Another crack!
Blasts from the past are aiming to hit big again this season. Globe critics Ty Burr and Wesley Morris offer an early look.
You're out enjoying a beautiful summer day when the phone rings.
"Hello? Indiana, who? Oh, Indy. Wow. It's been a while. Like 19 years. You have a new movie? Are you kidding? Wasn't the one before this called 'The Last Crusade'? Yeah, yeah. I'll probably go. But seriously: Why are you back?"
Moviegoers could be having versions of that skeptical conversation all summer. The season is top-heavy with stars, franchises, and directors that want to win us over again. M. Night Shyamalan (back to disaster-horror basics). Mike Myers (who hasn't been seen in a movie since 2003's "The Cat in the Hat"). The Incredible Hulk (never mind that he just had a live-action blockbuster five years ago). Even Mulder and Scully are back - Mulder and Scully? Is all this regeneration brilliant or desperate?
The year's summer preview has its doubts on both scores. But it was written with the subtitle of that upcoming "X-Files" movie in mind. It's called "I Want to Believe." So do we.
MAY 2 (MOVIE OPENING DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
"Irina Palm" Rock 'n' roll survivor Marianne Faithfull plays Maggie, an impoverished London woman whose grandson needs medical attention. Answering a job ad for a sex club, Maggie is soon redubbed Irina Palm in testimony for her skills. Director Sam Garbarski ("The Rashevski Tango") explores themes of aging, anonymity, and sexuality.
"Iron Man" The strangest aspect of the latest superhero franchise-wannabe is also probably its most welcome: Robert Downey Jr. - 43 years old and the survivor of a few all-too-human battles - is playing Tony Stark, multimillionaire industrialist turned iron-clad avenger. (Think Howard Hughes with sweet body armor.) That's not the only bit of casting to unsettle the fanboys: Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Gwyneth Paltrow tries to keep a straight face as love-interest "Pepper" Potts, and Jeff Bridges shaves his head to play nemesis Iron Monger. Another dumb summer tent pole? Possibly, but there are smart people involved, and that includes director Jon Favreau ("Swingers," "Elf").
"Made of Honor" In his first Hollywood romantic comedy since becoming Dr. McDreamy, Patrick Dempsey plays a maid of honor who falls for the bride. The whole thing smells of patchouli and "Katherine Heigl was busy."
"Standard Operating Procedure" The latest documentary from Errol Morris considers the mistreatment of suspected terrorists held at Abu Ghraib prison, complete with interviews with the soldiers who worked there and characteristic reenactment of certain events.
"Then She Found Me" Helen Hunt writes, directs, and stars in this account of a school teacher facing a major midlife crisis.
MAY 9
"Jellyfish" A witty story of a wedding in Tel Aviv.
"Mister Lonely" Ooh, this sounds precious enough to cause cavities: Diego Luna ("Y Tu Mama Tambien") plays a Michael Jackson impersonator in Paris who falls for a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton - wait, Samantha Morton?) who lives with Charlie Chaplin and Shirley Temple. But the writer/director is art-house enfant terrible Harmony Korine ("Julian Donkey-Boy," "Gummo"), and he doesn't do cute. Plus the cast includes Werner Herzog and Rolling Stones footnote Anita Pallenberg as the Queen of England.
"Redbelt" David Mamet tackles mixed-martial-arts fighting and a pacifist instructor, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who gets drawn into the discipline's ugly competitive side. Is Mamet the Time magazine of film: Once he's covered it, the trend is over?
"Son of Rambow" A crowd-pleasing comedy about a British kid (Bill Milner) on a strict no-pop-culture diet in the 1980s. But he sees "Rambo: First Blood," and embarks on a mission to make his own action epic. The tag line is, "Make believe. Not war.
"Speed Racer" The gleeful Japanese cartoon about the motorway adventures of an excitable sports car driver is now a seriously slick-looking Wachowski brothers toy, with Emile Hirsch in the title part and Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, and Susan Sarandon riding in the sidecar.
"What Happens in Vegas" Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz meet cute in Sin City, get drunk, wake up unhappily married, then spend the rest of the movie fighting over a multimillion dollar slot machine payout. It sounds like "Knocked Up" with money instead of a baby. What doesn't bode well: Writer Dana Fox's last movie was the woeful "Wedding Date." Making us feel better: Director Tom Vaughan made the tart little British comedy "Starter for 10." An even money bet, then.
