Serial Hollywood Movies Tide In

Heavy May Lineup

Next month, local moviegoers can look forward to the releases of ``X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and other serial big budget American franchises, including the ``Star Trek’’ prequel, the latest Dan Brown movie ``Angels & Demons’’ and the fourth ``Terminator’’ movie.

On May 7, fans can see ``Star Trek: The Beginning,’’ the prequel to the popular sci-fi TV show. Director J. J. Abrams brings a visually striking, action-packed film chronicling the early days of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members. The star-studded cast includes Eric Bana, John Cho and Winona Ryder, and Leonard Nimoy as the older Spock.

``The Da Vinci Code’’ author Dan Brown inspired another movie, ``Angels & Demons.’’ Tom Hanks returns as symbologist Robert Langdon, who, after decoding cryptic codes in Da Vinci paintings in Paris, returns in a prequel set in Rome to help solve a series of murders in Vatican City. Ewan McGregor joins the cast for the film, which is slated for release May 14. [I read "The Da Vinci Code" during my first week in Paris when I lived there 2004-2005, and then read "Angels & Demons" right before leaving for Rome in March, 2005. I was there for Easter weekend, right after Pope Jean Paul passed away, so I got to see real life parallels from the book! Although I didn't enjoy the movie version of "The Da Vinci Code," I liked "Angels & Demons" much better so I'm hoping the movie will be better too]

Megastars are expected to bring some mega-action to the mega-expensive ($200 million) ``Terminator Salvation,’’ coming to theaters May 21. It’s the year 2018, when much of humanity is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Christian Bale (the reason for watchig the movie) assumes the role of John Connor, who leads a group of survivors waging the last battle against the Terminator machines.

Moviegoers can also look forward to the sixth ``Harry Potter’’ film, ``Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’’ on July 15.

>>Read my previous interview with John Cho

>>Read my review of ``Harry Potter 5''