The summer months bring forth more quantity
than quality from the movie industry. Entertainment, with a heavy
emphasis on action and comedy, will dominate, leaving room for
serious drama. This year’s crop of potential blockbusters
includes a few that promise quality. Release dates are subject to
change, and titles are listed under their scheduled wide release
unless otherwise noted. Limited releases will open in major cities
first and then filter out into the smaller markets (that would be
Springfield) at a later date.
JUNE 1
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Four teens agonize over spending their first
summer apart, so they share a pair of pants each one has worn.
Sounds like something wrong in the gene pool.
JUNE 3
Cinderella Man Director
Ron Howard reteams with Russell Crowe in a true story of a
Depression-era boxer who fights to feed his family. It’s one
of the few serious dramas scheduled for this summer.
High Tension French
slasher film about two sisters who are terrorized by a psycho at
their secluded family farm. The MPAA gave this one an NC-17 rating.
Lords of Dogtown True
story about California surfers who adapt their skills to
skateboarding and create a national craze. Skateboarding
isn’t illegal, but most movies about it should be.
JUNE 10
The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in
3D Director Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids) returns to
kiddie flicks with this tale of a lonely 10-year-old who retreats
into a fantasy world.
Heights (limited)
A Sundance premiere about five New Yorkers who must make choices
about their personal destinies before the sun rises. Glenn Close,
George Segal, and Isabella Rossellini are among the cast.
Howl’s Moving Castle (limited) Japanese animation legend Hayao
Miyazaki’s latest children’s saga about an 18-year-old
woman who has been turned into a witch.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith No, this isn’t a remake of the Alfred
Hitchcock comedy. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie star as married
hired killers who are unaware of each other’s secret. Their
marriage is put to the test when they become each other’s
next target.
JUNE 15
Batman Begins Christian Bale takes on the role of the Caped Crusader, and
director Christopher Nolan (Memento) takes him back to his origins but probably not
backward. The series needs a boost after the failure of the last
two.
JUNE 17
The Perfect Man A
teenager (Hilary Duff) tries to cheer up her frustrated mom
(Heather Locklear) by creating a fake Mr. Right. When Mom becomes
too interested, she is forced to find a real person to fill his
shoes. How many sitcoms have used this plot?
JUNE 22
Herbie: Fully Loaded The Love Bug, the Disney comedy fantasy about a Volkswagon
Beetle with a mind of its own, first appeared in 1969, and its
success spawned three sequels. The franchise is being revived after
a 25-year hiatus with Lindsay Lohan taking Herbie to NASCAR.
JUNE 24
Bewitched The
1960s fantasy sitcom gets an overhaul for the big screen with
Nicole Kidman (Samantha), Will Ferrell (Darrin), and Shirley
MacLaine (Endora) seemingly ideal for the iconic roles.
George Romero’s Land of the Dead The undead saga that Romero started with Night of the Living Dead (1968) is revived with a much bigger budget for a
fourth installment.
Me and You and Everyone We Know (limited) Independent hit from the Sundance
Film Festival about a romance between a performance artist and a
shoe salesman.
Yes (limited)
An Irish-American scientist and a Lebanese surgeon fall in love in
London and tell each other in iambic pentameter. Quirky drama from
iconoclast director Sally Potter.
JUNE 29
War of the Worlds Steven Spielberg modernizes the classic H.G. Wells story about an
alien invasion of Earth, and he cast his Minority Report star Tom
Cruise in the lead role. Think Independence
Day with quality and logic. No
one can do a large-scale special-effects movie better than
Spielberg.
JULY 1
Rebound A
college-basketball coach (Martin Lawrence) is fired because of his
bad temper and demoted to coaching a junior high school team. Will
this be another misfits-turn-heartwarming story?
The Beautiful Country (limited) The son of a Vietnamese woman and a
former American soldier searches for his father and his own
identity. Nick Nolte is among the stars.
Crónicas (limited)
A Miami reporter (John Leguizamo) journeys to Ecuador in search of a
serial killer known as the Monster of Babahoyo.
JULY 8
Dark Water Yet
another remake of a Japanese horror film. Jennifer Connelly stars
as a woman who moves into a dark and creepy apartment building in
which dark water pours down the walls from the empty floor above.
Fantastic Four The
Marvel Comics superhero team of the Thing, Mr. Fantastic, the
Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch try to save the world from the
villainous Doctor Doom.
Murderball (limited)
Documentary about quadriplegic rugby, a game so rough that
it’s been nicknamed “murderball.” The film
follows the U.S. team on its trip to the 2004 Paralympics in
Athens.
Saraband (limited) Ingmar Bergman came out of retirement to continue the
story of Scenes From a Marriage with his original stars, Liv Ullman and
Erland Josephson. As with the first film, this was shot for Swedish
television, but it is being released internationally to theaters.
JULY 15
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Remake of the kiddie cult film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but supposedly without the music. The new version also
promises to follow the book more closely. Tim Burton directed, and
Johnny Depp is Willy Wonka.
