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Show B6 Ltf MONDAY APRIL 14, 2008 • THE COLLEGE TIMES M O V I E G U I D E A P R I L Forgetting Sarah Marshall (R) - Release date: April 18,2008 Here comes yet another hilarious Rrated comedy from producer Judd Apatow. This time, the script is written by, and stars, longtime Freaks And Geeks friend and star of TV's How I Met Your Mother, Jason Segel. Segel plays Peter, an aspiring rockopera music writer who's stuck scoring Crime Scene, a lame crime-busters television program (a la CSf) that just so happens to star his gorgeous, five-yearlong girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (played by Veronica Mars' Kristen Bell). After Sarah unexpectedly dumps him for a British pop star, Peter gets stuck in an emotionally numb slump and decides to take a trip to Hawaii in order to forget her. ;* While the worst-case scenario happens, namely, Sarah is coincidentally staying at the same resort as Peter, with her new boy toy, other great things happen, too. Peter meets friends and makes memorable relationships on his own. (Hickman) .;-' M A Y Iron Man (PG-13)Release date: May 2, 2008 Comic book movies have been hit or miss. The first two X-Men movies were great, yet the third installment was awful. Spider-Man one and two were perfect, yet three was substantially under par. Many superhero movies fall under mediocrity, but Iron Man is looking up, compared to the genre's recent collapse in quality and popularity. Robert Downey Jr., one of the most talented American actors, plays Tony Stark, a rich weapons manufacturer turned superhero through one of his inventions: an all-out, armor-plated battle suit. This blockbuster's hyped script was written and directed by self-proclaimed, longtime Iron Man fan, Jon Favreau, who also directed Elf and starred as Vince Vaughn's great sidekick and backup in Swingers and The Break-Up. With a supporting cast of Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrance Howard {Crash, Hustle & Flow) along for the ride, Iron Man appears to be a sure bet for a fun summer flick. (Hickman) Speed Racer (not yet rated) Release date: May 9,2008 The Wachowski brothers (Andy and Larry) are back in the seat, directing for the first time since The Matrix trilogy. Speed Racer is a feature-length, live-action, motion picture adaptation of the '60s cartoon series by the same name. Playing Speed Racer is acclaimed young actor Emile Hirsch {Into The Wild). John Goodman and Susan Sarandon play Speed's parents; Christina Ricci plays his romantic interest and Matthew Fox (Jack from TV's Lost) plays the mysterious Racer X. Instead of being your typical live-action racecar movie, Speed Racer looks like a cartoon. From the trailer alone you can see that this is a highly stylized, green-screen picture. The color is just as radiant and outrageous as the colors of the original cartoon. If you like original, imaginative, could-beconsidered kids' movies, then Speed Racer- might be up your alley. (Hickman) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (not yet rated) - Release date: May 22, 2008 Internet geek forums online have been buzzing with speculation since it became official. Fans everywhere have been salivating since the trailer surfaced two months ago. And now, we're just a little more than a month away. Indiana Jones is returning for his (supposed) final adventure. Who's returning with him? No word yet on his dad (Sean Connery) showing up, but we do know for sure that Miriam (from Raiders of the Lost Ark), the Ark of the Covenant and a whole J U N E slew of Nazis are along for the ride. Newcomers will be Cate Blanchett (as a villain) and Shia LaBeouf (as Indy and Miriam's lovechild?). Who knows? But we do know that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is shaping up to be one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. (Hickman) The Happening (not yet rated) - Release date: June 13,2008 The Incredible Hulk (not yet rated) ^Release date: June 13, 2008 This installment of the Hulk will flop unless people know one thing about it before making up their minds on whether to see it or not: The Incredible Hulk is not a sequel to the 2003 Ang Lee Hulk starring Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly. Instead, the studio is referring to this one as a "reboot." ' T a k i n g over the fran- chise in The Incredible Huljf. is Edward Norton as the not-so- jolly green giant monster, Tim Roth {Reservoir Dogs) as the Hulk-like villain created to hunt him down and Liv Tyler as the romantic interest. Though it's supposed to be a completely different film from the 2003 flop, the trailer markets