The Pitch
Newlyweds (Jovovich, Zahn) honeymooning in Hawaii run into a couple of psycho hikers (Olyphant, Sanchez). Unpleasantness breaks out.

The Scoop
There's no doubt that Olyphant and Zahn have it in them to deliver first-rate performances: Check out Olyphant's Seth Bullock in the magnificent HBO series "Deadwood" and Zahn's doomed POW in "Rescue Dawn." But "Resident Evil"'s first lady and "Lost"'s Sanchez ... not so much. Director Twohy's ridden Vin Diesel from "Pitch Black" to "The Chronicles of Riddick" but has yet to reach cinematic high ground. Hard to see "Getaway" as anything more than one more chance for slice and dice, this time in Paradise -- especially since it's been shelved for a year or so.

The Pitch
A cadre of superhero types based in Belgium battle international evil, especially the Cobra Corp. Once a Hasbro toy, then a cartoon, G.I. Joe now comes to life on the big screen, hoping to get him some of that "Transformers" summer box-office loot.

The Scoop
If you're electrified by "The Mummy" movies and the mindless wham-bang! which director Sommers delivers so artfully, then you'll want to jack into "G.I. Joe" for more of the same. But maybe "Joe"'s ripped cast can turn this superhero hoedown into something more than CGI'd kid stuff. When Quaid calls his Gen. Hawk "a mixture between Chuck Yeager, Sgt. Rock and a naïve Hugh M. Hefner," who wouldn't cough up the price of a ticket to check out such an unholy combination? Along with Hawk, you've got your Cobra Commander, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Heavy Duty, Ripcord -- the cream of toy town's warrior class. The big question is: To save the world, can "G.I. Joe" blow up more stuff louder than "Transformers"?

The Pitch
A team of bomb-defusing soldiers -- Americans stationed in Iraq -- face death on a daily basis. Every bid for human connection fails, except for the ambiguous, often brutal bonds among warriors.

The Scoop
Hard to believe a woman directed "The Hurt Locker," but Kathryn Bigelow's taste for brutal, gorgeously choreographed action and warrior camaraderie has always been muscular and smart -- see "Point Break," "Blue Steel" and "Strange Days." From the get-go, her latest takes your breath away and makes your nerves hum with tension. The battleground could be anywhere -- this superb action film catches the psychic climate of war, the warrior mentality that feeds on and ultimately becomes addicted to adrenalin-fueled action, a turn-on that can't be equaled by anything in peacetime.

The Pitch
With cinephile Tarantino at the helm, the story will always be movies, movies, movies. Borrowing its deliberately misspelled title from "Inglorious Bastards," a bottom-of-the-barrel Italian WWII flick, QT's latest is a mad foray into alternative history where a Dirty Dozen bunch of avenging Jews, led by Tennessee redneck Aldo Raine (Pitt), wreck havoc on the Third Reich.

The Scoop
Either you dig Tarantino's meta-cinematic extravaganzas or you don't -- hardly anyone's lukewarm about his one-of-a-kind characters, paragraphs-long dialogue pulsing with smarts and pop-culture references, superkinetic action, crazy-funny yet often deeply moving caper- and revenge-flicks. In this movie-made genius's universe, it's only natural that Hitler and his henchmen should be outgunned by great cinema. Among the Basterd Bunch are torture-pornmeister Roth (he directed part of the Nazi film-within-the film) and, improbably, metrosexual B.J. Novak, longtime object of Michael's desire in "The Office." Word is that Christoph Waltz, playing a merciless Jew hunter, steals the show. Be there or be square.

The Pitch
Somewhere in scenic Spain -- or in the landscapes of the imagination -- a mysterious stranger (de Bankolé) has a job to do. Is this enigmatic fellow a hit man? An angel of vengeance? Moving toward his initially unknown goal, he might be dreaming a world that teams with idiosyncratic types given to sharing unexpected profundities.

The Scoop
If you love indie director Jarmusch's highly idiosyncratic, stylistically stunning journey movies -- "Dead Man," "Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai," "Broken Flowers" -- you will be jonesin' to see his latest dreamquest. His star -- de Bankolé -- is one of the best actors on the planet (seen most recently on TV's "24"). And check out that cast, many of whom have previously collaborated with Jarmusch: Tilda Swinton (all dolled-up in platinum-blond pageboy and white London Fog), Bernal, Murray, Alex Descas, John Hurt. Who wouldn't buy a ticket for this mind-trip?

The Pitch
A UPS driver (Donald Faison), who screws up so consistently his boss -- his own mother! -- is about to fire him, delivers a carton full of cocaine to the wrong address. Lethal comedy and extreme violence erupt as a big-time coke dealer goes after everybody connected to the missing shipment.

The Scoop
Music-video director Benny Boom helms his first movie that unfortunately sounds like a raunchier, contemporary version of "Uptown Saturday Night." Remains to be seen if this gifted cast -- Faison (TV's "Scrubs"), Mos Def, Wood Harris (TV's "The Wire"), Epps -- can get "Air" out of the past and off the ground.

The Pitch
From 1933 to 1934, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI took on the superstar outlaws of the Great Depression, up to and especially including son of the heartland John Dillinger.

The Scoop
For lovers of high style and dangerous charisma, "Enemies" might turn out to be the died-and-gone-to-heaven movie blowout of the year. The role of rock-star bad boy Johnny Dillinger seems so perfect for Johnny Depp that we wonder why it took this long for Jack Sparrow to shape-change into the charismatic '30s gangster. And who better than Michael Mann ("Miami Vice," "Crime Story," "Collateral") to direct the most legendary era in the annals of American crime-busting? Crudup plays Hoover; Bale is Melvin Purvis, the dogged G-man who chased Dillinger to the bitter end; and ace  cinematographer Dante Spinotti ("Heat," "The Last of the Mohicans," "L.A. Confidential") is on board to make it all look real -- and gorgeous.

The Pitch
A New York Transit Authority cop coordinates efforts to foil a quartet of bad guys who have seized a subway train and are holding its passengers for ransom. The challenge is all the greater in that the leading hostage-taker (Travolta) is a former mercenary approaching his mission with military precision and an icy philosophical detachment.

The Scoop
The 1974 version of the John Godey suspense novel offered a hogfeast of ace character actors (with Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw as the prime adversaries) under the crisp, no-nonsense direction of Joseph Sargent. The new cast includes plenty of solid talent -- including Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris on "The Wire") and Chance Kelly (Godfather in "Generation Kill") -- plus a screenplay by Brian Helgeland ("L.A. Confidential," "Mystic River"). Question is whether director Scott will be content to let a grabby thriller story unfold on its own terms or give it his usual blow-sh-t-up music video treatment.