This week I’m going to examine what makes a bad movie bad, at least in my opinion. It’s something I’ve been thinking long and hard about every time I hear people (critics or “normals”) raving about a movie that I didn’t particularly like or when either one calls me on trashing a movie that they liked. Deciding whether something is good or bad is pretty subjective, but I think I’ve come up with a comprehensive list of what I consider the makings of a bad movie:

Sure, there’s the most obvious, which is just bad writing or acting, which make the characters, performances and situations unbelievable or unrealistic. Bad acting can comprise anything from over-the-top hammy performances to phoned-in rote performances that make it obvious that the actor is just doing it for the money. Bad writing is usually typified by dialogue that makes you cringe, and sadly, it’s not always something in the original script as things are rewritten on set so much these days. If the writing and performances are good, a good movie can still be marred on the technical end, like a cinematographer who doesn’t know how to light or shoot scenes or a composer who doesn’t know what moments don’t require overscoring and which ones really don’t need music to work.

Even before we get that far, if a movie has an obvious or predictable story—something we’ve seen a thousand times before, something that’s derivative or follows a genre formula—or movies that deal with an unpleasant subject matter handled in a distasteful way. (Todd Solontz is great at the latter.)

Then there’s the simple matter of a movie being too slow or just plain unentertaining. Sure, there’s something to be said about the art of cinema, but long shots on common household objects or expansive fields rarely do anything to move a story forward, and very often, they’re put in by foreign filmmakers simply to have a laugh at those “silly American critics” who rave about how artistic those shots are.

There’s also the relatively small matter of expectations and whether the filmmaker or actors have shown that they can do better in past outings, something that has led to many disappointments when my favorite filmmakers or actors make less than great movies, something that happens a lot.

Can a slow movie be saved by great performances? Sure. Just like a bad script or story can be saved by clever use of camerawork or music, but sometimes one factor overpowers another, and that’s when a critic has to decide which factor should carry the most weight.

Some might be reading this wondering what I’m getting at. Well, next week, there’s a new movie by one of my favorite filmmakers of all time that I absolutely hated and yet, I keep reading raves about it from a few respected sources, which makes me wonder how some people can overlook such important things as story and writing and subject matter to praise a movie just for looking good. I guess I’ll never figure that one out.

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THE CHOSEN ONE

49 UP (First Run Features)
Starring Tony Walker, Susan Sullivan, Bruce Balden, Jacqueline Bassett, Symon Basterfield, Andrew Brackfield, John Brisby, Suzanne Dewey, Charles Furneaux, Nicholas Hitchon, Neil Hughes, Lynn Johnson, Paul Kligerman
Directed by Michael Apted (7 Up, 7 Plus 7, 14 Up, etc, Enigma, The World is Not Enough, Class Action, Extreme Measures, Enough, Amazing Grace)
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Tagline: “The latest installment in the groundbreaking 7 Up series.”
Story: Filmmaker Michael Apted’s documentary series of profile interviews continues with its seventh installment, catching up with the 7-year-old subjects of the 1964 Granada television show, seeing how their lives have turned out as they reach their ‘50s.

It doesn’t matter how many times you end up watching the earlier interviews with the group of 7-year-olds assembled by filmmaker Michael Apted for the television series that started way back in 1964, because watching them grow up on film is immensely fascinating. You also can’t help but appreciate the dedication and integrity Apted has brought to this mission of following the lives of these everyday people. Even if watching interviews with ordinary people might not sound very exciting, jumping around the series gives you a cross-section of how style and fashion and England itself have changed around his subjects, and though they’ve all gotten bigger, gained weight and lost hair, it’s fun to see how well the earlier shows predicted the fate of Apted’s subjects. If you haven’t seen any of the previous movies, Apted recaps the lives of each of his subjects, so you don’t necessarily have to see any of them to be up to speed on each of the people in the latest movie. Over the 42 years, Apted has also created an amazing relationship with his subjects, some of them challenging him and even being antagonistic about the seven-year interviews, but he still manages to track them down and get them on film, sometimes reuniting childhood friends to trade war stories. It’s an amazing achievement in documentary filmmaking, and one worth checking out if you haven’t had a chance yet.

49 Up opens in select cities on Friday after debuting at the New York Film Festival on Thursday, and then it’s released on DVD on November 14. (First Run Features also has a collection of Apted’s previous six films for those who really must see them in order.)

