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The prequel to the movie “The Da Vinci Code” will soon be in theaters on May 15, 2009. Still based on Dan Brown’s famous novel, “Angels and Demons” features the first adventure of Robert Langdon in Rome as he investigates a murder that would take him to the dark history of the Vatican. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Langdon while Ewan McGregor plays the role of the Camerlengo.

Compared to Da Vinci Code, many opine that this is the better novel. Though I was not pleased with the movie version of Da Vince Code, I hope the movie version of Angels & Demons will do more justice to the novel. Here’s a sneak peak of the upcoming movie.

Showing on October 17th is the much-awaited movie, The Secret Life of Bees, from the NY Times best selling novel of Sue Monk Kidd. It stars no less than the talented Dakota Fanning, Academy-award nominees Queen Latifah and Sophie Okonedo, Academy-award winner Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys.
Set in South Carolina in 1964, it is a tale of 14-year old Lily Owens (Fanning) who is haunted by the memory of her late mother (Burton). Lily flees with her caregiver, Rosaleen (Hudson), to escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father (Bettany). She is taken in by the Boatwright sisters (Latifah, Okonedo, and Keys) and discovers their enchanting world of beekeeping. Lily discovers a whole new world with the sisters and finds a home she has been longing for since her mother’s death. But a white girl living with a black household brings complications the sisters have feared from the start.
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It’s number 22 in the Bond series and still appears to be going strong despite the constant change in actors playing the part. The difference of Quantum of Solace from other Bond movies is that it immediately picks up from where Casino Royale left off. This time, Bond seeks revenge for the death of his love interest. When did James Bond start to fall in love anyway?

In this new movie, Bond tries to get back at Quantum — the group behind Le Chiffre’s operation which he foiled in the last movie. If you recall, Bond planned to retire after their success in Casino Royale and spend his days with Vesper Lynd, the Treasury agent he fell in love with. Unfortunately, Lynd was blackmailed by Quantum and was killed. Now, Bond is determined to get his revenge and find Mr. White. Mr. White was the only clue he received from Lynd about the identity of Quantum.

In Quantum of Solace, Bond meets another female agent named Camille who is similarly pursuing Quantum. Will she be Bond’s solace? I think we all have a good idea what the answer is. Watch the trailer below that will give you a sneak peek on the upcoming movie.

Director of Babylon A.D., Mathieu Kassovitz, feels that the Vin Diesel movie they just finished is nothing more than pure violence and stupidity. He is best known country for his acting in movies like Amelie and Munich and is an award-winning filmmaker in his native France. The last five years he spent working on his dream project, an adaptation of the French sci-fi novel “Babylon Babies,” got a Hollywood studio’s not to co-finance and also got no less than Vin Diesel to headline it. But now that the movie is coming out, he is pretty angry with the results.

In an interview by SciFi Scanner, Kassovitz said he was unhappy with the film because he was never given the chance to do one scene the way it was written or the way he wanted it to be. He claims that he got bad producers and bad partners, making it a terrible experience.

The movie is the story of Toorop (Vin Diesel), a mercenary charged with protecting a genetically altered woman from Eastern Europe to New York. Kassovitz said he was interested in the original book’s message about the changing nature of global politics and redrawing of national borders. However, he now feels the movie doesn’t address any of those themes.

It was a bad experience from the start with production plagued by delays, weather problems, and budgetary concerns. More than anything else, Kassovitz is upset that 20th Century Fox edited down his original cut to a mere 93 minutes. Vin Diesel even jokingly asked if he was still in the movie after all the edits. Kassovitz feels regret that the project he had been looking forward to for so long ended up the way it did because he was not allowed to work the way that he wanted. His exact words were, “I should have chosen a studio that has guts.”

It’s almost time again for the movie version of the Harry Potter series to grace the screen and weave its magic with the audience. Though there has not been any Harry Potter movie that I felt gave justice to the book, it’s a regular pilgrimage me and my kids attend to. We look forward to it every other year. While my kids enjoy watching it endlessly even in DVD, I just saw the last few versions once in the movies.

Well, the trailer is out and I like what I saw. The young Tom Riddle was really creepy. It didn’t feel like the usual Harry Potter movie. It had the aura of a mystery horror flick. This is expected to be the tragedy among the series. I didn’t expect David Yates to make it so eerie. As early as now, I’m itching to see more of the film. I can only hope that it was not just a trailer done so well.

I was totally unaware that Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series will already be shown on the silver screen. I was surprised to see a poster while browsing the net. As usual, the fantasy genre excites me, whether it’s a book or a movie or both. I think I was able to read Meyer’s 3 books on the series in less than a week. Who would’ve thought the movie has already been finished. I was supposed to write something about The Dark Knight. When I saw the video and stills of Twilight, all I could say was “Batman who?”

I know what most of you are going to say, I’m too old for books or movies like this. Well, you will just have to bear with me. I’m one of those unlucky girls who has never had a love story of her own. If Bella in Twilight is the girl who never meets normal guys, I’m the girl who never meets the good ones. Hell, I’ll give anything to meet a good one — even if he turns out to be a vampire. Who cares as long as he protects me the way Edward watches over Bella. So, if you can live forever, what would you live for?

The second feature film based on Chris Carter’s TV series, The X-Files, is targeted for screening in the US on July 25, 2008. The first feature film of The X-Files was released in 1998 where the storyline, in the context of the TV series, occurred between Season 5 and 6 of the TV series. Unlike its predecessor, the second film is a stand-alone movie — meaning it is not necessary to have any background on the TV series nor the first film to understand the story.

