Features







2007-08 Oscar Calendar



[Monday, December 3, 2007]

Official Screen Credits
Forms Due.


[Wednesday, December 26, 2007]

Nominations ballots mailed.


[Saturday, January 12, 2008]

Nominations polls close
5 p.m. PST.


[Tuesday, January 22, 2008]

Nominations announced
5:30 a.m. PST
Samuel Goldwyn Theater


[Wednesday, January 30, 2008]

Final ballots mailed.


[Monday, February 4, 2008]

Nominees Luncheon


[Saturday, February 9, 2008]

Scientific and Technical
Awards Dinner


[Tuesday, February 19, 2008]

Final polls close 5 p.m. PST.


[Sunday, February 24, 2008]

79th Annual
Academy Awards Presentation
Kodak Theatre

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"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (***1/2)

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Sydney Lumet’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” can indeed be deemed that simplest of dramatic terms: tragedy. But there is something to be said about a work of drama – whatever the medium – that settles so deep inside of you and is so deliberate in its downward spiral of emotional distress that you can’t really feel anything when the credits role or the curtain drops. The numbing effect has kind of transcended empathy and compassion, personal discomfort and outright sadness. There’s just…nothing. That is what this film does.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke star as Andy and Hank, brothers living separate and dissimilar lives but equally unhappy with the way their hand has played out. Just past the point where mid-life crisis makes the most sense, the troubling notion that “this” is all there is has given way to a certain desire for more that would allow outrageous or foolish action.


Andy has a beautiful and sexy wife, Gina (Marissa Tomei). However, the last time it seems he was attracted to her enough that he – shall we say “performed” – was a recent vacation in Rio. It is that brief spike of happiness that opens the film, in fact, no “performance” issues in sight. And it’s damn brave of Lumet to open a film with Phil Hoffman laying into Marissa Tomei from the backside, but at his age and with his credentials, the guy knows how to get your attention.


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Hank, meanwhile, owes considerable child support and is more often than not seen apologizing for and feeling sorry for his broken family. He and Gina have been engaging in an affair for God knows how long, he’s in love with her, and she seems to take deep-seeded umbrage with the fact that her own husband doesn’t find her attractive anymore, burying herself in the sheer physicality of what she has with Hank.


Andy devises a scheme with the air of poseur about him. They both need money, though Andy is less than forthcoming with his apparent financial woes. He wants to knock off a mom and pop jewelry store and hopes to enlist Hank’s assistance. The money would solve both of their problems, and given that the merchandise is insured, no one gets hurt. Oh, and the “mom and pop jewelry store” belongs to their parents, Charles and Nanette (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris respectively).


Yeah, it’s a screwed up family.


The robbery goes awry when Hank brings a third party, Bobby, into the fold. Nanette, who wasn’t supposed to be at the store, is shot and killed. Hank begins to get squeezed by Bobby’s wife and brother-in-law. The IRS discovers Andy has been stealing from his company and Charles starts to put the pieces together. If it isn’t obvious, it’s a painful sequence of events to watch.


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What actually elevates the effort above what could have been a throwaway some flunky could have cooked up and passed off as a film are the two performances at the center of the piece. They are no doubt due to the steady, confident, assured and tested hand of a living legend behind the camera.


This is Hoffman’s best performance since “Owning Mahowny,” and yes, that includes his overrated impressions in “Capote.” He absolutely lives inside this character, offering a weird, almost terrifying glimpse of a man ruined by a trying childhood and angry with his father for God knows what. And these aren’t details that find themselves even close to the surface. One outburst might say it all for Andy, but it’s the details that said outburst illuminates in other portions of the film that spotlight why this is a killer performance worthy of awards recognition.


Hawke is spot-on in a role that finally makes good use of that awkward realism he struggles to convey in perhaps one too many performances. When Hank starts to unfold, it’s real and we feel it and, damn it, it doesn’t feel like a movie anymore. When the stakes get higher, Hawke’s reactions seem paradoxically polished in their imperfection. Thrown into the mix is the sense that Hank is a romantic, buried by the cynicism of reality and the hardships of an unforgiving city.


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Marissa Tomei – God bless her – walks around the film topless for the most part, but offers a performance ranging from sexy, vulnerable and optimistic to weary, defeated and cynical. Albert Finney is good if somewhat elusive, while Rosemary Harris has little to do but emboss a character we’re actually sad to see go, despite what little we know of her.


“Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” is one of the best films of the year if only because it does so much with so little. The story is conveyed in a broken narrative fashion that would seem unnecessary at first, but one discovers the choice oddly enlightens the viewer to the inner workings of the characters at a deliberate and particular pace, allowing for a certain marinating quality. That Lumet is still knocking stuff like this out of the park at his age is becoming almost an expected fact, but there is something special working within the frames of this picture. You just don’t come across a filmmaker able to drill this deep anymore.

Comments

WOW,PSH is having a great year! Early test-screening reviews raved about his performance in CWW too.

I wonder which category will he campaign for this movie.

BTW,first time poster,love your work.

It's amazing how a few shots of Marisa Tomei naked (especially having sex in the opening scene) can get male critics drooling and apparently cloud their critical faculties. This was one of the weakest films I saw in Toronto.

No clouded judgement here. It's a great film and a great performance, whether her clothes were on or off.

Off was a bonus, though.

I agree with you about her performance. I'll be interested to see what female critics have to say about the movie when they weigh in. If they agree with the guys I've read so far, then I'll have to give the film a second look.

It WAS the last film I saw before rushing off to the airport, so maybe I was burnt out or something. But all the heavy sighs I heard in the theater whenever the movie doubled back on itself seemed at the time to confirm that I wasn't alone in thinking this narrative strategy a detraction.

This film kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. I have to say I hated Hoffman's character--but that didn't stop me from wanting to know what would happen. I did wonder what happened to Hank in the end. What would he do? I was happy for Lumet, that he could make such a dynamic film late in his career. The only thing I didn't like was the character of the drug dealer--something didn't ring true about that character. I wonder how this film will play in middle America?

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2008 Year in Advance Predictions


UPDATED: 2/25/2008





Main Charts | Tech Charts



[Motion Picture]

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“Doubt”

“Frost/Nixon”

“Revolutionary Road”

“The Soloist”



[Directing]

David Fincher
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Ron Howard
“Frost/Nixon”

Gus Van Sant
“Milk”

Sam Mendes
“Revolutionary Road”

Joe Wright
“The Soloist”



[Actor in a Leading Role]

Benicio Del Toro
“The Argentine”

Jamie Foxx
“The Soloist”

Frank Langella
“Frost/Nixon”

Sean Penn
“Milk”

Brad Pitt
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”



[Actress in a Leading Role]

Vera Farmiga
“Nothing But the Truth”

Angelina Jolie
“Changeling”

Julianne Moore
“Blindness”

Meryl Streep
“Doubt”

Kate Winslet
“Revolutionary Road”



[Actor in a Supporting Role]

Josh Brolin
“Milk”

Russell Crowe
“Body of Lies”

Robert Downey, Jr.
“The Soloist”

Heath Ledger
“The Dark Knight”

Michael Sheen
“Frost/Nixon”



[Actress in a Supporting Role]

Amy Adams
“Doubt”

Kathy Bates
“Revolutionary Road”

Cate Blanchett
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Catherine Keener
“The Soloist”

Carice van Houten
“Body of Lies”



[Writing, Adapted Screenplay]

“Body of Lies”

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“Doubt”

“Frost/Nixon”

“Revolutionary Road”



[Writing, Original Screenplay]

“Changeling”

“Hamlet 2”

“Milk”

“The Soloist”

“WALL·E”



[Art Direction]

“Australia”

“Defiance”

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull”

“Red Cliff”

“Revolutionary Road”



[Cinematography]

“Australia”

“The Dark Knight”

“Defiance”

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull”

“Revolutionary Road”



[Costume Design]

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“Doubt”

“The Other Boleyn Girl”

“Red Cliff”

“Revolutionary Road”



[Film Editing]

“Body of Lies”

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“Defiance”

“Frost/Nixon”

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull”



[Makeup]

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“The Dark Knight”

“Red Cliff”



[Music, Original Score]

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull”

“The Soloist”

“Revolutionary Road”

“WALL·E”



[Music, Original Song]

coming soon



[Sound Editing]

“Defiance”

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull”

“Iron Man”

“Speed Racer”

“WALL·E”



[Sound Mixing]

“Defiance”

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom
of the Crystal Skull”

“Cloverfield”

“The Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian”

“WALL·E”



[Visual Effects]

“The Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian”

“The Incredible Hulk”

“Iron Man”



[Animated Feature Film]

“9”

“Kung Fu Panda”

“WALL·E”



[Foreign Language Film]

coming soon



[Documentary, Features]

coming soon



[Documentary, Short Subjects]

coming soon



[Short Film, Animated]

coming soon



[Short Film, Live Action]

coming soon