Summer Film Preview

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 15)

Directed by David Yates

A nerdy but increasingly sexy teenage boy with magical powers and an invisible cloak learns the true history of his arch-enemy, whose name we dare not utter.

500 Days of Summer (July 17)

Directed by Marc Webb

An L.A. greeting-card writer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finds true love in the form of a beautiful co-worker (Zooey Deschanel) in Webb's romantic comedy, which literally counts the days of this up-and-down relationship.

In the Loop (July 17)

Directed by Armando Iannucci

British satirist Armando Iannucci (BBC's The Thick of It) goes to Washington in this fictional riff on the political scrambling — British and American alike — that preceded the Iraq War. Starring Tom Hollander, and featuring James Gandolfini as an American general who speaks in snappy one-liners.

Flame and Citron (July 31)

Directed by Ole Christian Madsen

Flame (Thure Lindhardt) and Citron (Mads Mikkelsen) were the code names for two resistance fighters in Denmark during the Nazi Occupation. Madsen tells their story in a film that's been a smash hit in its home country, where Mikkelsen is a superstar.

Lorna's Silence (July 31)

Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Belgium's Dardenne brothers (La promesse, L'enfant), among the world's finest filmmakers, return with this story of an Albanian refugee (Arta Dobroshi) who finds herself going to extremes in order to gain Belgian citizenship. Advance buzz, including a screening at last year's Cannes Film Festival, heralds Dobroshi as a great discovery.

The Cove (July 31)

Directed by Louie Psihoyos

In the 1960s, Richard O'Barry captured five dolphins and trained them to play "Flipper" on the popular TV show. Since then, he's become obsessed with getting footage of the brutal slaughter of dolphins in a Japanese port town. Louie Psihoyos tracks O'Barry's quest in this wrenching documentary.

AUGUST

Julie & Julia (August 7)

Directed by Nora Ephron

Ephron adapts Julie Powell's memoir of the year she spent making all 524 recipes in Julia Child's classic cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Amy Adams portrays Powell, whose inner musings on Child's life and times are enacted by none other than Meryl Streep. Looking forward to that accent.

Paper Heart (August 7)

Directed by Nicholas Jasenovec

In a documentary that's not really a documentary, comedian Charlyne Yi (Knocked Up) conducts interviews to see if anyone still believes in true love. Enter actor Michael Cera, playing himself (sort of) and falling for Yi, who in real life is already his girlfriend. Got that?

District 9 (August 14)

Directed by Neill Blomkamp

From first-time director Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson, a sci-fi epic about extraterrestrials that landed in South Africa thirty years ago, only to be captured, segregated and brutally mistreated by the government. The rest of the plot is a secret (so far), but we all know what happens when you piss off a space creature.

Ponyo (August 14)

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

From Disney, the new film by master Japanese animator Miyazaki (Howl's Moving Castle). In Miyazaki's take on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Little Mermaid," a goldfish named Ponyo longs to become human. (Looks like Ariel's got competition.)

Taking Woodstock (August 14)

Directed by Ang Lee

The Brokeback Mountain director lightens up for this tie-dye-filled adaptation of Elliot Tiber's terrific Woodstock memoir. Tiber, played here by comedian Demetri Martin, isn't famous, but his family's dilapidated motel was ground zero for the iconic festival.

The Time Traveler's Wife (August 14)

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Henry (Eric Bana), a Chicago librarian, is forever bouncing around in time (literally). This makes life/marriage hard for Clare (Rachel McAdams), his wife, whose attempts to hold him still are captured in this film version of Audrey Niffenegger's bestseller.

Inglourious Basterds (August 21)

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Blame the bad spelling of the title on those infernal Nazis, who refer to the band of Jewish-American soldier-assassins led by Brad Pitt as "The Basterds." Tarantino's World War II action flick also stars Diane Kruger, B.J. Novak (The Office), Hostel writer-director Eli Roth and last, but never least, the mighty Cloris Leachman.

It Might Get Loud (August 21)

Directed by Davis Guggenheim

The Oscar-winning director of An Inconvenient Truth cuts loose in his new documentary, which finds rock gods Jimmy Page, the Edge and Jack White singing the praises of their respective electric guitars. Then they jam. (Loudly.)

The Boat That Rocked (August 28)

Directed by Richard Curtis

It's 1966, and rock 'n' roll has yet to make it to the airwaves of the BBC, which controls all radio stations in England. So Philip Seymour Hoffman leads a renegade band of disc jockeys as they broadcast the devil's music from a boat off the U.K. shore in this comedy from the director of Love Actually.

Mesrine: A Film in Two Parts (August 28)

Directed by Jean-François Richet

Vincent Cassel, who was so extraordinary as the mob boss's son in David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, moves up the crime ladder in this four-hour epic about the action-packed life (murders, kidnappings — the works) of modern-day French criminal Jacques Mesrine.