The Founder, Office Christmas Party, La La Land, Land of Mine, Frank & Lola, Collateral Beauty, Neruda, Fences

The Founder

Office Christmas Party

La La Land

Land of Mine

Frank & Lola

Collateral Beauty

Neruda

Fences

Quick capsules from a mediocre to poor December to date:

The Equalizer, Art and Craft

The Equalizer

Art and Craft

Are you as tired as I am of Russian villains? Of the lazy assumption that Russians in movies must be avaricious, amoral, ruthless psychopaths? Then again, just about everything in “The Equalizer” feels reflexive and hoary. It could have been made ten years ago, or longer.

2 Guns

I don't know why "2 Guns."

Flight

You can tell we’re getting to the business end of the movie year. Only one of the last 13 films I’ve reviewed has rated below two stars (the surprise hit “Pitch Perfect”), and very strong films such as Robert Zemeckis’ “Flight” are starting to arrive more steadily. “Flight” is not, as its official site would suggest, a mystery thriller about a partially averted airplane crash. It’s the story of an alcoholic, enacted with restraint and vulnerability by Denzel Washington in an unusually meritorious performance showing both the mental strength and weakness of his character, the veteran commercial pilot Whip Whitaker.

Safe House

There are a few terrific chase sequences in the spy-world thriller "Safe House," especially the first one, a giddy and vertiginous (and totally preposterous) thrill ride through the streets of Johannesburg. There are also a lot of fights: gunfights, knife fights, fistfights. Eh. But what puffs the movie up to two hours are a bunch of long, slow, talky scenes that go nowhere exciting. Ryan Reynolds looks sexy as shit, but lacks the movie-star quality - the heft - of, say, a Matt Damon. Denzel Washington is quietly likable here, but the movie's not as much fun as his recent "Unstoppable." Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard and Vera Farmiga lend solid support as Reynolds' CIA bosses, but the picture plays out predictably and at great length.