'Inside Man' Review

Inside Man is by far the most accessible work in Spike Lee's storied catalogue. I've always appreciated Lee's volume of work: Malcolm X- pure determination to get the story of a greatly misunderstood Civil Rights figure; Do the Right Thing- Poetic and challenging at the same time; Bamboozled- biting satire of the state of TV and entertainment in general; and the list goes on. This movie is the welcomed return of the Denzel/Spike team that is always important and awe inspiring. Denzel Washington plays a Detective involved in a investigation of a crime busts missing funds. Washington does his usual excellent portrayal of someone we've all met at some point in our lives but never thought of them as someone that was all that special. As soon as they give you the back story you instantly feel like he's one of the good guys who's just trying to do his job. Playing his young, yet insightful partner is another great actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor,who I feel in all honesty could become the next Don Cheadle or hopefully Denzel; a actor that inherently elevates any movie he's in to another level. The movie is actually very funny at parts. I think of it as my generations Dog Day Afternoon, but with more thought towards appealing to a wide audience. In saying that Spike doesn't curtail his integrity and feelings to 'dumb down' the movie. My favorite 'Spike Lee' moments come at seemingly random times and don't seem to hold meaning until you think about them after the movie. Jodi Fosters' amoral character being named 'Ms. White' is great, we all know where Lee was going with that. His feelings on the current feelings on black and youth culture as a whole show itself in a simple scene where Clive Owen is talking to a young hostage who's playing a exceedingly violent video game with the basis of 'street cred' or points comes from killing and selling drugs. He even has the young child mention 50 Cent's favorite mantra, 'Get rich or die trying.' As a whole this movie is very good. I actually am a big fan of this movie, as of now it looks like this might be my favorite movie of the year. Hopefully the rest of the movies I really want to see this year don't get overshadowed by a movie that's come out very close to the beginning of 2006, but I wouldn't be totally devastated if they do.

Be Careful What you Wish For

As a born and raised North Carolinian I've always had the usual instilled pride for my state. But lately people in NC have been going crazy. We just finally got a lottery, but then there are the rape allegations against the Duke Lacrosse team. I always remembered watching the national news outlets and wondering, 'where is North Carolina in all of this?' I guess it's right, be careful what you wish for. I live in Raleigh, the smallest major city I've had the pleasure of going to. It's been growing like crazy...we just got our first Saks a year ago. Durham is a neighboring city somewhat within Raleigh, and they've always been known as the crazy side of town. If you ask what most people think of Durham in NC your likely to get the answer "them dudes is crazy down there." It is though home to three schools that range from well known to less well known; UNC(Chapel Hill) Duke(Durham) and North Carolina Central University. While I'm proud of the things these establishments have accomplished in sports, studies, etc. the lastest things(the crazy drive thru of a group of UNC students and now the crazy situation of the alleged rape by the Duke Lacrosse team on a Central student) just makes it crazy. Well at least Little Brother is from NC, that's one of the positive things we've got going for us.