MAY 2006

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Keri Russell, Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys-Meyer, Bahar Soomekh, Maggie Q, Eddie Marsan, Sasha Alexander (Directed by J. J. Abrams; Written by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci; Paramount) Big Tom is back as tunnel-visioned secret agent Ethan Hunt, and so is Ving Rhames as his computer-savvy sidekick Luther Stickel. Paramount is being stingy with plot details on this sequel to a sequel, but what’s the difference? It probably won’t make sense anyway. With Tom and his crew, it doesn’t have to make sense to make dollars. To read Guy Flatley's 2000 interview with Billy Crudup, click here. Now Playing

POSEIDON: Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Jacinda Barrett, Jimmy Bennett, Emmy Rossum, Mark Vogel, Kevin Dillon, Freddy Rodriguez, Mia Maestro (Directed by Wolfgang Petersen; Written by Mark Protosevich; Warner Bros.) We feared it might never happen, but here, at last, is Wolfgang Petersen, the splashy auteur of “Das Boot” and “The Perfect Storm,” producing and directing a remake of the 1972 camp classic about an ocean liner that flip-flops, forcing its passengers--including Gene Hackman, Shelley Winters, Ernest Borgnine and Red Buttons--to engage in a crazed climb up to the bottom of the boat. Although the story has been dragged into this century (Dreyfuss plays an openly gay man who's feeling blue because his boyfriend has dumped him), the troublemaker is still a titanic-sized tidal wave. But the troublemaker that could sink this potential blockbuster at the box office is the Hallmark Channel remake of "The Poseidon Adventure" that NBC shrewdly purchased and aired to a huge audience late in 2005. Now Playing

JUST MY LUCK: Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine, Faizon Love, Missi Pyle, Bree Turner, Samaire Armstrong, Tovah Feldshuh, Carlos Ponce, Makenzie Vega (Directed by Donald Petrie; Written by I. Marlene King and Amy B. Harris; Fox) Lindsay Lohan plays a girl who has everything--looks, money, a fab job at a prestigious P.R. firm and her pick of dreamboys. At a costume party she encounters a young, sexy and downwardly mobile manager of a British pop band and, out of the goodness of her heart and a smidgeon of curiosity, she gives the lad an ample kiss. Indeed, a kiss so ample that it magically reverses their fortunes; his from bad to good (he lands a record contract for the band) and hers--well, for starters, her fab job is pulled out from under her. The question is, will they ever kiss again? Now Playing

THE DA VINCI CODE: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Paul Bettany, Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Jean Reno (Directed by Ron Howard; Written by Akiva Goldsman; Columbia) This can’t-lose box-office gamble is based on the Dan Brown thriller that has been a best seller for what seems like an eternity. Tom Hanks plays the intrepid investigator who, during the course of grappling with the mystery of a murder committed at the Louvre, takes a long look at the famously enigmatic Mona Lisa and finds clues leading to mind-blowing revelations about Jesus Christ. Like he had a wife named Mary Magdalene, who bore him a child or two. Tell me this: who’s going to break the news to Mel Gibson? To read Guy Flatley's 2002 interview with Paul Bettany, who plays an agitated albino in "The Da Vinci Code," click here; for Maureen Dowd's take on "Code" in The New York Times, click here. Now Playing

OVER THE HEDGE: Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Nick Nolte, Catherine O'Hara, William Shatner, Steve Carell, Eugene Levy, Wanda Sykes, Avril Lavigne, Allison Janney (Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick; Written by Len Blum; DreamWorks) Bruce Willis plays a resourceful raccoon who more or less makes a man of the spineless turtle played by Garry Shandling. Fortunately, this is an animated feature, so the actors--game as they may be--aren’t saddled with heavy fur or a stifling shell. All they have to do is deliver the snappy repartee of an odd couple determined to triumph over the two-legged creatures who are turning their idyllic woods into a dreary suburb. Now Playing

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Vinnie Jones, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Famke Janssen, Alan Cumming, Kelsey Grammer, Daniel Cudmor, Shawn Ashmore, Maggie Grace (Directed by Brett Ratner; Written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn; Fox) Everyone's favorite Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and a horde of hyperactive mutants will once again cavort in this Marvel Comics-inspired fantasy.Lots of familiar faces will show up--plus Aussie jock Vinnie Jones is said to have a major role as the villainous Juggernaut. To read Diane Baroni's 2001 interview with Vinnie Jones, click here; for Guy Flatley's 1998 interview with Anna Paquin, click here. Now Playing