Getting silly with my combo reviews. But screw it – no one’s reading anyway.

Biker Movie. With actual bikes.

Proving there’s a subculture for anything, Premium Rush is the bike messenger’s opus.

Told in almost a TV-procedural style complete with timestamped rewinds, Premium Rush is an action movie that while yes is about riding bikes in traffic is also well, an action movie. Way more than say Total Recall or even Spider-Man.

Rising star Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, Looper) is our hero, a rebel bike messenger God who has some ESP-like way of seeing the many possible traffic shifts as they unfold, allowing him to zip through unmolested as he causes countless wrecks.

He gets a pickup and for the next hour or so, is pursued by a bad guy for some mysterious reason. Except not for long, as the flashbacks and forwards reveal. So there’s a girl and a subplot with her Asian roommate that actually becomes the real plot as our two stories connect.

Can’t say much more because we all know what happens in movies when there’s good guys, bad guys, a boy crushing on a girl, a friend in trouble. Right?

Final Snark: Quick, interesting, has it’s suspenseful moments and comedy bits. Not quite Speed as far as surprise summer hits goes, but very watchable.

Pitch Perfect, right on key.

Almost makes me wish I watched Glee just so I could add some mocking but alas, Pitch Perfect is almost snark-proof.

A competition movie with equal parts romcom, comedy, drama, coming of age angst, Pitch Perfect is (Spoiler!) Bring It On – for a cappella singing groups. Seriously. No, really because there’s a movie for anything, everything these days.

No Name College – because Yale wanted too much $$ to use their Whiffenpoofs name – is the shiznitz of a cappella. It’s a thing, a sport, a competition – complete with groupies and an annual showdown in that mecca of mouth entertainers, NYC.

Girl Group wants to redeem itself from poor showing; boy group enjoys being the Kings of the Heap; the writers get down with the punny entendres and hilarity ensues; and (Spoiler!) fish-out-of-water girl Anna Kendrick finds a way to fit in.

Pitch Perfect has some nice singing, crazy group leaders, an obvious romance and a healthy dose of Apple product placement. A few standouts:

• The whisper quiet Asian chick – LISTEN!
• The color commentators (played by John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks, who also produces) that are off the chain nuts and funny as shit.
• Rebel Wilson of Bridesmaids being generally fab.

Final Final Snark: Big name stars, crazy budgets, wacky CGI effects are not necessary to make decent movies. Hollywood should try this more often, even if sadly, people aren’t running up the box office to see them.

Other reviewers that may or may not have liked these flicks

• Premium Rush: Movie Review (screencrave.com)
• New Era of Movies? Or a Shift of Personal Preference? (sergoh.wordpress.com)
• Fug or Fab: Anna Kendrick (gofugyourself.com)