Denzel Washington as Robert McCall in The Equalizer. PHOTO COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES There’s no escaping the “been-there-done-that” feel that hangs over the new Denzel Washington actioner The Equalizer. Based ever so loosely on the Edward Woodward television series from the 80s, you can’t help but draw connections between this, Washington’s own Man on Fire and […]
action films
Posted inArts & Culture
Manic Spider-Man 2 nothing but a blur
One gets the impression that director Marc Webb knew he was going to have a hard time squeezing in everything that was in the script for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. After all, there must be some reason why the film starts with an action sequence, progresses directly to another and proceeds to pile one breathless […]
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Costner saves 3 Days to Kill
Kevin Costner in 3 Days to Kill. McG’s 3 Days to Kill is the sort of film that’s hard to defend. Yet, I couldn’t help but be entertained by its odd pastiche of elements and dark sense of humor, both of which helped add a sly twist on what otherwise would have been a pedestrian […]
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Noble, moving tribute
Taylor Kitsch, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster and Emile Hirsch in Lone Survivor. PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSAL PICTURES Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor contains the most revelatory opening credits sequences I’ve seen in a long time. Composed of various documentary film clips, it quickly compresses the basic training regime that potential Navy Seals undergo. Grueling and beyond reason, […]
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No Clark makes for cold Steel
One of the crucial aspects of superheroes is the notion of the secret identity, the physical and psychic split in the character that delineates the real person from the heroic persona. Whenever this narrative conceit is examined the conversation always turns to Superman and Batman. They were the first two of the modern superheroes, arguably […]
