" I must be insane.

I actually laughed at the trailer for an Adam Sandler movie, "You Don't Mess With the Zohan," a movie I was ready to dismiss based on its ridiculous title. Sandler's character actually looked like a refreshing change from his cutesy schlub specialty. His Israeli accent was even decent.

I must be insane.

-David "

" "Iron Man" made about $100 million this weekend to take second place honors among non-sequel openings on the all-time list. Somewhere, Niko Bellic sulks.

This blows away my prediction that the Marvel property would make $70 on its opening weekend. You could probably attribute some of my margin of error to the abundance of critical praise for the movie and some to the fact that gamers DO like to get out once in a while - even at the expense of a few hours of "Grand Theft Auto IV."

But the other big reason my guess fell short was probably because movie-goers, like everyone else, just want to feel like summer is here.

-David "

" "Iron Man" made about $100 million this weekend to take second place honors among non-sequel openings on the all-time list. Somewhere, Niko Bellic sulks.

This blows away my prediction that the Marvel property would make $70 on its opening weekend. You could probably attribute some of my margin of error to the abundance of critical praise for the movie and some to the fact that gamers DO like to get out once in a while - even at the expense of a few hours of "Grand Theft Auto IV."

But the other big reason my guess fell short was probably because movie-goers, like everyone else, just want to feel like summer is here.

-David "

" So I'm a day late. But only because I wanted to write this entry about "Iron Man," which I wasn't able to catch until this afternoon.

And it was excellent. As superhero movies go, it charts high, alongside "Batman Begins" and "Spider-Man 2." The action obviously delivers. But everything else is quite enjoyable, from the acting to the story's relevance to the abundant humor.

Robert Downey Jr.'s motormouth charisma makes him a perfect Tony Stark. He plays the billionaire tech genius a lot like he played Harry in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" with a wisecracking guise hiding a steely resolve. That it wasn't a particularly outstanding performance for Downey Jr. - yet a brilliant one for a comic book movie - speaks highly of his talents.

-David "

" "Lars and the Real Girl" was much more dramatic than Ryan Gosling's goofy smile suggested on its promotional art. As I watched the movie I kept scoffing at the idea that a small community would not only enable, but encourage a man's delusion that his plastic doll of a girlfriend is, in fact, real.

And yet, this fantasy dynamic doesn't detract from the otherwise dramatic story. This accomplishment is only outdone by the fact that director Craig Gillespie ably steers his film from degenerating into a string of cheap sight gags. Instead, it's a heartwarming, even divisive story about the conflict between love and normality.

When does an unbelievable story work for you? When does it not?

-David "

" One more week until the summer season hits. I predict "Iron Man" will make about 70 to 75 million on its first weekend, but the effect of "Grand Theft Auto IV's" release on the weekend theater traffic is not to be underestimated.

In fact, better make that prediction 60 million.

-David

p.s. I promise updates every other day. Hold me to that! "

" This weekend I at last tracked down the last of my major awards season leftovers, "Sweeney Todd."

As a big fan of the recent Broadway revival, I had high hopes when I heard Tim Burton would be directing the movie. Its darkly comic sensibilities could find no better film author than Burton, so there would have been few excuses for a poor adaptation.

And to my delight, it's quite rich. While the film's music is forgettable and pales to that of the stage play, Johnny Depp broods with a possessed bloodlust as the titled Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Helena Bonham Carter is beautifully warped as cannibal cook Mrs. Lovett. With those two, Burton conjures a hellish landscape of 19th century London lightened by the Dickensian hallmarks of its streetfolk. There, the film's tale - Todd seeks revenge on the covetous judge who wrongfully imprisoned him - careens toward its climax with as much reckless tragedy as the show, though Burton's work ends on an even more grim note than I remember on Broadway.

I also purchased the two-disc edition of "There Will Be Blood" last week. For $10 more than the standard edition, its bonus material absolutely failed to justify the money spent.

Maybe half an hour of slideshows, a few deleted scenes and dailies join a half-hour documentary about oil drilling in the 1920s on the bonus disc. But there is no insight into Paul Thomas Anderson's filmmaking process. In fact, it almost seems the director deliberately tries not to expose that process in order to preserve the dark mystique of his work. That motive would be more respectable if he didn't also profit from misleading people into believing that, with this release, he would pull back the curtain on what I feel is the finest movie of the last decade.

-David "

" Charlton Heston passed away this weekend, and to most people my age, that means the world is at last rid of the crotchety old man who dodged Michael Moore's questions in "Bowling for Columbine."

OK, perhaps it's crotchety of me to suggest that. But it is tough to dispute that Heston has become more distinguished in recent years for his politics than his portrayals of Moses and Judah Ben-Hur.

So to memorialize the Oscar-winning actor, I'd like to look back on his role in one of my favorite films, "Touch of Evil." Here again, Heston's outstanding work is overshadowed by a dubious detail - in this case, the very white Heston's casting as a Hispanic. Still, he balances the bloated excess of Orson Welles' crooked detective - and his wildy stylish film noir aesthetic - with a dogged calm. This mood anchors the film and allows the audience to jump on board for a bizarre ride through a Mexican border town.

It wasn't politics, but memories like this that prevailed when I heard that the world lost Charlton Heston.

-David "