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On Demand picks

February 4, 2011

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BANDSLAM (Showtime on Comcast) Costarring Vanessa Hudgens, but — surprise — it’s closer to “School of Rock’’ than “High School Musical XVIII.’’ By handing this new tweener pop drama to Todd Graff, the smart writer-director of “Camp,’’ the filmmakers have come up with a let’s-put-on-a-show movie that’s unoriginal but extremely charming. (PG; runs through Feb. 22) TY BURR

HARDBALL (Showtime on Comcast) Keanu Reeves, as a Chicago ne’er-do-well pushed into coaching an inner-city kids’ baseball team, finds they have a lot more to teach him about love and trust and teamwork than he has to teach them. The result is warm, and laced with appealing performances, especially from the young team players -- but for a film based on a real story, it’s awfully unoriginal, predictable, synthetic, and blatantly manipulative. (PG-13; runs through Feb. 22)

THE MASK (Comcast Movies: Free Movies) Jim Carrey again, as a nerd turned tiger when he slaps a mysterious old mask on his face and is transformed into a green-skinned live wire. He’s got the moves, he’s got the adrenaline, and he’s also got a surprising sweetness as the luckless milquetoast. Snazzy visuals add to the zippy fun of a shrewdly fashioned showcase. (PG-13; runs through March 3)

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