Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

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  • Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

    Is absolutely fvcking spectacular, best movie of the year. Absolutely up there with Lumet's best, from the 70's. Arguably Phil Hoffman's best performance. Wow - inspiring filmmaking...rush to see it...

    oh, btw - best screenplay in years. Hats off to Kelly Masterson.

  • #2
    Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

    Hope my area gets this. If not, I'll be more pissed off than...well, I don't know.

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    • #3
      Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

      Originally posted by Biohazard View Post
      Hope my area gets this. If not, I'll be more pissed off than...well, I don't know.
      Same here.

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      • #4
        Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

        I will see this.

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        • #5
          Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

          It's opening in my local Landmark Cinema this Friday (I'm north of Boston), and assume it'll open in many other Landmarks nationwide at the same time.

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          • #6
            Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

            Originally posted by Jake Schuster View Post
            It's opening in my local Landmark Cinema this Friday (I'm north of Boston), and assume it'll open in many other Landmarks nationwide at the same time.
            In Waltham? Maybe I'll see you there. Will it be there this coming Sunday?

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            • #7
              Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

              Originally posted by Jake Schuster View Post
              It's opening in my local Landmark Cinema this Friday (I'm north of Boston), and assume it'll open in many other Landmarks nationwide at the same time.
              Wish I still lived in Medford.

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              • #8
                Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

                Here's the trailer.

                http://movies.go.com/trailer?cid=918583&vid=918584

                Can't wait to see it.
                Never mistake motion for action. ~Ernest Hemingway

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                • #9
                  Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

                  Why does Tao's thread get more responses than mine?


                  http://messageboard.donedealpro.com/...ad.php?t=34755

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                  • #10
                    Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

                    Originally posted by crustygibblet
                    No offense but the trailer doesn't do it for me.

                    A simple heist movie? What, the twist is, they rob their folks' store?

                    How original. And dialogue in the trailer seemed corny and on the nose.

                    Some good actors yes, but I doubt people will be rushing in droves to see this (myself included).

                    Do yourself a favor. Do not see this. Also, do not see No Country For Old Men. And whatever you do don't see There Will Be Blood next month.

                    You want Fred Claus, which opens tomorrow.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

                      Okay... Marisa Tomei is nekkid in about a quarter of the movie. You know. Really nekkid.

                      Story is low key, looks like they dug it out of a 1974 time capsule. My friend joked that it looked like they ran out of money and couldn't color time it.

                      Good dramatic thriller that escalates as one thing after another goes about as wrong as it could. Story does this thing where it backtracks and takes another primary character's POV for a bit - but there's no connective tissue between the segments, so there's no flow. It needed visual linking (like Sayles used in LONE STAR - that stuff has to be in the script). And sometimes it pulls you out of the story - or, at least, pulls you out of a character just when things are getting juicy. You can also see a bunch of stuff coming from *way* down the pike - which is kind of lame plotting (in one instance) - setting up something that solves a problem later in the story, but actually creates a logic problem.

                      But I forgive all of the problems because what you end up with is some really tense material - basically a family drama with firearms. It's relentless.

                      - Bill

                      PS: And Maria Tomei is nekkid a lot.
                      Last edited by wcmartell; 11-10-2007, 01:46 AM.
                      Free Script Tips:
                      http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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                      • #12
                        Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

                        Just saw this hugely interesting film, which is a tragedy of errors that mount up to become a Greek tragedy in modern dress. The narrative is fractured in such a way that you really don't know where it's going at any given time. The direction was first-rate, though the acting was variable. Phil Hoffman, of course, is a force of nature; Ethan Hawke is, well, Ethan Hawke. Marisa Tomei is naked, as has been mentioned, and otherwise unconvincing delivering her lines, and Albert Finney does what he does with great competence.

                        But the script is a first produced script, and as such is an impressive achievement. (Though I'd be interested if the writer's conception of it was originally as shot here.)

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                        • #13
                          Re: Before the Devil Knows you're Dead

                          Since the story keeps folding back to take another POV, RASHOMON style, it was in the script... but it may have been something that happened in a rewrite. My guess is that it was in the version of the script that sold, because it's the kind of storytelling device that's kind of sexy these days.

                          SLIGHT SPOILERS:

                          The great thing this story does is take what could have been a typical drama about a family with some issues: two adult sons with financial troubles. The favorite son and the screw up son who tries harder. Screw up son's problems with dad. Marital issues. Money issues. Having to decide to cease life support on a dying parent. Could have just been a kitchen sink drama...

                          But by adding a crime, and having it escalate completely out of control, the story becomes a thriller and the family drama becomes even more intense. The stakes are raised sky high. The drama explodes between characters.

                          This is a great example of how to take a small, personal story and turn it into something you might get an audience for, by raising the stakes.

                          - Bill
                          Free Script Tips:
                          http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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