Movies with Collin Whitchurch/Verge Reporter
It’s tough to discuss summer flicks because you can lump most into the same few categories: action, thriller, family.

So I won’t waste my time discussing how I’m excited for Angels & Demons because I think it translates better to the screen than Da Vinci Code did, how I could care less about Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, or the latest Harry Potter installment, or how Disney’s Up may be the next great Pixar invention.

Instead here are a few lesser-known summer releases that spark my interest:

Rudo y Cursi (May 8th)

Gael Garcia Bernel and Diego Luna star in their first film together since Y tu Mama Tambien, and this film is directed Carlos Cuaron, the brother of the acclaimed director of Tambien, Alfonso Cuaron.

The two have incredible on-screen chemistry (perhaps a little TOO much, for those who saw Tambien), and they play two brothers from a small Mexican town who are recruited to play professional soccer in the big city.

Away We Go (June 5th)

Sam Mendes’ first directorial role since 2008 hit Reservation Road is compelling, to say the least. It stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as a couple traveling around the world to find a place to raise their child.

The biggest question in the film would be if Krasinski (of NBC’s The Offce fame), and Rudolph (of Saturday Night Live fame) can thrive in both serious and leading roles. The two are accustomed to playing comedic roles, so it will be interesting to see if they can do well in roles that are supposed to tug on the heartstrings.

Public Enemies (July 1st)

I’ve always been a huge fan of Michael Mann, and it’s pretty clear that with this film, he’s trying to create today’s Heat. Not in a story sense, as this film is set with 1930s gangsters, but 1994’s Heat pitted Al Pacino vs. Robert DeNiro, two of the biggest film stars in the world at the time.

Public Enemies pits Christian Bale vs. Johnny Depp, and what bigger film stars are there in the world right now than them? Throw in Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard, and there’s some real potential here.

Inglourious Basterds (Aug. 21st)

Quentin Tarentino’s war epic has been in the works for years, and it finally comes to fruition this summer starring Brad Pitt and Samuel L. Jackson, among others.

It promises to be bloody, crude, and downright entertaining, and not coincidentally is opening the Cannes Film Festival.