Well, I'm back in the confines of home in San Jose as I await what new roads that come before me. In the meantime, there's a grad party at my house on Memorial Day, tomorrow, at noon. It was a little bit of a surprise since my parents let me know about it after they invited my friends. If you haven't gotten an invite, then you're not invited! Seriously, you can still come too, just call the cell to let me know you're coming to the house.

The move was okay. The apartment's much larger without any stuff in it, but now it's a whole lot dirtier and I didn't wanna do much about that. U-Haul had some big sparkling new vans they could have given to us, but instead we got an old Toyota clunker that vibrated wildly when it reached 60 miles an hour.

If anyone in Berkeley wants to hang out, I'm there 'til Sunday when all the memories get packed into a nice large box and moved down to San Jose, probably never to be opened again. What's next? Looking for work I guess. I've got a nice lead on a co-op at Hitachi, but that's far from official. Otherwise, instead of books, my head will be buried in classified ads from here on out.

Since May 23, 2002, there have been 431 posts to this blog, which is such an amazing number to me. Specifically, how could I have written that much? What am I, an English major? So what's changed since this blog was started two years ago? Let's see what I wrote.

Welcome to my blog. I've finally decided to jump on the bandwagon. What will you find? Well, if you regularly read my profile on AIM, I always find time to have some snippet to say. Well, this will act as the archive to that. So, find a few movie reviews, TV reviews, Sharks news, and whatever else I'm thinking about. Hopefully, you'll enjoy. And if not, well, you can keep your comments to yourself. Keep in mind, you see what's on the page now? Yup, that's all there will be. No fancy gizmos or gadgets or cool animations. Just straight talk. Though, John McCain won't be making an appearance anytime soon.

Hmm, not many snippets...A FEW movie reviews??? Try 154...nothing on tv...might as well leave a bad comment...the page is still unspectacular...no one probably understands the John McCain reference anymore.

Okay then, so look for more of the same in the future. As you can see on the left, my graduation's tomorrow so come along if you have time. Lunch is gonna be at 1:30 or so at Jade Villa in Oakland's Chinatown. You can come to that too but please let me know you'll be there beforehand...I don't need 50 strangers looking out for me just for free food.

Shrek 2
The people at Dreamworks have come back with probably their only successful franchise to date to give us a sequel to Shrek. To recap, Shrek's (Mike Myers) an ogre and he's found the perfect mate in Fiona (Cameron Diaz), who always reminds me of D.J. from Full House. But now, it's time to meet her parents, voiced by John Cleese and Julie Andrews. Along with Donkey (Eddie Murphy), the trio head out to the kingdom of far far away to meet the in-laws. But the meeting turns sour from the get-go. To complicate things further, the King had already promised Fiona to Prince Charming (Rupert Everett). So the Fairy Godmother tries to set things right for her son Charming.

I'll have to admit, I fell asleep in the middle. Maybe it was a combination of partying hard the few days before and little sleep to interrupt it, but that's what happened. In spite of this, from what I did see, the sequel manages to re-create the magic of the first, even if they try really hard to accomplish it. The one thing that works really well is the performance of Antonio Banderas as Puss, who brings with him fresh laughs every time the cat is on-screen. But you have to endure lots of filler like long, drawn-out songs being sung, never a good thing to have if your movie is not a musical. Once you do however, revel in the superior animation and root for the guy named Shrek. 3 stars

Right from the opening game, the Sharks were dead in the water. With superstars Owen Nolan and Teemu Selanne run out of the building and San Jose with one win in their first 10 games, it looked like a very long season would come. But everyone thought "long season" was to be used figuratively, not literally. Suddenly, the Sharks were flying high. Something about this odd-ball, limited talent no-namers clicked and now, they were winning games left and right, led by strong goaltending from the duo of Evgeni Nabokov and his backup Vesa Toskala. Patrick Marleau broke out from his career slump while Nils Ekman, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Alexander Korolyuk matured to the point to lead the team in scoring. Scott Hannan became a great defenseman while Kyle McLaren brought the team a much-needed physical presence. Everyone contributed, allowing Coach Ron Wilson to roll out four lines in every game, all of them with the ability to score with ease. It all led to the best regular season in franchise history, their second Pacific Division championship, and a number two seed in the playoffs.

