One of my all time favorite movies is Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington (who doesn't love Denzel?) It also stars Clive Owen (who doesn't love Clive Owen?) It is a taut story of a bank heist where is begins to appear that the robbers do not actually want to rob the bank of its massive amounts of cash. It is told out of time sequence by interviews with all the hostages who were ultimately released. While it is completely effective as a film about the heist, a more nuanced interpretation reveals much that Spike Lee has to say about racial and class issues. You can watch this amazing movie on HBOmax, Hulu (with premium subscription), and Amazon Prime Video (with premium subscription).
So, that was the "great." Now on to the "not so great." The new 4 episode series on Netflix of the same name has an enticing cast. It stars two of my other favorites, Stanley Tucci and David Tennant. Tucci plays an inmate on death row for strangling his wife. He's the inside man. Tennant is a Vicar in the UK in a separate story. The stories intersect because Tucci, a former criminology professor, takes unsolved criminal cases while incarcerated (like that is a thing). This is how the two stories intersect. As absurd it is that Tucci moonlights as a detective, the story in the UK is equally, if not more, absurd. So, while is is watchable since the casting and pacing is good, in the end, it just doesn't make a lot of sense.
Obvious conclusion: if you can only watch one "Inside Man" in your life, please, please, please choose the Spike Lee masterpiece. If you are bored and looking for something absurd to distract you from anxiety about the end of democracy, watch this new offering from Netflix.