Movies of the Near Future: 2006!

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Hollywood aims big with X-Men, impossible missions and Superman in 2006
By David Germain
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In good years, Hollywood beats its chest and crows, “It’s all about the movies!” In bad years, like 2005, Hollywood looks for something to blame and whispers, “It’s all about the movies.”
Studio honchos hope it was just a weak crop of flicks that resulted in a seven per cent drop in movie attendance last year and that doomsayers are wrong in predicting home-entertainment options have eroded the big screen’s appeal.
If it really is all about the movies, 2006 stands a chance of turning Hollywood’s slump around with a film lineup that — on paper, at least — looks like a winner.
You’ve got your man of steel and your mutant superheroes. You’ve got your pirates of the high seas and your overturned luxury liner. You’ve got your cartoon cars and your talking animals. You’ve got your action spectacle from Tom Cruise and your passion project from Mel Gibson.
And you’ve got your usual load of sequels, remakes and potential sleepers, plus a couple of sobering films that will test the audiences’ tolerance for reliving tragedy as the five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approaches.
Here’s a rundown of Hollywood’s sure hits and safe bets, along with a peek at some other intriguing possibilities (where available, specific release dates are included):
CAN’T MISS:
Superman Returns (June 30): Admit it. For all the X-Men, Bat guys, Spideys and Fantastic Foursomes prancing around on screen, the Boy Scout from Krypton is still your favourite superhero.
Superman Returns has a fresh face, Brandon Routh.
“I never intended to cast a well-known actor,” said director Bryan Singer, who made the first two X-Men movies. “A known actor comes with baggage, and Superman as a character is much larger than any actor. I wanted him to come just with the baggage of the superhero. That’s enough history to contend with.”
The supporting cast does have star power though, with Kevin Spacey as super-villain Lex Luthor and Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane.
The premise: Having been called away on urgent off-world business, Superman comes back to Earth years later to renew his romantic dance with Lois and save us puny mortals — again.
Mission: Impossible III (May 5): Tom Cruise’s third go-round as super secret agent Ethan Hunt pits him against bad guy Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Hoffman, a character actor known for smaller, intimate films, said he was thrilled to mix it up with Cruise. The studio is keeping details under wraps, so Hoffman cannot say much other than that he’s the heavy.
“That’s about all I can tell, or they’ll put me in jail,” Hoffman said.
X3 (May 26): Those marvellous mutants return for what could be the final chapter in the X-Men saga. The whole crew is back, including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn and Famke Janssen, whose character seemingly died a watery death at the end of X2: X-Men United.
With new director Brett Ratner at the helm, the superpowered mutants find themselves slowly being more accepted into a society that feared them as freaks, only to face new turmoil when a “cure” is discovered for their mutant condition.
“If you could actually get rid of your special power which alienates you from the rest of the world, would you do it?” said Jackman, who reprises his role as Wolverine. “It’s a metaphor very much about intolerance, I think, fear of anything that’s different. If you could choose to not be Jewish or not be gay or not be African-American. Life maybe is not as easy if you’re a minority. Would you take the opportunity to change that if you could?”
Jackman said X3 would conclude the X-Men trilogy, though a Wolverine solo movie is in the works.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (July 7): Johnny Depp follows up his 2003 blockbuster, which earned him an Academy Award nomination, with the first of two sequels (part three follows in 2007).
Depp returns as woozy buccaneer Capt. Jack Sparrow, reunited with co-stars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley and director Gore Verbinski.
Poseidon (May 12): Director Wolfgang Petersen updates the 1970s disaster tale The Poseidon Adventure, about a monster tidal wave that tips an ocean liner upside down.
The cast of survivors struggling to the bottom, er, top of the vessel includes Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum and Richard Dreyfuss.
The Da Vinci Code (May 19): Take one runaway bestseller, add the directing-producing team of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer and reunite them with their Splash and Apollo 13 star, Tom Hanks.
Adapted from Dan Brown’s murder thriller that dissects the origins of Christianity, the film stars Hanks as a symbologist caught up in the mysteries of an ancient, shadowy religious society.
Casino Royale (Nov. 17): Daniel Craig becomes the sixth actor to play super-cool agent 007, with Judi Dench reprising her role as spymaster M in an adaptation of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel as our hero takes on a dastardly casino owner.
Cars (June 9): The folks at Pixar Animation present a cartoon comedy about talking automobiles. Owen Wilson, Paul Newman and Bonnie Hunt lead the voice cast in the tale of a race car that learns about life in the slow lane when he’s sidetracked into a snoozy burg called Radiator Springs.
Over the Hedge (May 19): Then you have DreamWorks Animation, whose latest cartoon centres on that demarcation line where human suburbia meets the realm of furry animals in the wild.
