May 4

The Mummy Returns

May 11

A Knight's Tale

May 18

Angel Eyes

Shrek

All audiences should find something to enjoy in Shrek, a computer-animated film which, a la the musical Into the Woods and Rocky and Bullwinkle's "Fractured Fairytales," turns the fairytale world of the Brothers Grimm and Disney upside down. The film, based on the storybook by William Steig, revolves around the character of Shrek, voiced by Mike Myers, a smelly ogre who enjoys solitude. The isolation of his home, however, is threatened by the power-hungry, midget Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow '67) who forcefully relocates all the fairy tale characters from his theme-park-like kingdom to Shrek's swamp. In order to live in peace, Shrek strikes a deal with Farquaad: if the ogre rescues Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from her enchanted castle, the evil ruler will remove the new members of Shrek's swamp community. Add an incessantly talking donkey sidekick (voiced by Eddie Murphy) to the mix, and you have yourself one twisted, yet potentially hilarious fairy tale. And don't forget the film's extras: those favorite fictional characters of yours and mine. The film's trailer promises cameos by everyone from the Gingerbread Man, to Pinocchio, to Snow White, to the obligatory, fire-breathing dragon. Also be on the look out for the film's parodying of Disney, video games, and hit films such as The Matrix.

May 25

Pearl Harbor

Possibly the most widely anticipated release this summer, producer Jerry Bruckheimer's Pearl Harbor is a $135 million epic story about a certain air raid that plunged our nation into WWII. Like Titanic, it features a love triangle (between the very attractive Kate Beckinsale and hunks Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett), shots of ships sliding perpendicularly into the sea, as well as awe-inspiring special effects; where the movie should really shine, is not only the imagery of flaming wreckage littering the Hawaiian landscape, but also the truly haunting sight of warplanes flying so close to the ground that baseball-playing kids and laundry-drying housewives must duck for cover. As the two leading men, Hartnett and Affleck (who character is ridiculously named Rafe) play childhood best friends who happen to be daredevil fighter pilots. They inevitably fall in love with the same woman (Beckinsale), although their romance must take a seat to a backdrop of terrifying destruction. An exploration of emotion, the film looks to be about loss of innocence, both of America and of the participants, and can serve as a cautionary tale commemorating the nation's greatest military debacle. Early reports indicate that the love story-contrived and imbecilic as most Hollywood romances are-hits a new low in cliché-ridden gloppiness. If this movie falls flat, well, Matt Damon always was the better half of that friendship.

June 1

The Animal

Moulin Rouge

With headliner Nicole Kidman's recent separation from former hubby Tom Cruise, the most interesting buzz surrounding Moulin Rouge has had nothing to do with the production at all. Set in 1890s Paris, Kidman plays the famous burlesque house's star performer, whose charms simultaneously catch the eye of a poor, impetuous poet (Ewan McGregor) and a wealthy, bombastic impresario (Jim Broadbent). With the former promising romance and the latter offering a chance at international stardom, the "hooker with a heart of gold" is torn between the two, and inevitable chaos ensues. Grand musical numbers and sumptuous period costumes give director Baz Luhrman an excuse to work his intensely visual style; his richly textured and lavishly orchestrated compositions are bound to captivate, as they did in Romeo + Juliet. If Luhrman has learned anything since then, it's that he can't treat romance glibly, but he's still relying on pop-culture icons to underscore his narratives. How a 19th century costume drama has a soundtrack featuring Lil' Kim and Pink boggles the mind. Just looking to the opening sequence (they're usually spectacular) and the promise of Kidman doing the can-can will ensure great box office receipts. It may be, as the trailers say, "A Story About Love", but it's also about Ewan MacGregor singing. Badly.

