Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Sep 2007, Sidney Lumet, 117 mins

Warning, if you have ever done something wrong, I mean really bad, never go see this movie. I have never felt so worried for myself while watching this film.

OK, here it is:

Two brothers (Andy- Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Hank- Ethan Hawke) need money. So, they plan the perfect, victimless crime... they decide to hold-up their parent's jewelery store... but since this is a movie, the plans go awry. And when I say awry, I mean terribly terribly wrong.

Andy and Hank spend the rest of the film digging themselves deeper into hell. At some points the film is as painfully uncomfortable to watch as Lisa Kudrow in The Comeback. This is a true testament to the actors and director who have put together a wonderfully crafted piece of art that is so haunting, it hurts the watcher.
In a supporting role, Albert Finney is fantastic as their father. But the two leads steal the show. It amazes me that Hawke and Hoffman, who share no physical similarities at all, can still fool the audience into thinking they are blood.

Anyways, tough movie but very good at the same time.

No Country for Old Men

Nov 2007, Ethan and Joel Coen, 122 mins

By now a million stunning reviews have come out for this Coen Brother's Western. Critics have called it a Masterpiece, an instant classic, and the best movie of the year. Awards groups have nominated it for Best Picture, Best Director/s, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay (New York Board of Review, SAG, Golden Globes...) ...bottom line, they're all right!

No Country is a taught thriller that hits you right in the face with its loud and bloody scenes. Javier Bardem is the perfect psycho assassin. Josh Brolin is as good as he could ever be. Tommy Lee Jones is spot on as the stoic, quiet, humbled sheriff. And for the first time since Larry Flint, Woody Harrelson doesn't suck.

Props to the directors for making a modern western with real men. The three main characters are not pretty boys like Christian Bale and Russell Crowe (3:10 to Yuma, anyone?). These are gritty men who, with their presence alone, make every moment feel real.