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

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

A couple who is expecting their first child travel around the U.S. in order to find a perfect place to start their family. Along the way, they have misadventures and find fresh connections with an assortment of relatives and old friends who just might help them discover “home” on their own terms for the first time.

Four words I never thought I’d use in the same sentence: Sam Mendes summer comedy. With a screenplay by the marvelous husband-and-wife duo Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, I feel like Mendes will make the shift away from heavyweight dramas with his love for important themes intact. May his process make Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski actual-real movie stars, too. Why am I already seeing Eggers and Vida on awards podiums, spreading the 826 Valencia gospel?

Rated R for language and some sexual content.

Director: Sam Mendes
Stars: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Allison Janney
Studio: Focus Features
Release Date: 25 June 2009 (Greece)
Genre: Comedy, Drama

When Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati – the most powerful underground organization in history – he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of the secret organization’s most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. When Langdon learns that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, he jets to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop, action-packed hunt through sealed crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow a 400-year-old trail of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican’s only hope for survival.

Angels and Demons was the reclusive authors third novel after he gave up his job as an English teacher. It tells the story of Langdons brush with a shadowy secret society, the Illuminati, and his frantic quest for the worlds most powerful energy source, in the company of a beautiful Italian physicist whose father, a brilliant physicist, has been murdered.

The team behind the global phenomenon “The Da Vinci Code” returns for the highly anticipated “Angels & Demons,” based upon the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard religious expert Robert Langdon, who once again finds that forces with ancient roots are willing to stop at nothing, even murder, to advance their goals. Ron Howard again directs the film, which is produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and John Calley. The screenplay is by David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman.

Angels & Demons … read more »