Tag: Drama

Review: ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’

Devil’s Leading Men

Zac:

Sidney Lumet’s new film is an interesting take on the crime drama, by taking a small simple crime and examining the consequences of what can happen if everything went wrong. The movie is a very intimate look into the lives of everyone involved and can be even more intimate than most crime films due to the interconnections between all the characters we focus on.
The movie opens with Andy, Phillip Seymor Hoffman, having some raw powerful sex with his wife Gina, the very naked most of the time Marisa Tomei, and while seemingly a bit gratuitous at first, by the end of everything it is the reason that everything that happens in the film happens in the first place.
Also involved is Hank, Ethan Hawke, who is a divorced supporting dad who is a little short on cash all the time, as well as Charles, Albert Finney, the owner of a “ma and pa” jewelry store.
The second scene we see is the robbery itself, and when it goes south, Hank has to flee the scene, as he escapes we flash back 3 days using a cool little transition and this is how the story is told through out the film. Once Hank’s story catches back up to where it went back, we might see a bit more or we flashback to see one of the other three leads perspectives over roughly the same time frame. A few scenes overlap and based on what we learn from the flashback those scenes have a bit more weight and we see them from other angles the second time around.
The acting is top notch most of the time and there are some twists and turns as you go. Hoffman is the best here, because he is awesome, and he gets to work with a broad range of emotions and has the most going on as a character. His scenes/story is full of long takes and sadness compared to the others, and while good, can be hard to swallow sometimes. Hawke’s performance is the most frantic and plot driven, as he was directly a part of the robbery, and he does work as usual. Tomei is pretty much a naked sex craved woman the first half, but does a great job telling a lot about her relationship with Andy in the opening scene. We don’t divulge into her character that much and I think we missed out on some good material, especially with the relationship situation she is in and getting to see what she thought about everything could have been really interesting; we only get to see a touch of that in a really great scene towards the end. Finney is good as well most of the time, but he has some really awkward moments, and is sadly just getting to old I think. His mouth does some weird things and took me out of the movie a couple times. I know this sounds mean, but it was very visually distracting a couple times, especially in the climax, it looked like he was having a stroke or something.
In the end, the movie drags a bit occasionally but never long enough to disinterest and the story is compelling, engaging, and well thought out. The acting is good and there are occasional bits of laughter through out which help lighten the mood. But a bit of an open ending might upset some, but it works for me. In another year this movie might have faired better, but with so many good movies out right now it pales in comparison; definitely at least worth renting, and seek it out in theaters if your a crime fan, as its a interesting take on the genre.

(4 out of 5)

Travis:

Director Sydney Lumet returns to form with Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, after what I consider to be one of the longest directorial droughts in movie history. It’s no surprise, however, that his return evokes movies like Dog Day Afternoon and Serpico, which made him an icon of 70’s cinema.

The story follows Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a washed up banker, as he drags his brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) into a personally disasterous criminal belly flop, which they hope will set them both free of their miserably unsatisfying lives. Hoffman is both frighteningly numb and pathetically desperate as a drug-addicted, financially drained bank employee who plots *spoiler* a robbery of his own parents’ jewelry store as a way to free himself and his wife (Marisa Tomei) from their empty suburban, middle-class lives.

The slightly non-linear story unfolds in a way that intrigues us with a slowly revealed trail of mishaps and consequences, which eventually lead to the ironicly poetic and disturbing climax. Everyone becomes a victom to Andy’s greed and self-loathing. Scenes are played with such emotional mastery, they are difficult to watch yet we cannot break ourselves from our attachment to these characters. We truly want to feel sympathy for Andy, but we are left at every turn hating him more. Certainly we will see Oscar nods for Hoffman, possibly for Hawke and maybe even for the screenplay.

(4.5 out of 5)

[rating: 4.25/5]

Review: ‘The Namesake’

Zac:

Mira Nair has taken this adaptation of the novel of the same name and turned in a touching and entertaining movie that while remaining constantly enjoyable, never rises above being anything but pretty good.
Irfan Khan, Tabu, and Kal Penn share the lead in this movie with each giving us a fascinating look into Indian culture and the effect of raising a family in a country far from home can have on everyone involved. Ifran Khan is great as Ashoke Ganguli and we open the film with him in a train crash. We then go on to see the arrangement of Ashoke and his wife Ashima (Tabu) and they quickly move to America where Ashoke has been studying for his PHD. Gogol (Penn) is born as is his sister Sonya and the movie quickly moves up to Gogol’s high school graduation. The movie jumps large blocks of time though out though we don’t really feel like we miss a whole lot, which is a good thing. Along the course of the film we get to see Ashoke and Ashima’s adjusting to America, numerous visits back to India, we follow Gogol’s love interests as well as a discovery of his heritage through his family.
Kal Penn does some pretty good work here and I would love to see him get to spread his wings a bit more like this with some meatier roles. He is able to handle most of the drama well but he is not performing at the same league as Khan and Tabu. His love interests also do admirable jobs but leave you feel like we could have gotten more from them as both characters and actresses.
Tabu is just fantastic as the mother as the emotional core of the film. She is in the middle of everything and deals with a lot of the drama in the film but we get some great looks into her emotions as she deals with all the changes around her. I don’t think I have seen her in anything else, but I hope she pops up more cause she is great and a real find in this movie.
The movie as a whole is good, with some great camera work at Taj Mahal. The jumps in time are a bit jarring, but don’t let us feel like we missed anything to important, and there are some really great genuine moments along the way. The film just lacked something to give it that punch of greatness and I really don’t know what it is, but it’s missing something. Either way it is a film that is definitely worth your time if at all interested and for anyone up for a good family drama with a cultural twist.

