Everyone loves a comparison, it lets people imagine what a prospective new movie could possibly be like while raising interest and expectations among fans. Two projects have just been given some pretty big comparisons today.

Firstly, MGM honcho Mary Parent, speaking after the THR Women in Hollywood Power 100 breakfast, had an interesting take on the first footage she's seen of the 'Red Dawn' remake. She believes that first time director Don Bradley, who had previously been a stunt coordinator, "has really outdone himself" and created a film which plays like "a live-action Call of Duty" film.

Now that is a pretty big comparison to make for the film, which hits screens next November. The two Modern Warfare games are regarded as some of the best games ever and to compare a movie to those games will create some high expectations for that first bit of footage we get to see. If the film truly is like a live-action Call of Duty then it is going to be insane and only fuel the fires for a proper Call of Duty movie but if it tanks these lofty expectations could be part of the problem.

Gears of War producer Wyck Godfrey has set his comparative heights a little lower than Parent. He believes that the Gears of War movie could be a lot like the sleeper hit Cloverfield, with a focus on surviving the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic event (in this case Emergence Day).

Godfrey goes on to explain why Cloverfield is the best comparison, "I think we really want to focus on the idea of a world that's running well and then [clicks fingers] it's Emergence Day. And make it impactful and immediate and [about] those 48 hours as people survive Emergence Day. It's more like Cloverfield or something like that, because trying to tell the epic story of an alien planet that's living in a horrific environment just feels like the wrong mood right now."

This sort of comparison sounds cool and they've clearly put some thought into how they want the movie to look and feel. Setting it around Emergence Day and giving it a immediate, horrific catastrophe feel instead of a war feel sounds interesting and will help to distance the film somewhat from the game so people won't be able to say "That's not how it happened in the game." The Cloverfield comparison makes me think of the rough, jerky, handheld style filming which I actually like but I can't see them implementing that style as much as Cloverfield did. Anyway it'll be interesting to see what Underworld and Die Hard 4.0 director Len Wiseman does with the project.

So there you have it, two comparisons for two new projects. Are they over bold statements on a movie that won't deliver or are they the sort of comments that have made this a must see movie for you or at least aroused your interest?