THE CHOSEN ONE:

A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (Picturehouse)
Starring Garrison Keillor, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones, Lily Tomlin, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson, Virginia Madsen, Maya Rudolph, Lindsay Lohan
Directed by Robert Altman (The Player, M*A*S*H*, Gosford Park, Nashville, The Long Goodbye, McCabe & Mrs. Miller); Written by Garrison Keillor
Genre: Comedy, Musical
Rated: PG-13 (for risque humor)
Tagline: "Radio like you've never seen it before."
Story: Garrison Keillor brings his popular public radio show to the screen with one final live variety show at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has been bought by a wealthy investor. Meanwhile, the theatre's head of security, Guy Noir (Kevin Kline), is dealing with a mysterious woman in white (Virginia Madsen) and all sorts of other problems, but the show goes on with appearances by the Johnson Sisters (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin), Chuck Akers (L.Q. Jones) and Dusty and the old Trailhands (Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly.)
REVIEW

Usually, I don't pick movies getting a wide release for The Chosen One, because it's hard to do an unbiased analysis and recommend a movie at the same time. It's kind of surprising that Picturehouse, the newish indie division of New Line and HBO, decided to give Garison Keillor and Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion a nationwide roll-out rather than opening small and building word-of-mouth before expanding. It's a strange decision, one that hopefully won't hurt the movie, but with that in mind, this is being divided into two separate write-ups with more specific information and box office analysis below.

If you haven't figured out, this is a movie based on Garrison Keillor's radio show of the same name, which has been on the air for over thirty years. If you're over 30, you're likely to have heard of the radio show, but who knows how many people have actually tuned into public radio on Saturday night to hear it for themselves? I'll tell you how many… over 4 million! Still, it took a filmmaker on the par of Robert Altman, fresh from receiving a lifetime Oscar, to make this happen with such an amazing cast, and Altman used this collaboration with Keillor to create the perfect introduction to Keillor's music, his sense of humor, and his recurring characters. They've successfully created a movie that's both funny and entertaining, even if you're unfamiliar with the radio show, and while it may not be everyone's cup of tea, you can tell there's something special going on and that everyone involved is having a blast.

If you scroll down to the next section, you can read more about the movie, its cast and its box office prospects.

NEW THIS WEEK:

CARS (Disney/Pixar Animation)
Starring (the voices of) Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, George Carlin, Richard Petty, Michael Keaton, Tony Shalhoub, John Ratzenberger, Michael Wallis, Paul Dooley, Jenifer Lewis
Directed by John Lasseter (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2); Written by
Genre: Animated, Comedy, Family
Rated G
Tagline: "Ahhh… it's got that new movie smell."
Story: In a world populated only by cars and trucks, Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), a hotshot stock car, ends up stuck in a smalltown off Route 66 doing community service during a cross-country journey. There, he learns to slow down and appreciate life with the help of the town's overly-friendly community including a dim tow truck named Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) and a former race car (Paul Newman).
Mini-Review: While I wouldn't be so bold as to proclaim this as Pixar's first all-out failure, an exciting high-paced set-up is dragged down by a dull and overly sentimental second act that makes the movie way too long for its own good. It's a shame because the set-up, set in the world of NASCAR, allows for some exciting visuals, and the movie is another amazing technical achievement from the gorgeous landscapes to the way Pixar animators are able to instill life and personality into inanimate objects like cars. There's also a surprising amount of scene-stealing by no less than Larry the Cable Guy's character Mater, who offers most of the movies few laughs. That said, the parts that drag…really drag. Fortunately, things pick up for the big ending, but by then, it already feels like the movie lost its way and it's hard to forgive it. Rating: 6 out of 10.

A year and a half after their last movie The Incredibles, and a few short months after being bought by Disney, Pixar Animation Studios is back with their seventh movie in ten years. It also marks the return to the director's chair by Pixar founder John Lasseter, making his first movie since 1998's Toy Story 2. After previous Pixar movies which have featured toys, bugs, monsters and superheroes, making a movie set in a world of Cars seems almost like a no-brainer, because kids love cars as much as grown men, and the premise of a world populated by them seems very immediate and accessible. This also allows a lot of the story to be set in the world of NASCAR, which is a very popular sport these days, especially in the Red States, making this the first of a series of racing related movies this summer.

Since the success of the Toy Story movies, which starred Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, Pixar has not been known for hiring the most expensive box office draws or voice talent, but it hasn't done anything to hurt them. After all, who could imagine that their biggest hit would feature the voices of Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres? For this one, Lightning Speed's voice is provided by Owen Wilson, who has made a lot of high profile movies in recent years, but whose Q-rating went through the roof after he starred with Vince Vaughn in last year's surprise comedy hit Wedding Crashers.

