Kicking off the summer movie season is an adaptation of Scientology (*snicker*) founder L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth. John Travolta (a scientologist himself) plays the leader of a bunch of evil aliens who conquer the Earth and turn it into some sort of mining colony. I saw the trailer for this film online, and oddly enough, it looked pretty damn good. But you can never tell. Anyway, it opens up on May 12th.

Coming your way on May 24th, is the sequel to Mission Impossible, cleverly entitled Mission Impossible II. Tom Cruise (a scientologist, I do believe) reprises his role as Ethan Hunt. It was directed by John Woo. It's trailer looked pretty good too. Only time (and seven bucks) will tell.

Opening up on June 16th is the Nicholas Cage-Angelina Jolie vehicle Gone in Sixty Seconds. That vehicle reference was a clever pun on my part; it's about car thieves. Cage plays a car thief with quite the reputation, and Jolie plays his love interest. The trailer for this movie looks kind of iffy, but, with Cage, you never can tell. For everyone Leaving Las Vegas or City of Angels, there's one Snake Eyes.

Shut yo' mouth, because the remake of Shaft hits theaters on June 16th. Samuel L. Jackson (another scientologist, yes?) plays the title character. The film also stars Vanessa Williams and Busta Rhymes. Opening on the same day, is the animated film Titan AE. Don Bluth, the same chap that brought you The Land Before Time and An American Tail, helped make this movie. Set in the future, (as in the far, far distant future) actors Matt Damon and Drew Barrymore provide voices. Which one of these movies should you see? Shaft. Which movie will kick major mad boo-tay? Shaft. Who's the private dick who's a sex machine to all the chicks? Shaft!

Opening up two weeks later is the live action version of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. It stars Jason Alexander, among others. This one might be pretty good. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

One week later, Scary Movie debuts on July 7th. A parody of the teen horror film genre, it stars those wacky Wayan brothers, Marlon and Shawn, and Cheri Oteri of Saturday Night Live fame.