Release Date: December 18, 2009 (conventional 3D theaters and IMAX 3D)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: James Cameron
Screenwriter: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi, Stephen Lang, Matt Gerald
Genre: Action, Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking)
Official Website: Avatarmovie.com

Summary: “Avatar,” a live action film with a new generation of special effects, takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery as he leads an epic battle to save a civilization. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” first conceived the film years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, “Avatar” delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

The story’s hero is Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. Bitter and disillusioned, he’s still a warrior at heart. All Jake ever wanted was something worth fighting for, and he finds it in the place he least expected: on a distant world. Jake has been recruited to join an expedition to the moon Pandora, which corporate interests are strip-mining for a mineral worth $20 million per kilogram on Earth. To facilitate their work, the humans use a link system that projects a person’s consciousness into a hybrid of humans and Pandora’s indigenous humanoids, the Na’vi. This human-Na’vi hybrid – a fully living, breathing body that resembles the Na’vi but possesses the individual human’s thoughts, feelings and personality – is known as an “avatar.”

In his new avatar form, Jake can once again walk. His mission is to interact with and infiltrate the Na’vi with the hope of enlisting their help – or at least their acquiescence – in mining the ore. A beautiful Na’vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake’s life, albeit reluctantly, because even in his avatar body, Jake represents to her the human encroachment on the Na’vi’s unspoiled world.

As Jake’s relationship with Neytiri deepens, along with his respect for the Na’vi, he faces the ultimate test as he leads an epic conflict that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

Release Date: April 16, 2010
Studio: Lionsgate
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Screenwriter: Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Aaron Johnson, Lyndsy Fonseca, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz
Genre: Action, Adventure
MPAA Rating: R (for strong brutal violence throughout, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some drug use – some involving children)
Official Website: IAm-KickAss.com

Summary: “Kick-Ass” tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name — Kick-Ass — assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. There’s only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers.

His life is forever changed as he inspires a subculture of copy cats, is hunted by assorted violent and unpleasant characters, and meets up with a pair of crazed vigilantes, including an 11-year-old sword-wielding dynamo, Hit Girl (Moretz) and her father, Big Daddy (Cage).

“Kick-Ass” is based on the groundbreaking, best-selling comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

Release Date: April 23, 2010
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: Oliver Stone
Screenwriter: Oliver Stone, Allan Loeb
Starring: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Frank Langella, Carey Mulligan, Susan Sarandon, Vanessa Ferlito, Charlie Sheen
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: Not Available
Official Website: WallStreetMoneyNeverSleeps.com

Summary: Shia LaBeouf stars with Michael Douglas, who’ll reprise his Gordon Gekko role. Langella will play Lewis Zabel, an old-time broker who mentors LaBeouf’s character, a young Wall Street broker. When Gekko comes out of prison, he essentially has to redefine himself, redefine his character, he’s looking for that second chance. LaBeouf portrays Jake Moore, who is the fiancé of Gekko’s daughter, played by Carey Mulligan; Josh Brolin as the head of an investment bank; and Susan Sarandon as Jake’s mother. Charlie Sheen, who played the central role of Bud Fox, a young trader, in the original, will make a cameo in the sequel.

elease Date: May 28, 2010
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Mike Newell
Screenwriter: Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina, Toby Kebbell
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action)
Official Website: Disney.com/PrinceofPersia

Summary: From the team that brought the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy to the big screen, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films present “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” an epic action-adventure set in the mystical lands of Persia and based on the video game of the same name. A rogue prince (Jake Gyllenhaal) reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess (Gemma Arterton) and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time—a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

A quick post to thank Nathan about his recommendation on his blog. I watch movies almost everyday on my PC and I need a reliable player which can handle many file formats. We were on chat yesterday when he told me about his favourite media player. I couldn’t resist and tried it out. Here is my short review:

This media player plays just about everything, including music, movies, CDs, DVDs, and whatever else you might need a player for. It is convenient, fairly easy to use even if you aren’t a rocket scientist with technology, and because I like the format.

One thing I love about the VLC media player is that you can easily take snapshots of the movie/clip you are playing, and the quality is quite good when compared to other players, such as Windows media player classic. When playing DVDs, I find it very easy to navigate the DVD menu, chapter selection, and special features. I also find it nice that VLC can be formatted and set for your customized use.

There is only one negative thing I can say about this player. Every once in awhile when I’m playing a DVD, it will lag for about a second, possibly because of an error in de-coding or reading the DVD.

Overall, I think this is one of the best media players available on the internet. It doesn’t take up very much disk space, it takes only seconds to download, and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a glitch or major problem when using it.

