Summer movie season offers variety of over-the-top cinematic escapism

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Now that God is headlining nationally in “Bruce Almighty,” I think it’s fair to say that the summer movie season has officially begun.

And thank God for that. After the first half of 2003, in which the world saw just how real reality television can get, audiences deserve three months of undiluted escapism, which they’re about to get, for better or worse.

What’s waiting in the wings? Plenty. After being primed with “X2: X-Men United,” “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Down With Love,” movie-goers can expect a summer movie season down with more fireworks, more sequels, more special effects, more fluff, more romance, more over-the-top more.

How much more? This much more: Starting today, the new computer-animated collaboration between Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, “Finding Nemo,” submerges in theaters, where it will likely bubble for a bit before being followed on June 6 with “2 Fast 2 Furious,” the sequel to 2001’s blockbuster hit, “The Fast and the Furious.”

In a stroke of marketing genius, “Prozac Nation” opens the same day, thus offering audiences that rare must-see double feature. Imagine it – getting high on the hot bods and hot rods of “2 Fast 2 Furious” and then mellowing out on the lows of “Prozac Nation.” It doesn’t get any better than that, folks.

Or maybe it does, particularly if you’re in the mood for a major battle of the bozos. Just that is launched in a big way on June 13, when “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd,” the sequel to 1994’s “Dumb and Dumber,” opens opposite “From Justin to Kelly,” a musical beach romp starring “American Idol’s” Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini. If the ads for that sun-kissed flower are any indication, the movie looks like Satan’s version of “Beach Blanket Bingo,” taking “Idol’s” considerable cheese factor to new extremes.

Those seeking a dose of cinematic deja vu won’t be left wanting this summer, particularly during the four weeks between June 27 and July 25, when no fewer than seven sequels are set to air.

This year, the angels return in “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” which shoots from the hip on June 27; Reese Witherspoon and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprise their best-known roles in “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde” and “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” respectively, on July 2; “Bad Boys II” and “Exorcist: The Beginning” promise to turn a few heads (and probably a few stomachs) on July 18; and “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over” and “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” both drop on July 25.

“The Cradle of Life” certainly looks like a tense affair, with Anjelina Jolie’s barely clad Croft crisscrossing the globe in an all-out effort to find Pandora’s box and thus rescue the world from a malignant form of evil. In the spirit of what’s inside that box, here’s hoping that Jolie is able to do so in a movie whose story line surpasses the thin original.

Nothing looks thin about Ang Lee’s much anticipated comic book adaptation, “The Hulk,” which muscles into theaters June 20, with Eric Bana as Bruce Banner and Jennifer Connelly as his main squeeze. As directed by Lee, who helmed the smashing “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” early buzz suggests that “The Hulk” will be among the most emotionally satisfying of the comic-book lot and that it won’t join the atrocious “Daredevil” in cinematic hell.

Other films ready to flex their pecs are summer’s other comic-book contender, “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” with Sean Connery and Damien West on July 11; Dreamworks’ new animated tale, “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas,” with the voices of Brad Pitt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Catherine Zeta-Jones on July 2; and Gore Verbinski’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” a swashbuckling tale that stars Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom.

As produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who bombed so spectacularly with that other laminated pearl of his, “Pearl Harbor,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” had a turbulent, problematic shoot, so let’s hope it doesn’t cut its own throat when it strikes land July 9.

Rounding out the summer is Rowen Atkinson’s new comedy “Johnny English” (July 18); Tobey McGuire in the horse-racing drama “Seabiscuit” (July 25); the third film in the American Pie series, “American Wedding” (Aug. 1); Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck sharing their first paid screen kiss in “Gigli” (Aug. 1), Nicolas Cage as a neurotic scam artist in Ridley Scott’s “Matchstick Men” (Aug. 8), and the horror movie sequel to end all horror movie sequels, “Freddy vs. Jason” (Aug. 15).

Those seeking something a tad deeper won’t be left stranded this summer, as two popular film festivals return, beginning with the Maine International Film Festival, which runs July 11-20 at Waterville’s Railroad Square Cinema and the Waterville Opera House.

According to festival programmer Ken Eisen, dozens of independent and foreign films will be featured, movies from Maine and elsewhere in the United States, as well as films from Hungary, Germany, India, China, Canada, France, Japan, Argentina, Spain, and Africa. Film highlights include “American Splendor,” a recent crowd-pleaser at Cannes, as well as Nick Nolte in “Northfork” and Campbell Scott and Hope Davis in “The Secret Lives of Dentists.” More information can be found at the festival’s Web site (www.miff.org).

Also back this year is the Northeast Silent Film Festival at Bucksport’s Alamo Theater, Aug. 15-17.

The festival, titled “Star Qualities: It’s Still It,” will feature Clara Bow in “It,” Lillian Gish in D.W. Griffith’s “Way Down East,” Mary Pickford in “My Best Girl,” Gloria Swanson in “The Affairs of Anatol” and Charlie Chaplin in “The Immigrant.” Rare comic short subjects also will be shown, with musical accompaniment by Philip Carli, Clayton W. Smith and the Bon-Ton Salon Orchestra. Those with questions should contact the Alamo at 469-0924 or visit its Web site (www.oldfilm.org).

Enjoy.

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Thursdays at 5:30 on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

THE VIDEO CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Adaptation ? A

Analyze That ? C-

Antwone Fisher ? A-

Catch Me if You Can ? A-

Comedian ? B+

Drumline ? B+

8 Mile ? C

8 Women ? B

The Emperor’s Club ? C+

Far From Heaven ? A

Femme Fatale ? C+

A GUY THING ? D

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ? B+

The Hot Chick ? C-

Igby Goes Down ? A

Lilo & Stitch ? B+

Minority Report ? A-

Moonlight Mile ? B

NATIONAL SECURITY ? C-

One Hour Photo ? A-

THE PIANIST ? A+

Rabbit Proof Fence ? A-

Real Women Have Curves ? A-

THE RECRUIT ? B

Red Dragon ? B+

The Ring ? C

The Road to Perdition ? A-

Secretary ? B+

Spirited Away ? A

Standing in the Shadows of Motown ? B+

Star Trek: Nemesis ? B-

Sweet Home Alabama ? B-

Swept Away ? D-

Swimfan ? C

TALK TO HER ? A-

The Transporter ? B-

Treasure Island ? B-

The 25th Hour ? A

Two Weeks Notice ? C-

White Oleander ? B+

The Wild Thornberries Movie ? B+