It's that time again. Here are the highlights of this summer's movie season and some initial thoughts. All of the projections here are subject to change; whatever I might anticipate or dread, I'm open-minded when I fire up a movie and start to watch it. Surprises happen.


April 16 - Kill Bill, Vol. II

The summer starts here. I just caught Vol. I earlier this week. I was minorly disappointed, but I loved the fun it had with its creative heritage.

April 16 - The Punisher

I'm as uninterested in this as in Hellboy. The resurgence in popularity of comic book movies is causing desperation in a lot of studios. As with Hellboy, does anybody other than comic book fanatics care about this? Maybe it'll draw a secondary audience from starved action junkies who can't wait for the summer to start in earnest.

April 23 - Man On Fire

Denzel Washington teams up with director Tony Scott for a revenge thriller. Washington is almost always watchable, but the material screams retread, retread, retread.

April 23 - 13 Going On 30

I'm suspicious of this one, too. It stars Jennifer Garner as a 13 year old who wakes up one day as a 30 year old woman. Rip Van Winkle as a romantic teen comedy? Garner is talented, but this sounds pretty cornball.

April 23 - Clifford's Big Movie

When I was a kid younger than most of my memories, I love these books. But unlike a lot of childhood fascinations, this isn't one I care about revisiting. Certainly not as a movie.

April 30 - Mean Girls

Lindsay Lohan, who has so far built her career on better-than-average Disney remakes (Freaky Friday, The Parent Trap), is hot right now, but the demographic is all wrong for me. The early word suggests this could be pretty good; for me the question is whether I care.

April 30 - The Laws of Attraction

As far as I can tell, this film won't stray a whit from the tried-and-true romantic comedy formula. Only the cast changes from one to another, and the remarkable thing about it all is that a little intriguing casting is all it takes for these to work. This time it's Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore, which is exactly that. I keep hoping one of these things is going to forge some new territory, but mostly I'm happy if the writing has some cleverness to it.

April 30 - Envy

So, the pairing of Ben Stiller and Jack Black shouldn't surprise anyone. They're two of a group of young comic actors who will eventually have worked with each other in all conceivable combinations. The weird part is that the director is Barry Levinson, a hit or miss director whose filmography includes a lot of different kinds of things that are not comedies starring Ben Stiller and Jack Black. This is, on a lesser scale, kind of like Francis Ford Coppola directing "Jack." Levinson hasn't had a good movie since 1997's Wag the Dog, and this doesn't feel like a project likely to recover the days of Good Morning Vietnam, Diner, The Natural, or Rain Man. All the same, Stiller and Black can both be funny with the right material.

May 7 - New York Minute

The Olsen Twins in a slapstick farce. I'm such a huge Olsen Twins fan, I even swiped one of the poll questions they had on their web site and used it on mine. ("WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU CAN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT? LIP GLOSS, HAIR BRUSH, OR MINTS???")

May 7 - Van Helsing

Now here is where it's at. Somehow it was inevitable that someone would make a Van Helsing movie where Van Helsing was younger, buffer, and armed to the teeth -- monster exterminator, extraordinaire. He takes on not just Dracula, but Frankenstein and the Wolf Man, much like Abbott and Costello memorably did in 1948. Sacrilege? Maybe, but remember that director Stephen Sommers previously committed similar atrocities against Imhotep, with wildly successful results. Let's just hope Van Helsing is more Mummy than Mummy Returns.

May 14 - Troy

Wolfgang Petersen can be fantastic with intimate action movies, and I suspect he'll be as successful keeping a grand epic personal in scope. The Iliad is a great enough story that even bad movies about them can almost be compelling: witness, for example, the poor yet very watchable Helen of Troy miniseries from last year. "Troy" has spectacular promise, particularly with its cast, which ranges all the way from Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom to Peter O'Toole and Julie Christie. The trailers suggest it could go overboard on spectacle, but it all depends on how able the movie's tone is to sell it.

May 21 - Shrek 2

Expect this to be ever bit the hit that the original was.

