In our Super Bowl Movie Preview last year, we snidely prognosticated that The Matrix would be a crap film, if not because its release date had been bounced around like a basketball, then because it starred Keanu Reeves.

We were really wrong on that one.

Will we make any bonehead calls of that magnitude this year? Only time will tell. Until then, enjoy a closer look at some of the movies that were shoved in front of your face as you scarfed down Doritos during Super Bowl XXXIV.

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Pitch Black

www.pitchblack.com
February 18

The starters: Vin Diesel, Claudia Black, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser; directed by David Twohy

The play-by-play: It's been described as "Scream in space," or in the vein of James Cameron's sci-fi genre classic Aliens. See if you agree after reading the spoiler- filled plot synopsis posted on the film's official website. If you can't be bothered to surf through that document, here's a really short version: starship gets stranded on weird planet, ragtag band of crewmembers are thrown together into stimulating interpersonal conflicts, crew has to deal with unknown alien threat along with the potential threats within their own ranks.

The kick is up, and it's...GOOD! There's been some tremendous buzz building online among movie fan sites, and comparisons to Terminator alongside the films mentioned above. It's a low-budget sci-fi film, which means the filmmakers have a further way to go in making the story and effects believable. On the other hand, if Blair Witch has taught us anything, it's that necessity can be the mother of cinematic revolution.

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Mission to Mars

movies.go.com/m2m
March 10

The starters: Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise, Connie Nielsen, Don Cheadle, Jerry O'Connell; directed by Brian De Palma

The play-by-play: Who said there's no such thing as martians? A manned mission is sent to the Red Planet and is mysteriously lost. NASA wisely decides to send a second team to Mars in an effort to find the first. The second team discovers that there's much more to Mars than meets the astronomical eye, and that some unexpected connections may exist between the secrets of Mars and the history of our own planet.

The kick is up, and it's...instant replay. The plot certainly sounds cool, the special effects showcased in the Super Bowl ad were neat enough and there's some serious cred amongst cast members, specifically Robbins and Sinise. But if history has taught us anything, it's that De Palma is one of Hollywood's biggest wildcard filmmakers. In his hands, this could suck hard or suck slow and sweet.

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U-571

www.u571.com
April 21

The starters: Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Jon Bon Jovi; directed by Jonathan Mostow

The play-by-play: A team of American soldiers in World War II endeavor to steal the Nazi enigma coding device from a U-boat in the Atlantic, thus allowing the Allies to decipher coded Nazi messages and stop the surprise attacks on Allied submarines.

The kick is up, and it's...instant replay. This could be a thinly-veiled attempt to cash in on the recent popularity of WWII war projects. It could be an attempt to score another in the long line of great submarine movies. With a cast that includes Jon Bon Jovi, hopes do not run high. Yet it's almost impossible to really botch a submarine movie, so at the very least, it could turn out to be a serviceable action-suspense thriller.

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Gladiator

www.gladiator-thefilm.com
May 5 (Summer 2000 A.D.)

The starters: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi; produced by Steven Spielberg, David Franzoni and Douglas Wick; directed by Ridley Scott

The play-by-play: Who doesn't love a good Roman costume flick? Nobody, that's who. Crowe portrays Roman General Narcissus Meridas, a wildly successful soldier who falls into Emperor Marcus Aurelius' good graces and is considered a likely heir to the throne. But when Aurelius dies, his twisted son Commodus manipulates his way into power and banishes Narcissus to the gladiator pits, where he must battle for survival while plotting his revenge against the man who doomed him to the bloody arena.

The kick is up, and it's...GOOD! Ridley Scott? Gladiators? Russell Crowe? Dude, I'm SO there! Seriously, the trailers and commercials for this film are so packed with adrenaline that it makes the mind drool, and Crowe is an actor who's been due for a major breakout blockbuster role for a long time. Check out those shots of him prowling the arena pit in battle with a tiger and see if they don't set your pulse to racing. Spielberg's name in the credits never hurts, either. A definite summer contender.

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Titan A.E.

www.afterearth.com
June 16

The starters: The voices of Matt Damon, Bill Pullman, Drew Barrymore, Nathan Lane, Hank Azaria, Jim Breuer

The play-by-play: Earth is devastated by a malevolent race of aliens, sending the lone survivors of the planet off in a massive spaceship. An Earth scientist has hidden the key to restoring Earth somewhere in the galaxy, and only his son Cale (Damon) can find the device and put it to use in reconstructing the humans' rightful home.

The kick is up, and it's...NO GOOD! Animation maven Don Bluth is the man behind this film. His past credits include All Dogs Go To Heaven and The Land Before Time--nothing awful, but nothing remarkable either. Combine that with the dicey nature of the premise--straight-ahead sci-fi rendered in feature-length animated form--and the failure potential only grows. If it works, it will be an amazing surprise, but based on historical precedent, success seems unlikely.

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The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps

www.universalpictures.com/theklumps
July 27

The starters: Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson; directed by Peter Segal

The play-by-play: Professor Sherman Klump (Murphy) thinks he finally has his act together--until his arch-nemesis and alter-ego, Buddy Love (Murphy) , returns to cause more trouble. Klump is about to be married to Denise (Jackson) and has developed a youth serum that turns back time, which he hides in his family's house to keep from Buddy. Buddy manages to escape and heads to the Klump household to find the serum, while Sherman has to conquer time itself to restore his life to normalcy and wed his love Denise.

The kick is up, and it's...instant replay. Yeah, yeah, we know--sequels suck. And while the first Nutty Professor was amusing mindless summer fun, it hardly merits a sequel. But Murphy's gifts as a comedic actor are undeniable--he'll no doubt make his multiple characters once again riotous--and American Pie screenwriters Chris and Paul Weitz make for interesting choices as writers on this project. Such an interesting pairing of styles could make for a really fun summer comedy, but don't hold your breath--remember Beverly Hills Cop 3?