In what is no doubt one of the grimmest films of the year, 83-year-old Sidney Lumet proves he still has the chops to make the tough, gritty morality tales that made him famous in the 1970s, even though he hasn’t done so in several decades. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke are both outstanding as brothers in over their heads with a botched jewelry store robbery that turns into a downward spiral of damnation for everyone involved. As a portrait of both institutional and personal corruption, the film fits in perfectly with Lumet’s other works, but is is most intriguing and absorbing in its evocation of just how demeaning the banality of evil can be. (Awards Screener DVD)