> 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?

I have a reputation among Stephen which I think is totally undeserved - that I hate movies. This is emphatically not the case. I love movies - I just hate movie *theatres.* As such, I typically wait for things to come out on DVD before I see them. It takes a lot of effort for a movie to get me to go see it in the theatre; I think the last one was whichever of "Shaft" and "Rocky & Bullwinkle" I saw last, and I only went to those in the theatre because a few friends of mine (whom I see once every age of the world) were going.

That said, I shan't be going to any of these films in the theatre (Star Wars at the drive-in might be an option, though). In fact, the nature of summer movies being what it is, I'm generally not very excited about them at all. They tend to be all noise and no signal, if you see what I mean.

> 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.

I've not actually seen Episode I yet. Gotta do that sometime.

> 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.

Of the movies on this list, this is probably the one I'm most interested in. Swank is not my favourite (though I imagine she can be good, as she's won an Oscar), and I have reservations about Williams in a thriller, but it sounds interesting. And, you're right; Pacino rules.

> 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.

I could go either way on this one. I always had a soft spot for the old cartoons, but I've not been very impressed with the promotional footage for the movie. I'll probably catch it eventually.

> 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.

That description does make it sound appealing, but I don't like Woo *or* Cage. So I'll probably wait on what other people have to say about it.

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

The only reason I know there's an Air Bud 2 is because I saw it listed on the Dizzy Channel one time while I was checking what was on.

> 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 think it has potential. The promos have not been entirely crap, but I'm concerned that two hours of Stitch would be too much. I'm also concerned that the plot might be a crap rip-off of E.T., but I'm not certain.

> June 28 - Mr. Deeds
>
> Adam Sandler remakes the classic Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. Spare me.

Good Lord. Adam Sandler? You mean directing? That'll be one to skip.

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

Pretty much. Didn't like the first one, probably won't like the second one either.

> 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.

Never been a Crocodile Hunter fan, but it sounds like it could work if it's done skillfully enough. Certainly has more potential than that eval Adam Sandler film, anyhow.

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

How can you say that immediately following the snippet from the Crocodile Hunter movie? ;-}

Seriously, yeah. Gag me with a rerun.

> July 19 - Stuart Little 2
>
> Gah.

Hey, it could be worse. At least they aren't making anything like Air Bud 4. Oh, wait; nevermind.

> 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.

Won't be able to touch Jason X.

> 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 ROCKED. I saw that in the theatre, actually. If they rereleased that instead of Eight Legged Freaks, I might even go see it in the theatre again.

> 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.

Me, I liked the first one and never saw the second. I'll probably maintain that track record and not see the third one, 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.

Not a gigantic fan of Gibson, but I think he's good. I know nothing about this movie, though, so I'll wait for more info. As it stands, I don't even know if it's about traffic signs or signs from above or sign language or what. ;-}

> 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.

Never heard of Vin Diesel. Sam Jack is smooooth, though, but I don't know. I don't dig "really noisy." Part of what I liked about "Shaft" is that it knew how to be quiet as well as how to be loud.

> 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.

I like Eddie Murphy himself; I think he's a very capable comic actor, but I don't tend to care for his films. I liked the first Doctor Dolittle movie, but that's about all for his recent work. I think I'd like him more if he stuck to acting and stayed the heck away from the script. He's a lousy director and an insufferable screenwriter.

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

Maybe you'll get to sit next to my brother. ;-}

> 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.

Al Pacino? In TWO summer movies? Rock. I'm there for this one. If by "there" you mean "sitting at home watching it in my living room," which is what I'll end up doing unless a bunch of people come back from seeing it and absolutely glow. The Truman Show rocked, but I've not seen Gattaca. In fact, the only thing I know about the latter film is that Wes jumped up my butt a few years back for spelling it "Gattica" by mistake. Oh, and, as a consequence, I know that it has something to do with DNA. Me, I thought it was about boxing or something.

The only film not on your list that interests me at all is The Powerpuff Girls. I'm middling-fair on the cartoon; it amuses me greatly at times, and bores me to tears at other times. If the movie is more of the former than the latter, I'm sure to like it.

Dar "This is the post written by me that expresses the viewpoints that I hold about the movies that will be shown in the theatres where they show such movies this summer which is later than when it is now since it is now only spring and summer comes next" ien Jojo