Iron Man opens this week, and thus the summer movie season has officially arrived. I love a good summer movie as much a the next guy, but this morning I found myself looking back at some of the little films that cropped up during the summer; some of them managed to get a "summer" feel on a much lower budget and without all the advertisement and hype. My absolute favorite summer art house movie has to be Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1999). I saw it three times that summer, and each time I clutched my seat, my heart pounding. I was amazed at how brilliantly Tywker had mapped out his three possible storylines and how lovely the small, quiet interludes were. I loved Franka Potente, and I loved his throbbing score, which practically entered into your bloodstream and pumped up your adrenaline by hand. Every color, movement and cut was designed for maximum effect (I've always been puzzled how Tykwer's movies since have seemed so long and sluggish.)

Also that same summer, John Sayles delivered his baffling adventure/suspense film Limbo, which had several people trapped on an island awaiting rescue and stalked by bad guys. The ending had everybody in an uproar and caused the film to die a quick death. The summer before that one, Darren Aronofsky's debut feature Pi gave me a good dose of sci-fi thrills, as well as a few head-scratching puzzles (which were actually real). 2000 was a particularly bad summer, but John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented provided a mischievous little oasis in the middle of it all. In that film, renegade filmmakers kidnap a Hollywood starlet and force her to be in their indie production; each team member has a tattoo of a maverick filmmaker's name. (I've often wondered which filmmaker's name I would pick for a tattoo? Maybe David Cronenberg...)

I'm not pushing some sort of Page Six-verified romance between the two here, so don't freak out. But according to Hong Kong's Apple Daily, the two action kings are expected to meet shortly to discuss a possible collaboration.

Alongside occasional ventures into other genres, Hark has been a major force in Hong Kong action cinema for decades, directing and/or producing such hits as Peking Opera Blues, A Better Tomorrow II and III (wrote and produced II, wrote, produced, and directed III), and Time and Tide. Additionally, his Seven Swords last night became the first Asian film ever to open the Venice Film Festival. Scott, meanwhile, has established himself as a major double-threat on this side of the Pacific, producing and directing such films as Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, and Black Hawk Down. While, given the backgrounds of the two men, it's impossible to know what roles they might assume if they were to work together, the possibility alone is pretty exciting, at least for action fans.