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NEW THIS WEEK:

THE DEPARTED (Warner Bros)
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, Anthony Anderson, James Badge Dale, Kristen Dalton Gerard McSorley, David O'Hara, Mark Ralston
Directed by Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, The Aviator, Gangs of New York; Written by William Monaghan)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Remake
Rated R (for lots of the swearing and violence that Scorsese fans love!)
Tagline: “Cops or criminals, when you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?”
Story: In Boston’s complex world of organized crime, Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) is the whale that the entire police force wants to take down, which is why the State Police place Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) undercover as a mole in Costello’s gang, while Costello has his own man, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), on the police force, informing him of their actions while trying to find the police mole. So begins a cat-and-mouse game to out the moles with a pretty psychologist (Vera Farmiga) caught in the middle.
REVIEW

Less than two years after making Oscar waves with his Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, director Martin Scorsese is back, returning to crime drama with a remake of the Hong Kong box office hit Infernal Affairs. He’s assembled an amazing ensemble cast to tell a complex story of good and evil as the police take on the mob, each using their own undercover moles. (You can read an interview with Andrew Lau and Andy Mak, the directors of the original here, and find out how they were influenced by John Woo’s Face/Off, of all things.)

Scorsese has been making movies for almost 40 years, but it was his early crime drama Mean Streets in 1973 which made a mark followed by other classics like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, but Scorsese really has had only three hugely successful movies at the box office, his 1991 remake of Cape Fear with his regular collaborator Robert De Niro, and his last two movies, Gangs of New York and The Aviator, both which received multiple Oscar nominations including nods for Scorsese as a director. Scorsese is still better known for his ‘90s crime films Goodfellas and Casino, all starring Robert De Niro, and remembered for such cult favorites as The King of Comedy and After Hours. His last two movies have taken Scorsese into more historic and biographical territory, though Gangs of New York still dealt with crimes and gangs. The Departed returns him to the modern crime drama with lots of the violence and swearing that has made his movies so popular and influential among guys. Who knows if HBO would ever have had a hit television show called “The Sopranos” if not for Scorsese’s Goodfellas?

Scorsese’s latest ensemble cast is like a pyramid, made up of multiple levels, and clearly at the top of that pile is Jack Nicholson, a legendary actor who is working with Scorsese for the first time in their long and illustrious careers. This is Nicholson’s return to the screen almost three years since he starred with Diane Keaton in the romantic comedy Something’s Gotta Give. For the most part, Nicholson has been appearing in comedies, preceding it with Anger Management opposite Adam Sandler and Alexander Payne’s dark comedy About Schmidt, which got Nicholson his twelfth Oscar nomination. (Nicholson has won two Oscars in his almost 50 year career as a film actor.) The Departed returns Nicholson to the role of bad guy, though he plays it with the same charm he’s put into every role, which makes Frank Costello more of an anti-hero in the classic Scorsese vein AKA the bad guy you end up rooting for, like Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs or De Niro in Cape Fear. Some people think that the role will get Nicholson his thirteenth Oscar nomination, which would tie him up with Meryl Streep, if she doesn’t get another one herself.

Then, there are the two leads, Leonardo Dicaprio, who starred in Scorsese’s last two movies, and Matt Damon, working with the director for the first time. Both actors are significant box office draws in their own right, but together with Nicholson and Scorsese, it could put The Departed over the top in being able to attract both men and women. (You can read more about their careers and where The Departed falls into it in the Star Spotlight below.)

The third tier of the cast is equally strong, made up of former “The West Wing” star Martin Sheen, who plays Nicholson’s counterpart within the police force, while Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin play other main players on the side of the law. All three actors have supporting parts, but key roles in the movie’s cops vs. criminals premise. Only Wahlberg has any draw for moviegoers as seen by the success of his recent football drama, Invincible. The only woman with any significance in this boys’ club is actress Vera Farmiga, who received a bit of attention at Sundance and the Independent Spirits for her portrayal of an addicted single mother in Down to the Bone. She’s also had a few small movie roles in Running Scared and The Manchurian Candidate remake, but she’s more known for her TV work like the short-lived “Touching Evil.” Ray Winstone of Sexy Beast is almost unrecognizable as Nicholson’s right hand man, but he adds quite a lot to the story.

