The Library is my attempt to watch at least 50% of the films in my DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD home library. To be included, I can't watch it streaming or catch it at a repertory screening - I have to watch the disc.
Last week, I watched some cop movies, so this week, we’re following up with some movies about robbers.
Current Count: 819 of 1,897 - 43%
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents’ jewelry store, the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that send them and their family hurtling towards a shattering climax.
I've been on a big Sidney Lumet kick for obvious reasons. I mean, have you seen a Lumet movie? They're provocative, intense, and often quite prescient. I watched Serpico for the first half of this column, I've got a Prince of the City review coming soon, and I'm planning even more Lumet coverage on this site.
I had a running list of titles in consideration for this list (I love heist movies and have acquired a number of them in the collection) and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was always on it, but as soon as Serpico ended, I knew that was a non-negotiable.
With all that said, let me just gush about Lumet for a second. The guy's career is bookended with 12 Angry Men (he was 33 years old - I've got to get going) and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (he!!! was!!! 82!!! years!!! old!!! - we took my grandma's driver's license away around that time!!!) and that's not to mention all of the capital-M Masterpieces in between. Shot on crappy looking digital video (it was a thing), this movie's got a frenetic, chaotic, fall-apart-at-any-time energy that is brought to life by the excellent performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke (this is currently in the Hawke, Ethan section of the library, but I think a Lumet section is incoming), Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, and personal-favorite Michael Shannon. We can all only hope to be this cool when we're 82.
Now You See Me (2013)
An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists during their performances and reward their audiences with the money.
If I weren't an obnoxious Letterboxd user who reserved five star ratings exclusively for movies in which I truly cannot see a fault, I would give Now You See Me five stars. It is full of nothing but faults, but its full on commitment to that bullshit was so much fun. I gave it 3.5 stars (and a heart!), which is objectively generous, and my review read: My new favorite movie?
That's obviously a ridiculous thing to say, but I do think Now You See Me is going to have infinite rewatchability for me. It's literally a movie where magicians use the tricks up their sleeves to rob banks and it's taken seriously. Plus, there's FBI Agent Mark Ruffalo and French Interpol Agent Mélanie Laurent on their trail. I loved magic as a kid (gimme a break, I was a latchkey kid with no siblings) and although I've fallen out of it (I do still occasionally partake in an episode of Penn & Teller: Fool Us) in adulthood, I'm still taken by the sincere cheesiness of it all.
I'm fully aware that I just wrote about what a master Sidney Lumet was and now I'm praising a movie by Louis Leterrier (I've seen three of his films: The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, and Fast X - and they're all varying degrees of terrible), but I like to call that range.
Now You See Me 2 (2016)
One year after outwitting the FBI and winning the public’s adulation with their mind-bending spectacles, the Four Horsemen resurface only to find themselves face to face with a new enemy who enlists them to pull off their most dangerous heist yet.
Let's start with the obvious: of course they should have called this movie Now You Don't! That was a giant missed opportunity, easy fodder for hackneyed critics or not. Sure, that would've screwed them over for a third entry, but 1 - there was no third entry (sadly), and 2 - I could come up with a million terrible titles for future films. Is This Your Card?, I Need a Volunteer From the Audience, and Presto Chango all come to mind. You think you have money in your bank account? Presto Chango!
After how much I loved Now You See Me, this was bound to be a disappointment. There were many other films on my potential watchlist (Special Delivery, Going in Style, and the other Going in Style all missed the cut), but I immediately put on this sequel, hoping for some of that silly, um, magic. And I can see in Now You See Me 2 what people saw in the first film. There's no sense of mystery, it's decidedly less tongue-in-cheek, and it's definitely missing Isla Fisher. Oh well - more time in the day to watch the first one!
Credit: Each plot synopsis comes from Letterboxd via TMDb.