Ondine Opening: June 4
Starring: Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, Stephen Rea
What It’s About: When Irish fisherman Syracuse (Farrell) finds a mysterious woman named Ondine (Bachleda) in his fishing net, he assumes she is dead before finding out she may in fact be a mermaid. With the help of his disabled daughter, Syracuse falls in love with the possible mythical creature before a series of dark events threaten to overshadow the relationship.

Splice Opening: June 4
Starring: Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Cheneac
What It’s About: In Vincenzo Natali’s sci-fi thriller, Clive (Brody) and Elsa (Polley) are two scientists who mix human DNA with genetically engineered animal experiments to create Dren, a deformed female infant. Surprisingly, absolutely nothing goes wrong after that. Or Dren becomes a winged half-human monster hellbent on destroying all in her path.

The A-Team Opening: June 11
Starring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel
What It’s About: In the big-screen version of TV’s ‘The A-Team’ — the TV show about three wrongly accused escaped military fugitives (and one crazy pilot) — Bradley Cooper plays Face; Liam Neeson is Hannibal, the man who loves it when a plan comes together; and Sharlto Copley brings the crazy as Capt. “Howling Mad” Murdock. Apparently Dirk Benedict, the original Face, approves: He filmed a cameo for the film. Looks like a lot of fun.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work Opening: June 11
Starring: Joan Rivers, Don Rickles, Kathy Griffin
What It’s About: This documentary takes a look at the life and work of Joan Rivers, one of the most popular comediennes and television personalities in history. Starting her career in the early ’60s as a stand-up comic — no small feat for a female at the time — Rivers became a ‘Tonight Show’ staple and has hosted several talk shows. Filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg followed Rivers for a year as the comedian prepared for an one-woman show in the UK and became a participant on a reality TV show.

The Killer Inside Me Opening: June 18
Starring: Casey Affleck, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Simon Baker, Bill Pullman
What It’s About: Michael Winterbottom (‘24 Hour Party People,’ ‘9 Songs’) directs this neo-noir about small-town Sheriff Lou Ford (Affleck), who leads a double life as a serial killer. When his area becomes inundated with unsolved murders, Ford must deflect any suspicions about him toward other suspects. The film is based on author Jim Thompson’s acclaimed 1952 novel.

Knight and Day Opening: June 25
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano
What It’s About: Diaz plays June, an unsuspecting lonely girl who literally runs into a dangerous secret agent named Milner (Cruise) inside an airport, an encounter that starts the two on a whirlwind chase to avoid capture by a federal agent (Peter Sarsgaard).

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Opening: June 30
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Bryce Dallas Howard
What It’s About: In the third ‘Twilight’ film, Bella’s targeted by a vengeful vamp. And who — or what — is responsible for a string of mysterious slayings in Seattle? Bella’s still torn between Edward and Jacob, and her choice may be the spark that ignites an epic werewolf vs. vampire war. Plus, she’s got to study for finals: It’s her senior year! You know this will be huge!

The Last Airbender Opening: July 2
Starring: Jackson Rathbone, Dev Patel, Cliff Curtis, Nicola Peltz
What It’s About: M. Night Shyamalan tries his hand at a children’s fantasy flick in this hero’s adventure following young Aang (Noah Ringer), the last in a long line of Avatars, or masters of all four elements. To restore peace to the four nations (Fire, Earth, Water and Air), Aang must fulfill his destiny of defeating the evil Fire Lord (Curtis) and freeing the other elements’ people from his tyrannical rule. Sounds horrid, but let’s hope M. has another The Sixth Sense in him.

The Kids Are All Right Opening: July 7
Starring: Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson
What It’s About: Committed couple Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) have raised two teenagers together, but are thrown for a loop when their children want to track down their biological father (Mark Ruffalo) — and they all learn what it really means to be a family.

