The Strangers

Based on the second novel in C.S. Lewis\'s beloved CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series, PRINCE CASPIAN finds the four Pevensie children--Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley)--once again whisked away from WWII-era England into the realm of Narnia, where the siblings once ruled as royalty. However, the Pevensies soon discover that 1,300 years have passed since they left, and the world is now controlled by the Telmarines, humans who long ago banished the magical creatures of Narnia to the wilderness. When the heir to the Telmarine throne, Caspian (Ben Barnes), survives an assassination attempt plotted by his scheming uncle, Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), the noble youth stumbles across Narnia\'s exiled enchanted population, and decides to lead them in an uprising, aided by Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.<br><br>Considerably darker and more action-packed than THE LION, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE, this 2008 sequel, once again directed by Andrew Adamson, is driven by the struggle between the Telmarines and the banished Narnians, resulting in many fierce battle sequences. While the newcomer Barnes and the established quartet of Moseley, Popplewell, Keynes, and Henley are all in fine form, CASPIAN is largely enhanced by its supporting cast, which includes indie mainstay Peter Dinklage as the dour dwarf Trumpkin and revered British comedian Eddie Izzard as the voice of the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep. Also briefly reprising their roles from the previous film are Liam Neeson, as the voice of Aslan, and Tilda Swinton, as the White Witch, actors who bring their familiar personas to this engaging and entertaining second chapter in the NARNIA saga.

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher star as strangers who wake up a married couple after a crazy night in Las Vegas in director Tom Vaughn\'s (STARTER FOR 10) feature film. Joy (Diaz) is the type of woman who makes plans to make plans. She\'s expecting a marriage proposal, but her live-in boyfriend, Mason (Jason Sudeikis), has other ideas. When he dumps her, Joy heads to Vegas to forget her troubles with her friend Tipper (Lake Bell) and discovers her fun, spontaneous side. Unfortunately, she also wakes up with recently unemployed Jack (Kutcher) as her husband. The two quickly decide to divorce, but the plot thickens when Jack wins a $3 million slot jackpot using Joy\'s quarter. Since neither one of them wants to give up the cash, they each try to drive the other to file for divorce and give up the bounty. But love has a funny way of appearing when you least expect it, and in acting their worst, Joy and Jack actually bring out the best in each other.<br><br>Diaz and Kutcher have nice onscreen chemistry and make a very photogenic couple. Treat Williams stars as Jack\'s difficult-to-please father, while Rob Corddry is Jack\'s best friend, Hater. Queen Latifah and Dennis Miller appear briefly as a marriage counselor and divorce court judge, respectively. The Vegas scenes are flashy and fun--just like Sin City--and the settings for the New York City scenes differentiate nicely between Joy\'s organized, structured life and Jack\'s less serious, happy-go-lucky attitude.

Born to race cars, Speed Racer is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized - the legendary Rex Racer, whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer, the designer of Speed\'s thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company\'s maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret - some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won\'t drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. The only way for Speed to save his family\'s business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie, Speed teams with his one-time rival - the mysterious Racer X - to win the race that had taken his brother\'s life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.

Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey leads this big-budget romantic comedy, making optimal use of his many swoon-inducing charms. Dempsey is Tom, a wealthy womanizer living the high life in New York City. He happily hops from bed to bed, living by a firm set of rules that keeps him from becoming romantically entangled with anyone. The only woman he makes time for is his dear college friend, Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), whom he sees weekly, and whom he adores. When Hannah suddenly takes off for Scotland on a job assignment, Tom misses her terribly, and has a dramatic realization about their relationship. He makes a plan to tell her about it as soon as she gets back, but of course she returns with a handsome Scottish fiancé (Kevin McKidd) in tow. To make matters worse, she informs Tom that she must make wedding plans rather quickly, and would he please, please, please be her Maid of Honor? <br><br>In typical rom-com fashion, the tale quickly escalates into over-the-top, barely believable plot twists, forcing the viewer to turn a blind eye to any holes in the story and instead focus on the pretty clothes and Dempsey\'s dimples. It shifts into full-on fantasy mode, with rugged lads on horseback, Scottish castles, and gargantuan New York apartments that only Bill Gates himself could afford. Monaghan is likeable and lovely in her role as the confused bride, but the star here is undoubtedly Dempsey. Despite being cast as a slick Casanova, he still manages to exude the fumbling charm from his CAN\'T BUY ME LOVE days. His non-threatening grin will likely be put on repeat at slumber parties everywhere, charming yet another generation of teenage girls.

