The calendar may say spring, but summer is on the minds of most. There are several constants to summer in the High Country – temperate weather, second homeowners, summer blockbusters and more second homeowners. Rather than pick a favorite temperate weather or second homeowner, your Mountain Times staff has selected some of the summer movies we’re most anticipating.

Frank Ruggiero: ‘Inglourious Basterds’

From director Quentin Tarantino comes a tagline, “Once upon a time in Nazi occupied France.” It’s attached to

Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is already unpopular among spell checkers nationwide.

his summer release, Inglourious Basterds, due in theaters Aug. 21. It’s quite a time to wait, but let’s give Tarantino the benefit of the doubt. He’s a perfectionist, an avid film buff, joyfully embracing the devil in the details, keen on making every film a labor of love. His take on a World War II movie shouldn’t be any different.

With Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino reportedly aims to craft a picture that’s as much a spaghetti western as it is war film. It stars Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine, the commander of a group of Jewish-American soldiers tasked with spreading fear throughout the Third Reich by way of brutal violence, not limited to his order for 100 Nazi scalps from each troop.

Judging by the synopsis alone, it seems almost like The Dirty Dozen meets Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, only with Samuel L. Jackson narrating. That’s right. And in typical Tarantino fashion, the film has been divided into chapters, one of which is said to be in “French New Wave Black and White.” Maybe there will be a chapter called “Aldo Raine and Marsellus Wallace’s Grandfather’s Wife.”

Joel Frady: ‘Drag Me to Hell’

It’s been 17 years since Sam Raimi finished his wonderful Evil Dead trilogy with Army of Darkness, his last film that – despite being a comedy – contained elements of the horror that helped Raimi rise to fame. In the years since then, he’s grown by leaps and bounds as a filmmaker, proving that he can make a good western (The

Is Christine being dragged to hell, or just into the cinema for High School Musical 4: College Be Damned?

Quick and the Dead), a good thriller (The Gift), serious drama (A Simple Plan, his best film) and the monster-budget superhero movie (the Spider-Man trilogy).

But in all those years, Raimi fans – like myself – have been eager to see him return to his horror roots. On Friday, May 29, we’ll get that wish in the form of Drag Me to Hell, a film that he co-wrote with his brother Ivan Raimi.

In Drag Me, Alison Lohman stars as Christine, a sweet-natured loan officer who wants the big promotion at her bank. But her boss (David Paymer) tells her that she needs to make the hard decisions, such as foreclosing on people with sob stories, if she is to prove herself worthy of the promotion.

Unfortunately for Christine, she attempts to make that hard choice by evicting an older woman who, in turn, places a supernatural curse on her.

Time will tell if Sam Raimi’s return to horror lives up to form, but if his Evil Dead movies are an indication, you can expect to be surprised. With years of big budgets under his belt, don’t be surprised to see a film that’s crazier and better looking than any of his earlier works because with time, good filmmakers become great.

Steve Behr 2: Electric Boogaloo

Ah, summer movies. Tales of sequels, cute little animals and television shows on the big screen will all be lining up to take your $9 every Friday night from now until Labor Day.

So, which movie’s got my attention? I may go see the Star Trek movie, but only to see if the guy who plays James T. Kirk hesitates on words as much as William Shatner did back in the original.

“Spock ... we have to ... board the Enterprise soon ... or else ... we’ll get left behind.”

Actually, since that’s the only one that’s got me even glancing at Roger Ebert’s Web site, allow me to offer some suggestions for movies that should be made, with just a little imagination.

When will we get a Married with Children update? Or maybe in The Simpsons sequel we could have the Bundys move to Springfield. NO-MAAM (Al Bundy’s National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood) could induct Homer into its club.

How about instead of a movie about penguins dancing, it would be about polar bears who have had enough of their food taunting them. We could call it Unhappy Feet.

Maybe a movie could be made about the American economy. We’ll call it Titanic II. I’d pay to see the documentary about the Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs called The Mild, Mild West, or a movie that combines the life of Harvey Milk and Mrs. Fields called Milk and Cookies.

Need one of those cheesy teen flicks? Never fear, I’ve got an idea. How about a film that has lots of beer drinking, some gratuitous sex, a really cool guy who ends up with a beautiful 20-something and his fat, nerdy friend, who likes to eat pizza, cheeseburgers and drinks until he passes out, when he is given a Mohawk haircut. We’ll call it Been There, Done That: Another Old Tired Idea That is a Piece of Garbage That Goes Straight to the Video Store.

I know. I’m a little grouchy about summer blockbusters. It seems that if there is not a gunfight, car chase or boring love story involved where the man upsets the woman and then has to apologize for whatever he did, the movie doesn’t get the green light.

Consequently, few fresh ideas make it to the big screen, yet the garbage makes millions. Sequels that are so awful — did we really need another Friday the 13th movie? — are put in front of us and people flock to see them like lookieloos on a highway watching the remains of a car crash.

And since I have no discipline, I’ll probably venture to the theater, especially when I have a couple of hours to kill when I’m on the road. However, I still recommend a trip to the local baseball field over a trip to the movie house any day.