slightlymad22

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to Deja Vu

If you can get on board with a lot of the technology (the ability to watch the past, through walls with audio) and time travel aspects, a lot of fun can be had with Deja Vu.

It's totally illogical, with incomprehensible definitions of how things work, and I still don't know how many time lines there were, but I recommend turning your brain off and just going with it, as it is entertaining, enough.'

Deja Vu grossed $64 million at the domestic box office and was the 42nd highest grossing movie of 2006.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to his first movie of 2006, Inside Man

Denzel says "You saw 'Dog Day Afternoon.' You're stalling." The problem with name checking an amazing movie, is it just reminds you, you'd rather be watching that.

I remember liking this one, but I found it to be a let down, this time around. I found myself picking fault after fault with the movie. It's routine, cliche and not as clever as it thinks it is.

Christopher Plummer, as the bank president, doesn't look in his 90s, which he'd need to be given his role.

Clive Owen (Who we see in the first shot of the film, talking about the crime in the past tense, we know he won't be killed) says at the beginning "I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself" but he will say "two busses and a plane" several times, including one where he says "I've already told you" and he repeats himself to Jodie Foster, too.

Who is Jodie Foster's character?? I've just watched the movie and do not know!! She was so smug, and I was dying to see her exposed, but nothing came of it!! Great legs, though!

Every police interview is conducted without a single lawyer

The movie is well acted, but with three Oscar winners (Denzel, Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer) and three Oscar nominees (Willem Defoe, Clive Owen and Chiwetel Ejiofor) it's not surprising. And it does have some good ideas, but a lot of it, is just filler, padding out a bloated runtime, like Denzel's check cashing, coke bust hanging over his head or most of the scene's involving Jodie Foster, the possible outcomes of them storming the bank and all the talk about Big Willie and the twins.

I didn't hate the movie, but I remember it being better.

Inside Man was the 4th highest grossing movie of Denzel's career (behind Remember The Titans, The Pelican Brief, Crimson Tide) grossing $88 million at the domestic box office and was the 22nd highest grossing movie of 2006. His 5th best performing movie (behind The Pelican Brief, Crimson Tide, Philadelphia and Remember The Titans) at the time.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to his second movie of 2004, the remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

As a fan of the original, I skipped this upon release. This was my first time watching and I'm glad I didn't watch the above trailer, as it gives away some big reveals.

This isn't in the same league as the original, but it's a damn good movie, in its own right. It keeps the same plot, but changes key elements, which helped make it seem fresh.

This would be the last time Washington was directed by Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia, Devil In A Blue Dress) who does a great job.

This is superbly acted by a great cast, that includes Meryl Streep, Jon Voight, Liev Schreiber (who worked with Denzel in The Hurricane), Kimberly Elise (who played Washington's wife in John Q), Jeffrey Wright,, Dean Stockwell (Al from Quantum Leap) and Charles Napier (Murdoch from Rambo: First Blood Part 2) pop up, as does Verna Farmiga and Anthony Mackie in one of his first big screen roles.

Random fact 1: Tina Sinatra, who was instrumental in deciding to remake the film, inherited the production rights from her father, Frank Sinatra, who played Bennett Marco in the 1962 version.

Random fact 2: Denzel Washington admitted before making this remake that he had never seen the John Frankenheimer original movie.

The Manchurian Candidate grossed $65 million at the domestic box office and was the 45th highest grossing movie of 2004.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to a movie, I had never heard of Out Of Time from 2003.

Directed by Carl Franklin, who directed Denzel in Devil In A Blue Dress, this is kind of like a loose remake of the Kevin Costner movie, No Way Out, there are a lot of similarities.

I enjoyed this one, I only really have one complaint, and that the movies quirky score often undermined some serious intense moments.

Denzel was paid $20 million for making this film. The gorgeous Eva Medes reunited with Denzel following Training Day and is as hot as ever, Man does she have a great ass. Dean Cain has a prominent role as an abusive husband and is also good.

I really liked the Florida setting of this movie, it felt fresh.

