Today was the AP english exam, so three essays later, I’m not exactly feeling the whole coherent writing piece thing. so here’s a random round-up of the movies that I watched in the past week.

1. Iron Man- I’m a sucker for all of these new superhero-redone movies, and so it didn’t surprise me that I ended up in an Iron Man theater. But even those who aren’t as fanatic about the opening Marvel montages as I am should still go. Essentially, it’s still a superhero flick, but so many of the now-cliche details have been reworked that it’s pretty refreshing. There’s rock music instead of the overdone tension-building choral numbers, there’s humor from time to time (and it actually works, unlike Spider-Man 3), and the main character really wants to be a hero, rather than the self-victimizing Spider-Man and Batmans of the world who start off moaning about being burdened with greatness. Verdict: go see it, unless you’re being stingy with your movie money, in which case I say make The Dark Knight your summertime hero movie.

2. Paris Je T’Aime- I love love love this movie. It’s made up of 18 short films by famous directors ranging from Gerard Depardieu to Wes Craven, all of which tell a story about love in the city of lights. Some are in English, some are in French, but none are boring or dull. My favorite segments are one about a middle-age American post-woman speaking in heavily Americanized French, and one about a young woman tripping and finding love on the way to evening prayers at her mosque. But if you’re quirky and into mimes or vampires, there’s also something for you in this movie, which really is, as my French teacher said, “a love letter to Paris.”

3. Dead Man Walking- I missed the middle, and potentially pivotal, segment of this movie when I was out of class for the AP US History exam, but what I saw was powerful. It accompanied my religion class’s current discussion on capital punishment, so maybe it was made a little more intense by the buildup. However, it really does put a human face on one of the country’s cruellest practices that’s still in place, as Sr. Helen Prajeen, played by Susan Sarandon, shows her faith through her devotion to helping convicted felon Matthew Poncelet, played by Sean Penn, work through his last days before being lethally injected by the state of Louisiana. Give it a shot, but at your own risk; you really have to be up to seeing this type of movie to not just break down.

4. 8 Femmes- Another French movie, this time about eight women in a house who all mutually suspect each other after the death of the man of the house. It’s almost reminiscent of the movie Clue, but with a more suspenseful and intricate plot, as well as classic French songs worked into the scenes. Oddly enough, it finds humor as well, but not at the expense of the reality of its characters. This one’s good if you’re craving an old-school murder mystery.