it completely the same, as if it were a sequel. If they want people to forget the previous disaster, they'll need to start marketing it as a reboot. (Hickman) M. Night Shyamalan likes to keep his secrets, and he doesn't like to reveal them until the very end. Not much is known about The Happening, but after seeing the trailer, no matter how . much you learn, it's not enough. What do we know about The Happening1} Mark Wahlberg stars: Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo are in it, too. There's, some sort of airborne bug quickly sweeping the U.S. that, at first, appears to be a terrorist attack, but may not be. What does this bug do? Well, nobody really knows yet. Signs point to its being some sort of virus that makes you commit suicide in the quickest manner possible. Examples: You work construction on top of a tall building, so jump. You have sharp hairpins, so stab yourself in the throat. You're driving a car, so why not undo your seatbelt and intentionally speed up into a gigantic tree. That sort of thing. Though it's not official, word has it that Shyamalan shot this movie with an R rating in mind. And with this sort of subject matter, it's hard to imagine The Happening happening in any other way than R. (Hickman) The Dark Knight (not yet rated When word broke that the new Batman movie starred Heath Ledger as the new Joker, all responses were interesting. The most common thought was, "What on earth was Christopher Nolan thinking?" Actually, Nolan (The Pres- • tige, Batman Begins) wasn't thinking "Joker" or "sequel" at all when Warner Bros, approached him. The man rescued the franchise from villain-stuffed plots and nippled bat suits, but when he wrote the cliffhanger ending to Batman Begins, he didn't intend to do a sequel. Once he agreed to take on the task, Nolan decided to try his hand with resurrecting the Joker, wanting a "fearless actor," someone who could take the Joker to new places. Out of dozens of requests from Adrian Brody, Robin Williams, and even Steve Carell, Nolan contacted Heath Ledger. The co-creator of the Joker gave Ledger authoritative comics, and he lived in a hotel room for a month reading and practicing for the role. Ledger's strenuous work on the film would ultimately influence his untimely passing, but the Joker was reportedly the favored role of his career. And despite criticism from Jack Nicholson (the '89 Joker), it's expected to give what notable actor Michael Caine called "one of the scariest performances I've ever seen." Katie Holmes (who played Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins) is being replaced; her husband Tom Cruise was reportedly unhappy about her reprisal, so the character was re-cast with Maggie Gyllenhaal {Stranger Than Fiction). Warner Bros. The Dark Knight staring, Ledger as The Joker opens July 18, 2 With that exception, the.enr! tire gang is back: Gary Oldman-1 (Sirius Black from the Harry Potter films) as Jim Gordon, Michael Caine (most recognized, from Miss Congeniality) as'Al-J fred the butler, Morgan Freeman (recently in The Bucket List) as • A U G U S T Choke (not yet rated) Release date: August 1,2008 After making its debut at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Choke was known for being one of the most worthy, crowdpleasing comedies showcased there. Those who saw it at Sundance couldn't have been happier to see it picked up by Fox Searchlight. Choke stars Sam Rockwell {The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Matchstick Men) as Victor, the sex-addict son of a dying woman (Anjelica Huston) with a dementia-esque illness. Because of her condition, she never recognizes Victor as her son, but instead, as one of the lawyers she knew in her deranged life. As his mom's condition gets worse, Victor's obsessive lifelong objective switches from random sex with strangers to learning the secret identity of his true father, which task will lead him on a divine road mixed with deception, love and confrontation. *•'•'•• Choke is based on a novel'byFight Club author Chuck Palah-' niuk. While the movie is adapt-' ed and directed by a first-time director, rest assured knowing that Brett Ratner {X-Men 3), the only person who could unintentionally destroy a Palahniuk book-turned-movie, has nothing to do with it. (Hickman) Trc Re Part war/co lypse Now spot stars Jack BlablRobert Dowhe and Ben Siflle Kid), the; lane-Land directed1 >th Zoolatider yivtii celebrities. But is on Hollywoc models. The thi^e>lE of prima'.dolifi; photoi courtesy of: • Universal * Paramount * Warner Broi. * aoth Century FoxDlsney * Sony Pictures * Columbia Pictures * Fox Searchlight • Drcamworkj ^ f «-'-n |