Out Of Time grossed $41 million at the domestic box office and was the 72nd highest grossing movie of the year.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to a movie I had never heard of Antwone Fisher

Denzel Washington's directorial debut, is amazing. It's also amazing to think this was Derek Luke's first movie. Joy Bryant is gorgeous Viola Davis has a small but stand out role, as does Verne's Watson, who I always like to see, and Kevin Connelly from John Q is here, too.

For his first effort, Denzel does an amazing job, as does all of the actors. Everyone should watch this movie. I'm not going to lie, I teared up at the end, even though I knew where it was going.

Disappointingly Antwone Fisher only grossed $21 million at the domestic box office and was the first Denzel Washington movie not to finish in the 100 highest grossing movie of the year, since Mississippi Masala in 1991.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to 2002's John Q..

Denzel was great (as a Dad, I certainly felt his panic and frustration), John Q.'s farewell to his son is some of Denzel's best acting, but it's screenplay is one of the worst I have seen Denzel appear in, I had to go all the way back to the TV movie, Licence To Kill. With some awful dialogue, it's all just so implausible and heavy handed with its message (which I agree with, by the way).

Kimberly Ellies, Robert DuVall, James Woods, Ray Liotta (with an awful haircut) and Anne Heche aid Denzel with the heavy lifting of trying to elevate material in which characters act unbelievably stupidly and say stupid things!!

One problem I had, was the movie clearly gave away the ending during the opening credits (which you again see at about the hour mark, when John said he was waiting on a miracle), so I found the build up towards the finale, tension free. Though I did get emotional at the end.

I always thought Michael a Keaton was in this movie, but a quick IMDB search shows it was the similarly themed, Desperate Measures with Andy Garcia.

Amusing fact, Kevin Connolly who played the boy who bullied Rocky Jr in Rocky V has a small role as one of the hostages.

John Q grossed $71 million at the domestic box office and was the 39th highest grossing movie of the year.

Overall, thanks to a great performance from Denzel and a solid supporting cast I enjoyed it.

I had to rent this one on Amazon, first one for a while, as I have managed to stream the last few. It was well worth the rental price.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I just watched Training Day for the first time and it was in the cinema.

This review is a few days old, I wanted to wait until I had watched Remember The Titans, before I posted it.

Only his second time playing a bad guy (the first being 1986's Power) Denzel seems to be having a lot of fun, here. I always felt Ethan Hawke has always been a tad under rated, and he is great here. Scott Glenn is great in his supporting role. The gorgeous Eva Mendes has a small role Terry Crews (though I don't remember him speaking a line), Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg also feature in the movie.

As good as the performances are, you do need to seriously suspend belief. I'm not saying all of these events in one day are impossible; but wow. There were times when I was distracted by the need to trace back through the plot and try to piece together how events could possibly have turned out this way. As I left the cinema with my 17 year old son, we talked about the logic and plausibility of what we had watched. We both agreed it was better to go along for the ride, rather than think about it.

That's not to say we both didn't really enjoy it. I'm glad I watched it on the big screen and it will probably be in my top 10 Denzel movies come the end of his filmography.

In what was considered an upset Denzel won the Best Actor Oscar for Training Day. It was considered an upsetas Russell Crowe had won all the major precursor awards (Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice and BAFTA) for A Beautiful Mind.

With his Best Actor Oscar win for this film, Denzel Washington became the first black actor to win two acting Academy Awards.

When I was researching this movie, I found out Originally this film was supposed to be released in November 2001, with most of the original posters stating this. However, after the attacks on 9/11 Training Day was pushed forward to October 5, 2001 which was the original release date for Arnold Schwarzenegger's Collateral Damage, which was pulled off the release schedule and was released in February 2002.

Training Day grossed $76 million at the domestic box office and was the 29th highest grossing movie of the year.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I just watched Remember The Titans for the first time.

If I have not seen the movie, I don't watch the trailer beforehand, and less than two minutes in, I thought to myself 'Great another movie about race' and remembered why I got bored of Denzel movies in the first place.

Fast forward two hours and I'm sat with tears streaming down my face.

