Crank: High Voltage (2009)

Jason Statham is back from the dead, Amy Smart is a stripper and they screw on a horse track (during a horse race) in a big-budget exploitation action-comedy. The movie is an assault on the senses, good taste and filmmaking — and it’s great.

d: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor | imdb.com | trailer | Juice me.

State of Play (2009)

Russell Crowe is a journalist investigating congressman and old college buddy Ben Affleck in an implausible political thriller and an unrealistic homage to newspapers with too many twists. Jason Bateman is the highlight as a sleazy public relations man.

d: Kevin Macdonald | imdb.com | trailer | questioning Domenic

Observe and Report (2009)

An R-rated version of “Paul Bart: Mall Cop,” Seth Rogen is a bipolar shopping center security chief with a violent streak, Dirty Harry without a clue. The movie, Rogen and love interest Anna Faris aren’t afraid to be unlikable in the dark action-comedy.

d: Jody Hill | imdb.com | trailer | Are you OK, Brandi?
Is there really a pervert here? | You should do that again.

Adventureland (2009)

Recent college graduate Jesse Eisenberg falls in love with Kristen Stewart and smokes pot with the other dead-end kids at an amusement park in 1987. Eisenberg and Stewart are so natural together, and the film never plays the period for broad laughs.

d: Greg Mottola | imdb.com | trailer | Hired | Date with Lisa P.

Sugar (2009)

Former baseball player Algenis Perez Soto plays a sensitive Dominican pitching prospect adjusting to life in the minor leagues and America — just one of the many realistic touches in an objective film that deserves a place on the shelf next to “Bull Durham.”

d: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck | imdb.com | trailer | car-boat
French toast | Welcome to America. | No chicas in the bedroom.