Believe it or not, the summer movie season is right around the corner. With only a few weeks to go, we're busy planning our extensive movie coverage for May-August 2010 and trying to determine what's going to work and what's going to suck. The bad news? It looks like there will be a lot more suck this summer season than usual. Maybe you’ll have more time to get outside. In fact, we can't remember a summer less exciting than this one in a long time – so much so that it was actually difficult to come up with a top ten list that truly could be four-star caliber. The list of movies that could populate "Movies We're LEAST Excited to See" could be just as long. (As for what would make that list, we can only dread Sex and the City 2 more if it were in 3D, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is unlikely to suck any less than the first two, a remake of The Karate Kid sounds like torture, we're totally ambivalent about another Shrek movie even existing, M. Night Shyamalan has a lot to prove with The Last Airbender, there's a damn Marmaduke movie on the way, and, oh yeah, there's a Step Up movie in 3D this summer. Now awful in three dimensions!)

Release Date: July 7th, 2010
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, and Annette Bening
Written by: Stuart Blumberg & Lisa Cholodenko
Directed by: Lisa Cholodenko

Plot: Two children conceived by artificial insemination bring their birth father into their family life.

Why It Could Rule: Because we need at least one little art movie in a summer movie preview. Don't worry – we’ll get to the stuff that goes boom soon but we shouldn't ignore the fact that a small film from a new studio that was released in the summertime just won Best Picture and The Kids Are All Right was one of the most highly acclaimed flicks to come out of this year's Sundance. It doesn't hurt that it stars two of the top ten actors we think most overdue for an Oscar (for more on that, click here).

Why It Could Suck: Sometimes the air is a little thin in Park City and movies that worked well at Sundance crash to Earth when they actually get into art house theaters. Cholodenko's High Art and Laurel Canyon were kind of so-so and her last film, Cavedweller, didn't even come out in theaters.

Release Date: May 14th, 2010
Cast: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong, Danny Huston, Kevin Durand, Matthew Macfadyen, Max von Sydow, Mark Addy, and William Hurt
Written by: Brian Helgeland
Directed by: Ridley Scott

Plot: The story of an archer in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion who fights against the Norman invaders and becomes the legendary hero known as Robin Hood.

Why It Could Rule: Every time Ridley Scott steps behind the camera, it could rule, especially when he's paired with his apparent muse, Russell Crowe. It also seems like perfect timing to bring back a hero of the people, someone we think most audience members think they could use in an era when the gap between the haves and the have-nots continues to grow wider with every corporate bailout. First and foremost, Robin Hood will probably be a well-paced, technically accomplished piece of filmmaking. All Scott films are.

Why It Could Suck: The problem, however, is that most recent Ridley Scott are nothing more than that. Even the recent films of his that worked best – American Gangster, Black Hawk Down – did so because of their technical excellence. And the less said about A Good Year or Body of Lies, the better. For the most part, Scott seems to have entered a phase of his career where the technical elements are more important than the human ones and he better find the humanity at the core of the legend of Sherwood Forest or it will be a complete waste of time.

Release Date: June 8th, 2010
Cast: Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, John Malkovich, Michael Shannon, and Will Arnett
Written by: Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
Directed by: Jimmy Hayward

Plot: In the Wild West, a scarred bounty hunter tracks a voodoo practitioner bent on liberating the South by raising an army of the undead.

Why It Could Rule: Because if anyone was meant to be a summer movie action star it is the great Josh Brolin. He made a modern Western in No Country for Old Men and it is simply perfect casting to have him headline a comic book Western designed to launch a mega-franchise. It doesn't hurt that the supporting male cast is diverse and awesome, the director comes from the world of Pixar, and a lot of people we know adore the comic book.

Why It Could Suck: It could easily be Wild Wild West and the inclusion of Megan Fox should scare anyone who suffered the one-two ball-punch of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Jennifer's Body. Honestly, there's a lot riding on Josh Brolin's shoulders with this one. If it was Nicolas Cage and Megan Fox, it would be on the suck list but Josh has made all the right decisions lately. One final note of suckage concern – it was written by the team behind the Crank scripts and Gamer. Ouch. Don't let us down Josh.

Release Date: July 23rd, 2010
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, and Chiwetel Ejiofor
Written by: Kurt Wimmer and Brian Helgeland
Directed by: Phillip Noyce

Plot: As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy.

Why It Could Rule: Phillip Noyce is one of our more underrated directors and Jolie has given Oscar caliber performances in dramatic summer films in the past. Brian Helgeland can absolutely deliver the screenwriting goods (he penned L.A. Confidential and Mystic River) and Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor absolutely have the potential to rule every single time.

Why It Could Suck: Helgeland may hit the occasional home run but he has struck out recently with The Taking of Pelham 123, Cirque du Freak, and Green Zone. And Kurt Wimmer wrote Ultraviolet and Law Abiding Citizen. Major potential for sucking there. Honestly, this project is totally up in the air but we're just hoping it comes down on the right side.

Release Date: August 13th, 2010
Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, Alison Pil, and Jason Schwartzman
Written by: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright
Directed by: Edgar Wright

Plot: Scott Pilgrim must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart.

Why It Could Rule: Edgar Wright made Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Do we really need to say any more? Okay, the buzz on this one, mostly from people who love the source material, is through the roof and certainly sounds like one of the most original projects of a season with a notable dearth of unique ideas.

Why It Could Suck: Michael Cera needs a career jolt as much as anyone after arguably playing the same role too many times in a row. Year One was one of the suckiest films of last summer so we're naturally going to be a little gun shy even with Wright behind the camera.

Release Date: May 7th, 2010
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Bettany, Sam Rockwell, Don Cheadle, Olivia Munn, Jon Favreau, Leslie Bibb, Kate Mara, and Gwyneth Paltrow
Written by: Justin Theroux
Directed by: Jon Favreau

Plot: With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. Unwilling to let go of his invention, Stark, along with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, must forge new alliances – and confront powerful enemies.

Why It Could Rule: Um, seriously? Most people will probably be upset that it's not higher than #3 considering the widespread love for Iron Man. Honestly, I'll be surprised if the second film isn't better than the first as it has a stronger supporting cast and I think Favreau will learn from a few of his pacing mistakes in the first movie.

Why It Could Suck: If they give Favreau complete creative freedom, I'm concerned that we could have a Revenge of the Fallen situation (or what happened to the Pirates sequels) here where the sequel is merely "bigger" and not better. Iron Man 2 will probably be great but I don't think any of us should be surprised if it's a bloated mess. Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a franchise is massive success.

Release Date: June 18th, 2010
Cast (the voices of): Tom Hanks, Michael Keaton, Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Cusack, Tim Allen, Wallace Shawn, Bonnie Hunt, John Ratzenberger, R. Lee Ermey, Timothy Dalton, Laurie Metcalf, and Don Rickles
Written by: Michael Arndt
Directed by: Lee Unkrich

Plot: Woody, Buzz, and the rest of their toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, departs for college.

Why It Could Rule: Nearly every Pixar movie has to date and both Toy Story movies stand among the best animated features of all time. It seems unlikely that Pixar would follow WALL-E and Up with a total piece of junk and subpar Pixar is better than most animated features.

Why It Could Suck: Third films in a franchise are always a tricky proposition. Can they really top the first two? It's been over ten years since Toy Story 2 and it's easy to see a new film feeling a bit stale and repetitive.