Weekend Movie Preview: Friday June 12

By Amanda Pendolino on June 11th, 2009

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THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123

Based on a 1974 film that’s based on a book, this weekend’s action-y thriller is based on every public transportation rider’s worst nightmare: what if your subway train was hijacked? (Luckily I live in LA so I don’t have to deal with this stuff, just the loneliness of driving a car…thanks for pointing it out, Paul Haggis.)

The gang of hijackers is led by a tattooed John Travolta, who bursts onto a downtown six train (wait…what’s the 123 about?) and demands that the city give him $10 million dollars in the next hour. He’s up against dispatcher  Denzel Washington, who joins up with a hostage negotiator (John Turturro) and the mayor (James Gandolfini) to bring down Travolta before the clock runs out – or anyone else gets killed.

IMAGINE THAT

I hope you like fantasies. The theme of this one: spending more time with your family is the key to corporate success! Eddie Murphy stars as a Evan Danielson, a dad and businessman who has trouble making time for both his career and his adorable daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi). But when Olivia’s make-believe adventures give him great business ideas, he might just be able to beat out his work rival Whitefeather (my favorite slutty wino Thomas Haden Church). Or will he??