The Rocker mines an old concept for all its worth, and does a grand job of doing so. Rainn Wilson of The Office stars as Rob "Fish" Fishman, who was replaced as the drummer for an up-and-coming band named Vesuvius just as they signed their first record deal. Twenty years have passed, and Vesuvius is about to be enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while Fish, who is thoroughly stuck in the ‘80's, has just been fired from the last in a series of menial and demeaning jobs and dumped by his girl friend (What do you call a drummer who breaks up with his girl friend? Homeless!).

That is, until his nephew, Matt (Josh Gad of 21, in a wonderful performance), recently accepted to MIT and a classic geek/nerd, asks him to fill in for the suspended drummer in his band, A.D.D., so that they can play the prom.  While his band mates (Emma Stone , who played Jules in Superbad, and the very talented Teddy Geiger) are leery at first – with good reason – the band eventually gels, and the standard rock ‘n roll adventures ensue.

Three things make this movie work. First, the cast is delightful. Wilson does a fine job as the overage drummer, and he has mastered all of the drummer idiosyncrasies that lead (in my opinion) to the development of the drum box. And he's just pretty funny no matter what he does. His band mates actually act like teenagers, and the parents (including Christina Applegate and Jane Lynch) actually act like parents. And this isn’t as common in movies as you might think.

Second, its actually funny and, for the most part, clean while being funny. Not as clean as a Disney comedy, mind you, but a whole heck of a lot less offensive than the recent Step Brothers, Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express. Although there are a few bad words, you might actually be able to take your kids to it. If they’re older. And a little jaded. But it is consistently funny, and the director makes sure that there are little crazy bits going on in the background to keep your attention.

And finally, the music actually sounds good. The problem with most movies about rock ‘n roll is that the music usually doesn’t work. You know for a fact that if released, it would never sell, and that usually creates a major credibility problem. That is definitely not true for The Rocker. The A.D.D. songs, most of which were written by Chad Fischer and all of which were actually performed by Geiger, are really, really good. It makes the sudden rise of A.D.D. a lot easier to swallow when they’re actually playing good music.

Oh, and most of it is based in Cleveland. That may not mean much to you, but it sure does to a certain white-haired radio host.

So my recommendation is to go out and see it. You won’t regret it.

I knew that it would happen eventually. Somehow, somewhere, I would find my elusive quarry, the one thing that would make a friend’s life complete.

And I found it in Bottle Shock. A movie that I can almost certainly convince Congressman Campbell to see, thereby at least doubling his movie input for 2008.

You see, Bottle Shock is the ultimate wine snob movie – and the good Congressman is close to the ultimate wine snob. Believe it or not, he is one of those guys who can taste a glass of wine and give you the old "It has an oakey ambience with just a hint of peaches and Plumeria" nonsense, and be absolutely dead-bang serious about it.

And this movie is right down his alley.  It is based on the pretty true story of the 1976 Franco-American wine tasting held in France in which the US of A, and California in particular, beat the best of the French wines in a blind tasting. Alan Rickman, wonderful as always, plays the English wine seller who arranges the tasting, while Bill Pullman and Chris Pine play the father-son wine making team who create the award-winning Chardonnay. The very comely Rachael Taylor plays the wine intern who sorta-kinda comes between Pine and his friend Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez). But it’s the wine that’s the real star of what, unfortunately, is a very slow and not very exciting film.

The best thing about Bottle Shock, in my humble opinion, is the costumes. Unlike so many movies that try to depict what it was "really" like in the ‘60's and ‘70's, this movie actually gets it close to right. There’s not a paisley or tie-dyed shirt to be seen, and bell bottoms are at a minimum. With the possible exception of Dennis Farina's suit (a masterpiece of overstatement), everyone pretty much dresses like people in 1976 pretty much dressed.

But good costumes can’t overcome lackluster direction and mediocre editing. A good movie to rent (eventually), but I don’t think I’d run out to see it – unless, of course, I was Congressman Campbell.  Or I wanted to see how Pine will do as KIrk in the next Star Trek movie.

• Rick Warren is a good pastor, a nice guy and a committed Christian, but his questions were generally inane and he was clearly out of his element.  After all, what, exactly, is  POTUS supposed to do about orphans?
• Asking McCain the same questions previously asked Obama was a bad idea -- fair, maybe, but a bad idea nevertheless.  If each candidate had been asked questions that related specifically to their own expressed positions, it would have been a better show.
• Like it or not, McCain came off as decisive and Presidential; Obama did not.  And McCain also seemed better-spoken, which was a real surprise to me and, I assume, many others.
• The best statement following the debate came from David Gergen, who opined that "John McCain's going to be a much tougher opponent for Barack Obama in the debates than anybody ever might have imagined just a few weeks ago."  And he looked concerned.

  ..  Miss me?