Denzel is as great as he always is, I have yet to see him phone it in. I have always found Will Patton to be incredibly under rated, a young Ryan Gosling (in his second movie role) has a prominent part, I also forgot what a talent a young Hayden Panettiere was. Kip Pardew from Driven has a role, and is better here than in that movie, so I guess his bland performance in Driven was down to Harlin's directing, or maybe that movie shouldn't have been structured around him as he is much more effective as part of an ensemble, here. It's always good to see the gorgeous Nicole Ari Parker (Boogie Nights) on screen, but she isn't given much to do as Denzel's wife and Kate Bosworth has a small role as one of the players girlfriends.

It does have a few cliche moments and plot holes, but overall, I loved it.

Remember The Titans grossed $115 million at the domestic box office (to become Washington's highest grossing movie) and was the 18th highest grossing movie of the year.

Easily one of my favourite Denzel movies.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to The Hurricane

WOW this is a powerful movie and it features one of Denzel Washington's greatest performances. I was blown away by this and I'm not going to lie I was teary eyed come the end.

All the cast are great, Clancy Brown Liev Shrieber, John Hannah, Dan Hedeya, David Paymer and Rod Steiger.

I can't believe I had never seen this before.

Denzel was nominated for an Oscar for his work here, but lost to Kevin Spacey (American Beauty) and an argument could be made that he should have won.

He did win a Golden Globe, though.

The Hurricane grossed $50 million at the domestic box office and was the 48th highest grossing movie of the year.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to The Siege.

I went to see this movie at the cinema, when it was announced the teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode One: The Phantom Menace was playing before it. I didn't care for it then, and have never bothered to rewatch it.

Guess what, not much has changed. The film starts out strong, but it loses its way as it slogs to an ending you could see coming a mile away.

This was directed by Edward Zwick, the man who directed Washington in Glory and Courage Under Fire, so I had high hopes I might find it more enjoyable with a 46 year old head on, instead of the 21 year old who sat in the cinema.

It's strange to say as I'm a fan of her work, but Annette Benning is poor here, she just isn't believable. Tony Shalhoub on the other hand is excellent. Washington is his reliable self. I have yet to see a poor performance.

The Siege grossed $40 million at the domestic box office and was the 49th highest grossing movie of the year.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to He Got Game

It's opening score irritated the hell out of me, sounding like it belonged in a low budget 70's horror movie, instead of a heartbreaker about a father and son.

It's well acted by a good cast involving Rosario Dawson and it's always good to see Ned Beatty on screen. But it's over long with a needless subplot involving Mila Jovovich.

Overall I enjoyed this one. I watched it for free on Disney+

He Got Game was considered a flop not grossing back its $25 million budget and was the 84th highest grossing movie of the year.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to his first of three movies, released in 1998, Fallen.

Alongside The Mighty Quinn, Fallen is one of Denzel Washington's most under rated movies. Outside of the super natural element, it is a pretty straight forward detective story and it moves along at a steady pace with good performances from top talent like John Goodman, Donald Sutherland and James Gandolfini. And what a great, guy punch ending. I won't spoil it, incase anyone hasn't seen it.

Directed by Gregory Hoblit, whose previous movie was Primal Fear Fallen is one of my favourite Denzel movies.

Sadly, Fallen bombed upon release only grossing $25 million (on a $46 million budget) and was the 75th highest grossing movie of the year.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to The Preacher's Wife.

This remake is a sweet enough Christmas movie, with a few laughs and a charismatic performance from Washington. But it could have been so much more!!

Lots of familiar faces pop up, but don't have much to do.

It is directed by Penny Marshall, so I'm surprised to write, at times it's plot seems to be held together by nothing more than 'things that need to happen before Whitney Houston sings again.'

The Preacher's Wife grossed $48 million and was the 33rd highest grossing movie of the year.

Given the success of The Bodyguard and it's soundtrack album, only four years earlier, all concerned must have been disappointed with these numbers.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to Courage Under Fire.

Another really good movie, with a really good performance from Washington. This time he is supported by a talented cast of Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Matt Damon, Michae Moriarty, Bronson Pinchot, Sean Astin and Scott Glenn.

Random Fact 1. Bronson Pinchot said that Denzel Washington was verbally abusive to him and others on the set. (Washington) was really abusive to me and everybody on that movie, and his official explanation was that his character didn't like me, but it was a dreadful experience. I spent my salary on time with my shrink just for helping me get through it."

