On The Big Screen: Heaven, Hannibal

RED DRAGON. Movies don’t get much more all-star than Red Dragon, the prequel to The Silence of the Lambs and clincher in the Thomas Harris-penned horror trilogy. Anthony Hopkins reprises his Oscar-winning role as Hannibal the Cannibal in this film, which is directed by Brett Ratner. Following the success of his last Hollywood victory Rush Hour 2, Ratner now helms a decidedly different sort of action as he takes the reins from Ridley Scott (Hannibal). With Edward Norton as the retired FBI agent who returns to the Bureau to catch a family-slaughtering psychopath (the dashing Ralph Fiennes, believe it or not), this nail-biting psycho-thriller looks to outperform its predecessors.

WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD. In the vein of recent heist movies like Snatch, Welcome to Collinwood looks like something reminiscent of the Coen brothers. Co-written and directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, Welcome to Collinwood premiered at Cannes and features big-shots George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh as producers. The film chronicles the exploits of several small-time criminals in a neighborhood on Cleveland’s east side. Led by your average petty felon Cosimo (Luis Guzman), a brainless band of six rogues decides to do some safe-cracking. What actually happens when they try to pull their “Bellini,” or perfect heist, promises to provide some amusing small-time comedy with more than a bit of slapstick.

JONAH: A VEGGIETALES MOVIE. With Jonah, Big Idea Productions, Inc. is out to score—not a whopping box-office coup but a moral victory over decadent American media via biblical values and spiritual uplift. Unflinchingly righteous, this is VeggieTales biggest veggie yet. Archibald Asparagus is the eponymous messenger Jonah, who with his fellow vegetables embarks on the marine adventure of his life. But if air-conditioned theaters couldn’t coax kids out over the summer for TV show-based movies like The Powerpuff Girls and Hey Arnold! The Movie, it’s dubious how Jonah will fare on the big screen despite its generous dose of CGI effects and its, well, motivational subject matter.

HEAVEN. What would you risk for love? A life or two? Being considered a terrorist? In Heaven, the latest film from director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), Philippa (Cate Blanchett) takes matters into her own hands after the police refuse to investigate the drug ring-related death of her husband in Turin, Italy. After an unsuccessful attempt to bomb the drug dealer’s office, she instead kills four innocent people, is arrested—go figure—and eventually falls in love with an officer who believes her wild story (Giovanni Ribisi). No doubt the chameleon-like Blanchett can easily slip into this disturbed role, but whether Tykwer can reconcile his almost dementedly fast-paced visual style with an apparently weepy melodramatic plot remains to be seen.