This is a lull week in the summer blockbuster schedule. Only a couple of wide releases that no one’s all that excited about anyway have been tossed out as sacrificial lambs against “The Dark Knight,” which has made so much money that you could stack the cash into a pyramid and set it on fire with a Chinese man tied to a chair on top of it. Hypothetically speaking, I mean.

Today we have “Step Brothers,” which is a sub-par Will Ferrell effort that, predictably, made me laugh anyway. And then we also have “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” (reviewed at Film.com), which is approximately as good as an average “X-Files” TV episode. Meh.

In limited release, though, is “American Teen,” a fantastically entertaining documentary that I saw at Sundance. It will be expanding in the coming weeks, so watch for it. It’s wonderful.

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Holy posthumous Oscar, Batman! Get a load of Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight,” a groundbreaking and all-around excellent superhero flick that happens to feature one of the most fascinating, most unnerving villain performances ever. I use this term facetiously now and then, but I mean it when I say that this Joker is good old-fashioned nightmare fuel.

For that reason and others — the film’s length, its overall darkness, the gruesome and awful things that happen to people in it — I want to emphasize that it is NOT a movie for children. Teenagers, sure. But young kids? No way. Take that PG-13 rating seriously for once.

Also opening wide today is “Mamma Mia!,” a terrible musical! with a stupid plot! draped around some great ABBA songs! The continued success of the stage version mystifies me, although I suspect it’s a lot more energetic and fun in person than it is on film.

“Space Chimps” (reviewed at Film.com) is a pretty good animated comedy for the kiddies and their parents. It’s gonna make about $3 at the box office this weekend, but if you’ve already taken the tykes to see “WALL-E” and “Kung Fu Panda,” this is a good Plan C.

Finally, in limited release is a comedy called “Kabluey” that’s well worth checking out. It was the opening-night film at the Oxford (Mississippi) Film Festival that I attended back in February (my account of the weekend is here), and I’m delighted that it’s getting some kind of theatrical release, albeit not a very big one. You can visit the film’s website to keep an eye on when/if it’s coming to a theater near you.

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I don’t really love anything this week. None of the new movies, I mean. I still love other things.

“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” is fine. Visually spectacular, sometimes funny, kind of exciting, kind of meh. Likewise, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (which I’ve reviewed for Cinematical) is good enough but not great.

“Meet Dave,” on the other hand, is quite terrible, as expected. (My review is at Film.com.) It’s like Eddie Murphy’s doing it on purpose now. I note that the film is so bad, even Eddie Murphy didn’t want to sit through it.

On the more delightful side of things, “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” is a perfectly pleasant thing to take your young daughter to. I bought a ticket for “Hancock” when I saw it, lest I appear creepy to the teenager selling tickets. My reputation among movie-theater employees is of the utmost importance to me.

Finally, there’s an independent film called “Garden Party” that isn’t very good and doesn’t have any stars and that you probably weren’t going to see anyway.

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The Friday movie roundup — on a Tuesday?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!? It’s crazy, I know, but Tuesday is when they’re releasing “Hancock,” the big Fourth of July blockbuster. Well, Wednesday, officially, except that nearly every theater that’s showing it has “sneak previews” starting tonight at 7. So it’s really opening today. The July 4 movie opens July 2, except really July 1. Makes perfect sense.

Anyway, “Hancock” is fine.

The movie that’s really good is “The Promotion,” which has been kicking around in limited release for a few weeks and opens this Friday in Salt Lake City (which I mention because I know a lot of you live in that area). It was the Cinematical gang’s favorite film at South By Southwest back in March, and it’s a shame it’s not getting more attention now that it’s in theaters. Go see it. It’s funny.

UPDATE: I’ve just received word that “The Promotion” has been bumped back to July 11 in SLC. So wait until July 11, and then go see it.

Also in limited release this week are two Sundance favorites: “The Wackness,” which made me say “meh,” and “Baghead” (review at Cinematical), which made me say “ha ha” and “me likey.”

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Whoa! Technical difficulties last night at EricDSnider.com headquarters. The server went down at the worst possible time — Thursday night when I’m posting reviews and sending out “In the Dark” — and prevented me from getting a lot of things done. But here we are now! We are OK. We have each other, and that’s the important thing.

