Movie Releases, 4/21

Are you ready for some Jack Bauer on the big screen? Well, there is a 24 movie coming out in the future, but this week Kiefer Sutherland gets to shout out some 24-ish commands like, "Holster your weapons!" in that famous Kiefer growl in The Sentinel. Here, he plays a government agent trying to track down disgraced special agent and friend Michael Douglas, who is being accused of plotting to kill the president. Doesn't Kiefer know after 5 seasons of "24" that nothing is ever as it seems? Eva Longoria of "Desperate Housewives" helps in the hunt. Directed by veteran TV guy and S.W.A.T. director Clark Johnson.

Video game enthusiasts might, might be getting their first real honest-to-God good adaptation this weekend. The popular Silent Hill, a game I have not played but am assured is creepy as hell, gets its big screen transfer on Friday. The trailer is pretty cool, and I love Radha Mitchell, and get this--Roger Avary, man responsible for a good deal of Pulp Fiction and the cult hit Rules of Attraction, wrote the screenplay! Christophe Gans of Brotherhood of the Wolf fame directs. I'm actually looking forward to this--I'm pegging it as the #1 flick this weekend.

Also, I've already reviewed American Dreamz, which finally opens. I enjoyed this satire fairly well, I'm not enthralled with it--but be sure to look for critics hailing this, in the Bush era, as one of the best satires in years, four stars, the like, come Friday morning.

Three weeks in a row of staggering business--the comparable weeks have been dispatching 2005 quite convincingly. A lot of these movies, though, are quick burns. Scary Movie 4 will probably drop about 60% of its audience next week. Still, good to see. Maybe that box office story from last year will be rightly called an aberration in the next few months.