Cyrus Opening: July 9
Starring: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener
What It’s About: John (Reilly) has been divorced for seven years and has given up on meeting the perfect woman. When his ex-wife (Keener) invites him to a party, he meets Molly (Tomei), a beautiful, fun woman with only one downside: her weird son Cyrus (Hill). A 21-year-old New Age musician, Cyrus enjoys a bond with his mother that’s a bit closer than most, which means his displeasure with mom’s new boyfriend runs fast and deep, and Cyrus and John repeatedly — and comedically — lock horns.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Opening: July 16
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Monica Bellucci, Alfred Molina
What It’s About: Jerry Bruckheimer’s latest summer action epic is a live-action adaptation of an animated segment in Disney’s ‘Fantasia’ and Goethe’s 18th-century ballad. Baruchel plays the Mickey Mouse character — a college student who winds up the chosen apprentice of a sorcerer (Cage) preparing for a supernatural war. Expect huge explosions, eye-popping special effects and as always, Cage in a crazy hairstyle. Bring the kids!

Inception Opening: July 16
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard
What It’s About: Does anyone really know? Christopher Nolan, the director of ‘The Dark Knight,’ returns with ‘Inception,’ a film everyone wants to see — though, really, no one has any clue what it’s about. Nolan explains the film as “exploring the idea of people entering a dream space and sharing a dream.” Awesome. Thanks for clearing that up.

Salt Opening: July 23
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Liev Schreiber
What It’s About: Jolie takes over for Tom Cruise — who declined the role for other commitments — as the title character, Evelyn Salt (we assume the character’s name was not “Evelyn” when Crusie was attached). Salt is a CIA agent who is accused of working for the KGB and has to clear her name. Come to think of it: Cruise already made this film — it was called ‘Mission: Impossible.’

Dinner For Schmucks Opening: July 23
Starring: Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Stephanie Szostak, Zach Galifianakis, Ron Livingston
What It’s About: Director Jay Roach has stolen Chris Rock’s idea of stealing European comedies and remaking them for American audiences. This adaptation of the French film ‘The Dinner Game’ follows rising executive Tim (Rudd), who must decide whether or not to bring Barry (Carell) as the perfect guest to his boss’s competition of finding the dumbest dinner guest. Carell and Galifianakis have landed the roles they were meant to play — geeks trying out-dweeb each other. The French version was great, but most of these French/American adaptations have been really bad, so I don’t expect much. Surprise me, please.

Beastly Opening: July 30
Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens, Mary-Kate Olsen, Peter Krause, Neil Patrick Harris
What It’s About: Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) has it all — wealth, looks, privilege — until he cruelly picks on the wrong girl, a Goth who casts a spell that transforms him into an unrecognizable freak. The only cure: He must find someone who will love him as he is. Will he find his true love in Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens), an addict’s daughter whose life he saves, or is he doomed to stay a monster forever?

Get Low Opening: July 30
Starring: Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray
What It’s About: It’s the true story of Felix “Bush” Breazeale (Duvall) who, in the 1930s, came out of 40 years of seclusion to plan his own funeral party while still alive. “I want everybody to come who’s got a story to tell about me,” says Bush. The event became a national spectacle, with Bush selling lottery tickets to the funeral with his valuable plot of land as the prize. Twelve-thousand mourners reputedly arrived. Murray plays the funeral home owner in charge of arranging the event. Great cast, quirky story. Could be the sleeper hit.

Step Up 3D Opening: August 6
Starring: Rick Malambri, Sharni Vinson, Adam Sevani, Alyson Stoner
What It’s About: The third installment of the ‘Step Up’ series goes international — and 3-D. A tight-knit group of New York street dancers, including Luke (Rick Malambri) and Natalie (Sharni Vinson), team up with an NYU student (Adam Sevani) against the world’s best hip-hop dancers in a high-stakes showdown. Romance and eye-popping dance moves ensue.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Opening: August 13
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin
What It’s About: ‘Scott Pilgrim’ is a comic-book series about a bass-playing Canadian slacker; and of course, Michael Cera is playing the title role. Scott wants to date Ramona Flowers, but to do this, he must fight and defeat her seven evil exes, who now want to kill him. Think ‘Juno,’ only instead of a pregnancy and a hamburger phone, there are seven super-powered evil villains standing in the way of these two star-crossed lovers.

Mao’s Last Dancer Opening: August 6
Starring: Joan Chen, Kyle Maclachlan, Chi Cao, Chengwu Gao
What It’s About: Based on a true story, ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’ looks at the life of Li Cunxin (Cao), a boy who worked his way up from an apprenticeship as a classical dancer in communist China to a heralded star in America. Bruce Beresford’s film explores the cultural and political differences and uncertainties between the two countries and looks into the effects, both positive and negative, of fame and celebrity. ‘Dancer’ was filmed in China, the U.S. and Australia.

