Oh, man, it's just days away!  An unusually grim spring season (granted, not without its' high points) was really starting to wear me down, but now we get down to the business of being a movie geek:  getting all psyched up for a slate of summer movies that, because I haven't seen them yet and unfortunately HAVE seen the movies of all previous summers, will clearly be the Greatest Ever.

I did it last year, so if I do it again this year it's bound to become a tradition:  a Preseason Poll of the 15 movies I expect to drive me craziest with excitement over the next four months.  Let the hype begin!

1.The Dark Knight
When:  July 18
The Pitch:  Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) continues to fight crime as Batman, but the nature of crime is changing, as a self-styled Clown Prince of Crime called The Joker (Heath Ledger) can attest.
The Hype:  It's a new Batman movie, a sequel to the best one ever (Batman Begins), and the final completed performance by Ledger before his tragic death might just be his best.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  Ledger's death will muddy the waters for some, but I find it all the more reason to celebrate what looks like the performance he'll be remembered for:  an all-in totally psychotic reinvention of Batman's most famous enemy.  Begins offered a fully-realized, totally dramatic Gotham City filled with great actors (Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman) at the top of their game, and they're all back along with director Christopher Nolan.  And have you seen that picture of Aaron Eckhart holding a Harvey Dent campaign button over half of his face?  Oooooooh!

2.The Incredible Hulk
When:  June 13
The Pitch:  Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) is drawn out of seclusion by General Ross (John Hurt), who turns another experimental subject (Tim Roth) into a radioactive monster the equal of The Hulk!
The Hype:  The sequel to Ang Lee's disappointing 2003 Hulk flick tries to reboot the franchise both by mixing in more comic action (The Abomination!) and hearkening back to the popular 70's TV series.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  I was entertained by Lee's film, but there's no question that it was lacking in virtually every way.  I'm really excited by the direction of Louis Leterrier's sequel, trying to be both more relatably human and spectacularly action-packed.  The replacement of miscast Eric Bana with Edward Norton looks like a bullseye, and Hurt and Roth are always reliable villains.  The eye-catching poster and two spectacular trailers have my interest at a fever pitch.

3.The X-Files:  I Want to Believe
When:  July 25
The Pitch;  It's been six years since former FBI agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) went on the run.  A mysterious new case brings them back.
The Hype:  Fans have had six years of their own to nurse their wounds over the iconic TV series' unfortunate final seasons.  Now we're ready for a new X-Fix.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  You can count on one hand the number of iconic TV series that got posthumous big-screen reunions (as opposed to revivals), and I can't wait to reconnect with one of my all-time favorite franchises.  Reportedly a self-contained story divorced from the series alien conspiracy mythology, I Want to Believe is the perfect title for a fan base who really doesn't want to leave it the way it was left.  Writer/director Chris Carter has even cast one of my favorite actresses, Amanda Peet, in one of the guest-starring roles:  if that's not a sign, what is?

4.Iron Man
When:  May 2
The Pitch: Defense contractor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) builds a metal supersuit that allows him to fight crime... and his own warmongering partner Obediah Stane (Jeff Bridges)
The Hype:  A long-running Marvel comics series that's intrigued filmmakers and stars with its' potential for years
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  Like the casting of Toby Maguire as Peter Parker, the choice of Robert Downey Jr. as Stark sends a signal that Iron Man is aiming higher than your usual comic book blockbuster.  Add Bridges, Gweneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard and director Jon Favreau's cast is more appropriate to a holiday Oscar pic than a superhero epic.  Only fair, because Stark is among the most intriguing of Marvel heroes (still waiting for a real go at my all-time favorite, Captain America), and they even picked my favorite of his enemies, the ruthless anti-Stark The Iron Monger.

5.Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
When:  May 22
The Pitch:  Indiana Jones is back in action, battling 1950's communists over a crystal skull that looks vaguely alien
The Hype:  He's Indiana Freakin' Jones!  After many starts and stops, Harrison Ford returns to the role for the first time in almost 20 years.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  He's Indiana Freakin' Jones!  Little is known about the story, but Steven Spielberg is back in the director's chair, George Lucas is producing, John Williams is writing the snappy music, and Karen Allen's on Indy's arm, joined by new faces like Shia LaBeouf as Indy's son and Cate Blanchett as a commie fiend.  Throw some Top Secret sci-fi into the mix and it can't fail!  Right?

6.Tropic Thunder
When:  August 15
The Pitch:  The cast of an Apocalypse Now-style war epic ends up fighting the real-life forces of a heroine cartel
The Hype:  Ben Stiller returns to the director's chair for the first time since the underrated Zoolander for a similar skewering of Hollywood vanity and action cliches.  But it's really all about Robert Downey, Jr.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  If you've seen the trailer, then you've seen Downey as an Australian method actor who has his skin died black to play an African-American in the movie-within-the-movie and his performance looks to be just about the funniest thing ever.  Chock full of stars, including Jack Black and an uncredited Tom Cruise in a fat suit and bald cap as a studio executive, and we don't see enough of this kind of action comedy anymore.

7.Hellboy II:  The Golden Army
When:  July 11
The Pitch:  The fantasy worlds of folklore and myths are dying out, and the creatures that make them up unite for a final assault on humanity.  Who're you gonna call?  Hellboy (Ron Perlman)!
The Hype:  The flawed original did OK at the box office in 2004, but has since picked up a major cult following and director Guillermo del Toro earned major street cred with his Oscar-winning fantasy Pan's Labyrinth.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  A hard-learned fact is that the best sequels are often to flawed movies, and while Hellboy was chock full of narrative holes, the characters and their world begged for another shot.  Perlman is a personal favorite, and Hellboy is one of his best roles.  And have you seen that awesome trailer???