The Departed is somewhat of an anomaly, since it’s only the second remake of Scorsese’s career, and a remake of an Asian movie no less, but it’s not really being seen or marketed as such with the title having been changed. It doesn’t really matter much, since so few Americans saw Infernal Affairs when it was released in the U.S. by Miramax a few years ago, and many will go see it as the latest from Scorsese, Nicholson, DiCaprio or Damon.

Even with rave reviews, most of Scorsese’s previous movies haven’t made more than $11 million opening weekend, but his three biggest movies all went on to make over $75 million with The Aviator having crossed the $100 million mark all said and done. Having two back-to-back hits and two corresponding Oscar nominations has upped Scorsese’s Q-rating to the point where many people have been anxiously awaiting his next movie. Returning to the crime drama of his most popular movies is a smart move at this point, and The Departed has already been getting rave reviews across the board, as journalists and critics have been proclaiming it as one of Scorsese’s best. Since adults tend to be going to the movies more than younger audiences, this is the perfect time for The Departed, and those adults are more likely to be swayed by the positive reviews to see it opening weekend.

Ironically, this is the first time in over 15 years that Scorsese has made a movie with Warner Bros. The previous one? Goodfellas, the movie that took Scorsese from being a respected auteur to being a bonafide director who could draw an audience. With that in mind, The Departed will be Scorsese’s first movie to be given a wide release into over 3,000 theatres—actually it may be his first movie to open in more than 2,000 theatres even!--and it’s almost guaranteed to have the best opening weekend of Scorsese’s 33-year career thanks to the combination of premise and starpower.

Why I Should See It: The return of one of America’s greatest filmmakers to the crime genre with a top-notch cast across the board.
Why Not: The best part of the movie is the premise and that’s taken directly from the original HK movies.
Projection: $22 to 25 million opening weekend; $80 million total

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING (New Line)
Starring Jordana Brewster, Andrew Bryniarski, R. Lee Ermey, Taylor Handley, Matthew Bomer, Diora Baird, Heather Kafka, Marietta Marich, Terrence Evans
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls); Written by Sheldon Turner (The Longest Yard remake)
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Remake, Prequel
Rated R (and believe me, it deserves it!)
Tagline: “Witness the Birth of Fear” (and they’re quite literal about that)
Story: The origins of the monster known as Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski) and his demented murderous family are revealed in this prequel, in which a quartet of friends heading to re-enlist in the Vietnam War fall foul of the family of cannibals and their chainsaw-wielding henchman.
Mini-Review: Granted, the original remake wasn’t that great, so to think that the prequel might be any better certainly is wishful thinking. On the one hand, it’s interesting to finally see the origins of these odd characters, especially R. Lee Ermey’s Sherrif Hoyt, who is the best part of the movie as he berates and tortures his captive audience. Once the movie gets past that, we’re back to the same old “slaughter the kids” formula from the first movie, and frankly, the level of writing and acting isn’t even up to snuff with that movie, starting with a ridiculously lame Vietnam War tie-in to trying to set the era. With Jessica Biel not having entered the picture yet, we instead get Jordana Brewster continuing her career as the hottest-looking bad actress working today. Otherwise, it’s a mostly boring affair with no real scares or shocks for anyone who's seen the previous film, which as bad as that was, it was much better than this. Rating: 3/10

32 years ago, Tobe Hooper redefined horror with his low-budget gorefest The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which helped introduce the concept of young people being stalked and killed by a madman. Loosely based on the true life horrors of serial killer Ed Gein, Hooper effectively created a memorable movie killer in Leatherface, predating Freddie and Jason by a number of years, as he sliced and diced his victims with a chainsaw and did all sorts of unholy things to the ones that survived. It led to a number of less successful sequels over the years, including one starring Viggo Mortensen, but the attempt to revive the franchise in 1995 with a movie starring a very young Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger also failed.

Eight years later, director/producer Michael Bay decided to remake the original movie, introducing a new Leatherface in Andrew Bryniarski and a new family of deranged murderers to torture teen visitors that arrive in the abandoned Texas town. With a great marketing campaign, it opened a few weeks before Halloween, making $28 million its opening weekend—nearly as much as the original made in total--and then held up well in the next few weeks against Scary Movie 3, to end up with $80 million. It really was the true kick-off of the most recent horror craze, and it proved that the right marketing campaign can bring the kids into the goriest of R-rated movies. And yet, we still didn’t really know much about Leatherface or his family, so Bay and his partners decided to do a prequel that would answer all those questions.

