Ross Vassilev Sydney Lumet was one of those directors whose films are all total crap. This is one of them.It starts off with a sex scene featuring a good, long look at Philip Seymour Hoffman's naked big, fat ass. And it only gets worse....Younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) was supposed to rob his own parents' jewelry store-at the urging of older brother Andy (Hoffman)-but hires a friend to do it instead, so the brothers' mom gets killed. As the English say, not bloody likely!The second half of the film turns into a family melodrama with a lot recriminations and crying, mostly from older brother Andy.The film ends with a Quentin Tarantino-style bloody shootout in which about a dozen people get killed. Then the father/widower (Albert Finney) suffocates son Andy with a pillow.The film tries to compare/contrast the world of the working class v. the world of the upper middle class, but the whole storyline comes off as labored, contrived and convoluted. The film's only redeeming quality is that we get a good, long look at Marisa Tomei's T&A (she plays Andy's wife). Fortunately, THAT scene occurs in the first one-third of the film. So if you want, you can fast forward to that part, watch it, and then pop the DVD out. I wish I had.

seymourblack-1 Kelly Masterson's first screenplay describes the circumstances that lead two brothers into carrying out a particularly diabolical crime and then provides a harrowing account of its unintended consequences. By making the nature of the crime unusual and keeping the spotlight on its flawed characters, Masterson also makes his story less predictable than most "heist gone wrong" thrillers and increases the dramatic impact of the crime's tragic repercussions.Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour-Hoffman), a payroll executive who works for a real estate company, maintains an outward appearance of having everything under control but is, in fact, in a state of deep despair. With a dysfunctional marriage, an expensive drug habit and debts that he's tried to service by embezzling money from his employers, he dreams of escaping to live in Brazil. This isn't possible in his current circumstances and to make matters worse, an audit being carried out at his workplace is soon guaranteed to uncover the extent to which he's been cooking the books. The only way he can think of to get out of his predicament involves robbing a jewellery store and in order to do this, he needs the assistance of his younger brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke).Hank, who works at the same company as Andy, is also in a state of desperation for different reasons. He's divorced and deeply in debt because his child support payments and contributions to his daughter's education have left him with virtually nothing to live on. Andy tells Hank that what he's planned is the perfect crime because the jewellery store is a relatively soft target which will only be staffed by a single employee early on a Saturday morning and it's also a victim-less crime because, to his certain knowledge, the store is well insured and so the proprietors won't suffer any financial losses. Furthermore, as no guns would be needed for this kind of caper, no-one should get hurt. Hank, who's a more anxious person than his brother, is jittery as he listens to the plan and his natural reluctance to get involved gets stronger when Andy discloses that the store he's got in mind to rob, is their parents' business which is located in a Westchester shopping mall.Hank is persuaded to go ahead with the robbery (which he's supposed to carry out on his own) but not having the stomach for the job, hires a local thug to help him. For a variety of reasons, the heist goes horribly wrong resulting in a fatality and the brothers failing to profit financially. There are also, however, other consequences that soon prove to be even more devastating.Masterson's skilfully-written work benefits enormously from Sidney Lumet's decision to unfold the story through a series of flashbacks, flash-forwards and actions being shown from multiple viewpoints. Moreover, by utilising this method, the legendary director brings out considerably more substance in terms of the characters and their motivations in a way that's not only entertaining to watch but also cleverly avoids slowing down the action.The acting performances in this movie are exceptional with the entire cast obviously having a full understanding of the characters involved. Inevitably though, its Philip Seymour-Hoffman and Ethan Hawke whose contributions remain the most memorable, primarily because of the importance of their characters but also because of the subtlety with which they're portrayed. Albert Finney and Michael Shannon are also electrifying in their important supporting roles.

Mace As a last film for a truly legendary director, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead can only be described as a haunting, underrated masterpiece that any viewer will not soon forget. The film consists of an all-star cast, including the likes of the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei and Albert Finney. Even Michael Shannon shares a brief, but memorable, bit of run time. The casting was excellent all around and there were no characters that felt out of place or unnecessary to the story. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke specifically were the best either of them have ever been. The solid script and carefully written dialogue shared between the two main characters delivers some of the film's most riveting moments. And the "car scene" is one of Hoffman's most memorable on-screen moments. Those of you who have seen the film will know what I am referring to and those unaware are in for a treat.The story, while simple and admittedly not too original, manages to effectively show the characters' descent into violence and madness while jumping to before and after the event in which the movie revolves around. While sometimes the movie holds our hand a little too much with the story telling, I appreciated the fact that this movie wanted us to never be confused or lost within the time-jumping narrative. I was always aware of where our characters were and what point of the story I was witnessing.Now I have seen many comparisons between this film and the masterpiece known as Fargo, and while it shares the same theme of "simple crime gone horribly wrong" Before The Devil Knows You're Dead is not a darkly comedic venture. In fact, this movie is rarely anything but somber and hopeless. This is not a bad thing though as it seems that this was the director's intent. Delivering a powerful message through spurts of violence and intensity while never straying from the realm of reality within the movie. The violence and thrills are handled very well and are, at times, extremely intense.Now with all that said, there is only one thing that stopped the movie from being perfect and that is the ending. Normally when following characters throughout a movie we like to see how their story ends. It is common in all basic story telling. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough, especially if we are following a certain character throughout the entire film. Viewers want to know what happened to the character they have been following for the past two hours, but this movie denies you of that. It leaves the fate of the character out of view, and while that works for some movies, I sadly don't think it was the right choice here. Seeing all the things that this character has gone through and leaving it unfinished before the movie is over feels incredibly abrupt and doesn't fit with the rest of the movie. Despite this issue, Before The Devil Knows You're Dead is a masterpiece from a truly talented director. A tight written script brought together by superb acting and thrills, this is definitely a movie you should make time for.

Leofwine_draca You know, there's a decent little sub-genre of films about crimes gone wrong in which the protagonists attempt to evade the law and clear up after their mess. RESERVOIR DOGS could be classed as such, but the real classics of the genre for me are the snow-bound classics FARGO and A SIMPLE PLAN. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD is another entry in this sub-genre with much in common with the previous movies, but unfortunately it lacks the same kind of power.While I enjoy the narrative of the story, I have to say that this movie's style is all wrong. The jumping back and forth in time structure makes it feel all over the place and, indeed, that it's a mess. It would have been much better if it had played out completely linear. The look is cold, the style holds you back from the action. The direction is one of my least favourite things about the film, which is a real surprise given that the director is Sidney Lumet, purveyor of such classics as SERPICO and DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Sorry, Sidney; you just haven't got it anymore.Still, there are reasons to watch here, not least Philip Seymour Hoffman's sleazy, drug-addled businessman who finds his life spiralling out of control. Ethan Hawke is effective as his waster brother, and Albert Finney reliably solid as the siblings' father. Watch out for the lovely Marisa Tomei as Hoffman's girlfriend and the excellent Michael Shannon in a minor role as a bad guy. Lashings of violence and some shocking twists help propel the plot along, but in the end this was a bit of a disappointment and a case of wasted potential as it could have been so much better.