Good morning, Craig;
Welcome back to film, and I will answer the question anyway for other people who may be reading this thread also.
Yup, Neutral Density filters do a nice job for reducing the amount of light in very bright conditions (light sand at the beach, or on snow) and you can get them in one, two, three, four, six, eight, ten, and even more stops reduction, if you do not mind paying a bit more for a special filter (think solar eclipse or sun spot photography) and waiting a while for it to get here. They do not affect the color of the scene being photographed; they just reduce the light.
Polarizing filters are a little different. Yes, you can use them as Neutral Density filters also; with their common filter factor of 2.5, you just open up about one full stop and you are right there. But they can do other things also, especially with color film. One obvious application is reducing or eliminating unwanted reflections from windows, water, and other non-metallic surfaces. Rotate the filter to the minimum reflection and take your photograph, in most applications. They can also be used to bring out a blue sky and enhance the contrast between the sky and clouds. They are really useful filters. Normally with the sun at an angle between you and the scene, rotate the filter to the deepest and darkest sky and you will probably find that any index mark on the polarizing filter rotatable rim is pointed at the sun. For our application with film, most likely we will be using a manually focusing lens. The simple linear polarizing filters work fine, and they are cheaper. However, if you are using any automatic focusing lenses or camera systems, then consider the more modern circular polarizing filters. The phase detection systems of most autofocusing cameras will be much happier.
Enjoy;
Ralph
Latte Land, Washington