Drama Archives - Page 7 of 24 - Movie SmackdownÂ®

Man on a Ledge (2012) -vs- Inside Man (2006)

January 26, 2012 Arthur Tiersky 0

A bank robbery that isn’t really a bank robbery!

A suicide attempt that isn’t really a suicide attempt!

A Jodie Foster performance that isn’t really good!

A movie star who isn’t really an actor!

Yes, nothing is what it seems this week, except that this really is a Smackdown of the new Man on a Ledge and 2006’s Inside Man, two heist movies, each set mostly on one long day in Manhattan, and neither of them are Dog Day Afternoon. Are you kiddin’ me? Fuhgetaboutit. […]

Red Tails (2012) -vs- Men of Honor (2000)

January 21, 2012 Sarah Harding 0

A 1925 Army War College study concluded that â€œblacks are mentally inferior to the white man, by nature subservient… cowardly… and therefore unfit for combat.â€ The men on whose lives Red Tails and Men of Honor are based set out to disprove that, but they need a leader, someone like Cuba Gooding Jr., who if he wants to, can gleefully shout, â€œShow me the equality,â€ and get people to take notice. Damned if Cuba doesnâ€™t take the assignment to make those old, white, Army and Navy dudes look like racist fools! […]

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) -vs- The War Zone (1999)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2012) -vs- The War Zone (1999)

January 17, 2012 Arthur Tiersky 0

British actress Tilda Swinton is best known here for her Oscar-winning supporting turn as an icy, villainous lawyer in Michael Clayton (2007), but neither the role nor the performance really demonstrates what this woman is capable of. Again and again, she’s shown a willingness to take on roles that would terrify most actresses, be it due to the subject matter, the character’s off-putting actions, or what the part physically demands (she is apparently comfortable with all manner of nudity and sex scenes; ever see Young Adam?), and it is this complete lack of fear or modesty combined with her striking physical features (alabaster skin, bright red hair, really damn tall) and just plain uniqueness that have made her such a darling of the independent film world. […]

The Iron Lady (2011) -vs- The Queen (2006)

December 31, 2011 Eric Volkman 3

We’re off to Britain for this Smackdown, and what’s more, we’re heading straight to the top of the ruling class. Facing off are the two prongs of the country’s administrationâ€”the government, as represented by imposing prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, and the monarchy in the more refined form of Elizabeth II, the title character in The Queen. […]

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) -vs- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

December 31, 2011 Eric Volkman 34

Leave it to Movie Smackdown to throw two mythical film beasts at each other. The Dragons in this tale are the mighty Scandinavian monsters that have dominated the world of fiction for nearly a decade. Metaphors aside, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was the first in a series of three mystery novels by the late Swedish writer Stieg Larsson. […]

Mission Impossible (2011) -vs- Quantum of Solace (2008)

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) -vs- Quantum of Solace (2008)

December 25, 2011 Sarah Harding 1

Whatâ€™s a spy to do when he knows whatâ€™s right and his government disagrees? His only option is to go rogue. Whether that spy is the urbane James Bond or the decidedly more American Ethan Hunt, the result is the sameâ€”action, action and more action. […]

War Horse (2011) -vs- Homeward Bound (1993)

War Horse (2011) -vs- Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)

December 24, 2011 Eric Volkman 1

Our contest is strictly confined to the animal kingdom in this edition of Movie Smackdown. The creatures competing in the bout are Joey, the title character of the Steven Spielberg-directed War Horse, and the small dog/cat gang on a wilderness trek in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Despite the vastly different settings of the two (the trenches and no-man’s-land of World War I in the former and the California wilderness in Homeward), the two are both family friendly, featuring epic journeys aimed at reuniting beasts and masters. Hard work indeed, but the hardest is aheadâ€”competing against each other in this Smackdown. […]

We Bought A Zoo (2011) -vs- Jerry Maguire (1996)

December 22, 2011 Ben Silverio 2

Before Jeremy Pivenâ€™s Ari Gold, Tom Cruise as Jerry Maguire embodied everything most of us know about big-time entertainment agents. They can be weaselly in their business dealings, but they must have a raccoonâ€™s ingenuity mixed with the predatory skills of a tiger to fight for their clientsâ€™ interests. So what would happen if we put up one of these movie agents against a group of actual animals? […]

In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011) -vs- A Mighty Heart (2007)

December 22, 2011 Mark Sanchez 3

Here we are, deep into the holiday movie cycle, and Angelina Jolie has delivered a package no one expected to find under the tree. This is no animated confection about a swashbuckling kitty or some madcap variation on the fat man in red. Oh, no. […]

A Dangerous Method (2011) -vs- Final Analysis (1992)

December 12, 2011 Arthur Tiersky 3

Hunky Shrinks and the Hot Chicks Who Sleep with Them! An episode of Montel? No…, well, probably yes, that too, but also the subject of this week’s Hot Smackdown! The recent release of A Dangerous Method, a mostly stodgy, stately tale of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and the early days of psychiatry, immediately got us wondering when director David Cronenberg […]