FILM: New in Theaters - 7/18/08

Duh! Dark Knight is in theaters and I'm only hours away from being amazed. The suspense is nearly killing me. lol Alright, for those of you who have been under a rock as of late, the sequel to Batman Begins will be about Batman (Christian Bale) teaming up with his Lieutenant buddy (Gary Oldman) from the first film and the District Attorney (Aaron Eckhart)--who will soon become Two-Face--to bring down a deranged bank-robbing killer known as The Joker (Heath Ledger). The cinematography alone is incredible, not to mention the performances. Maggie Gyllenhaal replaces Katie Holmes as Batman's love interest, and makes him jealous by dating the DA. Cillian Murphy reprises his role as Scarecrow, and several other actors will be appearing as well, including Anthony Michael Hall ("Dead Zone"), Nestor Carbonell ("Lost"), Eric Roberts, and William Fichtner ("Prison Break"). Enjoy.

This is sort of insulting, but...for you ladies (and musical lovers), there's the romantic comedy Mamma Mia! Amanda Seyfried ("Big Love" and Mean Girls) plays a young girl who wants her dad to walk her down the aisle when she marries the guy of her dreams (History Boys' Dominic Cooper), but first she has to figure out who her dad is. Unfortunately, her mom (Meryl Streep) never told her. So instead of just prying the name out of her, she invites all three viable candidates (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard) to her wedding to figure it out, throwing her mom into a hormonal tale spin encouraged by her two best friends (Cybill's Christine Baranski and Harry Potter's Julie Walters). While it's fun to try to figure out who her dad is, the ABBA soundtrack is what will really make it memorable.


Then there's the kiddie movie Space Chimps that you can drop your kids off in while you go watch Dark Knight (lol). It's about a trio of chimps that are sent into space for a NASA experiment initiated by an opportunistic senator. Two of the monkeys are capable of handling the pressure and one of them is extremely resistant. The fun officially starts when they encounter a planet that they must save from a malevolent dictator. The voices are of Andy Samberg ("SNL"), Cheryl Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Patrick Warburton ("Rules of Engagement"), Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber), Kristen Chenoweth ("Pushing Daisies"), Kenan Thompson ("SNL"), and Stanley Tucci (Devil Wears Prada). It's dorky enough to make your kids laugh for days.