Much Ado About Nothing review

Is Much Ado About Nothing the best film of the summer so far? Absolutely. Is it the best film of the year? Too soon to tell, but probably. Turns out, the increasingly amazing Joss Whedon (who directed last summer's The Avengers, as if I have to tell you) can do Shakespeare, too. His new modern-dress (and modern-attitude) production is so unfussy and lucid that it fools you into thinking it's effortless, which it simply could not have been. It's in B&W, BTW, but not that washed-out, hipsterish black and white that we recently saw in Frances Ha.  This is closer to the expressive, "colorful" kind that was used in its heyday. But why am I dwelling on the photography when I could be talking about the wonderful performances, which bring out every bit of hilarity lurking in the Bard's comedy? Most critics are making a major fuss about this movie and, for once, it's much ado about something.

Iron Man 3

Too bad about Iron Man 3. I mean, it certainly seems to be popular. But I found it disappointing, and I've been liking pretty much all the "official" Marvel movies since the first Iron Man. I think the problem is that the "pros" are starting to take over. By "pros," I mean a guy like Shane Black, who directed the new Iron Man. He was a writer on the Lethal Weapon  series, which was also popular and also pretty tedious overall. Pros like Black know how to make super-violent action flicks that appeal to a certain kind of moviegoer, but they lack the light touch (and an understanding of the distinctive appeal of comic books) that guys like Jon Favreau (who directed the first two Iron Mans) or Joss Whedon (The Avengers) has. Has anyone noticed, for example, that IM3 is basically a zombie movie? Yes, Ben Kingsley is great in this film in a totally unexpected way. Yes, there are a few other nice touches. (The post-credits gag isn't bad.) But there's about an hour in there that's a long, dispiriting slog. I hope that Black is the first and last of the pros to get a hold of a modern superhero movie, but somehow I doubt it.