Amazing, R-Rated Trailer for 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'
Filed under: Drama, Thrillers, New Releases, Mystery & Suspense
You know what most movie trailers need? Marisa Tomei, completely topless. You know what else they need? An end tag that tells us the film is "now in post-production"! You know what else they need? Long, drawn-out clips of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke, as down-on-their-luck businessmen planning to rob a mom and pop store that happens to be run by their own mom and pop. Needless to say, this trailer, for Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, is my favorite of the year so far. I didn't even know much about this film before watching, and the one drawback is probably that I now know too much. The trailer gives away so much of the plot that I think I can even figure out what the third-act is going to be all about, and that's a little too much information. This is a trailer that's popped up on a French website, so before they release it to the U.S., I would advise that they substantially trim down those final scenes with Albert Finney -- that's just more than we need to know.
I'll admit that I'm not a terribly big fan of Sidney Lumet -- I skipped Find Me Guilty, in fact. And the screenwriter is apparently a first-timer, so there's nothing to go on there. But I like all the actors here -- Ethan Hawke, especially, is always able to do some good work when he has the right material. Annoyingly, there's no U.S. release date for this film yet, even though it's opening in France in late September. If everything goes to plan, I'll be in Europe around that time this year anyway, so maybe I'll be able to see it in a French theater.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-01-2007 @ 1:46PM
Curt said...
Greatest. Trailer. Ever.
And it has nothing to do with my life-long crush on Marisa Tomei.
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7-01-2007 @ 2:22PM
Ghonius said...
wow wow wow...that right there is the difference between a movie that sucks and a movie that doesn't -- you can just tell, simple story anyone could of done but with the right cast and direction, cant wait...
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7-01-2007 @ 2:48PM
wow said...
That was an amazing trailer. A shame they don't allow stuff like that to run in theaters this side of town.
Big bonus points for using Dissolved Girl in the trailer. Great Massive Attack song.
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7-01-2007 @ 3:32PM
MosquitoControl said...
That was a terrible trailer.
It seemed like the entire movie in 5 minutes. I think we even saw the end.
It was almost as bad as the Speed 2 trailer. You know, the one that showed the boat coming to a stop...
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7-01-2007 @ 6:26PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
Wretched trailer. They give EVERYTHING Away. This is EXACTLY what is wrong with trailers today. It should have ended with them deciding to rob their parents. That's the hook! that's the moment of, "damn, I wonder how it will turn out?"
Gee, the robbery goes badly, gee mom dies, gee dad wants to find the person responsible (that would be the gunman, assclown). Why bother seeing it?
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7-02-2007 @ 2:08AM
marty said...
Movie looks great and I am sure it will be with Lumet at the helm but the trailer was way too long and I don't even think it's a trailer. It looks like a promo they use when selling to overseas distributors where they do essentially give away the whole plot so I suspect that this is where they got it from. It was way too long to be used as a trailer.
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7-02-2007 @ 2:18AM
Susan said...
WOW! Very good, intense trailer. I think you're right, they may have given too much away. Hopefully, they have some aces up their sleeve.
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7-02-2007 @ 10:07PM
Zach Isso said...
"I'll admit that I'm not a terribly big fan of Sidney Lumet -- I skipped Find Me Guilty, in fact."
Network? One of the greatest films ever made.
If you don't like Network, you shouldn't be blogging about movies.
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