BlacKkKlansman (2018)

My parents felt that Spike Lee's first non-honorary Oscar was a long time coming and thus were glad when he got one for Best Adapted Screenplay for this. It sounded like they wouldn't have been surprised if he'd gotten more for it. The film certainly has received a lot of awards at other ceremonies. So I had to check it out, albeit with a little trepidation.

In 1972 Colorado Springs, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington, son of Denzel) dares to take an invitation to become the first local Black policeman. When he sees an ad for the Ku Klux Klan, he calls on a whim and, sounding naturally "White" enough, arranges a meeting to join it. Not looking nearly as White as he sounds, he persuades vaguely similar-sounding co-worker Philip "Flip" Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to go in his stead. With a little help from others on the force, they monitor just how much of a threat this Klan chapter is.

25th Hour (2002)

Netflix uses the term "post-9/11" in its description of this movie, which may have played a subconscious part in my queue ordering. While the story does take place in New York City, the only sign of anything related to 9/11 comes when protagonist Monty (Edward Norton) cusses out Osama bin Laden. Along with various groups and individuals in NYC. And Jesus. And finally himself.

Monty's not much happier than that for the rest of the movie, in which the DEA has found drugs in his apartment and he has a day left to party and say his goodbyes before turning himself in. (Yes, the law can work that way, though the federal agents shouldn't have mentioned the Rockefeller drug laws.) From the title, I had expected an action-packed thriller, not a drama. In fact, it's less a story than a character study, with a fair amount of focus on the quiet troubles of his friends Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Frank (Barry Pepper) and his father (Brian Cox) as they prepare to see him off, not knowing whether he'll spend seven years in prison, run away forever, or commit suicide.