Yes, there are superhero movies on the way this summer. But this is a list of the movies I’m most eager to see in the next few months, and although I’m sure some of the caped good guys will be swell, none of them is at the top of my list.
Still, if you’re eager for the Wonder Woman movie or the Spider Man movie or the Transformers movie (or even if you aren’t) I suspect information about all of them will be invading your head soon. In the meantime, get ready for a summer that offers a better-than-usual variety of movies (all dates are tentative).
THE LOVERS
Opens May 12: Remember when it seemed like there was a monthly romantic comedy that starred Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock or Reese Witherspoon? The movies have almost abandoned the genre, which is one reason to anticipate this one about an estranged couple, both of whom have moved on to other lovers, who unexpectedly spark to each other again. An even bigger reason: The couple is played by playwright Tracy Letts (“August: Osage County”) and Debra Winger, who pops up on the big screen about as often as romcoms — or unicorns — do.
SNATCHED
Opens May 12: Amy Schumer timed her movie starring/writing debut, “Trainwreck,” right when her fame was cresting, but I am intrigued to find out what her ubiquity since then, coupled with a few PR missteps, has done to her popularity. One bit of timing that is definitely in her favor: The comedy, which stars Goldie Hawn as Schumer’s mom, is opening in time for Mother’s Day.
ALIEN: COVENANT
Opens May 19: Good news: Ridley Scott, director of the original “Alien,” is back to helm the latest in the series. Bad news: Ridley Scott, who directed the baffling most recent entry, “Prometheus,” is back to helm the latest in the series. He has assembled a really interesting cast (biggies Michael Fassbender and James Franco, plus indie actors Amy Seimetz and Katherine Waterston), so here’s hoping he learned a little something from the unintelligible “Prometheus.”
IT COMES AT NIGHT
Opens June 9: It’s a classic horror scenario that sounds tailor-made for the summer: A family has barricaded itself against some vague, worldwide threat, but their safety and isolation are threatened when strangers arrive at their door, demanding entry. Joel Edgerton stars.
ALL EYEZ ON ME
Opens June 16: A biopic of rap legend Tupac Shakur has been a surprisingly long time coming but it’s here, it’s named after the “California Love” rapper’s fourth album and it features actor/playwright/Macalester alum Danai Gurira as Shakur’s mother, Afeni.
ROUGH NIGHT
Opens June 16: That title’s not very descriptive, but this extreme comedy used to have an even less applicable one, “Rock That Body.” In the vein of “Bridesmaids,” it features a ton of great women (Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Ilana Glazer, Zoe Kravitz, Demi Moore) whose bachelorette free-for-all takes a nasty turn when a male stripper expires.
THE BIG SICK
Opens June 23: Even allowing for the critical inflation that often accompanies movies that premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, this one has me hoping for big things. Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon based the romcom on their own interracial relationship and their families’ acceptance (or not) of it. That the film inspired a bidding war at Sundance has a lot to do with a supporting cast that includes Holly Hunter, Aidy Bryant and Ray Romano.
BABY DRIVER
Opens June 28: Sounds like it’s your basic heist movie, but with an intriguing director (Edgar Wright, whose “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” expertly poke fun at genre conventions) and a promising twist. Wright has said that he edited the film so that its beats correspond to the music obsessively listened to by the titular getaway driver (played by Ansel Elgort, hopefully with a better fate than he had in “The Fault in Our Stars”). Jon Hamm is said to be mind-blowing in a supporting role.
OKJA
Opens June 28: It’s not completely clear how or where this movie will open because it’s from Netflix and alternative reports have said that it will not be in theaters at all or that it will premiere on the streaming service and in some theaters on this date. Let’s hope for some theaters here, though, because director Bong Joon-Ho (“Snowpiercer”) is a great visual stylist whose movies should be seen as big as possible. Tilda Swinton appears in a role similar to hers in “Snowpiercer”: a craven, government hot shot. Here, she’s in on efforts to capture a monster that is being protected by a young girl.
THE BEGUILED
Opens June 30: The tantalizing trailer promises a humid, sexual tension-drenched romantic drama in which a bunch of Civil War-era women in the South take in an injured Yankee soldier (Colin Farrell). He fills their deserted mansion with erotic potential that takes a nasty turn (and that seems nothing like the more straightforward Clint Eastwood movie of which “Beguiled” is a remake). Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning and Kirsten Dunst play the women.
THE HOUSE
Open June 30: It sounds a lot like that not-bad Amy Poehler/Tina Fey comedy from a couple years ago, in which they played “Sisters” who hosted a rager in their parents’ house. This time, Poehler and Will Ferrell start a casino in their own home, hoping to make up the college fund they failed to save. If you’re a betting person, or if you noticed the flamethrower in the trailer, place your money on the idea that things get a little out of control.
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
Opens July 14: I am super-into the idea of Woody Harrelson as a vicious despot who wages war against the brilliant apes and the idea that, even though most of us moviegoers are humans, it’s expected that we will side with the apes and against the humans. That it’s directed by Matt Reeves (“Let Me In,” “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”), who has shown a gift for action movies that mean something, is a big bonus.
DUNKIRK
Opens July 21: For the British, mentioning Dunkirk is like mentioning Pearl Harbor in the U.S. Will it blunt the World War II drama’s impact that “Dunkirk,” in which British soldiers were hastily and heroically evacuated from the titular French region, doesn’t mean as much to us? I’m betting epic filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s trademark suspense-with-impact will make the movie hit home. Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh and Oscar-winning Guthrie fave Mark Rylance star.
A GHOST STORY
Opens July 21: Word is we shouldn’t take the title too literally. Apparently, the ghosts Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara seek are less supernatural than emotional. Which sounds good to me, particularly in the hands of writer/director David Lowery, who made last year’s excellent “Pete’s Dragon.”
ATOMIC BLONDE
Opens July 28: Sexy, violent, stylish and the trailer has a couple of great jokes? The thriller, with Charlize Theron as a cold-blooded hitwoman, has “summer” written all over it.
LANDLINE
Opens July 28: A couple years ago, my favorite movie was the riotous, humane comedy “Obvious Child,” written and directed by Gillian Robespierre and starring Jenny Slate. They’re teaming up again for “Landline,” a ’90s-set comedy about a woman (Slate) who is falling apart on the eve of her wedding. Edie Falco and John Turturro co-star.
DETROIT
Opens Aug. 4: Kathryn Bigelow’s drama, which tries to shed light on riots that rocked the city in the summer of 1967, is not the sort of movie that gets released at the height of most summers. But it’s probably not a coincidence that Bigelow’s Oscar-winning “Hurt Locker” was also an unconventional summer movie that took a tough look at true-life events, that featured Anthony Mackie in a prominent role and that went on to win beaucoup awards.
LOGAN LUCKY
Opens Aug. 18: Steven Soderbergh (now un-retired) revisits the caper territory he has worked so successfully in the “Oceans’s 11” movies, as well as “Out of Sight,” “Limey” and “Side Effects,” great movies all (discuss: Is every Soderbergh movie a caper movie?). Channing Tatum, Daniel Craig, Katherine Waterston and Adam Driver star in a movie about brothers who try to pull of a heist during a NASCAR race.
WIND RIVER
Opens Aug. 18: A blast from wintry Wyoming seems like the perfect antidote to August in Minnesota. “Wind River” is a Wyoming-set thriller in which two investigators (played by Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen) look into the rape and murder of an Indian woman. It was written by Tye Sheridan, whose fine previous work includes thrillers-with-humanity “Hell or High Water” and “Sicario,” and it’s his directorial debut.