Manhattan-dwellers too often spend spring days sitting outside, pretending the chilly breezes are warmer than they are. Why freeze when you can go to the movies? From political documentaries to teen flicks, here’s a look at some of the more promising releases of the season. (All dates are subject to change.)

MARCH 24

“INSIDE MAN” (R) Director Spike Lee reunites with Denzel Washington for this crime drama. Mr. Washington plays a hardened cop who matches wits with a devious bank robber, played by Clive Owen. Jodie Foster co-stars and take the intensity to an even higher level.

“LONESOME JIM” (R) Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler take the leading roles in this dramedy directed by actor Steve Buscemi. The plot revolves around a 28-year-old man who moves back home – much to the chagrin of his family.

MARCH 31

“BASIC INSTINCT 2: RISK ADDICTION” (R) It’s been 14 years since Sharon Stone’s star-making performance in the original “Basic Instinct.” In this sequel, she takes up her ice pick and steps back into the role of novelist Catherine Tramell, who’s sleeping and killing her way through London. Directed by Michael Caton-Jones, the film also stars Charlotte Rampling.

“ATL” (PG-13) The teen flicks just keep on coming. Big Boi and Bone Crusher are among a group of four friends about to leave high school. Their coming of age in Atlanta is centered mainly around the local skating rink.

APRIL 7

“THE BENCHWARMERS” (PG-13)

Comedy veterans Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Adam Sandler team up with Jon Heder of “Napoleon Dynamite” in this comedy about a trio of losers who challenge a local Little League team to a game of baseball.

“TAKE THE LEAD” (PG-13) Antonio Banderas stars as a professional ballroom dancer who volunteers to teach his craft in a New York City public school. Think “Dangerous Minds” meets “Dancing With the Stars.”

APRIL 14

“SCARY MOVIE 4” (NOT YET RATED) David Zucker (“The Naked Gun”) directs the fourth installment of the horror comedy franchise. Anna Faris and Leslie Nielsen return to spoof a combination of “War of the Worlds,” “Saw,” and “Million Dollar Baby.”

“THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE” (R) Mary Harron (“American Psycho”) directs this biopic about Bettie Page, the infamous 1950s calendar pinup. Gretchen Mol takes on the role of the sexy star, with Lili Taylor and David Strathairn as co-stars. Fashion designer Tara Subkoff landed a role, too.

APRIL 21

“THE SENTINEL” (PG-13) Michael Douglas plays a Secret Service agent who goes on the lam when he’s framed for the murder of a colleague. Kiefer Sutherland co-stars as the agent assigned to track him down. Kim Basinger plays the first lady, who’s having an affair with Mr. Douglas. And Eva Longoria comes to the big screen, too.

“AMERICAN DREAMZ” (PG-13)

Want a Hollywood fix? Dennis Quaid, Willem Dafoe, Mandy Moore, Marcia Gay Harden, and Hugh Grant star in this terribly subtle satire directed by Paul Weitz (“In Good Company”). The comedy follows a dim Texas-born president who’s invited to be a judge on a nationally televised karaoke contest.

APRIL 28

“RV” (NOT YET RATED) Director Barry Sonnenfeld’s first movie in four years is a family comedy starring Robin Williams as a man who buys an RV. There are cross-country laughs with the dysfunctional family in tow. Jeff Daniels, Cheryl Hines, Kristen Chenoweth, and teen songbird JoJo co-star.

“FLIGHT 93” (NOT YET RATED)

This is the first of two movies about the terrorist attacks of September 11 to be released in 2006. Directed by Paul Greengrass (“The Bourne Supremacy”), this is a real-time account of United flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pa.

MAY 5

“THE PROPOSITION” (NOT YET RATED) A violent, gritty Australian period piece penned by singer and songwriting great Nick Cave, “The Proposition” stars Guy Pearce as an outlaw. To save the life of his younger brother, he agrees to hunt down and kill his elder brother. John Hurt and Emily Watson co-star.

“MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III” (NOT YET RATED) Tom Cruise has enlisted J.J. Abrams, the “Lost” mastermind, to helm the third installment of the popular franchise. With luck, it will be more entertaining than the head-scratcher original and disastrous follow-up. This time around, Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the villain to Mr. Cruise’s Ethan Hunt.

MAY 12

“POSEIDON” (NOT YET RATED) When a massive wave capsizes a cruise ship, a handful of survivors (played by Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, and Josh Lucas) must find their way to the surface. Wolfgang Peterson (“The Perfect Storm”) directs this remake of the 1972 thriller.

“JUST MY LUCK” (NOT YET RATED) Lindsay Lohan stars as a young, Manhattan woman whose lifelong good fortune is reversed to bad luck when she kisses a stranger at a costume party. Most likely, this is not based on a true story.

MAY 19

“THE DA VINCI CODE” (NOT YET RATED) The Hollywood hype machine will be working overdrive for this mega-movie. Tom Hanks plays Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist working to solve a deadly riddle with clues found in the works of da Vinci. Ron Howard directs the flick, which is based on a little-known book.

“OVER THE HEDGE” (NOT YET RATED) Michael Fry and T. Lewis’s comic strip is adapted for the big screen. The computer-animated film features celebrity voices such as Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, and Thomas Haden Church, as well as original songs by Ben Folds.

MAY 26

“AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH” (NOT YET RATED) A former vice president, Al Gore, is the subject of this documentary, which focuses its attention on the science of global warming, as well as Mr. Gore’s history of environmental advocacy.

“X-MEN: THE LAST STAND” (NOT YET RATED) This is allegedly the final film in the “X-Men” series – though Wolverine and Magneto spin-offs are forthcoming. Brett Ratner directs “The Last Stand” (Bryan Singer left to make “Superman Returns”), which finds mutants on both sides of the war wary of a new medicine that “cures” them of their genetic uniqueness.