Playboy's Summer Movie Preview

[movieTitle]Spider-Man 2[/movieTitle]

[actor]Tobey Maguire[/actor]

[actor]Kirsten[/actor]

[actor]Dunst[/actor]

[actor]Alfred Molina[/actor]

[director]Sam Raimi[/director]

You don't need Spidey Sense to know this is the summer's Biggest Movie

Fast Pitch: While Peter Parker's love life becomes an even more tangled web, his alter ego battles Doctor Octopus. (June 30)

On The Set: The megablockbuster success of Spider-Man gave Raimi great power, and with that power comes great sequel responsibility. While he has described Spider-Man 2 as "more intimate," everything we've seen looks kicked up a notch, including a new foe to replace the somewhat goofy Green Goblin. Armed to kill as Doc Ock is Alfred Molina (Boogie Nights), who says, "Ock starts out with good intentions and, through a series of disasters, spirals out of control. It's terribly human. But even at his most horrible he has something witty to say." (Kind of like Dennis Miller.) Molina prepped by mastering wire-flying contraptions and rehearsing with puppeteers who manipulated his steel tentacles. All of which seemed even more odd when he shared an action scene with stage actress Rosemary Harris, who returns as Aunt May. "We were hoisted 60 feet above a concrete floor," says Molina, "so between shots I said, 'I've always wanted to work with you, but I imagined it would be in something a bit different. I can't believe I'm doing this.' In her impeccable accent she said, 'Neither can I, darling, neither can I.."'

Webbed Feat: Studio execs screened a not so rough cut in February, so Raimi has had plenty of time to polish, including, we hope, making Spidey's acrobatics less cartoonish. Then again, how can any special effect compete with a rain-soaked Dunst?

Anticipation Level:

[rating]5 tickets[/rating]

The Big Chiller

[movieTitle]The Day After Tomorrow[/movieTitle]

[actor]Dennis Quaid[/actor]

[actor]Jake Gyllenhaal[/actor]

[director]Roland Emmerich[/director]

What's Cooler than Cool? An Iceberg-Cold Disaster Flick

Fast Pitch:Everybody talks about the weather. This doomsday saga flips, as a new Ice Age kicks planetary butt. (May 28)

On The Set:Towering Inferno. Earthquake. Twister. Are those disaster es your idea of a good time? Writer-director Emmerich (Independence Day) has rolled them up into one big end-of-the-world blowout about climatological catastrophes that send Quaid to rescue his son Gyllenhaal from frozen-over New York. "Most disaster movies have warnings, such as 'Don't build high buildings when you don't know how to get the people out," says Emmerich. 'The difference in my movie is that you can't do anything to stop it. You can only do what you can to survive. We do such a number on New York and Los Angeles that we don't need to have much plot." He says he isn't concerned that audiences may be skittish about watching graphic depictions of civilization crashing down around their heads. "When I came up with the idea, people told me, 'After September 11, I don't know....' But this is a natural disaster, not terrorists, and I think that's going to make audiences take the movie more seriously. Either it works or it doesn't. I can only make movies that I would like to see. Now I just have to hope somebody else likes it too."

Frozen Assets:Independence Day showed that Emmerich has a way with global calamity. Godzilla showed that he does't always live up to hype.

Anticipation Level: [rating]4 tickets[/rating]

Also Showing

[movieTitle]Anchorman[/movieTitle]

Look, Up In The Air! It's Comic Relief!

Summer's not summer without a raucous gut buster, and Will Ferrell--Hollywood's new sultan of inspired silliness--is here to help. Playing 1970s local TV news hotshot Ron Burgundy, a self-enchanted dimwit and unapologetic sexist, he declares war on an ambitious newswoman (Christina Applegate) when she refuses to cover fluff stories such as cat shows. Word has it that co-writers Ferrell and newbie director Adam McKay encouraged the cast (which includes Vince Vaughn, Paul Rudd and Maya Rudolph) to improvise like gangbusters, so count on a dose of left-field looniness and enough polyester to make the entire multiplex break out in a rash. With Ferrell really hitting his comedic stride, Anchorman should tickle more funny bones than half a dozen movies made from warmed-over Snl skits.

Anticipation Level: [rating]3 tickets[/rating]

The Heroine Trip

Hello, Kitty! Comic Book Geeks Get Cat Scratch Fever for the Summer other superhero flick

[movieTitle]Catwoman[/movieTitle]

[actor]Hallen Berry[/actor]

[actor]Sharon Stone[/actor]

[actor]Benjamin Bratt[/actor]

[director]Pitof[/director]

Fast Pitch: A lowly cosmetics-company employee inherits ancient powers and cracks the whip on her evil bosses. (July 23)

On the set Gotham City has become Lake City in this $100 mil-ion of the DC Comics franchise, but French director Pitof (yes, just one name) wants fans not to worry. "Even if the world is different, it's still Catwoman," says the former visual-effects supervisor. And he can't wait to show off the climactic catfight between Berry's Catwoman and the villainous Stone. "They are both very feral, but it's different from how a man fights. We didn't copy the action-hero movie with a man's perspective. It's sexy and fun." To help her mimic a feline's slinky acrobatics, Berry trained in capoeira, a limber Brazilian martial art. And to help attract male moviegoers, Catwoman's costume underwent a redesign to accentuate Berry's famed cleavage. The new catsuit unleashed a predictable Internet backlash, but Pitof thinks his meow minx looks just fine. "You can't dissociate the costume and the woman," he says. "They are one. I love how sexy the costume is, but what I love most is who is inside."

