New At The Movies: ‘’Miami Vice,’ ‘Ant Bully’ & More

(July 28, 2006)

?Miami Vice?

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Gong Li, Naomie Harris, Ciaran Hinds

Ricardo Tubbs is urbane and dead smart. He lives with Bronx-born intel analyst Trudy, as they work undercover transporting drug loads into South Florida to identify a group responsible for three murders. Sonny Crockett is charismatic and flirtatious until — while undercover working with the supplier of the South Florida group — he gets romantically entangled with Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban wife of an arms and drugs trafficker. The intensity of this case pushes Crockett and Tubbs out onto the edge where identity and fabrication become blurred, where cop and player become one — especially for Crockett in his romance with Isabella and for Tubbs in the provocation of an assault on those he loves.

?The Ant Bully?

Starring: Lily Tomlin, Larry Miller, Julia Roberts, Zachary Tyler, Cheri Oteri, Paul Giamatti, Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage, Ricardo Montalban, Regina King, Bruce Campbell, Slan Cumming, Shirley Maclaine

A 10-year-old boy embarks on a remarkable journey. New in town, friendless and tormented by a neighborhood bully, young Lucas Nickle has been taking out his frustration on the innocent ant hill in his yard. But one day the ants retaliate. Using a magic potion, they shrink Lucas down to ant size and sentence him to live like an ant in their colony. In this strange, new world, Lucas will learn important lessons about friendship, get a whole new perspective on life and ultimately find the courage to stand up for himself.

?John Tucker Must Die?

Starring: Jesse Metcalfe, Sophia Bush, Brittany Snow, Ashanti, Jenny McCarthy

When three popular girls from different cliques discover they’ve all been dating the school stud, they band together to seek revenge. Despite the jerk?s charm and ever-growing popularity, the girls cleverly scheme with the help of the inconspicuous new girl in town, to soil his reputation and break his heart.

?Scoop?

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Ian McShane, Woody Allen

The prominent — and recently belated — U.K. journalist Joe Strombel is being mourned by his fellow colleagues. Meanwhile, even as he’s frustratedly stuck in limbo, Joe remains committed to pursuing a hot tip, from beyond, on the identity of “the Tarot Card Killer,” who’s still at-large in London. But how can his legwork get done now that he’s dead? The answer is simple: via the very much alive Sondra Pransky. An American journalism student, Sondra is visiting friends in London. While watching a stage performance by another American, magician Sid Waterman (a.k.a. Splendini), Sondra is shocked to find herself able to see and hear the belated journalist. From beyond, Joe gives her the scoop of a lifetime and urges her to pursue it. Sondra immediately starts chasing the big story, enlisting the aid of a very reluctant Sid. Her chase leads right to a handsome British aristocrat, Peter Lyman, with whom she falls head over heels. Soon, Sondra finds that the romance of her lifetime may very well be the dangerous scoop for which she is in hot pursuit.

?Little Miss Sunshine? (select cities today)

Starring: Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Courteney Cox, Alan Arkin

No one among the Hoovers quite has it together, but it’s not for lack of trying. Father Richard, a hopelessly optimistic motivational speaker, is desperately attempting to sell his 9-step program for success–without much success. Meanwhile, the Hoovers’ “pro-honesty” mother Sheryl is constantly harried by her family’s eccentric secrets, especially those of her brother, a suicidal Proust scholar fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his gay lover. Then there are young Hoovers with their unlikely dreams — the four-eyed, slightly pump, seven-year-old, would-be, beauty queen Olive, and Dwayne, an anger-fueled, Nietzche-reading teen who has taken a staunch vow of silence until he gets into the Air Force Academy. Topping off the family is the grandfather, a foul-mouthed pleasure-seeker recently kicked out of his retirement home for snorting heroin. They might not be the picture of the perfect mental health, but when a fluke gets Olive invited to compete in the fiercely competitive “Little Miss Sunshine” competition in California, the whole Hoover family rallies behind her. They pile into their rusted-out VW bus and head West on a three-day tragicomic journey filled with madcap surprises and leading up to Olive’s big debut — which will change the entire misfit family in ways they could never imagine.