Have you ever bit into a Jelly Belly jellybean, expecting it to be something tasty, like Toasted Marshmallow, but instead it's something nasty, like Buttered Popcorn? I totally got ready for marshmallows when I saw a news story that announced that there was a trailer out for the movie G-Force. I was like, "Awesome! Finally, a full trailer for the sure-to-be-excellent computer-animated movie about a team of five crime fighters in bird suits, based on the Japanese cartoon of the same name that I grew up watching!" Then I clicked the link, and the taste of Buttered Popcorn jellybeans filled my mouth. G-Force the movie is something totally, totally different, and totally, totally nauseating.

If we look carefully at the movie trends of 2008, it's not hard to make a few predictions for the year ahead. Sure, some of these may seem kind of crazy, or maybe they sound flat-out impossible. But just remember these seven words: Steven Soderbergh to direct Cleopatra rock musical. Anything can happen, so get in on the ground floor of these predictions while you can!

Man, things are getting tough all over. We already know money's tight for individuals, families, and businesses, but fictional characters are starting to feel the pinch, as well. Recent reports suggest that Hollywood is recession-proof -- it is cheaper, after all, to watch a movie than to fly to Cancun for some fun in the sun -- but that protection doesn't seem to apply to all of Tinseltown's residents. Disney, for example, is getting out of the Narnia business by dumping the third installment of the C.S. Lewis trilogy that started with 2005's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, effectively putting The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in limbo for the time being.

The official Japanese website for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li has released a trailer. Starring as the street-fighting heroine of the title is Kristin Kreuk, best known as Smallville's Lana Lang. Kreuk is unlikely to ever win an acting award for playing young Clark Kent's girlfriend, unless the Golden Globes comes up with a category for being able to cry copious tears while not letting a single drop of snot fall from one's nose. But here she seems to be called on to do little more than look slightly determined, or slightly upset, or ever so slightly confused, as if she didn't even realize she was supposed to be in this movie. If you go by the theory that trailers usually play up a main character's big moments, then Chun-Li's "legend" seems a bit... lacking. If not for the title, it would almost seem that Michael Clarke Duncan's Balrog is the star.

Call it "How the Grinch Stole Watchmen." After initially deciding that it would be impossible for him to make a ruling, Judge Gary Allen Feess (not a typo) has changed his mind and decided -- on Christmas Eve -- that Fox does have the right to distribute Warner Bros'. Watchmen movie. What the...? I'm willing to bet someone on the Warner Bros. legal team made fun of his name. Well, now Warner Bros. is going to have to pay out the nose to get it released, or actually give Fox the distribution rights, assuming Fox even wants either of those things.

In a move that everybody who witnessed how well Beverly Hills Chihuahua did saw coming, the latest cutesy dog picture to come out of Hollywood, Marley & Me, came in at number one at the box office, with $37 million for the weekend, and a whopping $51.6 million since Christmas. Sure, sympathetic tabloid fodder Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson may have helped those numbers, but never underestimate the power of puppies (or puppy-dog eyes).

Do you still have a couple of Christmas gifts to buy and not a lot of money to spend? Well, good news! Christmas movies are not only thematically appropriate in most cases, they're also a relatively cheap way to say, "I love you." Sometimes they also say, "I hate you, but I'm pretending to love you for the holidays." But which movie to choose to send just the right message to the recipient? Consult the following pitiless Christmas movie-buying guide for handy tips.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop has a lot working against it. For starters, it's comedian Kevin James' vanity project, which came about, as James told ComingSoon.net, because he wanted to do something like TV's ChiPs. Nothing wrong with vanity projects, necessarily. But unless you're, say, Robert Redford or Clint Eastwood, taking on a lot of jobs in your own movie might wave a few warning flags. In James' case, he's writing, producing and starring as the titular security guard. In the hands of an experienced craftsman, this is no problem. For anyone else, this kind of multi-tasking might be a sign to the moviegoing public that the star in question is too close to the project to know what's not working. And indeed, the film's attempt at viral marketing over the summer was so unfunny that it might prove to be a vaccine against the film.

Someone tell me: What happened to David Fincher? When the director who brought us uber-dark, smart films such as Se7en, Fight Club and even The Game makes a sap-filled movie the likes of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, you have to ask yourself that question. And the only answer I've been able to come up with is that he must have grown a heart. And, for Fincher, this is not a good thing.

Apparently, Jim Carrey still has it, as his wacky comedy Liar, Liar-- uh, we mean Yes Man topped the box office this weekend, beating out Will "I am Box Office Legend" Smith's sad-looking Seven Pounds. But just barely -- Jimbo got $18.1 million, while Big Willy got an even $16 mill. Still, they were the standouts of the weekend, which remained mellow in the face of holiday shopping. (Expect the holiday weekend, with its six major releases, to turn everything on its ear.)