Summer blockbusters arrive early

From Sin City to Star Wars III, audiences will get a chance to see a little bit of everything

If you were wondering why we've being seeing an onslaught of bad horror movies lately (Cursed, Boogeyman, Hide & Seek), as well as bad romantic comedies (The Wedding Date, Man of the House), it's because Hollywood studios are reluctant to release major movies during the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards, preferring to dump a product in which they've basically lost faith.
The two big movie seasons are, of course, summer and the holidays, but in recent years the former is beginning earlier and earlier, making the spring one of the key calendar dates for releases. And this year the titles seem hopeful and impressive.
One of the most talked about movies of the season is Robert Rodriguez's Sin City. Here the director is determined to make a real comic-book movie, meaning this story of crime and corruption uses a blend of computer-generated images and live action with Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Jessica Alba and Clive Owen starring. All this is based on Frank Miller's award-winning, graphic novels. This scribe has already viewed the picture, and nothing like it has ever been seen on the big screen before. Violent, but fantastic.
For those seeking romance and adventure, it's difficult to resist real-life lovers Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz in Sahara. Directed by Breck Eisner, the film stars Steve Zahn as their sidekick who stops their quest for a sunken treasure on the Nile just long enough to save mankind from a mysterious plague. Based on the best-selling novel by Clive Cussler, the story centres on NUMA (National Underwater Marine Agency) agent and master explorer Dirk Pitt (McConaughey), who discovers that thousands of North Africans are being driven mad by something polluting the water. If unchecked, the entire world population could be threatened.
Bobby and Peter Farrelly join Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon to take us out to a ball game, or two, in Fever Pitch, the story of a die-hard Red Sox fan who finds a girl to love as much as he does his favourite team. A high-school teacher (Fallon) meets and falls in love with a successful businesswoman (Barrymore). Although their lives are vastly different, the relationship seems perfect until the baseball season begins and she has to compete with his first true love: the Boston Red Sox. Fallon sucked big time in Taxi. Let's hope he's honed his chops for this.
Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle out-grossed every other movie that opened in Asia last year, and with good reason. This hilarious comedy, set amid the chaos of pre-revolutionary China, centres on small-time thief Sing. He aspires to be one of the sophisticated and ruthless Axe Gang, whose underworld activities overshadow the city. Stumbling across a crowded apartment complex aptly known as "Pig Sty Alley," Sing attempts to extort money from one of the ordinary locals, but the neighbours are not what they appear. Sing's comical attempts at intimidation inadvertently attract the Axe Gang into the fray, setting off a chain of events that brings the two disparate worlds face-to-face. As the inhabitants of Pig Sty fight for their lives, the ensuing clash of kung fu titans unearths some legendary martial-arts masters.
From Canada comes Michael McGowan's gentle St. Ralph. With his father dead and his mother, Emma, critically ill in the hospital, ninth-grader Ralph Walker is hoping for a miracle to bring her back to health. He doesn't know how to make that miracle happen until he's forced to join the school's cross-country team as a punishment for misbehaving. Ralph begins to believe that if he could do something impossible, like win the Boston Marathon, it might be the miracle that could bring his mother out of a coma. It stars Campbell Scott and Gordon Pinsent.
Horror fans will flock to yet another remake of The Amityville Horror. Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George foolishly move into the haunted house that caused so much havoc back in the 1970s. On November 13, 1973, police received a frantic phone call that led them to a nightmarish crime scene at the Defeo residence in Amityville, Long Island - an entire family had been murdered in their beds while they slept. In the days that followed, Ronald Defeo eventually confessed to methodically killing his parents and four siblings with a rifle, saying "voices" in the house drove him to the massacre. One year later, George and Kathy Lutz and their children moved into the house, thinking it would be their dream home. But soon the voices began again. Sleepless nights. Numbing cold. Visions of a murdered little girl. Then George began to do what the voices told him... 28 days after moving in, the Lutzes abandoned the residence - lucky to escape with their lives.
