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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, February 25, 2005

Chili Palmer returns for Hollywood's new season

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

Catherine McCormack and Edward Burns star in "A Sound of Thunder," a time-travel adventure story directed by Peter Hyams, about hunters who journey back to a time when dinosaurs were what big-game hunting was about.

Warner Bros.

The return of Chili Palmer, Jane Fonda and the Crusades highlight the upcoming season at theaters.

The high-energy summer and the arty autumn are typically Hollywood's most intriguing seasons; still, a few of the spring offerings offer promise. But you'll also find the typical array of horror remakes and teen comedies that often mark the studios' least-impressive time of year.

Here's what's on tap (release dates are subject to change):

March 4

  • "Be Cool" — A sequel to the popular John Travolta crime caper "Get Shorty," with his character, Chili Palmer, more involved than ever in Hollywood entanglements. Adapted from the Elmore Leonard sequel novel, it co-stars Uma Thurman and Cedric the Entertainer, and promises to reunite Travolta and Thurman on the dance floor for the first time since "Pulp Fiction." The Rock has a featured role. F. Gary Gray directs.

March 11

  • "Hostage" — Bruce Willis stars as a hostage negotiator trying to free a kidnapped mob accountant. Meanwhile, the negotiator's own family is nabbed.
  • "Millions" — A British adventure in which two young brothers, one with a vivid imagination, happen upon a suitcase full of money and discover that having lots of currency doesn't solve everything. Danny Boyle (of "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later") directs.
  • "Robots" — A computer-animated comedy about life in a world of robots, featuring the voices of Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams and Halle Berry.
  • "A Sound of Thunder" — A time-travel adventure based on a Ray Bradbury story about hunters who use a time machine to go to a time when dinosaurs are the prey. Ed Burns and Ben Kingsley co-star for director Peter Hyams.

March 18

  • "Ice Princess" — A youth-appeal Disney film about a girl (Michelle Trachtenberg) who dreams of becoming a champion figure skater. Her mother (Joan Cusack) has more practical aspirations for her brainy daughter — enrollment at Harvard. Something tells me mom will have to put her ideas on ice for a while.
  • "The Ring Two" — A second round of Japanese-inspired horror, once again starring Naomi Watts. Just when folks think they've escaped those deadly videotapes (that kill seven days after viewing), they resurface. (Makes you wonder when they'll make the leap to DVD.)

March 30

  • "Beauty Shop" — A distaff spinoff of the popular "Barbershop" films, starring Queen Latifah as a hair stylist who gets her own place after she moves to Atlanta. Kevin Bacon co-stars as a flamboyant hairdresser.
Clive Owen stars in "Sin City," a film consisting of three stories set in the dark underside of Las Vegas.

Rico Torres

April 1
  • "Sin City" — A film with three stories adapted by Frank Miller from his adult graphic novel series about life in a gritty, violent city. Robert Rodriquez directs one of the episodes. The ensemble includes Bruce Willis, Josh Hartnett, Mickey Rourke, Michael Madsen, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Clive Owen.
  • "The Weather Man" — In a premise that sounds like a weather version of "Broadcast News," Nicolas Cage plays a forecaster who gets a chance to audition for a network job, just when his life is otherwise in disarray. Gore Verbinski directs and Michael Caine and Hope Davis co-star.

April 8

  • "The Cave" — Don't go down in the hole in the ground! But, of course, they do. In this case, it's a cave where rescuers seek some lost spelunkers. They find more than they were looking for. Morris Chestnut stars.
  • "Sahara" — An adaptation of one of the 11 popular Dirk Pitt adventure novels by Clive Cussler, starring Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz, who seek a fabled lost ship in North Africa, which may be linked to death in the region.

April 15

  • "The Amityville Horror" — Does the world really need another version of the story of the supposedly possessed Long Island house? Need it or not, here it is. Ryan Reynolds, the best thing in the recent, forgettable "Blade: Trinity," heads a mostly unknown cast for mostly unknown director named Andrew Douglas.
  • "Fever Pitch" — Jimmy Fallon is a high school teacher who falls in love with Drew Barrymore. The relationship goes along fine until the baseball season begins and she has to compete with his first true love: the Boston Red Sox. It remains to be seen how the Red Sox curse-busting World Series championship last year affects the film, since some of it was filmed during the playoffs.
  • "Valiant" — An animated feature about the exploits of homing pigeons that were an important part of the British war effort during World War II. Ewan McGregor is the voice of the central bird, a misfit wood pigeon that sneaks into the pigeon corps.

April 22

  • "The Interpreter" — Sydney Pollack's thriller about a United Nations interpreter (Nicole Kidman) who overhears plans to assassinate a world leader. Sean Penn co-stars as the FBI agent on the case. This promises to be one of the season's classier offerings.
  • "King's Ransom" — A crime comedy about a wealthy man who plots his own kidnapping when he learns his wife is about to divorce him (and take half his estate). Anthony Anderson stars.
  • "Madison" — James Caviezel stars in this sports drama about the real-life effort of a small-town boater to take on the world's great boat racers.

April 29

  • "XXX: State of the Union" — A sequel to the action flick "XXX," but without its star, Vin Diesel. The heroics this time go to Ice Cube, as an ex-con who gets recruited to deal with high-powered political intrigue. Samuel L. Jackson co-stars.
Eva Green, left, and Orlando Bloom star in "Kingdom of Heaven," an epic directed by Ridley Scott and set in the time of the Crusades.

Gannett News Service

May 6
  • "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" — The long-awaited adaptation of the first in a series of sci-fi parody cult novels by Douglas Adams that starts with an Earthling trying to get out of the way of the construction of an intergalactic freeway. Martin Freeman and John Malkovich co-star for first-time director Garth Jennings.
  • "House of Wax" — A remake of the hit '50s 3-D horror movie, with no talk of a third dimension this time around. Two murderous brothers have converted a deserted small town into an entire community of wax victims. Elisha Cuthbert and Paris Hilton are among the ensemble that will no doubt wax eloquently.
  • "Kingdom of Heaven" — The season's heavyweight contender, a sword-and-sandal epic in which director Ridley Scott turns from the age of the "Gladiator" to the Crusades. Dare I suggest this could be a sensitive topic in this day of Middle East turmoil? Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson co-star.
  • "Monster-in-Law" — A comedy in which Jennifer Lopez has a volatile relationship with a difficult soon-to-be mother-in-law. Since Jane Fonda plays the older woman in her first screen appearance in 14 years, the film has much built-in interest.

May 13

  • "Kicking & Screaming" — Three generations clash in this comedy when a father (Will Ferrell) agrees to coach his son's soccer team, even though the rival team is coached by the grandfather (Robert Duvall).
  • "Unleashed" — A seemingly offbeat tale of a man held captive in Scotland (Jet Li), where he's trained for gladiator combat. But, when he escapes he learns compassion from a kindly blind piano tuner (Morgan Freeman). This is, hands down, the season's most bizarre plot description. But, hey, it's Morgan Freeman!

And then, ladies and gentlemen, the summer movie season is unofficially launched on May 19 with the arrival of — ta-da — "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" in which Anakin Skywalker begins his voyage toward the dark side. But, more on that in a later preview.