Movie Review: The Inside Man

Well, I just got around to seeing “The Inside Man” and I have to say that I guess I missed out when it was in the theater. The DVD came in this weekend from Netflix and we had a sit down today.

Now, when the film came out I remember saying I wanted to see it, but we never got round to it. Perhaps the trailer just did not grab me as much as it could have, perhaps we just got busy with life. As I remember though, it did not make a big splash in the theaters though.

In any case, the story revolves around a bank robbery on Wall Street, well Exchange street really, a place I am familiar with as I have been stopped from taking photos there.

The plot plays out as a group of bank robbers take over the bank and begin a process of taking hostages. As the plot progresses, we see that not only is the hostage taking an integral part of the bank “heist” but also as a means for escape by confounding the police with confusion between robbers and hostages. This is done by dressing everyone in the same thing and to keep the hostages confused with disinformation.

Into this walks Denzel Washington as a police detective who is looking to get his “first grade” status but seems to be in trouble with IAB. He is sent in and begins to see that this robbery is not all it would seem to be and works toward not only resolving the hostage crisis, but to also see just what the leader (Clive Owen) is really up to.

The addition of Jodie Foster brings an interesting twist to the story too. Ms. Foster’s character is, rather nasty in a cutthroat bitch way, and she does a good job at making you dislike her as a “Fixer” of sorts. She is contacted by the owner of the bank to assure that his personal safe deposit box is untouched in the vault. She accepts the assignment and moves on to basically blackmail the mayor of NY to get her close to the bank and to have control of the situation.

What ensues after this are many twists and turns that left me guessing up until the end just what was going to happen and exactly why it was done. In fact, you never really get the why from Clive Owen, even in the last voice over of the film… Which, I kind of like.

The one thing that kept running through my mind at the end though was one word.. Mossad…

The cinematography was good, the musical score was daring, and the script/screenplay was well written. The dialog was snappy and overall, the movies pace was fast even with the tendency to flip back and forth in time using the usual flashback sequence contrivance.

Not a bad heist film and some good acting on all parts by the star studded cast.

Check it out.

CoB

Times Square: Epicenter for Terrorism Lately

What is it lately with Times Square and bombs? Sure, its a popular destination for anyone doing the tourist thing and it’s pretty much a hot target to instill fear into the US, but really, car bombs now? Of course this bomb was not the kind we are used to hearing about in the sense of a truck full of plastic explosives, or a fertilizer bomb, but, it still almost got the job done. This particular bomb was amateurish in design and follow through particularly in the design.

3 propane tanks, gas in containers, fireworks, clocks, wires, and fireworks.. Along with some kind of lockbox or gun safe.

This seems like more of a test case for a new bomb maker than anything else….

Had the bomb gone off, it would have been bad, but not as bad as if the bomb were made by the likes of the guys in AQ Iraq who would have also added shrapnel and likely have loaded this puppy up to the gills with material for the explosion. I guess we will see what shakes out in the investgation, but I would hazard a guess at a splinter cell of wanna be jihadists may be the ones to look for here. You could also make the case for another domestic terror group of some kind too.. But my bet is on the jihadist connection because it is NYC and it was a large target for putting a scare into the US.

I would be surprised if this were a lone actor.. Just from the fact that this UNSUB left the scene quickly, so likely was picked up by someone trailing them and ready for them around a corner.

It makes sense in that they did not have a bomb maker of skill, limited funds, and may in fact be lone wolf types that are being recruited more often online now. The truck was a Nissan Pathfinder (Jihadi’s favorite) and the plate came from a junked car from Bridgeport CT. The VIN number in the windshield was removed but its doubtful that they removed all of the vin’s throughout the car.

Now, what is interesting to me is that the plate came from Bridgeport. Bridgeports junk yards and car dumping grounds are easily accessible by many and there is much fodder to use for anyone looking to do this type of thing. This even follows through to the point of the UNSUB getting a car en toto from these places totally under the radar. You see Bridgeport is something of a “Gray” market haven for these things. I am sure the New Haven field office is buzzing today…

Well, time will tell.. Keep an eye out.

CoB

Sarah Palin E-Mail Hacker Found Guilty of Coverup.. DUH!

Duh, I am a moron for not covering my tracks better...

Palin applauded the verdict Friday in a Facebook post that compared Kernell to Richard Nixon’s plumbers. “As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election,” wrote Palin, who testified against Kernell in court last week.

Once again, Sarah Palin opens her mouth and out flies the most inane and misinformed crock of shit I have ever heard. The above statement on her FaceySpace page is ridiculous. Let’s set the record straight Sarah.

1) The plumbers were tasked by the Nixon administration to steal the “playbook” for the DNC not get their correspondences between parties. This was a SPECIFIC target and was the plan for the Democrats campaign en toto for that election cycle.

2)  The plumbers picked locks, physically broke into a building (poorly) and that took skill to perform. These guys were from the CIA and though ineptly carried this black bag job out, they really only got caught through luck.

3) This kid was no opertaor. He was looking for a thrill and to look like the big man only. He posted this shit on 4chan.. C’mon! Had he been a real operator he would have deep throated this shit to the Washington Post.

4) He guessed a password that SHE provided all of the details for someone to EASILY guess! Come on, look at how easily they popped him and how much data he left behind even with “deleting” stuff… Hell, just saying he deleted stuff bespeaks that he did not even have the depth of knowledge to just wipe his system and do a DoD cleaning.

5) Had this been a real effort on the part of anyone who was politically savvy, they would have hired a real professional who would have been in and out of the system without her knowing. Perhaps even to have used the data to further access into her systems in AK. Do some Googling, there’s plenty out there to work with… So really, this was a hack job by a kid (pun intended)

So Sarah, yet again, you have no clue what you are talking about and you should really just shut up and go back to your new Fox show. Leave the hacking, history, public speaking sans notes written on hands, … Ah shit, just go away.

And you Mr. Kernell, you should take your lumps and learn not to be so God damned stupid if you EVER decide to guess a password to a pseudo celebrities email or twitter, or any password again. You should also learn about the wonders of the DoD wipe as well as this quote from the old movie “Hackers”

DADE:                     You did this from your house.

Joey takes a drag from his cigarette and just nods, with a big grin on his face.

PHREAK:                     What are you, stoned or stupid? You don’t hack a bank across state lines from your house, you’ll get nailed by the FBI. Where are your brains, in your ass? Don’t you know anything?

CEREAL:                      Stupid, man. It’s universally stupid.

The essence here to take away, don’t hack from your dorm room IP.. Go find and open AP or something you idiot…

Oh, and if you happen to go to jail over the felony charge, remember to unclench during the ass pounding that you are no doubt going to get in the pokey. You’ll feel much better later if you just relax.. That and maybe some tucks pads.

CoB