He knew that in film there was power, and he was the man working the film, and he knew he was good at it.

As if he were a man of a certain kind of secular faith,

'Inside Man' is a testament to the power of a great combination: A film that was well-reviewed; an indisputably commercial movie by Spike Lee; and Denzel, a steady guy in the movies in terms of leading man. It's a classic thriller with a twist.

If you're a reporter, the easiest thing in the world is to get a story. The hardest thing is to verify. The old sins were about getting something wrong, that was a cardinal sin. The new sin is to be boring.

She was young and scared, and hadn't realized there was time to spare.

Late in his career, when the L.A. Times started pursuing him in its new incarnation during Watergate, it was one of the great 360-degree turnarounds.