Lightning's older and wiser teacher, Hudson Hornet, is voiced by Paul Newman, a veteran actor who really hasn't done much in the last few years, but has a lot of experience on the racing circuit, which makes his casting so perfect. On the opposite side of the spectrum is Larry the Cable Guy, low brow stand-up comic and long-time associate of Jeff Foxworthy as part of their "Blue Collar Comedy" tours. Larry recently appeared in his first feature comedy Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (is he a cable guy or a health inspector?), which made $15 million, which only seems like a lot when you realize that the movie cost only $3 million to make. Larry's character Mater should be a big hit among the kids, and he could end up being one of the movie's bigger draws due to his crossover appeal among NASCAR fans.

The rest of the cast includes Bonnie Hunt as Lightning's Porsche love interest, Michael Keaton returning to the race track after last year's Herbie: Fully Loaded as the competition, and character actors like Cheech Marin and George Carlin playing various vehicles. Of course, John Ratzenberger is back. The former "Cheers" star—he played Cliff Clavin—makes his seventh appearance in a Pixar film, voicing Lightning's friend, Mack the Truck.

Then again, the faces behind the voices rarely mean anything because as with most Pixar movies, it's more about the characters. In that regard, Cars shouldn't have a problem winning over kids, especially young boys, who generally like cars as much as they like monsters or bugs or toys. Much like The Incredibles, the movie's audience will probably be weighed more towards guys due to the subject matter, and one can expect that NASCAR and racing fans might be interested in the movie due to voice appearances by real-life racecar drivers like Richard Petty. The audience appeal will also be weighed more towards the South and the Red States than other recent Pixar movies, and unlike The Incredibles, the movie has returned to PIxar's normal G-rating, which will give it a better chance with a lot of audiences both younger and older.

For whatever reason, there has been a bit of negative buzz about the early trailers, which don't have the comedic "money shot" that have made previous Pixar films such big hits, and there's a chance that reviews won't be nearly as positive as Pixar's past movies. There's also the issue of computer animation starting to get a "been there done that" attitude, something that became more obvious when all of last year's CG offerings were snubbed in favor of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation.

Of course, Disney's marketing and promotion are in high gear, so that you can see Cars everywhere, from TV to the supermarket to McDonald's Happy Meals. It probably won't matter, since the best selling point for the movie is simply the Pixar name, which has always been a mark of the highest quality. The real question is whether Cars will continue a tradition by opening bigger than the previous Pixar movie, in this case The Incredibles, or whether it will do as well as Pixar's only other summer release, Finding Nemo. (See more about the history of Pixar in the special section below.) It's certainly coming out a good time with so many other summer movies getting lackluster responses, which should help it do decently. Then again, it will have to contend with next week's Nacho Libre and Garfield sequel taking away family audiences… or maybe they'll have to contend with Cars.

Why I Should See It: Pixar has a great track record… (ha ha, get it?)… with animated movies and this should be another no-brainer.
Why Not: Right, it should be a no-brainer, although some might find the movie's sugary nostalgia kind of dull and less funny than previous movies, which means it might not get the rave reviews of The Incredibles or Finding Nemo. (Oh, who am I kidding? Critics will give it positive reviews just 'cause it's Pixar.)
Projection: $66 to 69 million opening weekend on its way to $220 million.

THE OMEN (20^th Century Fox)
Starring Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber, Mia Farrow, David Thewlis, Pete Postlethwaite, Michael Gambon, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick
Directed by John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, Flight of the Phoenix); Written by David Seltzer (The Omen, The Prophecy, Omen: The Final Conflict, Dragonfly)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rated R
Tagline: "His Day Will Come"
Story: Two young parents (Julia Stiles, Liev Schreiber) must deal with the fact that their 6-year-old son Damien may be the second coming of the Anti-Christ. (Which means that if he doesn't get to see Cars this week, they're going to be really, really sorry!)
REVIEW

These days, horror remakes are divided into two categories: Asian/foreign and classic horror remakes. In the latter category, popular '70s movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead and The Amityville Horror have been reinvented to find success among new and younger audiences. The latest hoping to join these is a remake of Richard Donner's 1976 supernatural thriller The Omen, spearheaded by Irish director John Moore, who had a 2001 hit with Behind Enemy Lines before moving onto a remake of The Flight of the Phoenix, which bombed in the winter of '04.

For his second attempt at a remake, Moore assembled an amazing cast, at least by horror remake standards, beginning with Julia Stiles and Liev Schreiber, two actors better known for their acting skills than for their ability to bring people into movie theatres. You can read more about Stiles in this week's Star Spotlight, but Schreiber was last seen in Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep, but has mainly been doing theatre and directing his own movie, an adaptation of Everything is Illuminated, starring Elijah Wood.

