The Wattage Meter: How bright are these stars shining?
A guide to the wattage of stars in the news this week
JIGSAW 40 Watts<br> With the seventh film in the Saw horror franchise splattering its way onto screens this Friday, the serial killer played by Tobin Bell is no doubt hoping that 3-D distracts audiences from the fact that there just aren’t any ways of dismembering people that haven’t been seen already. And since Bell has said this is the last piece in the franchise’s puzzle, so to speak, Jigsaw is the one who will soon be no more.
GEMMA ARTERTON 60 Watts<br> Having appeared in this year’s two big swords-and-sandals epics, Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the British actress takes up the title role in Tamara Drewe, the comic-strip adaptation opening Friday. And with roles in the upcoming flicks London Fields and Men in Black III, her star is on the rise. With a name like hers, how couldn’t it be?
CHARLES FERGUSON 80 Watts<br> Following up his 2007 Oscar-nominated Iraq-invasion documentary, No End in Sight, Ferguson’s Inside Job, a doc about the 2008 financial crisis, seems guaranteed to win the U.S.-born filmmaker the best documentary award this year. Opening Friday, the film not only looks to be the most lucid account of how the meltdown happened, but also the flick most likely to get audiences’ blood boiling this year.