Denzel Washington (Flight, He Got Game) and Ethan Hawke (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Boyhood) began their careers in 1985. Washington has a more storied career with four Oscar nominations between 1987 and 1999 (Cry Freedom, Glory, Malcolm X, The Hurricane). The underrated Hawke had starred in movies such as Reality Bites, Before Sunrise, Gattaca, and Hamlet before the turn of the century. But it took Antoine Fuqua’s (Southpaw, Tears of the Sun) gritty, determined, and so far over-the-top Training Day for these two Hollywood heavyweights to meet on the big screen for the first time. The result is the crowning acting achievement of each actor’s career.
Category Archives: Suspense
John Q (2002)
What was Denzel Washington thinking? Fresh off roles in 1998’s The Hurricane (Academy Award Winner – Lead Actor), the nationally recognized 2000s Remember the Titans, and 2002’s Training Day (Academy Award Winner – Lead Actor), Denzel was arguably at the peak of his acting career. He likely commanded (or was close to it) more guaranteed money per film than any other actor in America. He was probably receiving dozens of roles at a time. And yet he chose to accept the lead role in unproven Nick Cassavetes’s (Alpha Dog, She’s So Lovely) John Q.
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
James Mangold’s Ford v Ferrari (Logan, Walk the Line) is the perfect movie to see in the theatre. It has action. It has drama. It has a clear protagonist. It makes you want to stand up and cheer for the good guys. This racing movie is much better viewed on the big screen than on a small screen at home. Likewise, a movie theater’s surround system beats any home setup. That said, this movie has gotten much better acclaim (91% critics, 98% audience on Rotten Tomatoes) than it probably deserves. I haven’t seen many racecar movies, but this one falls short compared to Rush. Still, it is a good, highly entertaining movie.
Children of Men (2007)
A decade before Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Roma) was winning Oscars for Best Director, he directed the critically acclaimed and now cult classic Children of Men, a post-apocalyptic thriller set in 2027 Britain. In this dystopian world, it has been 18 years since the last human was born. Humans have become incapable of reproducing for reasons unknown, resulting in a global fear that the extinction of our species is imminent. England is now the one remaining civilized society on the entire planet, making it a place where everyone can immigrate. The borders are strong, but people still illegally enter. Those caught are promptly placed into refugee camps. While this scenario may seem completely foreign to many of us, it should make us fear that lawlessness is entirely possible, and that situations like these are already happening (though not globally) in many of our smaller countries that cannot defend themselves.
Before the Devil Knows Your’re Dead (2007)
Murphy’s Law. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Sidney Lumet’s (Guilty As Sin, Dog Day Afternoon) Before the Devil Knows Your Dead is a good-old-fashioned robbery gone wrong that involves older brother Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote, The Savages) and younger brother Hank (Sinister, Before Sunrise) fleecing the strip-mall jewelry store of their parents Charles (Albert Finney – Erin Brokovich, Tom Jones) and Nanette (Rosemary Harris – Spider-Man, Tom and Viv) on a day where neither parent was expected to be there.