The Other Guys Opening: August 6
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes
What’s it about: Ferrell plays Allen Gamble, a pencil-pushing NYPD detective whose partner, Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg), has been confined to desk work as punishment for being a little too quick on the trigger in the field. When an opportunity arrives that will call for the two of them to step up, hijinks and hilarity appropriately ensue. Sounds typically Ferrell.

Eat, Pray, Love Opening: August 6
Starring: Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins, Billy Crudup, James Franco
What It’s About: After a painful divorce, Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) finds her priorities shifting in this adaptation of the best-selling memoir. She sets out to explore the world and find her true destiny. Her travels take her from Italy to India to Bali, and she meets some unforgettable people — including herself — along the way. Lovely travelogue if nothing else.

The Switch Opening: August 20
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Jeff Goldbum, Patrick Wilson
What It’s About: Single Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) decides to use the turkey baster method to get pregnant, but doesn’t realize her friend Wally (Jason Bateman) has substituted his own sperm instead of her chosen donor. Seven years later, her son is the spitting image of Wally, and realizes he’s got to admit the truth — and how he really feels about Kassie.

The Tillman Story Opening: August 20
What It’s About: Pat Tillman was a former football player for the Arizona Cardinals before turning down a multi-million dollar contract to enlist in the U.S. Army. While serving in Afghanistan, Tillman was killed by friendly fire and became the center point of an alleged cover-up by the U.S. military and government to conceal the details of his death. Amir Bar-Lev (‘My Kid Could Paint That’) delves into Tillman’s life and investigates the circumstances behind his tragic and controversial death.

Going the Distance Opening: August 27
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Christina Applegate, Ron Livingston
What It’s About: On-again, off-again real-life couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long star as lovers who find their long-distance relationship wearing thin. Temptation comes for Long in the form of Christina Applegate, who told the Belfast Telegraph, “It’s very dirty,” adding, “I saw a lot of Justin Long over the summer. See the movie and you’ll know why I said that.”

Happythankyoumoreplease Opening: August 27
Starring: Josh Radnor, Malin Akerman, Kate Mara
What It’s About: The winner of the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Josh Radnor’s directorial debut looks at life in New York for a group of late 20s/early 30s people struggling to keep up with the pace of the city. While riding the subway, Sam (Radnor) meets Rasheen, a young boy abandoned by his parents, and subsequently takes him in. Mississippi (Mara) is a bartender trying to make it as a musician. Annie (Akerman) is a pretty girl who suffers from alopecia, a rare condition that leaves the person with no hair. Relationships intersect and lessons, we assume, are learned.

Lebanon Opening: August 13
Starring: Yoav Donat, Itay Taran, Oshri Cohen
What It’s About: Israeli writer/director Samuel Moaz crafts this historical drama set amid the 1982 Israel/Lebanon battle that sees four Israeli soldiers assigned to take part in the first strike on Lebanon. While setting out towards the Lebanese border, the men experience many facets of the war experience before arriving at their destination, a town already bombed by the Israeli Air Force. When a group of Syrian resistance fighters overtake the group, the soldiers find themselves in very dangerous territory. ‘Lebanon’ was an Official Selection at the 2009 Venice International Film Festival.

The four babies are from Tokyo, San Francisco, Mongolia and Namibia and it’s fun to see how different, yet how similar the first years of their lives are. The American and Japanese baby seem to be constantly stimulated with play dates and classes, while the African and Chinese baby are often left alone to crawl around and discover things for themselves. At one point, the baby in Mongolia is surrounded by a herd of cattle while he plays outside and it all seems perfectly natural. All of the babies are well loved and cared for so they’re all very happy and content in the movie. In fact, you don’t see any unhappy moments at all – no puking, no wailing in the middle of the night, no temper tantrums, except for one minor meltdown when the little girl in Tokyo can’t figure out one of her toys.

It’s an hour and twenty minutes of pure adorableness, which is the perfect length – any longer and it might have been cuteness overload. This is the ultimate chick flick. When I saw it the audience was all women except for two men and I assure you they were not there voluntarily. It’s definitely a must see if you are in need of a mood lifter. It’s what I call an “aww inspiring” movie.