Unsurprisingly, Pixar has knocked another one out of the park with “WALL-E,” an animated sci-fi love story that raises the bar yet again in terms of technical excellence and storytelling technique. I dare say it’s brilliant, easily the best movie I’ve seen so far this year. My review is at Film.com.

Then there’s “Wanted,” starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy as assassins. My review of this will be posted shortly is at Cinematical.

In limited release: “Stuck,” a horror-comedy about a woman who hits a homeless man with her car, then drives home with him still alive and embedded in the windshield; and “Expired,” an abrasive comedy from Sundance 2007 about two parking-enforcement officers in love.

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First Texas, now the Zohan — I can’t mess with anything anymore! “Zohan,” an overlong mixed bag, is the subject of my review at Film.com this week.

Then there’s “Kung Fu Panda,” which is pretty funny and very well animated. Not just one of the cheapo throwaways.

Also new: “The Strangers” (scary), “The Fall” (trippy), “Sangre de Mi Sangre” (dreary), and “Savage Grace” (tawdry). (In secret code, I have named four of the Spice Girls.

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Two major releases this weekend, and the studios stubbornly screened them at the same time on the same night. Thanks, movie people. I reluctantly chose “Sex and the City” because it’s the higher-profile of the two, and also because I knew that if I didn’t see it for free at the press screening, I would never be able to motivate myself to see it after it opened.

I have already written about the travails of the screening. The movie itself is mediocre, though I say that as someone who never watched the TV show. I assume fans of the show will like the movie, assuming they like the idea of watching five episodes back to back. (Oh yeah: It’s 2 1/2 hours long.)

The other new wide release is “The Strangers,” a horror film that piques my interest because they don’t screen horror films for critics much anymore. Maybe it’s actually good? Or maybe screening it was a diversionary tactic to make us think it’s good? I’ll find out when I catch up with it this weekend.

There are three excellent films in limited release that you should seek out with all due speed. One is “Young @ Heart,” a terrific documentary about a chorus of senior citizens who sing rock ‘n’ roll songs. It’s as sweet and uplifting a doc as I’ve seen in a long time.

The other two are “The Visitor,” about a lonely man who becomes friends with some illegal immigrants in New York, and “Priceless,” a light French farce starring Audrey Tautou (aka Amelie).

They’re predicting big box office for “Sex and the City,” but is anyone other than fans of the show going to watch it? Are there enough fans to make it a giant hit? We’ll see, but color me skeptical.

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The Friday movie roundup — on a Thursday? What kind of deviltry is this?! It is the kind necessitated by the Thursday release of a little film called “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which I quite enjoyed. It has the look and feel of an Indy film, and it fits right in with the collection. I’m pretty sure I like it more than “Temple of Doom,” which has that really annoying Kate Capshaw stinking up the place.

And … that’s it. There aren’t any other films opening this week. I hope to have reviews of a few indie flicks (not to be confused with an Indy flick) within the next several days, though, including “Young @ Heart” and “The Visitor.”

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The only wide release this weekend is “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” which I have reviewed at Film.com. I have also written at Cinematical about how the PG rating for “Prince Caspian” is astoundingly wrong. The level and frequency of violence is definitely PG-13-worthy.

In limited release, I can recommend “My Blueberry Nights” (the English-language debut of director Wong Kar Wai) and “Then She Found Me” (the directorial debut of Helen Hunt).

I saw “Blueberry” when I was in New York City! It cost $11.75!

Finally, I remind you of the existence of “Son of Rambow,” a delightfully joyous comedy, in limited release, that is just about my favorite movie of the year so far. It got mentioned in the podcast a couple weeks ago but not the e-mail version of “In the Dark,” so here it is again.
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Here’s the “Speed Racer” review!

Here’s the “What Happens in Vegas” review (at Film.com)!

I watched them both Thursday night — “Vegas” at 7 p.m., “Speed” at midnight — and now I am tired. “Speed Racer” screened earlier in the week, when I was in New York, and maybe you’re thinking, “Couldn’t Eric have found out where the NYC press screening was and seen it there?” And I thought the same thing. But as it turns out, getting your local publicists to find out information from their NYC counterparts is difficult, especially when your local publicists don’t even try. (At least, you assume they didn’t even try, since they ignored your follow-up e-mails.) But again, I’m tired now. Goodnight!

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