#4: Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

My list is getting shorter for my top ten actors, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman makes this list (along with 21 Grams' (#3) lead actor Sean Penn). There's so much to say about Hoffman; his role in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is purely genius. Not to mention Ethan Hawke - to be honest, I think this might be one of his best movies. I thought the entire movie was riveting from start to finish. I really enjoyed the layout of the film. Even though I thought the film was depressing for each individual character, I couldn't really turn my head and stop watching at any point. This is yet another must see... at least go see it for the acting of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke. Terrific acting, great idea and overall, a well-done movie.

Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10

- Josh Berg

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is one of those movies that I picked up at the movie store over and over again and never felt totally driven to watch it. As I watched it, I realized how much more depth the movie had than was written on the back of the box (this is always the case, but with this movie, the back of the box wasn't enough to make me even watch it) and I found it almost hard to follow at times. As Josh said, this movie is made by great acting. Hoffman is a prodigy. The man can pay almost any role with the perfect amount of subtlety and grittiness.

This was the forth movie in a row that we've watched that had a progression that was not chronological. In this context, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was not as well-executed as the other movies we've talked about so far (Memento, Babel, and 21 Grams), but it did well enough to keep me with the plot.

I can't place what it is about this movie that leaves me feeling slightly unsatisfied, but I do. It could be the matter-of-factness of the ending that was so powerful and understated. It's not a movie I would expect to feel good about at the end, but it left me more unsettled than I feel it should have. Again, I'm not sure why. We could argue whether that's evidence of good filmmaking or bad filmmaking, but I'll leave it at this: I recommend this Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. I'm not sure why, but it seems like a movie people should see. My apologies for the lack of articulation - it's a rare movie that leaves me without words, if that says anything.

Overall Rating: 8.4 / 10


- Taylor Dobbs