But like all teams but one, the season must end cruelly. It turns out the Sharks weren't flying through the playoffs, they were just falling with style. Their first 8 games in the playoffs typified a Sharks win or loss. Hard work wins out always and the Sharks were masters at it. They utilized their speed to reach pucks faster while getting timely goals. Soon, the armor was chinked when an equally matched Avalanche team won 2 games after the Sharks went up 3-0 in the series. But it wasn't until Calgary showed up until they met a superior team. Work hard? They worked harder. Fast team? They were just as fast. Perfect goalie? You betcha. Experienced coach? Sure, it was the former Sharks coach. Pressure? Calgary has a whole country rooting them on.

A quirky series yes, but it was all decided in game 1, when the Sharks gave the Flames everything they had but still came up one goal short.

So congrats to Calgary for their win, and to the Sharks for an awesome season. It also gives me the chance to mention the funny fact I noticed:

The team that eliminated the Sharks in the playoffs has never gone on to win the Stanley Cup in that year. (7 for 7)

Well, their backs are against the wall now. The Sharks face their first elimination game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs as they head to Calgary for a possible series-clinching Game 6 for the Flames. Filled with momentum from winning the previous two games, the Sharks were outworked yet again on home ice with Calgary jumping to yet another 2-0 lead in the first period en route to a 3-0 win. The same problems that were apparent after game 2, and fixed in games 3 and 4, have magically returned. Number one is crashing the net and generating shots. Let's hope road-ice advantage continues to force Game 7 (and then road-ice advantage can stop).

Game 6 is on Wednesday at 6 on ESPN. I can't make it. Where will I be? My last final from 5-8. By the time I make it back, I'll know if I can plan for Friday's game or not.

Troy
I'm sure we all know the story of the Trojan War. Paris (Orlando Bloom), prince of Troy, steals Helen (Diane Kruger), the wife of Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) of Sparta. Demanding vengeance, Menelaus seeks the aid of his brother, the power-hungry Agamemnon (Brian Cox) who yearns to burn Troy to the ground. Of course he agrees and subsequently sends a thousand ships toward Troy. Along for the ride is Achilles (Brad Pitt) who doesn't agree with Agamemnon at all but fights battles just for his own personal glory. Meanwhile, in Troy, King Priam (Peter O'Toole) and his son Hector (Eric Bana) await the consequences of bringing Helen within the walls. Forces are mobilized and battles are fought, but it takes the ingenuity of Odysseus (Sean Bean) to bring a conclusion to the war.

The movie starts off on the wrong foot. You don't know whether your watching a drama or comedy. The overacting, the cheesy script, and the long camera shots of characters staring into the distance are hard not to laugh at. Bloom elicits unintentional laughter every time he speaks. Sure, Paris is supposed to be a coward, but wow, every time. Once the battles begin, the movie sets course on a consistent tone utilizing action throughout the scenes. But what separates this film from becoming a classic film is its distance. Wolfgang Petersen's sweeping shots above the action and David Benioff's lack of detail (though he sticks to the true story as best as I could tell) deprives the film of much needed emotion to make us feel the brutality of death or the loss of someone close. You can't just say it, you have to show it. By itself, it's a decent action flick that portrays the Trojan War rather well, but it could have been much more. 2.5 stars

With the sounds of Danny Deever going off at the Campanile while I was on the eighth floor of Evans busily finishing my homework, it signaled the end of an era if you will. Today is the last day of school. 4 years ago, I was the small, portly kid who dressed in what seemed to be the same polo shirt everyday carrying large math books and running from class to class in the shadow of big seniors . Today, I'm still that person, not that much running in me anymore but, you know, the same. Once two more finals are done, that's it. I get to go home and be a bum.

