Each week, Past the Popcorn offers a thorough look at the latest round of films opening on big screens.

With less than a month to go before the summer blockbusters break upon us like, well, blockbusters, the indies and the studio botique labels are trying to make as much hay as they can before all of the screens are sucked up by the megaflicks.

The darkest (and sharpest) of the bunch this week is Street Kings, a police-corruption action thriller starring Keanu Reeves in a familiar-looking role. But the well-pedigreed film is probably not what you expect, says Greg Wright: “I don’t think you’ll hate this movie. No, if either cop movies or Keanu Reeves are your thing, you’ll probably even love it. Still, I’m not sure you need this kind of dark vision of America, either.”

On the lighter and definitely family-friendly side is the documentary Blindsight, a film about a blind mountaineer who trains blind Tibetan students in preparation for ascent of a 23,000-foot peak. “Blindsight proves to be a rare gem among documentaries,” says Michael Brunk. “It entertains without glossing over the struggles, and educates without preaching. It’s a timely and effective reminder that life can be a worthy adventure regardless of our abilities.”

Jennie Spohr also enjoyed Chaos Theory, the tale of a man who learns to destructure his life… and rediscover his wife. “The movie is clever, and the different layers of plot twists work well in this topsy-turvy story,” she says of the mature PG-13 film. “While not overly deep, it comes down on the side of love in an admirable way.”

Also reviewed this week: Sex and Death 101 and Smart People.

By: Andy. This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Film, Film roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.