As we slowly move away from the January/February sludge pit of theater releases, things begin to look up for filmgoers, but does the multiplex demand your worship this weekend?

Be Kind, Rewind

Be Kind, Rewind
Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is one of the most talented and unique directors working today. Pairing him with Jack Black and Mos Def is quite the coup d’etat (I realize there are supposed to be little squiggles in there somewhere, but I’m lazy). The plot - video store clerks who accidentally magnetize all of their tapes and are forced to re-film the classics on their own - sounds like comedy gold.

Vantage Point

Vantage Point
Doesn’t look like much more than an action packed mystery thriller trip, but I like action packed mystery thriller trips. The president has been assassinated - or has he? (thats the mystery part) Stuff will blow up, cars will wreck, and guns will be fired. Matthew Fox flexes his post-Lost acting chops and the cast is rounded out with the likes of Forrest Whitaker, Dennis Quaid, and William Hurt. This is the kind of film thats hard for me to resist.

Charlie Bartlett

Charlie Bartlett
The ads are billing this as the next Juno. I don’t buy it. Charlie is a high school student adrift who discovers popularity when he starts handing out both psychiatric advice and drug prescriptions from the school bathroom. Robert Downey Jr. stars as an alcoholic principal (really Robert, an alcoholic?) who is out to stop the would-be-Freud. Could be a sleeper hit, could be an indie failure, your mileage may vary.

Witless Protection

Witless Protection
I hesitate to even waste the time or bandwidth discussing this one. Anyone who’s name is an entire phrase hardly deserves 15 minutes, much less top billing in a theatrical motion picture (and I’m looking at you, too, Cedric the Entertainer). The fact that Jenny McCarthy co-stars is another strike against it, although Larry the Cable Guy in and of himself is enough of a reason to run screaming from this one like a…well, just run screaming, thats the important part.