The Rock emerges as a viable action movie star with his role as a bounty hunter on the verge of retirement in Peter Berg’s action comedy “The Rundown.” Expectations weren’t exactly high after his starring turn in the critically panned prequel to “The Mummy,” “The Scorpion King.” But under Peter Berg’s direction in “The Rundown,” The Rock is able to show off a decent set of acting chops. Even more surprising is the fact that even when he’s not kicking some bad guy’s butt, he’s still extremely believable and entertaining to watch. Believe it or not, after “The Rundown,” you can now add drama and comedy to the list of genres The Rock is capable of tackling.

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Oddball cop and tough guy, Jack Cates is the only survivor of a cop shooting and in hunting down the murderer collects Reggie Hammond from jail for 48 hours. Hammond is oddly motivated to help. The killer is searching for his stash of cash. Cates and Hammond who have the Black-white, cop-crook thing to work out make surprisingly good partners as they navigate through the city looking for their suspect. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

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The governor of a Mexican state is assassinated. Soon after, junior executive Daryl Chase’s life turns upside down: after he flags a huge transfer of funds from a Mexican account as probably illegal, he’s attacked in his apartment, rescued by a CIA agent, finds his secretary shot dead, and witnesses two cops get killed. He calls the CIA guy who tells him to grab the next train to Mexico. Leaving Manhattan, Daryl can’t shake a jive-talking street punk named Freddy, and soon he’s traded clothes with Freddy to escape the police. Within days, his girlfriend, his boss, his client, Freddy, the FBI, and the dead governor’s dog are tangled in a web of deceit and danger. Who’s who? Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}

A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who’s been training him for his upcoming role… Written by austin4577@aol.com

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The sequel picks up 10 years later. “It’s about what happens when that lazy, 20-something malaise lasts into your 30s. Those dudes are kind of still mired, not in that same exact situation, but in a place where it’s time to actually grow up and do something more than just sit around and dissect pop culture and talk about sex,” Smith said during an interview at his Hollywood office. “It’s: What happened to these dudes?” Written by Unknown

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Lauren and Sandy are total opposites who end up in the same acting class and who don’t know they are sharing a lover. When he disappears under mysterious circumstances they refuse to believe that he is dead and are the only ones who are searching for him across several states. Ending up in the western US., they discover he had other interests as they find their lives in danger. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

The men in black are back, looking smooth and fending off another attack by renegade aliens. The first “Men in Black” had to devote a good portion of the film to setting up the premise of a secret agency that monitors aliens on Earth - and then convincing Will Smith’s character to buy into it. “Men in Black II” has the advantage of being able to jump headfirst into the ‘imaginary’ agency’s workings. Along with those stylish guys in dark suits and dark glasses, the Worm Guys are back and so is that pugnacious pug, Frank, with an even more prominent role than in the 1997 film.

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A bounty hunter is on the trail of a conman who skipped bail. The two wind up in a deserted warehouse where they witness a diamond scam in action, caught in the midst they put their differences aside to team up and detain the looters. Written by ze

For the past four years, San Francisco cop Jack Cates has been after an unidentified drug kingpin who calls himself the “Ice Man”. At the Hunter’s Point Raceway, Jack confronts Tyrone Burroughs and Arthur Brock. Jack kills Brock in self defense, but Burroughs escapes, and Jack is in danger of going to prison because Brock’s gun can’t be found. Jack finds a picture that proves that the Ice Man has put a price on the head of Reggie Hammond, who is scheduled to be released from prison on the next day. Jack tries to convince Reggie to help him clear his name and find the Ice Man, but Reggie says he won’t help unless Jack gives Reggie the $500,000 that Jack has been holding on to for Reggie. Jack refuses to give Reggie the money unless Reggie helps him. After the bus that is transporting Reggie away from the prison is forced to crash by two bikers and Jack gets shot by the same two bikers, Jack forces Reggie to help him by having the hospital release Reggie into his custody. Reggie recognized one of the bikers as Richard “Cherry” Ganz, the brother of Albert Ganz, the escaped convict Jack killed years ago. Jack got shot because Cherry wants revenge for Albert’s death, and Cherry and his partner Willie Hickok are the hitmen who have been hired to kill Reggie. Burroughs, who works for the Ice Man, was trying to hire Brock as insurance, just in case Cherry and Hickok fail. Blake Wilson, the head of the Internal Affairs division, obviously doesn’t like Jack, because Wilson will stop at nothing to prosecute Jack for manslaughter in Brock’s death, and it turns out that the Ice Man put a price on Reggie’s head because Reggie knows who the Ice Man is someone Jack never expected it to be. Written by Todd Baldridge

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I didn’t have high hopes when I sat down for a screening of “I Spy.” Let’s face it, there haven’t been that many good buddy films recently and Eddie Murphy’s last couple of films have been real disappointments (Did anyone see “Pluto Nash?”). But I am a fan of Owen Wilson and of Eddie Murphy’s earlier cinematic offerings, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and go into “I Spy” with a mostly open mind.

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