Among the voice cast: Bruce Willis as a wily raccoon, Garry Shandling as a timid turtle, Steve Carell as a frenzied squirrel, William Shatner as a possum that specializes in playing dead, Avril Lavigne as the possum’s daughter, Wanda Sykes as a saucy skunk and Nick Nolte as a bear.
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (March 31): A woolly mammoth, a sloth and a sabre-toothed tiger walk into a sequel ...
Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary reunite as mouthpieces for the mismatched trio from the 2002 animated smash, joined by Queen Latifah, who provides the voice of a fellow mammoth.
The gang this time must run for cover as global warming is about to melt a glacial dam and unleash a catastrophic flood. Fun for all the family.
———
SAFE BETS:
World Trade Center, (August), Flight 93 (April 28): Have we reached that point where the shock of Sept. 11, 2001, has worn off sufficiently where we want to see the events reprised on the big screen?
The curiosity factor — and two very different approaches — bode well for the first theatrical dramatizations about the terrorist attacks.
Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center stars Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena in the real-life story of Port Authority policemen trapped in the rubble of the twin towers.
Flight 93, directed by Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Supremacy) uses a casts of unknowns as passengers who fought back against terrorists on the plane that crashed Sept. 11 in rural Pennsylvania.
Miami Vice (July 28): Michael Mann oversaw the TV cop show that helped define hip ’80s style and music. Now he’s got Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell as his smooth new undercover cops as they take on Miami drug runners.
Underworld Evolution (Jan. 20): Kate Beckinsale’s back as the vampire in black, whose war with rival werewolves grows more complicated when she learns she has been betrayed by her bloodsucking kin.
The Shaggy Dog (March 10), The Santa Clause 3 (Nov. 3): Tim Allen’s back in the Disney fold, resurrecting the studio’s franchise as a district attorney mutated into a bushy canine and reprising his Kris Kringle role as Santa fights Jack Frost (Martin Short) for dominion over Christmas.
Flushed Away (Nov. 3): The makers of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit spin a computer-animated tale featuring the voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Ian McKellen in the story of a pampered rat washed down the drain from his cushy digs into the sewers.
Charlotte’s Web (Dec. 20): The live-action adaptation of E.B. White’s classic children’s tale features Dakota Fanning and the voices of Julia Roberts, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Robert Redford, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Buscemi.
———
SOUNDS PROMISING:
Apocalypto (summer): Mel Gibson scored the first blockbuster done in ancient languages with The Passion of the Christ. Now he tells a historical epic in the Mayan tongue of Yucateco, set before the 16th century Spanish conquest of Central America. Gibson says the film will be light on dialogue and heavy on imagery and action. Lethal arrow?
The Pink Panther (Feb. 10): If there’s an actor alive who maybe, possibly could resurrect Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau without bumbling his way to oblivion, it’s Steve Martin. Martin stars as the idiot savant French detective in a crime caper co-starring the actor’s old pal Kevin Kline as Clouseau’s long-suffering boss, along with Beyonce Knowles and Jean Reno.
Lady in the Water (July 21): M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs) spins another strange one, about a building super (Paul Giamatti) who discovers a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) living in the tunnels beneath the apartment complex’s swimming pool.
Other promising titles: Basic Instinct 2 (March 31) returns Sharon Stone to her femme-fatale role, this time preying the field in London; Nanny McPhee (Jan. 27) stars Emma Thompson, who also wrote the screenplay, as a nanny whose strange powers bring order to the household of a widower (Colin Firth) with seven unruly kids; Click (June 23) brings Adam Sandler the remote control of his dreams, a device that magically transforms his job and home life; The Lake House (June) reunites Speed stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock as romantic pen pals who learn they’re corresponding two years apart from each other; Stranger Than Fiction (Nov. 10) casts Will Ferrell as a man suddenly able to hear a mysterious narrator (Emma Thompson) chronicling his life — and impending death; Nacho Libre (June 2), from Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess, stars Jack Black as a Mexican priest who doubles as a wrestler to raise cash for his orphanage; The Break-Up (June 2) presents Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn as ex-lovers living in mutual hostility when neither will move out of the condo they share; My Super Ex-Girlfriend (July 14), directed by Ivan Reitman, has Uma Thurman as a superhero scorned who unleashes her powers on her ex-boyfriend (Luke Wilson) after he dumps her; Pursuit of Happyness (Dec. 15) puts Will Smith back in dramatic mode as a single dad who finds himself homeless with his young son; Flags of Our Fathers (fall), directed by Clint Eastwood, follows the story of the U.S. troops famously photographed raising the flag at Iwo Jima in the Second World War.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 19:47 (twenty years ago)

