Iron Man 2

Release-time reviews of this film made it seem like a major stumble by the same team of producers and actors who produced the original. In my eyes, the movie came across much better than expected. The events depicted seemed like logical extensions (in the fantasy sense) of the first flick's story, without any glaring false notes. It may suffer from a lack of freshness, a given considering the film is a sequel, but it's certainly not the worst "2" ever made. Hell, it's probably not the worst sequel made last year. As simple, big entertainment, the movie hits its marks, and that makes it worth a look.

The Expendables

Sure it's stupid. Borderline retarded in many places. Long stretches of the film sound as though someone spent many hours taping random conversations in bars at 1:30 in the morning, then transcribed the recordings into a script. And there are plenty of "what the hell is going on?" moments throughout. So why no outright HISS? Because it delivers what it promises--plenty of satisfying "blow shit up" moments, and there are just a few touches of decent direction here and there. Stallone does know how to make a movie; he just doesn't always put that knowledge to good use. In this case, as long as you don't pay for it, he probably did just enough.

Diner

Competently done as a nostalgia piece, but strangely unengaging as a story in its own right. Almost dull, if you can believe that. They got the details right, and the cast is full of recognizable faces (in their younger forms), but there's very little about the story that really leaps off the screen. Given the focus on youth--of another day, no less--there should be far more exuberance in the screenplay. But it's just not there.

Barfly

A "colorful" bit of cinema, to say the least. Loving portraits of life among the down, out, and drunk are few and far between, so I guess it gets points for that. If Bukowski is your idea of a good time, you just might enjoy yourself with this one (and I must admit it has its moments of weird appeal). Others might be less enchanted. Oh, yeah, and Mickey Rourke in the role of a drunken loser? Fit like a glove--but you already knew that.

Man on Fire

There's great temptation to chalk this up as a waste of some fine actors. Certainly, the movie suffers from an all-too-familiar ailment: a director who's way too in love with himself to pull back from the visual shenanigans. Then again, there is a lot of visceral pleasure in watching Denzel's washed up badass violently go to town on the meanies. If you're in an angry mood, you might find this appealing.