Top 5 hot summer movies

Survival of the Dead
Dir. George Romero
May 28
Romero is back again. This time around, the master of zombies is bringing us to an island where survivors of the apocalypse search for a cure for family and friends who have become zombies. Romero single-handedly created the zombie genre with his original Night/Dawn/Day of the Dead trilogy, but in recent years his return to zombie cinema has been mixed at best. Luckily, "Survival of the Dead" looks to match an interesting premise to the standard "shoot-em-in-the-brains" action.

The Last Airbender
Dir. M. Night Shymalan
June 2
M. Night Shyamalan directs the live action adaptation of this children's animated series.  Seeing M. Night do a kid's movie should be interesting if nothing else, and hopefully, he won't try to treat us to another of his all too predictable plot twists.  Maybe the fact that this is the first film of a planned trilogy will keep the director in check. With both 2D and 3D versions of this story of martial arts mysticism epic coming out simultaneously, kid friendly action is all but guaranteed.

The Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time
Dir. Mike Newell
May 28
In a summer of remakes and sequels, it's nice to finally see a film hit theaters with an original idea. Oh wait, it's based on a video game.  For fans of CGI, mindless action, and a shirtless Jake Gyllenhall, this should be good summer popcorn fun. Besides, it's not like it can be any worse than Super Mario Bros, Street Fighter: The Movie, Mortal Kombat, Double Dragon, House of the Dead, Doom, Max Payne...

Inception
Dir. Christopher Nolan
July 16
Taking a breather from his bread and butter Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan's Inception looks to be a mindbending and visually stunning sci-fi flick. Science fiction on the big screen has had plenty of misses, but Inception's promising plot about agents inflitrating dreams, combined with an impressive cast lead by Leonardo DiCaprio, makes this seem like it might be more Bladerunner than Johnny Mnemonic.

SALT
Dir. Phillip Noyce
July 23
Angelina Jolie is back in another action flick. This time she plays a CIA agent who gets fingered as a Russian sleeper spy. She goes on the run to prove her innocence.  Although Jolie isn't the best actress out there, she is very good at turning out mindless violence and mayhem, and making stuff go boom. SALT looks to be a late summer action flick to go see if you like her, if you like the genre, or if you just want some mindless fun.  Hopefully this one will match Wanted's fun and energy and avoid the pitfall of taking itself too seriously.