May 28 - The Day After Tomorrow

Ok, Roland Emmerich needs to find a new schtick, because I'm not sure that any other director has made such wildly spectacular visuals come off as so absurd, tiresome, and just plain boring. We already had Deep Impact, Armageddon, Godzilla, and Independence Day, the latter two of which Emmerich also made. This is a huge been there, done that. In any case, are we really ready, post 9/11, for a witless popcorn flick whose appeal comes largely from the spectacular destruction of New York City? Independence Day is the closest Emmerich ever came to a good movie, and while I liked that, it didn't have much in the way of staying power. The rest of his filmography is largely idiotic fluff. Check your brain *and* your sense of taste at the door.

June 4 - Mindhunters

Speaking of stupid action movies, what better can be expected of Renny Harlin, the man behind Deep Blue Sea and Cutthroat Island?

June 4 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Hooray, Chris Columbus is out of the picture. The first two movies were good in spite of him; now let's see what can happen with some visionary talent at the helm.

June 11 - Garfield: The Movie

Bill Murray as the voice of the cat is the single attractive asset of this movie. It looks just plain awful. The CGI cat looks stupid. Odie doesn't look like Odie. Is this really Garfield, or some kind of alternate Garfield reality set in the world of the Stuart Little movies?

June 11 - The Stepford Wives

Nicole Kidman has rarely steered me wrong; I've been a follower of her movies since before it was fashionable. This one is a remake of a movie I haven't seen, but hopefully I'll be catching up with both before long. If the writing is sufficiently clever, this could be a gem of a satire.

June 11 -- The Chronicles of Riddick

The marketing behind this movie missed a great opportunity to sell this. Remember the ads for Eyes Wide Shut that began "Cruise. Kidman. Kubrick."? I think "Diesel. Dench." is twice as awesome, despite being short a name. The world has been waiting a long time for the inevitable pairing of Vin Diesel with Dame Judi Dench. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone was waiting for a sequel to Pitch Black.

June 16 - Around the World In 80 Days

Jules Verne's most famous book was filmed successfully twice: once in 1956 as a Best Picture winning film starring David Niven, and again in 1989 as a mini-series starring Pierce Brosnan. So I'm less concerned as I would normally be that this version seems to wreak all kinds of sacrileges against the novel in the interest of broader appeal. (Jackie Chan as Passepartout?? Smile and nod.) With two good faithful films in the bag, I'm content to have a "fun" one that plays more with the legend and less with the story. If this is as good as the trailer, we're in for the surprise hit of the summer.

June 18 - The Terminal

According to David Poland of The Hot Button, "The Terminal" is the best film since "Hulk" and "Undercover Brother," and better than any film prior to that. In spite of his enthusiasm, this does look good: Spielberg goes wrong as rarely as Hanks, and this material -- inspired by the real life story of a man whose unfortunate citizenship status makes it illegal for him to leave the terminal of Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris -- seems beautifully suited to their talents. The story is transposed to the less interesting setting of New York City, but no matter.

June 25 - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

What The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra did for 1950s sci-fi horror, Sky Captain seems to be doing for pulp serials. It's the first movie to be filmed entirely in front of a blue screen. The movie looks terrible, but the visuals look sleek, styled, and imaginative.

June 25 - Before Sunset

Richard Linklater has this "one for them, one for me" pattern of filmmaking. His last movie was The School of Rock, a "one for them" film, so this must be a "one for me." It's a romantic drama of second chances, starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.

June 25 - Two Brothers

Director Jean-Jacques Annaud is responsible for some of the most boring, overpraised movies ever. If this movie, about a couple of tiger cubs, is as tedious as "The Bear," count me out.

June 30 - Spiderman 2

David Poland seems to think this isn't going to crack $150 million at the box office. I would be surprised.

