By Aaron 12/23/2007

Unlike the first versus movies, Atonement and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead have a good deal in common. Both try very hard to be unique, both are built on great acting, and both movies have their own way of bringing everything together. These similarities make it very easy to draw comparisons in this intense “versus” match. As always, the rules are simple, Thunderdome rules: two movies enter, one movie leaves.

Atonement picks up on the eve of World War II and follows a day and a night of an upper class family. Director Joe Wright unfurls a passionate relationship between the family maid’s son (James McAvoy) and the eldest daughter of the upper class family (Keira Knightley). But when Keira’s sister walks in on them and misinterprets what her virgin eyes had never seen before, she accuses McAvoy of raping her sister and another girl. McAvoy is promptly locked up but given a shot at freedom when World War II breaks out and he enlists. Full of great acting, brilliant direction, and genuine tension, Atonement is one of the finest movies I have seen in awhile. You can read my review here.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead follows two brothers (Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman) who are both driven into a corner by their pressing financial problems. Hawke is in arrears for his child support, of which his ex-wife and daughter are refusing to given him an inch. Hoffman needs a small nest egg so he can get out of town before the IRS uncovers his embezzlement scheme. And of secondary importance to Hoffman, and perhaps primary importance to Hawke is incentive to run away with Hoffman’s wife (Marisa Tomei) who has been having a long-term affair with Hawke, who is in love with her. To solve their money issues, the two brothers decide to rob their parent’s jewelry store. The movie tries too hard to be intelligent and techy for it’s own good, ruining the great acting performances all around. You can read Bob’s review here.

Challenge 1: Acting

As usual Keira continues to improve upon her last performance, continually burying her role in the commercial Pirates movies with great period acting. McAvoy is great too as he shows that his performance in The Last King of Scotland was no joke. Albert Finney, who plays Hoffman and Hawke’s dad in Devil is great, an intense, emotional performance that complements and strengthens a magnanimous job by Hoffman. So the acting in both movies was amazing – but Devil owns the tiebreaker: a frequently nude Marisa Tomei. While Atonement’s characters were likable and Devil’s were completely unlikable, that is not the fault of the actors. And what do I have to deal with, but a frequently unclothed Marisa Tomei who seems determined to go through the first half of the movie without a top on. And she looks damn good for her age.

Atonement – 0; Devil – 1

Challenge 2: Directing

Lament has clearly regressed while Joe Wright continues to push himself. It seemed like Lament’s flourishes convoluted his movie and made it worse, while Wright’s first half innovations came together in masterpiece. Devil felt overdone, repetitive, boring while Atonement felt fresh, inventive, interesting. While Lament’s movie seemed like Lament was pushing too hard and trying to do too much, Wright’s movie seems to effortlessly come together. I look forward to Wright’s next movie, while you better believe I’m going to avoid Lament’s like the plague.

Atonement – 1; Devil – 1

Challenge 3: Writing

Atonement was based on a novel, told a story, AND had good lines. Devil has neither of those, and although it has one great line, “the world is evil, some of us make money off of that, while others let it destroy them,” that alone is not enough. Atonement seemed real and genuine despite having the more difficult job of having to execute a period drama. Devil came off as belabored and slow, the scenes, and most of the lines, were pointless. Atonement had a clear theme – the sister’s guilt/atonement that they make sure as hell to make clear by the end. Devil on the other hand does not have a real solid theme, trying to throw in some family drama, drugs and crime, stir them together and hope that a successful thriller comes out.

Atonement – 2; Devil – 1

Challenge 4: Action

Again, action is not just shoot-em ups and explosions, it is how fast paced the movie is. The qualification “fast paced” is devastating for Devil, which is incredibly slow. Painfully so. While a bunch of people are murdered in Devil, it is pretty predictable, and almost blasé. The robbery scene happens in the first ten minutes, and is mildly tense, but is over quickly and is one of the few scenes we don’t see twice. Atonement’s “action” is fast paced and creates real tension, which is useful, when you actually care about the characters. Whether or not McAvoy will get back to Keira, whether her family will accept him, whether he will clear his name, whether Keira and her sister will reconcile, and whether or not a major character will die in the war effort are all important issues that keep the movie fast and exciting.

Atonement – 3; Devil – 1

Challenge 5: Comedy

Pretty sure Devil has ZERO funny parts and pushes itself too hard to be overly dramatic. Atonement cashes in on a few choice comic opportunities and has a much lighter, easier ‘way’ about it. This is a pretty stupid category for these movies which are both hard core dramas. But Atonement gets this one because they smile more.

Atonement – 4; Devil – 1

Challenge 6: Intrigue

Both movies had the same multiple viewpoints innovation, but Atonement executed it the best. While Atonement’s added to the story and made it more exciting, Devil’s fast forward and scene repeats just made the movie incredibly painful to watch. Atonement’s “hook” was also much more motivating – the climactic event meant something to the characters, the viewers, everyone. The pivotal event in Devil was more annoying than intriguing.

Atonement – 5; Devil – 1

Challenge 7: Suspense

It has already been said that Atonement was much better at creating tension, especially because viewers cared for the characters. Maybe my criteria for this category are blurring into the category above, but I really intend “intrigue” to be what was unique to the movie and what made it different than the traditional Hollywood crap. Here I’m talking about the tension in the movie. Devil seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Atonement had a story and a moral that could go either way.

Atonement – 6; Devil – 1

Challenge 8: Entertainment

As I am writing this I am downright shocked, but I think I will have to go with Devil here. Although Devil is one of the slowest movies I have seen in quite sometime (despite being only two hours long), it has murder, robbery, and lots of naked Marisa Tomei. While Atonement is exhilarating, intriguing, and great, it isn’t anything close to a popcorn flick, despite winning the aforementioned 'action' category, (Devil isn’t either, but it is closer – I guess). Perhaps Devil’s victory in this category is indicative that Atonement is the far superior movie (quality wise).

Atonement – 6; Devil – 2

Challenge 9: Intangibles

Now I gave Atonement a 9/10 saltystix and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead a 6/10 saltystix. That seems like a substantial difference, and maybe the category break down has indicated that. But perhaps you have noticed a key theme in some of the categories Devil has won, a certain “Tomei factor” that has tipped the scales in a few circumstances. And that is the deal breaker here, as both movies disappoint in the second half, and while Atonement has great performances and great execution early, Devil has Marisa Tomei (who’s reduced presence in the second half knocks the movie down a bunch…

Atonement – 6; Devil – 3

Previous versus matchups

The Golden Compass v I Am Legend

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.