CURRENT EVENTS

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN is better than THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, but it did not click with audiences, earning only half as much money as its predecessor. It has not completely disappeared from theatres yet, so you may want to give it a chance.

THE DARK KNIGHT: Warner Brothers releases this sequel to BATMAN BEGINS, which pits the Caped Crusader against the Joker. Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall, Nestor Carbonell, Michael Jai White. Director: Christopher Nolan. Screenwriter: Jonathan Nolan.  

GET SMART: Steve Carell stars in this remake of the '60s spy spoof. Peter Segal directs. With Anne Hathaway and Alan Arkin.

HANCOCK: Will Smith’s latest would-be blockbuster flies into theatres while dodging the slings and arrows of outraged critics, who so far have given the film a fairly miserable 36% approval rating in this survey of 157 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. Is this merely critical backlash - a chance to tear down Hollywood’s biggest star - or is this superhero comedy really not so super? Backlash seems an unlikely explanation: even the negative reviews seem to think that the premise had potential; they tend to express disappointment, rather than disgust, because the film fails to follow through on its own promise. All of this may be - in fact, is - true, but the bottom line is that, as far as botched movies go, HANCOCK is a painless way to pass a couple of hours enjoying a mindless summer popcorn movie.

THE HAPPENING: The talented M. Night Shyamalan tries to bounce back after the double bad juju of THE VILLAGE and LADY IN THE WATER. Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, and John Leguizamo star in this tale of a family on the run from a natural disaster that threatens the entire planet. Read more about the film here.

HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY: Universal releases this second film based on the comic book superhero. The mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth. Hellboy and his team must save the world from the rebellious creatures. Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Thomas Kretschmann, Anna Walton, Brian Steele, Roy Dotrice, John Hurt. Director: Guillermo del Toro. Screenwriter: Guillermo del Toro.  

THE INCREDIBLE HULK: Universal releases this follow-up to HULK, which will try to jump-start the franchise after the disappointing first film. Cast: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Christina Cabot, Lou Ferrigno, Martin Starr. Director: Louis Leterrier. Screenwriter: Zak Penn. Reviewed here.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL: Paramount releases the long-awaited follow-up to the Indiana Jones saga. Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent, Karen Allen. Director: Steven Spielberg. Screenwriter: David Koepp, Jeff Nathanson.

IRON MAN: Paramount releases this adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero. Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, Bill Smitrovich, Nazanin Boniadi, Leslie Bibb. Director: Jon Favreau. Screenwriter: Arthur Marcum, Matt Holloway Script: Comic Book Adaptation.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH: If you plan to see this movie at all, see it at a 3D engagement, because the spectacular computer-generated imagery - as often as not flying out of the screen and into your face - is the only reason for the price of admission. Otherwise, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH is awesome in its sheer ineptitude. Obviously designed as a showcase for stereoscopic effects - fish leaping into the lens, a bird fluttering in front of your nose - the film not only harkens back to the worst excesses of the brief 3D crazes in the 1950s and 1980s (when gratuitous effects were layered onto second-rate stories), it also plays out like a feature-length version of the short motion-simulation rides seen in specialty Showscan theatres or the 37-minute 3D thrill-ride ALIEN ADVENTURE (1999), which consisted entirely of the camera traversing the tracks of various computer-generated roller-coasters. JOURNEY recreates this aesthetic in a faux-dramatic setting; the thin narrative tissue ties the spectacular set-pieces together, but the phoniness of the CGI is much less palatable when you are ostensibly supposed to believe in what is happening.

MEET DAVE: Will Rogers famously said he never met a man he didn’t like, but then the avuncular humorist never had to MEET DAVE. The new Eddie Murphy comedy is like an awkward party guest who hopes you will be charmed by his earnest effort to overcome his lack of social graces, and just when you’re almost on the verge of giving him the benefit of the doubt, he belches loudly and rudely - and expects you to think he’s both cute and funny. Then when you have had enough and are about to throw him out, he breaks down and shows you his sensitive side so you’ll know he’s a warm human being with feelings, not just an obnoxious party crasher. Even if you’re gullible enough to believe him, the party has already been ruined, so while you might refrain from slamming the door in his face, you will not invite him back again.

WALL-E: Pixar delivers their latest animation extraganza, a wonderful tale of a lonely robot left behind to clean up the mess on Earth while humanity enjoys an extended vacation among the stars.