Happy Endings (limited)
Lisa Kudrow heads the cast of this oddball multicharacter comedy
involving blackmail, filmmaking, massage and other quirks.
Wedding Crashers Owen
Wilson and Vince Vaughn are playboys who sneak into weddings to
pick up women. Their hobby is complicated when Wilson falls in love
with the engaged daughter (Rachel McAdams) of an odd politician
(Christopher Walken).
JULY 22
The Bad News Bears Billy Bob Thornton stars as the drunken coach of
the worst team in Little League. This is a remake of the Walter
Matthau hit from 1976 that began the sports-movie cliché of
the underdog winning in the end.
The Devil’s Rejects Rob Zombie continues his House
of 1000 Corpses saga with the
Firefly family’s being forced from their compound by a SWAT
team. They then hit the road and embark on a killing spree.
The Island Ewan
McGregor’s utopian world becomes a nightmare when he discovers he
is a clone being prepared for “harvesting.” He goes on the
run with Scarlett Johansson. Sounds a little reminiscent of Logan’s Run.
November (limited)
A mind-bending drama about a photographer (Courteney Cox-Arquette)
who loses touch with reality after her boyfriend is shot during a
convenience-store robbery.
JULY 28
Last Days (limited)
Director Gus Van Sant uses the last days of Kurt Cobain’s
life as inspiration for this study of a rock musician who is unable
to deal with the pressure of fame.
JULY 29
The Brothers Grimm Jake and Will Grimm (Heath Ledger, Matt Damon) are
the real-life creators of numerous children’s fairy tales,
but director Terry Gilliam places them in a fantasy adventure about
a forest haunted by an evil sorceress (Monica Bellucci).
Must Love Dogs A
frustrated preschool teacher (Diane Lane) answers a personal ad
containing the three words of the title and borrows her
brother’s St. Bernard to meet the would-be suitor (John
Cusack).
Sky High The
son of superheroes enrolls in Sky High, a school that trains
power-gifted students to become superheroes themselves. Kurt
Russell and Kelly Preston are the superhero parents.
Stealth A
futuristic thriller about a fighter jet controlled by artificial
intelligence. After being assigned to an aircraft carrier in the
Pacific, it develops a mind of its own, and three Navy pilots must
stop it before it starts a war.
AUGUST 5
Broken Flowers (limited)
Bill Murray stars in independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s
study of an aging ladies man who receives an anonymous letter
concerning a son he didn’t know he had. He investigates the
mystery by visiting all of his old girlfriends.
The Dukes of Hazzard Redneck comedy returns in the film version of the
low-grade TV show. The story will probably take a back seat to the
short shorts worn by Daisy Duke (Jessica Simpson). Burt Reynolds
plays Boss Hogg.
The Pink Panther Trying
to replace Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau is a
giant risk, but Steve Martin may pull it off. Clouseau investigates
the murder of a soccer coach and the disappearance of the
“Pink Panther” diamond.
AUGUST 12
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo Rob Schneider returns as Deuce Bigalow, the
most popular of his vast array of obnoxious characters. Deuce takes
his charms to the women of Amsterdam (but probably not the ones
with high IQs).
Four Brothers Director John Singleton updates The
Sons of Katie Elder to modern
Detroit, where four brothers seek revenge for the murder of their
adoptive mother. Mark Wahlberg heads the cast.
Pretty Persuasion (limited)
Sundance Film Festival entry about a 15-year-old girl (Evan Rachel
Wood) who wreaks havoc when she accuses her drama teacher (Ron
Livingston) of sexual harassment.
The Skeleton Key A
hospice worker (Kate Hudson) in Louisiana who cares for the elderly
becomes embroiled in a voodoo cult.
AUGUST 15
Red Eye A
young woman (Rachel McAdams) with a fear of flying has more to
worry about on her flight. The man seated next to her makes her a
pawn in an assassination plot. Directed by horror master Wes
Craven.
AUGUST 19
Asylum (limited)
The wife (Natasha Richardson) of the new superintendent of a
maximum-security psychiatric prison falls in love with one the
inmates, a sculptor who murdered his wife. Ian McKellen co-stars.
Domino Keira
Knightley stars in the title role as a privileged Beverly Hills
model who abandons her luxury lifestyle to become a bounty hunter.
Believe it or not, this is the true story of actor Laurence
Harvey’s daughter.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin Steve Carell, who seems to be everywhere lately,
stars as a man who has one thing missing from his life. Just when
it seems he is about to get over this hump, he agrees to have a
no-sex relationship with his new girlfriend (Catherine Keener).
Valiant Disney’s
latest animated feature stars the voice of Ewan McGregor as
Valiant, a misfit who worms his way into the Royal Pigeon Service
during World War II. Ben Kingsley, Jim Broadbent, and John Cleese
are among the other voice stars.
AUGUST 26
The Cave A group
of spelunkers disappears in the world’s largest cave system,
and a team of expert cave explorers is sent to the rescue. The
rescuers themselves become trapped and then hunted down by
monstrous creatures.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2005.