Giving Paws: Despite rumors, there is no Batman cameo. Whether we'll notice his absence is another matter.

Anticipation Level: [rating]3 tickets[/rating]

Also Showing

[movieTitle]The Bourne Supremacy[/movieTitle]

More Cloak-Danger Adventure with Damon's Everyman Spy

When the European mean-streets cool of The Bourne Identity turned the espionage thriller into a surprise blockbuster, it wasn't hard to find material for a sequel: Author Robert Ludlum had already written one. Matt Damon is back as the resourceful secret agent, on the run again when a Chinese official's murder points to him. Naturally this also puts his spunky girlfriend (Franka Potente) in jeopardy. Politically minded director Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday) shot on location in intrigue-rich Berlin and Moscow. If the action and double-crosses live up to the original, even Bond may start feeling nervous.

Anticipation Level: [rating]4 tickets[/rating]

[movieTitle]The Terminal[/movieTitle]

Spielberg and Hanks search a flyer's emotional baggage

The question isn't whether the latest collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks will take off like Saving Private Ryan or Catch Me If You Can. It's whether Hanks will fly in a role that practically begs for gulp--Roberto Benigni. Hanks, our most American star, is an Eastern Europeanimmigrant stranded for months at a New York airport after a coup back home. Instead of hanging out at Cinnabon, he falls for flight attendant Catherine Zeta-Jones. The movie is already being touted as cleared for landing come Oscar time. But to please audiences, it had better be the best extend d layover ever.

Anticipational level:[rating]3 tickets[/rating]

The Thrill on Wheels

Taxicab Confessions Meets 24? Stary Your Meters!

[movieTitle]Collateral[/movieTitle]

[actor]Tom Cruise,[/actor]

[actor]Jamie Foxx.[/actor]

[director]Michael Mann[/director]

Fast Pitch: A hit man forces a cabbie to drive him around L.A. as he picks off his victims one by one. (August 6)

On the Set: Cruise as a contract killer? Believe it, says Mann: "He's a stone sociopath. The character does certain things that horrify us and yet are deeply funny in a dark way. Tom had a great time." And with funnyman Foxx as the hack forced to keep the meter running while Cruise systematically wipes out witnesses in a big drug case, Mann knew he had an offbeat but effective double act. "What interested me was the intensity of one night," says Mann, a noted visual stylist who had been itching to make a movie set entirely in a dusk-till-dawn City of Angels. "When there's a lot of atmosphere in the sky, the streetlights bounce off the bottoms of clouds and it's like a dark daylight. It becomes the world these guys are rolling through." Much of the film will take place inside a taxi, so the director had 17 cabs built, some without sides, some without backs. But as meditative as Mann's movies are known to get, he says to expect plenty of choreographed chaos, too--between the hits themselves and the authorities trying to cut Cruise's ride short. Says Mann, "I mean, he's here to kill people, and we have a lot of action. The situations are brilliant."

Buckle Up: Mann was much criticized for his overly somber Ali biopic three years ago. Now we get the sense he's ready to cut loose and have some hell-on-wheels fun.

Anticipation Level: [rating]4 tickets[/rating]

[movieTitle]The Village[/movieTitle]

The Scariest Movie set in 19th century pennsylvania

M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) isn't giving up his bent for surprises, as evidenced by the level of secrecy surrounding his latest supernatural blockbuster. It's his first period piece, set in 1897 in a rural hamlet where nobody wanders far because of an agreement with the beasties in the woods. When Joaquin Phoenix decides the truce is ye olde bullshit, will all hell break loose? Adrien Brody and William Hurt also peer through the fog. We don't know if Shyamalan has another twist ending up his sleeve, but we do know the movie will be spooky and atmospheric...and it had better have creatures less cheesy than the aliens in Signs.

Anticipation Level: [rating]4 tickets[/rating]

[movieTitle]I, Robot[/movieTitle]

If It's summer, the machines must be rising

Set in a near future when humans are helpless without robot servants, this CGI-palooza, based on an Isaac Asimov story, casts Will Smith as a cop teaming with a "robot psychologist" to hunt for a scientist's killer. The trail leads to suspects such as a robot named Sonny, whose humanlike angst suggests that droids could be poised to stage a takeover. For this big-budget flick to soar, director Alex Proyas (The Crow) needs to conjure up a future world as jaw-dropping as Blade Runner and make us forget that man-versus-machine mayhem was all the rage last summer. It'll help if Smith is less robotic than he was in Men in Black II.

