Moving into the heart of the summer brings male bonding, sisterly bonding, the return of the only female action director and Michael Mann (Miami Vice) returning to his crime and Midwest roots.

The Hangover (June 5) Bad boy director Todd Phillips (Road Trip, Starsky & Hutch) who often takes hackneyed male bonding situations and gives them a fresh spin does it again with The Hangover. Starting with perhaps the oldest male ritual of all, the bachelor party, Phillips devotes most of the movie to not showing what four friends do on their wild night out in Vegas. Buds Phil, Stu and Alan plan a wild night out in Vegas before losing their friend Doug (Justin Bartha) to the clutches of matrimony. The four set out from L.A. intent on painting the town red. Cut to the next morning. The guys’ hotel room looks like a hurricane hit it. A chicken has taken roost in the room, Stu has a missing tooth, there’s a baby in the bathroom, and the groom is missing! Although rife with Phillips’ trademark raunchiness and near-slapstick pratfalls, there is an actual narrative in play here (something usually minimally present in Phillips movies) – the guys must find Doug and get him back to L.A. in time for the wedding and in the process discover just what kind of trouble did they get into on their night out in Vegas. A frat boy detective comedy, if you will. Or three frat boys and a baby. (One of Phillips earliest film was a documentary called, what else, Frat House.) One of the in-the-flesh clues is none other than original bad boy Mike Tyson, playing himself.

My Sister’s Keeper (June 26) Based on the 2004 best seller by Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper is a medical/family drama about a pair of sisters whose interdependency threatens the entire family. Sara (Cameron Diaz) and Brian (Jason Patric) Fitzgerald’s world is turned upside down when they learn that their daughter Kate suffers from leukemia. Her only chance is for the Fitzgeralds to conceive a “donor” child which they do through in-vitro fertilization. Their new child Anna (Abigail Breslin) is created to serve Kate’s illness. Throughout her life, Anna dutifully donates blood and bone marrow to head off Kate’s disease, but when Kate’s kidneys fail at 16, she needs a kidney transplant. Anna is the ideal choice, but instead she hires a lawyer Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) to medically emancipate her from her parents. A legal struggle ensues, but Anna’s motivation for suing her parents remains a mystery. Through the long medical ordeal, the family is tested. Sara gives up a legal career to care for Kate. Soon the other children begin to feel neglected. Older son Jesse becomes a pyromanicac and drug user. Brian begins to drink. Anna feels her life is defined by her sister. Kate tires of spending her life in a hospital and wishes for a normal life. She finds romance through a fellow leukemia sufferer, but her friend eventually dies. The story raises moral questions: How far should one go to save a life? At what cost? Who should make the choices? Above all, the film is a story of two sisters who are best friends until Anna’s choice threatens her sister’s life and the family.

The Hurt Locker (June 26 limited release) Director Kathryn Bigelow (K-19: The Widowmaker) returns with her first film in seven years with the story of a U.S. Army EOD (bomb disposal) unit in Iraq. Bigelow is that rarity – a female action director. An intellectual who’s also an adrenaline junkie, Bigelow is best known for the cult vampire film Near Dark. Here she gives an intimate look at the most dangerous job in the world. The job takes a certain breed of men, and we thrown right into their life or death situation in the first scene when cocky Sgt. Thompson (Guy Pierce) attempts to defuse an IED and is promptly blown up. His replacement, Sgt James (Jeremy Renner) is even more of a maverick than Thompson. He revels in the danger, even removing his protective suit at one point. “If I’m gonna die, I want to die comfortable,” He says. Tension rises between James and his deputy Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) whose job is to keep James alive in dangerous Baghdad neighborhoods while the bomb expert works. Script was based on a story by freelance journalist Mark Boal who imbedded with an EOD unit in Iraq. While authentic, narrative and character development are light, but Bigelow keeps the movie going with a series of pulse-pounding action set pieces. Production shot in Jordan not far from the Iraq border using real Iraqi refugees as extras. Studio is wisely promoting the film as an action thriller, not an Iraq War film. (All Iraq War films so far have bombed.)

Public Enemies (July 1) Johnny Depp and Christian Bale topline director Michael Mann’s Depression-era story of notorious gangster John Dillinger (Depp) and his gang, and his nemesis, FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) who is charged with bringing him in, dead or alive. Best known for urban crime dramas like Heat and Collateral, Mann has also dabbled with social issues (The Insider) and historical pics (The Last of the Mohicans). With Public Enemies he returns to his native Midwest to tell the story of how Dillinger’s machine gun-toting gang became near folk heroes knocking off banks to the acclaim of the public who blamed the financial system for the Depression. At the same time, J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) is trying to build credibility for his newly-formed Bureau of Investigation. Toward that end he declares Dillinger Public Enemy Number 1 and sends in the dashing Purvis and his team. But Dillinger outwits the G-Men at every turn, through chases, gunfights and a famous escape from jail using a wooden gun. Finally, Purvis resorts to informants to take down Dillinger once and for all. Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard (Piaf) co-stars as Billie Frechette, Dillinger’s girlfriend. Channing Tatum plays Pretty Boy Floyd. Expect a larger scale, more factual movie (there have been several Dillinger films) along the lines of Bonnie & Clyde and The Untouchables.