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(100) Days of Summer Movies 

Wednesday, May 19 2010
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Page 2 of 5

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
There are vampires in the state of Denmark, or so it appears to a young Manhattan director (Jake Hoffman, son of Dustin) whose staging of Hamlet has more bite than he expected. Written and directed by Jordan Galland.

June 18

Cyrus
Marisa Tomei and John C. Reilly are newly, blissfully in love in this drama from the brotherly filmmaking duo of Jay and Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair). Jonah Hill costars as Tomei's clinging, interfering son.

8: The Mormon Proposition
Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk) narrates this expose of the Mormon church's alleged financial support of California's Prop. 8 amendment which denies marriage rights to same-sex couples. Directed by Steven Greenstreet and Reed Cowan.

Farewell
French filmmaker Christian Carion enlists two acclaimed actor-directors to star in a fact-based thriller about a KGB colonel (Time of the Gypsies director Emir Kusturica) who passed secret documents to a French businessman (Tell No One director Guillaume Canet) in the early 1980s.

Jonah Hex
Based on a long-running DC Comics character, this supernaturally tinged comedy-Western features Josh Brolin as badly scarred post–Civil War bounty hunter in search of a mad-dog killer, played, of course, by John Malkovich.

The Killer Inside Me
Casey Affleck is Lou Ford, a 1950s era West Texas deputy sheriff, who also happens to be a psychopathic killer. Directed by Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart) and based on Jim Thompson's brilliant and brutal 1952 novel. Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba costar.

Let It Rain
Veteran French actor-filmmaker Agnès Jaoui (The Taste of Others) stars as a feminist writer who returns to her childhood home and finds herself embroiled in a comic roundelay of romance, sibling rivalry, and political intrigue.

The Nature of Existence
"Why do we exist?" That's the first question on filmmaker Roger Nygard's long list of things to ask the philosophers, spiritual leaders, scientists, and artists he'll meet as he travels the world over the course of four years for this documentary.

Toy Story 3
Where do toys go when their kid grows up and moves away? After they survive one of their patented Pixar adventures, be prepared to well up as Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the toys of Andy's room see their favorite human off to college. Written by Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) and directed by Lee Unkrich. (We hear Mr. Potatohead steals the movie.)

Winter's Bone
In her follow-up to 2004's Down to the Bone, the movie that put Vera Farmiga on the map, filmmaker Debra Granik adapts Daniel Woodrell's powerful novel about an Ozark mountain girl's desperate search for her missing father.

June 25

Grown Ups
Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider star as childhood buddies reuniting for the first time in 30 years. We're thinking it's a comedy. Directed by Dennis Dugan (I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry).

I Am Love
In this extravagantly romantic film from writer-director Luca Guadagnino, the ever-fierce Tilda Swinton plays a Russian who married into a powerful Italian family when she was young. Nearing middle age, she's happy, she thinks, until she begins an affair that will either save her life, or destroy it.

Knight and Day
Tom Cruise is a renegade secret agent and Cameron Diaz his unwitting blind date, and, all too suddenly, his reluctant sidekick in a mission to save a brilliant scientist (Paul Dano). Directed by James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma).

Restrepo
Journalist Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm) and photographer Tim Hetherington take along a movie camera to shadow the 173rd Airborne Brigade as they battle the Taliban in the unforgiving terrain of the Korengal Valley. Winner of this year's Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

South of the Border
Early reviews suggest that Oliver Stone's documentary about America's rocky relationship with its South American neighbors, which features the director taking a road trip with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, is surprisingly even-handed, though we aren't expecting FOX News to snap up the broadcast rights.

June 30

Love Ranch
Taylor Hackford (Ray) directs his wife, Helen Mirren, along with Joe Pesci in the so-crazy-it-has-to-be true story of Sally and Joe Conforte, whose 1970s Reno brothel, known as "Mustang Ranch," led the way to legalized prostitution in Nevada.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
A dreamboat vampire, a hunky werewolf, a confused teenage girl — stop us if you've heard this one. Directed by David Slade (30 Days of Night).

July 2

The Girl Who Played with Fire
For the second film in the Stieg Larsson "Millennium Trilogy" (the first was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace return as a financial journalist and tattooed hacker, respectively, who are once again up to their necks in murder and intrigue.

The Last Airbender
Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) adapts Nickelodeon's animated fantasy series about a 12-year-old (Noah Ringer) with the ability to control all four elements — Water, Earth, Air, and Fire. No pressure there.

Twelve
Gossip Girl heartthrob Chace Crawford is the best-looking drug dealer on Manhattan's Upper East Side and Emma Roberts his clueless girlfriend in this adaptation of Nick McDonell's bestseller, published, famously, when the author was only 17. Directed by Joel Schumacher (St. Elmo's Fire) and featuring Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as Crawford's rival.

July 9

Countdown to Zero
In this documentary about the likelihood of a nuclear bomb going off in the near future, director Lucy Walker divides the cause for a possible detonation into three categories: accident, miscalculation, or insanity.

Despicable Me
There are villains aplenty in this 3D animated comedy, chief among them the cranky, unfulfilled Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), whose plan to steal the moon is hitting a few snags.

Predators
The alien creature that stalked Arnold Schwarzennegger back in 1987 and then spawned a host of bad sequels is back, thanks to executive producer Robert Rodriguez. Adrien Brody, Lawrence Fishburne, and Topher Grace are the unlucky mercenaries about to become alien bait.

About The Author

Chuck Wilson

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