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After a series of late-career misfires, Sidney Lumet’s last film was one of his best—easily the director’s finest work since 1982’s The Verdict. With 2007’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Lumet returned to his stark, austere roots with a botched robbery that splits an already fraught New York family. Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman (in one of the slimiest performances of his career) top the stellar cast that also features an understated Amy Ryan and a memorably gutsy turn by Marisa Tomei. And as the family’s beleaguered patriarch, Albert Finney is distant, brutal, and heartbreaking. By playing with its timeline and cramming each moment with despair and suspense, Lumet created a taut, deftly paced story that sticks out as one of the best crime dramas since, well, his 1970s run of superb crime stories like Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. Harkening back to those gems, Lumet finished his career by turning an ugly New York story into a beautiful film. (Benjamin R. Freed) At 8 p.m. at Artisphere. $6.
MUSIC—-ALL LOCAL EDITION
Dave Nada is back in town for his fifth Moombahton Massive party at U Street Music Hall. You know the story by now: Nada took dutch house, slowed it down so it neared the speed of reggaeton, called it moombahton, and became something of an electronica sensation. Tonight’s party features Nada’s duo Nadastrom, moombahton mainstay Sabo, Zuzuka Poderosa, Thee Mike B, and—-this is actually pretty exciting—-DJ Orion, who invented the moombahton subgenre boombahchero. 9 p.m. at U Street Music Hall. $5, but free if you RSVP and you’re 21-plus.
Local reggae dudes See-I play all the time, but there’s nothing wrong with that. My colleague Ally Schweitzer calls their new debut full-length “a dynamic release that struts with the confidence of experience.” At 9 p.m. at Eighteenth Street Lounge.
I don’t know much about D.C.’s Teen Mom, but they make really nice, slow, clangy pop songs, and headline at Velvet Lounge tonight at 9 p.m. With Battle House and The Orchid. $8.
I love the bookish boy-girl vox that The Ambulars trade in—-this video gives a pretty good sampling of their scrappy pop-punk. The group is working on a new full-length, and will be testing some of its new material tonight. With Cigarette (also endorsed!) and Cloud Becomes Your Hand at 8:30 p.m. at the Black Cat Backstage. $8.
BOOKS
J. Courtney Sullivan discusses Maine, focusing on the four women of the Kelleher family as they gather at the ancestral summer home. At 7 p.m. at Politics & Prose. Free.
FILM
The Coen Bros.’ debut, the off-kilter noir Blood Simple, screens as part of AFI’s retrospective series on the siblings’ work. At 10:10 p.m. at AFI Silver Theatre. $11.
BAD KIND OF REUNION