A mix of the character driven, scream driven, action driven, and documentary this week. A mix of films trying to beat the summer blockbuster rush, and the crushing blow that Star Wars potentially represents. This could be a good weekend, but there is only one way to find out!

Crash. First thing I think of is that bizarre David Cronenberg film from the 90's. This one is definitely a different looking film than that, although the triggering effect is still a car wreck. From what I gather, the film shows the lives of a variety of people intersecting and it's results. It has a good cast and was written/directed by the screenplay writer of Million Dollar Baby.

House of Wax. Featuring the big screen debut of Paris Hilton, will that help or hurt the box office? Anyway, I am not sure what relationship this is supposed to have, if any, with the Vincent Price film from 1953. I am not holding my breath, but the trailer has some decent creepiness throughout it. Hopefully it will be a decent horror film, there have been so few lately, but again, I'm not holding my breath.

Kingdom of Heaven. Ridley Scott returns to the sword and sandal epic. I have had doubts about this film, as ever since the Lord of the Rings films there have been a number of these medieval type films, and none of them have been all that good, for example Alexander, Troy, and King Arthur. Scott is a talented director and I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But it does have Orlando Bloom, who I feel has yet to prove he can act, but it does have Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons, which are a plus. Crusades, here I come.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. This looks good, and the press I have seen regarding it has all been positive. If you are anything like me, and I hope you aren't for your sake, you have no idea what these guys at Enron really did, all I know is that they did something very bad. Anyway, this film is supposed to lay out what they did in a manner that we can understand. It takes a mixed media approach, using archive footage, talking heads, tape recordings and more to lay it out. I am looking forward to it.

That's it for this week! Enjoy it.