Wow! What a great one-two punch to open the summer movie season. Spider-Man and Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones are duking it out for the early summer box office ... and it's not even Memorial Day yet!
By now, you've probably read a number of summer movie preview articles, detailing everything from Minority Report to Men in Black II to the third Austin Powers flick. While those are all movies I am looking forward to seeing in the next couple of months, I thought I'd do my summer movie preview article a little bit differently. After all, how much more pre-release buzz do Tom Cruise, Will Smith, and Mike Myers need? I thought I'd spotlight 10 lesser-heralded films that will be coming out between now and the end of August (hopefully ... you never know when a studio may change a release date--I only included the dates I was almost 100-percent sure on). These are flicks that, for one reason or another, have me intrigued.
Here goes:
JUNE
TITLE: The Bourne Identity (June 14)
CAST: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Julia Stiles, Chris Cooper
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because I am a sucker for good spy
junk. This thriller has gone through more changes, rewrites, and headaches
than a Durgin wedding, but darn it, I love the basic premise of an amnesiac
(Damon) secret agent on the run. It's based on a terrific Robert Ludlum
novel, and it's the first big studio action film to be directed by Doug
Liman. Don't know the name? He made two of my favorite (albeit little-seen)
flicks of recent years, Swingers and Go. I am there.
TITLE: Cherish
CAST: Robin Tunney, Tim Blake Nelson, Jason Priestley
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because Robin Tunney of End of
Days and Vertical Limit fame is that attainable beauty that
a guy like me thinks he could actually get in real life. I look at Catherine
Zeta Jones, Cameron Diaz, and Michelle Pfeiffer, and I think: "No chance
in Hell." I look at Tunney--sweet, nappy-headed Robin Tunney--and I think:
"Hmm, maybe ... on my best day ... possibly her worst day ... if my hair
was just right .. and the planets were aligned ... and if I had some money
... and if she wasn't an actual movie star ... and if all the other men
in the world were off fighting a war somewhere ... and if-" Well, you get
the picture. Tunney plays a lonely, '80s-music fanatic unjustly accused
of murder who is sentenced to house arrest. The twisting plot has her falling
in love with her parole officer (Nelson) and tangling with a stalker. Video
killed the radio star, indeed.
JULY
TITLE: Cinema Paradiso: The Director's Cut
CAST: A bunch of foreign folk.
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because in 1989, it was the first
foreign film I ever reviewed as a college film critic, and I loved it!
It stoked my interest in other movies with subtitles at a time when everyone
else my age was going to Batman, Lethal Weapon 2, and Honey,
I Shrunk the Kids. This new 2002 edition reportedly has over 50 minutes
added back into the film.
TITLE: Eight-Legged Freaks (July 19)
CAST: David Arquette, Kari Wuhrer, Doug E. Doug.
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because I loved the trailer, and
this looks like one of those flicks you can just go to and have Mystery
Science Theater 3000-style fun with your friends. Big spiders, cheesy
actors, horrible dialogue, Kari Wuhrer in various stages of duress and
undress? Pass the popcorn!
TITLE: K-19: The Widowmaker (July 19)
CAST: Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson.
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because I want to listen to Han Solo
with a Russian accent! Ford plays a Soviet submarine commander, whose sub
suffers a nuclear malfunction in the North Atlantic. Neeson is his combative
first officer. This Kathryn Bigelow-directed thriller is based on a true
story about an incident that took place in 1961.
TITLE: The Road to Perdition (July 12)
CAST: Tom Hanks, Jude Law, Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh,
and Stanley Tucci.
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because of the five names I just
typed. What a cast! Hanks stars as a Depression-era hitman, who goes after
revenge following the death of his wife (Leigh). Can Hanks pull off such
a dark role? We'll see. The film is directed by Sam Mendes of American
Beauty, and it has the best poster of the summer so far.
AUGUST
TITLE: Full Frontal (Aug. 2)
CAST: Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, Catherine Keener, Brad
Pitt, and David Duchovny
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because I want to hear everyone whine,
moan, and complain afterwards when they realize that the title has nothing
to do with Pretty Woman letting us see if the carpet matches the curtains.
The film was directed by Steven Soderbergh, it cost $2 million, and it
took only three weeks to shoot. So after we endure endless talk shows of
Roberts patting herself on the back for working for scale, what's left
will be an experimental movie-within-a-movie that looks and sounds very
intriguing.
TITLE: Jackass: The Movie
CAST: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O.
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because I am just a terrible, terrible
man for loving the completely stupid, completely irresponsible, completely
hilarious MTV show on which this movie is based. Haven't seen it? It was
basically a half-hour compilation each week of finding new and creative
ways for guys in their 20s to get hit in their testicles. No plot. No morals.
No way I'm paying full price. But I will be checking it out.
TITLE: One Hour Photo
CAST: Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Gary Cole, Eriq LaSalle
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because people I know who went to
the Sundance Film Festival this past year came back raving about this movie.
Williams plays Seymour Parrish, a loner who works behind a film-processing
counter at a superstore. Seymour becomes increasingly obsessed with an
ideal family after he repeatedly develops their photos. Great concept.
I hope it pays off (this could open in July in some places).
TITLE: Signs (Aug. 2)
CAST: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix.
WHY TEDDY WANTS TO SEE IT: Because writer-director M. Night
Shyamalan is a very twisted man. Because it has aliens and cornfields.
Because it's Mel Gibson. Because ... cue the scary music ... they did warn
us!
OTHER BIG AND SMALL RELEASES: The Sum of All Fears, The
Importance of Being Earnest, Bad Company, The Divine Secrets
of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Scooby-Doo, Windtalkers,
Lilo
& Stitch, Stuart Little 2, Spy Kids 2, and
XXX.
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