It is no great surprise that Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton’s latest film, uses regular actor Johnny Depp to an almost obsessive degree.

Whether the Academy Awards’ big experiment, expanding the best picture category from five nominees to 10, will pay off in a ratings bump this year remains to be seen. Regardless, audience members can be sure this year’s Oscars broadcast will be full of surprises.

After having helmed the reboot of the James Bond franchise, the only way the quality of director Martin Campbell’s work could really go is down. With Casino Royale being such a success, it’s not surprising that Edge of Darkness is disappointing.

IRM, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s newest album, doesn’t particularly dispel that notion, but it’s also not a hideously bad effort.

Her follow-up album, “The Sea,” touches on a far more precarious subject: the suspected-overdose death of her husband, saxophonist Jason Rae. The album is mercifully free of any histrionics – Rae’s voice rarely rises above a whisper – and takes a meditative look at her grieving process and her forced maturation.

When in Rome has its funny moments, though they are few, far-between and usually cheap, but it’s not the most offensive comedy ever made.

Everything about Crazy Heart is understated thanks to writer-director Scott Cooper. It isn’t the best film of the year or the most memorable, but it serves its purpose as an impressive, poignant movie, and it serves it well.

Despite the studio’s efforts to equate it with “The Blind Side”, “Extraordinary Measures” is not nearly as good.

The sophomore slump is something that hits everyone from singers and musicians to college students. It’s usually unavoidable and accepted as a fact of life and art: a band’s second album probably won’t be as good as its first. Vampire Weekend, however, avoids that fate with “Contra,” its upbeat second album.

Focusing on one high-strung Bostonian’s trip across the pond to propose to her boyfriend on Feb. 29 as part of a slightly misogynistic and archaic tradition, Leap Year uses the same premise and could have easily been another unworthy, forgettable film.