Random Fact 2. Matt Damon went on a strict regimen of food deprivation and physical training in order to lose weight for the present day scenes. Director Francis Ford Coppola was so impressed by Damon's display of method acting that he offered him the leading role in The Rainmaker. Then Damon met Steven Spielberg (who was then casting Saving Private Ryan). Spielberg told Damon that he had loved his performance in this movie and had wanted to hire him to play Private Ryan, but was afraid that Damon was too skinny. Once Spielberg saw Damon at his normal weight, he hired him for Ryan.

It's ending lays it on a bit heavy, and believe me, that is nitpicking, but overall, this was a solid movie, that I'd watch again.

Courage Under Fire grossed $59 million and was the 24th highest grossing movie of the year.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to his third and last movie of 1995 Devil In A Blue Dress.

After the disappointing Virtuoisty, this is a much better movie.

I really like film noir, so this was right to my street. Washington is surrounded by a great cast including Tom Sizemore, Lisa Nicole Carson (who you may know from Ally McBeal) and a scene stealing Don Cheadle.

I recommend this one, it's brilliantly acted, has a good sense of atmosphere, is well shot with a great score.

Devil In A Blue Dress only grossed $16 million (on a $27 million budget) and was the 91st highest grossing movie of the year.

Unfortunately the box office failure of this movie, stopped any potential sequels with the character Easy Rawlins, which is a real shame.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to Virtuosity, a movie I had totally forgotten about

Along with Washington and Crowe, the movie features Kelly Lynch, William Forsythe, William Fichtner and it's the film debut of Kaley Cuoco.

Along with a talented cast, this has some interesting ideas, but it's a missed opportunity as it is routine and very predictable.

Random Fact 1: According to Kelly Lynch, she and Denzel Washington were supposed to share a kiss. However, Washington had the scene dropped because he felt an interracial love scene would hurt the film's box-office chances.

Random Fact 2: Action editor Billy Weber was brought in by Paramount to deliver a new cut of the film, after the initial cut was rejected. For his efforts, he is thanked in the film's closing credits. William Fichtner said about 80% of his scenes never made the final cut.

Virtuosity only grossed $24 million (on a $30 million budget) and was the 70th highest grossing movie of the year.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to 1993'sMuch Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is a perfect title for this snooze fest. It has a talented cast, so I kept watching it, but I thought about turning it off, a few times.

I'm not a fan of Kenneth Brannagh, so I struggle to watch him. Brannagh the director should not have hired Brannagh the actor!!

This was Kate Bekingsale's first performance

Much Ado About Nothing grossed $22 million at the box office and was the 70th highest grossing movie of 1993.

So another flop for Denzel, but much better was coming.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography, I come to Malcolm X

Malcolm X is one of the best movie biographies, around. The film is inspirational and educational, and it is also an entertaining movie. Watching it now, I was surprised that I have never revisited this movie.

It's a long movie, but there is certainly a lot of ground to cover. Malcolm X lived many lives and Denzel is amazing playing all the different chapters of his life.the whole cast was great, there wasn't one weak link. Though it wouldn't be a Spike Lee movie, if he didn't cast himself in a prominent role.

Divided into three sections, the begins with Malcolm Little's troubled early years. The second is the prison years and Finally, the third in which Malcolm (now Malcolm X) becomes the most prominent disciple of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

Denzel was nominated for his second Oscar, this time for Best Actor, in what I personally considered was the hardest year to call an Oscar winner. Losing to Al Pacino for Scent of A Woman.

Malcolm X grossed $48 million at the box office and was the 32nd highest grossing movie of 1992.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography I come to 1991's Mississippi Masala

The light hearted tone of the trailer does not convey the seriousness of the movie, at all. It's very serious.

I wouldn't say this is a good movie per se, but it is an interesting one and Denzel is always a good watch and he has decent chemistry with Sarita Choudhury, in her first movie. It's a movie that deserves to be seen.

Mississippi Masala was another bust at the box office, when it was finally released in 1992. It only made $7 million dollars and was the years 104th highest grossing movie of the year.

