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 film is about three women struggling to cope with the hand life has dealt them. First, there’s 50-something Karen (Bening), a bitter physical therapist, who at 14, gave her baby up for adoption and never got over the loss. Then there’s Elizabeth, a beautiful, complex, and downright strange lawyer who has no qualms about using her body/sex to achieve control over any situation. She drifts around a lot, but always returns to the place of her birth, and adoption, presumably in case her birth mother ever comes looking for her. And then there’s Lucy (Washington), a young woman desperate to adopt a baby after her own attempts at pregnancy fail.

Throughout the film, the womens’ lives intersect in both predictable and unpredictable ways, while their significant (or not so significant) others impact the story and character development mostly from the sidelines (though I can never get enough of Jimmy Smits who is trying so hard not to look sexy but just can’t help himself). I don’t want to give too much away, because it’s the type of film where the less you know going in, the more you’ll get out of it. Mother and Child is interesting, but it suffers from a couple of fatal errors in structure. The timeline doesn’t quite track, and neither do some major shifts in the main characters’ personalities and demeanor. Bottom line: this film offers solid performances but a weak structure – and it’s definitely for mature audiences only!

The film is based on the inspiring and ultimately tragic true story of Kaiulani, a half-Hawaiian, half-Scottish princess whose life and royal destiny is jeopardized by civil unrest in the island nation in the late 1800s. When a rebel party with links to the American government threatens to overthrow the monarchy, the 13-year-old princess is sent to live with friends of her father in Victorian England. There, she transforms into a strong yet compassionate woman with a deep-rooted sense of pride and duty toward her homeland. She also falls in love with a spirited young Englishman who doesn’t quite grasp the enormity of Kaiulani’s devotion to Hawaii. Princess Kaiulani embarks on a personal mission to defend her people against charges of barbarism and encourage the United States to let Hawaii remain a sovereign nation. And once annexation by the U.S. becomes a foregone conclusion, she fights to secure the right to vote for Hawaii’s natives (just the men, of course, since the U.S. was still a few decades away from granting women the right to vote!).

I’m no historian (and sadly, I’ve never been to Hawaii), so I can’t attest to the historical accuracy of the film. But it doesn’t claim to be a documentary, so you’ve got to cut it some slack in the dramatic license department. Without it, the movie might have teetered on boring. Instead, it’s a bit slow in parts but generally satisfying, at least for the art-house crowd.

Princess Kaiulani was originally titled Barbarian Princess. The term apparently rubbed some folks the wrong way, even though it was surely meant to be ironic – a slam to the ignorant western media that sought to portray native Hawaiians as barbarians. The princess comes across as anything but barbaric. She’s beautiful, well educated and passionate about preserving the rights and culture of her homeland and its native peoples. The film actually reminds me a bit of Whale Rider. It’s not quite the complete package that Whale Rider was, but it’s nice to see a ‘princess’ movie that wasn’t made by Disney and is actually based on a true story. Girls rule. ☺

Princess Kaiulani opens in limited release on May 14, 2010. For a list of cast and crew credits, click here.

The Joneses

The movie begins with the Jones family moving into a gorgeous McMansion that’s pimped out with top-of-the-line merchandise – really cool stuff that all the wealthy neighbors are quick to envy, and buy for themselves.

We soon discover that the Jones family is not a family at all, but rather an undercover “unit” of marketing/sales people whose job it is to stealthily promote everything from cars and golf clubs to clothing, jewelry, hair products, and even high-end toilets.

The movie has an Up In the Air sensibility about it in that it can be alternately humorous, tragic, cynical and hopeful. First-time writer/director Derrick Borte shot the movie in just 31 days and put several alternate endings in the can. The ending that made the final cut is satisfying enough, but I look forward to seeing the other options on DVD someday.

Supporting actors Gary Cole and Summer Headley also shine in this movie, playing the Joneses’ troubled next-door neighbors Larry and Summer.

I don’t want to give too much away about the plot. Moviegoers are left to draw their own conclusions about our culture of consumerism as well as the true meaning of family, happiness and success. That said, there are some really cool – and very real-  products in the movie that you’d probably want to get your hands on too if money were no object.

The Joneses is rated R for brief nudity and mild drug use, but there is nothing too gratuitous. The movie has an indie vibe but definitely deserves some mainstream attention. It’s an interesting and enjoyable flick.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Robin Wright Penn plays Pippa Lee, a middle-aged woman who’s married to a much older man (Herb, played by Alan Arkin) who decides the couple should live out their remaining years together in a staid retirement community in Connecticut. The change of scenery leaves Pippa with way too much time to ponder who she is and how she got there. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Pippa has not always been the picture of elegance and respectability that she is today. Blake Lively plays the younger, wilder Pippa who broke free from a pill-popping mother and largely absent Christian minister father to make her own way in the world. Her life settles down when she meets and falls in love with Herb (Alan Arkin with a lot more makeup and hair), a successful New York publisher who takes Pippa under his wing and molds her into the seemingly content wife, mother, friend and neighbor that everyone has come to know and love.

The movie was written and directed by Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller and wife of British actor Daniel Day Lewis) who also wrote the novel it’s based on. If it’s true that you write what you know, then Ms. Miller may have had quite the interesting childhood. But I digress…

This movie is about relationships, expectations, appearances, and searching for (though not necessarily finding) one’s ‘true self’. It features strong supporting performances from an all-star cast that includes Maria Bello, Winona Ryder, Julianne Moore and Keanu Reeves. It all makes for a bittersweet chick flick that is less fun, but more intellectually stimulating than its bigger box-office cousin, It’s Complicated.