“Most directors do not go on to make one of their best films after receiving their lifetime achievement Oscars,” Dennis Lim‘s 10.21 N.Y. Times piece begins. “But then, most directors do not have the near-legendary stamina and efficiency of Sidney Lumet, who accepted his honorary Academy Award two years ago, turned 83 in June and now has made 44 features in 50 years. His latest, a bracingly bleak crime melodrama called Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (opening Friday in NY and LA), has been upstaging filmmakers less than half his age on the festival circuit this fall.”