I'm going to ask a poll question about this, but that's probably going to be of limited interest, since people will vote for titles they recognize now (Star Wars) and not necessarily pick the movie they'd be most excited about if they knew what was coming.

So my question to you forum readers and movie goers is, what movies are you most interested in seeing this summer? Here's a brief rundown of the major titles being released to theaters up until mid-August or so.

May 16 - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Nothing needs to be said about this. Everybody will see it, even though the backlash against Episode I was harsh. Probably won't out-gross Spiderman, though, which is pretty surprising.

May 24 - Insomnia

Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank star in a crime thriller by Christopher Nolan, who directed Memento. Williams is good in dramatic roles, although I've never seen him in a thriller. Pacino is always good. And I can't be the only one interested in seeing how Nolan follows up the brilliant Memento.

May 24 - Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

These days DreamWorks is arguably as if not more reliable than Disney for producing really good animated feature films. Whether this one will hold up the standard, I don't know, but anyone who knows my wife will know where I will be on May 24th.

May 31 - The Sum of All Fears

Tom Clancy's hero Jack Ryan returns to the screen after a long absence (previously appearing in Clear and Present Danger, in which he was played by Harrison Ford). Chief Charles E. Davis of the U.S. Air Force calls it "one of the most technically correct movies in a long time." Many are dubious about Ben Affleck being able to handle the character, but the word from early screenings is very good. A more important concern is how the film's subject matter will be received. It's the first major film that wrestles seriously with themes of terrorism to be released after September 11th. (I don't count the Arnold Schwarzenegger flick Collateral Damage, made before September 11 but released afterward, as it used terrorism as a base for escapism. The Sum of All Fears, while still a commercial thriller, would treat its subject matter more realistically, as in previous Jack Ryan films The Hunt For Red October and Patriot Games.)

June 7 - Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

I read about this, I saw the trailer, and I still don't have any idea what this is all about. The tagline is "Mothers. Daughters. The never-ending story of good vs. evil." It marks the directing debut of screenwriter Callie Khouri, who wrote one movie I like (Something To Talk About) and one I did not (Thelma & Louise). The cast is impressive: Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, James Garner, Ashley Judd, Maggie Smith. Shrug.

June 14 - Scooby-Doo

A live-action Scooby-Doo movie with a computer generated Scooby -- if that isn't a humorously outrageous premise for a movie, I don't know what is. Anyway, I never liked the cartoon, so I don't know why I'd like this movie.

June 14 - Windtalkers

John Woo's World War II movie with Nicolas Cage. Woo and WWII may not seem like much of a fit, and Woo is not a reliably good director. But when he's good, he's very good, and I can see how his use of ultra-violence for anti-violence would fit perfectly in a film about World War II. A reviewer on the IMDb describes it as "pure adrenaline, struggling, and in the midst of it all, a crazy sense of re-rationalizing." Enthusiastic early word of mouth is often suspect, but if Woo can pull off something close to that, I'm there.

June 14 - The Bourne Identity

Matt Damon was trained by the government to be the perfect assassin. But he washes up out of the Mediterranean with amnesia and has no idea who he is or why government agents are trying to kill him. I'm cautiously optimistic about this one. The premise has a lot of potential, and while things like it have been done, there is a lot left unmined.

June 18 - Air Bud 4: Seventh Inning Fetch

Bet you didn't even know there was an Air Bud 3.

June 21 - Lilo & Stitch

How odd that DreamWorks would be doing the Disney-like animated film, while Disney would be doing the...non-Disney-like animated film. An extra-terrestrial fugitive is adopted by a Hawaiian girl. Rated PG for "mild sci-fi action." Strange.

June 21 - Minority Report

Steven Spielberg directs Tom Cruise in a movie based on a Philip K. Dick novel. The idea is, in the future, the police force can learn of crimes before they happen and arrest the perpetrators for crimes they would have committed had they not been arrested first. Cruise plays a cop who suddenly finds himself a wanted man. I'm lukewarm on Tom Cruise, but Spielberg is The Man.

June 28 - Mr. Deeds

Adam Sandler remakes the classic Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. Spare me.

