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Preview of the biggest summer movies continues with our coverage of The Love Guru, WALL-E, Wanted, Hancock and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

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Preview of the biggest summer movies continues with our coverage of Kung Fu Panda, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, The Happening, The Incredible Hulk and Get Smart.

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With the opening of Iron Man tomorrow, 2008 summer movie season officially begins. What movies will you go see? Will this season be better than last year? Today in Part 1, we take a look at Iron Man, Speed Racer, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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Transformers is as big as it gets when it comes to summer blockbusters. Featuring plenty of destructions, explosions and gigantic robots, you can’t help but enjoy the visually and audibly loud action sequences. The movie tells the story of Autobots and Decepticons, two alien opposing factions of robots that can transform who are bent on finding the AllSpark, which gives life to lifeless technological things. Decepticons seek it in order to use it to turn Earth’s technology into robots and take over our world (we actually see the AllSpark in action when it transforms a Nokia cell phone, Xbox 360 and Mountain Dew vending machine into robots).

Caught in the middle is the human race led by Sam Witwicky who ends up purchasing an old beat-up Camaro and discovers it’s actually a robot in disguise. The other subplots (such as the whole Section 7 business, army units…) do not add much to the storyline. But then again you’re not here for a great story. You’re here to watch robots transform, and destroy each other. Transformation sequences are truly a marvel to behold, and definitely not possible without our advanced CGI capabilities. Director Michael Bay knows it and the movie is peppered with up-close shots of cars, airplanes and tanks transform into giant robots.

If all you need from your movie is great action sequences, then Transformers will give you pretty good value for 2 hours. I’m hoping that the sequel (due out next year) will be less about exposition, and more about intense battle sequences.

Rating: 75%

Video-game adaptation on the big screen has never been known for its quality, or commercial success, but for some odd reason studios keep greenlighting them. Latest movie I had the chance to catch was Hitman, based on the Hitman videogames. The movie is pretty faithful to the videogame, featuring Agent 47, a bald uber-assassin employed by the uber-shadowy organization known as Organization that has ties to every government. One day, Agent 47 is tasked to kill the president of Russia, and after the job is done, he somehow turns up alive. Now Agent 47 must fight his own peers and the Russian President’s men to save himself and his new-found female friend.

If you expect the story to make logical sense, you are watching the wrong movie. Agent 47 has a UPC tattooed to the back of his head, making him extremely easy to spot in the crowd. Wouldn’t an assassin want to eliminate that? He is tasked to publicly killing the Russian President so that he could be replaced with a body double. Wouldn’t it make more sense to make the switch private so no one can ever suspect it? Also, why is every other assassin that the Organization sends after Agent 47 so incompetent? If Organization wanted to get rid of whoever kills the Russian President afterwards, shouldn’t they have chosen an easier target?

At least the action sequences are pretty good, and that’s about the only positive aspect of the movie. If you are a die-hard fan of the game franchise and have to see how it looks when you are not in control, go ahead and rent this flick. Everyone else can easily find a better action movie to watch than this mess.

Rating: 35%

First movie of the new year! Produced by J.J. Abrams who gave the world Alias, Lost and is the director for the next Star Trek movie, Cloverfield is the best monster movie America has ever produced. At least 20 times less silly than the American remake of Godzilla, this movie handles destruction of New York City much better. The story is told through the viewpoint of several 20-something youth whose night of celebration and partying is rudely interrupted when an unknown monster starts attacking the city. They must rescue other friends and figure out a way to get out of Manhattan alive in this 90 minute tale.

Monster itself is not scary, and this is not a horror flick at all. What’s horrifying is the shakiness of the camera. Borrowing the camera from Blair Witch Project, the movie pretends to be an actual recording from a handheld camera (perhaps one without any optical stabilization feature) by a terrified citizen. If you can stomach the shaky images, then this movie will reward you with realistic looking footages that completely immerse you in the picture. If you can’t stomach it like me, then your money is better spent on other movies.

Cloverfield is better left as a marketing exercise such as movie trailer that refuses to tell you the title of the movie & shaky camera, than a cinematic masterpiece. It fails to live up to the massive hype (then again, what movie can?) but those who can last through the entire movie will be rewarded with fast-paced monster action.

Rating: 50%

Judd Apatow has been on a blockbuster bender and Knocked Up (which I declared the Best Comedy Movie of 2007) further cements the director as the person who has the most insight in real men. This movie portrays childish men at their best: the main character played by Seth Rogen and his friends are as childish as they come, watching movies all the time counting all the nude scenes in them, either drunk and/or high, and no jobs. If they are not the epitome of slacking, I don’t know what is.

On the other hand, Alison Scott (played by Katherine Heigl) is a career-driven woman who knows what she wants. When one night at the club goes horribly wrong, and they have fairly graphic & unprotected sex, Alison discovers she’s pregnant. Defying all expectations, she decides to keep the baby (maybe she’s Catholic?), and Ben must deal with the entire 9 months of pregnancy and the resulting baby. Of course the word "abortion" isn’t uttered even once in this movie, which would be the most realistic conclusion that both of these characters could reach. After all, would you really want your baby’s father to be this unemployed guy who is probably unfit to be a father in the first place?

Anyways, once you get over this absurd choice by the characters, the comedic genius of Judd Apatow shines through. Dialogs are sharply written, and most characters feel realistic and their problems can be found in countless married and unmarried couples in the world. Dealing with pregnancy is an emotional rollercoaster for both mother and father, and the movie portrays it in the accurate way. Unfortunately women characters aren’t fully fleshed out as the guy characters, but nonetheless this vulgar and sometimes graphic comedy has tender moments where Ben and Alison come to terms with their situations, and Ben and his future brother-in-law reveal each other’s emotional troubles while high on mushrooms.

This is clearly the best romantic comedy of the year, and surprisingly, it is not a traditional chick flick. Take that as how you will: what remains is the movie can be enjoyed by almost anyone regardless of gender and age as it chronicles something that most of us has gone through, or will go through (unless you opt for contraceptives and abortions).

Rating: 85%

Hairspray could have easily been the best musical of the year as its incredibly upbeat visuals, music and performances are easily the best in the category. This adaptation of the musical features a positive message of tolerance: people different from us should not be feared but should be treated equally. How can you say no to such a message? The movie wants us to be racially tolerant, accept interracial couples, persons who are weight-challenged, and drag John Travolta in a fat suit.

I was afraid going into the movie that the casting of John Travolta as the mother of the heroine was just a gimmick, but his performance was surprisingly good. He was believable as an overweight woman who is afraid to go outside due to her fear of being ridiculed, and even his scenes with Christopher Walken were simply well done, without being too creepy. Of course it helps to star opposite of THE Christopher Walken…

Set in 1962, the heroine is Tracy Turnblad, an incredibly cheerful high school student who dreams of dancing on "The Corny Collins Show". She finally gets a break even though the station manager Velma (played by Michelle Pfeiffer who is perfect as the villain of the story) disapproves of her. She starts advocating for racial integration on the show through songs and dance numbers. Everyone’s performances are just right and believable: if you enjoy Broadway shows, musicals or just old-fashioned dance numbers, make sure to watch this movie that is miles better than the musical it is based on.

Rating: 85%