Last week we highlighted six films worth taking a look at this month (Thor, Jumping the Broom and The Hangover, Part II) and in June (X-Men: First Class, The Green Lantern and Bad Teacher).

In the second and final part of Moviegoers’ 2011 Summer Film Preview, we’ll highlight six additional films (three per month for the fiscal-minded moviegoer, as we did in Part 1) scheduled to be released in July and August that based on several different criteria – star power, both in front of and behind the scenes; available film trailers; and buzz on the street – are ones to watch.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldham, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Felton, Jason Isaacs, Kelly Macdonald, John Hurt, Michael Gambon, Ciarán Hinds, David Thewlis, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltrane, Julie Walters, Timothy Spall, Warwick Davis, Miranda Richardson and Jim Broadbent.
Directed By: David Yates
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: July 15

As the film’s tagline goes, “It All Ends Here.”After 10 years and 6 previous films (7, if you count Deathly Hallows, Part 1 as a stand-alone film), the Harry Potter film franchise will come to what has been described as a thunderous, action-packed end this summer. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) venture back to Hogwarts to find and destroy the last of Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) horcruxes and put an end to his reign of terror once and for all. Fans of J.K. Rowling’s books already know what happens, while the rest of us are left to wonder if Harry and company will outsmart the murderous Voldemort and his assorted cronies. Daniel Radcliffe has been quoted as saying that this final Harry Potter film hits the ground running and doesn’t quit. There’s little doubt that this is the most eagerly anticipated film of the summer for Potter fans the world over.

Cowboys & Aliens
Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Walton Goggins, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, Adam Beach and Abigail Spencer.
Directed By: Jon Favreau.
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: July 29

The title tells you everything you need to know about the film, though “Cowboys vs. Aliens” would have been a more apt title, not to be confused with the 2009 animated film Monsters vs. Aliens. Taking a break from the James Bond franchise, Daniel Craig plays a mysterious cowboy who, back in 1873, leads the charge when a group of aliens with world domination on their mind shows up in Old West town of Absolution, Arizona. Harrison Ford plays the town’s iron-fisted leader who eventually teams up with Craig to take the aliens out. The film is based on the popular graphic novel of the same name by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, and credited screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have described the film as “Unforgiven with alien landings.” The look of the aliens, which has largely been kept under tight wraps, is said to be heavily inspired by the look of the aliens featured in the films Alien (1979) and Predator (1987).

Crazy, Stupid, Love
Starring: Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon.
Directed By: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: July 29

What happens when a longtime married couple breaks up and the bachelor pal of the newly-single husband falls in love for the first time? That’s the premise of the new romantic comedy/drama Crazy, Stupid, Love, the sophomore film from I Love You, Phillip Morris writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. Cal (Steve Carrell) and Emily (Julianne Moore) are a longtime married couple with kids who lead a seemingly ideal life…until Emily asks for a divorce. Taken by surprise, Cal finds transitioning back into bachelorhood after being married for so long is a trickier proposition than he imagined. He seeks help from his bachelor friend Jacob (Ryan Gosling), who makes it look so damn easy and the thing to be…until he falls for Hannah (Emma Stone), a young, attractive woman who’s got his number and is immune to his wanton charms. Based on the film’s trailer, this looks like a winner. A romantic comedy that’s both romantic, funny and, dare I say it, smart and perceptive.

30 Minutes or Less
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña, Aziz Ansari and Fred Ward
Directed By: Ruben Fleischer
Rated: R
Release Date: August 12

Jesse Eisenberg reunites with director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) on his sophomore directorial effort, 30 Minutes or Less. During a pizza run, a delivery guy (Jesse Eisenberg) is kidnapped by a couple of bumbling, masked criminals (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) and forced to wear a bomb-infused vest. According to them, all he needs to do is rob a bank within the next 9 hours, give them the money and they’ll happily send him on his way. If he doesn’t do what they wish, he’ll be blown to smithereens, plain and simple. The delivery guy seeks help from his best friend and roommate (Aziz Ansari) with whom he’s just had a fight prior to being kidnapped. If 30 Minutes or Less is half as funny and inventive as Zombieland, the cinematic equivalent of a trashy fun beach read if there ever was one, then it could be one of the season’s sleeper hits. And hopefully McBride can redeem himself after the unfunny debacle that was Your Highness.