July 7 - King Arthur

This interpretation of the Arthurian legends is a gritty, realistic one, so the early word says. It's magicless and more focused on history and politics than the soap operatic intrigues of the characters. It's directed by Antoine Fuqua, who is trying out some new territory: his previous films include things like "Training Day," "Tears of the Sun," and Woo-esque "Replacement Killers."

July 16 - I, Robot

It's actually funny how Hollywoodized this project is. The Asimov book of the same name is a collection of unconnected short stories, so perhaps it's not improper that this film isn't based on any of them, despite sporting its title. But a wise-cracking Will Smith, leading humanity against a revolution of robots? This is the kind of movie people *joke* about Hollywood stooping to. For all I know, this will be a decent movie, but I can't help but think it loses credibility in a big way by being tied to Asimov's short stories.

July 19 - A Cinderella Story

Hilary Duff is a lot like Lindsay Lohan right now. For my money, two modern day teen fairy tales in the last two weeks is enough.

July 23 - The Bourne Supremacy

The Bourne Identity was surprisingly good and surprisingly successful. Fortunately, Robert Ludlum wrote several books about the character, and here's another one. A big plus: Brian Helgeland is one of the writers. His work is strong with fantastic high points, and this is a genre he's at home in.

July 23 - Catwoman

So, what's up with that costume? Slee. Zee. I wanted this movie to happen back when Michelle Pfeiffer might have played the character, but now I wonder if she escaped something. The Woman Power action film movement comes full circle with this. Here's a movie where a woman kicks butt yet remains a sex object. Progress? Har. Personally, I think we should all be less hypersensitive about how types are portrayed in movies and not persist in assuming every movie character speaks for their entire demographic. But I have to hand it to the producers, who have merrily lined up in the politically correct parade with quietly subverted material. The joke isn't on them unless they're called on it.

July 30 - Thunderbirds

This movie confuses me. It's a movie aimed at kids, but it's based on material before their time and, in the case of American kids, stuff they probably wouldn't have seen anyway. Moreover, the whole point of the television show, what made it so wildly entertaining, was that it was all done with marionettes and unapologetically cheesy miniatures. Who needs a live action version? The only way a live action version would work is if all the actors imitate actual puppets, sidling and gliding around, arms hanging out to the sides. And all the sets and vehicles and so forth would have to be toybox-level miniatures. The director of this movie is Jonathan Frakes, who made one great Trek film and one bad one. No idea how he's going to do here.

July 30 - The Village

M. Night Shyamalan. I'm there.

July 30 - The Manchurian Candidate

Weirdest remake of the year. The original was an original, highly skilled satirical political thriller. Though it's executed freshly enough that it doesn't feel dated, it *is* heavily tied with both the world history and domestic political climate of the times in which it was made. How can a remake, set in the present day, possibly have the same appeal? The story doesn't speak to the mindset of modern times. And with Manchuria swapped out for the Middle East, how, exactly, does the title still make sense? The director is Jonathan Demme, a sporadically brilliant director. But fresh off the travesty that was The Truth About Charlie (a remake of Charade), it's a little startling to see him doing another remake.

August 6 - Collateral

Michael Mann directs Tom Cruise. Contract killers and hostages. Both have done stuff like this before, but their styles couldn't be a stranger match. It'll be interesting to see how it works out.

August 6 - Shall We Dance?

No, it's not a remake of the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film. It's not a reference to the song from The King and I. It's a remake of the international musical comedy hit from Japan, made in 1996 or so. The music could transition well, but comedy is a delicate thing. We'll see.

August 13 - Alien vs. Predator

The director of this thing is such an airheaded little fanboy. He's the type to start sentences with "Would it be cool if...?" and end them with a decision on what's going in the movie. The plot premise is the most absurd thing ever (something about, what if the Predators built the Pyramids, and the Aliens were melted out of the polar ice caps?). The whole idea of pitting Aliens against Predators cannot be taken seriously, but it would have been nice if someone who knew how to have fun with it were running the show.

August 27 - Venom

A sequel to Anaconda. Why?

August 27 - Benji Returns

Joe Camp does another Benji movie. Why not?