Once again, it's a weekend battle of head-to-head stars. In this corner, we have one time fast tracker to the big time, Josh Hartnett. And in this corner we have Ben Affleck's coattail-riding younger sibling, Casey Affleck. This one's gonna get ugly. You know the rules. Let's drop the cage. Two men enter! One man leaves!

In the box office this weekend: Winner = Hartnett
This one is a no-brainer. One is a slow burn indie thriller, Gone Baby Gone, with only big names in the supporting roles, and the other is 30 Days of Night, one of only two scary movies to be released this Halloween season. Hmmm. Vampires or a kidnapping movie? Puh-lease. All the trades are gonna make vampires-sucking-the-box-office-dry jokes come Monday morning: it's gonna take the bank.

In the critical arena: Winner = Affleck
Casey Affleck has had a rough ride, having turned in almost a decade of lackluster performances while cashing in on the career of his much successful older brother. And boy howdy, have us critics never let him forget it. So how does he repay our kindness? By serving us up a one-two punch of fantastic performances in great movies and smiling as he hands us all big, steaming buckets of crow. It's a case of career reinvention.

I actually want to see Casey Affleck in more movies. I await his next great role. I acknowledge that he probably deserves an Oscar nod for this performance. Hartnett, on the other hand, showed a lot of promise very early on, then traded in that promise for a series of terrible films. He's now trying to salvage what's left of his career, but us critics are piranhas. Once we smell blood in the water…well, you have to pull a Casey Affleck to win us back. 30 Days of Night ain't gonna do that at all.

In their careers: Winner = Affleck
Affleck is on his way up. It's his to lose right now. Hartnett is trying to hold on for dear life. He isn't done yet, but Hollywood is about ready to hand him his hat. Oh, and no one has ever said the word Oscar so much in the same room as Hartnett. Affleck could very well be nominated for one.

In a fight: Winner = Hartnett
Come on. Have you seen Casey Affleck? Hartnett is cut from like 200 lbs of marble. This one is easy.

Winner = Affleck
I like Hartnett, but Affleck is the one who piques my interest right now. I'm dying to see what he does with all the newfound steam he's worked up. If he blows it, he could readily find himself back in the audition room, practicing his lines next to Hartnett.

C. Robert Cargill - - - Email Me
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Austin-based Cargill, who not only loves but owns The Cutting Edge, writes on movies and DVD five times a week.

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