A pair of corporate spies (Owen and Roberts) who share a steamy past hook up to pull off the ultimate con job on their respective bosses — but can they learn to truly love and trust one another?

Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) is back to write, direct, and confuse with another crime/suspense story, but this time there’s some lovemaking to be had. I’m all phew for many reasons: Tom Wilkinson’s has reunited with Gilroy for another supporting role; Paul Giamatti replaced Billy Bob Thornton as one of the warring CEOs; we finally get to see what Ocean’s 11 could have been like if Tess were allowed to be more than wallpaper; Clive Owen takes a break from dark/stressful thrillers to deliver some mystery and cheer. But what this project could really use? A title change.

Rated PG-13 for language and some sexual content.

Director: Tony Gilroy
Stars: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Tom Wilkinson
Studio: Universal Pictures
Release Date: 20 March 2009 (USA)
Genre: Crime | Thriller

A teacher (Cage) opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son’s elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions — some that have already occurred and others that are about to — that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.

Great premise, but what’s with the numbers game, didn’t The Number 23 make such a story device a dicey proposition for a while? Not that I’m deplaned from Alex Proyas’s sci-fi trips, but even he seemed disinterested in his new movie when he presented a first look at Comic-Con this year (sans Nic Cage, who lately seems as disinterested in promoting any of his movies). I’m still giving this one a shot, however, since the trailer is effective, please it’s cool to see what Proyas can do with a budget much smaller than, say, I, Robot’s.

Rated PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.

Director: Alex Proyas
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Rose Byrne
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Release Date: 20 March 2009 (USA)
Genre: Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Eugene (Zach Cregger) and Tucker (Trevor Moore) are best friends in high school. Tucker is obsessed with girls and Playboy magazines, while Eugene believes in abstinence. Eugene’s girlfriend (Raquel Alessi), however, thinks she’s ready. After she pressures him, he reluctantly agrees to have sex with her on prom night. When the night finally arrives, Eugene gets understandably nervous. Tucker remedies this by getting his friend super drunk. In his drunken stupor, Eugene accidentally goes through the wrong door and falls down a flight of stairs, resulting in a four-year coma. Eventually, he wakes up to realize that the world that he knew is gone. Most of his friends have left his hometown, and his girlfriend has become a Playboy bunny. With the help of Tucker, he decides to embark on a cross-country roadtrip and get back the girl of his dreams.

Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore are 2/5 of The Whitest Kids U’Know, the NYC comedy troupe who cashed in their YouTube page views for a self-titled TV show that hasn’t quite earned Flight of the Conchords-level saturation — and isn’t even trying to be that mainstream. Now with their first stab at big-screen success, I wish they didn’t choose to go the sex-roadtrip-comedy route, but hopefully their penchant for vile physical comedy will at least push the genre’s boundaries, as tired as they are.

Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, nudity, pervasive language and some drug use.

Director: Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore
Stars: Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore, Raquel Alessi
Studio: Fox Atomic
Release Date: 13 March 2009 (USA)
Genre: Comedy

After kidnapping and brutally assaulting two young women, a gang led by a prison escapee (Dillahunt) unknowingly finds refuge at a vacation home belonging the parents of one of the victims — a mother (Potter) and father (Goldwyn) who devise an increasingly gruesome series of revenge tactics.

The original Last House was a semi-remake of Ignmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring, was viewed as commentary on the Vietnam War, and earned comparisons to Straw Dogs. Wes Craven, who seems bent on remaking each classic from his back catalog, has tinkered with the original film’s premise: gone is the urban setting, the rock and roll, and the dual murders, but at least it didn’t wuss out for a PG-13 rating. Can Rogue Pictures replicate the success it had with The Strangers before the studio is bought by Relativity Pictures?

Rated R for sadistic brutal violence including a rape and disturbing images, language, nudity and some drug use.

Director: Dennis Iliadis
Stars: Garret Dillahunt, Monica Potter, Tony Goldwyn
Studio: Rogue Pictures
Release Date: 13 March 2009 (USA)
Genre: Horror | Thriller

Industrious single mother Rose Lorkowski (Adams) starts an unusual business in order to send her son to a private school; alongside her unreliable sister (Blunt), the two women enter the world of biohazard removal and crime scene clean-ups.

The Sundance set wasn’t particularly wowed by director Christine Jeffs’s follow-up to Sylvia, though I think this is one of the more resonant films that screened at the 2008 festival. Jeffs is unafraid to explore the vagueness of certain family dynamics, and to rely on visuals in the places where too-much-exposition typically is used. There is, of course, much backstory to be discovered in the relationship between Adams and Blunt, and yes, Alan Arkin again inhabits the role of quirky old man … but are these bad things? Of course not. Think of Adams in Junebug form, and Blunt all Gothic and smeared eyeliner; get psyched for a solid supporting performance from Clifton Collins Jr., too.

Rated R for language, disturbing images, some sexuality and drug use.

Director: Christine Jeffs
Stars: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin
Studio: Overture Films
Release Date: 27 March 2009 (USA)
Genre: Comedy | Crime