Many of the oddball characters from the original movie return, including Andrew Bryniarski as Leatherface and Kathy Lamkin as the fat tea lady. More importantly, R. Lee Ermey is back as Sherriff Hoyt, and we learn how he became sheriff of the town and the truth about his relationship with Leatherface and the others. (Few military film buffs will ever forget Ermey as the Marine drill instructor in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.) Since most of the slaughtered kids from the 2003 movie met the family after the events in this movie, the prequel can’t bring any of them back, so actress Jessica Biel has been replaced by Jordana Brewster, best known for her love interest role in The Fast and the Furious and a similar role in the military drama Annapolis earlier this year. The director of the original remake, Marcus Nispel, has also moved onto other things, so taking his place for the prequel is director Jonathan Liebesman, who helmed the 2002 dog Darkness Falls, which topped the box office with a mere $12 million

The question is whether waiting three years was a good idea because so much has happened at the box office since the original remake came out in 2003. Every studio and producer has been trying to capture the success of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with their own horror remakes over the last three years, and there’ve been many so many similar horror knock-offs like the French High Tension. There’s a very good chance that the horror remake genre has run its course with all but the most diehard horror fans due to there being so many bad remakes.

On top of that, the 17 to 25 year old males who flocked to the first movie three years ago have moved onto other things like video games and DVDs, which is why movies geared towards that audience haven’t done nearly as much business as they used to, and there are far more anticipated sequels to successful horror movies on the way like The Grudge 2 and Saw III.

The first movie opened against the second weekend of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and the John Grisham adaptation Runaway Jury, which doesn’t offer nearly as much competition as a star-studded movie from Martin Scorsese or Employee of the Month, which will grab much of the younger audience. True, New Line and Michael Bay have put together another great trailer and commercials to help entice fans of the original back into theatres, but it just might not be enough.

Why I Should See It: You won’t be able to sleep until you find out where Leatherface and his oddball family came from.
Why Not: Maybe you had enough gore and slaughter from all the knock-offs and copycats that have come out since the release of the remake three years ago.
Projection: $16 to 18 million opening; $45 million total.

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH (Lionsgate)
Starring Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, Dax Shephard, Efren Ramirez, Tim Bagley, Andy Dick, Brian George, Marcello Thedford, Danny Woodburn, Sean Whalen, Harland Williams, Shirly Bren
Written and directed by Greg Coolidge (writer of Sorority Boys) with Don Calame and Chris Conroy (Hounded)
Genre: Comedy
Rated PG-13 (for let’s see what we can get away with)
Tagline: “On October 6, shift happens”
Story: Zack Bradley and Vince Downey (Dane Cook, Dax Shephard) are employees of the Super Club retail chain who already don’t get along, except that Zack is a slacker box boy, while Vince is the chain’s star cashier who has been Employee of the Month for 17 years straight. When a pretty cashier named Amy (Jessica Simpson) shows up at the store, the competition heats up as Zack is hellbent on beating Vince to win the coveted award and the heart of Amy.
Mini-Review: This attempt at making a mainstream comedy mainly falters due to the weak central premise. Many people might enjoy the movie's familiar Costco-like environment, but few will be able to relate to actually working at one or want to know more about the people who do. Frankly, I just don’t get Dane Cook, let alone his attempt at being the nice guy romantic lead in this movie, because he really doesn’t have any of the charm or timing here that he does on stage. The thought of a romance with Jessica Simpson is marred by the fact that she stinks up the movie every time she shows up on screen and opens her mouth. Fortunately, there’s a lot of supporting roles to make up for it. Shephard is very funny and onvincing as the bad guy, and you gotta love Efren Ramirez as his Pedro-like henchman. There are a couple funny gags that don’t fall flat, but for the most part, the problem is the material, and like last week’s School for Scoundrels, there’s a lot of talent and potential wasted in this generic comedy. Rating: 4/10

Where were you the first time you heard the name Dane Cook? Wherever it was, your first reaction must have been “who?!” and then months later, you were probably already sick of hearing the name. Either that or you’re already one of his millions of fans. Though it seemed like Cook came out of nowhere, he’s been a stand-up comic and struggling actor for over fifteen years before finally finding the right vehicle…the internet, where his MySpace page and personal website found him millions of young fans, leading to two hugely successful comedy records. Even before that, Cook had small roles in many bad movies and became a regular staple on Comedy Central in shows like “Premium Blend” and “Crank Yankers,” and he made his first post-superstar movie appearance with a small part in the Lionsgate comedy Waiting, which opened the same weekend last year. Cook has already hosted “Saturday Nght Live” twice in the last year, including the season kick-off this past weekend where Cook was given an extended monologue, but Employee of the Month will be his first real star vehicle as well as Lionsgate’s first real high concept mainstream comedy. (Waiting and Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector were both indies.)