David Duchovny (of X-Files fame) dons the director's hat with House of D. An American artist living a bohemian existence in Paris, Tom Warshaw (Duchovny) is trying to make sense of his troubled adult life by reflecting upon his extraordinary childhood. The year is 1973, and 13-year-old Greenwich Village native Tommy Warshaw (Anton Yelchin) is on the brink of becoming a man. While his bereaved single mother (Téa Leoni) continues to mourn the death of his father, Tommy escapes his own grief by causing trouble at school and making afternoon meat deliveries with his best friend Pappas (Robin Williams), a mentally challenged janitor. Following the romantic advice offered by Lady (Erykah Badu) - incarcerated in the infamous Greenwich Village Women's House of Detention for shadowy reasons - Tommy even experiences his first taste of love. Yet when an unexpected tragedy radically alters his world, Tommy must make a life-defining choice - one that will compel the adult Tom Warshaw, 30 years later, to confront his unfinished past.
For love birds, it's Nigel Cole's A Lot Like Love, starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet as star-crossed lovers who can't commit even though their paths keep crossing over a seven-year period.
On the political thriller side comes Sidney Pollack's The Interpreter. African-born U.N. interpreter Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) inadvertently overhears a death threat against an African head of state scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly. Realizing she's become a target of the assassins as well, Silvia is desperate to thwart the plot if only she can survive long enough to get someone to believe her. Sean Penn is Tobin Keller, the federal agent charged with protecting the interpreter, who nonetheless suspects she may not be telling the whole truth.
Cheap comedy comes in the form of Jeff Byrd's King's Ransom, starring Anthony Anderson as Malcolm King, a wealthy and arrogant businessman whose ex-wife-to-be has plans to take him for everything he's worth in their divorce settlement. Determined to avoid losing his fortune to her, Malcolm plans his own kidnapping with the help of his dim-witted mistress and her ex-con brother. Unfortunately for Malcolm, he's not the only one with a kidnapping plot.
Garth Jenning's long-awaited The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy finally gets its theatrical release. Earthman Arthur Dent is having a very bad day. His house is about to be bulldozed, he discovers that his best friend is an alien and, to top things off, Planet Earth is about to be demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur's only chance for survival: hitch a ride on a passing spacecraft. For the novice space traveler, the greatest adventure in the universe begins when the world ends. Arthur sets out on a journey in which he finds that nothing is as it seems: he learns that a towel is just the most useful thing in the universe, finds the meaning of life, and discovers that everything he needs to know can be found in one book: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Stars Sam Rockwell, Mos Def and Zooey Deschanel. Based on the famous novels.
More action comes in the form of Lee Tamahori's XXX: State of the Union. NSA Agent Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson), fresh off the success of his last renegade recruitment, once again finds himself in need of an outsider. Gibbons and his new agent (Ice Cube), also code-named "XXX," must track a dangerous military splinter group that's conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government in the nation's capital.
Ridley Scott's controversial Kingdom of Heaven sees a May release. Based on supposed historical documents about the Crusades, the story centres on a 12th-century commoner (Orlando Bloom) who finds himself thrust into a decades-long war. A stranger in a strange land, he serves a doomed king, falls in love with an exotic and forbidden queen, and rises to knighthood. Ultimately, he must protect the people of Jerusalem from overwhelming forces - while striving to keep a fragile peace.
The spring ends with a bang, with George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. After three long years of relentless fighting, the Clone Wars are nearly at an end. The Jedi Council dispatches Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) to bring General Grievous, the deadly leader of the Separatist droid army, to justice. Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, Chancellor Palpatine has grown in power. His sweeping political changes transform the war-weary republic into the mighty Galactic Empire. To his closest ally, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), he reveals the true nature of power and the promised secrets of the Force in an attempt to lure him to the dark side.

Publication Date: 2005-04-03
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=5071