Inside Man: Mystery Suspense

Movie Review: Inside Man (2006) on Netflix 👏

In this suspenseful bank-heist movie, Inside Man pits Denzel Washington as a skilled police detective against Clive Owen as a well-planned bank robber and Jodie Foster as a highly motivated negotiator for Christopher Plummer, the man with something to hide. Call it a high-stakes game of chess for everyone. (See the movie trailer below.)

    It seems like an ordinary day at this mid-city bank, when a van load of "painters" arrives. But all hell breaks loose when they exchange paint cans for machine guns and start yelling commands and firing shots. Everything goes into lockdown as bank employees and customers are ordered to strip down to their underwear and put on matching painter outfits, caps, and masks. They become hostages, herded into small groups and sequestered on the floor in separate rooms. Anyone who doesn't follow orders is slapped around, beaten, and threatened within an inch of their lives. 

    Police get a hint there's a problem and arrive. Communications is set up with the robbers, but nothing is quite as it seems. It's up to police to figure out who the robbers are, what they want, and how to shut down the steal. But the robbers aren't playing by the usual rules.

    The founder of the bank steps in to offer police any help, but he's shoved aside. He contacts a high-power broker he's used before to speak with the robbers. There's a certain box in the bank he doesn't want anyone to see, which otherwise could be ruinous to his business. She must see to its security at all costs. A high-dollar payoff to the thieves is considered.

    Things seem to be going just as the thieves planned, but the police detective just can't let it go. Does it matter? The movie title matters. You'll have to watch it to get it—but careful, it's not what you think.

    Inside Man movie trailer via YouTube:

Roman J. Israel, Esq.: Drama, Thriller -- Winner!

Movie Review: Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)
Version: Library borrow

Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defense attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action.

ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ. is a dramatic thriller set in the underbelly of the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system. Denzel Washington stars as Roman Israel, a driven, idealistic defense attorney who, through a tumultuous series of events, finds himself in a crisis that leads to extreme action. Colin Farrell costars as the monied, cutthroat lawyer who recruits Roman to his firm.

Denzel Washington as Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Colin Farrell as George Pierce
Carmen Ejogo as Maya Alston

Roman J. Israel, Esq. is described in IMDB.com as "a dramatic thriller set in the underbelly of the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system." I would describe it as a drama heavy on the injustice of the overburdened criminal court system with much less of the thriller. The thriller comes at the very end -- no spoilers here.

Roman Israel is savant in a small but determined civil rights law office serving the under-served victims of the justice system. His partner is a brilliant attorney who brilliantly represents their clients in court, while Israel does all the research and case preparation back in the office. His partner has all the authority of accomplishment while Israel has all the legal smarts. But Israel's partner has a heart attack and dies, and his family decides to liquidate the firm, turning over everything to friend and legal mentee George Pierce. Pierce brings Israel into his own legal firm out of respect for the partner and in deference to Israel, who has no other prospects for employment.

Israel has personality quirks, making him difficult to work with and difficult on his clients. But what we come to find is that he has a brilliant legal mind. And Pierce, who is at first reluctant to keep Israel on the payroll because of mistakes in his handling of cases, comes to appreciate Israel's strategies and perspectives. Remembering the devotion to justice the partner taught him in law school, Pierce has a change in heart, reorganizing his law firm and re-energizing Israel's mission. But just as Israel and Pierce's relationship begins to warm, other things take a turn for the worse.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. is played by Denzel Washington, who brings heart and soul to the role. Is there anything he can't play with brilliance? Colin Farrell plays Pierce with intensity. He often plays a bad guy and here he starts off as one yet turns it around into a good guy like the flip of a coin. And for Israel there is an awkward but growing love interest, Maya Alston, played with energy yet earnestness by Carmen Ejogo. It's a fine cast that plays with your emotions and tugs at your heart in a story that could easily just be an angry rant about life in "the underbelly of Los Angeles". This film is really an uplifting story about rising above the underbelly.

Don't look at Roman J. Israel, Esq. as being about urban life; look at it as being about doing your utmost with what you have, about making the most of your talents despite the obstacles built up around you. The tragedy isn't where you live or how you live, but not allowing where and how you live to keep you down. Roman J. Israel, Esp. -- he kept emphasizing the "Esquire" throughout the movie -- rose above it all. We can all relate to that message. See it!

Fences: A Tour de Force on Film

Movie Review: Fences (2016)
Version: Library Borrow

Based on his play of the same name, August Wilson creates a tour de force on film in Fences. Director Denzel Washington packs it with star power with himself in the lead role as Troy Maxson, Viola Davis as his wife Rose, Jovan Adepo as his son Cory, and Stephen Henderson as his best friend and neighbor Bono. A cast of fine supporting actors fills in around the central characters to make a memorable film. It was more than deserving of its Oscar nominations.

Fences is the story about Troy Maxson, a 1950's hard-nosed husband and father who takes nothing from anyone and expects only what he is due. After serving time in jail early in life for stealing, and then being cheated out of the opportunity as a Black man to make it as a professional baseball player, Troy settles into life as a garbage collector. He's learned his lessons in life, and what he has learned is to work hard, take what is rightly yours and give what is your duty to give, and then no more as he is faced with raising a family to avoid the same mistakes he has made. Troy has an edge harder than cast iron and a heart that seems to bleed little. At his side is Rose, a woman who gave up her dreams long ago to stand at her man's side out of love and devotion, even in times of heartbreak. And then there's Bono, who he met in jail and who now works at his side on the garbage truck, who serves as his conscience when Troy seems to stray from his path.

Derived from a play, Fences is heavy on dialog, but it's well delivered by Washington delivered at a fast clip as naturally as if it were coming straight from his heart. Henderson follows along just as naturally, as if he has known Washington all his life. Davis is always a strong performer and she pours her heart and soul into this performance with passionate dialog delivered with pain or with anger or with tears. Adepo doesn't get as much dialog, but his portrayal of the bullied son who finally won't take it any more is an excellent performance that builds over time into the climax of the drama. I am taken aback by the speed and force of the performances; so much dialog so well delivered.

There isn't much to the setting. Most of the film takes place in the Maxson's home or back yard. There are occasional shots elsewhere -- the garbage truck picking up trash on city streets, the neighborhood street out front of the house, the interior of city hall, a hospital interior, a tight shot inside a church -- but most of the story takes place in the back yard. It's a brutal place, where the fences are built and maintained: the physical fence Troy is building between houses, the psychological fences Troy is building between family. There is a baseball suspended from a tree and a bat that Troy and Cory swat as they take aim at each other. 

Sometimes the most complex stories are the most intriguing, forcing you to figure out all the pieces. Fences is one of those films. The many meanings behind the title. The many angles to the characters. The many convoluted relationships. The actual meaning or message of the film. It turns out Troy was far more complex than you first realized, and his relationships weren't simple, either.  

Fences is among the final Oscar-nominated films to make their way to us from the library. It was an amazing performance by a corps of great actors, and I'm glad I finally got to see it, a fine story well told.