Superheroes, stoners and scary singing! Our critic looks back
BEST IN SHOW
The Dark Knight's riveting actors (led by Heath Ledger as the chilling Joker) and relentless storytelling made it the greatest superhero film ever.
FUNNIEST PERFORMANCE, INTENTIONAL
In a summer packed with hilarious roles, none matched the comic calibration of James Franco's barely there pothead in Pineapple Express.
FUNNIEST PERFORMANCE, UNINTENTIONAL
He gave it the old college try, but whenever Pierce Brosnan broke into song in Mamma Mia!, we couldn't keep a straight face. "S.O.S." indeed.
SUMMER MVP, MALE
Stick him in a metal suit (Iron Man) or blackface (Tropic Thunder), and Robert Downey Jr.'s brilliance still can't be muzzled. Even his The Incredible Hulk cameo was the best thing in that disappointing film.
SUMMER MVP, FEMALE
Her films were much smaller than Downey's, but Penélope Cruz's turns in Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Elegy were just as unforgettable.
WORST ENDING
Who's the bigger sucker: Sex and the City's Carrie for ditching her individualistic ideals yet again, or us for continuing to watch her do so?
BEST COMEBACK
Tom Cruise has often been a punch line in recent years, but his foul-mouthed, fat-suited turn as a studio exec in Tropic Thunder finally had us laughing for the right reasons.
LEAST MEMORABLE
Raiders of the Lost Ark still resonates after 27 years, yet the disposable Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull—poof!—faded from memory moments after viewing. Are we positive it actually came out this summer?
MOST ROMANTIC
The touching courtship between two robots in Wall-E perfectly captured first love in all its gawky glory.
• It was a movie that launched a generation of Hollywood heartthrobs and leading men. A look back at the '80s teen classic
Back in 1983, a group of up-and-coming young actors starred as warring teens in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders—the movie version of S.E. Hinton's beloved coming-of-age novel. Twenty-five years later, fans still approach Ralph Macchio—who played the ill-fated Johnny—to recite favorite lines. "People yell out, 'Stay gold!' and, 'Do it for Johnny!'" says Macchio, now 46. But the movie is also legendary for its cast, which included Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon and others who went on to stardom. "When it came out there was a sense of immediate chaos—I felt like we were a part of the Beatles," says C. Thomas Howell, 41, who played sensitive Ponyboy. The adulation continues today: After Howell's 15-year-old daughter recently screened the film for pals, "now she says, 'Dad, it's really creepy, all my friends think you're hot.'"
• The actress, 36, plays an adulteress in the new drama Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys. Offscreen, she's much wiser about romance.
WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET
A lot of people get into relationships hoping that somebody's going to become something that they're not. The person you get is the person you're going to have.
DATING AND WORKING DON'T MIX
One of my boyfriends was an actor I met on-set, Omar Epps. It's harder for me when you are working with people you have a relationship with.
BIGGER IS BETTER
I'm dating Adewale Ogunleye. He's on the Chicago Bears. I'm a tall, big-boned girl, and he makes me feel like a little delicate flower.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
I was never into football, and I had to read Football for Dummies when I met him. Now I'm a real big fan.
SOMEDAY YOUR PRINCE WILL COME
Adewale is a Nigerian prince. That makes me a princess, right?
In the animated sequel, opening Nov. 7, Willow voices a baby version of her mom's sassy hippo Gloria
ONLY IN People
She worked with dad Will Smith in last year's I Am Legend, and now Willow keeps it in the family again with mom Jada in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. When she provided the voice for a flashback scene featuring Jada's hippo Gloria, her mom "helped me with so many things," says Willow, 7. "She was like, 'Willow, you're me. Come on, act like me!'" Playing the same character wasn't much of a stretch for Willow, who already shares many traits with Jada. "We both love to read, and we both love to journal and write," says Jada. And while Willow has plenty of love for both Mom and Dad, at the end of the day, "She's a mommy's girl," says Jada. "She always has been to me."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
