You-review-it Monday: ‘Pure Prine,’ ‘Iron Man’ and more

Okay, so maybe I'm the only person who will ever see a double feature of the documentary "Babies" and the action sequel "Iron Man 2," but that's sort of how Thursday went when I attended the former for an IBJ Night at the Movies pre-opening screening at Keystone Art Cinema followed by a midnight screening of "Iron Man 2" at Regal Galaxy.

We gave away tickets to both here on the blog and through the IBJ's free Thursday A&E e-mail blast. Watch for more thoughts on both on an upcoming blog.

I also will be writing about "Pure Prine," the outstanding new show at the Phoenix Theatre that's running for just one more weekend. I expected something akin to the "Hoosier Dylan"-style tributes that have been staged recently. This show is very different and equally satisfying, with a strong cast of actor/musicians including Tim Grimm, Michael Shelton, and Bobbie Lancaster. Plus, wall-to-tavern-wall great John Prine songs. First class work all around.

I also caught Indianapolis Monthly Senior Editor Amy Wimmer Schwarb's short play "Dash Thirty Dash," presented as part of Diva Fest at the Indy Fringe Building. All three performances of that play were sold out, which is a good sign for future installments of Diva Fest, which is designed to help counter the fact that nationally only 17% of produced plays are by women playwrights. A quick check also revealed that only five plays by women have been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in the last decade. Clearly, the field isn't quite level yet. And perhaps the reasons should be discussed in an upcoming blog…

One of the few steadily produced women playwrights in America is Rebecca Gilman and, inspired by Diva Fest, I took a look at the film adaptation (now in rotation on cable) of her most popular play, "Spinning Into Butter," starring Sarah Jessica Parker as a college dean caught up in racial politics. Unfortunately, it should have been left on the stage.

Your thoughts? What did you see, hear or do this weekend?