (1986/2009) -vs- The Silver Surfer (1966/2007)

March 10, 2009 Beau DeMayo 9

We have a cosmic showdown as Stan Lee’s Silver Surfer blasts his way toward Dr. Manhattan to find out what mortal-turned-deity remains standing. Will it be Marvel’s Surfing Herald for The Destroyer of Worlds or will it be The American Atomic Superman? With the ability to atomize objects, glimpse the future, and traverse space-time itself, what matters in the end when god meets god?
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Watchmen (2009) -vs- V for Vendetta (2006)

March 8, 2009 Stephen Bell 8

“V for Vendetta” vs “Watchmen” is a messy, all out brawl, a war between two very different beasts trading heavy blows. As each film is grand in scope and boasting of numerous technical achievement, we’re going to need to really sort through each round in order to come to a valid decision.
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Watchmen (2009) -vs- The Dark Knight (2008)

March 8, 2009 Beau DeMayo 21

At first, this was difficult and then…it hit me. This Smackdown mimics the type of boxing matches where you watch the two combatants circle one another, weighing each other, gauging their strengths and weaknesses. Their reputations and skill sets are well-known and well-earned. The suspense is thick, the anticipation is high and then, the fight bell sounds, and one delivers a crushing blow to the other and the fight is over before it even began.
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