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Sci-fi war at the box office
http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/04/27 16:34  Shanghai Daily

  Heading Hollywood's feast of summer movies are two galactic blockbusters: the final offering the ``Star Wars'' prequel and another re-make of H.G. Wells' 19th century novel, ``The War of the Worlds,'' writes David Germain.

  This summer means war between old buddies George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

  Colleagues on the ``Indiana Jones'' franchise, the two will duke it out for the title of galactic overlord on the 2005 science fiction front, Lucas with the final installment of his ``Star Wars'' saga, Spielberg with his remake of ``War of the Worlds'' starring Tom Cruise.

  ``Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith'' opens May 19, ``War of the Worlds'' June 29. ``At least we're six weeks apart, so we won't be competing against each other,'' says Spielberg. Other big summer movies include Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell's ``Bewitched,'' Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda's ``Monster-in-Law,'' Adam Sandler's ``The Longest Yard,'' Ice Cube's ``XXX: State of the Union,'' Christian Bale's ``Batman Begins,'' Johnny Depp's ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,'' Ridley Scott's ``Kingdom of Heaven,'' Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger's ``Cinderella Man,'' Cedric the Entertainer's ``The Honeymooners,'' the cartoon tale ``Madagascar'' and the comic-book adaptation ``Fantastic Four.''

  With ``Revenge of the Sith,'' Lucas concludes the prequel trilogy to his original three ``Star Wars'' movies, explaining how hotshot pilot Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) turns into black-cloaked villain Darth Vader. Lucas has cautioned fans for years that to connect with the original trilogy, ``Episode III'' necessarily would end in the darkest of places. ``It is a different `Star Wars','' says Lucas. ``It is a tragedy. It's a real tearjerker. All the women who have seen it, some of the men that have seen it, cried through it.'' Sustaining terrible injuries in a duel with former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Anakin is rebuilt as the part-man, part-machine Darth Vader. Being fitted for Vader's legendary costume thrilled Christensen.

  ``I don't know how to define the sensation,'' Christensen says about putting on the black robes and helmet. ``It was exhilarating and empowering and just all things overwhelming.'' The prequel trilogy has drawn scorn from fans who disliked seeing Anakin as a cuddly kid in ``The Phantom Menace'' and a love struck, petulant teen in ``Attack of the Clones.'' The pay-off, though, is the harsh fate awaiting Anakin in ``Revenge of the Sith,'' Christensen says. ``This film has all the right themes,'' he says. ``It's Anakin becoming Vader, it's a republic becoming an empire. It's all very epic stuff, and the way in which it's told and how it ties into the original trilogy is done so perfectly.'' While Lucas wages war in space, Spielberg rains destruction from above. As George Pal did with his 1953 version, Spielberg updates H.G. Wells' ``The War of the Worlds'' from 1890s Britain to the contemporary United States, partly because turbulent times today provide a relevant backdrop for terror from the skies and partly for simple cosmetic reasons.

  ``I can't stand the costumes of 1898,'' Spielberg says.

  ``There's just something about those high collars, those frou-frou gowns. It's not my style, I guess. ``I think also, we're living in a fearful atmosphere, fearful times, and every version of `War of the Worlds' that has occurred either in literature, radio or film has occurred during fearful times.'' Spielberg also jettisons Wells' premise that humanity's assailants come from Mars, noting that explorations of the red planet have shown that ``if life is ever discovered on the surface of Mars, it will be microscopic life.'' The film never reveals where the aliens come from. Spielberg figures their anonymity adds to the terror. ``It's just really scary to imagine being invaded, especially being invaded by not only an unknown race bent on our total annihilation, but with no context,'' Spielberg says. ``They don't spend any time explaining why they're here.

  There's no, `We needed to move here because our planet has become inhospitable.' ``We have absolutely no idea why they've come, why they're doing this to us.'' (The Associated Press) Coming soon . . . Hollywood's summer preoccupations include: * Domestic Mayhem Jennifer Lopez fights for her man against his meddlesome mother (Jane Fonda) in ``Monster-in-Law;'' Cedric the Entertainer resurrects Jackie Gleason's lovable blow-hard Ralph Kramden in a big-screen take on ``The Honeymooners;'' Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are in each other's crosshairs with ``Mr and Mrs Smith,'' a tale of married assassins; Nicole Kidman puts the hex on Will Ferrell, playing a real, live witch cast to star opposite a prima donna actor in a movie version of the sitcom ``Bewitched.''

  Kidman's preparation included a week in front of the mirror, practicing the nose wiggle ``Bewitched'' star Elizabeth Montgomery used to cast her spells. ``I sat with my mum and dad and would wiggle my nose and say to Mum, `Is that anything like it'?'' says Kidman, who also stars with Sean Penn in the UN thriller ``The Interpreter.'' ``So I certainly can do the nose wiggle, but nothing happens. I wish I could do it and magic would occur.''