Of course, Cook will be the movie’s big draw, but he’s paired with an equally hot female superstar in Jessica Simpson, a singer who suddenly found herself elevated to fame due to her MTV reality show “Newlyweds” with then husband Nick Lachey. Last year, she took on her first movie role, playing Daisy Duke in last year’s big screen version of The Dukes of Hazzard, which got Simpson her first award nomination for acting… a Razzie… which she lost. It’s doubtful that many who saw her performance in that movie will be anxiously awaiting her next movie, but fortunately, this movie isn’t all about her.

It’s really more about Cook’s competition with the store’s superstar played by Dax Shephard, another comic who has been doing the rounds over the years, who had a surprise summer hit with Seth Green and Matthew Lillard with 2004’s Without a Paddle; it made almost $60 million in its release in late August, which is usually slow. Shephard also appeared in John Favreau’s family adventure Zathura: A Space Adventure as the astronaut, but this time, he’s sharing top billing with Cook and Simpson. The cast is rounded out by the likes of Efren Ramirez, best known as Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite, who also just appeared in the action thriller Crank; comedian Andy Dick, and characters actors like Sean Whalen and Harland Williams, who starred in Coolidge’s previous movie Sorority Boys.

There are a couple really good things going for this movie, besides the three main stars and the easy-to-relate premise and Costco-like superstore setting, which will be familiar to people in rural areas. The movie’s PG-13 rating will help make this the first choice among the 13-to-16 crowd who probably won’t be too interested in last week’s offerings and won’t be able to get into the two other R-rated movies. The romance factor with Simpson will play a big part in bringing teen girls into see the movie, and the fact that this is another dumb comedy in a year thriving on them should also help this movie do better than it might have done in previous years.

Why I Should See It: If you’re a fan of Dane Cook or Jessica Simpson, and I feel for you if that’s the case, because you probably won’t see them in that many movies.
Why Not: If you’ve seen either of their last movies.
Projection: $10 to 12 million opening; $32 million total.

LITTLE CHILDREN (New Line)
Starring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson, Noah Emmerich, Jackie Earle Haley, Gregg Edelman, Sarah Buxton
Directed by Todd Field (In the Bedroom); Written by Todd Field and Tom Perrotta (author of the novels “Little Children” and “Election”)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated R (for lots of hot and sweaty sex involving Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson plus some creepy bits with Jackie Earle Haley, too)
Story: Sarah and Brad (Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson) are both married with kids, but they start forgetting about all that when they start having an affair. In the meantime, the neighborhood is plagued by a sex offender (Jackie Earle Haley) living with his mother after getting out of jail, but Brad’s friend Larry (Noah Emmerich) has become obsessed with trying to drive him away.
REVIEW
INTERVIEW (with Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson)

Filmmaker Todd Field makes his long-awaited return after his 2001 indie hit In the Bedroom was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Screenplay. This time Field tackles the work of author Tom Perrotta, whose previous novel-turned-movie was the Alexander Payne-directed Election, which was also his second feature film. This is another suburban drama that deals with difficult subjects like adultery and sexual perversion, but it also includes a lot of the quirky humor from Perrotta’s book, which makes it a great dark comedy ala Sam Mendes’ American Beauty.

Field had an impressive cast for his first movie including Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson and Marisa Tomei—all nominated for Oscars—and this cast is no less impressive, starring two Oscar-caliber actresses in Kate Winslet and Jennifer Connelly and an up ‘n’ coming actor in Patrick Wilson, who received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his supporting role in the HBO movie based on Tony Kushner’s play “Angels in America.” Winslet makes her return after a banner year in 2004, where she was nominated for her fourth Oscar for Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, then starred opposite Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland, while Wilson was seen earlier this year (by a few people anyway) in the Lionsgate thriller Hard Candy after having co-starred in Joel Schumacher’s adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. Connelly’s role in the movie is fairly small, but it’s her first movie since last year’s failed Dark Water.