I watched the full movie on Youtube, I recommend checking it out.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography I come to 1991's Ricochet.

I have been looking forward to this one. I have not seen it since it was released and I really remember liking it.

This is a lot darker and more violent than I remember. Directed by Russell Mulcahy (there is a sword scene that seems right out of Highlander) it's a good watch. Although I found the ending a but lame.

It's well-acted by a talented cast. Mary Ellen Trainor played reporter Gail Wallens, the same character she played in Die Hard. Another prominent actor from the Die Hard franchise, John Amos has a small role, but he isn't playing the same character.

Ricochet grossed less than $22 million at the box office and was the 62nd highest grossing movie of 1991.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography I come to 1990's Mo Better Blues

Man was this a tough watch, I struggled to sit through this one. Denzel, Wesley Snipes and Giancarlo Esposito are all good, but the movie is a slog to watch.

Samuel L Jackson has a supporting role as one of the bookies enforcers.

I actually thought about turning this movie off on more than one occasion. The first time that's happened since starting to work my way through all of Denzel's movies

Mo Better Blues was the years 75th highest grossing movie of 1990, earning $16 million dollars.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography I come to 1990's Heart Condition.

What a disappointing way for Denzel to follow up an Oscar winning role. I remember liking this, but I actually fell asleep twice, watching this, this time around.

This had so much potential to be hilarious. But the laughs are few and far between and the action is dull.

Bob Hoskins is meant to be a sort of flawed, loveable rascal, but he just comes off as an absolute douche!! He doesn't have the charm of a Danny DeVito, so he is able to do and say awful things, but you still root for him. Denzel is the best thing in the movie, has a good comic timing, but has to deliver some awful lines.

Chloe Webb (who you may recognise from Twins) has a prominent role, as the cliche'd whore with a heart of gold, who was involved with both of the main characters.

Released the same year as Bill Cosby's Ghost Dad, Heart Condition was another flop, earning less than $5 million dollars against an $10 million budget to be the years 131st highest grossing movie.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography I come to 1989's GLORY.

Glory is one of the best movie of a great year. It's amazingly acted, brilliantly directed with an amazing score by Hanz Zimmer.

I defy anyone not to be touched by the movies finale. I honestly can't pick any faults with the movie.

Denzel deservedly won an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Glory

The movie also won Oscar's for Best Cinematography and Best Sound.

But where were the nominations for Best Film, Best Director for Edward Zwick, Best Original Score for Hans Zimmer or what about Broderick and Freeman??

Glory grossed just under $27 million against an $18 million budget to be the years 45th highest grossing movie.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography I come to 1989's The Mighty Quinn

OK. This caught me totally by surprise and is my favourite movie, of Denzel's so far. An argument could be made that it's one of the best movies of 1989. Not top 10, but top 20 for sure.

Attempting his third accent in as many movies, Denzel is at his charismatic best. He has that rare movie star quality, that he doesn't seem to be trying.

Co starring with Denzel is his A Soldier's Story costars Robert Townsend and Art Evans

Despite positive reviews, The Mighty Quinn was yet another failure at the box office, grossing less than $5 million dollars.

I watched this for free on Amazon Prime.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Denzel Washington's filmography I come to 1988's For Queen And Country

No false advertising this time. Denzel does fire a gun in this one.

Plot in a paragraph: A retired British soldier (Washington) returns home to London and struggles to adjust to everyday life, with increasing difficulty.

I'm not going to lie, this one is a bit of a step down in terms of production budget, but there is still a lot to enjoy. It starts out really well, but then it loses its way with characters making stupid, illogical decisions as a way to further the plot, but I did like the ending, as infuruating as I found it.

As for the cast Denzel (with a fairly decent British accent) is really engaging here, I really felt for his character, especially early on. Those that bother to watch this may spot Craig Fairbrass, who appeared with Sly in Cliffhanger.

Random Fact: British schoolboy Stephen Lawrence, whose high-profile murder at a bus stop in 1993 led to accusations of institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police, appeared as an extra in this film.

For Queen & Country was another box office flop for Washington.

I watched the full movie on YouTube.