Haha, I saw the trailer for Apocalypto in the theater recently, and once the title flashed on the screen for the first time, the whole audience laughed.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 19:48 (twenty years ago)

CAN’T MISS:
Superman Returns

I knew I could stop reading here.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 19:51 (twenty years ago)

Haha, I saw the trailer for Apocalypto in the theater recently, and once the title flashed on the screen for the first time, the whole audience laughed.

Ha, the same thing happened to me. The whole audience also burst out laughing when, at the end of the trailer for Hoot, the voice-over adds "featuring original songs by Jimmy Buffett".

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 19:52 (twenty years ago)

The only things that make me excited here are Casino Royal and Basic Instinct 2!!!!!

and X3 by default.

No Manderlay?

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 19:53 (twenty years ago)

Stranger Than Fiction!

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 19:54 (twenty years ago)

what a terrible lede.

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 19:55 (twenty years ago)

Aside from the fact that it's a complete distortion of the truth--2005 wasn't a bad yr for movies, 2004 was just really good (money-wise) since all those people who normally only watch Left Behind movies in Church went to the Ciniplex to watch Jesus bleed--it's really, really awful, as well.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 19:57 (twenty years ago)

Everything about Over the Hedge sounds good, except Bruce Willis.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 20:00 (twenty years ago)

2006 looks like a great year for movies but not for anything listed there (except for maybe Miami Vice)

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 20:25 (twenty years ago)

Fuck Superman, where's Snakes on a Plane? The Pixar looks like the only one on that list I'll want to see. Except...I hated Mission Impossible 2 so much but Philip Seymour Hoffman? Maybe I can download a version with all the Tom Cruise edited out.

― Battle Raper II (noodle vague), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 20:26 (twenty years ago)

"prancing around on screen"

― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 20:31 (twenty years ago)

also

Nacho Libre (June 2), from Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess, stars Jack Black as a Mexican priest who doubles as a wrestler to raise cash for his orphanage;

holy shit, it's King: The Movie

http://www.bradygames.com/content/downloads/tekken5/king/king.jpg

― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 20:32 (twenty years ago)

For all the X-Men, Bat guys, Spideys and Fantastic Foursomes prancing around on screen, the Boy Scout from Krypton is still your favourite superhero

I could give a shit about superheroes nowadays but even as I kid I never gave a fuck about Superman. Even when I was enjoying the Superman movies.

― Battle Raper II (noodle vague), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 20:34 (twenty years ago)

I'm looking forward to Supes if only for the sheer genius of casting Spacey as Lex Luthor.

And Pirates.. although I'm not entirely sure if it could ever top the original.

― Roz (Roz), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 20:50 (twenty years ago)

i'm pretty sure it's still too early to make movies about sept. 11.

― bsj30 (bsj30), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 21:27 (twenty years ago)

"Haha, I saw the trailer for Apocalypto in the theater recently, and once the title flashed on the screen for the first time, the whole audience laughed."

I don't get it. Why?

― Lovelace (Lovelace), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 21:37 (twenty years ago)

It makes the Apocalypse sound so Carmen Miranda?

― Battle Raver II (noodle vague), Wednesday, 18 January 2006 21:39 (twenty years ago)

SOUNDS PROMISING: . . . The Pink Panther

Seeing how this movie got pushed from summer 2005 to the dumping ground of Feb. 2006 after preview audiences hated it . . . not so much.

Charlotte’s Web (Dec. 20): The live-action adaptation of E.B. White’s classic children’s tale features Dakota Fanning and the voices of Julia Roberts, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Robert Redford, Cedric the Entertainer and Steve Buscemi.

If Steve Buscemi is not Templeton the rat, something is VERY VERY WRONG with the casting.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Thursday, 19 January 2006 00:28 (twenty years ago)

So, no love for The Departed, that Scorsese remake of hot-shit HK cop/mob drama Infernal Affairs? I mean holy damn, look at the cast! And I really wanna know the context for this.

― disco violence (disco violence), Thursday, 19 January 2006 03:02 (twenty years ago)

Hmm... I'm laying cash down now on Vera Farmiga getting a supporting Oscar nomination next year. Then everyone can feel all smug about "she should've been nominated for Down to the Bone last year."