The Help
Starring: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sissy Spacek, Allison Janney, Mike Vogel, Jessica Chastain, Chris Lowell, Brian Kerwin, Dana Ivey, Leslie Jordan, La Chanze and Cicely Tyson.
Directed By: Tate Taylor.
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: August 12

It’s 1962, the civil rights movement is underway, and all of those unwritten rules regarding race relations are becoming obsolete. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Kathryn Stockett, The Help casts Oscar nominee Viola Davis (Doubt) as Aibileen Clark, a middle-aged African-American maid who’s just lost her only child after raising 17 children for different white families she’s worked for over the years. Her best friend, Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), has lost more housekeeping jobs than she can count due to her outspoken nature and refusal to kowtow to her largely-racist white employers. And aspiring writer Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), just out of college and back home in Jackson, Mississippi, is troubled to discover that an African-American maid she’s known her whole life has vanished. These three women form a unique bond (certainly at that moment in history), and start a movement that forever changes the town and the way its citizens, both black and white, treat one another. It’s been reported that Stockett based the character of Minny on the actress who plays her in the film (Spencer) and the woman (Ablene Cooper, the longtime nanny for Stockett’s brother), who reportedly served as inspiration for Aibileen, is suing, claiming her name and likeness were used without her permission. Controversy aside, the trailer speaks well of the film’s potential.

Our Idiot Brother
Starring: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Steve Coogan, Hugh Dancy, Kathryn Hahn, Rashida Jones, Shirley Knight, T.J. Miller and Adam Scott Directed By: Jesse Peretz
Not Yet Rated
Release Date: August 26

Paul Rudd plays the title character, a lifelong slacker who’s just out of jail, broke and dependant on the kindness of family to take him in, which his three sisters (Emily Mortimer, Zooey Deschanel and Elizabeth Banks) all begrudgingly agree to do. As he wanders from one sister’s house to another, it becomes apparent that all the disdain they share for their not-so-bright brother is likely a reflection regarding all of the boneheaded decisions they’ve also made. Could Our Idiot Brother be the film that finally makes the criminally-underrated Rudd the household name he so richly deserves to be? The trailer looks promising, let’s hope it doesn’t contain the only funny material to be found in the film.

Following months of cold weather, Milwaukee got a welcome, albeit brief, reprieve when the temperature reached an unseasonably balmy 80+ degrees a couple weeks ago (remember that?). That tantalizing taste of summer got us Moviegoers thinking, “Summer will be here before you know it, so what are the must-see flicks of 2011?”

And since the summer movie season kicks off in May instead of June (and has for several years now), there’s an extra month to take under consideration when determining which films are likely to deliver the biggest bang for your hard-earned summer bucks. With that in mind, here are six films (three per month for the fiscal-minded moviegoer) scheduled to be released over the next two months that based on several criteria – star power, both in front of and behind the scenes; available film trailers; and buzz on the street – are ones to watch this summer. In the coming weeks, we’ll highlight six additional films (three in July, three in August) that we also consider must-sees.

 
Thor
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Ray Stevenson, Tom Huddleston, Kat Dennings, Stellan Skarsgärd, Idris Elba, Rene Russo, Colm Feore and Adriana Barraza
Directed By: Kenneth Branagh
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: May 6

Cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard to live among humans on Earth by his enraged father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), fallen Norse god Thor (Chris Hemsworth) becomes a founding member of the superhero super group The Avengers. According to media reports, Hemsworth delivers a breakout performance in the title role, and the film is as rousing as the first Iron Man. Though there was some controversy surrounding the casting of black British actor Idris Elba (Stringer Bell from HBO’s “The Wire”) as a Nordic god, director Kenneth Branagh squashed it, saying that he was the best actor for the role, period. Clark Gregg (who discovered Thor’s hammer at the end of Iron Man 2) is back as Agent Phil Coulson, and allegedly Clint Barton (a.k.a. Hawkeye) makes his first big screen appearance, played by Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner. Hemsworth, Renner, and Gregg will all reprise their roles in the forthcoming Avengers film alongside Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Jumping the Broom
Starring: Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine, Meagan Good, Tasha Smith, Julie Bowen, DeRay Davis, Valarie Pettiford, Mike Epps, Pooch Hall, Romeo and Brian Stokes Mitchell
Directed By: Salim Akil
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: May 6

