Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)

Premise: To solve their financial crises, Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) suggests to his little brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) that they rob a mom-and-pop jewellery store. Only trouble is, it belongs to their mom (Rosemary Harris) and pop (Albert Finney), and it all goes horribly wrong.

Decades after his heyday, director Sidney Lumet, a man who excels at connecting us with ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances (often of their own making), finds a story and a cast worthy of his abilities. Kelly Masterson's debut script cleverly fractures time before and after the robbery, but neither it nor Lumet's camera editorialize the events. They're not so much providing different perspectives on the events as different sets of facts. We see everyone crash together and disperse repeatedly, but it never gets any easier.

Masterson and Lumet's work is aided ably by electric performances turned in by the leads, particularly Hoffman and Hawke. There's an early scene when they are discussing, vaguely, the possibility of committing a "victimless" theft to solve their money problems, and they both come across as lions lying in wait for their prey. Later, when things come apart, Hoffman's Andy unravels before our very eyes, rubbed raw by the realities of his actions. Hawke's Hank, on the other hand, retreats behind his wounded puppy mask in such a way that you can tell he's been getting by on that for years. It's as though he doesn't know how to get angry properly because he doesn't have to. Once you factor in Finney's haunted, somnambulist disconnect, it's a feast.

I'd like to say that Marisa Tomei as Andy's wife, Gina, has the same effect. I can't. I've long thought of Tomei as an underrated and underused actress, and I am sure I will continue to think the same of her in the future. She's definitely talented enough to subtly make it clear when Gina's lying and when Gina's lying to herself. There are moments of genuine vulnerability beneath the veneer. But at the end of the day Gina's a terrible person, and nothing in the script or in the performance redeems her in any way. Using her sexuality to manipulate others because she thinks she's got nothing else is one of the lowest places a woman can go, and Gina lives there full time. I realize that I have been having a problem with supporting actresses lately, wondering if it's a lack of talent that makes their characters so unlikable to me. In the end, I think it's not that they're not talented. I just think that there's enough room for the character to be unlikable and still sympathetic. Patricia Wettig* excels at these kinds of women. Or, come to think of it, Amy Ryan, who appears in both this movie and Gone Baby Gone.

I don't know about this movie. I really liked it, then I really didn't. I forgot about it twice over the day after I saw it. Now, days later, I feel like it's burrowed into my brain, certain scenes playing on repeat in the background somewhere. When I told my mom what I was going to go see, the tone in her voice let me know that she had read something (or possible even multiple some things) bad about the movie. She was right. It goes off the rails right at the end with one man getting away with too much and another doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. There's no dénouement to this movie. It abruptly ends but not ambiguously enough to earn its white light finish. A-

*On an unrelated note, I've realized that all my reference points for male characters are in movies and for women are TV shows. If there were ever a sign about the dearth of good roles for female leads, this would be it.

I was brought in to leverage your synergy

The WGA and HFPA were kind enough to announce their nominees on the same day, so I suppose I should get with the synergy and tell you about them.

WGA: I can't begin to tell you how excited and pleased I am that Flight of the Conchords is getting so much attention. "Sally Returns" is an excellent episode, although I am kind of at a loss to figure out how you could choose any one episode of the season and say, "Yes, that's the one." What about "Drive By" or "Bowie"? Oh, show. Also glad to see attention for Friday Night Lights(a.k.a. the best damn show on television) and Pushing Daisies (a.k.a. the sweetest show on television). Otherwise, pretty standard stuff.

Globes: I'm thrown right away in the first category because I haven't even heard of The Great Debaters*, and I'm also a little underwhelmed. Wasn't this supposed to be a great year for movies? I swear I heard that somewhere. Everyone in Michael Clayton was amazing, but the movie wasn't. I have no desire to watch Atonement, and now I am starting to feel awards season pressure to see it. I think I am supposed to be excited or at least surprised to see nods for Eastern Promises or Juno or John C. Reilly for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. I'm not, though. I'd rather see more attention for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford or Gone Baby Gone or, for the love of pete, any frickin' song at all from Once.

Their TV nominations, on the other hand, are something to write home about. We've got the soft core insanity that is The Tudors; Sally Field and Holly Hunter for their great shows; Michael C. Hall going up against Hugh Laurie; Lee Pace, Anna Friel, sadly no Chenoweth, and Pushing Daisies on the whole; and James Nesbitt for Jekyll. He plays four different characters, two of which are so physically different its unnerving. Being Mr. Hyde must be such fun.

And, while we're here, check out the New York Film Critics Circle 2007 Awards, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association 2007 awards, the New York Film Critics Online 2007 Awards, the DC Area Film Critics Association 2007 Awards, and the TIFF Canadian Top 10.

*Oh, no, wait. I think I've seen that poster before. Even so.