Even more impressive is Moore's ability to get Rosemary's Baby star Mia Farrow back into movies playing the role of Nurse Baylock, Damien's deadly nanny. This is her first major movie role since Norman René's Reckless over ten years ago, and for many older moviegoers, it will be a welcome return. The rest of the cast is equally skilled, including two Harry Potter veterans, David Thewlis (Prof. Lupin from Prisoner of Azkaban) as Jennings and Michael Gambon (Prof. Dumbeldore) as Bugenhagen. Also, actor Pete Postlethwaite, seen last year in Dark Water and The Constant Gardener, plays a rather unlucky priest.

The problem is that movie audiences are really getting sick of remakes, something made abundantly clear by how badly Wolfgang Peterson's big budget Poseidon bombed last month. Older moviegoers who have seen and love the original are going to be skeptical and wary, and the cast won't be much of a draw for younger audiences. Then again, the popularity of horror among moviegoers from 18 to 25 is certainly strong, and this could end up being a good alternative to the kid's stuff of Cars. Other adults may be interested in the religious connotations of the movie, but that's certainly been played down to avoid any of the controversy that ultimately helped The Da Vinci Code open so well.

Of course, the oddest thing about the movie is that it's opening Tuesday… hey, that's today!!!... to coincide with 6/6/06, the date which the "Beast" is supposed to return to power, destroying the world in the process. The synchronicitous date should help it bring in a bit of business today, much like Halloween usually helps horror movies, but it's going to rely on solid reviews and strong word-of-mouth if it wants to carry that business over to the weekend, that is… if there even IS a weekend after the world is destroyed. In general, horror movies tend to be frontloaded, and with many schools already out for summer break, it could end up doing most of its business before Friday, though a lot of people will wait until the weekend to see it anyway. Either way, don't expect it to set enough records to see a remake of The Omen II.

Why I Should See It: The original is a classic and John Moore has assembled an amazing cast for remakes.
Why Not: Remakes...HUH… what are they good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again!
Projection: $8 to 10 million* between Tuesday and Thursday and another $16 to 18 million over the weekend on its way to a total of $55 or 60 million.
*Update: Well, when I'm wrong, I'm REALLY wrong. The Omen made $12.6 million its opening day, the highest gross for a movie on a Tuesday ever, and that includes huge blockbusters like The Lord of the Rings and Meet the Fockers, which means it's likely to end up with closer to $20 to 21 million by the weekend. Still, it seems like this almost guarantees frontloading, so it's probably only going to make a little more over the weekend than originally projected.

A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (Picturehouse)
See The Chosen One above for the detailed information.
REVIEW

Back in 1969, Garrison Keillor first appeared on Minnesota Public Radio with his show "A Prairie Home Companion," and five years later, it was reenvisioned as a live variety show with a full band, guest singers, and skits involving recurring characters, all done live in front of an audience, mostly in St. Paul, Minnesota. Except for a brief stint in New York in the late '80s/early '90s, the show has been on air for over thirty years, garnering an impressive fanbase, which prompted Robert Altman to approach Keillor about capturing his show on film, incorporating all of the things that fans love from his trademark humor to the jingles for fake products and made-up characters.

How could Keillor say no to this proposition? After all, the veteran filmmaker has made some true film classics in his fifty-plus year career, having been nominated five times for an Academy Award before being presented with a lifetime achievement awards earlier this year. Unfortunately, the 81-year-old master isn't getting any younger, and this could very well be one of the last films of his career.

With that in mind, the combined reputations of Keillor and Altman were pivotal in assembling the film's impressive ensemble cast, which reads like a who's who of Hollywood, including Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly and even Lindsay Lohan! Most of them have been fairly active in the last few years with Streep being particularly busy this summer, as she follows this with The Devil Wears Prada on June 30 and her voice will be heard in The Ant Bully the following month. Streep plays one half of a sister singing act with Lilly Tomlin, who was last seen in David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees, and yes, they both sing. This is a very different type of movie for Lindsay Lohan, who makes a break away from her teen-driven Disney fare with a movie that might not exactly appeal to her core teen girl demographic, but might finally give her some more credibility among adults.

On the other hand, actress Virginia Madsen, who received an Oscar nod for Alexander Payne's Sideways, will probably be appreciated in this more than in her last movie, the Harrison Ford thriller Firewall. Kevin Kline continues the slapstick of The Pink Panther by taking on the role of popular PHC regular, detective Guy Noir, and Tommy Lee Jones follows his directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, with a small part. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly, who haven't had very much luck with their last few movies, team up as a pair of raunchy cowboy troubadours.

The movie, like the radio show, will probably veer more towards an older demographic, which is fine, since there are so few movies geared towards them this week. Since the show has over 4 million listeners who tune in every Saturday night to any of the 580 stations that broadcast it, including Sirius satellite radio, one has to presume that a lot of these life-long fans will eventually want to see the movie, but you have to wonder how many of them actually go to movie theatres regularly, and whether they'd bother to pay to see something in theatres that they can get for free on the radio.

