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FILM REVIEWS
DVD RELEASES: 'MAN' MOVIES
By Lou Duro
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 MARATHON MAN (1976): John Schlesinger's classic among thrillers is now receiving a re-promotion from Paramount with some great additional features. Based on William Goldman's novel, the film tells the story of Babe Levy (Dustin Hoffman) a graduate student and marathon runner in New York who is pulled into a mystery of murder and intrigue without his knowing. Nazi fugitive Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) is sending out henchmen in the US to kill a number of seemingly random people and then finally decides to appear from his exile in Uruguay to visit the US in person. Although Babe is in no way affiliated with Szell, for some reason his path keeps crossing that of the killers, and Szell himself. Babe finally realizes the secret of these encounters and cold-blooded murders, but not before Szell proves to him why he was one of the most feared people in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The tooth-drilling torture scene will send chills down your spine. "Marathon Man" is a fascinating film. If you haven't seen it before, you're in for a cinematic treat. And, if you have, it's well worth seeing again.
 THE INSIDE MAN (2006): This is considered to be director Spike Lee's most mainstream movie yet. But that doesn't stop him from adding some of his signature flourishes that distinguish this crime drama from your average run-of-the-mill fare. At any rate, he assembled an impressive cast: Denzel Washington re-teams with Lee for the fourth time, along with Jodie Foster, Clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Christopher Plummer. Washington plays veteran police detective Keith Frazier, who is called in to try to find a way out of a crisis, after four armed criminals go into a Wall Street bank and take about 50 people hostage. A cat-and-mouse game ensues. This is a well-made heist film, with some interesting twists.
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