The film I’m most looking forward to is David Fincher’s thriller Zodiac, which will be the first film in competition at this year’s Cannes Festival to open here. But the big disappointment concerns a film that isn’t going to open this summer. The British premiere of Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s spoof double bill of 1970s exploitation B movies, complete with fake trailers and advertisement, was scheduled for 1 June, but following box-office failure in the States, the opening here has been cancelled.
The new plan is for the two parts to be screened separately, which renders the project pointless. Bizarrely, Tarantino’s half, Death Proof, is in competition in Cannes, which suggests that the festival’s selectors either approve of the judgment of Solomon made by its producers, the Weinstein brothers, or intend to open a public debate on the affair.
The most striking thing about this summer’s films - and it reflects poorly on the industry - is the proliferation of sequels, at least 10 by my estimation. They range from one of the year’s most expensive films, Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End, to the low-budget Hostel: Part II, a follow-up to the highly lucrative horror flick that did for Slovakia what Borat did for Kazakhstan. In between are Ocean’s Thirteen, Die Hard 4 and the new Harry Potter.
The season’s oddest picture is one of those curiosities like The Producers, a film that has returned to the cinema via success as a musical on Broadway. This is Hairspray, originally a camp John Waters movie of 1988 starring 20-stone transvestite Divine as a 1960s Baltimore housewife. It was musicalised five years ago with the ungainly Harvey Fierstein in the lead; for the film musical, John Travolta has donned drag and put on some hefty padding. As Eric Morecambe would have said, it isn’t a pretty sight.
The only continental country making a serious contribution to our summer’s entertainment is France, with the ambitious Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en rose; portemanteau picture Paris Je t’aime, with a segment on each of the city’s arrondissements from contributors ranging from the Coen brothers to Wes Craven (is there a Rue d’orme in Paris to have a cauchemar on?); and Moliere, an attempt (with Romain Duris in the title role) to do for France’s greatest playwright what Shakespeare in Love did for ours.
For those seeking classic revivals, there are Cassavetes’s brilliant backstage drama Opening Night (1978); Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris (1972), a film Lord Longford abused me on the Today programme for admiring, but which Pauline Kael thought as epoch-making as Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring; and Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957), a landmark in world cinema made in 35 days on a budget of £60,000.
Philip French
The Simpsons Movie
Names David Silverman (dir); voices by Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright.
USP After 18 years and 395 episodes, the Simpsons team finally succumbs to the lure of the silver screen.
Plot It’s jealously guarded but theories abound. Creator Matt Groening promises an ‘epic story’, so should we be looking for parallels with Homer’s Odyssey? A global environmental crisis will feature (possibly involving pig waste that Homer’s storing in his yard), as will Bart’s first full-frontal nude scene. We will also meet a sinister new character seeking to destroy the world.
Buzz The series peaked long ago, so making a movie is a gamble. But they’ve been working on it for years and it’s bound to contain more gags per minute than any other release this summer.
Release date 27 July.
Knocked Up
Names Judd Apatow (dir), Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl
USP Will the writer-director of The 40 Year Old Virgin hit the jackpot second time round with this similarly sex-centred comedy?
Plot Slacker Ben Stone (Rogen) has a one-night-stand with ambitious career girl Alison Scott (Heigl) and discovers she’s pregnant six weeks later. The revelation pushes the unlikely pair into a relationship.
Buzz Variety froths about the movie ahead of its US release, calling it ‘explosively funny’, and Rogen and Heigl are excellent in the lead roles.
Release date 24 August.
Shrek the Third
Names Chris Miller and Raman Hui (co-dir), voices by Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake.
USP A chance to witness Cameron locking horns with her ex as Mr Timberlake joins the vocal line-up as preening heir Prince Artie.
Plot With King Harold on his last legs, Shrek and Princess Fiona face the unwanted prospect of becoming the new king and queen of Far Far Away. While Shrek and his loyal animal companions set off to find a replacement heir, Fiona tries to put down a coup d’etat organised by the wicked Prince Charming.
Buzz It has retained all the elements - witty cultural references, cute fairytale characters, soft rock soundtrack - that made the first two such astronomical hits.
Release date 29 June.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Names David Yates (dir), Daniel Radcliffe, Ralph Fiennes.
USP Required viewing for Potter devotees; reasonable entertainment for the rest of us.
Plot Nobody wants to believe Harry and Dumbledore that the evil Lord Voldemort (Fiennes) has returned in body, least of all bureaucratic new teacher Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton).
Buzz The trailer suggests new director David Yates (State of Play) has done a handsome job, while JK Rowling, who has seen 20 minutes of it, says the film ‘looks fantastic’.
Release date 13 July.
Evan Almighty
Names Tom Shadyac (dir), Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman
USP The poster declares that this is ‘a comedy of biblical proportions’ and it has a budget to match. With estimated total costs of £250m, it’s slated to be the most expensive comedy ever made.
Plot The sequel to Bruce Almighty sees Evan Baxter (Carell), Jim Carrey’s rival from the first film, summoned by God (Freeman) to step into Noah’s shoes and build an ark in preparation for a worldwide flood.