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprise their roles as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully in this new adventure. Although the plot remains a secret, it was revealed that the setting will occur 6 years after the events in the series. The rest of the story are bits and pieces of rumors and speculations such as the inclusion of Scully’s son, William, and the forever-anticipated romantic relationship between both agents. Duchovny likewise hinted that this time, it does not revolve around alien life, but rather more on supernatural events.

Another movie that seem to be worth waiting for is Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring Brendan Fraser, set for release on July 11 at US theaters.  Fraser plays Trevor, a scientist who travels to discover what happened to his missing brother.  He is accompanied in this tremendous adventure by his nephew, Sean, and their mountain guide, Hannah.  Watch out for this exciting new movie and discover places your imagination hasn’t even ventured.

What was intended as a sequel to the 2003 movie became a movie all its own. Although it did not win praises from critics, they do admit it was a better than the first movie. This time around, Bruce Banner is portrayed by Edward Norton while Betty Ross is Liv Tyler. As expected, Norton did a great acting job (yes, I am an Edward Norton fan) and fans loved this one better. My kids can’t wait to see it. I’m hoping for more free time by then. Here is the trailer of the movie.

Following the premiere in London and the official release in the UK, Americans will be treated to the movie version of the HBO series Sex and The City on May 30, 2008. The movie starts off with Carrie looking for a new home with Mr. Big and wedding plans underway.  The rest of the girls have their own problems to deal with and like the TV series, they find comfort in their friendship and find ways to help each other out.

The movie is no different from the series and other chick flicks.  Some find it shallow and ridiculous while others feel it would be better to call it Sex and the City: The Catalog.  Of course, most people do not have the patience for such girly stuff such as shoe fetishes, shopaholicism, Samantha’s libido,  and Charlotte’s insecurities.  But in the real world, girls can be shallow and most have such weird fetishes.

For fans of the series, it is a movie worth waiting for.  While those who have no patience for women’s atrocious habits, better stay out of the theaters. As for me, I want to see the movie if only to see Kim Cattral at 50 looking just as gorgeous as she used to.

I’ve been complaining recently that there are fewer good movies around. I watched several Oscar nominees in the past months and none proved memorable to me. They were mostly mediocre movies — some I didn’t even finish because they put me to sleep. Finally, I saw The Kite Runner last week and remembered how it felt like to be entertained and touched by a story unfolding on the silver screen.

The Kite Runner is a movie adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s renowned debut novel of the same title. It tells the story of Amir, a rich boy in Kabul, who is haunted by his betrayal of a childhood friend, Hassan — the son of his father’s Hazara servant. Amir is a boy constantly pressured to live up to his father’s standards. Baba, Amir’s father, is a respected man in Kabul. Among his many accomplishments is holding the record for putting down the most number of kites during kite fighting tournaments. Unlike his father, Amir is timid and prefers to read and write stories as a young boy. He reads his stories to Hassan everyday and seemed to be the only one who believed in him. Hassan is also Amir’s kite runner during kite fighting games — a kite runner runs the kite that the winning flyer has cut since it is considered the flyer’s prize. Hassan is one of the best kite runners around since he knows exactly where the cut kite will land, even in the most unlikely places.

The critical part of the story happens when Amir wins the kite flying tournament. After cutting the last kite, everyone cheers for Amir and Hassan runs to get the kite for him. After finding the kite, Hassan runs into Assef, an older boy that constantly bullies Amir and Hassan. Assef tries to get the kite from Hassan but the boy would not give in. As punishment, Assef instructs his friends to hold down Hassan while he sexually assaults him. Amir, on the other hand, follows Hassan’s path wondering what was taking him so long. He sees him while Assef tries to get the kite but hides to watch the scene instead because of fear. Amir witnesses the sexual assault but runs away rather than help Hassan. After the incident, Amir avoids Hassan because of shame and guilt. He also fears that if Baba finds out what a coward he is, his father would love Hassan more than him. Amir eventually frames Hassan as a thief in their house which makes Ali (Hassan’s father) decide to leave the house despite the forgiveness of Baba and his attempts to stop them. Read the rest of this entry »

After garnering the best picture award for drama at the Golden Globe Awards this year, Atonement is the heavy favorite in the upcoming Oscar Awards this month. The movie is a the film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s bestselling novel and stars Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, and Saoirse Ronan. The film is a story of mistaken intentions, innocence, and a lie that can ruin a dream. Ronan brilliantly plays the part of Briony Tallis, a 13-year old fledgling writer with a vivid imagination. Briony’s schoolgirl crush on Robbie (McAvoy), the housekeeper’s son, leads her to mistaken conclusions on his character. As she watches the romance between Robbie and her sister Cecilia (Knightley) blossom, she mistakes Robbie’s amorous attention and advances towards her sister as sexual perversion. Her sexual naivety leads her to wrongly accuse Robbie of raping her underage cousin. She lies to authorities assuring them that it was Robbie that she witnessed doing the sinister deed when in fact it was her imagination, jealousy, envy, and innocence that led her to twist the truth. Read the rest of this entry »

I watched this new comedy from Adam Sandler two weeks ago in the hopes of getting some laughs that weekend and averting a possible boring day. Luckily, it was not another crappy Sandler movie.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry is the story of two NY firefighters who attempt to salvage the other’s pension for his children. Due to Larry’s depression over the death of his wife, he neglects to change his beneficiary from his wife to his children within the prescribed deadline. The only solution is to marry again and he decides to marry his bestfriend who is the only one he could trust with his children. After a sham marriage, the two are faced with the challenge of validating their domestic partnership to avoid going to jail for fraud. Read the rest of this entry »