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tMF continues its coverage of the summer movie season with Part Two of tMF 2008 Summer Movie Preview. Read Part One [ here ].

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In a two-part series, tMF will preview the 2008 Summer Movie Season! Part One will explore the May and June releases, and later this weekend, Part Two will finish up with July and August. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!

Moviegoers were divided upon seeing Charlie Bartlett, one of the most recent coming-of-age flicks to hit the theaters. While I found it to be quite entertaining and in general a good film, I still look forward to what many at Sundance have been raving about:  The Wackness. This film is director Jonathan Levine's eagerly awaited follow-up feature to All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.

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Winner of the Audience Award at Sundance 2008. NYC, summer 1994. A tender and cool coming-of-age story. Pot-dealing kid Luke Shapiro is trying to figure out how to solve his parents’ insolvency, beat depression, and get laid before pushing off for college. Luckily he’s got a deal going with a psychiatrist, Dr Squires, who trades therapy sessions for grass. It happens that the doctor’s marriage is crumbling, so the two – one in late adolescence, the other in late middle age – embark on a passage into new life stages. As Luke falls for a classmate who just happens to be Squires’s daughter, the summer heats up as he follows the doctor’s orders, learning to coexist with pain and make it part of himself, rather than let it become his downfall. A great, energetic soundtrack of vintage hip hop standards punctuates the movie throughout.

The movie stars Ben Kinsley, Josh Peck, Famke Jannsen and Mary-Kate Olsen. We're especially thrilled to see the up and coming young actor, Josh Peck.

From one of France's most original and stylish filmmakers, Christophe Honoré comes Love Songs. A modern-day musical told through unforgettable songs sung entirely by the cast and scored by Alex Beaupain, the film has overjoyed audiences at the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals.

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More about the Movie: In the hope of sparking their stalled relationship, Ismael (Louis Garrel of Dans Paris and The Dreamers) and Julie (Ludivine Sagnier of Swimming Pool) enter a playful yet emotionally laced threesome with Alice (Clotilde Hesme of Regular Lovers.) When tragedy strikes, these young Parisians are forced to deal with the fragility of life and love. For Ismael, this means negotiating through the advances of Julie's sister (Chara Mastroianni of Persepolis) and a young college student (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet of Strayed); one of which may offer him redemption.

"Flight of the Red Balloon is the first film in a series initiated by the director of Paris’s Musée d’Orsay, Serge Lemoine, and the production, in conjunction with the museum’s 20th anniversary. The idea is to bring together contemporary artists, in this case world-class filmmakers, and the Museum’s Impressionist or Art Nouveau treasures.

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"The terms are particularly simple: the museum must be present, either throughout the film or just a scene. This is how Hou Hsiao Hsien came to scout locations for the first time in Paris. This was the starting point for the adventure of this film, Flight of the Red Balloon." says producer François Margolin.

And that is how Hou Hsiao Hsien developed a variation on the classic Albert Lamorisse Red Balloon short, winner of a Palme d’Or in 1956. Simon is a 7-year-old boy with his head in the clouds, a bit left to his own as his mother is so completely absorbed with her puppets. He becomes fond of Song Fang, a Taiwanese film student, hired to babysit him, because she has her head in the clouds as much as he does.

I find it strange, this constant preoccupation with linking a filmmaker to a character. Finding a connection between somebody’s private life and fiction is a vision of the process that is tainted by the current obsession with celebrities, says Andre Techine.

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The renowned French filmmaker was answering questions regarding his latest film, Les Temoins (The Witness).

What's the Movie About: Paris, summer 1984. Manu arrives in Paris, where he shares a cheap hotel room with his sister Julie. He strikes up a joyous, chaste friendship with Adrien, a wealthy doctor in his early fifties who opens Manu’s eyes to a different way of life. On a trip out on a speedboat, Adrien introduces Manu to Sarah and Mehdi, a young couple who have just had their first child.

Updates: We last reported about this new movie back in 2007. In March this year, it will finally be in theatres! I would expect both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Channing Tatum to do awesome, since both have been doing great. Levitt is of course, a big big tMF favorite and Tatum, who was so terrific in A Guide to Recognizing your Saints was listed in our top 50 hottest young actors. Hopefully Ryan Philippe can also deliver. Not that we doubt him, he was quite good in last year's Breach.

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Kimberly Peirce, the innovative director who made headlines with Boys Don't Cry, is generally credited with making Hillary Swank one of the most sought-after actors today. Peirce also propelled Chloë Sevigny into the A-list of young actresses ready to take on challenging and exciting roles from indie filmmakers.

I can still remember the first time I watched City of God and how it affected me- it's one of the most visually arresting films I have seen, and I find that it would take me more than just one sitting to fully absorb it. Fernando Meirelles showed us the real Brazil, much more than what a dozen textbooks and travel brochures can accomplish.

City of God features such memorable set of characters! I can still remember rooting for Rocket, as he realized his dream of becoming a photographer. I also remember with sadness the death of Benny, the coolest guy in the favela, and how I hate Lil'Z! The story is a big revelation. Not that I have no idea about crime and violence in Brazil, but its the way it was presented that made it even more absorbing. I was asking myself, perhaps there is another movie that can match its intensity and power?

And comes City of Men...