To those who'd like to show up, the Economics graduation is on Thursday, May 20 at 2 pm at the Greek Theatre. The Mathematics graduation is on Monday, May 24 at 11 am in Zellerbach Hall. If you tag along, you can get free food from my parents. So come along and cheer, then eat.

What follows are the 50 things I learned and discovered at Berkeley. Some serious, some not. Why 50? I don't know, it's just a number. I've got more if anyone else wants to read mediocre work. It was done in Financial Economics, a very boring class out of many boring classes I had at Cal.

1. Evans Hall isn't ugly. It's abstract.

2. Math majors are under the most stress, so it's probably wrong to place them on the top 4 floors of Evans.

3. If you never spend a night in Soda, then you can't be considered a CS major.

4. There's no soda in Soda Hall.

5. Soda Hall really does have showers in the basement, but it's cardkey access only.

6. South Hall, the oldest building on campus, is home to the graduate program of information management and systems.

7. Wurster Hall is home to the architecture department. Hopefully, someone failed for designing that.

8. Economics and business are very important at Berkeley; the school always seems to be out of money.

9. While only one sex act that I know of has been broadcast from the UC Berkeley dorms, you know there's more of that kind of stuff going on there.

10. Just because they're giving away free stuff doesn't mean you have to use it.

11. As far as I can tell, there are no fish sculptures on the Cal campus.

12. All GSIs know what they're talking about. If only they spoke coherent English.

13. Sports rarely do find success at Cal unless they're playing rugby.

14. Putting underwear, or any kind of clothes, in the microwave is probably not the best of ideas.

15. Potholes are all around Berkeley; it's the city's effort to get you of the car and out walking or riding in a bus.

16. The bus schedule says one comes every 10 minutes? Ha, try 3 buses every 30 minutes.

17. 90% of what you get walking through Sproul is screaming to get thrown away.

18. What slogan do both Mexico and Berkeley share? Don't drink the water. One look at Strawberry Creek will have you convinced.

19. The only nice homeless people are clean homeless people because it shows they are smart enough to go to a shelter and clean themselves and they're shrewd enough to make enough simply by panhandling.

20. When you see a homeless person and a 10-year-old possess a cell phone in the same day, it's time to get one.

21. If you ride BART long enough, you too can get a free newspaper.

22. BART rides can be up to 3 hours without paying the highest fare.

23. Never sit in the concrete bowl for the bonfire rally unless you want your face fried.

24. Berkeley isn't an activist town like it used to be but the only sane people on campus are those without a cause to fight for.

25. There's Statistics 2, 20, 21, and 25. While different majors require a different class, don't be fooled; they all teach the same thing.

26. You know you're spirited if you yell out "Go Bears!" at random points throughout the day.

27. Don't be fooled by the optimism of a multiple-choice test. It could have 10-12 choices per question.

28. If you can figure out the Dwinelle room numbering system, you'll be light-years ahead of anyone else.

29. Never get on a waitlist. Chances are, you'll still be waiting.

30. La rondelle is French for puck.

31. Oski never says anything. Doesn't even growl.

32. Ever wonder what it would be like to have a movie theatre in your own bedroom? Go upstairs at the UA Berkeley to find out.

33. DC food is only good when adults are coming to eat too.

34. Okay, DC food isn't that bad...as long as you don't mind starving yourself every once in a while.

35. A delightful exception is the omelet they make there.

36. The way the campus population is growing, I wouldn't be surprised to find 6-8 people in a dorm room.

37. People's Park really is for one kind of person.

38. Once there, don't find yourself accepting a massage.

39. Yes, we hate Stanfurd, but feel free to wear cardinal red. Just not on football days. The crowd might kill ya.

40. Watch out for the Axe but don't be scared of it. It's glued to a board and carried by two guys at all times.

41. Berkeley's the only UC campus on the semester schedule. Doesn't that make us special?

42. There's also a 10-minute rule. Classes start 10 minutes after it is scheduled. Don't be like my friend who got up and left class 10 minutes early.

43. Why do we need affirmative action at Cal? Pair up any two white people, chances are they don't know each other. Pair up any two Asians, they probably look alike but still, they don't know each other. Pair up two African-Americans? Why, they're the best of buddies.

44. Did a camera flash blind your eyes? Don't worry, that's just another Asian businessman taking yet another picture.

45. Scare people taking the tour by mentioning how commonplace a 2.5 GPA can be.

46. When the rally committee tells you to pass the cards to the right after a card trick, don't succumb to peer pressure by throwing it in the air. Play nice and pass them.

47. Think Democrats overspend? Look at the ASUC, which ran out of money the first week of school.

48. Even with no money and 3-day meetings, ASUC manages to attract 100 people to annoy the hell out of us for one month a year.

49. Lock your bicycle frame and wheel. If not, they'll steal your front tire. What would anyone need a front tire for? I can see it now..."damn, I bought this bike but it doesn't have a front tire."

50. Go Bears!

13 Going on 30
All Jenna Rink wanted to be was thirty and flirty. Stuck in a time when she wanted to be cool instead of original, being thirty meant waiting for another seventeen years. Her attempt to be part of the popular clique has failed miserably and she has also managed to scare away her best friend Matt. With nobody left, wishing dust comes falling from a dollhouse and next thing Jenna knows, she looks just like Jennifer Garner from Alias. She finds herself in Manhattan, a big-time editor of the magazine Poise and she's 30. She quickly finds Matt (Mark Ruffalo) but figures out that by then, they were complete strangers. She also comes to realize the horrible life she has lived and makes it a point to correct all her wrongdoings. Added to the puzzle is a redesign of her magazine brought upon by their competitor's success.

While this film doesn't bring about the same feelings that the film "Big" with Tom Hanks could produce, the singular thing going for it is the charm of Garner. She brings to this role the certain aura that she really is a kid at heart. It certainly helps to have a distinguished actor by her side in Ruffalo, who has fallen from the radar the past few years but hopefully, he'll come back in a big way. The story hurts a bit, placing Jenna in inevitable scenes of adjustment, sometimes to painful results, and some situations in her adult life are a little bit out there, but Garner saves the day as your eyes keep roving the screen to look out for her. 3 stars

Man on Fire
Creasy (Denzel Washington) had a distinguished military career. But now down on his luck and drunk most of the time, he has found his way to Mexico and his good friend Rayburn (Christopher Walken). He manages to hook Creasy up with a job as the bodyguard of a young child named Pita (Dakota Fanning). The job doesn't pay much but it's something to do. However, the job gives Creasy something more as he develops a rapport with Pita. They become closely connected and Creasy really can't live without her. Soon that became reality as a crime boss oversaw her kidnapping. Himself shot in the line of protecting her, Creasy doesn't fade quietly. Far from it, he is determined to find out who was behind the operation one person at a time, no matter what the cost.

The story certainly lays an outline for something truly great. Guy develops a relationship with a little girl and when she's taken away, he does everything he can to find out who did it. And up to a point, things were working perfectly with Washington and Fanning showing off a very nice and charming on-screen chemistry. Then, when Pita gets kidnapped, the movie loses its way. The film suddenly turns cold. There's no one and nothing to root for. Washington's character does a complete 180 from what we've seen. Sure, we heard it in his resume, but there's no way he went to this great of a length to get a job done, right? Plus, he's given so much latitude by the police that it's no wonder a kid is kidnapped every 90 minutes in Mexico City. The thin revenge plot of the 2nd half forces director Tony Scott to overload on the style with lots of camera tricks and explosions but it's all the more distracting. As a result, it's only marginally better than your typical revenge flick, which seems to be in abundance lately. 2.5 stars

So lemme tell you about the Troy experience. On Monday, I lined up to get Troy tickets for Thursday night. Got there at 10 for the 10:45 pass-out. The line reached from the Bearcade to the entrance of the Cesar Chavez Center. It eventually reached from there to the bus stops on Bancroft. The line finally moved, but getting tickets proved elusive as they ran out in about 10 minutes.

The next day, more tickets were given out and I was in a better spot to receive them.

Flash forward to today. Datman can't join me so Hai stepped in his place. Getting out of poli sci at around 3, I noticed there were already people in line, so I advised Hai we should go at 5. The line was at a pretty good length, probably 200 people ahead of us. So we waited around. Hai got some Thai food and I got some sodas. We had a blast. Little did we know that 300 people were cutting in line in front of us. I know, it shouldn't be hard to notice but we were powerless to stop them. It didn't help when the Superb folks told people to make a snake line. That just opened it up for the cutters.

Lemme stop here for an aside. The best way to handle long lines like this is to have somebody from Superb join the line really early, like at 3:00, to hand out numbers to everyone. That way, that selected person could be at the end of the line at all times to hand out numbers and tell them to get back at a certain time. This rewards the people who get there early and wouldn't have to subject us to waiting in line for a long time. Then, about 45 minutes before the show starts, call out the numbers and if they're not there, tough. The way it was tonite, they let people line up before giving out numbers, allowing people to contact friends and allow them to sneak in line, which is totally unfair.

So, their allotment of 500 numbers was gone and we were there about 20 people behind. Things were getting out of control. The usually calm Asian guy was yelling at people to stick to the line. Some white guy was telling everyone without a number to go home. People were rushing the line hoping to be the unofficial number 501. Eventually, after all the waiting, the crowd behind us dwindled and we were suddenly at the end of the line. Everyone around us was getting frustrated. Finally, after 3 hours, the line moved and let the 500 people in, leaving us in limbo. Finally, the lady in charge said 50 more people could get in, ensuring us of seats. We seat back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Or do we? Admittedly, the first 30 minutes of Troy is really cheesy, with long shots of Brad Pitt, overly dramatic lines, and a pretty unnecessary scene of Orlando Bloom and Diane Kruger naked. Once it starts getting interesting with the thousand ships headed toward Troy, flashing lights appear. Alarms go off. Somebody has pulled the fire alarm. The projector turns off. Everyone evacuates. We are suddenly in limbo again. Once the people in charge say it would take 60 more minutes on top of the 15-20 we had been out there to clear the building, we give up. Hai and I are outta there. We'll just go watch Troy next week.

Last summer, the Colorado Avalanche pulled off a major coup by convincing Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya to sign bargain-basement contracts to reunite and join the team. With Sakic, Forsberg, Tanguay, Hejduk, Selanne, and Kariya, it was thought the team would be unstoppable. The season started on the wrong foot with a .500 record in the first ten games before hitting in back. Injuries caught up with them and the team fell back to earth to start the playoffs. The Avs calmed their fans' fears by defeating the Dallas Stars 4-1 to move on and face the Sharks in the second round. With their utter dominance of the Stars, it was thought they could do the same with the Sharks. However, they got something different coming to them. Endless rounds of golf while their team gets dismantled. Going down 3 games to none proved to be too much as the Sharks won 3-1 last night to move on to the conference finals and face the Flames, one more step away from the Stanley Cup Finals.

It's a reunion of sorts as Calgary is coached by the Sharks' last coach Darryl Sutter. Their goalie is Mikka Kiprusoff, former Sharks goalie who disappointed when he was asked to pick up the slack when Nabokov was in contract talks. Now he's on fire, something that works on a team named the Flames.

But you know what the freaky part about this is? Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News correctly predicted before the game that the Sharks would win 3-1 in Game 6. To quote:

Guarantee No. 1: Sharks 3, Colorado 1 in Game 6.

The Avalanche has all the momentum. The Sharks, after jumping to a three-games-to-none series lead and losing the next two games, are shaking at the prospect of needing a potential Game 7, don't you think?

Maybe. But Colorado played as well as it could (receiving a few fortunate bounces along the way) in Games 4 and 5 and still needed dynamic overtime goals from Joe Sakic to survive.

Patrick Marleau is due to break loose. Mike Rathje will not let Peter Forsberg and Sakic burn him again. Evgeni Nabokov, as he has throughout this postseason, will stone the opposition.

So forget about the 1942 Detroit Red Wings and the 1975 Pittsburgh Penguins, the only two teams in NHL history to lose a series after taking a 3-0 lead. Tuesday, the Sharks will find a way to knock in the first goal (as they did Saturday), and this time they will hold on. Bring on the Calgary Flames!

Indeed, bring them on.

Tonite, the prepsterous and ridiculous 10.5 is being shown on NBC. And the only thing funnier than the film itself apparently is the critics' bashing of the film. They seem to be in agreement in the fact that the film is so bad that it's good.

The best review so far comes from Tim Goodman at the SF Chronicle. To quote:

"This miniseries may be the ultimate drinking-game movie. There are so many weary disaster-movie cliches here and so much write-by-numbers formula that the entire country could wobble over drunk on Sunday and come back for two more hair-of-the-dog hours on Monday. In fact, "10.5" is so joyously awful that if you dare undertake participation-style viewing connected in some manner to alcohol you'll have to rein in the number of tip-off moments. Try these: 1. When someone looks shocked -- shocked! -- at any kind of news delivered to them. 2. When the treacly music roars up from behind. 3. When it feels like "Saturday Night Live." Do not, under any circumstances, base tipping-point moments on when someone cries, or yells, or freaks out, or demands that someone "do something" or when there are dramatic close-ups or people are seen running like wild animals."

"Later (Fred) Ward, who really disembowels his career here, is hired by Bridges to head up the campaign to stop the earthquakes from continuing. Yes, you read that right. Eventually he green-lights the use of a nuclear weapon to do this. Naturally. Ward is really something. "According to your hidden fault theory, we could be looking at the Big One," he says to Delaney. Oh, Fred, you're soaking in the Big One, buddy."

"David Cubitt stars as the Guy Who Looks Stunned by Everything Kim Delaney Says and, later in the movie, as the Guy Who Advances the Plot by Asking Questions Only Delaney Can Explain. Example: From a helicopter Delaney realizes the Kern River is acting weird (just go with it). Cubitt: "It changed direction? How's that possible?" How indeed? And how is it possible this movie got made?"

"Ivan Sergei ("Crossing Jordan") and Dule Hill ("The West Wing") are featured as young doctors because every disaster movie needs medical miracles."

"John Schneider ("Smallville") and Kelly Cuoco ("8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter") also appear, because every disaster movie needs a father and daughter starting out at odds, falling into peril and finally bonding."

"You have to love a movie that topples the Space Needle and the Golden Gate Bridge almost immediately, but it's a truly special occasion when you can watch an earthquake follow a train down the tracks and swallow it up like a shark chasing a swimmer in "Jaws." That alone is almost worth the four-hour price of admission to "10.5" because, if nothing else, it gives keen insight into the rest of the movie. After all, if you can dream up a scenario in which an earthquake CHASES A TRAIN DOWN THE TRACKS, well, anything is possible."

"A favorite scene has Delaney and Cubitt poring over maps (maps and computers that zoom in on things and beep a lot are very popular in "10.5"). Delaney says excitedly about some aftershocks: "These are not from our fault. They are from the faults affected by our fault." Well, hell, it's somebody's fault."

It's May which means the summer movies are about to be released. And while in this preview, it seems like I'll be watching every one of these, trust me, I won't. Maybe half.

May 7

New York Minute – 12 years ago, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen made a trip to grandmother’s house in their first film. Now, they return to their roots with the two making a trip to New York City and have to deal with various obstacles along the way.

Van Helsing – Hugh Jackman gets to face off against the most popular vampire of them all, Dracula.

Super Size Me – Watch as one man dares to eat McDonalds for an entire month, supersizing whenever he can and suffering the consequences. (Limited)

May 14

Breakin’ All The Rules – Jamie Foxx of all people gives advice on how to break it off with someone.