The show must have a fairly diehard fanbase to be able to survive on the world of radio for over thirty years, but you have to wonder whether Keillor's distinctive brand of humor, which is definitely an acquired taste, has the potential to reach and appeal to an audience unfamiliar with the show's history. Apparently, Altman and distributor Picturehouse are banking on the name stars helping to bring people in, because they decided to release the movie into over 700 theatres nationwide, which seems rather insane even with such a reputable cast.

While there may be buzz among Keillor's regular listeners or fans, there doesn't seem to be much buzz beyond that even with the movie's regular film festival appearances. Anyone who watched this year's Oscar broadcast a few months back must have been a bit confused when Streep and Tomlyn did a bit of schtick from the movie to present Altman with his lifetime Oscar, but it might not have been the best way to give people a taste of the movie's music and comedy.(Then again, the soundtrack could find an audience much like that of the Coen Brothers' O, Brother! Where Art Thou?)

Why I Should See It: If you're a fan of Garison Keillor's seminal radio show or want to see the likes of Meryl Streep and Lilly Tomlin singing, then you should enjoy this.
Why Not: You would no longer be able to say you've never seen a Lindsay Lohan movie without lying.
Projection: $2 to 3 million opening weekend on its way to around $10 million total.

THE HEART OF THE GAME (Miramax Films)
Starring Ludacris (narrator), Bill Ressler, Darnellia Russell, Devon Crosby Helms
Written and directed by Ward Serrill (debut)
Genre: Documentary, Sports
Rated PG-13 (for brief strong language)
Tagline: "It's your life. Make every shot count."
Story: Coach Bill Ressler is a tax professor who coaches Seattle's Roosevelt High School Roughriders girls' basketball team to the State champions. This documentary chronicles the team's journey of ups and downs over the course of a seven-year period, when the team is joined by young superstar Darnellia Russell.
Mini-Review: There's a lot of good things that make this an entertaining doc, whether it be Darnellia Russell's inspirational story to the amusing coaching tactics by Bill Ressler and the excitement of watching the Roughriders in action. That said, the movie is all over the place and not very focused on what it's trying to be about. In the end, it does deliver a solid message about not giving up and fighting for what you think is right, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Rated: 7.5/10

It seems like there's been a lot of sports documentaries this year, including quite a few about basketball, but Ward Serrill's The Heart of the Game takes a different approach, since it's not about any one particular player, as much as being about a girls' high school team in Seattle and what they go through on the way to the State champions. Sure, it spends a lot of time on Darnellia Russell, a black girl from a poor family who comes to Roosevelt and becomes the team's best player, only to be sidelined when she becomes pregnant and drops out of school, but it's just about Coach Bill Ressler, who finds new ways to motivate these young athletes. Watching Russell come back from almost certain defeat makes this a truly inspirational film, although those who aren't into basketball might not be very interested in her story. Either way, it opens in New York and Los Angeles this week with a wider release next week and another expansion planned for July 7.

Why I Should See It: It's a great inspirational story, as well as a decent sports doc.
Why Not: Does anyone care aout Seattle high school basketball except for those who actually live in Seattle?

STAR SPOTLIGHT: Julia Stiles

At 25, actress Julia Stiles has quite an impressive resume having worked with many great actors and directors over her thirteen-year career, which began with theatre work before she turned 13. After having a few small parts in various movies, Stiles landed her first big role in the 1999 dark comedy 10 Things I Hate About You opposite Heath Ledger. She followed that in 2000 with the romantic comedy Down to You opposite Freddie Prinze, Jr, which was critically slammed but helped build her fanbase among teen girls.

In 2001, Stiles had her first breakout hit with the MTV driven Save the Last Dance, a surprise hit during the normally slow month of January. That same week, Stiles also appeared in David Mamet's State and Main, giving a clearer picture of what sort of career she would have an actress, fluctuating between big studio movies and more artistic fare. Later that year, she appeared in the long-delayed drama O, which was shelved after the Columbine shootings of April 2000 due to its subject of high school violence.

Stiles' next big break came in the form of a small role in the action-thriller The Bourne Identity, opposite Matt Damon, and her character was brought back in the even more successful Bourne Supremacy in 2004. In the year between them, she starred opposite Jason Lee ("My Name is Earl") in the comedy bomb A Guy Thing, followed at the tail of 2003 with the academic drama Mona Lisa Smile, in which her role was overshadowed by both Julia Roberts and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

The Prince and Me, Stiles' 2004 romantic comedy in the vein of The Princess Diaries, was probably the closest Stiles has come to a starring vehicle in the five years since Save the Last Dance, but its lackluster box office showing proves that she can't really be considered much of a box office draw, even if she's still respected as an actor and star. If she ends up getting more screen time in next year's threequel The Bourne Ultimatum, then that might change.