These Promising Movies Are Coming Out in May of 2009

2009 has turned into the worst year of my life. The strange thing is that I can still escape into a good film. I'd much rather escape into movies than a bottle of alcohol. When your life is so dramatically altered due to the death of a loved one, it almost seems to alter the way you look at everything around you, everything else you hold dear. As you can plainly see in my other articles, I hold movies and movie-making close to my heart. That love for film hasn't been washed away completely. It's just changed quite a bit.

I am happy to give you, my readers a glimpse into the films coming out in May of 2009. This month certainly has some big movies opening, including the newest Star Trek and Terminator films, and the sequel to Night at the Museum.

2009 looks like a year of either great change or great disappointment in the entertainment industry. We've already had some great changes in the political world if you hadn't noticed. And, I'm obviously not talking about the shaky ecomony. This year in film may bring 3D to the screen like we've never seen before.

May 1rst

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Directed by Gavin Hood

Written by David Benioff

Based on the X-Men and Wolverine comics, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is look back at one of the most popular comic book characters ever put on film. The "mutant" with retractable claws is working all by himself this time. His mutant power is simple. He can heal at an expanential rate. The first time we saw Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, he had no memory. He was living out of a camper on his truck. He met up with a young woman and found himself in a team of mutants called, The X-Men. The perfect casting of Star Trek: The Next Generation's Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine brought new life to the superhero genre. Now, after two sequels, we get to see how Wolverine got his start. It was the 1800s when Wolverine realized what he was. He had a set of 3 sharp bones that could extend, and retract at will from between his index finger, middle finger and pinky. He would use this "mutation" to his advantage through several wars, working alongside a good friend by the name of Victor Creed or Sabretooth as played by Liev Schreiber. Then, they met a man by the name of William Stryker, a soldier, a scientist and finally, a demented man who likes to wield what power he has over any and all mutants, previously played to perfection by Brian Cox in X2: X-Men United. This time, Stryker is being portrayed by Danny Huston. Things turn hectic. Suddenly, by the end of the film, the Wolverine we were introduced to in the original X-Men movie comes to life. I certainly can not wait to see Jackman's Wolverine return to the big screen.

More of the principle cast

Ryan Reynolds plays Wade Wilson or Deadpool

Dominic Monaghan plays Chris Bradley or Bolt

Daniel Henney plays David North or Agent Zero

Taylor Kitsch plays Remy LeBeau or Gambit

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Directed by Mark Waters

Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore

Matthew McCoughney stars as Connor Mead, a big womanizer who seems to be in need of a lesson. Jennifer Garner plays Jenny Perotti, presumably Connor's love interest in the film. But, before he can actually get involved with another woman, I guess he's got to take a look back at all the women he's used over the years. That's all I can gather from the previews. Given the fact that this is another McCoughney romantic comedy, probably no different than How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or Failure to Launch, I'm not sure how good this will be. I know one thing. Charles Dickens should be rolling in his grave.

More of the principle cast

Michael Douglas plays Uncle Wayne

Breckin Meyer plays Paul

Lacey Chabert plays Sandra

Robert Forster plays Sergeant Volkom

More films coming out on May 1rst

The Merry Gentleman

Directed by Michael Keaton; written by Ron Lazzeretti; starring Michael Keaton, Kelly Macdonald, Bobby Cannavale, Darlene Hunt, William Dick and Debbi Burns

Battle for Terra

Directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas; written by Evan Spiliotopoulos; starring the voices of Chad Allen, Rosanna Arquette, Bill Birch, Brooke Bloom, Tom Connolly, Brian Cox, David Cross and Beverly D'Angelo

May 8th

Star Trek

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman

Just when you thought the original crew of the Starship Enterprise were enjoying their retirement, the studios and Trekkies of the world thought it would be cool to bring them back for at least one more film. You've got James T. Kirk, Spock, Montgomery Scott or Scotty, Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Hikaru Sulu and Nyota Uhura. However, this film is severely lacking the great talents of William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, and Nichelle Nichols. You can't blame two of them for not making an appearance in this movie. Kelley and Doohan have passed away. The story is basically a prequel to the Star Trek series, focusing exclusively on the legendary crew's experiences in Starfleet Academy or so it seems. You know, I have been a big Star Trek fan since I was a kid, watching the original Star Trek crew make some pretty damn good movies and The Next Generation crew, including Stewart as Jean Luc Picard and Brent Spiner as Data make one of the greatest sci-fi TV shows ever. With the latest Enterprise TV series and now this, I feel like they've severely poluted the original vision of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry. He was all about looking forward in time. Gene would be rolling in his grave if he knew these TV producers and filmmakers were taking so many steps backward. I will probably still see this travesty, because I am a Trekkie, I can't deny it.

