Chi-Raq. This one made me wonder if other movies are even trying to be interesting. Some parts I didn’t love, some I actively kinda disliked, but man there’s so much good stuff. So many different moods and shifts. It’s a little bit of a mess but I’d much rather feel that investment, alternately cackling with pleasure and rolling my eyes, than settle for a placid, sated indifference for two hours.
Inside Man. I like that you can hear the basic summary (detective vs. bank robber/hostage-taker)… but what you see is a little bit smarter and not as interested in basic genre trappings. On the other hand, it wanders when you might want a little more spark and plausibility. Ebert says it well: “It’s not that the movie is hiding something, but that when it’s revealed, it’s been left sitting too long at room temperature.”
The Original Kings of Comedy. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes awful. I gotta find some more Bernie Mac.
Mark Larson 