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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer Updated 8:03 PM Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Summer may have only just started according to the standard calendar, but for Hollywood’s decidedly non-standard calendar, summer is already half over. Here’s glimpses of what’s coming up, including everything from Harry Potter to Adam Sander to Meryl Streep. I give each movie a prospect grade, from A to F.

JULY 1 (Wednesday)

‘Ice Age:  Dawn of the Dinosaurs’

The pitch: Our prehistoric buddies encounter some rather nasty reptilian types.
The buzz: I always thought this series was overrated, and the sequel flat-out stunk, but I must admit the trailers for this one made me laugh. I still think a movie with just Scrat would be a good idea.
The prospect: B

‘Public Enemies’

The pitch: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. And, Christian Bale is in it, too. I want to see this yesterday.
The buzz: Outside of “Up,” this looks like the one summer movie that has a shot at major Oscar nominations, and it’s the live action film I’m hottest to see, despite some iffy early buzz.
The prospect: A

JULY 10

‘Bruno’

The pitch: Sacha Baron Cohen (a.k.a. Borat) rubs many a person a wrong way with another one of his alter egos.
The buzz: I wasn’t as high on “Borat” as a lot of people were, but I understood why people loved it. I hope this time I can join the chorus.
The prospect: B

‘I Love You, Beth Cooper’

The pitch: A geek declares his love for hottie cheerleader Hayden Panettiere in his graduation speech.
The buzz: Seemed pretty nondescript, until I saw the director was Chris Columbus. The trailer isn’t that funny, but Columbus did cut his directorial teeth on a teen comedy called “Adventures in Babysitting.”
The prospect: B

JULY 15

‘Harry Potter  and the Half-Blood Prince’

The pitch: Some wizard kid learns more about the past of his arch-enemy Volde-something-or-other. I think this will make some money, don’t you?
The buzz: Now let me remove my tongue from my cheek and say the most recent trailer highly impressed me — enough to make me forget about the curious PG-rating, when the last two were PG-13.
The prospect: A

JULY 24

‘G-Force’

The pitch: A specially trained squad of guinea pigs ... oh, come on!
The buzz: Guinea pigs? CGI GUINEA PIGS?? Oy. And I thought the dancing Beverly Hills Chihuahuas from last year were scary.
The prospect: F

‘The Orphan‘

The pitch: Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard adopt a child, but the kid turns out to be creepy.
The buzz: From the director of the “House of Wax” remake. Oh, joy. Isn’t this basically “The Omen” in a dress?
The prospect: D

‘The Ugly Truth’

The pitch: Gerard Butler plays a boorish TV host who matches wits with his tough producer, Katherine Heigl.
The buzz: I like the leads, but the trailer looks utterly formulaic. Still, this did get moved from spring to summer, so the studio thinks it has something. We’ll see if they’re right.
The prospect: C

JULY 31

‘Aliens in the Attic’

The pitch: Teenagers must protect their vacation home from the aliens who have taken over the top floor of the dwelling. Ashley Tisdale stars.
The buzz: Ooooookaaaayyyy ... Sounds wild, but other than that, I just can’t say.
The prospect: C

‘Funny People’

The pitch: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann star in the latest film from Judd Apatow (“Knocked Up”), who goes in a serious vein by daring to have terminal illness as a subject matter.
The buzz: It’s a calculated risk, but early word says this is Apatow’s best effort yet, and some are even suggesting it’s Oscar-worthy. In any case, I’m in, even though I’m not an Adam Sandler fan.
The prospect: A

AUGUST 7

‘GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra’

The pitch: Highly trained military fighters battle an evil force named after a scary-looking snake. It is what it is, ya’ know?
The buzz: The trailer has some neat visuals, but the director is Stephen Sommers, who was last seen trashing the Universal monsters in the awful “Van Helsing.” Rumors abound the movie tested very, very badly. I’m ... scared.
The prospect: D

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Eric,
Great job on the blog. I usually agree with you on everything but not about "G Force." The trailer was cute and my 7-year-old son laughed out loud. It looks much better than the dumb chihuahuas movie.
I think we'll see that one and Ice Age because there aren't too many films to take young kids to with all these darn PG-13 ratings. Seems like there are more of them this summer. Sigh.

margo
2:51 PM, 6/25/2009

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