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The summer movie season: Alongside Oscar season, the highlight of a film lover’s year as all the studios put out their biggest-budgeted and most action-packed movies in hopes of cashing in like The Dark Knight or Iron Man. But since some of the films that will make boatloads of cash probably won’t be good films (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), here are some of the movies coming out over the next three months that buzz recommends:

Terminator Salvation (May 22): The fourth entry of the popular science fiction franchise takes the action to the future, in the middle of the war against the machines often mentioned in the previous films. This time around, Christian Bale is playing John Connor, who is the leader of the human resistance attempting to fend off the terminators. While it’s disheartening that McG of the Charlie’s Angels movies is directing, the trailers have looked fantastic, and Christopher Nolan’s brother and co-writer on The Dark Knight apparently did a rewrite. The real question is, can this franchise rebound after the abysmal Terminator 3 and get back to James Cameron levels of greatness?

Up (May 29): It’s Pixar. That should be enough to make you see it. It’s also Pixar’s first film in 3-D. Now you have to see it in theaters. Pixar’s 10th film focuses on Carl Fredricksen, a grouchy elderly man who’s getting evicted from his home. However, instead of going out quietly, Carl attaches hundreds of balloons to his house and floats off into the sky. Finally alone, Carl is angered when he finds out a young Boy Scout named Russell is now on his house with him. Regardless of your view on Cars and A Bug’s Life, Pixar has made some amazing work and has consistently topped themselves, so hopefully Up will be no exception.

Public Enemies (July 3): Is there anyone who does stylish crime films better than Michael Mann? With his latest film Public Enemies, Mann travels back to the 1930s and follows the life of gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). Dillinger robs banks all over Chicago, with an FBI task force led by Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) hot on his trail. With bank robberies, leads on both sides of the law and Mann at the helm, this is looking like Heat in the 1930s, which could be amazing.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 15): After the phenomenal fifth film in the Harry Potter franchise, it’s exciting that director David Yates was brought back for number six. What could arguably be called the darkest book in the series, Harry discovers a book owned by the “half-blood prince,” which gives Harry an in-depth look at Lord Voldemort’s life. With more dazzling imagery and rising tensions in the plot, this could take over from Prisoner of Azkaban and become the best movie of the series.