If one thing has been difficult over the past two months it's been getting excited each weekend for new releases. Between January and April is what is considered to be the off-season for films. Most of the releases during this time either aren't stand-out enough/too risky for the summer blockbuster run, or simply not awards contenders. Some of the releases may at one time have been considered for these popular spots, but either were plagued by re-shoots or bad focus group screenings and thus had a release date change.

January only brought one release that was a must-see for me (Liam Neeson's action-packed, Taken which had already seen release in Europe almost a year earlier) and it delivered the goods. February brought the enchanting Coraline (you can check out my review here) and surprised me with a fun slasher flick in Friday the 13th (review also posted).

But now I find myself struggling to remember what movies are coming out each weekend, because there's so much interminable dross out there to distract us (Thanks, Tyler Perry for this weekend's contribution to my list of Movies That Could Kill Me in your increasingly Ernest P. Worrell attempts at film with Madea Goes to Jail). Below are the major releases coming up in March and April that I will be seeing in theaters, and are really the only flicks to have any excitement about (even mild) until summer blockbuster season hits in May. Note: This doesn't include many of the indie or limited release movies since I'm not counting on them being released in our charmingly artistically declined Midwest state.

Watchmen - March 6
Based on the most praised graphic novel of all-time, this Zack Snyder directed picture turns the concept of a superhero team to a darker side for a social commentary on heroism. This one is also going to be released in IMAX and if the trailers are any indication then the visuals alone should make for good theater-going fare. But honestly, if you haven't heard of this film by now, then this movie just isn't for you.

I Love You, Man - March 20
Jason Segel and Paul Rudd team up in this bro-mantic comedy. We profiled the red-band trailer for this film a few weeks back, and it looks to join Forgetting Sarah Marshall as one of my favorite recent comedies. Surely more laughs will be brought in from supporting cast members Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live), J.K. Simmons (Juno and Spider-Man) and Jon Favreau.

Adventureland - March 27
Superbad director Greg Mottola helms this film that is probably easiest described as Waiting... set in an amusement park (it even has Ryan Reynolds in a similar role as the all-knowing long-time employee). Jesse Eisenberg (Squid and the Whale) and Kristen Stewart (of Twilight pandemonium) are in the roles of romantic leads supported by other park employees including Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. Check out the trailer here.

Observe and Report - April 10
We've already highlighted the less than stellar poster, and mostly amusing red-band trailer for this upcoming comedy starring Seth Rogen. The trailer wasn't top notch, but I just have a feeling that this one is going to be along the lines of Pineapple Express in turning the action genre on its head with some great 80's nostalgic comedy and action sequences in the form of a rag tag team of mall security guards. Seth Rogen has a career that every comedian should be envious of right now.

The Soloist - April 24
This unfortunately was one of those movies that got plagued by low focus group scores and was pushed back out of awards contention. Way back. The trailer makes the film look very heartwarming and containing great performances from both Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. I genuinely laugh everytime Foxx points to the sky and asks Downey, "Are you flying that plane?" And Downey says nonchalantly, "No, I'm right here." Check out the trailer here.

This is a short list, and while it could be made long with the aforementioned indie and limited release films, these are the ones that I'll be able to realistically catch, and therefore am already excited. If you're angry that I didn't put down Fast and Furious or Race to Witch Mountain then sound off below.

Here's the uninspiring and plain one sheet for the upcoming April comedy Observe and Report, starring Seth Rogen. While this poster looks lazily slapped together (the picture of Rogen looks like it was part of another worse poster design and just cut and paste into a tattered paper template) I can't stress enough how much I don't want this movie to get lost in the shuffle simply because a far more exhausting and mind-numbing film called Paul Blart: Waste of Time was released beforehand. With an R-Rated MPAA stamp this almost ensures Observe and Report as a higher caliber of comedy. You can check out the trailer we posted a couple weeks ago as well to gauge for yourself.

And so the 81st Academy Awards are upon us airing live tomorrow night on ABC at 8pm EST. While wardrobes are being finalized, performances rehearsed and nerves racked, those of us not involved with the telecast other than as observers are simply making predictions and waiting for what has been dubbed Hollywood's biggest night.

Below I've included my predictions for the major awards (including Best Foreign Film and Best Animated Film). I've included additional comments as far as who I think should win if it is contrary to my actual predictions. Feel free to sound off in the comments with any disagreements or with a full list of your own predictions.

Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire

• But I wouldn't be upset to see Milk take home the big prize

• Sean Penn took home the SAG award which is a pretty good indicator, and the more I think about it, the more impressive his role as Harvey Milk was. Rourke gave an excellent performance but really had a lot of personal hard times to inspire his rough around the edges, emotionally collapsing character portrayal in The Wrestler.
  

