The Da Vinci Code ***
Cast: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellan, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina
Director: Ron Howard
Running Length: 2:29
MPAA Classification: PG-13

Symbologist Robert Langdon (Hanks) is called to the Louvre to help with a murder investigation. He has been framed for the murder, and with the help of French police officer Sophie Neveu (Tautou), he manages to escape from Captain Fache (Reno), and follow a trail of clues that lead to “the greatest cover-up in human history.” This cover-up involves the Catholic Church, the Holy Grail, Opus Dei, the Knights Templar and more. They seek the help of Grail expert Sir Leigh Teabing (McKellan),, and soon find that they have an albino by the name of Silas (Bettany) on their trail too. And Silas is not working with the police.

Based on the best selling book by Dan Brown, the film manages to remain faithful and give the legions of people that have read it a first class treatment. Hanks, although not the obvious choice for Langdon, fills his shoes well and is believable. The supporting cast are all bigger names, and Ian McKellan stands out among them. He brings humor and wisdom to the role of Teabing. This is an interesting movie that is worth seeing, if only to see what all the controversy is about.

RV **
Cast: Robin Williams, Cheryl Hines, Joanna 'JoJo' Levescue, Josh Hutcherson, Jeff Daniels, Kristin Chenoweth
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Running Length: 1:38
MPAA Classification: PG

When work interferes, Bob Munro (Williams) decides to cancel the family vacation to Hawaii and instead rent a RV and take a road trip to Colorado. His wife Jamie (Hines), daughter Cassie (Levesque), and son Carl (Hutcherson) are not thrilled. Unbeknownst to his family, he needs to be in Colorado for a presentation that his boss expects him to be at. Along the way, the Munros meet the Fornickes – Travis (Daniels) and Jo (Chenoweth), and their kids. They are a homeless family living in their RV, and take a liking to the Munros, much to their dismay. The Munros are on the road trip from hell, and it can only get worse.

Robin Williams is a funny man, and yet I do not think he has ever found a good movie to really showcase his comedic talents. Certainly he has done better than “RV”. While funny in parts, there is not enough humor in this movie to sustain its 98 minute running time. I would imagine that those who have ever traveled in an RV will find more humor than I did, but too much more. “RV” is a rather harmless movie, but not really worth seeing either. Wait for the DVD, people.

An American Haunting **1/2
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood, James D’Arcy, Matthew Marsh, Thom Fell, Sam Alexander
Director: Courtney Solomon
Running Length: 1:31
MPAA Classification: PG-13

In 1818, when a land deal between John Bell (Sutherland) and his neighbor Kate Batts (Brown) goes bad, she blames John for her problems. She then curses John and his family. When things start happening, especially to John and his daughter Betsy (Hurd-Wood), religious leader James Johnson (Marsh), and schoolteacher Richard Powell decide to help the family.

“An American Haunting” is based on a true story, but how “true” it is has been called into question. As a movie, it works fairly well, with a twist ending that is only somewhat satisfying. The wraparound story that feels tacked on serves no real purpose and should have been left out. Despite some good actors, the acting is nothing exceptional. Sutherland and Hurd-Wood have to carry the most weight as the haunted, but neither gives stand-out performances. “An American Haunting” is a slightly above average ghost story that is better off waiting for on DVD.

Mission: Impossible III ***1/2

Cast: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudip, Michelle Monaghan, Laurence Fishburne, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg
Director: J.J. Abrams
Running Length: 2:08
MPAA Classification: PG-13

When Owen Davian (Hoffman) captures an IMF agent (Russell) who is investigating him, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) comes out of field-retirement to rescue her. This involves some deception on the home front, as his fiancée Julia (Monaghan) does not know what he does for a living. Ethan’s old teammate Luther (Rhames) is back to help him along with Declan (Meyers) and Zhen (Q). Their somewhat successful rescue of the agent reveals that there may be a spy in the leadership of the IMF. To find that spy, they attempt to capture Davian while he is at the Vatican attending a function. Ethan quickly finds out that a job with the IMF is not very contusive to a healthy normal life.

This time around, the “Mission: Impossible” franchise is in the hands of J. J. Abrams, well known for his television shows (Felicity, Lost, Alias), but a rookie when it comes to directing movies. Abrams is up to the challenge, delivering the best M:I movie yet. Filled with the tricks “Alias” fans will recognize from TV, Abrams keeps the movie rolling from action sequence to action sequence, ratcheting up the tension until the showdown between Cruise’s Hunt and Hoffman’s Davian. And Hoffman IS the standout here. Davian is an evil, nasty man who does not make idle threats. Hoffman sinks his teeth into the role, playing his first real bad guy. This movie is worth seeing for him alone. Cruise is good as well. It is a shame that this movie will suffer from his off-screen antics.

This is the first big budget movie of the summer. It is a great popcorn movie that will not disappoint. I highly recommend this film.

