(FILM) The newest Spike Lee joint is a big-budget, big-studio, big-name heist movie, with Denzel Washington cracking wry as a NYPD detective/hostage negotiator, Jodie Foster vamping as a stylish fixer of nebulous but certain power, and a whole parade of innocent bystanders who don jumpsuits and get a Patty Hearst–style makeover. (See Movie Times for details.)

Annie Wagner is The Stranger's former film editor. She was born and raised in Capitol Hill, but has since lived in such far-flung locales as Phoenix, AZ, Charlottesville, VA, and Wedgwood. After graduating...