Armed men hijack a New York City subway train, holding the passengers hostage in return for a ransom, and turning an ordinary day’s work for dispatcher Walter Garbe into a face-off with the mastermind behind the crime.

It’s Deja-Vu all over again as Scott and Denzel reunite for this remake of a remake. I can’t help but wonder if the hijackers in this version will still ask for one meeee-lee-ion dollars or if today’s New Yorkers would seriously sit in a subway car with these goons for an hour (even if one of ‘em looked like an aging Tony Manero).

Rated R for violence and pervasive language.

Director: Tony Scott
Stars: Denzel Washington, John Travolta
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: 12 June 2009 (USA & Canada), 9 July 2009 (Argentina), 23 July 2009 (Australia)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is nearing the end of his contract with Lunar. He’s been a faithful employee for 3 long years. His home has been Selene, a moon base where he has spent his days alone, mining Helium 3. The precious gas holds the key to reversing the Earth’s energy crisis.

Isolated, determined and steadfast, Sam has followed the rulebook obediently and his time on the moon has been enlightening, but uneventful. The solitude has given him time to reflect on the mistakes of his past and work on his raging temper. He does his job mechanically, and spends most of his available time dreaming of his imminent return to Earth, to his wife, young daughter and an early retirement.

But 2 weeks shy of his departure from Selene, Sam starts seeing things, hearing things and feeling strange. And when a routine extraction goes horribly wrong, he discovers that Lunar have their own plans for replacing him and the new recruit is eerily familiar.

Before he can return to Earth, Sam has to confront himself and the discovery that the life he has created, may not be his own. It’s more than his contract that is set to expire.

Writer-director Duncan Jones is the son of David Bowie, but I swear: If anyone uses the term “space oddity” to describe this movie, I will petition to have their blog shut down. What this film really is: A wonderfully composed, thoughtful, even funny addition to the list of elite science-fiction films, which offers a major twist in its first act.

Rated R for language.

Director: Duncan Jones
Stars: Sam Rockwell
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Release Date: 17 July 2009 (UK), 12 June 2009 (USA)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

A financial executive (Murphy) who can’t stop his career downspiral is invited into his daughter’s imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await.

Is Murphy’s real-world profession in the same state as his character’s here? Maybe it’s time to make like Adam Sandler and head back out on the stand-up circuit in order to revitalize your career. Either that, or pull a Johnny Gill and disappear from the industry completely.

Rated PG for some mild language and brief questionable behavior.

Director: Karey Kirkpatrick
Stars: Eddie Murphy, Thomas Haden Church
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: 12 June 2009 (USA), 24 July 2009 (Italy), 31 July 2009 (UK), 21 August 2009 (Mexico)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

Fresh faced and naive, 17-year-old Bennie arrives in Buenos Aires to search for his older brother who has been missing for more than a decade. The family had emigrated from Italy to Argentina, but with the great musical success of their father Carlo, an acclaimed symphony conductor, the family moved from Argentina to New York. When Bennie finds his brother, the volatile and melancholy poet Tetro, he is not at all what he expected. In the course of staying with Tetro and his girlfriend Miranda, the two brothers grapple with the haunting experiences of their shared past.

FFC distorts aspects of his biography and ships it to Argentina (with side trips to Spain) for his first original screenplay since The Conversation (which AMC, home of “Mad Men” is using as the source material for a new program). No offense to Vincent Gallo, but I wish the Fates did not conspire to push Matt Dillon out of the titular role; with the unending desire for all things 80’s nostalgia, it would have been retro (rhymes with “Tetro”) to see a Rumble Fish reunion.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Vincent Gallo, Alden Ehrenreich, Maribel Verdú
Studio: American Zoetrope
Release Date: 26 June 2009 (Spain), 10 June 2009 (USA)
Genre: Drama

On his latest expedition, Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell) is sucked into a space-time vortex alongside his research assistant (Friel) and a redneck survivalist (McBride). In this alternate universe, the trio make friends with a primate named Chaka (Taccone), their only ally in a world full of dinosaurs and other fantastic creatures. Can they all make it back to our world alive, and if so: Will Dr. Marshall can go from zero to hero with his discoveries?

Say what you want about Kroft’s original ’70s Saturday morning fix (if you can even remember it), sleestaks, pakunies and Marshall Marshall are ripe for parody. And, Ferrell’s just the right guy to deliver it. While many seem ready to write off his various shirtless, man-boy, sport-spoof antics, we’re not. Mostly because he’s still funny as hell. Plus, we can’t wait to see what he and already-arrived comic McBride come up with together.

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and for language including a drug reference.

Director: Brad Silberling
Stars: Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel
Studio: Universal Pictures
Release Date: 5 June 2009 (USA)
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi