Fans of the Twilight series are in anxious anticipation of the release of the latest movie in the popular movies based on Stephenie Meyer’s novels. Admittedly, I am not a fan of vampire movies, so I am a little out of touch with the latest movie, Eclipse. Here in Dallas, the  Angelika Film Center  at Mockingbird Station has a treat for Twilight fans with a special late night double feature of Twilight and New Moon, before the midnight showing of Eclipse.

There are probably similar events happening nationwide. If you want to watch Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse back to back. Check Fandango to find theaters near you to  Buy advance tickets to the Twilight Triple Showing.

Are you a Twilight fan, tell me why you like the movies and the books. What is it about Twilight, True Blood and other  vampire movies that you like the most?

Sex and the City Opens May 27

Writer Candace Bushnell’s characters from the hugely popular HBO TV series, Sex and the City are back on the big screen for a second time. Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are together again in another sexy story, but this time the ‘city’ isn’t New York City, but Abu Dhabi.

When the joys of marriage and family life become too much for the girls, Samantha suggests the ultimate girls’ trip. Abu Dhabi!  All your favorites are back for the second installment of Sex and the City. Of course, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon reprise their roles, as well as Chris Noth as Big and John Corbett as Aidan. There are also a few cool  cameos by Lisa Minnelli, Penelope Cruz and even Miley Cyrus.

Why Ladies Love Sex and the City

I didn’t have HBO when Sex and the City originally aired. All I heard about was, what Carrie did, who she dated and which shoes she wore, I didn’t  really understand the whole Sex and the City phenomenon. My blogging buddy Andi’s post 5 Things Sex and The City Taught Me About Life broke it down for me…OK now I get it. So tell me, why you love Sex and the City.

Buy advance tickets to Sex and the City 2 and receive a free song download!

This is going to be a great summer for movies. If  you like Romantic Comedies, Dramas, Sci-Fi or Action movies, you will have lots of movies to chose from, with all of your favorite stars releasing big movies in the next few months. Stay tuned to Just Chick Flicks for the reviews of these and other movies coming out this Summer. Here is a quick run down of some movies you won’t want to miss.

May 2

Babies

This documentary by director Thomas Balmes looks at one year in the life of four babies living on different continents: Ponijao in Opuwo, Namibia, Bayar in Bayanchandmani, Mongolia, Mari in Tokyo, Japan and Hattie in San Francisco, California.

Mother and Child

Annette Bening, Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington star in this story about three women’s lives who  have all been affected by adoption. Annette Bening’ charecter  gave her up her baby at 14, and has been haunted ever since by the daughter she never knew. Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) was  an adopted child and Lucy (Kerry Washington) wants to adopt a baby.

May 14

Letters to Juliet

What an idea for a chick flick. A young girl on vacation in Verona, Italy finds a love letter in a wall addressed ‘To Juliet’. She embarks on an adventure to deliver the letter and reunite the  lover. Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia & Jennifer’s Body) stars with Gael García Bernal and  Vanessa Redgrave

Just Wright

Sanaa Hamri, the director of one of my favorite chick flicks,  Something New directs Queen Latifah, Common, Paula Patton in Just Wright. Queen Latifah plays Leslie Wright, a physical therapist who falls for the basketball star, played by Hip-Hop performer,  Common.  They are attracted to  each other while she helps him recover from a career-threatening injury. But will he go for the real woman  or the gorgeous trophy wife and Leslie’s best friend, played by Paula Patton (Precious).

May 28

Sex and the City 2

Get out your Manola Blanicks and mix up a pitcher of Cosmos…The ladies are back! Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon reprise their roles in the Sex and the City sequel, along with appearances by Chris Noth, John Corbett and Miley Cyrus (what’s that about?)

Buy advance tickets to Sex and the City 2 and receive a free song download!

Coming Soon: Manly..Yes, But I Like Them Too-The Chick Flicks Guide to Summer Action Movies

Amy Adams and Meryl Streep are together again after their Oscar nominated performances in Doubt. But even though they play the  title characters in Julie and Julia,  they don’t have any scenes together. As a matter of fact, they are separated not only by an ocean, but by more than 30 years.

Julie

Julie & Julia is the story of one woman who is inspired  by another women to achieve her dreams. It tells the parallel stories of Julie Powell and Julia Child.  Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams),is a frustrated employee at a government bureaucracy who decides to write a blog. And like most bloggers, she writes about her passion, which happens to be cooking. She uses Julia Child as the inspiration for her blog, The Julie/Julia Project.

“Government drone by day, renegade foodie by night. Too old for theatre, too young for children, and too bitter for anything else, Julie Powell was looking for a challenge. And in the Julie/Julia project she found it. Risking her marriage, her job, and her cats’ well-being, she has signed on for a deranged assignment.

365 days. 536 recipes. One girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen.

How far will it go? We can only wait. And wait. And wait…..
The Julie/Julia Project. Coming soon to a computer terminal near you.”

She decides to chronicle her experience of cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s  Mastering the Art of French Cooking in just one year. Think of it, that is more than 500 recipes! That’s makes me feel bad, because some days after slaving over a hot keyboard, working the man every night & day, I can just gather enough strength to make a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. I guess its good, I write about movies  on my blog. There are good days and bad days. All the while she gains a few pounds (its all that butter) and some insights into herself and  gets a book deal.  I really like the blogging parts of the movie. I understand her, because I have learned a lot about myself since I have been writing this blog. I don’t have a book deal and there isn’t a movie about my life on the horizon (but if there ever is, I want Halle Berry to play me-I’m just sayin’), but the more I do this the more I learn. Oh yeah…the review… So she cooks all this wonderful food.

Julia

Julia Child, played by Meryl Streep is the wife of a diplomat living in France. Meryl’s  The  Devil Wear Prada co-star  Stanley Tucci plays  her husband, Paul Child.    After working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII and traveling the near east, she was used to a little adventure. The 6′ 2″, Julia was not content to be a housewife. She eventually decides to follow her passion for French food. She learned to cook, wrote a monumental cookbook and changed everything. I am not sure , but I think Julia Child was the first celebrity chef. Her PBS television series, The French Chef was part cooking lesson and part comedy due to Julia’s personality.

Nora Ephron directed Julia and Julia, which is based on Julie Powell’s Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously and  Julia Childs’ My Life in France.  Meryl Streep does a wonderful job of portraying the larger than life Julia Child. I really enjoyed this movie for the way it told the stories of two women who were searching for way to improve themselves and who both found themselves in food.

I have been complaining asking for better chick flicks for a while now. I am on a campaign to let the world know that  chick flicks don’t have to be sappy love stories  about love starved females.  They should be movies that appeal to women and  tell our stories  in an entertaining way.  Julie & Julia satisfied my appetite for a really good chick flick.

One last word of advice: Don’t watch this movie on an empty stomach. After watching  Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci consume sumptuous meals and Amy Adams prepare Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, Chocolate Souffle’ and the list goes on. Well, all I can says is, my friend and I left the theater with an overwhelming desire for CAKE!

Read the book: My Life in France by Julia Child

Mastering The Art of French Cooking

Summer is coming, and with it comes a whole slew of action, horror and sci-fi movies that the man in your life is just chomping at the bit to see. I am here for you ladies. You may try to avoid it,  but unless you have a very enlightened boyfriend,  at least one date night this summer will be spent watching one or more of these movies.

This is your primer for the upcoming season of  ‘Man Movies‘, complete with my own opinions, wherever I saw fit. We can only hope that if you have to spend 2 hours in the theater watching action movies, that there is some eye candy to take your mind off the body count.

I like a little Sci-fi and I enjoy some action movies too, but I can’t do horror. And since Chick Flicks are more my thing, I am going to rely on my fellow movie bloggers to provide me with details, reviews and opinions on many of these movies. Please check out their reviews.

Just Chick Flicks Summer Movie Preview

Now Showing

X Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine begins with James Logan (The Wolverine) and his brother Victor Creed/Sabertooth played by Liev Schreiber as children in Canada. They both have animal-like mutant powers and after fighting in several wars, they become mercenary soldiers with  a team of other mutants for William Stryker, who uses them to do his evil bidding. Included in this band of mutant mercenaries is a really buffed up Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool.  Look for Ryan in a real chick flick this summer in The Proposal with Sandra Bullock.
Related Post: Chick Flicks Reviews X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Live For Film: X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

Star Trek
Even if you never saw an episode of any of the many series or movies, you will enjoy this action packed movie based the 1960’s TV show. Like Batman and even the recent X-Men Origins: Wolverine movies, Star Trek is  a prequel, going back to the childhood of the main characters James T. Kirk and the Vulcan, Spock. 
Related Posts: Chick Flicks in Outer Space
Action Flicks Chick: A Fist Full of Phasers

MAY 20th

Terminator Salvation
Christian Bale sheds his Batman cape to take on the role of John Conner in the latest installment in the Terminator story.
Action Flick Chick: Terminator Salvation-Ready to Pull The Trigger
Blog Cabins: Fletch’s Review- Terminator Salvation
What Would Toto Watch?: Terminator Salvation’ – No Ah-nuld, big problems
She Likes To Watch: Terminator Salvation-Frackin Skin Jobs

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Follow up to Ben Stiller’s family hit takes his character Security guard Larry Daley to the Smithsonian Institute and meets up with Amelia Earhart, Ivan the Terrible and Al Capone who come to live when the museum closes.  Also starring Amy Adams, Hank Azaira, Christopher Guest and Owen Wilson.
What Would Toto Watch?: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian-
Adams flies to rescue

MAY 29th:

Drag Me to Hell
This movie looks so scary to me that I have only seen the previews through open fingers (with my hands over my eyes). It stars a Alison Lohman and is directed by Sam Raimi.
What Would Toto Watch: Drag Me To Hell

JUNE 5th

Land of  the Lost
Will Farrell stars in this remake of the classic TV series. He plays  scientist, Dr. Rick Marshall, who gets sucked into a space-time warp and enters in world  of dinosaurs and sleestaks. I am listing this with the action movies, even though it is a comedy, but we know how much men love Will Farrell.
Watch episodes of the original Land of the Lost TV series for FREE

JUNE 12th:

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Tony Scott directs Denzel Washington and John Travolta in another summer remake. Travolta  leads a group of armed men who hijack a subway train in New York City and hold the passengers hostage. Denzel Washington plays the subway train dispatcher.  You might want to watch the original 1974 version, starring Walter Mattheau.
Download The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974)

JUNE 19th

Year One
Jack Black and Michael Cera are a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers who  are kicked out of their prehistoric village and take off to explore the ancient world. Again, this is not an action movie, but Jack Black is another one of those actors that men seem to find hilarious. So Jack Black as a cave man is bound to attract a huge male audience.

Dead Snow — Limited Release
Nazi zombies attack a group of young people on a ski vacation. Summer horror. Just when you thought an attractive group of young people could get away on a secluded vacation spot without being attacked by zombies.

JULY 1

Public Enemies
Set in the 1930’s,  Johnny Depp is  Public Enemy #1,  gangster John Dillinger and Christian Bale plays  FBI agent Melvin Purvis. Johnny Depp is one of those actors who can play such a variety of roles and make them all believable. And he is going to look really good in a pin-stripped suit. 2009

JULY 10

The Hurt Locker — Limited Time
Soldiers in a bomb-disposal unit serving in Baghdad,  near the end of their rotation are pulled into a deadly game of urban combat by a new sergeant

JULY 24

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
You may remember Shai LaBeouf from Even Stevens or Holes, but he has grown up and turned into quite the action movie star. Michael Bay directs Shia, Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel in the sequel of his mega-hit Transformers movie where Decepticon forces comes to Earth to capture his friend Sam, who has learned the truth about the ancient origins of the Transformers.

Action Flick Chick Reviews Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The Film Doctor Reviews Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Live For Film Reviews Tranformers: Revenge of the Fallen

JULY 15

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint return in their roles as junior warlocks in training in thier 6th year at Hogwarts. Harry Potter discovers secrets  about the evil Lord Voldemort’s past.

JULY 24th

Orphan
More Summer Horror… A couple loses their unborn child and  decides to adopt a child that is supposed to bring joy into their lives. They adopt Esther,  a 9-year-old orphan who’s angelic face might may hide evil intentions.

AUGUST 7

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
I can’t see how this is based on the old Saturday morning cartoon and  the toys my brother used to play with. But  in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra an elite military unit  called GIJOE  (Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity)that use high-tech weapon to dismantle the evil organization Cobra.

AUGUST 14

Ponyo
Master Amime’ director Hayao Miyazaki releases his  latest adventure about a 5-year-old boy and his relationship with a goldfish princess who longs to become human.This version is in English with Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon and  Liam Neeson.

AUGUST 21

Inglorious Bastards
Brad Pitt stars  in this movie about a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as The Bastards who  spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. One can only imagine the carnage that awaits when director Quentin Tarantino gets his hands on World War II. In the words of Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride, “The will be blood tonight!”

This is going to be a great summer for movies. Whether you like Romantic Comedies, Dramas, Sci-Fi or Action movies, you will have plenty to chose from with all of your favorite stars releasing big movies in the next few months. Stay tuned to Just Chick Flicks for the reviews of these and other movies coming out this Summer. Here is a quick run down of some movies you won’t want to miss!

Now Showing

Ghost of Girlfriends Past

Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, and Michael Douglas
A serial play boy is haunted by all the girls he has loved and lost. But he soon realizes that his childhood sweetheart is the “one that got away“.

Obsessed

Beyoncé Knowles, Idris Elba and Ali Larter
A successful business man (Elba) with a beautiful wife (Knowles) becomes the target of a female stalker (Larter). How can you not compare this movie to Fatal Attraction? But this time the wife is played by Beyonce’, who doesn’t like it when someone messes with her man.

May

Management - May 15

Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson
Jennifer Aniston is Sue Claussen, traveling saleswoman has  a short  fling with a motel manager play by Steve Zahn. But she soon realized she can’t get rid of him so easily when  he chases her across the country.

June

My Life in Ruins - June 5

Nia Vardalos, Richard Dreyfuss and  Rachel Dratch
Georgia, a travel guide played by Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) takes  a group of tourists to see the wonders of  Greece and rediscovers herself and find romance with the most unlikely person.

Away We Go [limited release]

John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Allison Janney (Full Cast)
Sam Mendes directs The Office’s John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph from Saturday Night Live in this movie about  a quirkey couple, expecting their first child who take a road trip around the U.S. to find a perfect place to start their family.

The Proposal- June 19

Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds
Its hard to imagine sweet Sandra Bullock as the boss from Hell. But in The Proposal she plays  a high powered publishing executive who makes her Administrative Assistant’s  (Ryan Reynolds) life miserable. The romantic comedy begins when she ‘asks‘, (actually blackmails) him to marrying her to fix her problems with the immigration department and they spend the weekend with his family in Alaska. Yes, this is a little like Green Card.

Whatever Works – June 19

Evan Rachel Wood, Larry David
Woody Allen directs  Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood in this story about an eccentric older man who falls in love with a much younger woman.  This sounds like a biography.

My Sister’s Keeper – June 26

Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin and Alec Baldwin
Anna Fitzgerald (Breslin) looks to earn medical emancipation from her parents (Diaz and Patric) who until now have relied on their youngest child to help their leukemia-stricken daughter Kate (Vassilieva) remain alive.

Chéri

Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend and  Kathy Bates
A romantic drama set in 1920s Paris, where the son of a courtesan (Friend) retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman (Pfeiffer) who educated him in the ways of love.

July

Public Enemies – July 1

Set in the 1930’s,  Johnny Depp is  Public Enemy #1,  gangster John Dillinger and Christian Bale plays  FBI agent Melvin Purvis. Even though this is essentially a gangster movie, I am including it with Chick Flicks because it stars two Hollywood Hunks.

I Hate Valentine’s Day - July 3

Nia Vardalos, John Corbett and Judah Friedlander
Nia Vardalos take the helm as director in this romantic comedy that reunited her with her My Big Fat Greek Wedding co-star John Corbett.  Vardalos plays a florist who  tries to convince a restaurant owner (Corbett) to date her without making a committment.

500 Days of Summer – Limited Release

Zooey Deschanel  and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Gordon-Leavitt play Tom, a greeting-card writer who falls in love with  his new co-worker  on her first day of work.

All Good Things – Limited Release

Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
The  heir to a New York real estate fortune falls for a woman from the wrong side of the tracks and becomes embroiled in a missing person investigation.

The Ugly Truth – July 24

Katherine Heigl and  Gerard Butler
Gorgeous  Gerard Butler stars with Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy, 23 Dresses) in this romantic comedy about a macho morning TV show host makes a bet with his producer  that his tips on how to land and keep a guy will work or he’ll quit. You can see where this is going, but it will still be enjoyable to watch the  two of them get there.

August

Julie & Julia- August 7

Amy Adams and Meryl Streep
The two actresses who were so wonderful in DOUBT, are together again in this movie based on the book by Julie Powell.    Adams plays frustrated office worker Julie Powell who tries to add some excitement to her boring  life by chronicling her attempt to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year’s time.  Nora Ephron directs.

The Time Traveler’s Wife -  August 14

Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams
Based on the novel of the same name by Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife stars Eric Bana, who was almost unrecognizable as the Romulan Nero in Star Trek. This  romantic drama is about a Chicago librarian with a gene that causes him to unpredictably travel through time.   Rachel McAdams plays  his wife, an artist who has to deal with his frequent travels through time and its dangerous consequences. I have not read this book, but the movie promises to be the perfect combination of romance and sci-fi.

For a run down on Action & Sci-Fi movies, see “The Girl’s  Guide to Summer Action Movies“.