June 8

Swordfish

Atlantis

Evolution

In his latest science fiction/comedy film, Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman once again deals with a team of individuals fighting the big, scary, and slimy. However, this group, consisting of X Files' David Duchovny, Dude, Where's My Car's Seann William Scott, 7 Up's spokesman Orlando Jones, and Academy Award nominated Julianne Moore, does not battle ghosts and ghouls. Rather, this fantastic four battles the creatures of our evolutionary past after a meteor's collision with Earth sets off a repeat of the world's four-billion year evolutionary period in the duration of a month. Respective

physical and fratboy comedians Jones and Scott will no doubt bring laughs with their traditional slapstick antics. More surprising and perhaps more enticing are the unconventional roles of Duchovny and Moore in a comedy. Judging by the film's trailer, in which Duchovny rocks out in a Jeep with his two male cohorts and Moore trips embarrassingly upon introducing herself to a group of individuals, the two actors are game. The film's tagline reads "Have a nice end of the world." If it succeeds in its goal, viewers of Evolution will have a nice laugh in the process.

June 15

Tomb Raider

June 22

Dr. Dolittle 2

It's multiple-choice time. Eddie Murphy is reprising his role as the veterinarian who can speak to animals, only this time around, he's living in the forest, and his animal friends are organizing their first labor strike. If the sequel is anything like the original, we can expect:

A. A dog (voiced by Norm MacDonald) telling fart jokes.

B. Turtles talking about (and having) sex.

C. Rodents claiming they have "been violated."

D. The beaver mafia.

E. All of the above.

If you guessed E, then you're correct, but don't be too cynical. This kind of shtick has landed Murphy huge box-office receipts, powered by the same people who lined up to see Big Mamma and The Nutty Professor 2. Anticipate another wildly physical, generally wacky comedy performance from him, but realize that the movie will be a one trick pony with cataracts and arthritic joints.

June 29

Rat Race

A.I.

Set sometime in the 21st century, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence depicts life on earth after the Greenhouse Effect has melted the polar icecaps and flooded many coastal cities, submerging them in water. Human beings have come to not only depend upon computers for survival, but also come to befriend machines with artificial intelligence for friendship. Directed and written by Steven Spielberg, A.I. specifically tells the story of one boy robot (Haley Joel Osment) and his quest to becoming what movie teasers have described as "something more." Many people look forward to A.I.'s June 29th summer release either because it is Steven Spielberg's next movie or because it would have been Stanley Kubric's last. Spielberg's screenplay was based upon Stanley Kubric's 80-page treatment of a short story by Brian Aldiss, Super-Toys Last All Summer Long. In addition to starring America's favorite child actor Osment, this film will also star Jude Law as Gigolo Joe, Jake Thomas as Martin Swinton, William Hurt, France O'Connor, and Sam Robards. Narrated by Robin Williams, this modern tale of Pinnochio was

filmed in both Los Angeles and the Caribbean.

July 4

Scary Movie II

Cats and Dogs

July 11

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

A completely CGi film based on the popular computer game series. Features the voices of Alec Baldwin, Ming-na, James Woods and Donald Sutherland.

July 13

The Score

Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro and Ed Norton star as three generations of thieves, planning-what else-a final heist.

July 18

America's Sweethearts

A must for romantic comedy lovers: Julia Roberts stars as Kiki, the sister of popular film star Gwen (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who finds herself attracted to her sister's estranges actor husband, played by John Cusack. Co-stars Billy Crystal, Hank Azaria, and Seth Green.

Jurassic Park III

More dinos, but this time, not only do they chase Sam Neill, they also terrify William H. Macy and Tea Leoni.

July 27

Planet of the Apes

What? Mark Wahlberg is doing a movie without George Clooney? What? Tim Burton is finally directing again? What? A _Planet of the Apes_ without kitsch? That's what the newly updated version of the 1968 science fiction classic is shaping up to be: a visceral, dynamic action movie that deviates so far from the original that it's almost unrecognizable. It's hard to imagine anyone besides Charlton Heston battling those "damned dirty apes," but Wahlberg fills his shoes well, and in a fitting, but rare touch, Heston appears in an ape cameo. As a US Air Force pilot, Wahlberg crash lands on a foreign planet, only to be captured by highly evolved intelligent apes (led by a costumed Michael Clarke Duncan) that run their society like a violent, fascist dictatorship and have the helmets to match. Humans are marginalized and degraded as captive slaves, a treatment that inspires Wahlberg to escape from monkey prison and lead a human

rebellion. Director Burton has long been quoted as not wanting to produce a sequel or a remake of the original, so campy antics will be largely gone, and the Statue of Liberty ending is definitely excluded. Online trailers suggest a sprawling epic, replete with dazzling pyrotechnics and extensive blending of animatronics and live actors to animate the thousands of primates that appear sympathetic or belligerent. It's got the trappings of standard summer blockbuster fare, but Burton's brooding atmospheric photography (Batman) and quirky, alternative sensibilities (Beetlejuice) should guarantee more depth than the rest of the summer's offerings. [Interesting sidebar: Burton has rumored to have forced those involved with Planet to sign non-disclosure agreements up the wazoo and filmed five alternate endings to the film to ensure that it's ending is kept a secret. Creative control or hype-inducing scam? You decide.]