Most romantic couples--onscreen or otherwise--would kill for the type of chemistry that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler share in the gyno-centric comedy BABY MAMA, even though the women are only playing friends. Fey stars as Kate, a 37-year-old vice president at an organic foods company whose womb starts a-kickin\' every time she sees a baby. Though her career has kept her from marriage and children, she has decided that it\'s time for her to get pregnant. But multiple tries with in vitro fertilization leave her disappointed, and Kate turns to a surrogate mother. Enter Angie (Poehler), a high-school dropout desperate for the large check that comes with carrying someone\'s child. Though she agrees to be Kate\'s surrogate, it\'s clear that the women disagree on everything from music to the type of food Angie should be eating. When Angie leaves her apartment after a fight with her obnoxious common-law husband (Dax Shepard, EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH), she moves into Kate\'s posh Philadelphia apartment, and the women spend the rest of BABY MAMA alternately battling and bonding.<br><br>Steve Martin appears in a small but enjoyable role as Kate\'s oily boss, and Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear gets good mileage out of playing her love interest. WEEDS star Romany Malco earns a bit more screen time--and plenty of laughs--as her over-involved doorman, but this is clearly Fey and Poehler\'s film. After several seasons of co-anchoring SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE\'s "Weekend Update" together, the pair is reunited, and it feels good--for both the talented actresses and the audience. BABY MAMA pays less attention to the serious issues of pregnancy and motherhood than its baby-driven contemporaries--JUNO, WAITRESS, and KNOCKED UP--but this is simply a comedy, and a very funny one, that succeeds on the merits of its two lead actresses and their comedic talents.

Nicholas Stoller\'s FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is a romantic disaster comedy produced by the same team that made such hits as THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN and KNOCKED UP, headed by writer, director, and producer Judd Apatow. When he gets suddenly and unceremoniously dumped by his longtime girlfriend, television star Sarah Marshall (VERONICA MARS lead Kristen Bell), composer Peter Bretter (FREAKS AND GEEKS alum Jason Segel) is devastated. Miserably depressed, he seeks solace in tawdry one-night stands, but he is desperate to win Sarah back. On the advice of his stepbrother, Brian (SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE\'s Bill Hader), Peter heads off to Hawaii for a much-needed vacation, but he gets even more freaked out when he discovers that Sarah and her new beau, wild and wacky British singing sensation Aldous Snow (comedian Russell Brand), are staying there as well. Mired in sadness, Peter is befriended by hotel employee Rachel Jansen (THAT \'70S SHOW\'s Mila Kunis), who encourages him to get back his life and pursue his own dreams, which include staging a Dracula musical with puppets. But Peter is blinded by his desire for Sarah even as he grows closer to Rachel and starts hanging out with some of the hotel\'s odder personalities, including Chuck (Paul Rudd), a drug-addled surf instructor, and Matthew (SUPERBAD\'s Jonah Hill), a drug-dealing restaurant worker obsessed with Snow. Segel, who gets fully naked several times in the film, wrote the screenplay, a sharp blend of comedy and drama, and is solid in his first major starring role. Stoller, making his feature-film directorial debut, gets the most out of his diverse cast and beautiful setting, especially Jack McBrayer and Maria Thayer as a newlywed couple having some bizarre sexual problems, and Billy Baldwin as Sarah\'s costar in the television show CRIME SCENE: SCENE OF THE CRIME. FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is an outrageously funny yet touchingly sweet movie.

Perpetually stoned pals Harold and Kumar (John Cho and Kal Penn) are back in this sequel to the 2004 cult favorite HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE. While on route to Amsterdam, the pair is mistaken for terrorists, leading to a series of misadventures that include another run-in with Neil Patrick Harris.

Fans of actor-director Tom McCarthy\'s highly praised debut, THE STATION AGENT, will not be disappointed by his second film, a gentle drama about illegal immigration. At 62, Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is sleepwalking through his quiet life as an economics professor in Connecticut. A conference for work forces him to return to New York City, where he finds something unexpected in his nearly forgotten Manhattan apartment: a pair of illegal immigrants is renting his place from a dishonest man, and they\'re just as shocked by his presence as he is by theirs. But Walter\'s kindness prevails, and he allows Syrian immigrant Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese love Zainab (Danai Gurira) to stay. Tarek and Walter form an unlikely bond over Tarek\'s talent for playing the djembe drum, and soon Walter is spending his spare time with the couple. When Tarek is unjustly arrested, deportation hangs over the young man\'s head and Walter is determined to help. The arrival of Tarek\'s mother (Hiam Abbass) adds another element to the trouble, but she provides unexpected companionship for Walter as he crusades for her son\'s freedom.<br><br>THE STATION AGENT was a pleasant surprise for everyone who saw it, and while THE VISITOR revisits some of the same themes (particularly loneliness), it doesn\'t feel like a retread. In his first two films as writer and director, McCarthy has displayed an impressive touch with both quietly funny dialogue and complex characters. All the actors deserve credit for their emotional performances, but Jenkins adeptly carries the film on his shoulders. Until THE VISITOR, he has been a prolific character actor, perhaps most recognizable as the dearly departed dad on SIX FEET UNDER. But as magnetic as he has been in small roles, the depth of his talent becomes even more obvious in this remarkable lead performance.

Prom Night (2008)