MARCH PREVIEW
By B.D. Milo

In like a lion and out like a lamb is a phrase commonly used to describe the meteorology of March. Looking at the line-up of films coming out this month, the first part of that metaphor is especially appropriate. Almost every genre is represented this month, with movies coming out from stalwarts 21st Century Cat, The Alexander Corporation, United Filmworks International and newcomer Main Line Cinema.

MARCH 4

Walker: Texas Movie (Vendetta/ Desperado Pictures and United Filmworks Inc) hopes to translate the popularity of the Chuck Norris driven television series to the silver screen with this action-based comedy. The plot centers on a group of rogue terrorists that kidnap the leader of the free world, President George W. Bush. Walker (Norris), the only person man enough to fight for truth, justice, and the American way, is called in to save him. Directed by Michael Bay, the film co-stars Christopher Walken, Tracy Morgan and Will Ferrell as an irrepressible George W.

Stephen Frears helms an all-star cast in Aftermath (Pink Moon Productions and 21st Century Cat). With an ensemble cast featuring Jamie Foxx, Nicole Kidman, Peter Krause, Billy Crudup, Peter Sarsgaard and Helena Bonham Carter, the film follows four characters a year after a car crash that claimed several lives. Being touted as the most provocative drama of the year, the film promises to change the audience’s perception of the characters with every passing scene and through flashbacks that reveal the character’s tragic, shady and intertwined pasts.

MARCH 11

Director Alex Proyas brings his unique take on sci-fi to the screen with the Vin Diesel vehicle Time Shock (Random FX Productions and The Alexander Corporation). In the year 2073, time travel is real. History teaches us that great scientific breakthroughs always come at great cost. When a routine experiment goes awry, Dr. Nicholas Sinclair is transported back a hundred years to 1973. Although he is separated from his time for only a few minutes, when he manages to return, the world he knew has been overtaken and destroyed by some unknown cataclysmic event. The supporting cast includes sci-fi and fantasy veterans Eric Bana, Eliza Dushku, Ice Cube and Michael Ironside.

Newly launched studio Main Line Cinema launches its inaugural film, Memoirs of Africa (Misio). A British explorer returns from an expedition in Africa with a near fanatical obsession of returning to the Dark Continent in search of a mythical creature known as the Mokele Mbembe. Though ridiculed by his peers, he secure the financial backing of a world-renowned hunter and adventurer, a rival explorer and the daughter of a mysterious but wealthy philanthropist, and then sets sail in pursuit of eternal, yet elusive, fame. Guiding an international cast with Paul Bettany, Audrey Tautou, Michael Caine, Geoffrey Rush, Thomas Kretschmann and Gerard Depardieu, director Jean Jacques Annaud was granted final cut on this epic.

MARCH 18

MARCH 25

Saving William Shatner 2 (Pedro and The Alexander Corporation) is the sequel to the shockingly hilarious Saving William Shatner. Directed by South Park’s Matt Stone & Trey Parker, this ribald comedy promises to put Star Trek veteran, cult singing sensation and priceline.com pitchman Shatner through the hijinks wringer. Backed by television hunk Kevin Sorbo, frenetic Jack Black the ever-popular Will Ferrell, the film looks to set viewers back on their heels. And have we mentioned the hordes of flying, burrito-loving monkeys?