Film File - Summer preview

Starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack and Don Rickles. Pixar returns 15 years after the first 'Toy Story' in a tale where Andy's mom donates his beloved toys to Sunnyside Daycare Center as Andy prepares to go off to college. There, Buzz, Woody, Mr Potato Head and the gang meet Stretch the Octopus, Buttercup the Unicorn, and Sunnyside's unofficial ambassador, Lots-o'-Huggin Bear. Guaranteed hit for kids and their folks. ____________________________________________________________ INCEPTION Leonardo DiCaprio takes the lead in this sci-fi thriller as a corporate spy who steals ideas from the minds of others by hooking them up to a machine in a drug-induced haze. Directed by Christopher Nolan, this one has dark elements of Orwellian mind control mixed with good 'ole edge-of-seat thrills as the panic button gets pushed to the max. Expect DiCaprio to shine. ____________________________________________________________ SEX & THE CITY 2 The fab four - Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon - are back, in another tale of Manhattan morals and manners. The lovers are there again, too - Chris Noth as Big and John Corbett as Aiden - and added to the all-star mix are Miley Cyrus, Penélope Cruz and Liza Minnelli. Even with the recession, expect Manolos and Louboutins to figure heavily….along with the usual snappy writing. ____________________________________________________________ SPLICE Adrien Brody stars in the story of two genetic engineers who combine the DNA of animals to create hybrids. But when they decide to ignore protocol and fuse human DNA into a new hybrid, it's time for hiding down behind the seat. A huge hit at last year's Sundance Festival, this one should play well to the teen market with plenty of shocks and sci-fi visual trickery. ____________________________________________________________ SHREK FOREVER AFTER Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas and Eddie Murphy are all back again for what's billed as the last outing for Shrek - joined by the voices of newcomers Maya Rudolph and Regis Philbin. After becoming a father, Shrek believes that he has become a shell of his former ferocious ogre self and makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin that transforms his whole life into bizarro world, where he and Fiona have never met, his friendships aren't the same, Puss in Boots is fat and Rumpelstiltskin is king. Go figure. ____________________________________________________________ DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS Paul Rudd and Zack Galifianakis team up in this remake of 'The Dinner Game', with Rudd a rising executive tasked with finding a date for his boss's monthly 'Dinner for Idiots', a fun evening where ambitious office players get career kudos for bringing the king idiot. Rudd's victim is a Revenue Service employee, Steve Carell, who brings more than expected to the feast. Sounds intriguing. ____________________________________________________________ SALT Written supposedly for Tom Cruise, 'Salt' is the story of a CIA operative, played by Angelina Jolie, who is accused of being a Russian double agent intent on assassinating the President and is forced to evade capture long enough to prove her innocence. Phillip Noyce is director, and co-stars include Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor. With the looks and the attitude, Jolie seems a perfect fit for this outing. _____________________________________________________________ THE EXPENDABLES Sylvester Stallone's latest directorial effort has the biggest all-star cast seen in years. How's this for starters? Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke. The plot centres around an international team of commandos commissioned with the assassination of a South American dictator. Sit back and calculate the body count……. _____________________________________________________________ THE LAST EXORCISM One of those slow, beneath the radar burners which did very well at Sundance. It's a mockumentary about a priest who, in the midst of a spiritual crisis, allows a documentary film crew to shoot his final exorcism - a move that puts him on a collision course with the Prince of Darkness himself. Produced by Eli Roth, of the 'Hostel' movies, it stars a mostly unknown cast and could well be another 'Blair Witch Project'. _____________________________________________________________ THE SWITCH Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman co-star in a movie with an original premise. After being invited to his best friend's party to celebrate her pending artificial insemination, Bateman manages to replace the insemination 'goods' with his own, an act that he doesn't remember the next day. Seven years later, the pair of old friends are reunited, along with her son, who bears striking similarities to his real father. Cue rom-com music and a happy ending. _____________________________________________________________ THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE Robert Pattinson and Kristen Steward are at it again in a follow-up to the box office successes of 'Twilight' and 'New Moon', for the third instalment of Stephenie Meyer's vampire love story. A string of unsolved murders brings vampires and werewolves together to fight a common enemy. Then, of course, there's the testing question that's really at the centre of the movie - will Edward and Bella finally get it together? What do you think…. _____________________________________________________________ EAT, PRAY, LOVE Julia Roberts plays author Elizabeth Gilbert, whose journey of self-discovery takes her around the world. Despite her beautiful home, successful career and loving husband, she one day takes a step back and decides to change everything with a trip around the world to search for an alternative way of living. Strange choice for Roberts, and definitely a film to test her A-List status. _____________________________________________________________ GET HIM TO THE GREEK Russell Brand fans, your time has arrived as Aldous Snow, rocker and infant terrible of 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', gets his own movie in this 72-hour period travelling from London to Los Angeles for an anniversary show at The Greek Theatre. With a flimsy plot and predictable backdrop of the music biz - this is perfect territory for Brand to unleash his brand of wacky humour. _____________________________________________________________ THE A TEAM A quarter of a century on from the hit 1980s TV show, that crack commando unit which was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit escape from the maximum security stockade of nostalgia to find freedom on the big screen. Now starring Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, the gang are once more in the limelight as the meanest, and funniest, mission impossible dudes anywhere. _____________________________________________________________ KNIGHT & DAY Cameron Diaz plays June, a lonely girl who crashes into secret agent Tom Cruise at an airport, an encounter that starts the two on a whirlwind chase to avoid capture by a relenless federal agent. Directed by James Mangold, expect a little 'Romancing The Stone'-meets-'Mission Impossible' in what's billed as a 'comedy thriller'. With two high-profile leads, this rom-com actioner could turn out to be a sleeper hit of the season. _____________________________________________________________ THE KILLERS No relation to Kubrick's classic, this one has Ashton Kutcher as a government assassin who walks away from his high-octane lifestyle when he meets Katherine Heigl. Wedded bliss doesn't last too long, however, when the ex-killer finds a price has been placed on his head. This beautiful pairing will go a long way to making a success of the 'couple in peril' scenario and should be a good contrast to Cruise and Diaz in 'Knight & Day'.