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Moriarty Has A Hellishly Good Time With BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD!

cool! by FILMFUNK	Nov 22nd, 2007 05:09:21 AM
hope i can still see, breath and at least shuffle around at 83!
Marisa Tomei...schwing! by IAmMrMonkey!	Nov 22nd, 2007 05:11:42 AM
She was uber-hot when she was younger and the lady's still got it even now!
Go Sidney! by Maniaq	Nov 22nd, 2007 06:31:51 AM
the more Marissa Tomei we get the better for everyone!
Burwell score is awesome by filmcoyote	Nov 22nd, 2007 07:34:03 AM
This is his best non-Coen work. Simply great. Brilliant film, Lumet firing on all cylinders. And Tomei - whoa! She is so gorgeous it's painful to watch.
Essential Reading: Lumet's book by Barry Egan	Nov 22nd, 2007 08:57:59 AM
If there are people on this site who have never read Lumet's book "Making Movies," I implore you to check it out. It offers great insight into the filmmaking process. Great, great stuff.
This actually isn't the good movie critics are saying it is by Laserhead	Nov 22nd, 2007 09:25:17 AM
Hawke's character can do nothing but tremble and stutter and burble; it's never credible that Tomei would be sleeping with him, or that his brother would entrust this 'heist' to him. Tomei, while beautiful, has no real character in the piece at all, just some fleshy parts. AND-- instead of the plot being a series of increasing escalations, with greater tension and inevitable, but unexpected twists; in the last 30 minutes the thing decides it wants to be Reservoir Dogs. Love lots of Lumet movies (just watched Prince of the City the other day), but I think Lumet's getting a lot of love for this based on his past works-- if a no-name director had put this out, it'd be seen as a crime movie whose VERY simple plot is needlessly convoluted by time switches, featuring one-note characters and a script that cuts corners for convenience; and they'd say it's come out about twelve years later than the fads its aping. Seriously, I've talked to other people who had the exact same take; like, 'That's it? You're kidding...'
A fucking sledgehammer. by The Addict	Nov 22nd, 2007 10:10:51 AM
When I walked into a preview screening of this pic a few weeks ago, I expected (from the trailer) a film with about the emotional weight of say "Snatch" or "Lock Stock." When I left the theater that dreary Thursday night, however, I felt as though I'd been bludgeoned for the past two hours by a sledgehammer made out of pure emotion. I couldn't think properly and felt like I needed the stiffest drink known to the universe, but instead just decided to curl up into bed and call it a night. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was fantastic; it just took such a strong emotional toll on me that that's all this movie can be to me: a fucking sledgehammer.
Best fucking movie of 2007 by Osmosis Jones	Nov 22nd, 2007 11:20:28 AM
I was gripped and devastated. And Tomei boobies were just the icing on the cake.
Osmosis by Mostholy	Nov 22nd, 2007 11:36:22 AM
I preferred I'm Not There and No Country, but it's definitely right up there. (Review: http://www.ghostinthemachine.n et/005031.html) And, Laser, I'd disagree - Tomei definitely has a character here. She's as manipulative with sex as Hoffman is with bullying and Hawke with wheedling. Note the scene where she comes alive in bed when she catches wind of a crime afoot. (They're talking about extradition.)
Just the nipples by Osmosis Jones	Nov 22nd, 2007 12:02:36 PM
But they're NICE, perky nipples.
Lumet did NOT do the flashbacks (Or: I didn't like this one too by topaz4206	Nov 22nd, 2007 12:14:45 PM
According to an interview with Todd McCarthy, Lumet said all of the flashbacks were in the script. And that is unfortunate, because I found that the flashbacks actually sucked all of the dramatic tension out of an otherwise interesting and time-sensitive central dilemma. The best thing about this film is Lumet, still in top form, and now shooting films in two-camera HiDef!