More films coming out on May 8th

Adoration

Directed by Atom Egoyan; written by Atom Egoyan; starring Scott Speedman, Rachel Blanchard, Kenneth Welsh, Devon Bostick, Katie Boland and Aaron Poole

Julia

Directed by Erick Zonca; written by Michael Collins, Camille Natta, Aude Py and Erick Zonca; starring Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek, Kate del Castillo, Aidan Gould, Jude Ciccolella, Bruno Birchir and Kevin Kilner

May 15th

Angels & Demons

Directed by Ron Howard

Written by David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman

This is a sequel to The Da Vinci Code, also directed by Ron Howard. Tom Hanks returns as Robert Langdon in this adaptation of Dan Brown's best selling novel of the same name. This time around, Langdon discovers evidence of an ancient secret organization's plot to destroy the Vatican. Langdon, with the help of a beautiful Italian scientist by the name of Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) discover symbols that may be the key to saving the Vatican, Once again, there will probably be plenty of death-defying thrills and exciting car chases to be had. The question is what Biblical secrets will be unlocked this time? Will Tom Hanks give us his all once again? I'm definitely interested and not just because I'm a big fan of Hanks.

More of the principle cast

Ewan McGregor plays Camerlengo Patrick McKenna

Stellan Skarsgard plays Commander Richter

Nikolaj Lie Kaas plays Mr. Gray

Armin Mueller-Stahl plays Cardinal Strauss

More films coming out on May 15th

Management

Written and directed by Stephen Belber; starring Jennifer Aniston, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Margo Martindale, Fred Ward, Tzi Ma, Gavin Bristol and Robert Zorn

May 21st and 22nd

Terminator Salvation

Directed by McG

Written by John D. Brancato, and Michael Ferris

Given how much of a fan I am of the original two Terminator masterpieces (The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day), given how disappointed I was with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, I should boycott this latest attempt to fill the shoes of Terminator creator, James Cameron at all costs. The one thing I am interested in seeing in this film is Christian Bale's portrayal of John Connor. If they had gotten James Cameron to write and direct Bale as the future leader of the human resistance against the machines, I would have no doubt that we would be looking at another Terminator masterpiece. However, they got the director behind such wonderful pictures as Charlie's Angels to try and bring back some credibility back to this series. Not the wisest decision in the history of moviemaking, but some of the things I've seen in the trailers do look much more impressive than that Terminatrix thing in T3. You've got the future star of James Cameron's Avatar, Sam Worthington as the very mysterious character of Marcus Wright. When he signed on to do this film, Worthington was adamant that the filmmakers try to stay true to James Cameron's original vision. Let's hope that they did just that. I for one, am hoping this film does not require I remember that T3 abortion and tries to make a fresh start after Terminator 2.

More of the principle cast

Anton Yelchin plays Kyle Reese

Moon Bloodgood plays Blair Williams

Bryce Dallas Howard plays Kate Connor

Common plays Barnes

More films coming out on May 21st and 22nd

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Directed by Shawn Levy; written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon; starring Ben Stiller reprising his role as Larry Daley, Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart, Owen Wilson as Jedediah, Bill Haser as General George Armstrong Custer, and Robin Williams again as Teddy Roosevelt

Dance Flick

Directed by Damien Wayans; written by Keenan Ivory Wayans and Shawn Wayans; starring Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, David Alan Grier, Amy Sedaris, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Chris Ellioty, Essence Atkins, Kim Wayans and Shoshana Bush

May 29th

Up

Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson

Written by Bob Peterson

Looks like Up may be another computer-animated gem from Pixar. Instead of fish swimming across the Pacific, toys trying to make it home before their owner discovers them gone or robots hitching rides on spaceships, we've got this big tale about this little old man, Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner) who develops a method to raise his entire house from its foundations and fy off into the sky. Carl looks and sounds suspiciously like the older Spencer Tracy. He allows a young boy by the name of Russell (Jordan Nagai) who accidentally came knocking on the wrong door at the wrong time to hitch a ride with him. Together, the two have some wild and exciting adventures, no doubt. But, the question is what will make this Pixar film as special as Wall-E, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles or Toy Story? We'll have to see on May 29th how good an animated film called, Up can be.

More of the principle cast

Christopher Plummer as Charles Muntz

John Ratzenberger

Delroy Lindo

Paul Eiding

More films coming out on May 29th

Drag Me to Hell

Directed by Sam Raimi; written by Ivan Raimi and Sam Raimi; starring Justin Long, Allison Lohman, Fernanda Romero, Chelcie Ross, David Paymer, and Reggie Lee