THE BONE COLLECTOR Phillip Noyce 1999
Two cops bring each other out of their shells while solving the crimes of a serial killer with revenge as his motive.
The crimes in this thriller spring from a grisly concept and feature some near-gory details. But Denzel Washington, despite the genre, achieves once more a total, and unique, characterization. And Angelina Jolie is excellent in a firm characterization of her own.
From a novel by Jeffery Deaver.
THE HURRICANE Norman Jewison 1999
This is a heartbreaking account of the false imprisonment of boxer Rubin Carter. Denzel Washington is superb as his acted-out anger becomes lifelong suppressed rage. Unfortunately his three legal advisors (which include the great Liev Schreiber) are not sufficiently characterized, in the writing, to be of that much interest.*
*Rick’s Flicks is indebted to Leonard Maltin for this observation.
A LOSS TO THE FILM WORLD
The many obituaries for Norman Jewison, director of The Hurricane who died January 20, all failed to mention among his credits that he directed some of the weekly programs of The Judy Garland Show.
INSIDE MAN Spike Lee 2006
This is a story of an offbeat bank heist led by Clive Owen with Denzel Washington assigned to talk him out of his hostages. The film is too long and so is each sequence in it, but the robbery is ingeniously planned and has a motive with historical/social implications. Washington once again creates a full characterization and, along the way, spouts some of the dirtiest dialogue Rick’s Flicks can recall hearing in a movie — clever, but dirty.
Jodie Foster develops a powerful character in a small but memorable role.
NEXT Friday POST March 8
Until then,
Enjoy a movie,
Rick
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