8.Get Smart
When:  June 20
The Pitch:  Agent 86 Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) battles KAOS alongside Agents 99 (Anne Hathaway) and 23 (Dwayne Johnson)
The Hype:  One of the most beloved 60's TV series to not yet get its' own Summer Movie update.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  Carell is a personal favorite leading a cast of them, and I always loved the show.  The trailer is a hoot, even after over a dozen viewings.  And this kind of action comedy extravaganza comes off more consistently than most summer genres.

9.Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D
When:  July 11
The Pitch:  A scientist (Brendan Frasier), his nephew (Josh Hutcherson) and an Icelandic guide (Anita Briem) use a marked-up copy of Jules' Verne's classic novel to, well, journey to the center of the Earth.
The Hype:  It's the first live-action fictional movie shot in the new Digital 3-D
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  No other way to say it, it's the first live-action fictional movie shot in the new Digital 3-D!  And as regular readers know, I'm CRAZY about Digital 3-D (not enough to see that Miley Cyrus movie, that would have been a different kind of crazy...).  Plus, I'm a big fan of Frasier in summer blockbuster mode and Verne-flavored adventure.  It may not be a masterpiece, but there's probably no movie on this list I'm less likely to dislike.

10.Wanted
When:  June 27
The Pitch:  An office drone (James McAvoy) is recruited by a secret organization to become an assassin and avenge his father's murder.
The Hype:  Mark Miller's graphic novel isn't that well-known, but the snappy trailer reminds us of the very well-known Matrix trilogy, and an ass-kicking Angelina Jolie is always gonna quicken a fanboy's pulse.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  Jolie and Morgan Freeman are personal favorites and the English language debut of Night Watch director Timur Bekmambetov looks to be chock-full of spectacle.  In short, it's the most promising looking Matrix knockoff in years.

11.The Happening
When:  June 13
The Pitch:  A teacher (Mark Wahlberg) and his family try to survive “a mysterious deadly force” that's killing people by the millions.
The Hype:  Admit it:  doesn't giving M. Night Shayamalan an R rating to work with make you just a tad nervous about how scary this return to Signs territory might be?
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  See above.  His 2-pic losing streak (The Village and Lady in the Water) attested to just what a great filmmaker Shayamalan is just because movies that were awful on paper actually had a little juice in practice.  A moment in time when everything in the world seems to be going in the wrong direction does half The Happening's work for him.  And an appealing cast headed by Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel should help overcome the lack of star power in those previous two flicks.

12.Speed Racer
When:  May 9
The Pitch:  Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) and his rival-turned-partner Racer X (Matthew Fox) enter a cross-country race called The Crucible to unmask a race-fixing conspiracy by a crooked corporation.
The Hype:  The first anime series to catch on in the US comes to life on the big screen as the first post-Matrix directorial outing by the Wachowski Bros.
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  To be honest, the original series is a hair before my time, but I did mention the Wachowski Bros., right?  Once again, they look to be rewriting the rules of filmmaking, with a wild visual look that brings the cheesy world of anime to huge, candy-colored life.  And as a Lost fan, the notion of Matthew Fox as Racer X just tickles the hell out of me.

13.The Mummy:  Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
When:  August 1
The Pitch:  Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraiser) travels to the Orient to battle the shape-shifting mummy of Emperor Han (Jet Li), his terra-cotta army and three-headed dragons.
The Hype:  The third in the Mummy series, one of the summer's few true sequels
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  Because I'm a sucker.  Red flags abound, from the replacement of Mummys 1 & 2 director Stephen Sommers with the less reliable Rob Cohen to the swapping out of Rachel Weisz in favor of Maria Bello (admittedly a personal favorite) as Rick's wife Evie.  But Li is always an awesome villain and it's gonna ooze spectacle and have three-headed dragons!  As Peter Boyle said in Solar Crisis, “I choose to believe in an optimistic future”.  Granted, quoting Solar Crisis is never a good sign...

14.Wall*E
When:  June 27
The Pitch:  In the distant future, a tiny robot who's been alone on an abandoned Earth for 700 years stows away on a human ship.
The Hype:  Five letters:  P-I-X-A-R
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  OK, they threw me a curveball last summer with the snooty, flabby Ratatouille, but Pixar's batting average is still awfully high, and this time the topic is sci-fi, my genre wheelhouse.  I'm really intrigued by the notion of a near-wordless film shot from an alien point of view.

15.Hancock
When:  July 2
The Pitch:  A hard-living superhero (Will Smith) tries to repair his image with the help of a PR expert (Jason Bateman).
The Hype:  Will Smith IS a franchise, and any time he gets hooked up with this kind of subject matter, the money flows freely (who else could have juiced 200 million out of the apocalyptic despair of I Am Legend?).
Why it's gonna be totally awesome:  Call me an optimist, but I do have a certain amount of faith in the Fresh Prince's taste in material, and the subject matter is really promising.  The first trailer was kinda wobbly, but the second shows a little more heroic backbone, and Smith looks great.

Even as I went through the list, I'm amazed at how many high-ceilinged titles are crammed into one season (Prince Caspian didn't even make the list!).  I could easily go 10 deep with more movies that have a chance to be really good.  Looking at last summer's list, I'd say this year is easily twice as thick with potential awesomeness.  Of course, I had the two summer movies I ended up liking best last year (Hairspray and Mr. Brooks) outside the top 10 and a movie I didn't end up liking at all (Spider-Man 3) at #3.  But hey, that's why we play 'em.  Check back throughout the summer to see how all this actually plays out.  I can't wait!