MAY 10
"Black, White + Grey: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe" Documentary on their relationships.
MAY 16
"Before the Rains" About an English spice baron in India during the Raj.
"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" Ah, yes. 1,300 Narnian years have passed since the glad tidings of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," and now the four siblings who saved Narnia all those years ago will have to do it again, this time with the land's besieged rightful ruler (Ben Barnes). In the posters, he's a cute guy holding a sword. With any luck, round two of C.S. Lewis's series will make more dramatic sense, the young stars will have grown into better actors, and Tilda Swinton's White Witch will have found better dreadlocks.
"The Dhamma Brothers" A documentary about 36 inmates at an overcrowded maximum-security prison who spend 10 days practicing silent meditation. The film raises the question of whether prisons should be centers of spiritual rehabilitation.
"OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" French secret agent OSS 117, the hero of over 250 espionage novels since 1949, gets a retro comic makeover. Jean Dujardin plays the superspy, crisply tailored and not as smart as he thinks.
"Roman de Gare" France's unstoppable Claude Lelouch ("A Man and a Woman") is up to his old tricks with this playful drama about a crime novelist (Fanny Ardant) who may not be what she seems. Apparently Lelouch is feeling mischievous himself: He filmed under a pseudonym and only fessed up to directing "Roman" at last year's Cannes festival.
MAY 21
"XXY" The troubles of a teenage hermaphrodite (played by actress Ines Efron) are chronicled in the debut film from Lucia Puenzo, daughter of renowned Argentine director Luis Puenzo ("The Official Story").
MAY 22
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" The planet's sexiest archeologist has returned. Paramount is banking on serious franchise nostalgia, so the plot remains a mystery, but basically the hunt for treasure drags Professor Jones back into the adventure business - against the Russians (it's 1957). Steven Spielberg resumes directing duties. George Lucas had a hand in concocting the script. Harrison Ford looks very personally trained. Shia LaBeouf is Ford's sidekick. And Cate Blanchett is the nasty Soviet agent. But wait: Is Karen Allen back as Marion Ravenwood? She is? Oh well, now we're excited.
"Love Songs (Les Chansons d'amour)" French director Christophe Honore ("Ma Mere," "Dans Paris") lightens up - a little - with a full-fledged musical about three star-crossed lovers in the City of Light. Honore regular Louis Garrel joins Ludivine Sagnier ("Swimming Pool") and Clotilde Hesme; Paris, as usual, is the film's unbilled costar. A supporting performance by Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" star Catherine Denueve, makes the link to that classic '60s musical explicit.
"Reprise" Joachim Trier's structurally complex drama concerns two best friends (Espen Klouman Hoiner and Anders Danielsen Lie) with dueling literary aspirations. One achieves stardom and loses his mind. In Norwegian.
MAY 23
"Never Forever" The return of nervy, oughta-be-a-star Vera Farmiga ("Breaking and Entering," "The Departed"). In Gina Kim's drama, a 2007 Sundance selection, the actress plays a New Yorker married to a Korean-American lawyer (David McInnis) but unable to have a child. Desperate to conceive, she embarks on a relationship with a Korean illegal immigrant (Ha Jung-woo, "Time"). Regardless of the movie, Farmiga's worth seeing in anything and buzz about her performance here is strong.
"Surfwise" 85 years old and still making waves.
MAY 30
"Bigger, Stronger, Faster" Christopher Bell directed this documentary about his own adventures with steroids. Apparently "Super Size Me" was already taken.
"The Children of Huang Shi" During Japan's occupation of China in the 1930s, a British reporter (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), an American nurse (Radha Mitchell), and the leader of a Chinese opposition group (Chow Yun Fat) save a bunch of imperiled orphans. Michelle Yeoh figures into all this somehow. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode ("Turner & Hooch").
"Chop Shop" A painstakingly realistic (but fictional) tale of childhood in the "Iron Triangle" of automotive shops in Queens, New York. Alejandro Polanco plays an orphan eking out a living; Iranian émigré Ramin Bahrani ("Man Push Cart") documents a third-world subculture hidden within a first-world megalopolis.
"Constantine's Sword" A documentary adaptation of a 2001 book by James Carroll, whose columns frequently appear in the Globe, on the history of anti-Semitism in the Christian church, from the Crusades to today's evangelical movement.
