Don’t get us wrong. We love superheroes as much as the next person! (Unless the next person is Stan Lee. That guy is obsessed.) But you’ve probably already heard plenty about the 358 superhero flicks coming out this summer, and you’re probably already as excited about them as you’re going to get. So here are 10 (or more; we might have cheated) other movies being released between May and August that might be worth your attention once you’ve had your fill of spandex-clad musclemen.

The Tree of Life (May 27). This will be Terence Malick’s fifth film in 38 years. In contrast, Tyler Perry made five movies last week. The director’s slow, mesmerizing approach (Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line) has as many detractors as fans, but who wouldn’t be intrigued by a 1950s-set drama starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn?

Submarine (June 3). England’s Richard Ayoade (who plays Moss on The IT Crowd) wrote and directed this amusing coming-of-age comedy, which got rave reviews at Toronto and Sundance.

Super 8 (June 10). Geek hero J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, Star Trek) wrote and directed this sci-fi thriller. Steven Spielberg produced it. Paramount has been trying to spoil the film by showing 20 minutes of it to bloggers all over the place, but we’ve avoided reading their accounts. All we know is Abrams + sci-fi + Spielberg = we are interested.

The Trip (June 10). Did you see the video that went around a couple months ago wherein Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon competed to see who did the better Michael Caine impersonation? It came from this mostly improvised film, culled from a British TV miniseries, in which the two comics play a food critic and his pal who go on a working trip together.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins (June 17). Jim Carrey stars in this adaptation of the beloved children’s novel, about a man who inherits a handful of penguins. What’s that you say? Angela Lansbury is also in this movie? We love to watch adorable creatures waddling around, and we also love penguins, so this is a no-brainer.

Larry Crowne (July 1). Middle-aged man loses his job, goes back to college, redefines himself. This description doesn’t particularly grab our attention. But it was written by Tom Hanks, directed by Tom Hanks, and stars Tom Hanks (and Julia Roberts!). Not that Mr. Hanks is infallible, but he’s the kind of guy who’s earned the benefit of the doubt. Even if the movie isn’t very good, surely hanging out with Tom Hanks for two hours will be enjoyable.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (July 15). Have you read the book? Things are about to get serious here.

Winnie the Pooh (July 15). After years of cannibalizing and computerizing the gentle old stories, Disney has gone back to basics with this new film: hand-drawn animation, simple characters, whimsical humor. The trailer alone chokes us up a little.

Cowboys & Aliens (July 29). When it’s the Old West and aliens show up, who better to fight them off than Indiana Jones and James Bond? (Well, Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, if you want to be picky.) Directed by Jon Favreau, written by some of the Lost/Fringe/Iron Man guys, based on a cool comic book. If this turns out to be terrible, we will be very, very sad.

The R-rated comedies: Bridesmaids (May 13), Bad Teacher (June 24), Horrible Bosses (July 8), The Change-Up (Aug. 5). Granted, the R-rated comedy is a hit-or-miss genre. For every Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you get a Good Luck Chuck and a Miss March. But Bridesmaids got terrific reviews when it previewed at South By Southwest, Bad Teacher has a red-band trailer that makes us rethink our anti-Cameron Diaz position, Horrible Bosses a huge, funny cast that includes the Old Spice guy (because why not?), and The Change-Up is a body-swapping comedy starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds from the writers of The Hangover. We won’t be taking Mom to see any of these.

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Eric D. Snider (website) is just waiting on that Aquaman movie.

Tags: Cowboys & Aliens, harry potter, Super 8