Taking It To New/Old Heists
12. Dec, 2008 
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What Doesn’t Kill You
Boston Crime Spree Party
Trailers & Mo | Official Website
A botched robbery taking place in a strip mall, spearheaded by Ethan Hawke. No, we’re not talking about Before The Devil Knows Your Dead, but a similar opening scene of a similarly titled new film that’s not as similar in awesomeness as Sidney Lumet’s brilliant 2007 entry was. Then again, it’s not really fair to compare anything to The Devil, cause that shiz was the knees bees (the rare revealing Marasi Tomei NSFWness surely helps to make it mos memorable). And while The Devil is purely fictional, What Doesn’t Kill You is based in reality. Director/writer/actor/Boston tuff guy Brian Goodman channels his own ruff and tumble life and pours it into this tale (with help on paper and screen from Donnie Wahlberg) of two boyhood hood chums, Brian (Mark Ruffalo) and Paulie (Hawke), as they rise from petty crimes to unpretty felonies. As they grow older (and a lot of years elapse in the film), they’re not really growing up and growing out of their wicked ways. Ruffalo’s got two kids and a long suffering wife, played by velociraptor Amanda Peet. Ethan Hawke has a shaved head and a lot of gumption. Neither have a Boston accent (they sorta try). Eventually they both land in prison and when they get out, they need to decide if they want to earn money in a legitimate manner, or go about it in the old style, which will probably return their butts to prison. Ruffalo’s the more conflicted of the two, having let down his family time and time again. He gets helpful advice from an old family friend (Will Lyman, as the voice of reason, which is no sirprize since he’s a fab narrator of many a fab things, including, but not limited to Little Children), but ultimately the decision is up to him as to how to live his life going fwd. The film is a bit uneven by trying to cram so much exposition into only 100 minutes, yet instead of it being non-stop action, it felt like the longest 100 minutes we’ve endured in a long time. Thankfully the performances by Ruffalo/Hawke are genuine and heartfelt that you’ll be rooting for these lowlifes to succeed, even if they don’t necessarily deserve to. We’re also thankful that this Boston-based flick doesn’t involve corrupt cops. We hope those kinds of movies go gone baby, gone for the foreseeable future
It Don’t Matter If It Whiteman Or Blackman: Andria Blackman chips in her first credited role as ‘Attractive Girl’. nuff said, cept we’ll juss say that Pabst Blue Ribbon never look so delicious
Verdictgo: low end Jeepers Worth A Peepers
Rental Round-Up Dawg:
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
A Face Only A Republican Could Love
Trailer | Offical Website
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story barely made a dent when it hit theaters this fall, but after catching it on DVD, it definitely made a dent in our minds. If Lee’s name doesn’t strike a diving bell with yer butterfly then you should absolutely seek out this thighly informative and ultimately very sad doc about Karl Rove’s predecessor’s accent (his dirty tricks and expressive face helped the Republican party to put the 1st Bush into the White House and set the playbook for the next one to take office) and horrible decline (cancer). And how could you not want to see a flick that makes you want to give Michael Dukakis a giant hug afterwards?
What Doesn’t Kill You opens today in NY/LA today, and then elsewhere elsewhen. Also opening in NY is Where God Left His Shoes, a film we saw at the Thighbeca Film Fest in 2007 and we saids that it was a ‘very touching tale of a family fighting their way out of homelessness around Christmastime in NYC‘
and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…
