Apparently inspired by last week's 30 Rock, the good folks at Marvel Studios have given us a whopper of a Leap Day present: an all-new, all-expanded trailer for Summer 2012's first superhero blockbuster, The Avengers. Unlike the first teaser, which hit the web back in October, this one features more dialogue, more effects-heavy action (to be fair, most of the effects weren't finished four months ago) and more clips of the costumed heroes trading Joss Whedon-scripted barbs with each other. Even with all the bonus footage though, the studio is still keeping us mostly in the dark about what exactly is going to happen in the film beyond the Avengers assembling to squabble amongst themselves and battle some kind of invading interstellar army led by Thor's newly emboldened adoptive brother, Loki. (This is a Joss Whedon joint, so there's got to be more to it than just that, right? Or maybe this time the big twist will be that there is no twist...) But through a few close viewings, we did manage to tease out a few potential story points from this two-and-a-half minute sneak peak, things like...

Everyone knows that Tom Selleck was going to be Indiana Jones before his Magnum P.I. commitment passed the fedora and bullwhip along to Harrison Ford instead. But were you also aware that an early draft of the screenplay for the film that would become Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull featured cameos by such characters as Sallah, Willie and Short Round? That's one of the many fun pieces of behind-the-scenes trivia you'll learn in David Hughes's, Tales From Development Hell, which explores the fortunes of some of the greatest movies never made. An updated version of his 2004 tome of the same name, this new edition, which hits stores today, reveals what happened to such high-profile, development hell stranded projects as Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger's medieval epic, Crusade, Darren Aronofsky's gritty Batman reboot Year One and the multiple big-screen versions of Neil Gaiman's beloved Sandman comic. We won't spoil all of the secrets that this enjoyable, well-researched book has to offer, but here are a few choice tidbits sure to whet movie lovers' appetites.

Hangin' With Mr. Scorsese.

In all the hubbub over the Oscars, you might have forgotten that another awards show happened over the weekend, the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which were handed out Saturday, 24 hours before the big Academy shindig. While initially created to celebrate the best and brightest in indie film, in recent years the list of Indie Spirit nominees and winners has come to bear a striking resemblance to the Oscars. That was particularly true this year, when The Artist won for Best Film, Best Director and Best Male Lead... the same categories it triumphed in at the Oscars the following evening. Which begs the question: at this point, is there any difference between the Indie Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards? Let's compare the two ceremonies in a few key areas.

The Artist and Hugo won just about everything, Meryl Streep finally took home a statue and Community's Dean Pelton was recognized by the Academy. See the complete list of winners and losers below, and be sure to check out our liveblog.

The ads for the new combat movie/live-action video game Act of Valor trumpet the fact that the film follows the adventures of a team of Navy SEALs who are all played by... active duty Navy SEALs. And if that's not authentic enough for you, a short featurette that precedes the picture reveals that directors Mike "Mouse" McCoy and Scott Waugh were embedded amongst the troops to shoot many of the mission sequences, all of which employed live fire -- that means real, honest-to-God bullets. So yeah, whatever else you can say about Act of Valor, it's hard to argue that the movie doesn't strive to capture the reality of an actual SEAL team mission. Furthermore, we're sure that the onscreen platitudes that the soldiers offer up about the importance of brotherhood and family (scripted for them by 300 writer Kurt Johnstad) reflect how they feel in real life as well. While not explicitly a documentary, Act of Valor does feel like a relatively truthful representation of what a typical Navy SEAL thinks and experiences in the field.

David Wain's Wanderlust is neither the most original nor compelling movie ever made, let alone of the year so far. It is, however, laugh-out-loud funny (and not just in a raunchy way) and probably the only film in 2012 that will reference the Nintendo Power Glove. Starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston as a New York City couple who find themselves living on a rural commune, Wanderlust's concept is about as complicated and creative as Role Models, Wain's 2008 movie that I personally found to be surprisingly hilarious. These days, I've been such a fan of Childrens Hospital that my expectations for Wanderlust were fairly high -- even factoring in that the movie had been postponed from its fall release date to February, which is typically regarded as the time of year that studios stick... let's just say their "less than Oscar-worthy" movies -- and I was still impressed with it. While the film is in no way perfect, several major components make it into a success:

It's T-minus one month until the March 23 release The Hunger Games, which you all named your most anticipated 2012 release in our Movies Without Pity Awards. And we like the way you think.

This holiday weekend saw the release of The Secret World of Arriety, the 17th film from the revered Japanese animation house, Studio Ghibli.

Stop, thief! Somebody stole Eddie Murphy's career!