Troy – “Immortality! Take it! It’s yours!” Okay, Brad Pitt’s line is a bit tacky, but at $200 million, this film will be one of the grandest ever to document the Trojan War. Also starring are Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom.

Coffee and Cigarettes – A collection of short films on a variety of topics starring Bill Murray, Steven Wright, Roberto Benigni and others. (Limited)

May 21

Shrek 2 – The sequel to the wildly successful cartoon brings back original voices Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy.

The Clearing – Robert Redford and Helen Mirren reassess their lives separately when Redford is kidnapped. (Limited)

Stateside – A troubled rich kid on leave from Val Kilmer’s military school, falls for the popular singer/actress played by Rachael Leigh Cook. (Limited)

May 26

Raising Helen – The beautiful Kate Hudson suddenly gains custody of her sister’s three kids and must balance them with her wild and happy single life.

May 28

The Day After Tomorrow – Roland Emmerich makes another disaster flick as global warming finally causes some catastrophic damage.

Soul Plane – This airline filled with short skirts, hip music, and Snoop Dogg in the cockpit makes even Hooters Air jealous.

Baadasssss! – Mario Van Peebles’ tribute to his father, also a filmmaker. (Limited)

Saved – Jena Malone’s Mary gets pregnant by her newly gay boyfriend. Her best friend is Mandy Moore’s Hilary, a devout Christian who later outs her. Soon, Mary navigates her way to graduation with a band of outsiders, pariahs if you will. (Limited)

June 4

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Alfonso Cuaron’s prior film “Y Tu Mama Tambien” dealt with two guys and a girl learning about life through sex. So what better person to deal with the third film of the Harry Potter series? Here, Harry, Hermoine, and Ron must contend with a prisoner (Gary Oldman) making his way toward Hogwarts.

Mindhunters – A group of FBI agents are stuck together to try to figure out which one of them is the murderer. Stars Val Kilmer and is directed by Renny Harlin.

June 11

The Chronicles of Riddick – Vin Diesel reprises his role to battle an army of warriors known as the Necromongers.

Garfield – In this live action/animated combo, Odie has gone missing and it’s up to Garfield to find him.

The Stepford Wives – In this world, everything including the women seem a bit too perfect. This remake features a powerhouse cast including Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close and Christopher Walken.

June 16

Around the World in 80 Days – Steve Coogan and Jim Broadbent attempt to settle a bet on whether Coogan’s new invention can travel around the globe in 80 days. Going along for the ride is Jackie Chan.

June 18

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story – What more can be said about dodgeball? Stars Ben Stiller.

The Terminal – Tom Hanks is stuck at the airport. And it’s not just a simple delay. He’ll be there for weeks.

June 23

Door in the Floor – Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger lead an unhappy marriage and it’s not until the arrival of a young man until needed change is undertaken. (Limited)

June 25

The Notebook – As an old man, he reads from his notebook the story of his love, their separation due to World War II, and their reunion 14 years after that.

Two Brothers – The heartwarming story of two twin tiger cubs who lead vastly different lives only to be reunited years later.

White Chicks – The Wayans Bros. as white chicks. The horror.

Before Sunset – Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reunite after nine years of separation to see if the love is still there, even though Hawke is married now with kids. Sequel to Before Sunrise. (Limited)

De-Lovely – American composer Cole Porter has his life written for the screen as the film explores his songs and his personal life. Stars Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd. (Limited)

June 30

Spider-Man 2 – Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) struggles with his new identity, his evolving relationship with M.J. (Kirsten Dunst) and a new villain in Dr. Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina).

July 7

King Arthur – Sure, Keira Knightley is one of the hottest ladies out there. But will it convince me to see yet another story about King Arthur? That remains to be seen. Directed by Antoine Fuqua of “Training Day” and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

July 9

Anchorman – Will Ferrell makes another promising comedy as he is the popular news anchor who is threatened by a female co-anchor in Christina Applegate.

