> 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.

I haven't heard of a lot of these, so if I skip one, it's probably on that list.

> 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.

Really? I haven't heard the figures for Spider-Man, so I suppose it's possible. Anyway, I'm going to see Episode 2 for the opening show, but I'm not too hyped about it. I'll probably enjoy it quite a bit, but my hopes aren't as high as they were for Episode 1, which should help a lot.

> May 24 - Insomnia

I haven't seen Memento yet (I really must get around to that) but I am looking forward to this one. It may not be this summer, though, since I tend to put off seeing movies for a variety of reasons.

> May 24 - Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

No plans to see it.

> May 31 - The Sum of All Fears

This is basically the first I had heard of this, and while I have only seen Red October (of the others) I would like to catch the rest of them and then see this. Also, I would eventually like to read some Tom Clany novels. I've read excerpts, but just never got around to reading entire books.

> 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.

Not too interested in this one myself.

> 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.

I think I saw a trailer for this. I'm vaguely interested.

> June 18 - Air Bud 4: Seventh Inning Fetch
>
> Bet you didn't even know there was an Air Bud 3.

Bet I did.

> 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.

I'm pretty interested in this, simply because it is so weird for Disney. I found that "The Emporer's New Groove" was very enjoyable for the older audience, and I hope to see something similar here.

> 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.

I love the premise. I don't think Cruise can mess it up, and I'll probably see it.

> July 3 - Men In Black 2
>
> Enough said.

I am surprisingly unexcited about this one, but I will see it. I think my lack of excitement is a safety measure.

> 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.

Haven't seen the trailer, but now I hope to. I won't be seeing the movie, though.

> July 12 - Reign of Fire
>
> Matthew McConaughey wages war with dragons in a post-apocalyptic future. Hollywood needs ideas.

Agreed.

> July 19 - Stuart Little 2
>
> Gah.

Agreed.

> 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.

Horror = TEH SUKC. Well, slasher "horror", anyway. Won't see this, even if someone else pays.

> 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.

Arachnophobia scared the bejeebus out of me. Haven't heard of this one, don't want to see it.

> 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.

Sounds like how I felt. I have already decided to skip this one no matter what I hear about it.

> 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.

This is the first I have heard of this one, and I'm already excited.

> 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.

Saw a trailer. Hated it. Mocked it.

> 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.

Doesn't sound like my thing. I loved Payback, though, and the parts of Conspiracy Theory that I saw... Need to see L.A. Confidential before I watch this one, though.

> August 16 - The Adventures of Pluto Nash

No plans to see it.

> August 16 - The Tuxedo
>
> Jackie Chan? I'm there.

Hadn't heard of it yet. Will keep my eyes open.

> 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.

I still need to see The Truman Show. Cripes, I'm behind. This one sounds interesting to me.

Don "Has never seen and will never see an Air Bud movie" Monkey