BIG SCREEN

OPENING WEDNESDAY:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (PG-13) -- This is the big one, the big kahuna, the movie expected to rule the summer box office. Director Michael Bay follows up his surprisingly effective smash hit from the summer of 2007 with the second of an expected trilogy of films about giant robots from outer space that can turn into cars and the befuddled teenager (Shia LaBeouf) who befriends them.

OPENING FRIDAY

Away We Go (R) -- After dwelling on the dark and tragic side of marriage in Revolutionary Road, director Sam Mendes takes a lighter look at matrimony and parenthood with this wistful comedy about a couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) trying to figure out where to lay down roots before the arrival of their first child. Based on a screenplay written by the real-life couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida.

My Sister's Keeper (PG-13): Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) directs this adaptation of Jodi Picoult's tearjerking novel about a 13-year-old (Abigail Breslin), conceived to be a donor for her leukemia-stricken older sister, who files for medical emancipation when her parents ask her to give up a kidney. Cameron Diaz plays her mother. Sure, the actresses are all smiles and giggles on the film's poster. But justyou wait.

Whatever Works (PG-13) -- Now that he's too old to believably play any role other than the lead in a remake of Cocoon, writer-director Woody Allen doesn't act in his movies anymore. In his latest project, which brings the filmmaker back to his beloved Manhattan after a sojourn in Europe, Allen drafts Larry David to play a nebbish neurotic juggling various romantic relationships.

-- RENE RODRIGUEZ

Virtuality (8 p.m. Friday, Fox) -- Thoughtfully scheduled on a Friday night, when most sci-fi geeks are at home trying to clone themselves, this TV movie from the producers of Battlestar Galactica could become a series if it draws enough eyeballs. The show follows a spaceship on a 10-year voyage to another solar system. To pass the time, the crew has been equipped with a virtual-reality program that allows them to pretend they're surfing off Hawaii, fighting in the Civil War or boinking movie stars. But who's this increasingly sinister green-eyed guy who's begun turning up in everybody's virtual sessions?

Iran and the West (9 p.m. Monday, National Geographic Channel) -- Thirty years of diplomatic dysfunction wrapped into two thoughtful, informative and depressing hours. A good companion piece is Be Like Others, airing on HBO2 at 8 p.m. Wednesday: the unhappy plight of transsexuals in Iran.

Gimme Sugar: Miami (10 p.m. Monday, Logo) -- A reality show on South Florida's lesbian club scene. Look, could anybody in Miami who's not on a reality show just raise his hand?

NYC Prep (10 p.m. Tuesday, Bravo) -- A reality-show version of Gossip Girl, in which the kids aren't as pretty and don't speak such clever dialogue but somehow are even more spoiled.

The Philanthropist (10 p.m. Wednesday, NBC) -- ''The heroic adventures of a billionaire playboy-turned vigilante/philanthropist.'' Really -- I copied that right out of the NBC press release. Clearly inspired by Donald Trump's bringing that rogue Miss America to justice.

-- GLENN GARVIN

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