Buzz The original may have been as funny as an ITV sitcom, but test screening reports suggest that studio bosses were wise to move Carell centre stage this time around. His hangdog charm and proven knack for physical comedy could (just) keep this one afloat.
Release date 3 August.
Zodiac
Names David Fincher (dir), Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Chloe Sevigny
USP After a five-year break, will this meticulous police procedural mark a return to form for the Fight Club director?
Plot A hunt for a real-life serial killer - the riddling, media-baiting Zodiac - obsesses a shy cartoonist on the San Francisco Chronicle (Gyllenhaal) and the paper’s hard-drinking crime correspondent (Downey Jr).
Buzz Opened to rave reviews in America - Rolling Stone called it ‘unique and unmissable’ - although some critics have baulked at the film’s length (2hrs 40mins) and lack of closure.
Release date 18 May.
Ocean’s Thirteen
Names Steven Soderbergh (dir), Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Brad Pitt.
USP Pacino and Barkin join Clooney et al for this third outing, adding yet more star wattage to a line-up looking increasingly like an Oscar party guest list.
Plot Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his gang of merry crims reform to take revenge on corrupt casino owner Willie Banks (Pacino) after he double-crosses one of their members.
Buzz The omens aren’t as sparkling as the cast, judging by Ocean’s Twelve and the most recent Soderbergh-Clooney collaboration, The Good German, but let’s hope this one recaptures the easy-going verve of the first Ocean movie, without the smug self-consciousness of the second.
Release date 8 June.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Names Gore Verbinski (dir), Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy.
USP A climactic battle awaits the fine-boned buccaneers as the rollercoaster trilogy grinds to its third and final stop.
Plot Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) and Will Turner (Bloom) are forced to join up with Captain Barbossa (Rush) in order to rescue Jack Sparrow (Depp) from Davy Jones’s Locker. Worse things are in store, however, as the sinister Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) seeks to send the entire pirating profession to the bottom of the sea.
Buzz This one’s expected to be even longer than the second instalment, although the presence of Keith Richards as Jack Sparrow’s old man should grease the wheels a bit.
Release date 24 May.
Spider-Man 3
Names Sam Raimi (dir), Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst
USP Black is the new red for Spidey as he encounters his dark side and finds a suit to match.
Plot Peter Parker is beset by two menacing new villains, Sandman and Venom, and a mysterious black substance that plays havoc with his personality and thrusts him into the arms of lab technician Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard).
Buzz It’s rumoured to be the most expensive movie ever made, so the effects should be dazzling, but early reports suggest the convoluted plot is problematic.
Release date 4 May.
The Bourne Ultimatum
Names Paul Greengrass (dir), Matt Damon, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez.
USP A summer actioner with class, and a return to popcorn film-making for Greengrass after his best director Oscar nomination for United 93.
Plot Amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne (Damon) hops across the globe trying to unlock the final mysteries of his past and escape the crosshairs of a government agent.
Buzz Step aside, Mr Bond; the lean, mean trailer is full of beautifully cinematographed action sequences which suggests this franchise could run and run.
Release date 17 August.
Arthouse choice
Goya’s Ghosts
Lavish period drama from Milos Forman with Natalie Portman as the muse of the famous Spanish artist who is framed for heresy by an evil monk. (4 May)
Jindabyne
After Lantana, Ray Lawrence directs another moody Oz-based thriller featuring Gabriel Byrne and a dead girl in a mountain stream. (25 May)
Lunacy
Czech director Jan Švankmajer delivers a marvellously macabre horror inspired by Poe and set in an asylum. (1 June)
Ghosts of Cite Soleil
The gun-filled slums of Port-au-Prince are the setting for Asgar Leth’s electrifying documentary, focusing on two gang-leader brothers. (22 June)
Hallam Foe
Jamie Bell banishes all memories of Billy Elliot, playing a disturbed 17-year-old obsessed with a hotel worker. (31 Aug)
Rising stars
Katherine Heigl
The 28-year-old is currently wowing TV audiences as Greys Anatomy’s resident sexpot Dr Izzie Stevens, but so far her film choices have been distinctly B-movie. A lead in Knocked Up (24 Aug) should win her big-screen cred.
Romain Duris
Outstanding as a thug moonlighting as a pianist in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, the charismatic French star now dons a wig to play the lead in Moliere (13 July).
Marion Cotillard
Olivier Dahan’s Edith Piaf biopic, La Vie en rose (22 June), contains an Oscar-worthy turn from 31-year-old Cotillard, previously seen in Ridley Scott’s A Good Year
David Yates
The award-winning British director, best known for top TV dramas Sex Traffic and State of Play, has the world’s eyes on him, waiting to see what he can bring to the new Harry Potter (13 July).
Emma Roberts
Julia Roberts’s niece was plucked from Nickelodeon Kids show Unfabulous to star as Nancy Drew (3 Aug) in the first film of a franchise which could see the 16-year-old swipe the tweenie superstar mantle from the ageing Olsen twins.
Previews by Killian Fox and Hugh Montgomery
