Charlie Bartlett - Starring Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey, Jr., Hope Davis, Kat Dennings and Tyler Hilton
The premise for Charlie Bartlett should tell you all you need to know: Charlie (Yelchin) is a rich kid, kicked out of pretty much any private school his mom can shovel him off to. Why? Oh, no reason. Little stuff. Things like distributing fake ID’s. Stuff that would have left my rear swollen and bruised. So it’s off to public school, where he makes buddies by taking patients in the bathroom and prescribing, well, prescription drugs. One ritalin-fueled party later, he’s pretty well the most popular kid in school.
All almost doesn’t end well, and Charlie is faced with life without an easy popularity prescription. Pretty good dark comedy. If you’re into the Juno and Little Miss Sunshine’s, this one is probably for you. (Special kudos to Robert Downey, Jr. for being in another pretty, not bad movie. Not that he would know anything about drug use.) A (Joe Allison)

Penelope - Starring Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O’Hara, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage, Richard E. Grant and Simon Woods
So the story goes that a family of upper crust snobs snubs a lovelorn girl. The girl kills herself, and her mama, the witch, strikes a curse on the family. Well, on the first daughter to be born at any rate. Son is born. Son is born. Rinse. Repeat. Ooooh... Finally, a girl is born. With a snout and droopy ears.
Pig-faced Penelope (Ricci) faces an interesting dilemma: how to get someone of her social ranking to marry her and see beyond the piggish looks. When love does finally come knocking in the form of Max (McAvoy), she’s quick to run away herself. Her only real hope, it seems, is striking out on her own. Entertaining concept if not the best-executed story on the planet. B- (Joe Allison)

U2 3D - A concert film directed by Mark Pellington and Catherine Owens
This U2 film is a first of its kind - the first 3D concert film ever released. Playing before a huge and energetic crowd in Buenos Aires, veteran arena rockers U2 open with “Vertigo” followed by “It’s a Beautiful Day.” “Bullet the Blue Sky” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday” also come off very well.
The concert was filmed during U2’s 2005-2006 Vertigo tour. The four-man band’s sound seems heavier here than on recordings. Bono’s vocals are in great form as is The Edge - who alternates playing guitar and piano. The 3D technology - which requires the use of 3D glasses - is surprisingly effective. At times it seems like you can reach out and touch the drums, or you are almost dodging to escape being hit by the bass. It’s like being right in the audience, as you can see images on the cell phone cameras of the crowd.
There are no backstage interviews with U2, just a very impressive live concert experience. A (WiL Wesch).

Fool’s Gold - Starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland and Alexis Dziena
When not posing topless with Lance Armstrong, Benjamin Finnegan (McConaughey) stays busy by sinking boats, pissing off media moguls with a killer streak, hunting down sunken treasure and otherwise staying salty and wet. Tess Finnegan (Hudson), to her credit, spends her time trying to avoid him and get a divorce. But what would a romantic, adventurin’, comedy type-o-movie from the Hudson/McConaughey duo be if they stayed separated or didn’t breath a little irritation down each other’s throat?
So there they are, stuck on a zillionaire’s boat together, looking for treasure on the aforementioned mogul’s island. Do they get back together? Do they find the treasure? Is that really the point? Pretty much what you’d expect from a Hudson/McConaughey movie, so give it a matinee with the fairer sex. B- (Joe Allison)

The Spiderwick Chronicles - Starring Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Nick Nolte and Mary-Louise Parker. Adapted from the book series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.
The Grace kids (with Highmore as twins Jared and Simon) are pretty much your woefully normal kids. When mom drags their little butts out to the inherited Spiderwick Estate, they’re left with a mix of irritation and sadness. Doesn’t it just break your little heart? Then along comes a brownie, a magical book, a butt-kicking troll and Mulgarath the ogre. And a whole bunch of goblins. With teeth. That bite.
See, the kids opened great granduncle’s book and set the whole forest of fairies on high alert. In a nutshell, the book tells all the secrets of the fairy kingdom, and with it Mulgrath can pretty much pillage and take over the world. Please contain yourself. Spiderwick gets the unfortunate pleasure of trailing behind a few decent fantasy-driven outings like …Series of Unfortunate Events, Golden Compass and Bridge to Terabithia. I’d say better luck next time, but I think they pretty well cached out the series. C- (Joe Allison)