MGMT 
CongratulationsSony/Columbia
MGMT claims it has changed its sound on follow-up album “Congratulations,” but the album is still highly reminiscent of the duo’s previous top-notch effort “Oracular Spectacular.” “Congratulations” offers the same fun rock-dance vibes, splashed with stylishly trippy energy and smooth hipster synthetics. Some of the album sounds a bit too noisy for its own good, but the majority is an appealing blend of ’70s Pink Floyd-style rock and mellow dance vibes. The band tops itself with “Someone’s Missing” and the title track, and the album serves as a flourishing follow-up for the now well-established indie-rock band.
M. Jacobs
B+
AutoKratzAnimalPhantom Sounds and Vision
Following the duo’s 2008 EP, “Down & Out in Paris and London,” released by a growing Parisian record and fashion label, David Cox and Russell Crank have once again created catchy digital electronica and pop for the masses. Cox’s vocals take the backseat to the pounding synth noises. The music would get people dancing at a club, but the band’s approach is not the most creative. The songs are repetitive and often uninteresting, and the insistent banging quickly gets old. Just as the title of one track suggests, the music tends to “Stay the Same,” and listeners will feel like they have already heard it before.
E. Clausen
C-
Erykah BaduNew Amerykah, Part Two: Return of the AnkhUniversal Motown
For her fifth studio album, Erykah Badu decided to trade the processed beats of her previous work for acoustic instrumentation. Layered with harps, strings, drums and piano, “New Amerykah, Part Two” effectively closes the gap between her studio sound and her live performances. After enjoying her performance at Voodoo Fest in 2008, I was disappointed in her then-current album “New Amerykah, Part One.” But this album shows both maturity and an experimentation into soul and R&B — both fans of her previous work and her live shows will enjoy “Part Two.”
B. Bourgeois
B+
GreenbergFocus Features
“Greenberg,” the latest film from quirky director Noah Baumbach, is a brutally upfront comedy about coming of age — middle age. Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is a former musician on the brink of greatness who left the music business to become a carpenter before having a nervous breakdown. In his late 30s and faced with an uncertain future, Greenberg struggles to value much in his life, as his cynicism constantly alienates others and hinders his ability to mature. Stiller plays an unlikable man with remarkable clarity. Despite Greenberg’s offputting personality, you’ll likely still find yourself rooting for him.
C. Abshire
B+
UsherRaymond v. RaymondLaFace Records
“Raymond v. Raymond” is only Usher’s second record since his hit 2004 album, “Confessions,” and it exudes little of the glorious pop sheen that spurred the success of that smash. “Raymond” often features Usher sexily wooing females and sensually praising the female figure as he tries to recapture his status as a player after a recent divorce. But, noticeably absent is the use of the ubiquitous-of-late R&B and hip-hop tool, Auto-Tune. Instead, Usher opts for an organic sound in both his singing and the album’s pulsing beats. The album fails to produce a top-notch single, but “Raymond” still stands as a solid album of modern R&B-tinged pop music.
C. Abshire
C+
Editor’s PickChocolat (2000)Miramax
Now’s the perfect time to reexperience this gem of a film about the comical personal struggles of Lent and the release of Easter in uptight 1959 rural France. Nominated for five Academy Awards and celebrating its 10th anniversary, “Chocolat” features an impeccable Dame Judi Dench, a graceful Juliette Binoche and an Irish Johnny Depp as a different kind of hot pirate. Binoche — a colorful single parent and artisan of ancient Mayan recipes — stirs heat in a tranquil French-Catholic village when she opens a chocolaterie at the start of the Lenten fast. A crusade between the rigid mayor of the tiny town (Alfred Molina) and Binoche’s truffles ensues. The film is perfectly done with French scenery and sumptuous food spreads with an addicting soundtrack that mixes Mayan pipes and French rhythms. Based off a book of the same title, “Chocolat” is about indulgence and coming around — and it may inspire random urges to cook.