Summer’s parade of loud, mindless, popcorn-munchery movies is all done.

Gosh, it doesn’t even feel like it was that long ago that I was narrowing down the crowded summer movie season to a mere 10 films that I was itching to see. Now here we are in the post-Labor Day movie season where our entertainment choices have been reduced to The Wicker Man or, perhaps, dropping a bowling ball repeatedly onto one’s baby toe.

And Hollywood is claiming a victory for the 2006 summer movie season – or, if not “victory”, exactly, then simply a “slight uptick from the 2005 Year of Misery and Woe”. But are we to infer from the whopping 6.3% higher box office returns over last summer that the action films and teen comedies this year were truly any better than those of ‘05?

I’d say, in as wishy-washy a manner as I can possibly conjure, “Yeah. More or less. Kinda.”

Because while I saw more movies than I anticipated I would this summer – I optimistically thought 4 and ended up making it to a staggering 7 – overall I thought the movies themselves were fine. Not spectacular; not amazing. Just…yeah, okay.

Take a look at my list – including the two movies I didn’t include originally that turned out to be my favorites – after the jump.

Here are the movies I actually felt compelled to pay hard-earned money to see in the theaters this summer, with some quickie reviews:

1. Mission: Impossible 3 – I’ll confess that I had a decent enough time watching this, but it truly failed to bring anything surprising or innovative to the franchise. Watchable, yes. Utterly ridiculous and impossible to withstand any amount of scrutiny, yes again.
2. X-Men: The Last Stand – The most ironically titled movie of the season feels like the longest 104 minutes you’re likely to spend. A handful of nifty visuals cannot stop a fan of this franchise from asking questions like “Why can Phoenix rip the most powerful mutant alive into atoms but she can’t prevent Wolverine from walking toward her?” or “What happened to the kind and understanding Professor X from the previous movies? Does he have to die here because he’s become such a miserable bastard?” and “Er…what happened to the kid? You know, the mutant cure that was supposedly the entire point of the movie?”
3. Cars – Beautiful to look at. A chore to sit through. For Pixar – a company that historically has valued story and character just as much as technical achievement – I really thought that this was a loser. The Ratatouille teaser had more heart and humor.
4. Superman Returns – The big money was definitely on the screen, but Singer spent way too much time bowing at the feet of Donner, Reeves and Brando. Yeah, the references to the ‘78 film were geek-worthy at first, but by the time Luthor’s making his land grab, and the boring villainess-girlfriend has a change of heart (as predicted), and the stunning lack of resolution for pretty much anything in the story, this has long since become a bore. In the event of a sequel, I really hope that Singer sets out to create something more original – and yes, that means to jettison the whole silly Zod thing.
5. Miami Vice – a noble failure. Lots of flash, style and Michael Mann’s patented well-staged action sequences fail to ignite a plot that feels old and goes nowhere very slowly. Colin Farrell accomplishes something pretty surprising by reducing his character’s depth far below what Don Johnson could have hoped to accomplish.

But I found two really bright spots this summer from the season’s least summer-like films:

How amazing is Paul Greengrass at building tension? The first half-hour of United 93 is so great, so tense and maddening and sad that I found myself irrationally hoping – when the plane is stranded in take-off traffic – that maybe they just won’t take off after all. It’s the most foolish thing I’ve ever thought in a movie – illogical and without reason whatsoever, knowing what we know will happen – yet I found myself truly taken in by the atmosphere that Greengrass creates. It’s an excellent film, so well-shot and excellently edited that we can fool ourselves into thinking we’re watching what actually happened – what we so desperately hope happened – when it’s impossible to know for sure. And you’ve got to respect a project like this that has virtually no recognizable actors in it; just imagine how the entire vibe and reality of the movie would be different if we had Brad Pitt playing Mark Bingham when we first see him racing through the airport coridors to make the plane. A terrific cinematic effort here, exciting and profoundly stirring on all levels.

There’s not much in the way of surprises or true innovation to be found in Little Miss Sunshine, because as far as stories go it’s a little too pat, a little too easy and neat. But it’s a testament to the film’s directors and stellar cast that the characters just sell the living crap out of this sweet, charming movie. Alan Arkin hasn’t been this funny since The In-Laws and Steve Carell takes his character of Frank – who is written with a pretty healthy dose of stereotype – and brings a pretty fair amount of depth and humanity to him. And I’m surprised that I haven’t read anywhere that Abigail Breslin is the Napoleon Dynamite of 2006, because she is just so incredibly engaging and silly and fun to watch. It’s a terrific film and quite simply just a solidly good time at the movies.

So how about you? What were the low- and highlights of your summer moviegoing season?