The Final Cut:  The Beginning of the Summer Movie Season Has Much to Offer

In this week’s edition of “The Final Cut”, Devin takes a look at some of the upcoming films hitting theaters in the next few weeks. Last week she gave us a look at the background of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The summer movie season it at the helm, y’all:

The month of May is here, and with it comes the beginning of the summer movie season.  We’ve got many great films to look forward to this summer, and May is no exception, giving us something to look forward to each Friday.  From Mindhunters, a movie that finished filming in May 2002 and has had many release dates in the past years(I actually first saw the trailer to this when I saw Bad Santa at the theater), to the highly anticipated Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith on May 19th, May certainly has more then enough to draw anyone to the theater.  Here is a run down of what first two Fridays of what May has to offer:

MAY 6th:

The first Friday in May gives us House of Wax, a movie with a plot somewhat similar to the classic 1953 horror film of the same name.  A group of friends on there way to a championship college football game instead end up in the town of Ambrose, who’s main attraction is the Trudy’s House of Wax.  All are amazed at how life-like the figures are - until they realize why.  The friends soon learn that they must get out of town quick before they meet a horrid fate in the House of Wax.  The film stars Chad Michael Murry (One Tree Hill), Elisha Cuthbert (The Girl Next Door), Jared Padaleki (Flight of the Phoenix), and Paris Hilton.

May 6th also gives us Kingdom of Heaven, a 2 1/2 hour long tale directed by Ridley Scott.  This epic adventure brings us the story of Balian(Orlando Bloom), a young blacksmith who finds himself in the middle of the Crusades.  As he rises to knighthood, we see how he deals with past grief, a difficult relationship with his father (Liam Neeson), and a passionate affair with a queen (Eva Green).  Balian learns he must protect Jerusalem from overwhelming forces and at the same time keep a fragile peace in an unstable kingdom. 

Also out May 6th in limited release are: Crash, Mysterious Skin, and Brothers.

MAY 13th:

The 13th of May brings us Unleashed and Mindhunters (unless of course Dimension decides to pull this film, which they have done countless times in the past 3 years).  Unleashed tells the story of Danny (Jet Li) a man who has been raised, maybe even enslaved, all his life by Bart(Bob Hoskins), a ruthless gangster who runs the streets of Glasgow.  Bart has groomed Danny to maintain his hold on the streets by teaching him to hurt, even kill anyone who gets in his way, but one day an accident sends Bart into a coma and leaves Danny to fend for himself.  He soon becomes friends with Sam (Morgan Freeman) a blind piano tuner, and eventually takes refuge with Sam and his stepdaughter.  Danny begins to see a future other then violent life he has led, but the mob is not willing to let go of their prized possession so easily.  Danny realizes that he has now has to fight, not only for his freedom, but to protect his new family.

I must say, when I did see the preview to Mindhunters about 1 ½ years ago, it looked really good and I’m glad to see that this movie will finally hit theaters.  This suspense thriller stars Val Kilmer as Jake Harris, and FBI official in charge of a group of trainees on a remote island in a program for their psychological profiling division, called Mindhunters, who are used to catch serial killers.  While the training calls for them to catch a fake serial killer, they soon learn that there is a serial killer among them and are then thrown into a race against the clock to find who the killer is before they become his, or her, next victims.  This film also stars Christian Slater and LL Cool J.

Monster-In-Law and Kicking and Screaming also hit theaters May 13th.