Super Summer Cinema Guide - Part One

Welcome to the ScreenSelect Super Summer Cinema Guide. Part One of it, anyway. The whole shooting match is a bit too beefy for just one feature, so what follows is your briefing on the movies and shakies of May and June. You'll find the films of July and August in Part Two, and we'll stick another link at the bottom of this page. Combined, they're your guide to the summer's cinema: big blockbusters, quirky little things, and a good few in-between. Always important to choose wisely - we think this'll help...

May

Mission: Impossible III - 4^th May

Starring: Tom Cruise, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Monaghan
Director: JJ Abrams
Getting The Big Grin to stop mooning about over Katie Holmes long enough to visit 15 global locations and record a bit of dialogue while doing some running and jumping - Alias creator Abrams accepted such an impossible mission, and the action agent trequel arrives some six months ahead of the new Bond.

The Da Vinci Code - 19^th May

Starring: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno
Director: Ron Howard
Squidgy-faced everyman hero Hanks embarks on European art history treasure hunt when a museum curator is sliced and diced in the Louvre. In other news, an extremist wing of the Catholic church gets miffed, and pulp author Dan Brown's bank manager laughs all the way to, er, where he works.

The Wild - 26^th May

Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Eddie Izzard, William Shatner
Director: Steve 'Spaz' Williams
Animated New York Zoo animals head to Africa with celebrity voices and comedy quips to - hang on... Madagascar? Anyone? Everyone's fave CTU agent is Samson the lion, Izzard's a koala, James Belushi also features as a streetwise squirrel with a crush on Janeane Garofalo's giraffe. No, we're not making this up.

X-Men 3 - 26^th May

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen
Director: Brett Ratner
There's a cure for the mutations, but Gandalf's having none of it, and battle lines are drawn once again 'twixt his lot and Capt Picard's mob, with everyday humankind caught slap in the centre. All the regulars return, while Rush Hour (and RH2, and RH3) director Ratner takes over from Bryan Singer, who's off with Superman.

June

Poseidon - 2^nd Jun Starring: Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Emmy Rossum Director: Wolfgang Petersen You cruise, you lose, especially when your big boat goes belly-up. Wolfgang (Das Boot, Perfect Storm) gets wet again in this remake of the 1977 disaster movie, Kurt tries not to go overboard, while Richard can't stay dry, makes a fuss and keeps asking everyone how big their hats are. (What cap sizes?) Ithankyow.	Ask The Dust - 2^nd Jun Starring: Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek Director: Robert Towne Fussed about trust-n-lust in the dust? Equal phwoaar factor as Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek arrive in 1930s LA with very different plans to throw off their pasts and leave the Depression behind. A 30 year labour of love for director Towne, writer of Chinatown, Tequila Sunrise, The Firm, M:I 1&2...
The Omen - 6^th Jun Starring: Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles Director: John Moore Most parents suspect at some point, usually around the Terrible Twos, that they've spawned the devil. The kicker for US diplomat Schreiber is that he really has. Probably shouldn't have called him Damien, then, huh? Remake of director Richard Donner's 1976 horror. Check out the release date, too: d'you see...?	R.V. - 9^th Jun Starring: Robin Williams, Jeff Daniels Director: Barry Sonnenfeld We call it a Camper Van, not an R.V. But try getting people to go watch a movie called Camper Van. Camper Van Holocaust, maybe you've got something - this, though, is Robin Williams trying to re-bond his dysfunctional family with a road-trip holiday. Director Sonnenfeld = Get Shorty, Wild Wild West, MIB 1&2...
Imagine Me & You - 16^th Jun Starring: Piper Perabo, Lena Headey, Matthew Goode Director: Ol Parker Just your age-old, everyday tale of boy meets girl, boy marries girl, but then girl meets girl who did the wedding flowers and begins to have... well, feelings and stuff. And not about petunias. Four Weddings/ Notting Hill-style rom-com fluff with a green-fingered, lemony twist.	Thank You For Smoking - 16^th Jun Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Mario Bello, Rob Lowe Director: Jason Reitman Satirical comedy with tobacco spokesman Aaron Eckhart trying to put a cheery spin on the evil death-sticks of doom while remaining a role-model to his 12 year old son, dealing with reporter Katie Holmes, and strident opposition from that bloke who looks like Ned Flanders (William H Macy).
An Unfinished Life - 16^th Jun Starring: Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Morgan Freeman Director: Lasse Hallstrom Bob Redford's just about set to live out his days on a Wyoming ranch being a grumpy old sod, when daughter-in-law JLo pitches up and reopens all the old wounds surrounding his son's death. Guilt, forgiveness - there's a grizzly bear in there too somewhere... Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat, Cider House Rules) holds the reins.	Half Light - 23^rd Jun Starring: Demi Moore, James Cosmo, Hans Matheson Director: Craig Rosenberg La Moore back in Ghost territory - minus the bowl cut and all that mucking about with clay - as a thriller novelist who decides the god-forsaken Scottish coast is the best place to mourn her drowned 5 year old son. Some spooky nasty things think so too. Or is she just barking mad?
The Lake House - 23^rd Jun Starring: Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Director: Alejandro Agresti Sandy and Keanu exchange love letters in picturesque waterfront residence - so far, so rom-dram-yawn, right? Twist is, they're actually living two years apart (adopt spooky voice) in the shadowy mists of time, ha ha HA! Ahem. Sorry. Think Frequency and Back To The Future with a dash of The Notebook...	Over The Hedge - 30^th Jun Starring: Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Gene Wilder Director: Tim Johnson Everybody needs good neighbours, according to the wisdom of Oz, but Verne the tortoise's (Shandling, The Larry Sanders Show) woodland mob aren't so sure about nearby humans. Enter fast-talking raccoon RJ (Willis) to turn them round. Dreamworks animation from the director of Antz.

Get the advance word on the second half of the year with the Super Summer Cinema Guide - Part Two

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