Date Night

Funny. I laughed. Steve Carell and Tiny Fey are comedy pros, and their timing is impeccable. In less expert hands, the whole ridiculous yarn would feel worn out and hacky. But the leads elevate the material and make a stilted script exciting, enjoyable and fun.

Survival of the Dead

A low-stakes zombie scenario by the genre’s grandfather George Romero. The acting by the primarily Irish cast is proficient but the script is weak. Not because anything’s unclear or stupid, but just because the stakes feel really low. It seems like it could be a small chapter in a much larger movie. Nevertheless, it functions well, as all good zombie parables do, as a metaphor for how human beings treat each other.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

A wild documentary about a filmmaker following street artists who decides, “I could do that.” A fast-paced and pretty straightforward doc, but calls into question so many things about the definition of art and its purpose. Fascinating and worth seeing, even though I often wondered, as I was watching, how much of it was a hoax, or contrived for the benefit of the camera, and whether there was anything inauthentic about that. To elaborate on whether or not something is a hoax or not is sort of missing the point. Whether the story or characters are true or not, it is authentically entertaining and thought-provoking.

Robin Hood

Forgetting all of the crazy shit this movie went through in development, I thought this was pretty good. It’s not one of Ridley Scott’s better movies by any stretch, but it’s still better than many ordinary movies. That’s basically because any movie where guys kill other guys with sticks automatically gets a c+ right out of the gate. And if the guys getting killed are French, that’s another boost. So I thought it was a fine piece of “guys killing French dudes with sticks” entertainment, which is all I really expected.

Iron Man 2

Thoroughly enjoyed this sequel, though I had no heavy-duty expectations. The theme of weapons stockpiling and war profiteering is a worthy one, and provides the slimmest of foundations for filmmakers to build a spectacular comic book adventure. Action scenes are exciting, but sparse. The movie seems more intent spending time with Tony Stark descending into illness, self-doubt, and alcohol abuse, which is fine with me. Downey delivers on all levels: the silly and the pseudo-serious. Special kudos to Mickey Rourke, who totally gets his cold-war relic villain. Dead serious, so he doesn’t steal any thunder from Sam Rockwell or Downey, but still deliciously monosyllabic and coldly vindictive. All in all, a fun night at the movies.