It’s no surprise that a comics-based movie would launch the summer season. This year’s big title: Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth.

It’s that time of the year—the real popcorn season: Summer Movies. Lots of “high-spec” screen material (that’s the industry lingo for films with hoped-for blockbuster appeal). The current hit “Thor” serves as a prelude to what is sure to follow—plenty of action epics with a lot of box-office muscle (and in the case of “Thor” literal muscle).

“Thor” is, in fact, ideal popcorn fare. It recounts the heavenly-earthly adventures of a Marvel Comics warrior, Thor—a son of the Norse god Odin—whose disobedience angers his father, so much so that he finds himself banished to Earth: to barren New Mexico of all places. Explosive action, unfolding redemption and a developing love interest form the dramatic arcs of the film.

When I saw the film the ticket-buyers, save a few parents and an aging film critic, were teenagers and very young adults who chuckled throughout at the antics of the wayward Thor, portrayed by Chris Hemsworth, whose speech and bulk are reminiscent of the young Arnold Schwarzenegger. Marketing hoopla was a key factor in “Thor”‘s success. Expect the same of other high-spec films, especially those with origins in comic books. There are so many comics-based movies these days you have to wonder when they’ll run out of ideas, but for now there’s still enough quality to keep the popcorn popping.

“X-Men: First Class” just opened, and on July 22 Marvel Studios releases “Captain America: The First Avenger”—the story of an underweight youngster who is turned down by the Army but goes on to become a super hero in a special mission against the Germans. Both “Thor” and “Captain America” have been captured in 3-D, a technology that’s no longer just a gimmick. It really is worth the price of a ticket for filmgoers who care about movies and cinematic technology to check out a Marvel Studios production. What the studio’s artists and technicians can realize with digital imaging is truly eye-opening. Also from the comic book trove is “Green Lantern,” a sci-fi adventure with a mid-western hero—the only human in a team of galactic warriors.

There are also the inevitable attempts to cash in with sequels, remakes, remakes of sequels and sequels of remakes: “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (July 1), “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (August 12), and (speaking of the young Schwarzenegger) “Conan the Barbarian” (August 19). For the younger set, there are “Winnie the Pooh” (July 15) and “Smurfs” (July 29), as well as guaranteed-moneymaker “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II” (July 12).

Cameron Diaz’s ‘Bad Teacher’ is a respite from non-stop explosions.

If all those explosions—or all that cynicism from the studios—tire you out, a couple romantic comedies promise some relief. I’m interested in “Bad Teacher” (June 24) with Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake, directed by Jake Kasdan, because I really enjoyed Kasdan’s bio-musical spoof “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” (2007). He’s inherited a lot of family talent from U-M alumni parents Meg and Lawrence Kasdan.

“Larry Crowne” (July 1) has a strong starring pair with Tom Hanks as an older college student and Julia Roberts as his communications professor. Communications was my original department at Michigan, so I’ll see that one.

Summer is, of course, the time we expect marshmallow-fluffy movies—just as we look for more ambitious work in the Oscar season at year’s end. But quality and originality can also be found when it’s hot, you just might have to look a little harder. Some movies I’ll go out of my way to see? First off are several non-fiction films. Scheduled for release on June 22 is a documentary by Rodman Flender, “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.” The film captures O’Brien’s cross-country tour after leaving “The Tonight Show.” You can bet that O’Brien will offer a lot of acrid witticisms about life’s ups-and-downs in the cut-throat world of late-night television.

Protektor, a World War II-era drama, has made several European top-ten lists, and promises to stand alongside great films like “The Lives of Others.”

Jill Andresevic’s “Love Etc.” (July 1) is a slice-of-life verite documentary that takes a year-long look at romance among five couples living in New York City. The film has been an audience favorite at various festivals in Canada and the U.S. Another that caught my attention is John Turturro’s tribute to the music and peoples of Naples, Italy, “Passione” (June 22). Turturro says that what began as a straight documentary turned into a “musical adventure,” inspired by films like “Buena Vista Social Club” (1999)—a celebrated film by Wim Wenders about the music of Cuba. Southern Italy through its music sounds like an engaging cultural experience.

Films from abroad to look for include Julie Bertucelli’s “The Tree” (June 22), a tale about a rural Australian girl and the imagined spirit of her dead father. From France, “Rapt” (July 6) is a much-heralded kidnap-ransom thriller directed by Lucas Belvaux. “Protektor” (July 22), Marek Najbrt’s World War II drama set in Prague, is a film with political and personal elements reminiscent of “The Lives of Others” (2006). Released in Europe last year, “Protektor” has appeared on top-films-of-2010 lists.

I’ll conclude with the British remake of “Brighton Rock” (August 26) adapted from Graham Greene’s 1938 novel. The first screen version was made in 1947 with Richard Attenborough portraying Pinkie Brown, the film’s sociopathic antihero. A noir thriller, the plot charts Pinkie’s actions as a would-be gangster, beginning with his murder of a young man whom Pinkie feels betrayed him. Pinkie’s means of establishing an alibi and preventing criminal prosecution if caught are devious and cruel.

John Boulting directed the 1947 film with a screenplay co-authored by Greene and Terence Rattigan. The script was a straight-forward rendering of the novel, resulting in an intriguing detective drama incorporating Greene’s ruminations on the questions of sin and damnation that haunt Pinkie, a Catholic as was Greene.

Sam Riley plays Pinkie Brown in the ultra-dark remake of ‘Brighton Rock.’

The remake is directed by Rowan Joffe, with Sam Riley portraying Pinkie Brown. The time frame has been moved to the mid-1960s and the script veers decidedly away from the intricate detective structure of the 1947 film. Greater emphasis is placed on the competition between Pinkie and an established older criminal, Colleoni. In the original, Hermione Baddeley, as Ida Arnold, created a perky, tart and determined detective, empowered by racetrack winnings that allowed her to remain in Brighton and see to Pinkie’s comeuppance. In Joffe’s remake Ida is a café manager in seafront Brighton and is portrayed with an aura of knowing sophistication by a stylish Helen Mirren. The beginnings and endings of the two films are also dramatically altered, and if the first version is classic “noir,” the new one is even more so: tonally stark and very black. For further comparison, an excellent recent DVD of the 1947 “Brighton Rock” is now available.