In this predominantly-black take on the Sidney Poitier/Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn classic Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967), the daughter (Paula Patton) of an affluent Washington D.C. power couple (Angela Bassett and Brian Stokes Mitchell) agrees to marry the working class son (Laz Alonso) of a veteran postal worker and single mother (Loretta Devine). When the families converge on Martha’s Vineyard for the lavish ceremony and the future in-laws meet for the first time, a culture war soon erupts that endangers the nuptials. Jumping the Broom is the feature film directing debut of television writer-director-producer Salim Akil (Showtime’s “Soul Food,” The CW’s “Girlfriends,” and BET’s “The Game”) and marks the big screen reunion of Bassett with her Waiting to Exhale co-star Devine.

The Hangover Part II
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms
Directed By: Todd Phillips
Rated: R
Release Date: May 6

After barely getting out of Las Vegas in one piece in the first film, the sequel sees Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) travel to Bangkok, Thailand for Stu’s wedding only to have the guys wind up in another post-blackout roller coaster of an adventure. The film has gotten more buzz for what supposedly went on behind the scenes than for how it turned out. Liam Neeson’s cameo appearance as a tattoo artist, which Mel Gibson was originally going to do before Galifianakis and others threatened to walk off the film, has been reshot with Nick Cassavetes, son of indie god John Cassavetes and legendary actress Gena Rowlands. Will it be as big a critical and commercial hit as its Golden Globe winning predecessor? Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, and Mike Tyson all reprise their roles from the first film.

X-Men: First Class
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Rose Byrne, Kevin Bacon, Nicholas Hoult, Jason Flemyng, Zoë Kravitz and Lucas Till
Directed By: Matthew Vaughn
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: June 3

Before they became archenemies, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) were best friends as young men coming to terms with their newfound super powers. While working with other mutants (both familiar and new) to stop a threat, the magnitude of which the world has never known, a rift comes between these two powerful friends that triggers the never-ending war between the Brotherhood, founded by Lehnsherr (Magneto), and Xavier’s (Professor X) aptly named X-Men. Word on the street is that X-Men: First Class ranks with the best of the X-Men films produced so far; some have said it’s the best to date.

The Green Lantern
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Temuera Morrison, Jon Tenney, Tim Robbins, Angela Bassett, Geoffrey Rush and Michael Clarke Duncan
Directed By: Martin Campbell
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: June 17

A hot shot test pilot, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), inherits a mystical green ring from its previous extraterrestrial owner that bestows upon him otherworldly powers, as well as membership into a small, diverse, millenniums-old intergalactic squadron that keeps peace in the universe called the Green Lantern Corps. When a new enemy threatens to destroy everything in its wake, including Earth, it’s up to Jordan to save the world. The buzz on this film has been bananas for month. They showed an extended clip at Comic-Con and the reaction was thunderous in it approval. Reynolds is said to be prefect in the dual role of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. Geoffrey Rush and Michael Clarke Duncan supply voices for two key characters in the film, Tomar-Re and Kilowog, respectively. And Angela Bassett makes the first of what will likely be many big-screen appearances as the ethically-challenged Dr. Amanda Waller, who rules the roost in the universe of DC Comics in much the same way Nick Fury does in the realm of Marvel Comics.

Bad Teacher
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake and Lucy Punch
Directed By: Jake Kasdan
Rated: R
Release Date: June 24

In the same vein as the Billy Bob Thornton cult comedy Bad Santa and writer-director Alexander Payne’s scathing high school satire Election, Bad Teacher tells the story of a junior high school teacher (Cameron Diaz) with a foul attitude and a mouth to match who’s dumped by her wealthy boyfriend. Her attempt to romance an awkward but still hot substitute teacher (Justin Timberlake) doesn’t sit too well with a popular and well-respected teacher (Lucy Punch), who has designs on him for herself. The film is directed by Jake Kasdan (The Zero Effect, The TV Set, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), the son of veteran filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Grand Canyon).