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 19 January 2006 03:05 (twenty years ago)

I'm excited about anything Paul Greengrass might be doing (due to my love of The Bourne Supremacy and rumours of WATCHMEN), so I guess I'm excited about Flight 93...

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Thursday, 19 January 2006 03:32 (twenty years ago)

how are any of those "safe bets" safe bets?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 19 January 2006 03:36 (twenty years ago)

Superman Returns (June 30): Admit it. For all the X-Men, Bat guys, Spideys and Fantastic Foursomes prancing around on screen, the Boy Scout from Krypton is still your favourite superhero.

Stop telling me what to think! You're not my real mother!

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Thursday, 19 January 2006 03:38 (twenty years ago)

Man, Spidey is way the hell cooler. Superman is a dick.

― disco violence (disco violence), Thursday, 19 January 2006 03:50 (twenty years ago)

YES, WE'VE SEEN THE DICK SUPERMAN PAGE.

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 19 January 2006 03:55 (twenty years ago)

Jeez, settle down, Clark

― disco violence (disco violence), Thursday, 19 January 2006 04:16 (twenty years ago)

Black Lois pwns Superman is a Dick, anyway.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 23 January 2006 17:54 (twenty years ago)

The thought of a new Pink Panther movie is oddly appealing to me, and Steve Martin looks like he could do a pretty good Clouseau from that trailer, but I have a nagging suspicion that the trailer already contains most of the movie's best jokes.

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:08 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I seem to recall the new Pink Panther movie being advertised for LAST summer at one point (ads in comic books?), and nobody ever holds back a movie's release because it's really good. But I will probably put this on my list of terrible movies I want to see because they might give me a handful of laughs (I am planning on watching the Eugene Levy/Sam Jackson buddy-cop movie).

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:11 (twenty years ago)

From June 2005:

LOS ANGELES, California (Hollywood Reporter) -- Sony Pictures said Monday it has pulled the Steve Martin comedy "The Pink Panther" from its summer schedule, delaying the movie until February 10.

The Shawn Levy-helmed comedy, starring Martin in the role made famous by Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, was one of the films absorbed by Sony when it acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. in April, and was scheduled for an August 5 bow.

"With the recent acquisition of MGM, we wanted to give our marketing department the time and opportunity to launch this very important franchise," Sony Pictures Releasing president Rory Bruer said. "We've seen the movie, and we really love this film. It's a franchise we believe in and are really excited about, and Steve Martin is great as Clouseau."

Ummm. Yeah.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 January 2006 18:13 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

dear fans of bad action movies, this years Man On Fire is here: Running Scared! i caught a preview of it last week, and i dont think ive ever seen a movie this garish, hysterical and gory. directed by the same guy who did The Cooler, unbelievably.

― Yawn (Wintermute), Monday, 13 February 2006 00:23 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

Highlights of Hollywood’s summer lineup
By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Highlights of Hollywood’s summer film slate. Release dates are tentative, and some films play in limited release.
Late April:
AKEELAH AND THE BEE: A precocious inner-city girl (Keke Palmer) earns a shot in a national spelling bee. With Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett.
AMERICAN DREAMZ: All-American satire: Paul Weitz (American Pie) spoofs the Bush White House and American Idol. With Dennis Quaid, Hugh Grant and Mandy Moore.
CLEAN: A rock star’s widow (Maggie Cheung) tries to kick her drug habit and reconnect with her young son. Nick Nolte co-stars.
THE LOST CITY: Andy Garcia directs and stars as a Havana nightclub owner witnessing the Cuban revolution in the 1950s. With Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray.
RV: Robin Williams hits the road as a harried businessman on a family vacation. Barry Sonnenfeld directs, Jeff Daniels and Cheryl Hines co-star.
THE SENTINEL: A Secret Service agent races to clear his name after he’s accused in a presidential assassination plot. With Michael Douglas and Kiefer Sutherland.
SILENT HILL: A mom (Radha Mitchell) tries to rescue her daughter from an eerie, fog-shrouded town. With Sean Bean.
STICK IT: A teen lawbreaker (Missy Peregrym) is sentenced to a gymnastics academy run by a no-nonsense coach (Jeff Bridges).
UNITED 93: The tragedy of Sept. 11 is recreated in a drama about the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against hijackers.