Nevertheless, as soon as The Cove was released on DVD, I put it in my Netflix queue and waited for it to become available. (Winning that Oscar meant there was a bit of a waiting list.) Then I got the notice that it was on its way to me and I steeled myself. But I have to give it to the filmmakers; they were smart. They took a very difficult to present subject and wrapped it in a very hip espionage thriller, making the horror part of a wider, more palatable story.

The main character of the film is Ric O’Barry who is in large part responsible for the world’s love of trained dolphins. In the 1960s he captured and trained 5 dolphins to perform in the TV show Flipper. He also played the Dad on the show. Only later did he come to understand what intelligent and sensitive creatures they are, and how cruel it is to capture and imprison them. This realization turned O’Barry into the world’s biggest dolphin advocate, and now he regularly takes on the Sea Worlds and international aquaria over their treatment of the animals. So when he finds out about Taijii, a small town in Japan, where they corral, cull and kill dolphins, he sets out to expose them.

But Taijii is prepared for O’Barry. In fact, the whole town is involved in covering up what is going on. The police keep him and his crew under constant surveillance. The local fishermen physically intimidate anyone with a camera. It is impossible to get to the hidden cove where the annual slaughter takes place. And so O’Barry puts together a team of high tech professionals who use hidden cameras, decoys, night vision goggles, all the tricks of the spy trade to get the story. And this is what makes this film worth watching. You are on the edge of your seat hoping they get the footage that will stop the dolphin slaughter.

Along the way, if you aren’t already, you fall in love with these beautiful creatures. And you thank God for people like O’Barry who cared enough to push the limits and get this tragedy into the public consciousness. The Cove is a rare documentary that has already made activists of a lot of its viewers. I recommend everyone see this film. Sure, there are some hard to take images, but it is an extremely well made movie about a very important subject.

Filmmaker Doug Pray put together a very smart film by interviewing extremely interesting people and cutting it together with their work, which just happens to be some of the most memorable advertising of my generation. The people behind “Where’s the beef”, “Just Do it”, and even “I want my MTV” are some of the most creative people around. And what they have to say about how they came up with these slogans and campaigns is insightful, strange and very funny. (For example, “Just Do It” was inspired by spree killer Gary Gilmore’s lasts words, “Let’s Do it.”)

But beyond the work, you get to know the personal stories that made these creative geniuses who they are and those stories inform their choices throughout their careers. Going behind the scenes at some to the top agencies is also part of the movie’s charm. Incredibly fun looking offices and a company culture of play no doubt help in coming up with effective, memorable copy. The advertising industry is not for everyone, but this film makes it clear that there are some people born to it. And these are the ones that make the fun ads we remember.

Art & Copy is a love letter to the ad industry and as such is a very effective piece of marketing itself. Missing are the unethical, fast-talking manipulators we usually associate with this field. They’re not hucksters; they’re artists. It is a fun movie to watch and is currently still making the festival rounds and showing in limited screenings. If it is near you, go. Otherwise, check out the DVD.

Dancing Across Borders

Sokvannara (Sy) Sar was a teenager performing with a traditional Cambodian dance troupe when filmmaker and patron of the arts, Anne Bass happened to catch his act. She was struck by his natural grace and charisma and became convinced that he had the makings of a great ballet dancer, despite his lack of formal training. Bass paved the way for Sy to come to the United States and pursue a career in ballet. He wasn’t exactly greeted with open arms and overnight success. He was relatively old (at 16) to start ballet training and he didn’t speak much English. But with the help of a private tutor and encouragement from others in the world of ballet academia, Sy caught up to his peers and has enjoyed a moderate level of success.

The film is a bit reminiscent of The Blind Side, but without Sandra Bullock and without the benefit of Hollywood’s “dramatic license.” Just substitute ballet for football. In the end, both are about raw talent, hard work, and luck – and the positive impact that one person’s intervention can have on another person’s life. The best part of the film is the dancing itself and Sy’s physical transformation from charismatic teenager to downright hot young man. It may be hard to find this movie in a theater near you (check the artsy indie theaters), but if you like ballet or are (or know) a student of the arts, it’s definitely worth checking out. And for the more mainstream-minded folk, The Blind Side is now available on DVD!