In Theaters: ‘Kick-Ass,’ ‘Death at a Funeral,’ ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’

Two new films opening wide this week, both with R ratings, but aimed at wildly different audiences. With a modest budget of 28 million, “Kick-Ass” should find the road to profitability to be relatively free and easy and hopefully pave the way for similar films with indie ideals aimed at the blockbuster crowd. The R-rating could keep some of the target audience away, but if the word-of-mouth is strong enough, kids will find a way to see it. The broad comedy “Death at a Funeral” should post strong numbers as well, most likely coming a close second when all the numbers are tallied. There’s also plenty to see in limited release, with several very interesting films opening small this week. After the dry spell of the past few weeks, it’s a good time to be a movie lover once again.

In Wide Release: The buzz has been building steadily for “Kick-Ass” for about a year now. Director Matthew Vaughn (“Layer Cake, “Stardust”) began development on the film, an adaptation of the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., before the first issue was even published. It is the story of Dave Lizewski, an average teenage who decides to try his hand at being a superhero, despite having no superpowers whatsoever. He manages to assemble a crew of like-minded teens (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz) as well as the assistance of a former cop, Big Daddy, played by Nic Cage, adding a little star power to the feature. We reviewed the film after catching it at the SXSW film festival and despite our initial skepticism had quite a lot of fun with the film, particularly impressed by Vaughn’s blooming strengths as a director. Critics are mostly positive towards the R-rated feature with a 76% rating from Rotten Tomatoes and a 68 score from Metacritic.

Director/Provocateur Neil LaBute assembles a all-star cast to remake the 2007 British black comedy “Death at a Funeral.” Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence play brothers who, shortly after his death, find out their father was leading a double life as a gay man. The premise is really just an excuse to get the extended family gather for his funeral, hijinks ensue with aplomb. Also among the cast: Tracy Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Danny Glover, Peter Dinklage, and, taking a break from his ubiquous AT&T commercials, Luke Wilson. RT tracks the film at a middling 43% with a 48 score from Metacritic.

In Limited Release:

Notorious graffiti artist Banksy makes a bold cinematic debut with “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” The documentary, which had its world premiere at Sundance, is a puzzle box of sorts made all the more intriguing by the artist’s famed allegiance to anonymity. We posted a review of the film yesterday, finding it consistently entertaining and hilarious, as well as truly intriguing with the questions it raises about the nature of art in the 21st century. Rotten Tomatoes shows critics are very much interested in Banksy, with a 97% rating from Rotten Tomatoes and an 88 score from Metacritic.

This year’s Best Foreign Film Winner “The Secret In Their Eyes” finally gets a stateside release today. The thriller follows a state prosecutor still haunted by a 25 year old murder case whose judicial nightmares find him entangled with the judge he has been secretly in love with for years. We found the film to be gripping and touching, certainly worthy of the Oscar, even with stiff competition coming from “The White Ribbon” and “A Prophet.” The Argentinian feature is the fifth film from writer/director Juan Jose Campanella and currently has a 82% rating from RT, with a 76 score from Metacritic.

Set against the backdrop of the diverse underground music scene in Tehran, director Bahman Ghobadi’s “No One Knows About Persian Cats” is released today. Winner of the Special Jury Prize and Un Certain Regard at the 2009 Cannes film festival, the feature tells the story of a duo of rock musicians recently released from prison, trying to find like minded musicians and a way out of Iran to play a gig they have set up in London. We saw the film at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema last year, finding the film to be both a living tribute to the rich musical culture of Iran and a scathing critique of the country’s corrupt bureaucracy. Disagreeing to an unusually large degree, RT tracks the film with a 96% rating, while Metacritic’s score is 68.

Despite boasting the star power of David Duchovny and Demi Moore, “The Joneses” only manages to hit around 200 theaters this weekend. The actors play the titular family, along with Amber Heard and Ben Hollingsworth as their kids, who move into a perfect new house in a perfect suburb, blowing the neighbors away with their overall excellence. The catch is, they’re actually unrelated good-looking people pretending to be a family in order to spread the virtue of certain brand name products and generally inspire vapid consumerism in their new community. We posted a review earlier today, finding this latest entry into the suburban-rot genre to be devoid of any real surprises. RT: 52%, Metacritic 55.

Also in limited release this week: Director James Ivory’s latest immaculately designed drama “The City of Your Final Destination.” The film has a great cast with Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney, and Charlotte Gainsbourg among the luminaries for the tale of a doctoral student who wins a grant to write a biography of a Latin-American author, only to find his estate very difficult to penetrate. We’re curious about this one given the cast, but haven’t had a chance to catch it yet. RT: 50%, Metacritic: 57. Bob Bowden’s documentary about the failings of America’s public school system “The Cartel.” Using New Jersey schools as his prime fuel for his rant, Bowden follows the money trail through bureaucrats to unions to principals, teachers and finally to the students who struggle to sink or swim in underfunded public schools. RT: 78%, Metacritic: 60. Finally, Shakespeare meets “Twilight” in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead.” Centering around an bizarre off-broadway adaptation of Hamlet written by a vampire, the film features a score by Sean Lennon and the Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio in a crucial role. No scores yet at RT or Metacritic.