July 3 - Men In Black 2

Enough said.

July 12 - Crocodile Hunter: The Collision Course

Can you believe this? Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin saves a crocodile from poachers, but what he doesn't know is that the poachers are the CIA and the crocodile has swallowed a top secret U.S. satellite beacon. The Crocodile Hunter is better in small doses, I suspect. I can't imagine this movie will be well liked. I must say, however, that the trailer, in which Steve Irwin marvels at the powerful jowls and mighty roar of the MGM lion, is one of the most hilarious trailers I've ever seen.

July 12 - Reign of Fire

Matthew McConaughey wages war with dragons in a post-apocalyptic future. Hollywood needs ideas.

July 12 - Road To Perdition

Sam Mendez (American Beauty) directs Tom Hanks in a drama about a hit man. This is another one that strikes me as really odd, although not without potential. I don't know what this is doing in summer. Summer is traditionally reserved for movies that sell well; movies that slip in under the radar tend never to surface. A fall release would permit this movie to gather an audience as word of mouth spreads. But what do I know? I have no idea what this is all about.

July 19 - Stuart Little 2

Gah.

July 19 - Halloween: Resurrection

I wanna know why the makers of slasher series put up pretenses about killing off the recurring badguys when, no matter how dead they get, somehow there's another movie. Michael Myers was pretty thoroughly dead at the end of Halloween: 20 Years Later, but now we "find out" that it wasn't Michael Myers behind the mask after all. Ok, whatever. In this episode, a reality TV show boards up strangers in Michael Myers' old home, but then things start to go wrong.

July 19 - Eight Legged Freaks

Giant spiders walk all over the city in this horror/comedy. I'm weary of horror/comedies. How about some, you know, actual horror? Arachnophobia was great.

July 26 - Austin Powers in Goldmember

I liked the first Austin Powers. I didn't like the second. If the ante is upped still further, I'm pretty certain I won't like this either.

August 2 - Signs

M. Night Shyamalan has yet to err with me, and Mel Gibson is one of my favorite modern actors. I'm pumped for this.

August 2 - XXX

Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson star in what looks like a really noisy brainless action movie. In spite of the fact that Samuel L. Jackson is smooooth, I don't see this as being anything but obnoxious and irritating.

August 7 - Spy Kids 2: The Island of the Lost Dreams

The first Spy Kids film was an uncommonly popular family fantasy. Whether this holds up to the original or not, I cannot speculate.

August 14 - Blood Work

A retired FBI director (Clint Eastwood) is hired by a woman to investigate the death of her sister, who happens to have given Eastwood his heart in a heart transplant. The transplant angle makes me wonder, but the screenplay is by Brian Helgeland, who has written a number of films I like if not love: L.A. Confidential, Conspiracy Theory, Payback, A Knight's Tale.... Thing is, he also wrote the screenplay for The Postman, but I suppose everybody has to crash and burn at least once. Eastwood directs -- another point in the movie's favor.

August 16 - The Adventures of Pluto Nash

A movie that involves both the mafia AND outer space cannot be called timid. But Eddie Murphy does NOT have a good track record with me. I think he's quite talented, but I generally deplore the material he works with. The last Eddie Murphy comedy I liked (excluding animated films like Shrek) was Bowfinger, in which he shared the spotlight with Steve Martin. Before that, Coming To America in 1988. If the pattern continues, I shouldn't expect to like an Eddie Murphy movie again until 2010.

August 16 - The Tuxedo

Jackie Chan? I'm there.

August 16 - Simone

Andrew Niccol wrote two recent films that I treasure highly: The Truman Show and Gattaca, different in every way except in the underlying themes about the triumph of humanity in dehumanizing circumstances. Niccol knows how to write films with substance and food for thought while not forgetting that movies are basically about entertainment. So I am more than a little intrigued by Simone, a movie about a producer that creates a digital actress for his film when the real actress walks out. The subject of this movie couldn't be more relevant, and I can't even imagine what thought-provoking things Andrew Niccol (who directs as well as writes) would have to say about it. Moreover, the stars, Al Pacino and Catherine Keener, are eminently reliable.