Predictions: Which summer flicks will be blockbusters, which will just flop

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, May 20 (0 stars)

Johnny Depp, you are an accomplished actor capable of quality work. Please stop making these movies depicting a worn out character that has become a caricature of a caricature.

Hangover Part II, May 26 *

Airplane still makes audiences laugh a number of years after it came out. Airplane 2, the exact same movie set on a spaceship, acts as filler for daytime television. From all appearances, Hangover Part II seems like the exact same movie as the first one except in Bangkok. No matter how much you love Zach Galifianakis, simply changing the setting does not make a movie new.

X-Men: First Class, June 3 ****

Magneto and Professor Xavier were always the most interesting mutants in the X-men series and this film, which shows them in their young years grappling with, among other things, the Cuban Missile Crisis, looks very promising. That is, as long as actors James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender can successfully inherit the roles from acting legends Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart.

Submarine, June 3 ***

This Wes Anderson-looking British comedy about a high school boy trying to lose his virginity and cope with a complicated family life will appeal to those who want something a bit more highbrow and artsy then the usual summer fare. A numerous amount of film festival awards and accolades makes this film one cinephiles will be loathe to miss.

Super 8, June 10 ***

Steven Spielberg produces and J.J. Abrams directs this movie, marketed on a viral scale. The mysterious trailer only reveals that the film concerns a bunch of kids in 1979 who discover a terrible secret when a government train derails in their small Ohio town, or in other words, an amalgamation of E.T. and Cloverfield. This premise might not seem that great, but with two well respected titans of film making behind it, Super 8 has the capacity to be one of the summer's biggest blockbusters.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, July 1 (0 stars)

The question is not whether this movie will be good but who will audiences hate more: Michael Bay or Shia Labeouf? That being said, many of us will see it simply for the joy of watching cars becoming robots and explosions. We will never forgive ourselves.

Horrible Bosses, July 8 ***

A star-studded cast including Jason Bateman and Charlie Day star in this movie about office workers who plot to kill their superiors. The simple star power of the comedians involved gives this movie the potential to be the best comedy out this summer.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, July 15 ***

We all know how this one's going to end, but that doesn't mean we won't be there on opening night. Director David Yates finishes off the series with a film that promises to have plenty of duels, slow motion death scenes and happy endings. If the last film was any indication of this one's quality, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will be one of the series' best and a fitting end to what is perhaps the cultural phenomenon of our generation.

Cowboys & Aliens, July 29 *****

Daniel Craig. Harrison Ford. Cowboys. Aliens. My excitement for this movie can't be conveyed even through the obnoxious use of one-word sentences. The title might seem like a joke, but this comic book adaption of aliens invading the old west could be the biggest movie of 2011. If this movie doesn't live up to the hype, I will still believe in God, but my faith will be seriously shaken.

Arrested Development, God willing (e^*)

No, it's not coming out this summer and probably not the summer after that, but if we caught Osama in 10 years then maybe anything can happen with a little patience.