Movies
Who needs a tan? Escape to the movies this summer

By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic

	SONY PICTURES IMAGEWORKS Alfred Molina plays diabolical Doc Ock in "Spider-Man 2," due June 30.
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But there should be something for everyone on this summer's crowded schedule, some highlights of which appear below. Remember that dates are tentative and as changeable as Johnny Depp's hair ...

Saving the world

This popular summer genre usually features fresh-scrubbed actors manfully saving the human race from some hellish calamity — such as interplanetary warriors, to be dispatched by Vin Diesel ("The Chronicles of Riddick," June 11) or global warming, battled by climatologist Dennis Quaid ("The Day After Tomorrow," May 28). Tobey Maguire swings back into action, this time against the diabolical Otto Octavius (aka Doc Ock), in "Spider-Man 2" (June 30).

Will Smith is a detective investigating an unusual crime in the futuristic thriller "I, Robot" (July 16), based on the Isaac Asimov stories. Matt Damon boyishly battles dark forces of international espionage in "The Bourne Supremacy" (July 23). And the granddaddy of them all lumbers into town July 2 to celebrate his 50th birthday — the original, uncut 1954 "Godzilla."

Real life

This summer's documentary offerings cover such topics as fast-food addiction ("Super Size Me," May 7), Haitian freedom fighter Jean Leopold Dominique ("The Agronomist," May 14), a heavy-metal band in the throes of making a new album ("Metallica: Some Kind of Monster," July 30), the dominance of corporations ("The Corporation," June 18), the antics of anti-globalization activists ("The Yes Men," Aug. 27) and Jorgen Leth's re-creation/re-visiting of his 1967 film, "The Perfect Human" ("The Five Obstructions," July 16).

Read the book

"A Home at the End of the World," based on the novel by Michael Cunningham ("The Hours") arrives in theaters July 23, starring Colin Farrell and Dallas Roberts as childhood friends whose lives remain intertwined. Anne Tyler's novel "A Slipping Down Life" (May 28) features Guy Pearce and Lili Taylor as an unlikely artist and muse; John Irving's novel "A Widow for One Year" becomes "The Door in the Floor" (June 23), with Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger as a troubled husband and wife.

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling play a young couple who met before World War II in the screen version of Nicholas Sparks' "The Notebook" (June 25). And perhaps you've heard of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" (June 4), the continuing adventures of the now-adolescent wizard and his Hogwarts Academy pals.

Guys named Tom

	MERRICK MORTON, SM Tom Hanks plays an Eastern European immigrant stranded at Kennedy Airport in Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal," due June 18.

Tom Hanks stars this summer in Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal" (June 18), as an Eastern European immigrant stranded at Kennedy Airport with a passport from a country that no longer exists. Tom Cruise, not to be outdone, joins Jamie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith for "Collateral" (Aug. 6), a crime thriller from writer/director Michael Mann ("The Insider").

Slightly lower on the Tom power list are Tom Jane ("The Punisher"), who headlines the South African drama "Stander" (June 25), and Tom Waits, who appears in Jim Jarmusch's short-story collection "Coffee and Cigarettes" (May 21), along with Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and Roberto Benigni.

Haven't I seen you someplace before?

Look for re-jiggerings this summer of "The Stepford Wives," starring Nicole Kidman (June 11); "The Manchurian Candidate," with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep (July 9); "Around the World in 80 Days," with Jackie Chan (June 16); and the 1996 Japanese charmer "Shall We Dance?," now starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez (Aug. 6).

Re-visiting theaters in their original guises are the hilarious Monty Pythonization of the New Testament, "Life of Brian" (May 14), and Richard Kelly's 2001 fantasy drama, "Donnie Darko" (July, in a new director's cut).

Love, is that you?

Romance, not to mention pollen, is in the air, bringing together such picturesque couples as Julianne Moore and Pierce Brosnan ("Laws of Attraction," April 30), Kate Hudson and John Corbett ("Raising Helen," May 28), Jamie Foxx and Gabrielle Union ("Breakin' All the Rules," May 14), and Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton ("Code 46," Aug. 6). And for all those wondering what happened to Jesse and Celine (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) after "Before Sunrise," Richard Linklater's "Before Sunset" (July 2) has the two re-meeting after nine years. Awww.

Kids and tweens

	DREAMWORKS PICTURES Puss-in-Boots (voice of Antonio Banderas) and Donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy) in "Shrek 2," due May 21.

Two big, kid-friendly sequels hit the multiplexes this summer: "Shrek 2" (May 21), the continuing story of Shrek the Ogre and Princess Fiona, and "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" (Aug. 11), with Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews as an American-raised princess and her regal grandmother.

Garfield, that cranky orange kitty, makes his screen debut in "Garfield: The Movie" (June 11), voiced by Oscar nominee Bill Murray.

