Columbia Pictures

Denzel Washington has emerged from an early career of incredibly diverse roles to become a staple in the action genre. The ten-or-so-year transition has cumulatively re-defined the term “one man army” as a more conceivable, complex, deeply human character in films like “Man On Fire”, “Book of Eli” and “Safe House” (though those movies as a whole range […]

I remember it like it was yesterday: large yellow letters spelling “The Equalizer” over a picture of a man standing by his car in silhouette, its headlamps blazing through the misty night, with light slowly spilling onto actor Edward Woodward’s face. As an 11-year-old, I didn’t have many television shows I could really call “my […]

In between long stretches of incomprehensible stupidity and lazy writing, we actually get some laugh-out-loud moments in “Sex Tape”, a relatively sexless but otherwise self-explanatory comedy that is no better or worse than director Jake Kasdan’s last movie, the similarly unambiguous “Bad Teacher”. It’s a shame, because most films like this — Apatow-era adult comedies that […]

1987’s RoboCop was a watershed movie of its time. Boasting hyperviolent action, scathing sociopolitical commentary, and some brilliant performances, it ushered in a new era of cinema and practically dared any other film to follow in its footsteps. Smart, hilarious, brutal, and rather touching in places, RoboCop followed the story of Alex Murphy, a beloved […]

The notorious FBI Abscam operation provides the premise for the stylized, hyperkinetic period piece “American Hustle”. The characters, however, undoubtedly belong to director David O. Russell, who co-wrote with Eric Singer (“The International”) this heavily-fictionalized, often comical account of the sting that took place during the late ’70s – early ’80s. Russell’s star-studded magnum opus, based […]

It’s hard to describe how terribly unfunny 2010’s “Grown Ups” was, and even more of a challenge to capture the ineptitude of this week’s “Grown Ups 2” with words, other than to say I might need to increase my rating for “Hangover Part III” by a half star just to make space for this one […]