I hated this fucking movie. by s00p3rm4n	Nov 22nd, 2007 12:41:06 PM
What is wrong with you people? This film was a fucking exercise in boredom. It could not have felt any longer. The dialogue was AWWWWWFUL, the editing horrendous, there was no pacing to it whatsoever, and I would've walked out had the Landmark Theater not been so upscale and expensive. Marisa Tomei was relegated to the "angry bitch woman" character. P.S. Hoffman couldn't give a bad performance if he tried. But this movie is truly truly awful. "Find Me Guilty" was a better return to form than this. Oh and why the fuck did this movie have to be shot in such poor quality video? It's really obvious.
Mostholy - Tomei's character by s00p3rm4n	Nov 22nd, 2007 12:42:34 PM
Yeah, she's a vicious evil sex cunt. Wow, what a unique and novel and empowering characterization for a woman to play.
Empowering? by Mostholy	Nov 22nd, 2007 12:59:11 PM
I didn't know Lumet was suppose to advance the feminist cause in every film. At any rate, Tomei's character is just as loopy, fallible, and damaged as the brothers, and I thought she conveyed this pretty well in her limited screen time.
While I liked this movie a lot by mr.underwater	Nov 22nd, 2007 02:08:37 PM
And I'm a pretty big fan of Lumet in general (sometimes a really big fan), I do think critics may be over-hyping just a tad. Perhaps is because they completely ignored "Find Me Guilty." Who knows? Still worth seeing. I think this review should have been posted before the DVD release, rather than now. It's already come and gone from theaters (at least here in New York).
actually, underwater. by Mostholy	Nov 22nd, 2007 02:19:44 PM
It's still playing at all the arthouses here in NYC. The Angelika and Lincoln Plaza to name just two. Yeah, xiphos, I didn't miss the boobies. Not for a second.
You had me at by Lando Griffin	Nov 22nd, 2007 02:31:54 PM
Marisa Tomer's boobies. George Costanza would be proud
Mostholy - you don't have to be a feminist. by s00p3rm4n	Nov 22nd, 2007 02:46:00 PM
Way to completely miss the point, like so many others. To ask for female characters to be shown as human in cinema is not "advancing the feminist cause." To show them as intellectually capable, and just as rational or irrational as the men they're (invariably) surrounded with is not the same as taking to the streets and marching for free abortions and lollipops. You don't have to be a feminist to make a female character. But if given the chance, you also don't have to be a douchebag and make women subservient, sex-crazed subhumans in your film. Sidney Lumet's made some AMAZING roles for women over his bajillion-year career - like in NETWORK, one of my favorite films ever. This was not one of those, and it really hurt the movie. It was clearly a conscious choice to have Marisa Tomei and Hawke's accomplice's girlfriend be the only women in this movie - and they are whiney, self-absorbed, sex-crazed, and dumb. The men's characters are very, very human - not just evil, not just good, and not necessarily brilliant. But they react to their situation in a human way. Marisa Tomei's character is a whiney succubus and nothing more. She doesn't react to things like a human would. She isn't shown thinking or feeling. Now, that may be partly an aspect of her performance (I don't think she's a particularly good actress unless it's My Cousin Vinny) and partly an aspect of directing, but I found that the only thing more annoying than her character was the fucking heel-clacking she kept doing on the floor of their apartment. The movie should've been two hours of P.S. Hoffman shooting people through a pillow and crying, and Marisa Tomei showing up to show off her boobs and say pithy shit to Hoffman. No more Ethan Hawke stumbling around trying to find a performance.
Fucking hell this site needs an edit function. by s00p3rm4n	Nov 22nd, 2007 02:47:19 PM
"Whiny," not "whiney." What the fuck? This is what happens in America when Thanksgiving becomes a 3-day Gauntlet of Booze.
