The Hollywood trends that have emerged in recent years offer little variation. This summer, movie-goers will once again be treated to comics-based films (“Thor,” “Green Lantern,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”), remakes (“Fright Night,” “Conan the Barbarian,” “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark), films based on cartoons (“The Smurfs”), and a whole slew of sequels (“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “The Hangover Part II,” “Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Cars 2,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2,” “Spy Kids 4,” “Final Destination 5”). Other films represent a combination of the above (“X-Men: First Class,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”). And a great many of these pictures will be available in the full eye-popping glory of 3-D.

These gimmicks may sound a bit tired and unoriginal at this point, but they have not yet failed to produce at least a handful of box office hits. And, until they consistently fall flat, we can count on Hollywood executives to keep feeding us hefty, high-budget servings of visually spectacular, intellectually lackluster fare.

With all that in mind, the conscientious cinema-goer needs guidance to sift through the flashy titles and decide what’s worth coughing up $10 to $15 for. The Wire’s annual film issue highlights the good, the bad and the ugly of summer movies.

The Hangover Part II
(May 26)
director: Todd Phillips
starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis
“The Hangover” was the biggest comedic success of 2009, knocking the walker out from under “Up” to dominate the box office like a naked Asian man leaping from the trunk of your father-in-law’s Benz. Part of what has made this and other Todd Phillips films like “Old School” successful is an escalation of antics and the element of surprise. This go-round, Phil (Cooper), Stu (Helms) and Alan (Galifianikis) travel to Bangkok for Stu’s wedding when—you guessed it—bachelor party shenanigans lead to a blackout forcing them all to retrace their steps. Is this enough of a changeup from the previous film to satisfy an audience with exceedingly high expectations for low-brow humor? Director Phillips needs to up his game after last year’s “Due Date” failed to deliver. And the fuzz has worn thin on Galifianakis, who’s gone from lovable unknown to jerkish celebrity. It remains to be seen if a monkey can top Tyson’s tiger, and how Bangkok will out-sin Sin City. And then there’s the biggest question of all: how the hell did they work Mr. Chow into this sequel? —Sarah Lachance

The Tree of Life
when: May 27
director: Terrence Malick
starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain
Terrence Malick makes beautiful, meditative films and takes his time making them, with 20 years separating 1978’s “Days of Heaven” and 1998’s “The Thin Red Line.” His latest work begins with the coming-of-age story of Jack, who, like many children, must learn to reconcile the conflicting teachings of his parents. Should he follow the emotive and merciful path set forth by his mother (Chastain) or follow the values of self-preservation instilled by his father (Pitt)? Each parent works to convince Jack of the merits of their ways, and the young boy is forced to choose sides. An older Jack (Penn) continues to struggle with his familial influences, coming to terms with the world and his place within it. Yes, the advanced plot details for “The Tree of Life” are as esoteric and unspecific as those familiar with Malick’s work should expect. But seeing a Malick film based upon a plot synopsis would only result in disappointment, akin to watching “The Thin Red Line” because you like a good war movie. He’s epic, genre-defying, and one of film’s great masters. Go see “The Tree of Life” on the big screen—it could be another 20 years before you get a similar chance. —Sarah Lachance

Super 8
when: June 10
director: J.J. Abrams
starring: Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney
“Super 8” couldn’t possibly be anything but a summer movie. Its DNA is straight Speilbergian (and Steven Spielberg is a producer): it’s the summer of ’79; small-town kids make monster movies and, in turn, chase a real-life monster through their little Ohio hamlet, all while avoiding military goons and their disbelieving parents. Writer/director J.J. Abrams has two big-budget summer spectacles under his belt (2009’s “Star Trek” and 2006’s “Mission: Impossible III”), but this is his first time trying out original material on the big screen. “Super 8” is a heavy slice of nostalgia with echoes of the Abrams-produced monster flick “Cloverfield.” He has the visuals down, but whether he can capture the charm and emotional core of “E.T.” and all the others to which “Super 8” is a love letter remains to be seen. —Larry Clow