Release Date: March 19, 2010 (limited)
Studio: Focus Features
Director: Noah Baumbach
Screenwriter: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brie Larson, Juno Temple, Chris Messina
Genre: Comedy, Drama
MPAA Rating: R (for some strong sexuality, drug use, and language)
Official Website: SeeGreenberg.com

Summary: At a crossroads in his life, Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) ends up housesitting at his brother’s home in Los Angeles. There, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with his brother’s assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig of “Hannah Takes the Stairs”), an aspiring singer. Florence and Greenberg’s encounters lead to an uncertain and wonderfully vulnerable courtship.

Release Date: March 5, 2010 (Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D)
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Tim Burton
Screenwriter: Linda Woolverton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, Mia Wasikowska, Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, Christopher Lee, Paul Whitehouse, Barbara Windsor
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
MPAA Rating: PG (for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar)
Official Website: Disney.com

Summary: From Walt Disney Pictures and visionary director Tim Burton comes an epic 3D fantasy adventure “Alice in Wonderland,” a magical and imaginative twist on some of the most beloved stories of all time. Johnny Depp stars as the Mad Hatter and Mia Wasikowska as 19-year-old Alice, who returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter. Alice embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror. The all-star cast also includes Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Crispin Glover; Linda Woolverton wrote the screenplay. Capturing the wonder of Lewis Carroll’s beloved “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (1865) and “Through the Looking-Glass” (1871) with stunning, avant-garde visuals and the most charismatic characters in literary history, “Alice in Wonderland” comes to the big screen in Disney Digital 3D™ on March 5, 2010.

Release Date: February 26, 2010
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Kevin Smith
Screenwriter: Robb Cullen, Marc Cullen
Starring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Adam Brody, Kevin Pollak, Guillermo Diaz, Seann William Scott, Jason Lee, Ana de la Reguera
Genre: Comedy, Crime
MPAA Rating: R (for pervasive language including sexual references, violence and brief sexuality)
Official Website: CopOutmovie.com

Summary: Two longtime NYPD partners on the trail of a stolen, rare, mint-condition baseball card find themselves up against a merciless, memorabilia-obsessed gangster. Jimmy (Bruce Willis) is the veteran detective whose missing collectible is his only hope to pay for his daughter’s upcoming wedding, and Paul (Tracy Morgan) is his “partner-against-crime” whose preoccupation with his wife’s alleged infidelity makes it hard for him to keep his eye on the ball.

Release Date: March 12, 2010
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Director: Allen Coulter
Screenwriter: Will Fetters
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Emilie de Ravin, Chris Cooper, Lena Olin, Tate Ellington, Ruby Jerins, Pierce Brosnan
Genre: Drama, Romance
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for violence, sexual content, language and smoking)
Official Website: RememberMe-movie.com

Summary: In the romantic drama “Remember Me,” Robert Pattinson plays Tyler, a rebellious young man in New York City who has a strained relationship with his father (Pierce Brosnan) ever since tragedy separated their family. Tyler didn’t think anyone could possibly understand what he was going through until the day he met Ally (Emilie de Ravin) through an unusual twist of fate. Love was the last thing on his mind, but as her spirit unexpectedly heals and inspires him, he begins to fall for her. Through their love, he begins to find happiness and meaning in his life. But soon, hidden secrets are revealed, and the circumstances that brought them together slowly threaten to tear them apart. “Remember Me” is an unforgettable story about the power of love, the strength of family, and the importance of living passionately and treasuring every day of one’s life.

Release Date: June 18, 2010 (Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D)
Studio: Disney•Pixar
Director: Lee Unkrich
Screenwriter: Michael Arndt
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, R. Lee Ermey, Jodi Benson, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Timothy Dalton, Jeff Garlin, Bonnie Hunt, Whoopi Goldberg, Kristen Schaal, Blake Clark
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family
MPAA Rating: Not Available
Official Website: Disney.com/ToyStory

Summary: The creators of the beloved “Toy Story” films re-open the toy box and bring moviegoers back to the delightful world of our favorite gang of toy characters in “Toy Story 3.” As Andy prepares to depart for college, Buzz, Woody and the rest of his loyal toys are troubled about their uncertain future. Directed by Lee Unkrich (co-director of “Toy Story 2″ and “Finding Nemo”), “Toy Story 3″ is a comical new adventure in Disney Digital 3D that lands the toys in a room full of untamed tots who can’t wait to get their sticky little fingers on these “new” toys. It’s pandemonium as they try to stay together, ensuring “no toy gets left behind.” Meanwhile, Barbie comes face to plastic face with Ken (yes, that Ken).