The movie also stars child star Jackie Earle Haley (The Bad News Bears movies and Breaking Away) who continues his amazing comeback after playing a smaller part in the recent All the King’s Men, and noted character actor Noah Emmerich has a larger role as Wilson’s friend.

The movie certainly won’t be for everyone, but those who enjoy quirky character dramedies like American Beauty or the movies of Alexander Payne or even Todd Solontz should be able to appreciate the great writing and acting in a movie that should get at least a few mentions come awards time later this year.

Little Children opens in New York and L.A. on Friday and probably will expand fairly wide over the course of the next month.

Why I Should See It: A great cast and script makes this quirky collaboration between Field and Perrotta a memorable experience.
Why Not: The running subplot of a local pedophile may put some people off.

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STAR SPOTLIGHT: Leonardo DiCaprio vs. Matt Damon

Two good-looking actors, both in their ‘30s, facing off in the latest Scorsese movie The Departed, their first movie together despite having careers that have intersected in other ways. Of course, Leonardo DiCaprio has the advantage of appearing in his third Scorsese movie in a row, not to mention the fact that he found acclaim at a much younger age than Matt Damon, but Damon has more than made up for it in the volume of movies he’s made in the last few years, including two blockbuster franchises, each which have third installments released next summer.

After a number of years appearing on television, DiCaprio had his first significant film role at the age of 19, appearing opposite Robert De Niro in This Boy’s Life in 1993, which led to another prominent role in Lasse Hallström’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? as Johnny Depp’s retarded younger brother, a performance that got DiCaprio his first Oscar nomination at the age of 20.

That kicked off a stream of independent movies, and bigger roles like in the Western The Quick and the Dead, and the title role in Baz Luhrman’s modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which made it obvious how effective DiCaprio was becoming as a romantic lead. Of course, also may have helped James Cameron cast the young actor in his big budget epic Titanic, which was plagued with problems and delays, but finally saw the light of day in late ’97 to become the highest grossing domestic release ever with an astounding $600 million gross after 15 straight weekends at #1 and 11 Academy Awards—DiCaprio wasn’t even nominated.

While Titanic was still playing in theatres, DiCaprio’s next movie, a new version of Alexandre Dumas’ Man in the Iron Mask opened with $17.3 million, but it had to settle for the #2 spot in a very close race against Titanic, which couldn’t even be defeated by a new movie by its young star. After a small cameo in Woody Allen’s Celebrity, DiCaprio started working with another film auteur, Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, starring in his adaptation of Alex Garland’s novel The Beach, a difficult film that did well opening weekend due to DiCaprio’s box office draw, but dropped off quickly as his young female fans left theatres scratching their heads.

And then DiCaprio disappeared. Or so it would seem, since it would be over two years since he would be seen on the big screen again. This was mostly because his first movie with Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York, was delayed a year while the director continued to work on it, but by the time it was release, DiCaprio already had another movie, playing master con man Frank Abagnale in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can opposite Tom Hanks. When the two movies were released within a week of each other in December ‘02, it was clear that DiCaprio was back in a big way. Gangs of New York didn’t do nearly as well opening or overall as the Spielberg movie, giving some idea how the latter director’s name is good at getting people into theatres. Still, it was a great return to form for DiCaprio and no one was surprised when Scorsese named DiCaprio to play the role of Howard Hughes in his next biopic, The Aviator, which opened moderately two years ago, but went on to gross over $100 million after multiple Oscar nominations, including DiCaprio’s first nomination as a lead actor.

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
The Aviator	12/17/04	1,796	$1.36	$8.63	$4,806	$102.68
Catch Me If You Can	12/27/02	3,156	$18.60	$30.08	$9,532	$144.96
Gangs of New York	12/20/02	1,504		$9.12	$6,051	$77.81
The Beach	2/11/00	2,546		$15.28	$6,002	$39.78
Man in the Iron Mask	3/13/98	3,101		$17.27	$5,569	$56.96
Titanic	12/19/97	2,674		$28.64	$10,711	$600.79
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet	11/1/96	1,276		$11.13	$8,723	$46.35
The Quick and the Dead	2/10/95	2,158		$6.52	$3,021	$18.55

Then there’s Matt Damon, who was already acting and making cameos in movies in the late ‘80s, before getting his first major role in the 1992 academic drama School Ties, followed by roles in Edward Zwick’s Courage Under Fire and Glory Daze. Damon really didn’t make his mark until 1997 when he starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of John Grisham’s The Rainmaker and later that year, his script for Good Will Hunting, co-written with long-time friend Ben Affleck, was turned into a film by Gus Van Sant to become a huge box office hit after receiving 9 Oscar nominations including one for Damon’s acting, though he won instead for the film’s screenplay.