[rating: 4/5]

Review: ‘Reservation Road’

Zac:

This Oscar hopeful unfortunately falls short. Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Ruffalo star in this serious drama about the effect of a hit and run can have on the two parties involved; the grieving family and the runner. Ruffalo plays the runner and i good as always. Playing the tortured soul to a great effect, we can buy into his pain and struggle with carrying on with the guilt or facing the music and turning himself in. The major hitch in his dilemma is that he loves his son and wants to be the good father to him that he never had; he also wants to watch the Red Sox win the World Series. Phoenix also plays his part well with the obsessed father doing anything to seek “justice” for the loss of his son. Phoenix’s wife in the movie is played by Jenifer Connelly who turns in some great work as the grieving mother that is trying to move on with life without losing her husband.
As for the story, everything is there. Grief filled family, check. Fighting parents, check. Tortured soul, check. It’s the other elements that make things kind of fishy. The fact that Ruffalo ends up working on the case for Phoenix is a bit of a stretch, even for a small town, and is a bit convenient. Ruffalo is also able to doop everyone fairly easily by renting a car as well. The arc’s for the Connelly and Phoenix are also a bit amiss. Phoenix falls into revenge mode in a hurry and isn’t very deep beyond a couple shades of change. While Connelly goes through the grieving process a bit fast for my tastes, especially since the movie takes place over the course of the Red Sox 04 playoff run, which in itself is an interesting backdrop.(How can we make this great moment wrapped in sadness to stick it to Boston)
Overall it is a very heavy movie, that has solid performances all around. The movie’s logic might be a bit off at times but there are some great scenes sprinkled through out, usually with Ruffalo dealing with his guilt, but in the end the movie fails to take it to that next level of being anything more than, ‘it was good’.

[rating: 3/5]

Review: ‘Gone Baby Gone’

Zac:

Another movie dealing with the loss of a child, this one excels on pretty much every level. Gone Baby Gone is an adaptation of the Dennis Lehane(Mystic River) novel by Ben Affleck in his directorial debut. I have always been a fan of Affleck and I am glad that he does a great job here which is supported by his great cast.
Leading the cast is Ben’s brother Casey who, along with Jesse James, is having a breakthrough year. Casey is just as good here as he is in Jesse James but is playing a completely different animal. As a private investigator contracted to help with the “neighborhood” investigation of the disappearance of a little girl he is a great as the evolving investigator gaining experience on the job. Affleck is accompanied by his girlfriend, Michelle Monaghan who helps with the detective work; though Affleck is usually figuring out most of the turns. As Affleck moves through his investigation we find twists and turns and fall onto some unexpected paths with some amazing tense scenes that get the blood rushing and wont let up.
The rest of the cast is rounded out by a couple of legends, Morgan Freeman as a police captain and Ed Harris as the cases detective. Freeman is more in the background, but good as always, while Ed Harris is fantastic as the rough detective willing to do anything to get the girl. He gets so intense and so scary with some of the investigated sometimes you are glad you don’t have to deal with his tactics.
Another great turn is by, Amy Ryan, as the mother of the missing girl. You completely forget she is some actor and totally buy into her as this horrible druggie mother that is lost in the trash and underworld of Boston. You just don’t really like her, might even hate her, yet she maintains some sympathy. But when you really hate a character, you know the actor is doing a pretty damn good job.
Ben Affleck does a great job at making this movie feel real as well, which makes it easy to buy into the world. No one is really attractive in this, its gritty and dirty, and it’s a place I wouldn’t want to be in. Even Amy Ryan and Michelle Monaghan some how manage to be not very appealing for being beautiful women. As the rest of the directing duties go, Affleck has some great moody scenes and shoots tension incredibly well and crafted a story that for the most part stays entertaining; rarely slowing up at all.
The movie is carried by a good story with great actors doing what they are supposed to do for a fantastic debut for Ben Affleck as a director. I hope he gets behind and in front of the camera a lot more in the future and that is brother becomes the star that he deserves to be sooner, rather than later.

[rating: 4.5/5]