Preadolescent girls, between trips to the mall, will find several movies aimed at their demographic this summer: "Mean Girls" (April 30), a high-school comedy scripted by "Saturday Night Live's" Tina Fey; the romantic comedy "A Cinderella Story" (July 16) with Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray; and "New York Minute" (May 7), featuring the almost-grown-up Olsen twins.

Summer shivers?

Ghosts and sharks and snakes, oh my! Creepiness abounds this season, as writer/director M. Night Shyamalan ("The Sixth Sense," "Signs") returns with yet another tale of supernatural goings-on, this time in "The Village" (July 30), with Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody and Sigourney Weaver. The long-delayed prequel "Exorcist: The Beginning," with Stellan Skarsgård as young Father Merrin, should finally be released this summer (Aug. 20); and those who like nasty slithery creatures can line up for "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" (Aug. 27), if you must.

"Open Water" (Aug. 6), a vacationers-meet-sharks drama (think "Jaws" on a budget), had lots of buzz at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Anna Paquin is a teen living in a haunted house in the made-in-Spain chiller "Darkness" (June 18), and Robert De Niro plays an oddball doctor who helps a couple clone their murdered son in "Godsend" (April 30).

On the suspense front, Robert Redford gets kidnapped in "The Clearing" (July 2); Kim Basinger gets kidnapped in "Cellular" (Aug. 20); Ewan McGregor does not get kidnapped (but does discover a corpse and, undoubtedly, flashes the full monty) in "Young Adam" (April 30); and a young Colombian woman agrees to smuggle drugs into the U.S. in "Maria Full of Grace" (July 30).

Another time, another place

	Takeshi Kitano's "Zatoichi," winner of the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, is due June 4.

Clive "Croupier" Owen and Keira "That Girl from 'Pirates of the Caribbean' " Knightley visit the Dark Ages in Antoine Fuqua's "King Arthur" (July 7). Reese Witherspoon goes Victorian in Mira Nair's "Vanity Fair" (Sept. 1), based on the Thackeray novel.

And two 19th-century samurai tales come to theaters this summer: Takeshi Kitano's "Zatoichi" (June 4), winner of the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, and Yoji Yamada's "Twilight Samurai" (July 23), an Oscar nominee this year for best foreign-language film.

Comedy

	FOCUS FEATURES James Purefoy, left, and Reese Witherspoon in director Mira Nair's "Vanity Fair," based on the Thackeray novel and due Sept. 1. Gabriel Byrne and Romola Garai also star.

The busy Ben Stiller stars in "Envy" (April 30), launching a get-rich-quick scheme (a dog-poop vaporizer, apparently) with Jack Black, and in "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" (June 18) with Vince Vaughn, about a gang of misfits trying to save their gym. Fellow funnyman Will "Elf" Ferrell headlines "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" (July 9) as, natch, a big-haired '70s anchorman.

Also on the comedy front: "Napoleon Dynamite" (June 25), a high-school indie comedy that got much praise at Sundance; "White Chicks" (June 23), Keenen Ivory Wayans' story of two FBI agents assigned to protect a pair of high-living hotel heiresses, the Wiltons; the Australian "Danny Deckchair" (Aug. 13) with Rhys Ifans ("Notting Hill") soaring above Sydney in a chair tied with helium balloons; and Jena Malone as a pregnant Baptist teen in the comedy/drama "Saved!" (June).

Dysfunctional families

Roger Michell ("Notting Hill") teams with writer Hanif Kureishi ("My Beautiful Laundrette") for the tale of a grandmother who takes a much-younger lover, "The Mother" (June 4). Newcomer Zach Braff wrote, directed and starred in the Sundance hit "Garden State" (July 30), in which a young man estranged from his family returns home for his mother's funeral. And the cast of "We Don't Live Here Anymore" (Aug. 13), about two troubled couples, sounds promising: Mark Ruffalo, Laura Dern, Peter Krause ("Six Feet Under") and Naomi Watts.

Animal magnetism

Halle Berry turns kitty cat/dominatrix in "Catwoman" (July 23), loosely based on the DC Comics feline from "Batman" (word is the character's been substantially rewritten — Michelle Pfeiffer, where are you?). Two tiger cubs are separated and reunited in the family-friendly adventure from Jean-Jacques Annaud, "Two Brothers" (June 25). And "The Mudge Boy" (May 7) is about, I'm told, the friendship between a misfit teenage boy (Emile Hirsch) and his pet hen, named Chicken. To each his own.

In a class by themselves

Belgian director Lucas Belvaux's "The Trilogy" (May 7), seen at SIFF last year, is three separate films that complement and expand upon each other, each in a different genre (thriller, romantic comedy, crime drama). Speaking of six-hour films, the Italian epic "The Best of Youth" (July 2), which tells a story that spans 40 years, has won much praise from those able to clear the time for it.

And if all this isn't enough, the Seattle International Film Festival should have a few hundred more movies to choose from (May 20-June 13, www.seattlefilm.com). Supersize that popcorn. Please.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com

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