Picking the Top 10 New York City Movies Ever is not exactly an easy task. The industry has always loved New York , always will, and it shows in what they film. But there could easily be 20+ Top 10 New York City Movies. But here are mine:

And the Number 1 New York City Movie of All Time:

The cinema has a long history of what could be affectionately called "druggie movies".  From the unintentionally hilarious Reefer Madness to Cheech & Chong’s Up In Smoke to the near-classic Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Hollywood has done its best to show the lighter side of drug use and the drug trade. And sometimes, on rare occasions, it has dealt with the more sober side of the illicit trade – like in Blow and Traffic.

Pineapple Expressdoes not fall into the latter category – which is probably just as well. In this latest Judd Apatow comedy, Seth Rogen, who also co-wrote the film, stars as Dale Denton, a 25 year old process server with a high-school girl friend and a much too extensive marijuana habit. When Dale needs a little boost, he heads directly to his dealer, Saul Silver (James Franco), who supplies him with a portion of his exclusive stash of – what else?? – Pineapple Express. Unfortunately, when Dale witnesses the assassination of a competitor to Saul’s supplier, Ted (Gary Cole), Dale and Saul are off to the races to save their respective necks. And with the resilient Red (Danny R. McBride) helping them, they don’t stand a chance.

It’s usually hard to go wrong with an Apatow movie, but this one comes close. The problem is not with the humor – it’s plenty funny (at least for the first 80 minutes) and much less offensive than Step Brothers. It’s with the attempt to blend that humor with the excessive and unrelenting violence that takes up the last 20 minutes. It’s very, very hard to make mayhem humorous, and when it doesn’t work – as it doesn’t work here – the film inevitably loses focus.

But it’s still worthwhile to see, if only for Franco’s near-brilliant turn as Saul the drug dealer. Saul’s unquestionably addled by dabbling in his own product, and although he has plenty of acquaintances, none of them stick around for longer than it takes to pick up a quick ounce or so. His only friend may be his grandmother, who he supports through his drug earnings. Until he latches on to Dale. Even though Dale initially wants nothing more to do with him than his other customers do, their inadvertent alliance results in a growing friendship and respect. Assuming they’re sober enough to realize it.

Franco and Rogen make this film a worthwhile see, but obviously not for those likely to be impressed by how "fun" drugs must be.

Not China Movies, mind you.  Movies about China.  In English (or American).  No (or minimal) subtitles.  And with those ground rules laid out, here they are:

10.  Up the Yangtze (2007)
9.    Flying Tigers (1942).
8.   The Manchurian Candidate (1962).
7.   The Red Violin (1998).
6.   The Sand Pebbles (1966).
5.   The Last Emperor (1987).
4.   Lost Horizon (1937)
3.   The Good Earth (1937).
2.   The Painted Veil
1.   Empire of the Sun (1987).

About half-way through The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, it occurred to me that this was what the late and unlamented Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was supposed to be like -- adventure, action, humor and a completely preposterous plot.  Well, at least Indiana succeeded with the latter.

So why didn't I like it more?  Beats me.  But if I have to lay it down to anything, it's the complete and utter lack of heart and an inability to transfer the energy on the screen to the audience.  It's not the stars' fault -- Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello (replacing Rachel Weisz, who has apparently moved on to bigger and better things) do a good, solid workmanlike job -- particularly in dealing with the fact that Weisz is no longer there.  And Jet Li is, well, Jet Li -- although he does manage a brief half-smile midway through the movie, which I personally did not think his mouth was capable of.  Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's the direction, but it never completely engages you.  It's not a bad movie, exactly; it's just not a good one.

So if you need a Brendan Fraser fix, I'd go to Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D -- but only if you can find it in 3D and you can put on the magic glasses.

And if you think cutting it down to a Top 10 was easy, you've got another think coming.  This was tough, and many deserving films were omitted.  But from my standpoint, these are the best movies exploring the unique and combative brother-brother relationship:

10.  Fraility (2001): Bill Paxton's directorial debut, and a fine, weird, creepy movie it is. Two brothers raised by a religiously-crazed, delusional father -- or maybe not so delusional after all.
9.    Stand By Me (1986): Although he's not in it much, most of the driving force behind this film comes from the death of
Wil Wheaton's older brother (John Cusack).
8.    Secondhand Lions (2003): An all-around fine movie, and a great tale of two brothers.  If you haven't seen it, rent it.
7.    Sabrina (1954) (and make sure it's 1954): Two brothers (William Holden and Humphrey Bogart) try to woo the same girl (Audrey Hepburn).
6.    The Blues Brothers (1980): What would the list be like without Elwood and Jake?
5.    The Fighting Sullivans (1944): The original brothers-in-battle movie (although you could easily put Saving Private Ryan here too -- and many will say I should have).
4.     The Straight Story (1999): One of the more accessible David Lynch movies -- okay, it's the most accessible David Lyunch movie -- and a great story of the lengths one brother (Richard Farnsworth) will go to to help another.
3.     Moonstruck (1987): Another two brothers (Nicholas Cage