"The Fall" From Tarsem Singh, director of "The Cell," comes this adventure about a fantasy that grows out of the story a hospital patient tells.
"Fugitive Pieces" Coming of age in Canada after escaping WWII Poland.
"Sex and the City" At last, Carrie Bradshaw graduates to the big screen. Sarah Jessica Parker and the rest of the Gotham gang - Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall - are all here. Chris Noth as Mr. Big. Jennifer Hudson ("Dreamgirls") as Carrie's assistant. Maybe there's a wedding. . . Maybe someone dies. . . Cosmos. . . Jimmy Choos. . . Wha-? Sorry, nodded off there for a second.
"The Strangers" A home-invasion horror movie with Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a couple under siege. Written and directed by Bryan Bertino. The trailer is effectively upsetting.
"Stuck" A horror movie about a woman (Mena Suvari) who commits a hit-and-run.
"Tuya's Marriage" Harsh realities, surprising strength on the grasslands of Mongolia.
"Unknown Woman" Giuseppe Tornatore's thriller about an Italian family's possibly crazy Ukrainian housekeeper (Xenia Rappoport)
Also opening, "Refusenick"
JUNE 6
"The Foot Fist Way" Danny McBride, second fiddle to Owen Wilson and Andy Samberg, gets a stoopid comedy of his own. This one's about a tae kwon do instructor.
"The Go-Getter" A teen road-trip dramedy with Lou Taylor Pucci, Zooey Deschanel, and Jena Malone.
"Kung Fu Panda" It's possible you've already seen ads for Dreamworks's animated comedy: You're about to watch a movie and a giant panda takes over the screen, telling you, in Jack Black's voice, to turn off your cellphone. The movie itself could be like 90 minutes of that. Other voices belong to Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, David Cross, and Lucy Liu.
"Miss Conception" Heather Graham is a yuppie (a possibly British one!) who discovers she has a month left to conceive a child.
"Mother of Tears" Thirty-one years after "Suspiria" and 28 after "Inferno," Italian horror maestro Dario Argento finally comes through with the final entry in his "Three Mothers" trilogy. Worth the wait? Depends on how you feel about Asia Argento (the director's daughter) being chased by three demons and what one early review calls "a vexing little monkey."
"Up the Yangtze" Yung Chang's documentary focuses on working life along China's Three Gorges dam, and the way the construction project has changed the surrounding landscape. Not to be confused with Jia Zhang-ke's recent, more fictional account, "Still Life."
"You Don't Mess with the Zohan" Another summer, another broad-as-a-barn Adam Sandler comedy. Here he takes a cue from Sacha Baron Cohen and makes wit ze fonny accent as a Mossad agent who comes to Manhattan to follow his dream: becoming a hair stylist. John Turturro plays a Palestinian terrorist mastermind, Rob Schneider reportedly plays a suicide bomber: Is this why they hate us? Judd Apatow and Robert Smigel had a hand in the script, which is a good sign.
Also opening, "The Singing Revolution"
JUNE 13
"The Happening" After the fascinating pretensions of "The Lady in the Water," do people any longer know what to do with M. Night Shyamalan? The finale of "The Village" was one thing. Aquatic spiritualism was something else. This disaster movie seems to be a more conventional one - for Shyamalan. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are a married couple running, with a lot of other Americans, from what looks like the end of the world.
"The Incredible Hulk" How desperate is Universal to get a "Hulk" movie franchise going? After Ang Lee's 2004 "The Hulk" fizzled with fans, the studio shrugged and decided to try again. This time out Edward Norton plays gamma-ray-bombarded Dr. Bruce Banner; the usual digital effects play his massive green alter ego. Norton also worked on the script, and Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, and William Hurt costar. If it doesn't pan out, maybe it's time to bring back Lou Ferrigno.
"The Promotion" Writer Steven Conrad (he hit big with the Will Smith drama "The Pursuit of Happyness") gets a shot at sitting in the director's chair with this dark comedy about two assistant managers (Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly) battling for a promotion at a Chicago supermarket.
"Savage Grace" Julianne Moore stars as Barbara Daly Baekeland in Tom Kalin's drama about her notorious murder in 1972. Remember that case? She was a depressive socialite who had a bizarrely close relationship with her son (Eddie Redmayne), whose homosexuality she desperately wanted to cure. The boy snapped and stabbed her to death. Adapted from the 1985 book by Natalie Robins and Steven M.L. Aronson.