May:
AMERICAN HAUNTING: A family in the early 1800s is terrorized by a supernatural presence. With Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland.
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL: Murder and mayhem shadow an art student’s quest for fame. With Max Minghella, John Malkovich and Jim Broadbent.
THE DA VINCI CODE: Tom Hanks is the symbologist unlocking ancient secrets in Ron Howard’s adaptation of the bestselling murder thriller.
DOWN IN THE VALLEY: A cowboy (Edward Norton) and a discontented teen (Evan Rachel Wood) begin a forbidden romance.
GOAL! THE DREAM BEGINS: A Mexican-American soccer prodigy (Kuno Becker) wins a slot on one of England’s top teams.
HOOT: Three teens try to save endangered howls from heartless land developers. With Luke Wilson and Tim Blake Nelson.
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH: Al Gore’s campaign to educate the world on the dangers of global warming are explored in this documentary.
JUST MY LUCK: Lindsay Lohan plays a college grad whose lifelong good fortune evaporates when she kisses a stranger plagued by bad luck.
KEEPING UP WITH THE STEINS: It’s bar mitzvah time for a boy (Daryl Sabara) and his dysfunctional family. With Jeremy Piven, Garry Marshall and Daryl Hannah.
THE KING: An ex-sailor (Gael Garcia Bernal) sets out to ruin the life of the father (William Hurt) who rejected him.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III: Superagent Tom Cruise takes on an icy villain (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Ving Rhames co-stars, J.J. Abrams (Lost) directs.
OVER THE HEDGE: Woodsy critters meet encroaching humans in an animated comedy from the makers of Shrek. Bruce Willis and Garry Shandling lead the voice cast.
POSEIDON: Disaster, ’70s style, returns with Wolfgang Petersen’s remake about an overturned ocean liner. With Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfuss.
THE PROMISE: A princess becomes the romantic object for a duke, a general and a slave in this fantasy set in ancient China.
THE PROPOSITION: An outlaw (Guy Pearce) in 1880s Australia must track and kill his maniacal brother to save another sibling. With Emily Watson.
SEE NO EVIL: Wrestling star Kane plays a hulking psychopath out for blood against petty crooks doing community service at the abandoned hotel where he lives.
SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY: Sydney Pollack directs his first documentary, a portrait of his friend, architect Gehry.
TWELVE AND HOLDING: A teen’s death at the hands of bullies forces three youths to come to grips with the tragedy. With Annabella Sciorra.
WAH-WAH: Actor Richard E. Grant directs a semi-autobiographical tale of his boyhood in Swaziland. With Gabriel Byrne and Emily Watson.
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND: The mutant heroes face a choice: Retain their powers or become normal. With Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen and Patrick Stewart.

June:
THE BREAK-UP: Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn are lovers on the outs but still sharing their condo when neither will vacate the place.
CARS: A race car finds speed isn’t everything after he gets stuck in a sleepy burgh in animation master John Lasseter’s tale. Owen Wilson and Paul Newman provide voices.
CLICK: Adam Sandler discovers a remote control that magically lets him control his work and home life. With Kate Beckinsale and Christopher Walken.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA: Meryl Streep’s a demanding fashion magazine editor, Anne Hathaway’s her put-upon assistant.
DISTRICT B13: A cop tracks a weapon of mass destruction that has fallen into the hands of a gang that controls a Paris ghetto in the near future.
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT: A street racer gets caught up in Japan’s underground speed scene. With Lucas Black and Bow Wow.
GARFIELD’S A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES: Bill Murray’s back as the voice of the comic-strip fat cat in a British adventure. With Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
THE GREAT NEW WONDERFUL: Five New Yorkers get on with life in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. With Maggie Gyllenhaal, Olympia Dukakis and Tony Shalhoub.
THE HEART OF THE GAME: A documentary relates an inner-city teenage girl’s legal fight to reclaim her basketball eligibility. Narrated by Ludacris.
THE LAKE HOUSE: Speed stars Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves reunite in a time-twisting romantic drama about penpals separated by two years.
LEONARD COHEN: I’M YOUR MAN: This documentary chronicles a tribute show to poet-songwriter Cohen, featuring U2, Nick Cave and Beth Orton.
LOVERBOY: Kevin Bacon directs and co-stars with wife Kyra Sedgwick in the drama of a single mother fiercely obsessed with her son.
NACHO LIBRE: A cook (Jack Black) at a Mexican orphanage moonlights as a wrestler to raise cash for the kids. Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite) directs.
THE OMEN: Damien the boy Antichrist returns in a remake of the ’70s horror flick. With Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber and Mia Farrow.
PEACEFUL WARRIOR: An injured gymnast (Scott Mechlowicz) works to heal body and spirit with help from a mysterious mentor (Nick Nolte). Amy Smart co-stars.
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION: Robert Altman offers a fanciful look at Garrison Keillor’s radio show. With Keillor, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline and Lindsay Lohan.
THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO: A docudrama chronicles the two-year detainment of three British citizens at a U.S. military prison. Michael Winterbottom co-directs.
STRANGERS WITH CANDY: A woman returns to the home she abandoned 32 years earlier and resumes her teenage life in a tale based on the Comedy Central show.
SUPERMAN RETURNS: The Man of Steel (Brandon Routh), Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) and Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) are back at it. Bryan Singer directs.
WAIST DEEP: A street tough (Tyrese Gibson) who’s turned straight goes on a rampage to rescue his son from a crime lord.
WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR?: A documentary examines the promise and failure of energy-efficient electric vehicles.
WORDPLAY: Bill Clinton, Jon Stewart and the Indigo Girls are among crossword devotees in this documentary featuring puzzle master Will Shortz.

