8. Funny People (July 31) has Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann working under the watchful eye of hitmaker Judd Apatow. This time, Sandler's standup comedian is diagnosed with a terminal illness and finds himself leaning on the younger standup played by Rogen. Having laughed heartily with The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, I'm interested to see what Apatow insight will come up with about dying with grace and humor.

7. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (May 22) follows the onetime hapless, now hopeful Stiller on into his next museum, where the exhibits come to life in hopes of romance, adventure, and "human" interaction. Surprisingly amazing, the first movie proved to spark the imagination of humans big and small (who knew museums not named "children" were quite so exciting) and with a romance-in-the-making with Amy Adams' Amelia Earhart, Stiller's guard-turned-extraordinaire provides both the laughs and more poignant moments. Check out our coverage here at HJ.

6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (June 24) is the second sequel to make my list after its predecessor proved much more insightful (read: entertaining) than expected. If Shia LaBeouf can keep himself out of the negative national headlines, he stands to reap the rewards for quite a few years. While his Indiana Jones stint wasn't nearly as satisfying, his interaction with the CGI-generated robots of this franchise proved to be the humanizing aspect that audience could get behind. Besides, from a faith perspective, how can you not dig that these Transformers are "more than meets the eye?"

5. Public Enemies (July 1) provides us with sheer starpower, and probably a fair amount of firepower, too. Johnny Depp's weekend (okay, so he shares it with Will Smith regularly) finds his Dillinger on the run from Christian Bale's second edition on the list, FBI agent Melvin Purvis. Robin Hood figures—those blessed with a fair amount of positive attributes but operating on the wrong side of the law—have always entranced us, and in this particular period, watching banks get robbed has ironic financial implications.

4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 15) finds Daniel Radcliffe and Co. exploring the origins of Voldemort and experiencing first loves, while supposedly blundering through a funnier edition of the series. While the progression of the books always seemed dark, darker, darkest to me, watching the J.K. Rowling works played out on screen delights us, as we grow into our own sense of who we are, just like Harry.

3. Angels & Demons (May 15) was Dan Brown's prequel to The DaVinci Code, but with a few switches, Ron Howard directs the film as a sequel, with Tom Hanks returning as an academic bent on solving the riddle. Up against the Illuminati, religion-hating scientist types, he joins with Vantage Point's Ayelet Zurer to tackle the villains before more people die. While I appreciated the furor that the first film stirred up (hey, it led to good discussions!) I've always been a bigger fan of the more violent, action-packed prequel's storyline. Read more about the film here at HJ.

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