PICKS & PANS

This week's reviews: 'Sopranos,' Keith Sweat's 'Rebirth,' more

(PEOPLE) -- This week, PEOPLE.COM looks at the German film "Das Experiment," Keith Sweat's album "Rebirth" and HBO's "Sopranos."

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Movie review: 'Das Experiment'

Moritz Bleibtreu proves a live wire when confined to prison in "Das Experiment."

In this provocative and disturbing German drama (with subtitles), a taxi driver answers a newspaper ad seeking paid volunteers to be confined in a mock prison. A journalist before he switched to steering cabs, Tarek (Moritz Bleibtreu) thinks the experiment, sponsored by a prestigious medical institute, might make for a good undercover story. His instinct is right, but the research project goes terrifyingly wrong.

The idea of the experiment is to track, under closely supervised conditions, how the 20 male volunteers behave when assigned to play either prisoners or guards. Badly, it turns out. The guards become sadistic bullies and the prisoners, including Tarek, are soon cowering. "Das Experiment" takes on added resonance because of its provenance, an idea made explicit when a prisoner calls the nastiest of the guards a "Nazi."

First-time feature director Oliver Hirschbiegel, who after this is a good bet to get a call from Hollywood, deftly establishes his characters and sets them against each other. His movie grabs you early and doesn't let go.

Bottom line: A success

Music review: 'Rebirth'

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Keith Sweat (Elektra)

The problem with Keith Sweat these days is that he doesn't seem to be working up much perspiration. Having displayed surprising staying power as an R&B Romeo since his breakthrough 1987 debut, "Make It Last Forever," he now sounds as if he is going through the love-man motions on his eighth album.

Sweat even seems to be running out of ideas for his trademark slow jams, which make up roughly half this disc. Take "One on One,"the first single featuring Lola Troy and Lade Bac. The song is a pretty lazy rewrite of the Isley Brothers' 1983 hit "Choosey Lover," updated with raunchier lyrics. It comes off as a slick attempt to put one over on the younger generation, who probably don't remember the Isley Brothers tune.

Sweat isn't ashamed to rip off more recent material either. "Trust Me," a ballad about the doubts outsiders try to place in a relationship, sounds an awful lot like Ginuwine's 2001 hit "Differences." At least it's better than the clichéd, hip-hoppish mid-tempo cuts that find Sweat, now 46, refusing to act his age.

Bottom line: Rehashed

TV review: 'The Sopranos'

HBO (Sundays, 9 p.m. ET)

After a 16-month hiatus for HBO's acclaimed crime-family drama, September 15 brings a sight for sore eyes: New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), paunch protruding proudly from his bathrobe, once again padding down his luxuriously long driveway to pick up the morning paper.

Just to break the monotony of critical approbation, I'd like to say "The Sopranos" has lost a step -- but I can't. The early fourth-season episodes point to continued creative excellence. You'll be amused when Tony rants in the season opener about "zero growth" in his supposedly "recession-proof" business, and you'll be riveted in the second episode when his daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) calls him a "Mob boss" and he advances on her with barely controlled rage.

Michael Imperioli, who plays Tony's restless nephew Christopher to near perfection, wrote the clever third episode, in which the Mafia crew fumes over a Native American group's disrespect for Columbus Day tradition.

Creator David Chase may be accused of an over-reliance on psychotherapy. Not only does Tony keep confiding in Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), but Meadow and Tony's sister Janice (Aida Turturro) also have shrinks this season. Nonetheless, "The Sopranos" remains a unique combination of brains, wit and raw power.

Bottom line: Still tops