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2 Fast 2 Furious
DIRECTOR: John Singleton
CAST: Paul Walker, Tyrese, Eva Mendes, Cole Hauser, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Thom Barry, James Remar, Devon Aoki
SYNOPSIS: The sequel to 2001's The Fast and the Furious stars Walker as an ex-cop working undercover in Miami, assisted by Tyrese.
WHAT WE SAID: "2 Fast 2 Furious is 2 loud and 2 illogical for some movie tastes, but doesn't worry 2 much about it. The most creative aspect of John Singleton's film is its alphanumeric approach to titling a sequel, an appealing code of sorts for hip-hop audiences accustomed to such shorthand in rap lyrics and notes passed in biology class. Smart marketing. Dumb movie," St. Petersburg Times film critic Steve Persall said in his June review, giving the movie a B-.
RATING: PG-13 for street racing, violence, profanity, sensuality
RUNNING TIME: 108 min.
Bend It Like Beckham
DIRECTOR: Gurinder Chadha
CAST: Parminder K. Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Anupam Kher, Archie Panjabi, Shaznay Lewis, Frank Harper, Juliet Stevenson, Shaheen Khan, Ameet Chana, Pooja Shah, Paven Virk, Preeya Kalidas, Trey Farley, Saraj Chaudhry
SYNOPSIS: British comedy about a young Sikh soccer player resisting her family's traditional role expectations for women.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall called the film "another culture-clash comedy in the vein of Billy Elliot and, of course, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Bend It Like Beckham is closer to the former in sporting spirit and occasionally indecipherable humor, and the latter in its feminine appeal. . . . Nothing surprises about Bend It Like Beckham except how mildly charming it manages to be despite being fluffy, predictable and about 20 minutes too long." He gave it a B-.
RATING: PG-13 for language and sexual content
RUNNING TIME: 110 min.
Better Luck Tomorrow
DIRECTOR: Justin Lin
CAST: Parry Shen, Jason J. Tobin, Karin Anna Cheung, Sung Kang, Roger Fan, John Cho
SYNOPSIS: Asian-American honors students sink deeper into crime, cocaine and computer theft in a bold film about consequences.
WHAT WE SAID: Persall gave the film an A, calling it "an astonishing debut from filmmaker Lin, a breakthrough on two counts that Hollywood typically bungles for profit. First, it's a film with a completely Asian-American cast, yet race doesn't matter and nobody knows kung fu. It's also a high school melodrama packed with drugs, violence, sex and rock 'n' roll, yet Lin is more concerned with dire consequences than hedonistic bliss."
RATING: R for drug abuse, profanity, violence, sexual situations
RUNNING TIME: 99 min.
Boat Trip
DIRECTOR: Mort Nathan
CAST: Cuba Gooding Jr., Horatio Sanz, Roselyn Sanchez, Vivica A. Fox, Roger Moore, William Bumiller, Ken Hudson Campbell, Eddie Driscoll, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Gareis, Zen Gesner, Maurice Godin, Li Hagman, Artie Lange, Thomas Lennon, Steven M. Porter, Richard Roundtree, Michelle Ruben, Lin Shaye, Victoria Silvstedt, Noah York
SYNOPSIS: Two lovelorn friends (Gooding and Sanz) mistakenly book themselves on a gay cruise ship.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review this film.
MPAA RATING: R for strong sexual content, language and some drug material
RUNNING TIME: 94 min.
Dreamcatcher
DIRECTOR: Lawrence Kasdan
CAST: Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Damien Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Sizemore, Jason Lee
SYNOPSIS: Four lifelong friends sharing a telepathic bond battle invading aliens and a military madman. Screenplay by William Golden, based on the Stephen King novel.
WHAT WE SAID: "The movie feels as if it were made by someone who thinks we haven't seen all this before and doesn't know how far over the top he's going," Persall said, giving the film a D. "(Kasdan) thinks horror springs only from gory details, and logic be damned. Truly frightening films don't show much and have rational explanations for everything. Dreamcatcher is either a spoof taking itself too seriously, or a serious film too silly to be considered one."
RATING: R for gory violence, profanity
RUNNING TIME: 134 min.