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By Fred Richardson

For the second time this year, a movie that I wasn’t really aware of has snuck up and surprised me as one of the best films of the year. Never having seen the trailer or any other ad or article, I noticed the listing on a Web site that lists local show times and notes new openings for the week. Discovering Philip Seymore Hoffman was the star of Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, I was 100 percent in.

Master Director Sidney Lumet has delivered something that’s unfortunately quite rare these days. Substance and style combined with master craftwork. A lesser artist would have gone for more flash and trickery and wouldn’t have gotten dead-on perfect performances from the superb cast. Every character writer Kelly Masterson has created seems to have been tailor-made for the person in the role.

Hoffman’s Andy is the superbly screwed-up human being that only he can play. Ethan Hawke continues to play against his early career’s “pretty-boy” roles and really stands out as younger brother Hank. Albert Finney, my favorite Ebenezer Scrooge actor, plays their father and is unsurprisingly great. Marissa Tomei probably won’t get another Oscar nomination for supporting role here, but that’s a shame, as her portrayal of Andy’s wife Gina seems so effortlessly natural that it had to be extremely hard.

The story jumps around in time a little and we see the same scene from different points of view more than once. While not an original storytelling device, it’s very well utilized here to peel back layer upon layer of a very complex and dense story. While the story jumps, the camera doesn’t. We linger on long shots and scenes breathe and flow.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is not for children or those with lighthearted sensibilities, but for crime/family melodrama, there’s nothing better out there right now.

The Mist

The third time isn’t always the charm. After the perfection of The Shawshank Redemption and the not-as-great-but-still-excellent The Green Mile, director Frank Darabont gives us his weakest Stephen King adaptation, but it’s far from bad.

Thomas Jane stars as film poster artist David Drayton, who is at the supermarket with his son, and neighbor Brent Norton (played by Andre Braugher) when a mysterious mist rolls in around their small Maine town. Nastiness ensues.

Yes, there’s much more to it than that, but as you might guess, I can’t go into the specifics without spoiling the film. In the case of this movie it’s quite frustrating to not be able to go into specifics, but I refuse to ruin things (like the woman behind me in the theater who decided to answer her cell… after the fourth ring… and then have a conversation).

The Mist is probably the most “Stephen King” Stephen King movie ever made. It even sports references to his greater fictional universe most notably The Dark Tower series. In fact, if anyone ever tries to make that monster of a tale into a filmed adaptation, I hope it’s Darabont.

More than anything, The Mist feels like 1950’s Red Scare Sci-Fi updated for the modern world of SFX and the current political situation. It’s not a perfect film by any means, but it delivers chills and an ending you might not like, but will certainly remember and talk about.