Brick (2005)

It's RE-view, it's RE-view time!*

I know you might be like, dude, this movie came out a long time ago. You saw it a long time ago. Yes, those things are true. I also re-watched it for the first time in August. What's your point, I say. Months elapsed between when Zip sent me the DVD and when I sent it back. You know what? I don't owe you any explanations, but I'll give you one anyway.

See, I held on to it for so long for two reasons: 1) I love the movie and want to watch it repeatedly, and 2) I had to find time to listen to the commentary track. I'm not one for DVD extras most of the time (except theatrical trailers. You shouldn't be allowed to release your movie on DVD without a trailer), but the sheer volume of names listed on the commentary track made me think it might be worthwhile. Writer-director Rian Johnson, smart guy that he is, didn't bother with scene specific commentary. Sure, sometimes they explain an effect or a choice, but mostly he just chats with whoever it is (the costume or set designer, for example) about what it is that they did together to make the film. It's terrifically insightful and a lot more fun than the average running commentary track.

I was a little dismissive of Nathan Johnson's score in my initial review, although I can't imagine why. It's positively Wagnerian with the themes for each character, and I love that he made up his own instruments. He's a talent worth tracking.

I still think high school is a perfect setting for a noir, especially if you are looking to give the genre a reboot or at least to do something unique and have people take notice. I like that while Brendan is the hero, he isn't a hero, and I love that Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays it so close to the chest. I love that Brendan and Dode (Noah Segan) are motivated by the same thing, even though they can't see it that way. I love that the Brain (Matt O'Leary) looks up to Brendan, even though he shouldn't, and that Brendan knows this and doesn't want him to either. For a movie that has such specific and topsy-turvy dialogue, it's surprisingly subtle and ambiguous with its non-verbal cues between the players.

Mostly though, I wonder whatever possessed me to stick that minus there when I first graded this picture. My best guess is the strange costuming, particularly for Laura (Nora Zehetner). At one point, she appears to be wearing turkey feathers on the side of her head. In my second and third viewings, however, this started to make sense to me. High school girls really do wear the strangest things. It's all part of their struggle for identity, and Laura, with her merry-go-round of men and manipulation, would understand that better than most. A

* One day you will understand how "Business Time" may be one of the most perfect songs ever written, if only for its easy substitution quality. Pretty much any two syllable word will do, including but not limited to grocery, laundry, and Christmas. Try it today!

This is England (2006)

Premise: After a difficult school year and the death of his father in the Falklands Conflict, twelve year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) falls in with a group lead by Woody (Joseph Gilgun). When Combo (Stephen Graham) returns from prison to claim his position as their leader and reveal the more sinister basis of the group, Shaun is forced to choose between the two with disastrous results.

What a strange, intense picture. From the stunning opening montage set to Toots & The Maytals' "54-46 Was My Number," writer-director Shane Meadows has the audience vibrating. It's electric. In that short span, he establishes "unpredictable" as the watchword. Even if you can look at the premise above and guess how it will end, you'll still end up being wrong by being right.

What an intriguing portrait of skinheads. When Shaun first comes across Woody and friends, it's easier to think of them as random punks or layabouts than skinheads. Sure, the look is right, but they are hanging out with a Jamaican immigrant, Milky (Andrew Shim), and the only negative things they say about anyone to anyone are to each other about each other. The group is more about inclusion than anything, and Meadows puts together another terrific montage of them taking Shaun swimming and splashing in puddles down back alleys to underline how carefree and relaxed they are.

Meadows is all about repeated images, but his gift is that you never feel bashed over the head with them. Instead, they pull Shaun (and you, by extension) further down the rabbit hole. The more the images repeat, the more you worry. The way Meadows weaves them into Shaun's transformation is intelligent, but how plausible he makes that transformation is ingenious. He hooks it into Shaun's leading characteristic, familial loyalty, in a way that's both crazy and likely.

For all Meadows' talent, he couldn't have done it without Turgoose in the lead. He manages play childhood and pre-adolescence in a way that almost feels revelatory. There's no pretension to it. He's foulmouthed because it still excites him to be. He's got hard lessons ahead, you can see that from the outset, but he learns them in a way that feels fresh and honest. It makes you feel like you haven't grown up as much over years as he does over one summer. Even so, Turgoose's performance is free of the precociousness and preternatural calm that often plagues child actors today.

If the movie had been less plot driven, it would find a kindred spirit in Killer of Sheep for its slice of working class life quality. Of course, it would also find that kindred spirit in sometimes amateurish quality of the performances. England's greatest downfall, however, is its occasionally too on point dialogue. There were a few moments, not many, where I thought, "People don't talk like this."

All in all, this movie, based on Meadows' own experiences growing up and lifted by Ludovico Einaudi's sparse, piano driven score, is not to be missed. A

I'm sure I look much worse in the flamboyant Technicolor of your imagination than I do in the austere black and white of television.

Why do some people insist on making movies in black and white when we've had colour technology for decades? I'll tell you why. Read my latest Culture article and find out.