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
when: July 1
director: Michael Bay
starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie
Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel
In 2009, unsuspecting audiences witnessed Michael Bay’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” perhaps one of the most expensive goofs perpetrated in cinematic history. How else to explain a movie that features jive-talkin’ robots with gold teeth, senior-citizen robots that fart parachutes, and a glimpse at Robot Heaven? “Fallen” was terrible in a sort of glorious, lunk-headed way and, if we’re lucky, “Dark of the Moon” will be similarly offensive, awful, and laughable. The signs are good: the plot revolves around the 1969 moon landing and some forgotten Transformers, which means opportunities abound for new StereotypeBots and other crimes against moviegoers. Shia LaBeouf returns as the robots’ hapless human ally, and he’s joined by a cast that should know better, including John Turturro, Frances McDormand, and John Malkovich. —Larry Clow

Horrible Bosses
when: July 8
director: Seth Gordon
starring: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis
Despite some TV work under his belt (“The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Modern Family”), director Seth Gordon is best known for 2007’s wonderful documentary, “The King of Kong.” Gordon took what could have been a two-bit film about eight-bit gamers and made it into a fascinating flick showing the lengths super-villain Billy Mitchell would go to in order to maintain his world-record “Donkey Kong” score against outsider Steve Wiebe. So it’s with high hopes that Gordon gives us “Horrible Bosses,” a what-if gone terribly wrong when three coworkers (Day, Sudeikis and Batemen) decide to do something about the bosses keeping them down. Not skilled in the art of bossectomy, the three turn to Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx) for help getting rid of their awful managers, played by Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. Warner Brothers has moved the release date around a few times—let’s assume they were looking for just the right summer slot and not having trouble with this highly anticipated film. —Sarah Lachance

Captain America: The First Avenger
when: July 22
director: Joe Johnston
starring: Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving
We got our first fleeting teaser of Captain America in last year’s “Iron Man 2,” when Tony Stark used a mysterious blue shield to prop up part of an accelerator in his basement lab. Now, we get the story behind that shield—and, with it, the origins of one of the Marvel Universe’s first heroes. Like so many superheroes (Incredible Hulk) and villains (Green Goblin), Captain America was the result of a military experiment to create genetically enhanced super soldiers—in this case, to fight Hitler and the Nazis during World War II. In the trailer, a feeble young man enters some kind of confinement tank and emerges as a buffed and bronzed Hercules (Evans), who is soon armed with an indestructible shield and sent sprinting into the battlefield. Once this one hits the big screen, all the pieces will be in place for Captain America to join forces with Nick Fury, Iron Man, Black Widow, the Hulk, and Thor to launch The Avengers franchise and usher in a whole new era of high-octane Marvel movies. —Matt Kanner

Friends with Benefits
when: July 22

director: Will Gluck
starring: Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson
First I just wanted to be Facebook friends with T-Lake, and now there’s this! Bringing casual sexy back in a strikingly similar plot to this winter’s “No Strings Attached,” good friends attempt to add intimacy to their uncommitted relationship in this romantic comedy. Timberlake has proven to be more than a song and dance with repeat appearances on “Saturday Night Live” and his acclaimed role in “The Social Network,” and Kunis has amassed years of laughs from “Family Guy” and “That ’70s Show.” This film looks funnier than “No Strings Attached,” which stars Kunis’s former stage mate Ashton Kutcher, but will moviegoers overlook the fact that a film with a nearly identical plot came out just a few months ago? —Chloe Johnson

Cowboys & Aliens
when: July 29
director: Jon Favreau
starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde
Director Jon “Iron Man” Favreau takes what sounds initially like a hokey, jokey play on words and gives it a serious sci-fi shakedown, approaching the material as if Clint Eastwood’s characters from “Unforgiven” suddenly had to deal with an extraterrestrial incursion. Taking his cues from the seminal works of John Ford, and working with a script by genre go-to guys Alex Kurzman and Roberto Orci (“Star Trek”), his dream cast of cinema straight shooters and Hollywood heavy hitters is sure to turn the conventions of the traditional western model inside out, and give whole new meaning to the term “reach for the sky.” —Trevor F Bartlett