My bad by mr.underwater	Nov 22nd, 2007 03:41:08 PM
I figured since it's been out for over a month, that it had come and gone. But yeah, I guess it's still at BAM too.
s00per: by Mostholy	Nov 22nd, 2007 03:42:28 PM
I'm totally with you on the edit function. Allowing html would be nice and, y'know, 21st century to boot. As for Tomei, I don't think I "completely missed the point." Where we seem to disagree is I don't think Tomei's character was a "subservient, sex-crazed subhuman" -- I found her exactly as independent, intellectually capable, irrational, self-centered, and awful (heel-clacking and all) as the two brothers in the film. If sex is her tool of manipulation (as Hoffman's is bullying and Hawke's is wheedling), well, that's the character. My point was Lumet is under no obligation to pretty her up to create an "empowering" figure -- to do so would be more insulting than to fashion the character as written. Also, I'm not sure where you're getting the only two women in the movie thing. Did you miss Amy Ryan as Ethan Hawke's ex-wife (or his daughter, for that matter)? How about Rosemary Harris as the brothers' mom? Or how about the religious sister, who has about as much screen time as the accomplice's girlfriend? True, everyone (except for saintly Aunt May) comes off pretty flawed and unlikable in their own way, but that was half the point of the movie. We obviously disagree on this, but I found Before the Devil no unkinder to its female characters than it was to its male ones -- To wit, it wasn't kind to any of 'em at all.
Also by Mostholy	Nov 22nd, 2007 03:44:28 PM
I'm totally with you on NETWORK. Amazing flick.
Rife not ripe by songfighter	Nov 22nd, 2007 09:06:06 PM
Using the right word is important in writing.
I'd like to congratulate Marisa Tomei for getting naked and laid by MrMysteryGuest	Nov 22nd, 2007 10:15:57 PM

Original Casting by hippolyta	Nov 22nd, 2007 11:14:49 PM
There's an old review of the script on filmjerk where James Gandolfini was Ethan Hawke's character and Dermot Mulroney had Philip Seymore Hoffman's role. I can't picture that at all. (http://www.filmjerk.com/revie ws/article.php?id_rev=118)
I think its safe to say... by tailhook	Nov 23rd, 2007 01:27:12 AM
if Moriarty claims he's going to do something.. climb a mountain, paint a self-portrait, whatever... there is 100% likelihood it will never, ever happen. So ya buddy.. one for one Capone on reviews.. that little claim will be easily be forgotten like all the other claims you haven't followed through on.
Im confused by Wyrdy the Gerbil	Nov 23rd, 2007 09:07:49 AM
I wonder just when was this made because i know i saw it quite a while ago
I like boobs AND great movies... by Osmosis Jones	Nov 24th, 2007 12:52:19 PM
...so getting both in the same film is just a bonus.
Demographics by topaz4206	Nov 24th, 2007 04:22:19 PM
OK, I'll start: I graduated college, I'm 6'1 170 lbs., I'd love to date an Asian girl but there are nothing but Mexicans in L.A., I'd gladly pay a hooker to let me pleasure myself onto her posterior but she'd better not touch me with those scabie'd hands, and Marisa's tits, ass, legs, abdomen and face look fucking INSANELY hot in this movie.
Marisa Tomei is fantastic no matter what your age. by Executor	Nov 26th, 2007 04:01:51 AM
AnimalStructure: I'm past my teens by a decade, but I leaned over to my friend tonight in the middle of the movie and said: Marisa Tomei should get an award for this. "Her boobs?" my friend said. "Yep."
And the reason boobs are the predominant discussion... by Executor	Nov 26th, 2007 04:05:52 AM
...is because the movie was so throughly average. Interesting, entertaining, a few great scenes of acting, but could have done without the flashbacks and told it linearly (no big reveals or reasons for the flashback, despite what Moriarty says, and it actually LESSENS the tension to see things repeated again and again.) But really just a pleasant, completely average movie. The reason everyone istalking about Marisa is cause her boobs and her getting slammed doggy style is the best thing about the movie.

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