• If I had my way, I honestly would probably go with Meryl Streep for Doubt. Her performance struck me more, but that might only be because The Reader wasn't wholly remarkable as a film. But Winslet seems like the favorite.

• This is pretty much as close to a guarantee as you can get. The late Heath Ledger has the most buzz and has received all the right praise and awards to have this one in the bag.

• While she didn't get the SAG or Golden Globes, she certainly seems like the choice to win. My personal choice is Viola Davis for her brief role in Doubt. While her screen time was minimal, hers was a very powerful performance that really struck a chord.

• Same with picture, Gus Van Sant could easily snag this award for his directing Milk and I wouldn't be disappointed.

• With Slumdog Millionaire being an adapted screenplay I think that Black is almost as close of a shoe-in for this award as Ledger for Supporting Actor

• This is also almost a lock-in since Milk is an original screenplay and out of competition with Beaufoy

• This was most assuredly the best animated feature from last year and if it doesn't get it then for shame.

• I am not prepared to actually comment on any of the foreign film nominees this year, but this is getting all sorts of acclaim and thus it's my pick.

• Truly a hidden gem in the world of documentary films, this is a heavy favorite, and I really enjoyed seeing its narrative come to life thanks to the wonders of Netflix Instant Viewing.
  

This still of Robert DeNiro to the right basically expresses my complete disapproval on the fast tracking of the Meet the Parents three-quel Little Fockers. The project has been announced for years, but Hollywood Reporter says Universal is looking to jump into production for a principal photography start date as early as summer. However, film is moving forward without franchise director Jay Roach.

So who will be in the director's chair for the third go round? Universal is looking at some directors with a variety of comedic styles. First up is Paul Weitz, the man responsible for bringing back the raunchy teen sex comedy (for better or worse) with American Pie. His work has been of varying quality between the enjoyable but not memorable In Good Company and the tongue in cheek, somewhat satirical American Dreamz.

A less than stellar candidate is Peyton Reed who is responsible for keeping Jim Carrey locked in career hell with the disappointing Liar, Liar re-tread Yes, Man. Reed had success with the unconventional not-so-romantic comedy The Break-Up, and may be able to replicate the awkward, realistic clashes between families in Little Fockers, but he wouldn't be at the top of my list.

My personal favorite candidate who could really breathe some fresh air into the Ben Stiller franchise is David Wain. Fresh off last year's Role Models, whose trailers did not do it justice, Wain also directed the equally hilarious cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer. Wain could really bring something new to a franchise that while it has enjoyed over $800 million in international box office, has had less than fresh comedy material.

While Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand's participation in Meet the Fockers helped a bit, it certainly wasn't groundbreaking. Basically by now we've come to expect Ben Stiller's socially awkward antics facing up to Robert DeNiro's dispproving, conservative nature. It's time for a change of pace. Are you guys interested in seeing some more Fockers or do you want this and other seemingly other unnecessary sequels to Focker off?

The first trailer for Judd Apatow's upcoming comedy set in the world of stand-up comics, the aptly named Funny People. Of course it's funny but the trailer really strikes an emotional chord too. Along with some great jokes coming from Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler there are some scenes that really pull at your heartstrings and I think this is going to be a real tearjerker. Apatow has a really great way of crafting comedy in the face of life-altering and potentially tragic situations, and this one just takes it to the next level. I can only assume his next comedy will be set during some sort of terrorist attack, and then no one will be able to stop him. Check out the trailer below.

Empire magazine got the scoop on three new posters for Quentin Tarantino's upcoming WWII re-make Inglourious Basterds. From the looks of the posters and the trailer that we featured last week this movie could rival Pulp Fiction as his best work.

For those unfamiliar with the original and differently spelled Inglorious Bastards, or Quel Maledetto Treno Blindato (that's right it was originally an Italian film about American soliders), it was billed as "Whatever the Dirty Dozen did, they do it dirtier!" So that should give you a pretty good frame of reference for what the film will be like.

With Tarantino at the helm and his penchant for violence mixed in with a bit of story this should turn out to be one hell of a war film. I really want to know why all those names are on that bat. You can check out the other two posters here and here.

Reports from Variety show that Prison Break will not be returning next fall. This comes at a disappointment to many fans, but in reality how many times can you break out, go on the lamb, get caught again, etc. before you jump the shark. Oh wait, they already did... I like to think it was with the brain surgery, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Representatives from FOX say they are axing Prison Break in favor of developing new shows as well as promoting some in the their first season, like Lie to Me. This is good news for shows like Dollhouse.

The only real fear at this point is that FOX will do what it always does and cancel good shows before they really need to. Case in point Arrested Development, Firefly, The Loop, Wonder Falls... I don't think I really need to go on. So to all the folks at Prison Break enjoy your parole, but remember the hotel is only paid for through two months so good luck finding a job with your record.

Here is something put together by blogger Dan Meth over at his website that visualizes his enjoyment of each film in their respective trilogies in the form of bar graphs.

