JULY 2008

HANCOCK: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Jae Head, Eddie Marsan (Directed by Peter Berg; Written by Vince Gilligan, Vincent Ngo; Columbia) Will Smith, as we know, can do anything--help kids in big trouble, make unhappy women happy, tell jokes, bash the bad guys, sail masterfully through unfriendly skies--and make it all look easy, as he does in this ambitious futuristic thriller. What’s the down side for Will--or rather Hancock, the superhero he plays? The public he continues to rescue from harm gets turned off by the chaos he creates in the process of performing his heroic deeds. Fortunately, a PR consultant (Jason Bateman) takes pity and does a splendid makeover on him. How does Hancock reward this image expert? He makes whoopie with his wife (Charlize Theron). And you thought they didn’t make them like this anymore. Opens 7/2

THE DARK KNIGHT: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Anthony Michael Hall, Michael Caine, William Fichtner, Eric Roberts (Written and directed by Christopher Nolan; Warner Bros.) Batman (Christian Bale) and good-guy lawman James Gordon (Gary Oldman) have got trouble, BIG trouble, right here in Gotham city. And the biggest part of the big trouble is The Joker, a lethal lunatic brought memorably to life by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 Batman extravaganza. This time, the sicko is played by Heath Ledger, the charismatic actor who recently died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. If you flipped for “Batman Begins” (2005), chances are that “The Dark Knight” will please you, since it too has been helmed by that film's director, Christopher Nolan, and many cast members are doing encores. Katie Holmes, however, does not return as delectable Rachel Dawes. That role, we’re pleased to say, has been inherited by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Opens 7/18

MAMA MIA: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan (Directed by Phyllida Lloyd; Written by Catherine Johnson; Universal) We’re all aware that Meryl Streep can do anything--in any medium and with whatever accent is required. So we shouldn’t be the least bit surprised to hear that she will sing out, loud and clear, in the movie version of the smash ABBA-loaded musical “Mama Mia.” If you’ve seen the show, you know the mama she’ll be playing is the proud mother of a bride-to-be. You also know that she’s never revealed the identity of the man to whom she owes her motherhood and that her daughter, determined to come face to face with dad, has invited the three most likely sires to her wedding. (Could daddy be the cool architect played by Pierce Brosnan?) The big question is, can Meryl put over a song? If you had the pleasure of hearing her warble in “Postcards From the Edge” or “A Prairie Home Companion,” you know the answer is an emphatic yes. And once she gets “Mama Mia” out of the way, let’s hope she moves on to “Gypsy,” “Wonderful Town,” “Mame,” "Applause" and “Pal Joey.” Click here to read about more new movie musicals. Opens 7/18

THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, Xzibit, Mitch Pileggi (Directed by Chris Carter; Written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz; Fox) Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, the (very) special agents and occasional lovers who attained cult status on TV and then, in 1998, on film, are back in a long-overdue new big-screen installment of “The X-Files.” Happily, Mulder and Scully are again being played by the magnetic combo of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, and they will undoubtedly rekindle that old spark, either here on earth or on some other thrill-packed planet. Joining them will be Billy Connolly as an irreverent man of the cloth, plus Amanda Peet and Xzibit as a flashy pair of FBI agents. Opens 7/25