  * Sports Adam Sandler's a disgraced pro quarterback who leads fellow prison inmates in a football grudge match against the guards in the remake ``The Longest Yard;'' Billy Bob Thornton plays an ex-ballplayer coaching an inept Little League team in the updated ``The Bad News Bears;'' Martin Lawrence is a college hoops coach demoted to running a junior-high team in ``Rebound;'' Heath Ledger and Emile Hirsch reinvent skateboarding with ``Lords of Dogtown,'' about surfers who pioneered extreme styles in the 1970s; Will Ferrell squares off against his overbearing dad (Robert Duvall) as they coach rival soccer teams in ``Kicking & Screaming.''

  ``It is the `Rocky' of youth-soccer movies,'' says Ferrell. * Action Christian Bale is wealthy young Bruce Wayne in ``Batman Begins,'' chronicling the caped crusader's formative crime-fighting years; Ice Cube takes over for Vin Diesel in the sequel ``XXX: State of the Union,'' playing a take-no-prisoners agent tracking a renegade soldier (Willem Dafoe); ``XXX'' filmmaker Rob Cohen directs ``Stealth,'' about ace fighter pilots (Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx) chasing an intelligent drone plane gone AWOL; Jet Li stars as a human attack dog for his mobster ``uncle'' (Bob Hoskins) who's taken under the wing of a compassionate piano tuner (Morgan Freeman) in ``Unleashed;'' Keira Knightley mixes it up in ``Domino,'' inspired by the real-life story of actor Laurence Harvey's daughter, who quit her modeling career to become a bounty hunter.

  ``It's one of those things you hear about and think, `God, this is an absolutely insane story. It's so crazy it has to be true','' Knightley says. ``She's an amazing woman to turn her back on everything that certainly we in today's society would think she could want.'' * Comedy Rob Schneider returns as ``Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo,'' crossing the Atlantic to satisfy his female clients; Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are ``Wedding Crashers,'' pals who sneak into strangers' nuptials to score with women; Hilary Duff plays matchmaker for her mom (Heather Locklear) after creating the ideal, though fictional, suitor in ``The Perfect Man;'' Steve Carell is ``The 40-Year-Old Virgin,'' an electronics-store clerk who has never gotten around to doing the deed.

  * Family flicks Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith are mouthpieces for pampered zoo animals shipped back to the wild in the animated ``Madagascar;'' Lindsay Lohan revs up the Love Bug for ``Herbie: Fully Loaded'' as the Volkswagen Beetle enters the NASCAR circuit; ``Spy Kids'' creator Robert Rodriguez crafts a 3-D adventure about a boy whose superhero idols come to life in ``The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl;'' Ewan McGregor provides the voice of a plucky British pigeon that takes to the skies in the World War II animated tale ``Valiant;'' the son of the world's biggest superheroes (Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston) enrolls in ``Sky High,'' where he must cope with freshman year and the disgrace of being groomed as a sidekick; Johnny Depp is Willy Wonka in the update ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,'' about the reclusive candyman who opens his factory to five lucky visitors. * Sci-fi and fantasy Matt Damon and Heath Ledger are the ``Brothers Grimm'' in Terry Gilliam's tale of the sibling storytellers as they journey among witches, trolls and other mythical creatures; Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson star in Michael Bay's ``The Island,'' about clones trying to escape their fate as spare parts for real humans; the ``Fantastic Four'' (Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis) leap to the big-screen in the comic-book adaptation about astronauts mutated into superheroes; Douglas Adams' ``The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' finally lands in movie theaters, with Martin Freeman as the earthling who catches a comic ride aboard an alien ship moments before the planet is destroyed.

  Adams, who died in 2001 but shares screenwriting and executive producer credits, had long cherished the notion that his peculiar cosmic odyssey could make its way to the big screen. * Drama Orlando Bloom stars in Ridley Scott's epic ``Kingdom of Heaven,'' playing a blacksmith-turned-knight who defends Jerusalem during the Crusades; Russell Crowe reunites with ``A Beautiful Mind'' director Ron Howard for ``Cinderella Man,'' about boxer Jim Braddock, a 10-1 underdog who rebounded from an unsuccessful early career and hard times during the Depression to beat Max Baer for the heavyweight championship in 1935.

  ``There's a line in the movie that came directly from Braddock when he was making his comeback,'' Howard says. ``He said, `I know what I'm fighting for now.' People asked, `What's that?' And he said, `Milk'.

  ``That's because he had been on the bread line with his kids. His family was nearly destroyed before he made it back to the ring. ``Every once in a while life provides a kind of fairy tale, a living fairy tale for us to witness. And this is one of those stories. It's why Damon Runyon dubbed him the `Cinderella Man'.'' (The Associated Press) Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell in a scene from the movie ``Bewitched,'' to be released this summer. Dakota Fanning and Tom Cruise (center) in a scene from the director Steven Spielberg movie ``War of the Worlds,'' to be released this summer. -- AP 


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