Jada Pinkett Smith

[7] Four struggling women successfully rob a bank, but push their luck with additional robberies while the L.A. police is on their tail. Director F. Gary Gray (Friday, Straight Outta Compton) doesn’t glorify the crime in Set It Off. Instead, he and screenwriters Takashi Bufford and Kate Lanier show us what leads these women to such desperate measures. The script gives actors Jada Pinkett, Vivica …

[7] Eddie Murphy plays an overweight professor who invents a potion that sheds the pounds in a dramatic fashion. Problem is, the transformation also comes with a personality change of Jekyll and Hyde proportions. Murphy thinks he needs the potion to court a young teacher played by the beautiful Jada Pinkett, not realizing that the new alter ego plans to vanquish the professor’s fatter, friendlier …

[8] Steven Soderbergh turns the directing reigns over to Gregory Jacobs for this sequel to Magic Mike, but stays involved as director of photography and editor (under pseudonyms). The sequel turns out to be superior because its infinitely more fun and far less didactic and moralizing than its predecessor. The plot is more scant than the men’s on-stage wardrobes, but for a movie like this, …

[7] Jamie Foxx stars as an L.A. cab driver forced to chauffeur a hitman played by Tom Cruise. Director Michael Mann (Heat, Last of the Mohicans) works from a solid script by Stuart Beattie that balances action and suspense with plenty of great character moments. The film builds nicely, with Foxx’s character instigating a few surprising turns of events. Cruise’s character is the icy, heartless …