The way Hollywood’s peculiar calendar figures it, summer is little more than a month away. Here’s a look at the latest trailers for eight of the season’s tentpole flicks, rated from one to four stars:
IRON MAN 2 (May 7)****
“I want to make Iron Man look like an antique,” vows rival industrialist Sam Rockwell in this hugely appealing trailer. “I want one of those,” Robert Downey Jr. quips to Gwyneth Paltrow upon seeing Scarlett Johansson — plus Mickey Rourke and Samuel L. Jackson suiting up for lots of heavy-metal action.
TOY STORY 3 (June 18)***
“Nice ass-cot” coos Barbie after a decidedly metrosexual Ken compliments her leg warmers in Pixar’s belated 3-D sequel. Buzz, Woody and Andy’s other toys (including Lotso, pictured, voiced by Ned Beatty) plot to escape from the day-care center where they’ve been donated. Sophisticated wit and gorgeous images indicate another Pixar hit.
ROBIN HOOD (May 14)**
“What we ask for is limited — limited by law,” says the title character played by Russell Crowe in what looks an awful lot like “Gladiator 2” or, less promisingly, Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven 2.” Cate Blanchett (as Maid Marion) and co-narrator William Hurt lend gravitas to Scott’s familiar-looking action scenes.
SEX AND THE CITY 2 (May 27)**
“Get Carried Away!” is the desperate tag line for this sequel, which appears to have photographed Sarah Jessica Parker and her aging gal pals much more carefully than its predecessor. Nothing of the plot is revealed, save a glimpse of a wedding (apparently Carrie’s second attempt) and the foursome in Morocco.
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE (June 30)**
“I’m going to fight for you until your heart stops beating,” Jacob (Taylor Lautner) tells Bella (Kristen Stewart) to woo her away from Edward (Robert Pattinson) in this corny trailer, which should do nothing to deter female fans of the franchise — and repel their boyfriends.
SHREK FOREVER AFTER (May 21)**
Tired-looking fourth (and, they promise, final) chapter has Shrek sent by Rumplestiltskin (voice of Paul McCartney) into an alternate-universe version of Far Far Away where Lord Farquhar (John Lithgow returns from the first film and Puss ’N Boots is now a fat cat.
SALT (July 23)***
Kick-ass trailer with Angelina Jolie as a CIA agent on the run after she’s implicated in a presidential assassination plot. Jumping off trucks, from subway cars, out of police cars onto a ramp of the Queensboro Bridge. What’s not to like?
THE A TEAM (June 11)***
A cigar-chomping Liam Neeson leads a band of renegade Iraq war veterans in this updated version of the ’70s TV show. High point: Bradley Cooper continues firing at bad guys from a tank that’s falling through the air.