Anticipation Level: [rating]2 tickets[/rating]

[movieTitle]The Chronicles of Riddick[/movieTitle]

A Sci-fl sequel fills its tank with more diesel

Vin Diesel famously ducked out of sequels to both The Fast and the Furious and XXX but did sign on to reprise his renegade character from the modest 2000 space thriller Pitch Black. A convict turned alien-squashing hero, Riddick is now five years older, still a target for bounty hunters and caught up in the plans of a warrior priest and his sect of Necromongers. (With a name like that, they can't be nice.) Like the light-dark extremes that created suspense last time, this version promises a planetary prison that swings between freezing cold and lava hot--and, thanks to a bigger budget, plenty of explosive action. In the tradition of Alec Guinness's and lan McKellen's appearances in fantasy fare, Dame Judi Dench is on board to lend clipped British authority to the galactic roller-coaster ride.

Anticipation Level: [rating]2 tickets[/rating]

The (Not First) Date Movie

[movieTitle]The Stepford Wives[/movieTitle]

[actor]Nicole Kidman[/actor]

[actor]Matthew Broderick[/actor]

[actor]Faith Hill[/actor]

[director]Frank Oz[/director]

You've upgrded your stereo and your TV. Why not your spoues?

Fast Pitch: Puts fresh batteries in the creepy 1975 classic about a wife who discovers suburban husbands swapping their mates ... for obedient robots. (June 11)

On the Set: Sure, men desire a beautiful wife who can cook a mean lasagna and turn up the heat in the bedroom, too. But not many would consider wedding an artificial life-form--or would they? This remake updates the original's hot-button issues, casting Broderick as the emasculated husband of network boss Kidman. "The first movie was a reaction to women's lib," says Broderick. "This version is more a reaction to women starting to overtake men. There's something profoundly interesting in what men would do if they had the power to turn women into whatever they wanted." Director Oz has to balance the material between moments of high camp and high creep. "There's a square dance set in this Eisenhower-era universe the husbands create," says Broderick. "Then things go terribly wrong with one of the robots, and Chris Walken comes in to fix everything. And Glenn Close calls the square dance." Okay, now we're scared.

Tinker Time: There were reports of friction between director and cast on the set. But now everyone seems as happy as ... robots?

Anticipation Level: [rating]3 tickets[/rating]

Also Showing

[movieTitle]Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow[/movieTitle]

Cutting-Edge computer graphics create an old-school cliff-hanger

Computer whiz Kerry Conran spent eight years developing an animated short about giant robots besieging 1939 New York. It landed him a $70 million feature deal, and with his retro flick's sets and effects on a hard drive, all his actors--namely Jude Law as a fighter pilot and Gwyneth Paltrow as his plucky girlfriend--had to do was emote in front of blue screens. It's a CGI gamble that will either crown Conran as the new George Lucas or amount to a glitch-ridden goof a la Final Fantasy.

Anticipation Level: [rating]3 tickets[/rating]

[movieTitle]Bombs Away![/movieTitle]

It's a short summer. Do you really want to risk two hours on these Guaranteed disasters?

Hollywood math says that for every summer movie that satisfies, a dozen more make you wish you'd watched an egg fry on the sidewalk instead. Most are just disappointments; others are so head-scratchingly ill conceived you can't believe someone, anyone, didn't pull the plug. And if we're wrong we'll wear an I Love Gigli T-shirt for a year.

[movieTitle]White Chicks[/movieTitle]

In this Wayans-clan comedy, Marlon and Shawn play FBI agents (that's not the outlandish part) who go undercover as ... debutantes! Keenan directs, and we're sure he'll deliver all the comic subtlety of Scary Movie 2. More to the point, when Eddie Murphy played a Jewish man in Coming to America, at least it was a one-scene gag. This looks to be about as witty as the Hilton sisters pretending to be Amos and Andy.

[movieTitle]Anacondas:The hunt for the black orchid[/movieTitle]

We can't quite recall audiences coming out of the slitheringly stupid 1997 snake flick Anaconda clamoring for a sequel. And after seven years we've erased all memory of the first one, except for a wet J. Lo, of course. That hissing you hear in the back row? It's not the snake.

[movieTitle]Thunderbirds[/movieTitle]

It started with marionettes.. In space. The original Thunderbirds was a 1960s British 1, kids'show about the adventures of an interplanetary rescue family, acted out with wooden puppets. Now it's a $70 million movie with Oscar-winning master thespian Ben Kingsley and lots of colorful spacesuits. We know: Now you're pumped! What's next, the Lucasfilm version of Far Out Space Nuts?

[movieTitle]Cheer up[/movieTitle]

Tommy Lee Jones as a Texas Ranger? Sure. Tom- J my Lee Jones protecting witnesses in the trial of a drug kingpin? We're with ya. Tommy Lee Jones going undercover as a cheerleading coach? Excuse us, your gimmick is showing. We're not sure anybody needs The Fugitive crossed with Bring It On or one more gruff taskmaster who learns to say "Rah, rah" from the heart. Smells like something way worse than teen spirit.