Summertime views Sequels lead the pack

With “Spider-Man 3” still holding audiences by the throat and Gore Verbinski’s eagerly anticipated “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” set to grab the box-office booty on Memorial Day weekend, the summer movie season is fully upon us – and how.

After being primed with the heat of “28 Weeks Later,” moviegoers can expect a season filled with more fireworks, more sequels, more special effects, more fluff, more romance, more over-the-top more.

How much more? This much more: Muscling into theaters today is DreamWorks’ “Shrek the Third,” with the movie offering such steep competition, it essentially has no competition. No other major studio is opening a film opposite it. In such a brief season of so many movies, claiming that kind of real estate is about as powerful as it gets.

It’s star power that will open “Ocean’s Thirteen” (June 8), the latest in the franchise from director Steven Soderbergh. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino and apparently anyone else in Hollywood with a free schedule and a SAG card are back for more casino madness in the neon haze that is Las Vegas.

That same day finds Hollywood’s latest fad – penguins – coasting into theaters in the animated “Surf’s Up,” with the slasher movie “Hostel: Part II” hot on their tuxedoed tails. The latter film was produced because, you know, the first “Hostel” was such a creative masterpiece, Hollywood was certain we wanted more.

Those seeking additional doses of deja vu won’t be left wanting this summer, as a bevy of other sequels abounds.

Among the most promising are “The Bourne Ultimatum” (Aug. 3) with Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne now on the run in Manhattan; Bruce Willis in “Live Free or Die Hard” (June 27), in which the actor returns to play one of his more popular characters, John McClane; and the fifth installment of the Harry Potter franchise, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which arrives just months after Daniel Radcliffe bared it all on the London stage in sold-out shows of “Equus.” The film will sell out for entirely different reasons, captivating Muggles everywhere on July 13.

Other movies ready to flex their pecs are summer’s other comic-book contender, “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (June 15), which better have the goods to best its lame predecessor; otherwise, it’s lights out for this series. Pixar’s latest animated tale, “Ratatouille,” hits theaters June 29, with a rat, of all creatures, cooking up anything but le trash in his quest to become a famous Parisian chef. And in “Evan Almighty” (June 22) – a spin-off of “Bruce Almighty” – Steve Carell’s Evan Baxter finds himself getting close to his inner Noah with a little help from Morgan Freeman as God.

Having fallen from his former box-office glory, Kevin Costner is hoping to reclaim his star power by switching things up in “Mr. Brooks” (June 1). The film finds the actor trading in his nice-guy persona to play the Thumbprint Killer. Since on paper that sounds about as threatening as Thumbelina with a Taser gun, here’s hoping that

Costner and co-stars Demi Moore, William Hurt and Dane Cook pull off exactly what this summer season lacks – a smart, satisfying suspense thriller for adults.

Among summer’s few romantic comedies is Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up” (June 1), with Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen working through the ramifications of one fruitful one-night stand. It’s Apatow’s first film since his terrific “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” and while there are no virgins on board here, early buzz suggests the director has come through again.

Additional romantic fare can be found on June 22 with Parker Posey hustling through the streets of Paris to find her one true love in “Broken English,” while on July 27, Catherine Zeta-Jones stars as a gifted chef fighting her feelings for another chef (Aaron Eckhart) in “No Reservations.”

Rounding out the summer is the eagerly anticipated “The Simpsons Movie” on July 27; the “Transformers” and “Rescue Dawn” on July 4; Lindsay Lohan in the thriller “I Know Who Killed Me” on July 27; and the musical “Hairspray” (July 20), in which John Travolta becomes the infamous Edna Turnblad and takes on the John Waters classic in ways that only a certain man can.

On Aug. 1, Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony star in “El Cantante,” a movie about the life of famed salsa singer, Hector Lavoe; Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are faced with out-of-body experiences in “The Invasion” on Aug. 8, which is inspired by “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”; and Rob Zombie dares to tackle a modern-day horror classic in his remake of John Carpenter’s “Halloween” on Aug. 31. Good luck to him.

Those seeking more substantial fare won’t be left stranded this summer, particularly thanks to Michael Winterbottom’s “A Mighty Heart” (June 22), in which Angelina Jolie transforms herself as Mariane Pearl, whose husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was beheaded in Pakistan in 2002. Adding additional dramatic weight to the usual summer fizz is the 10th season of a popular, international film festival, along with six weeks of classic films from the River City Cinema Society.

On July 13-27, the 10th annual Maine International Film Festival once again is set for Waterville. Those who attend the event can expect dozens of films from all areas of Maine, the country and the world. By late June, full information about the festival and a program of films is expected on the festival’s Web site, www.miff.org.

Finally, starting June 29 is one of summer’s brightest attractions as the River City Cinema Society returns to downtown Bangor’s Pickering Square with its newest series, “All in the Family.” The event is free and open to the public (bring your lawn chairs), with six “family films” being shown at sundown.

The fine lineup includes Bette Davis at her vicious best in “The Little Foxes” (June 29), Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt” (July 6), James Cagney and Virginia Mayo in “White Heat” (July 13), Bette Davis giving Joan Crawford the bird – literally – in the hilarious “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” (July 20), Ryan and Tatum O’Neil in “Paper Moon” (July 27), and Alan Arkin and Peter Falk in “The In-Laws” (Aug. 3). More information is available on the society’s Web site, www.rivercitycinema.com.

In the end, summer 2007 has it all-which, of course, is the point. Forty percent of Hollywood’s revenues come out of the dog days of summer, a season that, as least as far as this year is concerned, seems to offer more than just the usual pile of “Shrek.”

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays and Fridays in Lifestyle, weekends in Television and on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.