July 16

The Cinderella Story – In yet another update to Cinderella, Hilary Duff is the lonely girl who becomes the talk of the ball after a makeover.

I, Robot – In the year 2035, Will Smith believes a robot committed a crime. With robots as indispensable as running water, kinda crazy, no? Based upon the short story of Isaac Asimov.

July 23

The Bourne Supremacy – If there’s a third one, I just wanna know what they’re going to name it, since supremacy is kind of a stretch.

Catwoman – You know, Catwoman? Eartha Kitt. Michelle Pfeiffer. And now, Halle Berry. Also stars Sharon Stone.

Cheer Up – I know, it sounds ridiculous but…okay, it is. Tommy Lee Jones is a FBI agent charged with protecting a group of cheerleaders.

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle – In the footsteps of “Dude, Where’s My Car?” comes this comedy about the adventures two guys have on their way to some hamburgers at White Castle.

A Home at the End of the World – Two boyhood friends move into the home of an older woman and wouldn’t you know it, they both fall for her.

She Hate Me – Spike Lee’s latest joint involves a businessman who’s unemployable because he became a whistleblower. Now without work, he soon turns to impregnating lesbians for cash. Now even that’s becoming complicated. (Limited)

July 30

The Manchurian Candidate – A remake of the 1962 classic is updated with Denzel Washington in the lead role as the commanding officer whose group begins to have the same recurring nightmares.

The Village – Another supernatural thriller in the hands of M. Night Shyamalan, this time set in the woods of rural Pennsylvania. Let’s see, last time they were afraid of water. Is it sunlight this time?

Garden State – Zach Braff (of Scrubs, also the director of the film) attends his mother’s funeral after 10 years of being away. Natalie Portman helps him re-adjust back to family life. (Limited)

August 6

Collateral – An eagerly anticipated drama from director Michael Mann stars Jamie Foxx as a cab driver who figures out the man he’s been driving around all day (Tom Cruise) is indeed a contract killer and must try to stop him before he gets killed himself.

Shall We Dance? – A workaholic (Richard Gere) soon finds himself with a passion for dancing. It doesn’t hurt to have Jennifer Lopez dancing at your side.

Thunderbirds – It’s directed by Commander Riker himself! It has to be good! Okay, well, I took a shot. The top-secret headquarters of the Thunderbirds isn’t so secret anymore and it’s up to the sons of Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) to keep out The Hood (Sir Ben Kingsley).

Code 46 – Starring Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton, this is a love story set in the future with Robbins playing an insurance investigator following up on a case involving fake papelles. Following up meaning having an affair with the creator of these fake papers (Morton). (Limited)

August 11

The Princess Diaries 2 – Now that Mia (Anne Hathaway) is now a princess, she has to turn to more pressing matters like getting married and becoming the queen.

August 13

Alien vs. Predator – I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on here and hopefully it’ll be light-years better than that atrocious Freddy vs. Jason flick.

Blade: Trinity – Honestly, I didn’t even know they were making a third Blade film but here it is with Wesley Snipes in the lead role again. Here, he joins up with a couple of Nightstalkers to battle a modern Dracula.

We Don’t Live Here Anymore – An affair between friends threatens to bring down both of their marriages.

August 20

Cellular – Kim Basinger is kidnapped and only has a cell phone in the trunk of a car to save herself and her family.

Exorcist: The Beginning – Just when you thought it couldn’t end, they go back to the beginning, now looking at events in post-WWII Africa.

Hero – It’s been in Chinese theatres since 2002 and it’s been on the Internet and my computer for quite a while too. Now, catch this great movie in theatres starring Jet Li and Zhang Ziyi. (Limited)

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead – Former gangster Clive Owen comes out of hiding to investigate his brother’s death. (Limited)

August 27

Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid – Wow, they made a sequel to this??? Scientists must evade super anacondas and blah, blah, blah.

Benji Returns: Rags to Riches – Did the dog ever leave?