August 3

Rush Hour 2

Stupid, ridiculous giddy fun defined the original, and that's what can be expected for the sequel, Rush Hour 2. Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan team up again as the odd-couple, culture-clashing detective duo to do battle against some form of evil, but this time Tucker's the fish out of water as the action shifts from L.A. to Hong Kong. Plot details are sketchy, but immaterial as the pair attempts to uncover a conspiracy involving the Triad organized crime syndicate. Trailers show Chan's self-choreographed, playfully frenetic fight scenes will provide eye candy, aided by the gorgeous and acrobatic Zhang Ziyi (last seen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). The other half of RH's success was the comedic pairing, and the chemistry between the detectives. Chan and his self-effacing humor and ample physical comedy skills play well off Tucker's lanky antics and brash American swagger as they both exploit the cultural differences in their partnership. If there is a guaranteed profit-maker in the summer's lineup, this would be it . The first grossed

$245 million worldwide, a figure RH2 it should easily pass given that Chan has always been a marketable international commodity, and Rush Hour cemented him firmly in the U.S. market. It'll be a summer movie at it's best: explosive, funny, entertaining and unabashedly so.

August 10

American Pie 2

Osmosis Jones

If you've ever been on Epcot Center's ride "Body Wars," well, this children's cartoon is essentially the animated version of that experience. Chris Rock lends his voice to Osmosis Jones, a maverick white blood cell cop who must protect Frank (Bill Murray), his human host, when the latter catches a cold.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

As usual, Woody Allen, screenwriter and director of over 30 films, has kept information on his latest film, in this case The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, under wraps. The comedy takes place in New York in the 1940s, and has Woody Allen playing the lead, C.W. Briggs, an insurance investigator. Conflict arises when Academy Award winner Helen Hunt, playing an efficiency expert, is hired to evaluate and improve Briggs' place of business. However, since the film is categorized as a romantic comedy, it may be assumed that their relationship does not remain solely antagonistic. Dan Aykroyd stars as Briggs' boss, who, following the theft of one fine jewel, is opposed to paying the insurance money. Briggs must think like a thief to continue his tradition of cracking the case. Charlize Theron, Elizabeth Berkeley, and Wallace Shawn play supporting roles. One may anticipate traditional Woody Allen wry, thinking man's humor.

August 15

Apocalypse Now

While Pearl Harbor, with its Memorial Day kickoff, is clearly the war movie for the summer, at the opposite end of the war holiday schedule is something equally compelling for cinephiles. While Francis Ford Coppola hasn't directed a movie since 1997, in recent months, he's been revising his 1979 Vietnam War epic, Apocalypse Now. The film has already achieved legendary status in the cinematic community, but Coppola saw fit to entirely re-edit the film and add 53 minutes worth of footage, which now clocks in at a whopping 3 1/4 hours. The original tale where Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent up the Nung river in Vietnam to meet the potentially insane Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) and "terminate with extreme prejudice," has been altered to heighten some of the film's sparse humorous moments, as Coppola has added one scene with Marlon Brando, as well as included scenes with Playboy Playmates. The August 15th release coincides with the 22nd anniversary of the film's original theatrical run. Fans of the original will flock to see another act of potentially destructive Coppola hubris, but the rest will leave it alone. An already brilliant film made better? Here's hoping.

August 17

Serendipity

John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale as star-crossed lovers who reunite after a decade.

Rollerball

Chris Klein stars in this re-make of the original film about a violent new sport in the future. Also starring Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and L.L. Cool J.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Christian Bale star in this wartime romance about a young Greek girl (Cruz) who falls in love with an mandolin-playing Italian commander (Cage) while her fiancée is away.