Anyone with a heartbeat knows that when given a particular set of skills and a menacing attitude Denzel Washington knows how to administer street justice. Under the constructive guidance of director Antoine Fuqua (“Olympus Has Fallen,” “Shooter”), he’s given the opportunity to do it again in the pair’s latest project, The Equalizer. As Robert McCall,…
It’s no secret that the phenomenon commonly referred to as “young adult” has taken over the movies, and it’s also no secret that the girls are kicking butt and taking names in the genre’s linchpin franchises like “Divergent” and “The Hunger Games.” Well, ladies, the boys are back front and center in The Maze Runner,…
Entering the theater to see A Walk Among the Tombstones, one might stumble and feel trapped in another cliché-ridden “Taken” in which Bryan Mills sternly promises, “I will find you, and I will kill you.” It’s an honest initial thought to have, however, once the film starts rolling, the stylish cinematography on the bleak streets…
In The Drop, Tom Hardy offers a subdued performance as a bartender in a two-bit dive that gets held up by crooks who apparently don’t realize that they’re stealing mob money. The subsequent investigation slowly stirs up old neighborhood stories and tragic secrets. Hardy’s Bob Saginowski is an area lifer; he and his cousin Marv…
Whatever happened to Atom Egoyan? Or, more specifically, his artistic credibility? The Canadian filmmaking icon who once strung together a stunning run of acclaimed, focused works in the 90s, including “Exotica,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” and “Felicia’s Journey” has been slumming it of late. Swapping his trademark air of chilly mystery for easily digestible predictability and…
You can say this about Life After Beth, the indie zombie romantic comedy (zom-rom-com?) by first time director, Jeff Baena: Aubrey Plaza (2012’s “Safety Not Guaranteed”) makes for a great zombie. With her deadpan delivery and soulless eyes, she doesn’t have to do much to look and act like the dead reawakened. Don’t get me…
The Last of Robin Hood, which focuses on the twilight of Errol Flynn’s life and career, is an uneven mix of brilliant performances and an inert, aimless story. It’s a shame, really, because Flynn’s final days were the stuff of tabloid legend. Here, the trio of main characters are examined only superficially, with scant attention…
