Ray Pride

Summer Movies

Release dates are more volatile than ever; with luck, they should at least arrive in the months we've listed.

June's 5 Can't-Miss Movies

1

Me and You and Everyone We Know

Tender transgression? Who would've predicted Miranda July's deliriously tender gem of the unlikely everyday?

2

Batman Begins

Yeah, after all these decades, he's only getting started: Christopher "Memento" Nolan remembers to class it up, with Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson and Katie "I love Tom, yes, I do, I love Tom" Holmes.

3

Howl's Moving Castle

The latest dreamy hand-drawn animation from Hayao Miyazaki, maker of "Spirited Away" and other wondrous classics

4

Mysterious Skin

Gregg Araki's haunting adaptation of Scott Heim's novel about the legacy of child abuse

5

Lords of Dogtown

Catherine Hardwick is queen bee to the alpha males in a jaunty ode to reckless youth: the sensuality of boys and skateboarding in 1970s Venice, California, probably couldn't have found a more ideal director.

The rest of June

The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl

Robert Rodriquez' 3-D fantasy about a 10-year-old boy's imaginary friends

Bewitched

The revenge of the Ephron: Nora works again, going meta on the past! Will Ferrell plays a shitty movie star reduced to cashing fat sitcom checks on a series called "Bewitched," who chooses non-pro Nicole Kidman as his co-star, not knowing she's a professional--you got it!--witch!

Cinderella Man

"Fistbiscuit": Ron Howard goes for the sepia-tinted Great Depression uplift gig in this boxing tale starring fisticuffs fan Russell Crowe. With Renee "Stop calling me Ruby!" Zellweger, Paul Giamatti.

George A. Romero's Land of the Dead

Romero does a number four about a city that lets its defenses against zombification fall. With Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento and John Leguizamo.

Herbie: Fully Loaded

Lindsay Lohan goes Nascar with a cuddly VW Bug. With Matt Dillon and Michael Keaton.

High Tension

Tony French slasher pic, aka "Switchblade Romance"

Hitchcock Festival

The Music Box's celebration includes a 70mm print of "Vertigo."

The Holy Girl

Check out Lucrecia Martel's humid first feature, "La Cienaga," on DVD, for a glimpse of her splintered perspectives on modern-day Argentina, then try this seductive tale of obsessive behavior.

The Honeymooners

TV made somehow smaller once again, with Cedric the Entertainer in the Jackie Gleason role; Mike Epps, Gabrielle Union and Regina Hall are nearby.

Lipstick & Dynamite

Chicago-made doc about the memories of lady wrasslers.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Doug Liman's work is usually a sweet surprise; here's hoping this comic romantic fantasy about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as the world's two most successful assassins comes to something.

My Summer of Love

Dreamy, stylized romance between two teenage girls, one rich, one poor, in the English countryside

The Perfect Man

Hilary Duff goes online to create an imaginary lover to dummy mom Heather Locklear. Chris Noth does some Big Man schtick.

Rebel Without a Cause/East of Eden

New prints of James Dean's classics

Rock School

Live-action doc a la "School of Rock," with li'l `uns learning the Zappa songbook

Saving Face

Gaysian-American: a sweet rom-com charmer about a Chinese doctor who tries to hide her budding romance with a dancer from her pregnant mom (Joan Chen) who's just moved in with her.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The teen bestseller, brought to the screen with tears and terrors intact

War of the Worlds

Let's see what $200 million buys this century as Cruise and Spielberg and Dakota Fanning run from all the shit getting blowed up.

(2005-05-24)

Also by Ray Pride

Tip of the Week
Everything that's old is new again, or at least you can hope against hope when it comes to contemporary UK gangster thrillers
(2005-05-17)

Sith and spin
After the Tribune's reviewer gave it four stars, Ebert offers three-and-half death stars, the Time's A. O. Scott hedges neatly that it's "by far the best film in the more recent trilogy," need me for what, do you?
(2005-05-17)

Dog the walk
"Unleashed" is one of those unlikely hybrids of action, sound, music and sentimentality that announce you've arrived on Luc Besson Planet
(2005-05-10)

Tip of the Week
Jonathan Nossiter's made a couple of interesting fiction features (the gloomy "Sunday" and the fractured "Signs & Wonders"), but "Mondovino," a documentary about the shifts in sentiment and sediment in the twenty-first century world of wine, combines filmmaking with his original career, that of a successful New York sommelier
(2005-05-10)

Modern Medieval
(2005-05-03)

Tip of the Week
(2005-05-03)

Tip of the Week
(2005-04-26)

What Do You Believe?
(2005-04-26)

Glossed in translation
(2005-04-19)

Tip of the Week
(2005-04-19)

Burp of a nation
(2005-04-12)

The welcoming of chance
(2005-04-12)

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