July:
BARNYARD: When the farmer’s away, the livestock will play in this animated comedy featuring the voices of Kevin James, Danny Glover and Courteney Cox.
THE GROOMSMEN: Wedding jitters stress a bridegroom and his pals. Director Edward Burns stars with John Leguizamo, Brittany Murphy and Donal Logue.
I COULD NEVER BE YOUR WOMAN: Michelle Pfeiffer’s a single mom involved with a younger man (Paul Rudd) and bedevilled by Mother Nature (Tracey Ullman).
JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE: Three teenage girls learn they’ve all been dating the same guy and conspire with a newcomer to wreck his life.
LADY IN THE WATER: M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) spins a fantasy about a water nymph (Bryce Dallas Howard) and a jaded loner (Paul Giamatti).
LITTLE MAN: Brothers Keenen Ivory, Marlon and Shawn Wayans tell the tale of a man who mistakes a diminutive crook for his adopted son.
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE: A family takes a farcical road trip to get their seven-year-old to her beauty pageant. With Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Steve Carell.
MIAMI VICE: Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell go undercover in an update of the TV cop series. The show’s creator, Michael Mann, directs.
MONSTER HOUSE: Three kids take on a spooky building in an animated tale with voices by Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Nick Cannon.
MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND: Uma Thurman’s a superhero out for payback against the boyfriend (Luke Wilson) who dumped her.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE NEW YORK COSMOS: The tale of the soccer team starring Pele is examined in this documentary. Matt Dillon narrates.
PATHFINDER: A Viking raised by Indians squares off against his marauding blood relations in pre-Columbian North America. With Karl Urban.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST: Johnny Depp does the buccaneer thing again, battling sea demon Davy Jones for his soul.
PULSE: Wireless technology opens a gateway to our world for life-sucking denizens from another realm. With Kristen Bell.
A SCANNER DARKLY: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr. and Winona Ryder star in Richard Linklater’s sci-fi tale of an undercover drug cop in the future.
TIME TO LEAVE: The perfect life of a Parisian photographer (Melvil Poupaud) is shattered when he learns he’s dying. With Jeanne Moreau.
THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON: A documentary examines how the former Beatle’s fierce anti-war stance made him an undesirable among the feds.
WONDROUS OBLIVION: A British boy in the 1960s and his Jamaican neighbour (Delroy Lindo) share a passion for cricket.
YOU, ME AND DUPREE: Owen Wilson becomes an unwanted permanent house guest for a buddy and his bride (Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson).

