Happy belated 4th of July to all you War Movie Mondays fans. In celebration of our nation’s 235th anniversary, this week’s pick salutes American submariners of World War II with U-571 (2000) directed by Jonathan Mostow.

The film stars Matthew McConaughey (Lt. Andrew Tyler) Bill Paxton (Capt. Mike Dahlgren), Harvey Keitel (Chief Gunner’s Mate Henry Klough), Jon Bon Jovi (Lt. Peter Emmet), and David Keith (Maj. Matthew Coonan).

U-571 is a fictional account about a U.S. Navy submarine crew which boards, and captures a German U-boat in the Spring of 1942 in order to seize the German’s secret cipher machine code named: Enigma. The device allowed the German high command to transmit radio messages to their U-boat fleet which were destroying the vital convoy lines from America to Britain. The code was unique and made it impossible for the allies to determine the German’s plans in the early stages of the war.

The film is superbly acted and won an Academy Award for Best Sound, but the film was not very well received in both England and Germany. The film was bashed in Britain due to the fact that the British were the first to ever capture an Enigma coding device in the war courtesy of the HMS Bulldog and HMS Aubretia of the 3rd Escort Group in the North Atlantic on May 9th 1941, seven months before the U.S. entered the war. Critics in Germany were none to thrilled of the way U-boat crewmen were portrayed.

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It’s interesting how many films never make it to a second sequel. There are a few that sneak under the radar, such as Critters or Home Alone, but for the most part, many of the films that get trilogies are big budget films. That rule apparently doesn’t apply to the upcoming third film from the Meet The Parents franchise.

Many remember 2004′s Meet the Fockers, which was one of the first films to put Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman in the same frame. The film kept interest piqued enough to garner a second sequel, which will be hitting the silver screen this winter.

From what we picked up in the trailer, Greg and Pam (Ben Stiller & Teri Polo) get an unexpected visit from the Byrnes (Blythe Danner & Robert De Niro) and, much like in the previous films, things get a little wacky. Owen Wilson and Barbara Streisand rejoin the cast, alongside newcomers Jessica Alba, Harvey Keitel, and Laura Dern.

Check out the first trailer for the film after the jump, and chase after the Little Fockers in theaters on December 22nd.

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While most comic fans are getting ready for this Friday’s release of Kick-Ass in theaters, they can get into the average-guy-superhero today, as the indie super hero flick Defendor hits DVD stores everywhere.

The film stars Woody Harrelson as a regular guy-turned night crusader. Also starring is Kat Dennings, Elias Koteas, and Sandra Oh. It’s got a great message, some funny moments, and a tone that’s very reminiscent of classic Batman stories.

We recently got a chance to sit down with Nicholas Tabarrok, producer of the film, and he shed some light on Defendor, as well as where he and writer/director Peter Stebbings plan on taking the character from here.

The Flickcast: For those who aren’t aware already, what can you tell us about your new film, Defendor?

Nicholas Tabarrok: It’s about a regular guy (Harrelson) who read comic books as a kid. Kind of a slow guy who lives in a bit of a fantasy world, and he thinks that he’s a super hero. So he’s got a homemade costume and homemade weapons, and at night he goes out there and patrols the streets looking for bad guys. All he wants to do is help people and do some good.

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