"When Did You Last See Your Father" Colin Firth plays a son who returns to his parents' home just in time to patch things up (or not) with his dying father (Jim Broadbent). Expect flashbacks, Britishness. With Juliet Stevenson, Gina McKee, and Claire Skinner.
Also opening, "The Animation Show 4"
JUNE 20
"Get Smart" It seems way too soon for Steve Carell to admit that he is Don Adams reincarnated, but oh well. He stars in this remake of the 1960s TV spy comedy. Will the movie aim for wartime satire the way the show did? Will Anne Hathaway get to do anything funny as Agent 99? Alan Arkin, Terence Stamp, and Dwayne Johnson also star.
"The Love Guru" The last time we saw Mike Myers in the flesh - as opposed to hearing him as the voice of Shrek - was five years ago and he was doing vile things to "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat." He's upped his game: "Love Guru" isn't even out yet and Myers has the world Hindu community in an uproar. The star plays an American raised by gurus who returns home to start a self-help empire; Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, and Sir Ben Kingsley also appear. True, Peter Sellers made a funny Indian accent work in "The Party" - 40 years ago.
"Mongol" Or "Genghis Khan: The Early Years." A 2008 foreign-language Oscar nominee, Sergei Bodrov's ambitious, action-filled epic traces the life of the man born Temujin (Japan's Tadanobu Asano) from childhood to his uniting of Mongolian clans into a force that would eventually sweep across Asia and Europe. For that last bit we'll have to wait for parts two and three of the planned trilogy.
"Operation Filmmaker" Filming after the fall of Baghdad in 2003.
JUNE 26
"Glass: A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts" A documentary on the composer.
JUNE 27
"Brick Lane" A young Bangladeshi woman comes of age in London, writing letters of her awakening to her sister. Adapted from Monica Ali's novel and directed by Sarah Gavron.
"The Edge of Heaven" The much-awaited new film from Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin ("Head-On") won best screenplay at Cannes last year and follows six characters as they crisscross the social-ethnic-political battle lines of modern Europe. German movie legend Hannah Schygulla costars. The word is that it's Akin's best work yet.
"Elsa & Fred" A romantic comedy about widowed 70-year-old lovebirds (China Zorrilla and Manuel Alexandre).
"Finding Amanda" A drunk (Matthew Broderick) goes to Vegas to put his niece (Brittany Snow) in rehab. Written and directed by Peter Tolan ("The Larry Sanders Show").
"Gunnin' for That #1 Spot" Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's documentary about a tournament for high-school basketballers.
"Tell No One" a thriller from Guillaume Canet, with Francois Cluzet as a man framed for murder.
"WALL-E" Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo") brings us this summer's
"Wanted" An action movie in which the world will discover whether James McAvoy is as cool as Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, who play elite assassins for justice. It looks like the movie was built for speed while Jolie is stuck being hot and Freeman is stuck, once again, doing narration. The Hollywood debut of Timur Bekmambetov, the acutely talented director of the Russian blockbusters "Night Watch" and "Day Watch."
JULY 2
"Hancock" We've had every other kind of big-screen superhero — how about one who's a bum? Will Smith flies through the air as the grumpy, unshaven title character, crashing through buildings and driving Los Angeles insurance rates through the roof. A publicist (scene-stealer Jason Bateman) tries to rehabilitate him until the superhero hits on his wife (Charlize Theron). Nice to see Smith not saving the world for a change.
"Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" Oh, how Abigail Breslin grows before our eyes. First a nerdy beauty pageant star, now the star of the maiden movie in the "American Girl" behemoth. Breslin plays a 1930s lass having adventures while her father (Chris O'Donnell) is away trying to save the family house from foreclosure. The cast includes Joan Cusack, Stanley Tucci, and a monkey.
JULY 4
"Encounters at the End of the World" Werner Herzog has previously taken his camera to Alaska and to the edge of an active volcano, so Antarctica may be among the only places left on earth for him to go. The legendary German filmmaker interviews scientific researchers and looks for moments of surrealism at the bottom of the world. Despite an early promise of "no penguins," Herzog does turn up one. Typically, it's marching the wrong way.
"Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson" Alex Gibney's documentary.
JULY 11
"Journey to the Center of the Earth" Brendan Fraser tries to jumpstart a new potential franchise about a scientist-adventurer; this one requires 3-D plastic glasses.
"Kenny" an Australian mockumentary about a plumber (Shane Jacobson).
