Studios tend to put out blockbuster hopefuls during summer and wait until winter to put out the Oscar competition. I had hoped the 2006 summer would pick up where the terrific 2005 summer left off. I was wrong. At least I can look forward to what should be an exciting autumn. Here’s a list of this summer’s selection.

“The DaVinci Code”— I love Tom Hanks, but he has absolutely no business playing Robert Langdon. When you miscast the main character, how can the movie succeed? This question got me thinking about some all-time bonehead casting decisions: Hanks in “Road to Perdition”, Lillo Brancato in “A Bronx Tale” and possibly the worst of all time is Sofia Coppola in “Godfather III”.

“Superman Returns”— This was one of the stupidest movies all summer. What made the movie worse than it actually was is that Brian Singer chose to direct this instead of directing “X-Men: The Last Stand”. So this movie almost ruined two comic book movie franchises at the same time. One positive aspect was that every time John Williams’ famous Superman score played, it reminded me of the “Seinfeld” episode when Jerry beat Duncan Meyer in the race and then pushed away Elaine so he could hug Lois instead.

“Miami Vice”— Michael Mann has got “cool” down. From “Heat” to “Collateral” to “Miami Vice”, he has figured it out. He also manages to squeeze great performances out of his stars. My only complaints are that Jamie Fox plays second fiddle to Farrell, which seems like a waste. Also, Farrell’s accent was all over the place — New York, a lazy Southern twang, his stiff Irish brogue — sometimes all in one sentence. Pretty cool.

“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”— Adam McKay and Will Ferrell’s second outing together is just as funny as the first, and is probably the funniest movie since “Anchorman”. If you haven’t seen it, leave right now and go watch it.

“An Inconvenient Truth”— A movie starring Al Gore discussing global warming sounds about as exciting as the desk I’m at right now. But although the movie has its flaws, it is an important film and it should be seen by anyone who plans to live on earth.