Summer blockbusters have started to look the same in recent years: iterations from the same franchises, with comic-book superheroes leading the pack again and again. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 summer-movie season never really began. With Hollywood’s biggest films delayed for months, or indefinitely, I’ve assembled a list of unconventional and underrated movies with a much more eclectic range of heroes to cheer for or be thrilled by.

The project began, in one telling, five years ago, in a castle that overlooks the Bavarian Alps, where three dozen of the world’s most successful and rivalrous earth scientists came together for a week of cloistered meetings.They gathered, in part, out of embarrassment. For the past four decades, their field—the study of Earth’s natural phenomena, including its land, ocean, and climate—had boomed.

I reached the Canadian border on the Fourth of July.Usually, the Thousand Islands crossing station between New York and Ontario is busy on summer weekends. Not this time. Eight of the nine lanes were closed, and only one car waited ahead of me in the single open queue.Despite the light traffic, I waited a while for my inspection—and when it was my turn, the car behind me waited a while too.

In our series “Behind the Byline,” we’re chatting with Atlantic staffers to learn more about who they are and how they approach their work. Hannah Giorgis is a staff writer who covers culture.This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.Nesima Aberra: How have you been lately?Hannah Giorgis: Today, I am in better spirits than I have been. I think some of that has been that I feel a little clearer on some of my work that didn’t feel granular to me.