There’ll be dinosaurs – Quite obvious from the title. This is scientifically erroneous since dinosaurs were no longer around during the real ice age so start explaining that it’s only in the cartoons that those mammals coexisted with those dinosaurs.

Better animation that the first two Ice Age movies – Again this should be pretty obvious since a 3D film would have better animation. So at least the 3D aspect will surely provide entertainment value.

The laughter meter - It might not be that funny but according to Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel some of the jokes worked mostly thanks to Scratte (voice of Karen Disher). According to Ella Taylor of the Houston Press though, “there’s no breathing life into a formula that ought to have bowed out gracefully while the going was good.” Ouch! So don’t expect too much but try to keep it positive so you can still enjoy the movie.

“Transformers Revenge of the Fallen” was a fact-paced action-filled movie with such loud booms that my seat vibrated time and again. It was definitely entertaining and did deliver on the promise that it will provide plenty of action and lots of visual effects. My problem with the movie though was that I actually found the action scenes a bit too much. There were way too many action scenes that the storyline, though an interesting one, seemed like an excuse just to make a blockbuster action movie at times. Not only were there too many action scenes but the action scenes though they really looked great, were often too confusing. Half the time I couldn’t distinguish whether the Decepticons or the Autobots were getting blasted.

I did like the concept because it was great to learn more about the Primes and the history of the Transformers. The problem was that I would have liked the movie to be a bit more cerebral giving us more insight to the history and not coming up with lame symbols that looked senseless when Sam (Shia LeBouf) explained why Einstein’s theory was all wrong.

As for the actors the ones that did entertain were mostly the CG twins and the Decepticon that fell in love with Mikaela (Megan Fox). I liked Sam and Mikaela’s characters in the first Transformers movie but this time their characters seemed a bit lacking in substance this time. Megan Fox managed to be as sexy as ever but this time around it just fell flat, like they were just shooting scenes to show how sexy she was, it wasn’t funny, cool, nor significant, like in the first movie when her sexiness underlined the reason why Sam had the hots for her. Sam’s character also managed to seem a little shallow with his wanting to be normal problems. The Sam before meeting the Transformers is permitted to be shallow but who would still be totally wrapped up in oneself after such experiences? The characters I did like this time around were Agent Simmons (John Turturro), Leo (Ramon Rodriguez), and of course Sam’s mom (Julie White), who provided the laughs in the movie.

With all my criticism about the movie would I say that it wasn’t worth watching on the big screen? Definitely, not. It just didn’t deliver for me but it was still entertaining. If you plan on watching it at least watch it on the big screen to be able to enjoy the visual and sound effects, because it is the kind of movie where you can do without watching it at all if not for that. Watch it because of the CGI. Watch it because the first movie just compels you to watch this one. But don’t expect to be blown away by this film.

So far judging from the handful of film reviews I’ve read it seems that the director Nick Cassavetes succeeded in what he set out to do – flood the cinema with tears. Cameron Diaz is also garnering praise for her performance of the mother who desperately keeps on putting her dying daughter’s needs above Anna’s. This is a great role for her and one that might just give her the break she needs to get more challenging roles than those that merely require her to be the cute girl with a great smile that she is.

As for Oscar’s official reason, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis said, “Last year there were more movies that I thought might have fit in the nominations.” I’m pretty sure that the year before that and the year before that there were also other films that didn’t make the cut which would have if there were 10 nominees instead of 5. So you can bet it’s all about ratings and not their wish to give more films a chance at win the Oscar.

Cast includes Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Michael Sheen as the White Rabbit, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, Christopher Lee as the Jabberwock, and Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat. For a longer list of the cast visit Alice in Wonderland’s IMDB page.

Here are some of the pictures that were first published in USA Today. As you’ll see they really do capture the magic of Alice in Wonderland.

The “Moneyball” script was written by Oscar-winners Soderbergh and Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List). It is based on the Michael Lewis’ non-fiction novel about the Oakland Athletics and their GM Billy Beane. According to Amy Pascal the decision to back out was due to the fact that they got “a much different final draft” than the one they agreed to produce. It must be so different for them to decide to pull the plug when it was already scheduled to shoot tomorrow in Phoenix.

Director Steven Soderbergh and star Brad Pitt is now left scrambling around looking for another studio to fund the film. No news yet as to how they are doing on this one but you can be sure that for them this whole fiasco came from the left field.

As for Columbia only the film coming out and the box office will tell if they made the right decision or if they’ll be regretting it all when “Moneyball” starts raking in cash. Of course, that’ll only happen if “Moneyball” actually gets to go on production.

The family’s state has been horrible for years but things came to a boiling point when the mom was jailed sending the kids to institutions that meant tearing the whole family apart. Gracie steps up to the plate with their grandma helping her as she struggled to provide for the family, do well in school, and somehow raise the kids well. Things go well enough for them with Gracie even meeting a wonderful guy who loves her and helps expand her horizons, until her mother gets out of jail. The grandma, who is very easily manipulated by her daughter agrees to let her stay with them despite her continuous drug use and the financial strain she brought by cashing in the kids welfare checks and using it all on herself and her boyfriends. Gracie finally fights back, knowing full well that she’ll lose her family if they stay with their mom, and decides to adopt her own brothers.

Kristen Bell and Anne Heche played their roles very convincingly so much that it tears my guts up just watching the movie. Anne Heche is so effective in her role that you can’t help but pity her despite the utter disgust you’ll also feel at seeing how bad her kids has it because of her.

What’s even more remarkable about the TV movie is that it is based on a true story. Reader’s Digest first published the story of Amy and her family. I’ve been looking for updates on them but so far haven’t found any. You can’t help but really admire the real Amy and hope for the best for the whole family.

This is one must watch TV movie. I should know I’ve seen it several times and it never fails to tug at my heartstrings and inspire to be better at the same time.

With the movie premier no more than a few days away Denzel Washington and his other co-stars are busy promoting the movie. John Travolta, who takes over the role of Shaw, is notably absent from all the promotional hoopla. He’s taking time to grieve with his family for the loss of his teenage son, Jett, who died last January. In Travolta’s official website he thanked his co-stars and the production team saying, “Tony, Denzel, Luis, John, James and Sony Pictures stepped up without hesitation to help promote this wonderful film, and their unselfish efforts have allowed my family the additional time to reconcile our loss.” And though he couldn’t be physically present he has done his part by encouraging his fans in his letter to watch and enjoy the movie.

Not all movies need to be great ones with very deep stories and/or super cool cutting edge animation. What matters is that there are movies that we can all go to and relax for a while and forget your worries for an hour or so.

How about you? Why do you watch movies?

What’s new with this movie is that it will be in 3D. Knowing Pixar we can prepare for one hell of a 3D experience. Story-wise the writers didn’t do a cop out and made sure they came up with a very interesting albeit somewhat upsetting storyline. Like the little kids who first watched the movie 14 years ago Andy has grown up and is going off to college. This leaves Woody, Buzz and the rest of the toys no space in his life. Fortunately or unfortunately, we don’t know yet which until we see the movie or Disney releases another trailer that will actually reveal something about the story, Andy decides to leave the toys in a daycare center where other kids can get to play with them. From that we can only imagine all the kind of kids the toys can encounter and all the adventures the toys can have.

If you have any kids or enjoyed the movie a decade ago this is one movie to watch out for. The movie is set to be released on June 2010 so there’s plenty of time to wait. In the meantime you can watch the latest Toy Story 3 teaser trailer though you won’t get much there because it doesn’t show anything about the story. Something we’re used to when it comes to Pixar trailers. Enjoy!