American Dreamz **
Cast: Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Marcia Gay Harden, Willem Dafoe, Chris Klein, Judy Greer, Sam Golzari, Shoreh Aghdashloo, Jennifer Coolidge
Director: Paul Weitz
Running Length: 1:40
MPAA Classification: PG-13

President Staton (Quaid) has just won a second term in office, and after reading a newspaper, goes into seclusion to catch up on things. When the public begins to question his ability to lead the country, his Chief of Staff (Defoe) gets the president an appearance as a guest judge on the finals of the hit show "American Dreamz".

"American Dreamz" is hosted by Martin Tweed (Grant). He is trapped by the show, hoping for failure just so it will end. Then he sees Sally Kendoo (Moore). In her he sees a like-minded person. He gets her onto the show, and she is easily the best of the bunch. Another notable contestant is Omar (Golzari), a terrorist sent to America to get him out of the more capable terrorist’s way. Of course he is now in a position to do some serious damage, if only he did not like singing so much.

"American Dreamz" has some potential, but never really accomplishes much. Quaid and Grant channel their inner-Bush and inner-Simon Cowell, but it takes more than just two good impersonations to make a movie good. Much of the story falls flat or feels unbelievable. The ending is a prime example of this. I would say that I was disappointed with this movie, but the previews did not exactly get my hopes up. If you must see this movie, wait until it is out on DVD.

United 93 ****
Cast: Cheyenne Jackson, David Alan Basche, Christian Clemenson, JJ Johnson, Polly Adams, Khalid Abdalla, Lewis Alsamari, Omar Berdouni, Jamie Harding, Ben Sliney
Director: Paul Greengrass
Running Length: 1:48
MPAA Classification: R

“United 93” is the first major motion picture to be released since 9/11 to deal with the events of that day. Focusing on the plane that did not reach its target, the film moves in almost real time from take off to the crash landing in Pennsylvania. Writer-Director Paul Greengrass has taken pains to be as accurate as possible, and when the story veers into the unknown, the story told is very plausible.

The actors are mostly unknowns, preventing any one person from distracting the viewer from the story. This was a wise choice by Greengrass, and is successful in keeping the viewer focused on the story. The actors all do good jobs, even though none are developed excessively. This, combined with the hand held camera work gives the film a more intimate feel, as if you are there among them on the plane. Greengrass received 100% support from the families, and a substantial number of the people on the ground play themselves in the movie. That alone should speak of the quality of the film.

“United 93” is a tense, gut-wrenching movie of a group of people and their determination to stop four evil men who wanted to bring America to its knees. Is it too soon? I say no…it is never to soon to remember the heroic things that that the passengers did. They should be remembered and honored as heroes. “United 93” does just that. This is a must see movie.

The Sentinel ***
Cast: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, Martin Donovan, Ritchie Coster, Kim Basinger, David Rasche
Director: Clark Johnson
Running Length: 1:50
MPAA Classification: PG-13

President Ballentine (Rasche) has received serious assassination threats, and there just may be an inside man in the Secret Service. David Breckinridge (Sutherland) and a new partner are chosen to investigate the case. After polygraph tests, all signs point to Pete Garrison (Douglas), but the tests are showing false positives for other reasons. Breckinridge and Garrison also used to be best friends until it seemed Garrison was having an affair with Breckinridge’s wife. Garrison now must go on the run to prove his innocence and convince Breckinridge that he is not the guilty party.

“The Sentinel” is a fun, if predictable ride. Douglas and Sutherland are in good form. (Sutherland is channeling Jack Bauer of “24”, and that is just fine). The mystery surrounding the assassination attempt is interesting, but can be figured out fairly easily. Still, there is enough action to keep things rolling smoothly. “The Sentinel” is a good popcorn movie that will entertain.

Ice Age: The Meltdown **1/2
Cast (voices): Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifa, Seann William Scott, Josh Peck
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Running Length: 1:30
MPAA Classification: PG

Manny the Mammoth (Romano), Sid the Sloth (Leguizamo), Diego the Sabertooth Tiger (Leary) and Scrat the sabertooth squirrel are back. The ice is melting, and if they do not get to a “boat” at the other end of the valley, their time will be up. As they mount a trek through the valley, Manny is having trouble accepting the fact that he is the last of his kind. At least until they meet Ellie and her two possum “brothers.” Suddenly, there is hope for mammoths, if Manny can only convince her she is not a possum.

“Ice Age 2” recaptures most of the charm of the original, but falls short mostly due to story. Sure, it is good to see these characters again (especially Scrat), but there is not much to the exodus to higher ground is slow at times. Also, this movie will probably be more popular with kids than adults. 20th Century Fox has not quite mastered the Pixar technique that guarantees enjoyment for all ages. Overall, this film is good but mostly forgettable. That being said, I am sure we will be seeing these characters again in a few years. Hopefully the story will be a little more solid the next time around.