The following year, Damon had the title role in Steven Spielberg’s WWII epic Saving Private Ryan starring Tom Hanks—the first thing he has in common with DiCaprio—and it was also nominated and won a bunch of Oscars—none for Damon this time—and a few months later, he starred in the poker drama Rounders, which didn’t do nearly as well without a big name director making it.

Since then, Damon’s choices have been eclectic and varied from Kevin Smith’s controversial comedy Dogma, again with Ben Affleck, to the title role in Anthony MInghella’s adaptation of the novel The Talented Mr. Ripley and the golf drama Legend of Bagger Vance with Will Smith. Around that same time, Damon also started providing his voice for animated movies like Titan AE and DreamWork’s Spirit: Stallion of the Scimarron.

Damon’s part in Stephen Soderbergh’s 2001 remake of Ocean’s 11 might have seemed minor compared to his bigger name co-stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, but there’s no question that his character Linus Caldwell was popular enough so that when Damon starred in the 2002 action thriller The Bourne Identity, it ended up doing far better than anyone expected, grossing $121 million after an opening of $27 million. In between that movie and its even more successful sequel, The Bourne Supremacy, Damon linked up with Greg Kinnear for the Farrelly Brothers’ disappointing comedy Stuck on You in 2003.

In ’04, Damon first appeared in The Bourne Supremacy, which grossed $170 million, followed by the sequel Ocean’s Twelve, which ended up grossing $125 million. Sharp-eyed analysts may note how Damon’s sequel ended up doing far better than the sequel to the ensemble heist comedy, which should be telling of how the third chapter in each franchise should fare when they open next summer.

Last year, the long-delayed Terry Gilliam action-adventure The Brothers Grimm teamed Damon with Heath Ledger, before he had a prominent role in Steven Gaghan’s political thriller Syriana, again opposite George Clooney, both which did okay business, but neither was nearly as impressive as Damon’s previous year.

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Syriana	11/25/05	1,752	$1.49	$11.74	$6,699	$50.82
The Brothers Grimm	8/26/05	3,087		$15.09	$4,889	$37.74
Ocean's Twelve	12/10/04	3,290		$39.15	$11,901	$125.40
The Bourne Supremacy	7/23/04	3,165		$52.52	$16,595	$170.45
Stuck on You	12/12/03	3,003		$9.41	$3,134	$33.45
The Bourne Identity	6/14/02	2,638		$27.12	$10,281	$121.38
Ocean's 11	12/7/01	3,075		$38.11	$12,393	$183.13
Legend of Bagger Vance	11/3/00	2,061		$11.52	$5,590	$30.70
The Talented Mr. Ripley	12/25/99	2,307		$12.74	$5,522	$81.29
Dogma	11/12/99	1,260		$8.67	$6,881	$30.65
Rounders	9/11/98	2,176		$8.46	$3,888	$22.88
Saving Private Ryan	7/24/98	2,463		$30.58	$12,416	$216.12
Good Will Hunting	1/9/98	1,787	$8.75	$10.26	$5,741	$138.41
The Rainmaker	11/21/97	2,317		$10.63	$4,588	$45.91
Courage Under Fire	7/12/96	1,986		$12.50	$6,294	$59.00

In this special Star Spotlight shoot-out, Matt Damon might win out solely by the number of blockbusters he’s starred in—six movies grossed over $100 million—but Leo has Titanic, which made $600 million on its own, so one should expect that Leo will be the bigger draw when the duo face-off in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. They’ll get another chance to face-off in December when Damon stars in Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd, opening just a week after DiCaprio’s next movie, Blood Diamond.

