TIME Summer Entertainment Preview 2011

As the mercury rises, here's our guide to what to watch, read, see and hear

Beautiful Boy

A shooting on a college campus leaves 17 people dead, including the killer, whose parents grieve, blame and are blamed. An unwavering view into an almost unimaginable agony, with indelible performances by Maria Bello and Michael Sheen as the mother and father. 6/3 (Limited)

X-Men: First Class

First class? This Marvel prequel — make that pre-prequel, since it antedates most of Wolverine — may suffer from too much class. Genteel Scottish heartthrob James McAvoy plays the young Professor X, and Teutonic-Irish demon lover Michael Fassbender is the man who will become Magneto. Next, expect the pre-pre-prequel, in which the two antagonists are brilliant infants dueling each other from adjacent speeding prams. 6/3

A Better Life

New Moon director Chris Weitz gets serious with a moving drama about the plight of an illegal immigrant (Demián Bichir of Weeds) in Los Angeles who works as a gardener but fosters bigger ambitions for his contemptuous teenage son (José Julián). After the truck Carlos needs to make a living is stolen, father and son unite to search for it. 6/24
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Harry Potter and the Deathly 

Hallows Part 2

As the movie series comes to an end, prepare for revelations about those last horcruxes, some epic sacrifices and Harry's finally going nose-to-not-nose with the Dark Lord. Saying goodbye will be brutal. 7/15

Bon Iver, Bon Iver by Bon Iver

While 2008's For Emma, Forever Ago could almost be considered a Justin Vernon solo album, the melancholy folk of Bon Iver, Bon Iver showcases other indie musicians, such as saxophonists Michael Lewis and Colin Stetson. 6/21

Time for the rest
xoxo
Carrie