"Meet Dave" Let's see if we've got this straight: Eddie Murphy plays the teeny-tiny alien captain of an interplanetary ship that looks exactly like a life-size Eddie Murphy, which lands in New York City and tries to learn local customs in amusing robotic ways before falling for an Earth girl played by Elizabeth Banks ("Definitely, Maybe"). It's directed by Brian Robbins, the man who gave us "Norbit" - and looks equally bizarre.
"My Winnipeg" The great Guy Maddin finally makes a movie of his life. This being Maddin, though, the details are absurdist and winkingly melodramatic. Darcy Fehr plays the Manitoban director and Ann Savage his mother. There are viscounts and Bolsheviks, too.
"Religulous" Larry Charles's first movie since "Borat" is another road picture. Now Bill Maher is the offender. Together they traverse the country mocking the faithful and their faiths. A sure hit in the middle of the country.
"The Wackness" Jonathan Levine directs this comedy about the 1994 summer before a New York drug dealer (Josh Peck) goes to college. He sells weed to his shrink (Ben Kingsley) and dates the shrink's stepdaughter (Olivia Thirlby). For what it's worth, it was a hit at Sundance this year.
JULY 18
"The Dark Knight" The trailer for Christopher Nolan's second installment of this Batman reboot was spooky before Heath Ledger died in January. Now it's scary. His melted face makeup alone makes you weep. Here Batman (Christian Bale) works with the crooked lawyer Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to stop Ledger's psycho Joker from robbing more banks. Mercifully, Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over damsel duties from Katie Holmes. And Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman are back, too. Ledger, meanwhile, will have to live on in our dreams - or, if this trailer is any indication, our nightmares.
"Mad Detective" A new over-the-top crime thriller from Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai, this one features a cop with multiple-personality disorder.
"Mamma Mia!" Remember those cheesy ABBA songs you used to laugh at when you weren't dancing to them in your bedroom with the door closed? First they made a hit stage musical out of the Swedish quartet's oeuvre and finally that musical has come to the screen starring Meryl Streep. Try being a snop now. Amanda Seyfried (HBO's "Big Love" plays La Streep's dancing-queen daughter.
"Space Chimps" Three chimps get blasted into space in this digitally animated family movie: by-the-book Titan (the voice of Patrick Warburton), brainy Luna (Cheryl Hines), and goofball Ham (SNL's Andy Samberg). Thank goodness it's animated; otherwise PETA would be all over this. (But where's a moviegoers' rights organization when you need one?)
JULY 25
"Baghead"From the house of so-called mumblecore comes another lo-fi relationship comedy, now featuring a group of actors, one of whom wears a paper bag on his head. Written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass ("The Puffy Chair"), and costarring Greta Gerwig, who was so naturally good in "Hannah Takes the Stairs."
"Brideshead Revisited" A new version of Waugh's work, now with Ben Whishaw, Matthew Goode, Emma Thompson, and Michael Gambon.
"The Last Mistress" The veteran eroticist and provocateuse Catherine Breillat ("Romance," "Fat Girl") appears to have taken a break from rawness and nudity for a cruelty-filled 19th-century costume drama about a husband-to-be (Fu'ad Ait Aattou) trying to break off his relationship with a lusty Spaniard. But since she's played by Asia Argento, all we can say is, "Good luck, buddy." Adapted from Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's 1851 novel.
"The Long Shots" Sounds sweet: The true story of Jasmine Plummer (Keke Palmer of "Akelah and the Bee"), who at 11 became the first girl to play a Pop Warner football tournament in the event's 56-year history. So what the heck is Fred Durst of the rock band Limp Bizkit doing in the director's chair? Can you say "career change"? It's actually Durst's second film; unlike "The Education of Charlie Banks" (2007), this one's making it into theaters.
"Step Brothers" Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play two adults who compete for everything after their single parents get hitched to each other. This could be a comic roller coaster. It could be exasperating, like watching two Fonzes jump the shark together. Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins play mom and dad. Adam McKay ("Talladega Nights") directs.
"The X-Files: I Want to Believe" Don't ask what it's about; in keeping with creator Chris Carter's longstanding penchant for secrecy (or paranoia, take your pick), no one's talking. The real question is whether there's any audience love left for agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) six years after the long-running sci-fi show went off the air. A creative supporting casting - Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, rapper Xzibit - has us curious.
