Da Vinci Code was humdrum, X-Men 3 was the disappointment everyone feared, Superman Returns is fantastic but over, Dead Man's Chest turned out not as good as everyone is hoping it will be when I saw it last week, and suddenly the summer is looking pretty bleak.

It looks like we're staring down the barrel of yet another summer filled with blockbuster disappointments. Having any summer movie season live up to the anticipation has become almost a fantasy. Wasn't there a time when summer movies actually worked?

It's only July, but we're already out of movies worth anticipating. What's left?

Lady in the Water? Sorry, the more I see of it the more likely it seems that M. Night has completely lost his touch. Throw some floaties on The Village and stick it in an apartment swimming pool and you've got M. Night's latest.

Talladega Nights? I still haven't recovered from Kicking & Screaming. Will Ferrell is better as a second banana.

World Trade Center? Oliver Stone tackles 9/11. Yeah, that's a good idea.

The summer blockbuster fare, aside from Superman Returns, is about to pan out as a massive, sweaty failure. The best films of the supposed blockbuster season are likely to end up as smaller indies, the types of movies that it used to be nobody even paid attention to before the leaves start turning.

This year, summer quality may end up being carried by movies like the Sundance darling Little Miss Sunshine, or Kevin Smith's return to change making in Clerks II. Which would you rather see, Miami Vice or Scarlett Johansson as the world's sexiest nerd in Woody Allen's Scoop? The choice is so easy.

I love big blockbusters, I love the glitz and glam of summer movies. But for the past few years, they just haven't delivered. While past years have sputtered, unless there's a big surprise in the works Summer 2006 is well on its way to a massive stall. The remakes aren't working, prequels aren't winning, and television to movie translations really ought to be flushed. All this summer is missing is a failed video game to movie adaptation to beat us all right into the ground.

If there's a summer blockbuster savior, it may well end up being Snakes on a Plane, the first summer movie simply to acknowledge how much modern blockbuster filmmaking sucks and then embrace the hell out of it. Is lampooning the state of Hollywood's beloved blockbuster empire the only way to save it?

Why do I feel like I'm grasping at straws?

What happened to summer fun? 2006 has had anything but.