The Smurfs
when: July 29
director: Raja Gosnell
starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara
No one knows where they came from, but a posse of tiny blue creatures, most of them in funny white pants and hats, have arrived in the home of Patrick Winslow (Harris), where they instantly start wreaking havoc. The Smurfs, as they are called, are pursued by the nefarious wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) and his wicked cat. Thanks to the wonders of modern CGI effects, these decades-old comic strip characters turned Hanna-Barbera cartoon figures have been cast out of their native village of mushroom huts to inhabit present-day New York. All those Smurfy idiosyncrasies are on full display, including variations of the word “Smurf” in just about every part of speech. The Smurfs are voiced by a motley cast that includes Katy Perry, George Lopez, Paul Rubens, B.J. Novak and Jeff Foxworthy. Maybe the film will answer some fundamental questions about the Smurf civilization, such as how they manage to propagate the species with only one female inhabitant, the tantalizing Smurfette. —Matt Kanner

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
when: Aug. 5
director: Rupert Wyatt
starring: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow
Forget everything you know about the damn dirty apes of the classic series (and, dear Lord, please forget the abysmal Tim Burton treatment, too) as this reboot takes the legend right to the origin of the species in a “reality-based” cautionary tale. Set in a present-day San Francisco lab, the film demonstrates the dramatic consequences of man’s scientific meddling with the forces of nature. With realistic ape effects rendered by Oscar-winning WETA digital studios (the folks who made “King Kong” look like an actual gorilla for the first time in his storied career), this one promises to be a completely different breed of monkey business. —Trevor F Bartlett

30 Minutes or Les
when: Aug. 12
director: Ruben Fleisher
starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride
The phrase “based upon a true story” gets thrown around quite a bit, but this latest film from Ruben Fleisher seems to be the real deal. Inspired by a 2003 incident when a pizza delivery man was coerced into robbing a bank while wearing a bomb, this film reunites “Zombieland” alums Jesse Eisenberg and director Fleisher. Billed as an “action-adventure comedy,” “30 Minutes or Less” features Eisenberg as Nick, a pizza delivery boy who is kidnapped by Dwayne (Danny McBride), forced into a vest rigged with explosives and told that he has nine hours to rob a bank. Why? Dwayne has hired an assassin to kill his father and needs the money to get the deed done. At first blush, this film seems like a bit of a step down for Eisenberg, whose turn in “The Social Network” might finally have moved him out of heated competition for parts with Michael Cera as “that other awkward actor.” Also sobering is the fact that the original pizza man upon whom this tale is based actually died. The cast is solid—in addition to McBride and Eisenberg, it features “Parks and Recreation” star Aziz Ansari. Let’s all hope they bring the funny, or this one could go over like a bomb in a bank. —Sarah Lachance

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
when: Aug. 12
director: Troy Nixey
starring: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison
To this title, I reply don’t tell us what not to do and then make us do it! It’s clear from the trailer that this horror film will be dark and do its best to have us begging for a nightlight. A family moves into an old house and inadvertently unleashes its demons. This remake of the 1970s made-for-TV movie is produced by Guillermo Del Toro, of “Hellboy” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” fame. Holmes, perhaps still best known for her role in “Dawson’s Creek” but a versatile actress, has remained charming in the public eye despite jokes about her short, Scientologist husband, and it’ll be fun to see whether or not the creatures in this film can convince her character to join them. —Chloe Johnson

Conan the Barbarian
when: Aug. 19
director: Marcus Nispel
starring: Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang
Breaking out of the broad, muscle-bound shadow of Ahnold’s infamously lunk-headed enemy-crusher may be no small task, but it seems that after 80 years of living, loving, slaying and generally treading the jeweled thrones of comics, games, movies, TV shows and countless other properties, Conan just might be ready to remind the world that he once was, as envisioned by creator Robert E. Howard in the fantasy rags of the 1930s, a thoughtful, even philosophical man of action. This most recent vision puts the steel into the hands of snarling puma Jason Momoa, who appears impeccably suited to embody the celebrated Cimmerian (having been similarly cast in “Stargate: Atlantis” and HBO’s “Game of Thrones”). The filmmakers seem hell-bent on returning the legend to all its bloody, magical, pulpy roots. —Trevor F Bartlett