JULY 31
"Girls Rock"
JULY TBD
"No Regret" A drama about a South Korean male prostitute.
AUGUST 1
"American Teen" Nanette Burstein's highly praised documentary follows the lives of a handful of teenagers in a small Indiana town. The "Breakfast Club"-style poster is mighty clever.
"Boy A" From Britain's Channel 4 comes a harrowing drama about a young man (Andrew Garfield), imprisoned since age 10 for a headline-grabbing crime, and the pressures facing him on his release into the adult world. Director John Crowley ("Intermission") spins the drama off the notorious 1993 murder of Jamie Bulger. Peter Mullan ("The Magdalene Sisters") costars.
"Choke" An adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel about a sex addict conman (Sam Rockwell) who pays for his mother's nursing home bills by forcing himself to choke in public and bilking money out of the sympathetic. Anjelica Huston plays mom, and the actor Clark Gregg directs.
"Frozen River" A grand jury winner at this year's Sundance festival, Courtney Hunt's debut film is about two desperate women - one white, the other Mohawk - who turn to smuggling immigrants over the New York-Canada border. Melissa Leo (TV's "Homicide") delivers another sterling performance; maybe this will give her the critical props she deserves.
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" Guillermo del Toro's first film since "Pan's Labyrinth" is this sequel to his 2005 sleeper action-sci-fi-comedy. The horned, red-skinned Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and his cohorts affiliated with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense must travel between the physical world and the metaphysical one to save the planet.
"Midnight Meat Train" Terrifying?
"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" It's entirely possible that after the world flocks to a fourth Indiana Jones movie there might still be an appetite for a third "Mummy" movie. But with all due respect to Brendan Fraser, it seems doubtful. And yet doesn't it seem foolish to bet against a movie in which Jet Li has been cast as the title's undead emperor? And where Michelle Yeoh, as the evil sorceress, gets to do some sorcerizing? If the Chinese are mad about Tibet, wait until they see this.
"The Rocker" Rainn Wilson of "The Office" plays a failed '80s hair-metal drummer who gets to unleash his inner rock god once again with his nephew's high school band. Peter Cattaneo ("The Full Monty") directs.
"Swing Vote" And you thought the primaries were rough. In this comedy from Kevin Costner's Tig Productions, the US presidential election comes down to the vote of one average man, played by Costner in salt-of-the-earth mode. The supporting cast includes names promising (Dennis Hopper, Stanley Tucci, Nathan Lane, Kelsey Grammer as the president) and fear-inducing (two words: George Lopez), and every political pundit/blogger/talking head currently working has a cameo.
"Water Lilies" Céline Sciamma's first movie is a French high-school comedy set in the world of synchronized swimming.
AUGUST 8
"Fly Me to The Moon" An animated feature about three housefly stowaways on the famous Apollo 13 flight.
"Hellride" From producer Quentin Tarantino comes another faux-grindhouse biker flick, this one directed by and starring Larry Bishop and featuring Dennis Hopper, Michael Madsen, and a lot of bodacious babes. Not sure if it's parody, celebration, or wish fulfillment.
"Pineapple Express" In the 13th comedy Judd Apatow has written, produced, or directed in three years, Seth Rogen plays an upstanding pot-smoker who goes on the run with his blissed-out dealer (James Franco) after he witnesses a murder. David Gordon Green directs. A Cheech and Chong adventure or "Superworse"? You decide.
"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" The further growing pains of best-friends-forever Bridget, Lena, Carmen, and Tibby. Why is this second movie based on the fourth book in Ann Brashares best-selling young adult series? Because actresses Blake Lively and American Ferrara are TV stars now - with "Gossip Girl" and "Ugly Betty," respectively - and neither they nor costars Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel are getting any younger. So off to college and mature themes with them.
"Transsiberian" A bonkers thriller from Brad Anderson ("Next Stop Wonderland," "The Machinist") with Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer as a couple taking a doomed ride on the title train. With Ben Kingsley donning a Russian accent.
AUGUST 14
'Romance of Astrea and Celadon'
AUGUST 15
"The International" What movie villains are left in these politically correct times? That's right: Bankers. Clive Owen as a gun-toting, country-hopping Interpol agent joins with Manhattan Assistant DA Naomi Watts to uncover global malfeasance at a powerful bank. Sounds preposterous? Maybe, but also fun in a wonky way. If anyone can cook these books, it's German director Tom Tykwer ("Run Lola Run"), trying his hand at a big-budget thriller for the first time.
