The summer movies that didn’t end up being blockbusters are fading fast.

Kevin Costner’s dynamite thriller Mr. Brooks will soon be history and it’s a shame because he is so good and the film is a real nail-biter.

On DVD this week is the action thriller Shooter in which Mark Wahlberg plays a army marksman who was betrayed by his superiors.

He’s coaxed out of retirement in the hills to ward off an assassination attempt only to be set up.

Then he has to go after the people that put his life on the line.

It’s a great chase film and Wahlberg is excellent.

Also on DVD is Blake Snake Moan, filmmaker Craig Brewer’s followup to Hustle & Flow.

In this one a religious blues artist (Samuel L. Jackson) strikes up a most unlikely friendship with a boozing nymphomaniac (Christina Ricci) when her timid boyfriend (Justin Timberlake) goes off to war.

It’s a sultry drama.

Workshop Theatre’s comedy Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting on a Green Park Bench winds up it successful run on Saturday.

It’s a gentle little comedy about approaching and accepting death.

The cast seems to be having as much fun as the audiences.

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If you haven’t caught Kevin Costner’s creepy thriller Mr. Brooks seek it out before it disappears.

Costner is truly menacing as a man addicted to murder.

The heist film The Aura from Argentina is a mindbender as a man becomes part of a casino robbery only to discover he may not live long enough to share the jackpot.

The Aura was the last film of Esteban Espinoza the young filmmaker who made The Nine Queens.

He died of a heart attack not long after completing The Aura.

Out on DVD this week is Renee Zellweger’s Miss Potter, the story of the Edwardian writer who created the Beatrix Potter books that are still thrilling children around the world.

It’s a beautiful touching love story with outstanding performances from Zellweger and Ewan McGregor who plays the publisher who believed in her books and taught her the meaning of love.

Disney is releasing Bridge to Terabithia, a beautiful story about young friendships and the secret worlds children create to escape the harsh realities of the school yard.

This is an outstanding film and one families should purchase not just rent.

The ABBA musical Mamma Mia! winds up its Calgary run at the Jubilee this week.

It’s a big brassy, nostalgic, funny musical about a girl who wants to know the identity of her father.

It’s a flimsy storyline used to weave together 20 vintage ABBA songs.

Audiences love Mamma Mia! which is turning into a Rocky Horror Show phenomenon where people come dressed in boas and sing along to their favourite ABBA tunes.

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This weekend we have superheroes everywhere you look.

At the movies is The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and on DVD, it’s Ghost Rider.

Nicolas Cage plays Johnny Blaze the corpse who won’t stay dead.

He sold his soul to Mephistopheles and can only sort of get it back if he defeats Blackheart (Wes Bentley).

There are some neat special effects but Cage tries too hard to bring angst, anger and confusion to Johnny’s soul instead of just some good old fashioned fire.

The Fantastic Four, Knocked Up and Oceans 13 will dominate the box-office this weekend pushing poor little Surf’s Up even further down the ladder.

If the kids haven’t caught it yet, make the effort because it won’t be around after Disney’s new animated feature Ratatouille hits the screens.

Actually there are sneak previews of Ratatouille this Saturday for those who just can’t wait for these latest animated antics.

With rain promised for most of the weekend in Alberta, it might be a good time to check out three very entertaining dinner theatre productions.

Out in Canmore is Oh Canada Eh? a hilarious vaudeville history lesson.

Out at Rosebud is the Neil Simon comedy The Good Doctor and in Calgary are the final 10 performances of Stage West’s The Canadian Explosion a tribute to 50 years of Canada’s top music talents.

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Well, I stand admonished.

I guess I over reacted to what I viewed as sexism in Knocked Up.

Audiences love it and that includes women.

Monday through Thursday, Knocked Up knocked out Pirates 3 at the box-office and would have ended up in the top spot this week had it not been for George Clooney and his Ocean’s gang.

Still Knocked Up will be second in command when totals are tallied Sunday night.

This week on DVD is the spooky ghost movie The Messengers.

Dylan McDermott and Penelope Ann Miller and their two children move to a farm house to try to rebuild their marriage and family.

The family is harbouring some dark secrets but, then again, so is their new house.

It was the scene of a murder years earlier and the ghost of the murdered child immediately contacts the new young boy who is the only one who can see him at first.

It’s really a rip off of Amityville Horror and it plays more like a Hitchock suspense thriller than a true horror flick.

It’s genuinely creepy with a few great scares.

Calgarians are fortunate indeed because the summer’s live theatre scene is off to a great start.

There’s MobHit’s exciting production of Shakespeare’s gruesome tradegy Titus Andronicus and Theatre Boom’s comic allegory Wedgie. Both are well worth checking out.

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