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From the producers of the award-winning phenomenon “City of God,” comes a new journey to the other side of paradise – a riveting, humor-filled yet emotionally power-packed tale from the gritty heart of Rio, where two teenaged best friends are about to battle the daunting odds against becoming men on the lawless outer streets of one of the world’s most volatile cities.

I find the work of David Gordon Green to be profound, unique and powerful. I simply love Undertow and who can forget George Washington? SNOW ANGELS, one of his newest feature is just his 4th movie to date. Says Green:

The action in SNOW ANGELS, particularly in the film’s second half, is dark by any measure. Most of the adult characters are flawed and, by conventional movie standards, unsympathetic. My strategy for dealing with the darkness: cast actors who understand comedy, so that some degree of humor could leaven the narrative.

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What's the Movie About: A story of love lost and found in a small town, SNOW ANGELS is a heartrending portrayal of three couples in various stages of life orbiting around each other in search of connection and meaning. An unexpected act of violence disrupts the lives of these intertwined couples revealing the profound moments in which they each realize how precarious and remarkable life can be.

When I read the script of “The Yellow Handkerchief,” I immediately fell in love with the humanity of the piece and in particular the way Erin Dignam had drawn these wonderful, complex characters whom I felt I could reach out and touch. Here was a movie that went into the very depths of the souls of these characters. I also loved the fact that they behaved in turns stupid, impetuous, wise, ridiculous, but always with a generosity of spirit and a sense of adventure that I think surprised even them. Life hadn’t been kind to them; nevertheless, they had gained a wisdom few of us achieve. says director Udayan Prasad.

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Academy Award® winner William Hurt, Maria Bello, Kristen Stewart and Eddie
Redmayne star in this provocative and penetrating look into the motives of the human heart. The film, written by Erin Dignam and shot by Academy Award® winning cinematographer Chris Menges, was directed by Udayan Prasad (My Son The Fanatic) and produced by the multiple Academy Award® winner Arthur Cohn.

"It's dark, it's romantic, and it also deals with mortality in a pretty unflattering way. The guy is born in 1919 - with the film itself beginning in the Civil war, travelling around the world and carrying on all the way through to the year 2000." says director David Fincher.

Fincher is of course talking about his latest film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. 'Curious Case' is the film adaptation of the 1922 short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" written by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

More of the movie: In 1860 Benjamin Button is born an old man and mysteriously begins aging backward. At the beginning of his life he is withered and worn, but as he continues to grow younger he embraces life -- he goes to war, runs a business, falls in love, has children, goes to college and prep school, and, as his mind begins to devolve, he attends kindergarten and eventually returns to the care of his nurse.

This is not the first time that Pitt and Blanchett have starred together. In 2006, they were both in Innaritu's Babel. In this year's awards season, both Blanchett and Pitt are in the running. Among the films they have been nominated for are I'm Not There, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Fincher's Zodiac is also mentioned as one of 2007's best films.

[ Read more of the film @blogspot ]

"Before starting on the script, I wanted Charlotte Gainsbourg to play the role, because I wanted to work with her again. As I said, life is all about chance. Shortly afterwards, I went to New York and Audrey Tautou, who I had never met, was on the plane sitting next to me. We got to know each other, but didn’t talk about the book. She already knew that Charlotte had the role. However, two or three weeks later, Audrey told her agent that if Charlotte could not do the film, she would like to play Camille. As she is a generous girl, she did not want to take the role from Charlotte. " says director Claude Berri.

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The acclaimed French director is talking about how he cast French star Audrey Tautou ( A Very Long Engagement, Amelie) in the lead role for his new film, Hunting and Gathering (Ensemble, c’est tout).

What's the Movie About: In mid-2004, Anna Gavalda’s best selling novel Hunting and gathering was brought to the attention of celebrated producer and director Claude Berri (Jean de Florette, The Housekeeper). Berri believed that the combination of contemporary subject matter, tender and often humorous dialogue, and the unique setting would lend itself wonderfully to the cinematic form, and immediately secured rights. Three years later, the resulting film is a sensual, romantic fable that digs deep into the heart of human by emotion in all its forms. Both realist and poetic, Hunting and gathering tells a universal story about happiness regained through love and friendship.

"For me, the movie deals with the possibilities of different ethnic groups living together in harmony, as exemplified by the soccer game between Italians, Jews and blacks. " says director and writer Cao Hamburger.

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The Year My Parents Went on Vacation has been described as one of Brazil's most brilliant films. It is also their official entry into the Oscar Best Foreign Language film for 2008.

What's the Movie About: In 1970 Brazil and the world seemed to have been turned upside-down, but the biggest worry in young 12 year-old Mauro’s mind had little or nothing to do with the proliferation of military dictatorships in South America or with the Vietnam war. His biggest dream was to see Brazil become the three-time winner of the World Cup.

Award winning actor Denzel Washington will soon launch his newest directorial effort entitled The Great Debaters. After 2002's Antwone Fisher, Washington tackles a period drama about the true-to-life events of Wiley College during 1935 - the year the debate team from the all-black Texas school took on a prestigious white university to become the first black college to win the National Championship.

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What's the Movie About: Based on the true story of Mel Tolson, considered one of the great African American poets and in the 1930’s a professor at the historically black Wiley College in Texas. Washington will also play Tolson, who inspired his students to form the college’s first debating team, which went on to defeat Harvard in national championships.