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MauritiusToday.com - Shopping Mall - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $12.99
Your Save: $ 6.99 ( 35% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: ThinkFilm
Starring: Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Rosemary Harris, Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Directed By: Sidney Lumet
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 0014381487527
Format: AC-3
Label: ThinkFilm
Manufacturer: ThinkFilm
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: ThinkFilm
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-04-15
Running Time: 112
Studio: ThinkFilm
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
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Editorial Reviews:
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Master filmmaker Sidney Lumet directs this absorbing suspense thriller about a family facing the worst enemy of all itself. Oscar®-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Andy, an overextended broker who lures his younger brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke) into a larcenous scheme: the pair will rob a suburban mom-and-pop jewelry store that appears to be the quintessential easy target. The problem is, the store owners are Andy and Hank s actual mom and pop and, when the seemingly perfect crime goes awry, the damage lands right at their doorstep. Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei plays Andy s trophy wife, who is having a clandestine affair with Hank. The stellar cast also includes Albert Finney as the family patriarch who pursues justice at all costs, completely unaware that the culprits he is hunting are his own sons. A classy, classic heist-gone-wrong drama in the tradition of The Killing and Lumet s own The Anderson Tapes, BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOW YOU RE DEAD is smart enough to know that we often have the most to fear from those who are near and dear.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: BAD IDEA!.... GONE REALLY REALLY WRONG!
Comment: 'Before The Devil Knows You're Dead' will make you think twice about doing something you know is bad, but you do it anyway! With a premise that shows how wrong a seemingly easy solution can go horribly wrong this film pulls no punches! An engrossing story of two brothers in desperate need of cash, decide to pull off a robbery!....that's as far as I'll go with the plot. What happens next is absolutely tragic.
The story is told flash back and flash forward style, which works well in story for the most part. Although, I did feel the film dragged needlessly in the middle sometimes because they didn't reveal enough new information during some flashback/forward segments. This didn't hurt the overall experience, but with a little more information, it would have really pulled me in. Regardless, it's a very solid film with solid performances. The ending was abrupt and left a couple of important loose ends. For those small grievances I deduct 1 star.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Descent into Evil
Comment: "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" is a dark tale of human greed and deceit. What starts out as a thoroughly corrupted crime against parents descends into something even worse. There is a horrible viscous circle at work which no one is able to right.
Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman) convinces his younger brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke), to rob their parents' jewellery store in the suburbs of New York. The parents are not meant to be working on the day of the heist and, although they may be disturbed by the crime, insurance will cover their losses. The brothers each have their own financial difficulties and the robbery will relieve them of their troubles.
The crime, however, goes terribly wrong. Their mother is unexpectedly working on the day and dies of a gun shot wound. The trail left by the brothers slowly unravels and the especially conniving Andy is seen for being the epitome of evil. Needless to say, the brothers are found out. In a particularly bleak scene, Andy gets his comeuppance. At least some justice seems to be at work in a roundabout way.
The performances of both Hoffman and Hawke are good. They are plausible in their roles. Their father, played by Albert Finney is also well managed. His grief at times is palpable.
Overall, the film is good without being great. It is worth the effort but is unlikely to win a swag of awards.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great
Comment: This is a really good movie, you have to pay attention and stay in the room the whole movie...Or pause it if you have you leave the room...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not awesome...
Comment: Wasn't the best movie, wasn't aweful. It was very long, didn't think it would end. Not sure if i would recommend it to people unless they are movie buffs. I guess I had bigger expectations.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Lumet: Still The Master Filmmaker
Comment: When I heard aging director Sidney Lumet was attached to BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, I was dubious about its success. Not because Lumet has any stains on his record! Quite the contrary. With films like 12 Angry Men, Serpico, and Fail Safe to his astounding credit, he is well-known as a vintage director of classic melodramas. But his age (83 at the time this film was made) could've been a factor; old-style filmmaker does old-style job again. But any fears were quickly whisked away once I started watching his latest film.
Not surprisingly, when Hollywood heard the name "Lumet" and that it was involved with a new movie, several bigshots jumped at the chance to be in it. And this was a very good thing. Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) heads this all-star melodrama (yes, it's still a melodrama and that's a VERY good thing) alongside Ethan Hawke (Lord of War) and the incredibly sexy Marisa Tomei (Wild Hogs). Forming a kind of triumvirate of misfits, Lumet takes the audience on a wild ride both in terms of how the timing of the film is laid out (jumping from date to date and perspective to perspective) and what each of them is up to. Hoffman turns in another excellent performance as Andy, a man with financial and drug issues and married to the beautiful Gina (Tomei). Gina is lost amidst her husband's distant actions and shut-in existence and finds solace with his brother Hank (Hawke).
Hank is also having financial woes and isn't the brightest bulb in the package. And when his brother Andy (Hoffman) comes to him with a plan to hold up a jewelry store in order to solve their problems, Andy is hesitantly for it ...until he learns Andy's plan is to rob their own parents' store. Store owner and parents Charles (Albert Finney, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride) and Nanette (Rosemary Harris, Spider-Man 3) are completely oblivious to their son's plan and when Hank hires a man to help him rob the store, things go horribly wrong.
It is to Lumet's credit that he spearheads the issues each character deals with and does so without extending it/them into boredom; an area that has plagued many past melodramas. Sexy, dangerous, and frighteningly realistic, Lumet delivers a film that picks up tension as the characters spiral out of control. Even Charles (Finney) isn't immune to the pressures of these horrific events, finding himself making a decision no father should ever be in the position of making.
Again, it is to Lumet's credit that he's not afraid to move with the times and show us he knows what works for audiences. The opening sex sequence will certainly grab many viewers. Lumet also isn't afraid to use new technology in his filming; he's all digital. This speaks to his understanding of how well he sees filmmaking as an art, which includes how light falls onto film versus into the digital 1s and 0s.
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