Rescue Dawn
Cast: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies
Director: Werner Herzog
This taut and surprisingly straightforward action film from iconoclastic director Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man) tells the true story of Dieter Dengler (Bale), shot down over Laos in 1964, captured, and thrown into a brutal North Vietnamese prison where he finds two Americans (Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies) reluctant to join his escape plan. (MGM) Opens New York and Los Angeles July 4, with additional cities to follow.
Transformers
Cast: Shia LeBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Anderson
Director: Michael Bay
Imagine if those nimble robot action figures gathering dust under your kid's bed decided to bulk up, rise up, and take over Earth. With the director of Pearl Harbor and Armageddon at the helm, expect a long, noisy war. (Dreamworks/Paramount) Opens nationwide.
Joshua
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga
Director: George Ratliff
Everyone's thrilled when parents Brad and Abby (Rockwell and Farmiga) bring home their beautiful new baby girl. Everyone except 9-year-old brother Joshua (Kogan), that is. Soon evil plagues the family, and maybe Joshua is more than just smart. (Fox Searchlight) Opens New York and Los Angeles July 6, with additional cities to follow.
1408
Cast: John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack
Director: Mikael Hfström
Stephen King, who knows a thing or two about scary hotels, penned the short story that inspired this scary movie about a professional haunted house debunker (Cusack) who checks into a room many have entered and few have exited. (Weinstein/MGM) Opens nationwide.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
Director: David Yates
An obscure British import, for which there's very little advance publicity. (Warner Bros) Opens nationwide.
Interview
Cast: Steve Buscemi, Sienna Miller
Director: Steve Buscemi
Buscemi stars as a hardened political reporter who's sent to interview a soap star (Miller). He's not happy about it, but as their interview stretches into a long night, each discovers unexpected depths in the other. Buscemi directs from a screenplay that he co-adapted from one that was written by Dutch director Theo van Gogh, who was on the verge of directing Buscemi and Miller in the film when brutally murdered by an Islamic extremist. (Sony Pictures Classics) Opens New York and Los Angeles July 13, with additional cities to follow.
Talk to Me
Cast: Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Don Cheadle stars as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, a legendary 1960s radio and talk show host who galvanized Washington, D.C. by leading public protests against poverty and racism. (Focus) Opens New York and Los Angeles July 13, and additional cities July 13 and July 27.
Cashback
Cast: Sean Biggerstaff, Emilia Fox, Shaun Evans
Director: Sean Ellis
Filmmaker Sean Ellis expands his Oscar-nominated short about a young art student (Biggerstaff) who, suffering from insomnia, goes to work at an all-night market. There he discovers that he can stop time, a trick that allows him to find unexpected beauties (female and otherwise) within the store. (Magnolia) Opening cities TBD.
Goya's Ghosts
Cast: Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem, Natalie Portman
Director: Milos Forman
Milos Forman, Oscar-winning director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, dramatizes the rivalry between Spanish painter Francisco Goya (Skarsgard) and a powerful clergyman (Bardem) who's infatuated with Goya's teenage muse (Portman). (Samuel Goldwyn Films) Opening cities TBD.
Hairspray
Cast: John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken
Director: Adam Shankman
Filmmaker John Waters' lifelong dream of invading the suburban multiplexes of America finally comes true with this big-budget version of the hit Broadway play, which in turn was based on Waters' non-musical 1988 comedy. In full drag, John Travolta plays a '50s mom, continuing a tradition set by the late, great, and much-missed drag queen Divine, to whom the part will always truly belong. (New Line Cinema) Opens nationwide.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel
Director: Dennis Dugan
About Schmidt and Sideways writers Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor go seriously mainstream, joining with co-writer Barry Fanaro (Kingpin) for this broad comedy about two perpetually single New York firefighters who pretend to be lovers in order to receive domestic partnership benefits. (Universal) Opens nationwide.
I Know Who Killed Me
Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough, Brian Geraghty
Director: Chris Sivertson