Dan comments on the inevitable disagreements and preemptively responds to any backlash by saying, "I know other movie geeks are going to have disagreements and that’s fine. And yes, I know some of these movies went more than 3 sequels, but none were ever meant to. These are rated purely on my enjoyment level on each film and nothing else. Frankly I’m surprised by how many sequels were better than the original. And I’m not surprised that the 3rd movie is never the best."

And so, here are my discrepancies with the chart stated in a declarative manner but not meant to be written as facts (but they probably are *wink*):

• Temple of Doom is definitely not better than Last Crusade
  
  
• The Matrix: Reloaded is not THAT bad of film at all. Reloaded and Revolutions get lumped together in poor quality, but Reloaded set up for an awesome conclusion and Revolutions ruined it all.
  
  
• Why is Jurassic Park so low? That film has most certainly held up over the past 16 years, especially in the visual effects department
  
  
• Die Hard with a Vengeance is much more fun and feels more like part of a trilogy than Die Hard 2 does.
  
  
• Rambo: First Blood is overrated and not even on the same playing field as the equally leveled Star Wars
  
  
• The Godfather Part III is bad but not worse than Spider-Man 3 in any capacity whatsoever.

The more I see of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the less excited I become. There I said it. The first trailer that came out a couple months ago was action-packed for sure, but it felt a bit over the top. Now with these three new one-minute promos that aired during Fox's prime-time schedule, I'm not exactly impressed.

One of the more worrisome elements is that a lot of the forced humor that turned Wolverine into a walking punchline in X-Men: The Last Stand stuck around, and that's a bit disheartening. Also, I don't know if I'm the only one still skeptical, but I haven't seen Liev Schreiber (Defiance) do anything that makes me like him as Sabretooth yet. Hugh Jackman has already done a bit of damage control on those reshoots in Vancouver, but unless something amazing comes out before May, then I might need some more reassurance.

So far the only things sustaining a decent amount of interest and dare I say excitement are:

• Hugh Jackman as Wolverine because he's just so damn good at it
  
  
• Gambit being in the movie at all. This was a character that deserved the full fledged X-Men treatment, and it's good to see him on screen.
  
  
• Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. Despite Blade Trinity falling flat on its face, I enjoyed Reynolds character and it'll be good to see him in something other than mediocre romantic comedies again.
  
  
• Dominic Monaghan as Beak. I just want to see how he plays in a comic book movie.
  
  
• Any potential cameos from other X-Men.

The Associate - Variety reports screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) has been tapped to adapt the John Grisham novel as a starring vehicle for Shia LaBeouf with Paramount Pictures distributing. "LaBeouf will play a Yale Law School student with a sordid secret that leaves him vulnerable to blackmail. He's manipulated into taking a job at a law firm and working on a multibillion-dollar lawsuit." Doesn't sound particularly exciting, but I really enjoyed Matt Damon in John Grisham's The Rainmaker, so this could work out.

The Expendables - Ain't It Cool News got info that Arnold Schwarzeneggar is joining the upcoming action bonanza written and directed by Sylvester Stallone. Unfortunately he won't be joining the titular team, but will rather be playing himself as California governor. The Expendables tells the story of a covert team sent in to South Africa to take out a tyrannical dictator. Rest of the cast already includes Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Forest Whittaker, Dolph Lundgren and Eric Roberts. Sounds like a good old fashioned action flick in the same vein as Rambo.

The Days Before - Production Weekly reports via Twitter that negotiations are underway to have Robert Downey, Jr and Reese Witherspoon in the Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) directed film. Story is best described as a sci-fi Groundhog Day where an alien race is traveling through time and destroying the human race yesterday, and the yesterday after that. So everyday the human race was destroyed yesterday, and today and one man has to convince the world each day that they will be destroyed, over and over again. Yeah, I'm confused too, but it sounds like an very intriguing concept.

These days America is facing some tough times. A crumbling housing market and auto industry, and the still withering economy are all taking their toll on the people. But if one thing is for sure people are craving entertainment more than ever to keep away worry (especially after this past weekend's box office). Now to give us a little bit of inspiration, Funny or Die has given us a glimpse into the ultimate underdog story. The story of a comeback, the story of redemption. It's the story of America.

Eerily similar to Academy Award nominated film, The Wrestler (TONGUE IN CHEEK), The Uncler follows Uncle Sam on his rough road to get back to the pedestal he was once placed upon. Directed by Jake Szymanski known better for the series of High Five videos on Funny or Die, The Uncler also features Alyssa Milano who really makes you do a double take in portraying Marisa Tomei's character from The Wrestler. And so without further adieu I give you...The Uncler.

The trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that was attached to Friday the 13th this past weekend is now online. The trailer puts all the attention on the action and visuals and doesn't have any of the typical exciting orchestral hits. There's this sort of techno-tronic beat subtly running through it all with some semblance of music towards the end, very similar to the Super Bowl spot. This trailer contains everything from that 30 second spot and much much more. Can't wait to see more of this. We've embedded it below, or you can check it out in HD over at Yahoo Movies.

To say that Friday the 13th has all the cliché elements of a standard slasher film (that even the most dense of film-goers come to expect) would be a great understatement. But to say that I didn't have a great time watching the iconic hockey-masked killer Jason Vorhees take out some lustful, drug and alcohol abusing Abercrombie and Fitch template teens would be a complete lie. To make this even more clear: I hate horror movies, and I had a hell of a time with this hybrid sequel/reboot. Unfortunately because of the nature of this film, my review is filled with spoilers. So reader beware...

Friday the 13th isn't exactly a complete re-imagination of the original and now staple horror franchise. The story of this 2009 update begins where the first left off, and while it's not necessary, I wholly recommend that you see the original before you check this one out. If you haven't seen the original Friday the 13th by now, then it's completely your fault for not knowing that the killer in the first film is not the hockey-mask clad killer we all know today, but rather his mother. Jason is simply the now grown-up young boy who died at Camp Crystal Lake due to the now expected irresponsible behavior of the camp counselors who allowed Jason to drown. His killing spree begins after he sees his murderous mother killed by the Final Girl at the conclusion of the original film.

Fortunately this information is giving to us in the form of a re-creation of this final scene. The action is cross cut with the opening credits, and either the woman playing Mrs. Vorhees (Nana Visitor) is a great impressionist, or the audio from Betsy Palmer's 1980 performance was used for her voice. Jason sees the Final Girl cut off Mrs. Vorhees head, leaving Jason only with a picture necklace of his mother, and a rage to take out on unsuspecting teenage campers.

Flash forward 20 years, and some fresh teen blood is looking for some prime marijuana for these five campers to sell back home. Unfortunately this heavenly stash of herb is within Jason's territory at Camp Crystal Lake. No time is wasted in the drinking and sex romps with female nudity abound, and it's just as little time it takes for Jason to make his first kill. The next 20 minutes are very intense.

Jason moves right on to take out the couple sexing it up in the tent. Jason moves on with more terror as he targets a couple exploring the abandoned cabin that Jason occupied as a young boy. He succeeds in taking out the guy, as the female half of this couple, Whitney (Amanda Righetti) runs away from the cabin and back to the campsite where she finds her struggling friend with his leg stuck in a bear trap. Sure enough Jason shows up out of nowhere, dispenses with the guy. And at this point, we have our Final Girl and this movie seems like it's only going to be 30 minutes long. As Whitney tries to escape, Jason runs up on her, raising his machete and swinging down and then - cut to black, fade in title: Friday the 13th. I love it.

And here is where the movie begins just as every other slasher movie does. There's a group of good looking kids heading off on a camping trip/vacation full of bad decisions. We're introduced to the mostly unfamiliar cast Danielle Panabaker (Sky High), Travis Van Winkle (Megan Fox's boy-toy from Transformers), Aaron Yoo (Shia LeBeouf's sidekick from Disturbia) Julianna Guill (slutty girl), Arlen Escarpeta (token black guy, but with a self-aware twist), Ryan Hansen, and former almost-one-hit-wonder Willa Ford, singer of the song "I Wanna Be Bad." All of the cast does their job as eye candy and douche bag teens that you just want to see get massacred. This is perfectly fine because I don't want character development, I just want them to die.

The characters that we're really supposed to care about become Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki) as he's looking for his sister Whitney who has been missing for a month and a half, and the only character out of the hormone crazed vacationing teens who takes an interest: Jenna (Danielle Panabaker). It's not surprise with this story, that Whitney is still alive (the excuse being that she looks like the picture of Jason's mother in the aforementioned picture locket). This is an interesting plot device, and makes the other characters all the more disposable (though there are a couple surprises as to who lives and dies). These surprises combined with the expected orchestral rises in deceptively not scary scenes, and inexplicable sudden appearances of Jason behind the victims make for some good times.

This movie isn't going to win any awards obviously (with lines like "Where are you, gun?!") but the film delivers exactly what people wanted to see (surely the film's release actually on Friday the 13th of February helped, but over $40 million is still a hefty take). The establishment of Jason's character is quick, and maybe even a little sloppy, but a couple cool elements like the introduction of the hockey mask and a couple tongue in cheek moments (mostly involving the token black guy) really give this film a fun flare. This is a movie to watch late at night with a group of friends and just leave your brain at the door. My personal fun was all the more highlighted by a decorated theater complete with bloody tent, and costumed Jason Vorhees who walked through the theater during the beginning of the movie. I won't see movies like The Uninvited or The Unborn, but I'll take another Friday the 13th anyday.