Fright Night
when: Aug. 19
director: Craig Gillespie
starring: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

“Fright Night” embraces two box office trends that just won’t die: it’s a remake of a 1980s horror flick and it’s in 3-D. These factors alone are enough to immediately dismiss “Fright Night,” and yet, there’s a glimmer of hope it might work. This update to Tom Holland’s 1985 vampires-in-the-suburbs flick features Anton Yelchin as Charley Brewster, a teen who’s convinced his new neighbor (Farrell) is a bloodsucker. Charley’s only allies are his buddy, “Evil” Ed Thompson (Mintz-Plasse) and Peter Vincent (David Tennant), a British stage magician who claims to be a vampire expert. Casting Tennant in the role filled by Roddy McDowall in the original is an inspired choice, and if Farrell manages to bring some of the comedic skills he showed in “In Bruges,” “Fright Night” could be the bloody, blackly humorous antidote to the mopey vampires in the “Twilight” films. —Larry Clow

The Debt
when: Aug. 31
director: John Madden
starring: Sam Worthington, Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain
For director John Madden, best known for helming literary tales like “Ethan Frome,” “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” and 1998’s Oscar-nominated “Shakespeare in Love,” his latest film “The Debt” seems like a bit of a departure. Based on a screenplay by Matthew Vaughan (producer of several Guy Ritchie films and the writer/director for “Kick Ass”), “The Debt” is a remake of a 2007 Israeli film with the same name. Helen Mirren is Jessica Singer, one of three Mossad agents responsible for the 1965 capture and killing of Dieter Vogel, a Nazi war criminal. Now a writer trading on this experience, Singer’s reputation is called into question when a newspaper reveals that Vogel is very much alive, 30 years later. Reuniting with her former Mossad partners (the only others who know the truth about their former captive’s escape), Singer must determine if Vogel is, in fact, still alive, and what to do about both him and her reputation if the newspaper reports are confirmed. —Sarah Lachance

Colombiana
when: Sept. 2
director: Olivier Megaton
starring: Zoe Saldana, Michael Vartan
It may be unfair to accuse people of jumping on a bandwagon they arguably created themselves, but the makers of “The Professional” and “La Femme Nikita” are up to their old tricks, raising cute little girls to become stone-cold assassins. Apparently looking to undo any good that “Hanna” may have done for the genre, they’ve put Hollywood it-minx Zoe Saldana (“Avatar,” “Star Trek”) into the machine, attempting to prove once and for all that revenge is a dish best served in underwear. Sigh. —Trevor F Bartlett

Drive
when: Sept. 16
director: Nicolas Winding Refn
starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston
The anti-heroes at the center of Nicholas Winding Refn’s flicks are brutal and unpleasant but always charismatic and captivating. Look no further than his “Pusher” trilogy, a gritty trip through the Danish underworld, or 2008’s “Bronson,” a fictionalized biopic of Britain’s “most dangerous prisoner.” “Drive” is Refn’s first American film, and, appropriately, it’s a neo-noir. Ryan Gosling stars as a Hollywood stuntman who picks up extra work as a getaway driver. Things go wrong, of course, and Gosling, like all of Refn’s protagonists, must find a way out of the morass of violence and crime into which he’s sunk. The supporting cast looks killer: Christina Hendricks, Carey Mulligan, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, and Albert Brooks all are on board. With that cast, and a script based on noir writer James Sallis’ novel, “Drive” could be a late-summer surprise. —Larry Clow

I Don’t Know How She Does It
when: Sept. 16
director: Douglas McGrath
starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Kelsey Grammer
Based on the debut novel by Allison Pearson, which was very popular among women when released nearly 10 years ago, this comedy is centered around an executive who supports her family financially while also trying to be there for them as an ideal wife and mother. A different role for the “Sex and the City” star, Parker plays Kate Reddy, whose story articulates the significant struggles of contemporary working moms with a lack of sleep and sense of humor. Here’s a woman that wants it all, but can she do it all by herself? —Chloe Johnson