"Mirrors" Kiefer Sutherland plays an ex-cop working mall security who thinks the stores' mirrors are possessed with evil. Whoa. This deserves to be the "Snakes on a Plane" of 2008: the movie we should all be talking about until it comes out, by which time we'll have forgotten all about it.
"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" George Lucas moves the franchise into an actual cartoon, suggesting the cash cow really does have golden udders.
"Towelhead" Alan Ball, the creator of "Six Feet Under" and the writer of "American Beauty," wrote and directed this adaptation of Alicia Erian's novel about a girl (Summer Bishil) sent to live with her Lebanese uncle (Peter Macdissi) in Texas during the first Gulf War. She experiences the expected racism and eventually lusts after an Army reservist (Aaron Eckhart) too old and himself too racist to be appropriate. With Maria Bello and Toni Collette.
"Tropic Thunder" The trailer's already causing group intakes of breath around the country, what with Robert Downey Jr.'s hambone white actor making himself black for a role. Ben Stiller's latest project (he stars, directs, and co-wrote) is about a war film that turns real, causing its spoiled cast to scrampble for safety and self-respect. The movie's own cast incloudes Jack Black, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte &mdash and in a cameo that's causing jaws to drop at early screenings, Tom Cruise.
"Trumbo" A documentary portrait of the notorious writers with Joan Allen, Michael Douglas, Liam Neeson, Nathan Lane, Donald Sutherland, and Paul Giamatti reading from his letters.
Also opening, "Henry Poole Is Here"
AUGUST 22
"The Accidental Husband" Actor Griffin Dunne ("After Hours") directs a romantic farce about a radio talk-show host (Uma Thurman) whose life gets complicated when she advises a listener to dump her fiance, who then comes looking for revenge. Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Colin Firth costar. Sam Shepard plays Thurman's dad; we'll let you figure out the genetic math on that one.
"Bangkok Dangerous" Hong Kong bad boys the Pang brothers (Oxide and Danny) deliver a Hollywood remake of the stylish 1999 Thai action film that put them on the map. Nicolas Cage is now playing the weary hit man in Bangkok, bonding with his driver (Charlie Yeung) and driving all the HK movie obsessives who love the original version crazy.
"Crossing Over" A long-delayed immigration drama with Harrison Ford, Sean Penn, Ashley Judd, Ray Liotta, Summer Bilal, Cliff Curtis, Alice Braga, and lots of others. Written and directed by Wayne Kramer, looking perhaps to make his own "Crash."
"Hamlet 2" A hack high-school teacher (Steve Coogan) writes a musical sequel to the Shakespeare play. If the movie is half as entertaining as the writer and director Andrew Fleming's other high-school comedy, 1999's "Dick," we can live with it.
"The House Bunny" A Playboy Bunny is booted out of Hef's mansion and lands at a loser college sorority. Could this be the comedy that finally makes a star out of Anna Faris ("Smiley Face")? Don't hold your breath - it's late August and the director is the guy who wrote "Joe Dirt" and "Without a Paddle."
"Wild Child" A comedy in which Emma Roberts plays Poppy, a Malibu brat shipped to a punishing English boarding school.
AUGUST 29
"Babylon A.D." A tale of future apocalypse, and it doesn't sound like the set was too much fun, either. Risk-taking director Mathieu Kassovitz ("The Crimson Rivers") ran so over-budget and over-schedule that insurers had to bail him out. Then there are the rumors of conflict between Kassovitz and his star, Vin Diesel, who plays a mercenary escorting a woman impregnated with a possible messiah. Michelle Yeoh costars.
"College" Three pre-frosh go ape while visiting a prospective school. If you're still reading this, you're an amazing, heroic individual. Thank you, but you can probably skip college.
"Traitor" Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Neal McDonough, and Jeff Daniels in some kind of action-thriller with federal agents and guns and terrorist groups.
"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" Woody Allen has become the wandering Jew of film, moving from London to shoot his latest film in Barcelona. Early word is that the Mediterranean temperatures have loosened up the 72-year-old filmmaker, and that the heat generated by the cast — Javier Bardem as a painter, Penelope Cruz as his girlfriend, and Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall ("The Prestige") as tourists — is considerable.
AUGUST TBD
"Ballast" Directed by Lance Hammer, a tale of suicide on the Mississippi delta.
