DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.

Byline: ROB LOWMAN

`Inside Man' works it just right

If intelligent action pictures were easy to make, Hollywood wouldn't turn out so many uninspired sequels and puffed-up versions of TV shows. (Witness the curiously flat ``Miami Vice'' from Michael Mann, a director who can turn out compelling action flicks like ``Collateral'' and ``Heat.'')

The maverick filmmaker Spike Lee -- of all people -- has made a very good one in ``Inside Man,'' a cat-and-mouse story filled with shadowy edges and suspect motivations.

Clive Owen plays Dalton Russell, the leader of an elite team of robbers whose takeover of a Manhattan bank leads to a hostage crisis. Denzel Washington -- a veteran of a number of Lee's films (there is a segment on the DVD where the two discuss their collaboration) -- is New York police Detective Keith Frazier, who initially tries to negotiate the hostages' release. Jodie Foster plays Madeline White, someone you might call a facilitator. She's been sent to broker a deal, because there is something in the bank at its president (Christopher Plummer) doesn't want to see the light of day.

The script by Russell Gewirtz is clever. The only thing you're sure of is that everybody wants something, though you're not always sure what that is. Lee -- who has directed the upcoming HBO documentary ``When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,'' about the aftereffect of Hurricane Katrina -- juggles the balls adeptly, even throwing in a bit of witty social commentary.

Then he's smart enough to put his high-powered actors in the proper light -- or shadow, as the case may be -- and let them do their stuff. Foster's predatory Madeline is the type who beguiles you with a smile as she slips a knife into your ribs (metaphorically speaking, of course). While Owen and Washington display two different kinds of slickness. Russell has a soothing style even as he orchestrates chaos, and Frazier has an easy demeanor, though you can see him figuring the angles.

What ``Inside Man'' and all its pleasures bring home is just how good a director Lee is. Most filmmakers would either trip over the material or ramp it up to the point of giving the audience a headache. Yet Lee makes it seem deceptively easy. It's too bad that Hollywood doesn't use him more.

Rob Lowman [phone]

[e-mail]

NEW FILMS

With Fidel Castro ailing, Andy Garcia's ``The Lost City'' -- a film set in the dreamy past of pre-Communist Cuba -- may resonate with some people. Unfortunately, while this was a labor of love for Garcia, who was born in Cuba, he breathes little life into the film as an actor or director.

He plays Fico Fellove, owner of a Havana nightclub with Vegas-style showgirls. Outside, the revolution is about to boil over. But in his club, elegant people insulate themselves from the suffering of the majority of the people.

Garcia -- who had dinner with President Bush last week -- and his screenwriter, the late novelist G. Cabrera Infante, are clearly not fans of Castro, but they don't let the rich off the hook, either. That makes the film talky as it meanders through its philosophic and political ruminations.

But ``Lost City'' ultimately plays out -- intentionally or not -- mostly as an exercise in nostalgia.

Wayne Wang zig-zags between small, odd, interesting films like ``Smoke'' and more commercial endeavors like ``Joy Luck Club'' or ``Maid in Manhattan.'' ``Last Holiday,'' which fits into the latter category, is a likable, inoffensive fantasy starring Queen Latifah.

The singer-actress plays a department-store clerk who believes she is going to die in a few weeks and decides to live them to the fullest. Given that it's the lively Latifah, whose character had been dieting, she goes about it in a big way. While predictable, its director and star keep ``Last Holiday'' moving along nicely.

Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard collaborated on the sublime ``Paris, Texas'' a couple of decades back. Their latest, ``Don't Come Knocking,'' though, is a minor drama that has its moments. Shepard plays a movie cowboy trying to come to grips with the emptiness of his life. Eva Marie Saint as his mother and Jessica Lange as a former lover give good performances.

Two other films to keep in mind:

``Brick'' is a noir mystery posing as a high-school film, with the students actually having some intelligence. It won the Sundance Film Festival's Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision in 2005.

``Cavite,'' a low-budget thriller set in the Philippines, was made by a two-man cast and crew -- the Filipino-American pair of Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana, who wrote, directed, produced, shot, edited and starred in the film. That alone should make you curious.

TELEVISION

Like another Fox show, ``24,'' the first season of Fox's ``Prison Break'' didn't mind getting outrageous to hook people. The series involved a man, Michael (Wentworth Miller), who gets himself locked up in a prison he helped design, in order to spring his brother, Lincoln (Dominic Purcell), a Death Row inmate wrongfully convicted of an assassination. As you can see from the ads for the show, tattoos are involved, and the pair have become allies with some pretty unsavory characters.

``Prison Break is one of those shows perfect for DVD viewing -- you get hooked and keep watching. Many of you could even finish up season one (all 22 episodes, but probably not the extras) before season two begins on Aug. 21.

A more somber, grittier series is HBO's ``The Wire,'' which deals with the drug scene in Baltimore. Created by David Simon -- a producer of ``Homicide: Life on the Street,'' also set in Baltimore -- ``The Wire'' is a solid crime drama. The third season deals with a lot of inside city politics.

THE PRICE TAGS

NEW FILMS

``Inside Man'' (Universal; $29.98)

``Brick'' (Universal; $29.98)

``The Lost City'' (Magnolia; $26.98)

``Last Holiday'' (Paramount; $29.95)

``Adam and Steve'' (TLA; $24.99)

``Bring It On -- All or Nothing'' (Universal; $29.98)

``Cavite'' (Magnolia; $26.98)

``Don't Come Knocking'' (Columbia; $24.96) ``Gilles' Wife'' (Koch Lorber; $29.98)

``The Last Mogul: The Life and Times of Lew Wasserman'' (Kino; $24.95)

OLDER FILMS

``Breakfast at Tiffany's -- Anniversary Edition'' (Paramount; $19.99)

TELEVISION

``Prison Break -- Season One'' (Fox; $59.98)

``The Wire -- The Complete Third Season'' (HBO; $99.98)

``Ultimate Avengers 2'' (Lionsgate; $19.98)

``Laguna Beach -- The Complete Second Season'' (Paramount; $38.99)

``Noah's Arc -- The Complete First Season'' (Logo; $39.98)

``The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air -- The Complete Fourth Season'' (Warner; $29.98)

``Dante's Cove: Season 1'' (Regent; $26.95)

``Larry the Cable Guy -- Health Inspector'' (Paramount; $29.95)

FOR KIDS

``Heidi'' (Warner; $19.98)

``Popular Mechanics for Kids: Firefighters and Other Life-Saving Heroes'' (Koch; $14.98)

``Popular Mechanics for Kids: Lightning and Other Forces of Nature'' (Koch; $14.98)

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Jodie Foster and Denzel Washington in ``Inside Man.''

(2) no caption (``Last Holiday'')