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ALSO IN LIMITED RELEASE:

James Stern and Adam Del Deo take an intense look at the U.S. electoral process in the documentary …SO GOES THE NATION (IFC Films), a biting examination of the 2004 elections where George W. Bush won reelection over Democrat John Kerry, with the swing state of Ohio once again being pivotal in the outcome. It opens in New York and other cities on Wednesday, as well as being part of IFC’s First Take pay-per-view program. Mini-Review: Maybe I’m getting bored with ill-timed political documentaries that seem to feel that they’re important or relevant, because part of me feels like this movie was released far too late to really make much of a difference. The documentary consists of a lot of talking heads boasting or spouting sour grapes about what happened in the election, which doesn’t help matters, especially since a lot of it doesn’t seen like anything new. Then again, there is a lot of information and analysis of the party campaigns, what worked and what didn’t work leading up to the election, and the focus specifically on Ohio reveals a possible reason for Bush’s win that’s almost as controversial as Florida in 2000. This last part is what makes this movie as important as Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, though it’s frustrating to think that it’s too late to do much about what happened. Rating: 8/10

Freida Lee Mock takes an in-depth look at an award-winning writer in WRESTLING WITH ANGELS: PLAYWRIGHT TONY KUSHNER (Balcony Releasing), about the Louisiana born writer who went onto win Pullitzer, Tony and Emmy awards for his play “Angels in America,” as well as co-writing films like Steven Spielberg’s Munich. It opens at the Film Forum in New York on Wednesday.

John Cameron Mitchell, the director/star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, returns with SHORTBUS (THINKFilm), a dramatic comedy about emotionally-challenged New York individuals trying to find love and orgasms in the bustling post 9/11 metropolis, which leads them to the underground sex salon, Shortbus. Mitchell’s second feature is most notable for its use of real sex between the mostly unknown actors. It opens in New York on Wednesday. REVIEW (ComingSoon!)

Mark and Nick Francis’ documentary BLACK GOLD (Speak-It Films) follows the journey of coffee from a struggling Ethiopian coffee grower named Tadesse Meskela to the corporate coffee chains of Seattle. Opening in New York at the Cinema Village and in Seattle.

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LET’S LOOK AT THE NUMBERS: (final update 10.5.06)

October kicks off with the battle of two very different powerhouses: Martin Scorsese assembles an amazing all-star cast including Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin for The Departed, a remake of the Hong Kong crime drama Infernal Affairs, fighting it out with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the Beginning, a prequel to the 2003 hit remake featuring the origins of Leatherface and his murderous family.

Due to the changing times, it’s likely that Scorsese’s return to crime-drama will be a stronger draw as most people will see it as a strong crime-action thriller from a master of the genre rather than as a remake. On the other hand, the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel look like its trying to capitalize on the same formula as the original remake, though it might find itself with few people who really care to find out where Leatherface came from. Teens who won’t be able to get into either of those R-rated movies might instead go see the Lionsgate comedy Employee of the Month pitting Dane Cook against Dax Sheppard for the love of Jessica Simpson, or they can just buy tickets for it and sneak into one of the other two movies. Either way, it should be a strong fourth place in between last weekend’s top 2 movies.

With the Columbus Day holiday on Monday, expect this weekend to be similar to last with two of the new movies bringing most of the money and the third making slightly less and everything else struggling to maintain their business.

TW	LW	Title	Weekend (in millions)	Change	# Of Theaters	Average	Week
1	New	The Departed	$23.8	N/A	3,017	$7,889	1
2	New	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning	$16.5	N/A	2,820	$5,851	1
3	1	Open Season	$14.8	-37%	3,833	$3,861	2
4	New	Employee of the Month	$10.6	N/A	2,579	$4,109	1
5	2	The Guardian	$10.0	-44%	3,241	$3,085	2
6	3	Jackass Number Two	$7.6	-48%	3,007	$2,527	3
7	4	School For Scoundrels	$4.7	-45%	3,007	$1,563	2
8	5	Jet Li's Fearless	$2.6	-47%	1,617	$1,608	3
9	6	Gridiron Gang	$2.4	-49%	2,228	$1,032	4
10	8	The Illusionist	$2.2	-21%	1,149	$1,828	8
11	7	Flyboys	$1.3	-45%	1,471	$884	11
			Est. Weekend Total $96.30	Est. Avg. Drop-Off -42%		Est. Average PTA $3,106

Next week, the month of October motors along with three new movies: the sequel to the 2004 horror remake The Grudge 2, Robin Williams is a comedian who runs for president in Man of the Year, and WWE superstar John Cena is The Marine. Also, a very special announcement!