Written by Mitch Cyrus

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Happy Fourth of July! If you are like so many of us during this period of outrageous gas prices and are taking a "staycation" over the three day weekend, there are lots of options at the theater if you want to spend a couple of hours out of the heat.  And as he does every Friday, Mitch fills us in on all the new releases at the theater and on DVD.  Also, Mitch saw "Hancock" last night, and we should have his review up sometime this weekend.

Happy Fourth of July! If you are like so many of us during this period of outrageous gas prices and are taking a "staycation" over the three day weekend, there are lots of options at the theater if you want to spend a couple of hours out of the heat.

News and Rumors

~ Helena Bonham Carter is the latest casting addition to the new Terminator movie. Her role is being described as "small but pivotal". Perhaps in flashbacks as Sarah Conner?

~ Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen will star in a remake of the cult favorite television series "The Prisoner". It will be a six part mini-series for AMC that will air next year. Caviezel will take on the Patrick McGoohan role of #6, a spy in the British secret service who is kidnapped and sent to a mysterious island. McKellen will play #2, the Machiavellian leader in the strange little world. Loof for it to be adjusted to 21^st Century issues like security and surveillance.

~ A sequel to "300"? I'm trying to figure this one out, as we all know the fate of King Leonidas at the end of the original. I'm suspecting that it might be a prequel...but I can't see anything coming close to the first.

~ I'm on record for thinking that Will Ferrell is a one-note hack whose single talent is playing the same character (a fool) in every movie he's in...but this could be good. Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in a farce of the iconic Sir Arthur Conan Boyle characters.

~ Christian Bale says he will leave the Batman franchise if they try to introduce Robin. Nothing like visions of George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell in your head to come up with that statement.

This week's new movie releases:

Hancock (Opened on Wednesday)

Starring: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Charlize Theron

Plot: A surly superhero grudgingly accepts the aid of a PR man to clean up his image.

View Trailer

The BeerBuzz: This is one of those films where the critics and the audience will disagree on its merits. And I can certainly see both sides, as I saw this movie on Wednesday. My review will be out shortly, and I'll touch on both sides of that argument. Bottom line? You'll like it, but you'll feel a bit guilty about doing so.

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Kit Kittridge: An American Girl

Starring: Abigail Breslin, Julia Ormond, Chris O'Donnell

Plot: A drama based upon the American Girl doll line, focusing on a young girl growing up in the Great Depression.

View Trailer

The BeerBuzz: The movie has been making a ton of money at the five theaters where it has been showing for the past few weeks prior to expanding nationwide this week. So if you have a 10 year old girl, this is what she's going to want to see this weekend. Good luck with that, Dad.

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New DVD Releases for Tuesday, July 8^th

The Ruins - Now coming out with the "unrated release", which means you get to see even more disgusting gore as a group of stupid, but good looking Americans get tortured by evil things in some Mayan ruins.

Superhero Movie - Surprisingly, this was not from the same lame group that did "Date Movie", "Scary Movie", and "Epic Movie". No, this is from the even lamer group that did "Scary Movie 4".

Stop-Loss - The movie is actually supposed to be pretty good, but like all the other movies about the War in Iraq...no one wants to watch it and get even more depressed.

Funny Games - Something completely original...at least for now a days: a very scary movie that doesn't have gore. Naomi Watts and Tim Roth play a couple held hostage by two psychotic young men who torture them mentally and emotionally, rather than with knives and hatchets.

Calendar Watch

Next week; Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Meet Dave

Upcoming Biggies (click on the hyperlink to view the available trailers).

The Dark Knight - July 18^th - Batman is back, and this time he's tracking the Joker, played by Heath Ledger. Most likely the box office champion of 2008.

Mamma Mia! - July 18^th - Something for the ladies to attend while the guys are busy watching Batman kick the Joker's ass. A musical featuring the songs of ABBA. And my wife wants us to go see it. Sigh.

X-Files 2: I Want to Believe - July 25^th - I want to believe this won't be as lame as the first X-Files movie. We'll see

Tropic Thunder - August 15^th - A group of actors shooting a big budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying in the film. Stars Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr, playing a white actor donning black make-up to "fit the part".

Star Wars: the Clone Wars - August 15^th - First ever animated Star Wars project from Lucasfilm Animation.

Righteous Kill - September 12^th - Robert De Niro and Al Pacino together again as NY detectives working on a case that may be related to both a serial killer and a man they might have wrongly imprisoned years before.

