DVD of the Week: Before The Devils Knows You're Dead

Today is Friday. So it's time for the DVD of the Week.

It was about 1 in the morning the first time I saw this film back in 2007 at an old Pasadena movie theater where there were about 7 spectators, my two friends and myself included. No need to say that my expectations were very low for this one.

Yet ( Before The Devil Knows You're Dead ) was a great surprise. It was intense, suspensful, and beautifully shot. The story consists of a series of flashbacks and flashforward explaining the causes and dramatic consequences of the robbery of their parents' jewelry store by two brothers with pressing financial needs. As a bonus, Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) spends half the movie in her underwear, in case you're into that kind of thing.

I would love to get into more story details but it would be difficult to do so without "spoiling" the movie for you. And the trailer is already doing much better job at that than me.

Directed by Sidney Lumet. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei. 2007.