The Big Ones. You might find yourself thinking summer has come awfully early this year, what with a crop of spring movies highlighted by several super-sized projects aimed at global megaplex domination. First up are a couple of similarly sensationalistic offerings: Hannibal Rising (Feb. 9), which offers a portrait of the serial killer as a young fava-bean-eater, and Zodiac (March 2), director David Fincher's long-delayed take on one of the most notorious real-life mass murder cases of modern times. (And for even more serial-killer fun and games, albeit of a less high-profile sort, see Disturbia on April 13.) Continuing in this dark vein, but for those who like their blockbusters with even more fantasy and special effects, there's Ghost Rider (Feb. 16), starring Nicolas Cage as Marvel Comics' skull-faced biker from hell. Almost certain to take first prize in this spring's more-is-more sweepstakes, however, is Grindhouse (April 6), Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's tag-team homage to the more lurid excesses of B-movie exploitation. Zombies and knife-wielding maniacs and space mutants never had it so good.

Funny Business. Comedy is in the air this season, big time, beginning with Norbit (Feb. 9), in which Eddie Murphy once again assumes multiple roles and prosthetic devices while pursuing Thandie Newton. Sports comedies continue to thrive this spring, from Blades of Glory (March 30), starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as feuding figure skaters, to Balls of Fury (April 27), which apparently thinks ping-pong is something worth laughing at. Then there's Hot Fuzz (April 13), about big city cops stuck in the sticks; Reno 911: Miami (Feb. 23), based on the Comedy Central television series; and Spring Breakdown (April 13), starring SNL driving force Amy Poehler, Parker Posey and Rachel Dratch as aging geeks trying to get down with the kids during spring break. And for those who enjoy scraping what might very well be the bottom of the barrel, take note that on March 2 Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and, yes, John Travolta will be hauling their middle-aged carcasses into motorcycle gear and embarking on a cross-country road-trip in Wild Hogs. Consider yourself warned.

Festivals for Miles. What many cinephiles consider to be the Bay area's best annual event, the Tampa International Film Festival, is missing in action this year, but there are more than enough other local offerings to keep the movie love flowing. A new event called The Gasparilla Film Festival takes place this year from Feb. 28 through March 4, and although information is still extremely sparse about what movies they're actually going to show, we're hoping the festival's content lives up to its advertising. Hot on that fest's heels, the season's second cinematic shindig will be upon us from March 14-25 when the 11th Annual Tampa Jewish Film Festival rolls into town. Meanwhile, Sarasota gets in on the action with an event that just keeps getting better and better: the long-running and highly eclectic Sarasota Film Festival, taking place April 13-22. And the season concludes back here in Tampa April 19-22, when the area's most enjoyably eccentric film event, The Ybor Festival of the Moving Image, takes center stage with what's sure to be some very interesting surprises. Sarasota Film Festival, Apr 13-22, 941—364-9514, www.sarasotafilmfestival.com; Tampa Jewish Film Festival, March 14-25, 813-264-9000, www.jewishtampa.com; Gasparilla Film Festival, February 28-March 4, 813-514-9962, www.gasparillafilmfestival.com; Ybor Festival of the Moving Image, April 19-22, 813-935-9232, www.yborfilmfestival.com.

Love and Life and the Whole Damn Meta-Thing. Romance is always in fashion, and this season's heart-flutter offerings include Music and Lyrics (Feb. 14), starring Hugh Grant as an '80s pop star pursued by Drew Barrymore; Because I Said So (Feb. 2), in which mama Diane Keaton tries to fix up love-challenged daughter Mandy Moore, and Gray Matters (Feb. 23), starring Heather Graham and Tom Cavanaugh as siblings playing matchmaker for each other. Less romantically inclined but still way sensitive is Reign Over Me (March 9), starring Adam Sandler as a guy getting over a personal tragedy, and The Premonition (March 16), where Sandra Bullock foresees the death of a loved one and attempts to stop it. And if Bullock's latest sounds an awful lot like The Lake House Redux, then what about Joel Schumacher giving us Jim Carrey discovering a book that seems to be based on his very own life, in The Number 23 (Feb. 23)? Stranger than Fiction, indeed.

Dysfunctional Goodies and More. If you believe that messed-up people often make for the most satisfying movies, then you're in for a treat over the next few months. A sizeable batch of films about quirky, screwed-up characters is on the way (and since almost all of these films are, unsurprisingly, independent productions, please take these opening dates with many grains of salt). The dysfunctional party kicks off with Black Snake Moan (Feb. 23), starring Christina Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson as a pair of mysterious losers wrestling with their respective demons. Then there's Molly Shannon as a woman driven way over the edge by the death of her pet in Year of the Dog (April 12), the directorial debut of Chuck and Buck/ School of Rock screenwriter Mike White. Lucky You (March 13) features Eric Bana as a high-stakes gambler doing some serious head-butting with papa Robert Duvall, and First Snow (March 23) presents us with Guy Pearce pounding the pavement as a very, very paranoid traveling salesman. And since turnabout is fair play, identical twins Mark and Michael Polish — writer-directors of wildly bizarre projects like Northfolk and Twin Falls Idaho — try their hands at something atypically "ordinary" and maybe even inspirational this season, with The Astronaut Farmer (Feb. 23), featuring Billy Bob Thornton as a simple guy trying to realize a life-long dream. Hey, if David Lynch, the wizard of odd himself, can pull off this normal-is-the-new-weird thing with The Straight Story, then anything's possible.

Mix it up: Spring arts

What to watch for

This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2007.