Burn After Reading - September 12^th - The latest Coen Brothers' movie, with Brad Pitt joining Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and John Malkovich in a dark comedy about missing memoirs of a CIA agent.

Eagle Eye - September 26^th - Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monoghan as a slacker and a single mother who become unwitting members of a terrorist cell plotting a political assassination.

House of Lies - October 10^th - Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio in Ridley Scott's spy tale of intrigue in the Middle East.

RocknRolla - October 31^st - Guy Ritchie hopefully back in form for another tale of London gangsters. Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Tom Wilkenson, and Jeremy Friggin' Piven star.

Quantum of Solace - November 13^th - The next James Bond film, picking up shortly after the events ending "Casino Royale"

Australia - November 14^th - Baz Luhrmann's epic tale set in WWII Australia. With Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Think "Gone with the Wind" with kangaroos.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - November 21^st - The sixth of J.K. Rowling's seven books, setting the stage for the two part conclusion in 2010 and 2011.

The Road - November 28^th - Viggo Mortensen as a man walking with his son for months across a ravaged, post-apocalyptic landscape in search of civilization. Charlize Theron co-stars.

Defiance - December 19^th - Daniel Craig and Live Schreiber as Jewish brothers in WWII Russian, leading a band of refuges in striking back at the Germans. A major early Oscar contender

Revolutionary Road - December 19^th - Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as a young couple raising a family in a Connecticut suburb during the mid 1950s. Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") directs the "Titanic" stars in their on-screen reunion.

The Spirit - December 25^th - Frank Miller's next comic book adaptation, done in the same style as "Sin City".

Blockbusters on the Distant Horizon (movies that would seem to be big hits...as soon as they get made or released).

Watchmen - March 6, 2009 - The screen version of what is arguably graphic novelist Alan Moore's greatest work.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - May 1, 2009 - Hugh Jackman goes it alone as the adamentium enhanced anti-hero. With Live Schreiber as Sabertooth, and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool.

Star Trek - May 8, 2009 - J.J. Abrams and a young cast reboot the franchise, going back to Kirk and Spock's days at Starfleet Academy.

Angels and Demons - May 15, 2009 - Tom Hanks and Ron Howard follow-up to "The DaVinci Code"

Terminator 4 - May 22, 2009 - Christian Bale as John Conner as the franchise moves into the apocalyptic future.

Transformers 2 - June 26, 2009 - The next chapter of Robots In Disguise!

Public Enemy - July 1, 2009 - Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. Co-staring Christian Bale, and directed by Michael Mann

The Taking of Pelham 123- August 7, 2009 - Denzel Washington, John Travolta, and James Gandolfini in a remake of the classic 1974 film about a hijacked subway car.

Shutter Island - October, 2009 - Martin Scorsese working once again with Leonardo DiCaprio in this mystery set in 1954.

Nottingham - November, 2009 - Ridley Scot and Russell Crowe together again in a retelling of the Robin Hood legend, this time through the eyes of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Crowe). With Sienna Miller as Maid Marion.

Avatar - December 18, 2009 - James Cameron's sci-fi/CGI extravaganza. The C.I.A. should take lessons about secrecy from Cameron, as he's keeping info about this film very much to himself at this time.

Iron Man 2 - May, 2010 - Right on the heels of the success of the first one, Marvel is quick to get Robert Downey Jr. back into his titanium suit.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - May, 2010 - The series goes off in a bit of a different direction, as those of you who love the books already know.

Thor - June 2010 - Another Marvel superhero...but the Nordic God is about as bland personality-wise as Superman, so we'll see how it goes.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I - 2010 - The start of the End for the boy wizard and his battle against He-Who-Shall-not-Be-Named

Lincoln - 2010 - Steven Spielberg directs the biographical film of the 16^th President (Liam Neeson)

The Hobbit - 2010 - Guillermo del Toro directs and Peter Jackson will produce the prequel to "Lord of the Rings". Ian McKellen will return as Gandalf

Fantastic Voyage - 2010 - Roland Emmerich ("The Day After Tomorrow", "10,000 B.C.") remakes the classic 1967 movie about a miniaturized sub and crew operating on a scientist from inside his brain.

The Avengers - 2011 - Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America open up a can of whoopass on bad guys everywhere.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II - 2011 - The end of the line for what will be beyond doubt the most profitable series in the history of film making.

The Hobbit 2 - 2011 - del Toro and Jackson again, this time covering the time between the end of Tolkien's book, "The Hobbit" and the start of LOTR.