Michelle Pfeiffer Archives - Movie SmackdownÂ®

Savages (2012) -vs- Scarface (1983)

July 6, 2012 Ben Silverio 1

Drugs are a dangerous game, and it seems like Oliver Stone knows this fairly well. In the 1983 cult classic Scarface, which he wrote for Brian De Palma, and his new release Savages, which he co-wrote with Shane Salerno and novelist Don Winslow, as well as directed, he shares stories of young guys who start small in the drug game and climb to a whole new level theyâ€™re not prepared for.

Iconic gangster Tony Montana and the duo of modern-day marijuana moguls Ben and Chon hold their own (to a point) when the big boys come to play in their respective movies, but how will they fare when they go up against each other? […]

People Like Us (2012) -vs- The Descendants (2011)

June 28, 2012 Sarah Harding 1

Location, location, location. When it comes to dealing with broken families and the secrets that enshroud them, it makes no difference whether you live in La-La Land or blue Hawaii. Reconnecting with the family members youâ€™ve ignored or the one you never knew existed is hard in either case, even if youâ€™re Chris Pine. Yep, George Clooney, too.

While films centered around intense emotion and family dynamics are nothing new, theyâ€™re a rarity in these days of car chases, alien invasions and spandex-clad superheroes. Our contestants â€” People Like Us (2012) and The Descendants (2011) â€”are both about confronting those issues most of us would rather ignore. Both films are aimed at actual grown-ups â€” another rarity these days â€” and each looks at serious issues in distinctly different ways. […]

Dark Shadows (2012) -vs- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)

May 10, 2012 Bryce Zabel 1

Can Barnabas suck the blood out of Buffy or can this tough vamp of a fighter slay the hell out of this unchained vampire? While that alone might be enough of a question to guide a Smackdown, this one gets complicated by history.

Dark Shadows, as people over fifty know, began as TV then became a film. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as people under thirty know, began as a film and became a TV series. The former, in theaters now, is a derivation of its former glory, while the latter is an inspired evolution of its big-screen glory. […]