August-Early September:
ACCEPTED: Rejected by real universities, a teen (Justin Long) and his buddies start their own college.
THE ANT BULLY: Ants shrink a boy to their size and put him to work in their colony in an animated tale with voices by Nicolas Cage and Julia Roberts.
BEERFEST: Broken Lizard, the gang that made Super Troopers, brew up a comedy about an Olympic-style beer-drinking spree.
CLERKS II: The clerks and slackers of Kevin Smith’s indie hit cope with adulthood. Smith co-stars with Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes and Rosario Dawson.
CRANK: A poisoned hitman (Jason Statham) races the clock to find an antidote and protect his girlfriend (Amy Smart).
CROSSOVER: Two street basketball players (Anthony Mackie and Wesley Jonathan) take on the reigning champs of the underground sport.
THE DESCENT: Six women are trapped on their annual cave-exploring trip and hunted by ravenous subterranean creatures.
DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE: The video game hits the big screen in an action thriller with Devon Aoki and Jaime Pressly.
FACTOTUM: Matt Dillon stars as a boozy writer in an adaptation of Charles Bukowski’s novel about his fictional alter-ego.
FLYBOYS: Two boys who stow away aboard a small plane find themselves hurled into a mob drama. With Tom Sizemore and Stephen Baldwin.
HALF-NELSON: An inspiring teacher (Ryan Gosling) struggles with a drug problem as he tries to mentor a troubled student (Shareeka Epps).
HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS: The new kid at school tries to win the respect of classmates by accepting a dare to eat 10 worms.
IDLEWILD: Andre (Andre 3000) Benjamin and Antwan (Big Boi) Patton of OutKast star in a musical set in a 1930s speakeasy. With Terrence Howard, Ving Rhames and Macy Gray.
THE ILLUSIONIST: A magician (Edward Norton) is caught up in a murder tale in Vienna in 1900. With Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel.
INVINCIBLE: A substitute teacher and bartender (Mark Wahlberg) earns a Cinderella slot on a pro football team during open tryouts. With Greg Kinnear.
THE NIGHT LISTENER: A radio show host (Robin Williams) is swept up in a dark mystery over a young fan (Rory Culkin) and his adopted mother (Toni Collette).
QUINCEANERA: The top prize winner at this year’s Sundance Film Festival traces a rite of passage for a Hispanic teen (Emily Rios) amid culture clash in Los Angeles.
THE REAPING: An ex-missionary (Hilary Swank) must renew her shattered faith to battle dark forces threatening a Louisiana town.
THE RETURN: Haunted by visions of a murder, a woman (Sarah Michelle Gellar) tries to solve her supernatural mystery. With Sam Shepard.
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP: Dreams and reality merge for a shy man (Gael Garcia Bernal) smitten with his neighbour (Charlotte Gainsbourg).
SNAKES ON A PLANE: Samuel L. Jackson’s an FBI guy fighting deadly reptiles unleashed on a commercial airliner.
STORMBREAKER: After the death of his secret-agent uncle (Ewan MacGregor), a British teen (Alex Pettyfer) inherits his spying mission. With Mickey Rourke.
TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY: Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are NASCAR partners challenged by a French newcomer.
TRUST THE MAN: Love and marriage gets comic treatment among four New Yorkers (Julianne Moore, David Duchovny, Billy Crudup and Maggie Gyllenhaal).
WORLD TRADE CENTER: A Sept. 11 drama centres on two policemen (Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena) trapped in the rubble of the twin towers. Oliver Stone directs.
ZOOM: An out-of-shape ex-superhero (Tim Allen) trains a group of kids as the next batch of world saviours. With Courteney Cox.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Monday, 17 April 2006 19:25 (twenty years ago)

Clean has what is maybe the most vulnerable, touching performance of Nick Nolte's career. Maggie Cheung is OK too.

I might only see Altman, Linklater, Francois Ozon (Time to Leave), Zwigoff's Art School and Down in the Valley from that list.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 17 April 2006 19:40 (twenty years ago)

GARFIELD’S A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES: Bill Murray’s back as the voice of the comic-strip fat cat in a British adventure. With Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

I was about to ask "was the first one anything other than an unabashed box-office disaster?" But then I saw it somehow made about a hundred million domestically and foreign... ?!

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 17 April 2006 19:46 (twenty years ago)

dude, we live in a world where Failure to Launch is gonna approach $90 mill. And they're doing a second Fantastic Four!

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:02 (twenty years ago)

At least Failure to Launch has a certain zeitgeist appeal, what with all those kids moving back in with the parents after college, et al. Whereas this:

ZOOM: An out-of-shape ex-superhero (Tim Allen) trains a group of kids as the next batch of world ~~soldiers~~ saviours. With Courteney Cox.

is a bit played out.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:05 (twenty years ago)

I intend to see AlGore, PollackGehry, Altmanbegon, PetersonBoat, LeNascar, BeforeWormhole, IAssureYouWeHaveReturned, and 70sNYC

I might see AmyEmily&Bill, BrittanyBurns (but Jay Mohr! Augh!), Andre&BigBoiGoToTheCottonClub, NortonWien, Sundance, either NewYorkYuppies, either AdrianCronauer, Britsaredifferent and RuckerPark

A cowboy (Edward Norton)

lol

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:08 (twenty years ago)

A magician (Edward Norton)

― latebloomer's jazz oddysey brought to you by kellog's corn flakes (latebloomer), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:10 (twenty years ago)

A viking (Edward Norton)

