Once again, it’s a weekend battle of head-to-head stars. In this corner, we have the young but already incredibly accomplished Keira Knightley. And in the opposite corner we have the not so young and thus, even more accomplished, Nicole Kidman. I have a feeling this one's gonna get rough. You know the rules. Let’s drop the cage. Two women enter! One woman leaves!

In the box office this weekend: Winner = Kidman
Let's see, we have a critically acclaimed, soon-to-be Oscar nominated period novel adaptation about love spanning several decades… or giant talking polar bears fighting other magical creatures. Gee. Let me think. Hold on while I pull out my abacus. Oh yeah, the polar bears… by like a billion gillion dollars. It's one thing to underestimate the intelligence and taste of your average audience. But then there's betting against a magical polar bear fantasy epic.

In the critical arena: Winner = Knightley
Let's see, we have a critically acclaimed, soon-to-be Oscar nominated period novel adaptation about love spanning several decades… or giant talking polar bears fighting other magical creatures. Let's see... Oh yeah, the novel adaptation. Critics I know walked out of Atonement crying, and these are people who wouldn't cry if you gut shot Meryl Streep in an onion field. The Golden Compass, on the other hand, has to contend with conservative critics already condemning it, for the novel's atheist thematic content (which supposedly has been excised from the film) and a star besieged by flop after flop. Keira and Atonement are definitely gonna come out way on top in this category.

In their careers: Winner = Knightley
This is another one of those tough ones. Kidman has had a long and successful career, but the minute her marriage to Tom Cruise dissolved, so did her career. She's had flop after flop and her last film, Invasion (also co-starring Daniel Craig), performed abysmally. She needs a lot more than this to regain her former glory. Knightley, however, has at her tender age already had a string of hits, an Oscar nomination and starred in the Indiana Jones trilogy of her generation, aka, a little thing called Pirates of the Caribbean. It's safe to say she'll probably score her second nomination here. And if she keeps choosing roles like she is now, she's destined to become one of the biggest stars in the world.

In my heart of hearts: Winner = Knightley
I'm proud to say I'm one of those who's been on board the Keira train for a while, way back in the day when guys were still saying, "Keira who?" When she does that little nose wrinkle thing, my heart melts down through my stomach and into my knees, making them weak in turn. So yeah, you could say I'm giving this one to Keira.

Winner = Knightley
Box office aside, Compass won't succeed because of Kidman. But folks will still be talking Keira come nomination season. She takes this week's head-to-head in a walk.

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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