Weekly Over/Under: The gore of ‘Apocalypto’ versus a bloody ‘Diamond’

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 8, 2006

As sure as a Leonardo DiCaprio film will earn $8 from my mom every time, this is the Weekly Over/Under. Every week I attempt to be witty, insightful and I try to come up with an Over/Under that is somewhat challenging. And aside from failing at the first two each week, I am normally up to snuff when it comes to making things challenging. But over the past few weeks I have been slacking - lobbing up softballs like last week’s “Will Happy Feet be #1 again?” What kind of junk is that? I am determined to make this week’s challenge a bit harder, if it the last thing I do.

Last week’s challenge, as mentioned previously, was mostly a wash (again). Everyone picked the OVER and everyone was a winner. Happy Feet (review by Chris Beaumont) continued to make Casino Royale (review by Robert Fure) its bitch for the third weekend in a row. This is the first time in a long time that two films have gone toe to toe and have blown away the rest of the pack so viciously. But the gap is beginning to close and, thanks to the beginning of “Quick, let’s release by the end of the year and steal an Oscar” season, I am going to go out on a limb and say the the reign of the penguins is over.

With that said, let’s take a look at what is happening this week:

This Week’s Over/Under:

Will Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto make $20 million in its opening weekend?

The Analysis:

The end of that question should be “despite his recent run in’s with law enforcement and subsequent self alienation from Hollywood and the Jewish community?” But that is just too long, and our readers have a very short attention span.

Speaking of short attention spans, this week’s slue of new releases includes the kid filled critical bomb Unaccompanied Minors, the Jude Law filled seasonal chick flick The Holiday (my review), the afore mentioned Gibson gore-fest Apocalypto (review by Matt Alexander) and the soon-to-be-controversial Blood Diamond (my review) starring Leonardo DiCaprio. All of these films have their merits, save for Unaccompanied Minors, which rests on the acting skills of Fez from That 70’s Show. Apocalypto and Blood Diamond are both Oscar contenders, so they should be good draws. The Holiday is going to be this year’s Love Actually and quite possibly be steal the weekend. So while I am sure that a film like Apocalypto will trump the hot releases from a few weeks back, I also recognize that it will have to split the pie with some other very deserving films. I look for DiCaprio to be a big draw and Apocalypto to be in tow.

My Bid:

UNDER. There is just too much else out there to choose from.

Be sure to cast your vote in the sidebar to the right and feel free to chime in below and let the world know how you feel about my challenge (or my subpar analysis).

| | Read more articles by Neil Miller