― latebloomer's jazz oddysey brought to you by kellog's corn flakes (latebloomer), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:10 (twenty years ago)

An astronaut (Edward Norton)

― latebloomer's jazz oddysey brought to you by kellog's corn flakes (latebloomer), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:11 (twenty years ago)

strangely amused by one of the few competent lead actors in (mostly) studio films?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:12 (twenty years ago)

I intend to see AlGore, PollackGehry, Altmanbegon, PetersonBoat, LeNascar, BeforeWormhole, IAssureYouWeHaveReturned, and 70sNYC

I might see AmyEmily&Bill, BrittanyBurns (but Jay Mohr! Augh!), Andre&BigBoiGoToTheCottonClub, NortonWien, Sundance, either NewYorkYuppies, either AdrianCronauer, Britsaredifferent and RuckerPark

Stop it.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:12 (twenty years ago)

i think all of these movies would be funnier with Edward Norton in them

― latebloomer's jazz oddysey brought to you by kellog's corn flakes (latebloomer), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:13 (twenty years ago)

SILENT HILL: A mom (Edward Norton) tries to rescue her daughter from an eerie, fog-shrouded town. With Sean Bean.
HALF-NELSON: An inspiring teacher (Edward Norton) struggles with a drug problem as he tries to mentor a troubled student (Shareeka Epps).
THE REAPING: An ex-missionary (Edward Norton) must renew her shattered faith to battle dark forces threatening a Louisiana town.
LADY IN THE WATER: M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) spins a fantasy about a water nymph (Edward Norton) and a jaded loner (Paul Giamatti).
WONDROUS OBLIVION: A British boy in the 1960s and his Jamaican neighbour (Edward Norton) share a passion for cricket.

― latebloomer's jazz oddysey brought to you by kellog's corn flakes (latebloomer), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:15 (twenty years ago)

oh i'll probably try to see Winterbottom too, and maybe AdamAnt (tho I never saw the first one)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

M. Night Shyamalan (Edward Norton)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:17 (twenty years ago)

gah, I tried to watch Clean this weekend but I was distracted (by blowjobs)

― Fight the Real Enemy -- Tasti D-Lite (ex machina), Monday, 17 April 2006 20:21 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Anyone else looking forward to The Devil Wears Prada? Anyone, please?

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 00:53 (twenty years ago)

you must be joking

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 01:17 (twenty years ago)

Part of me thinks that Anne Hathaway is such a bad, drama-camp ready actress it will be funny.

The other part of me just really likes chick flicks.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 01:19 (twenty years ago)

I keep meaning to re-check out the Prairie Home Companion radio show in anticipation of the movie. Because I've never quite...gotten Keillor's whole deal. I think it might just not be my thing, but I'm hoping that won't hinder my enjoyment of the movie. I anticipate that much of the onstage action will recall the Opry scenes from Nashville. Altman is still pretty much my favorite director, and he's still dropping really good films among the duds (although I'm still fairly unconvinced that Dr. T. And The Women is anything but a lump of turd, The Company was beautiful and way underrated).

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 02:36 (twenty years ago)

i like how in that article oliver stone's world trade center movie, underworld: evolution and the shaggy dog remake w/tim allen are all "safe bets."

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 03:25 (twenty years ago)

I'm tentatively anticipating the fuck out of The Devil Wears Prada, provided it doesn't turn into Just Another Anne Hathaway flick. Films where the first three minutes are a really good trailer = classic (sometimes).

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 19 May 2006 23:50 (twenty years ago)

yeah it'll probably be exactly like brokeback mountain and ella enchanted!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 20 May 2006 00:04 (twenty years ago)

I think you know what I mean.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Saturday, 20 May 2006 00:41 (twenty years ago)

Am I alone in thinking that Anne Hathaway is a terrible actress? Everything about her reminds me of girls way into Broadway musicals and theater whose acting mostly involved wacky new outfits and sounding surprised.

― milo z (mlp), Saturday, 20 May 2006 00:42 (twenty years ago)

Wait, "I am not skinny"? Hahaha

― milo z (mlp), Saturday, 20 May 2006 00:45 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

holy shit is 'renaissance' bad

― gear (gear), Friday, 29 September 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

R Downey Jr is... Iron Man

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 29 September 2006 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

I'm looking forward to more films over the next month than the rest of the year combined. I hope The Prestige and Children of Men and Babel don't blow, at least.

― milo z (mlp), Friday, 29 September 2006 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

Children of Men, at least, does not blow in the slightest.

― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Saturday, 30 September 2006 01:18 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.