Stone

Appropriate title for a movie that is the pits

The conceit - the effects on a man's soul when regret, pride, arrogance and faith get thrown into a blender and set on 'puree' - is absolutely singular for a studio film. Especially one as expertly acted and well crafted as this. Yet the ending just ends. And whatever the reason (probably a weighty, pretentious one), it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But I still want to recommend it as a bizarre, obscure film about the effects of faith on the faithless, which is a rare thing.

It begins so well... This setup could have been a great movie and if it wasn't for the great acting from all three characters I wouldn't have finished it. But just when its about to get really interesting it all fades out like a fart in the wind and the movie ends. Sad but true. Norton hasn't been better since Fight Club and Jovovich is surprisingly good.

What a cast, Norton, Jovovich en de Niro in a film together. Unfortunately it isn't as good as I expected. But damn, Milla is still one hot babe. She may not have a supermodel body, but she knows how to flaunt it and she knows how to act. The actors are performing well, unfortunately the directing is under par. Still an interesting watch.

Has at least one interesting scene near the beginning but is ultimately a generic, wholly forgettable film that fails to use the competent actors it has.

The movie has two good actors, both of their talents were wasted. The movie could have been much better than what it turned out to be. The movie got a higher rating only because of the acting.

"Stone" is an intelligent and, for the most part, understated showcase for a powerful acting quartet, lead by an extra grumpy De Niro and supported by the always excellent Norton. It's a tense and involving dialogue-driven drama that, despite the distracting spiritual undertones and some over-the-top scenes towards the ending, never failed to intrigue me thanks to director John Curran's impressive craftsmanship and the script's moral ambiguity. It's no great film, but it left me wondering.

Interesting film, and probably one of the best let's-watch-some-guy-make-decisions-that-cause-his-life-to-fall-apart films ever made (most of the ones I've seen have been terrible). This could have sucked badly if the cast hadn't been amazing, though. Like many films in this genre, it isn't well written. But the performances are so good you don't mind, especially Jovovich. We've all seen Norton and De Niro play similar characters before, but Jovovich brought something entirely new here.

De Niro and Norton are both as good as you'd expect, but the movie around them is just boring.

great acting, but the movie ... wtf ... what was it about, i've seen it, i read the plot, i read the plot again, ... still what ws it about?

The story isn't much, but I really like Norton in this one. De Niro and Jovovivh is also doing good jobs. All in all the actors make the one on one conversations quite interesting.

I found it reasonably interesting. The strangest thing is that Milla "Resident Evil" Jovovich outacted Robert De Niro and Edward Norton, and not in a "compared to expectations" way either; the screen simply came alive whenever she was on it.

Elevated by really nice performances. We haven't seen De Niro or Norton on this form in a while - and Jovovich is good, too. In the end, the acting is let down by the writing and the direction. Points to Curran for his use of reaction shots and for (seemingly) allowing some degree of improv', and for a while it appears that he's building towards something worthwhile. For a while.

De Niro is walking through the motions of playing someone walking through the motions. Norton's performance feels like an imitation of a prisoner he met somewhere. I'm not certain if it's really their fault, since the movie really just gestures at the interiority of it's characters, so it's unclear if they really had anything to work with.

güzel fikirlerle yola çıkıp senaryonun bir noktasında canlar sıkılmış sonra çekilirken de kimse birbirine çaktırmamaya çalışmış sanki. yine de gömüldüğü gibi değil, zira uğraştığı meselelerin karşılığı var ve işleyecek bir dinamik de buluyor anlatı içerisinde. fakat gösterdiği potansiyelin altında kalıyor çünkü anlatı bir noktada takılı kalıp o ana kadar verdiklerini gevelemeye başlıyor. kadro yükseltiyor ama öyle olmasa dahi havaya konuşmuyor.

The writers tried their hand at creating an intimate tale about deception, trust and seduction. And they unfortunately weren't good enough to make any of it work. Anyone who wants to watch the ol' Robert de Niro be bagged by an average looking femme-fatale though, sign up here. +They're good actors, it's not grating to watch. +Very nice soundtrack by Machinefabriek & Jon Brion.

not so good

First movie I've seen "poison the well". They start the movie by effectively telling you that you're not supposed to like Robert De Niro's character. They apparently didn't trust the audience to make their own decisions about what characters are good/bad guys, and led in with a scene forcing you to dislike an otherwise middle of the road character. Characters were bad, woman actress was lackluster, Norton and De Niro were okay, but that wasn't enough to make this worth the hour+45min.

What a waste of talent in a stupid movie, the character development and conflict is so weird that is unbelievable and that is very bad for a drama, even the acting is poor from these monsters of acting so clearly the director is terrible.

Intriguing film that shows the parallel moral journeys of two men who are thrown together by prison. However, it is all told with an excellent note of ambiguity.

The most gripping work De Niro has done in a decade, honest, emotionally alive, and a powerhouse refresher of his gift for devoting extraordinary amounts of preparation and research into a performance the nevertheless in effect feels uncannily moment-by-moment. But the pleasant surprise is that Milla Jovovich's unpredictably bizarre pussycat Lucetta's just as captivating. As with everything in this film, she's difficult to peg, and that gives the movie its admittedly uncommon intensity.

http://gorgview.com/stone

Ed Norton and Robert De Niro are both brilliant actors, always. But I felt this movie lacked vision, lacked a clear point, lacked compelling characters, and lacked resolution. Not a good story.

My least favorite film from Ed Norton. Nothing about this movie did I really like.

Did I really like it? Not really. Do I think it's a film for the masses? Also a "no." But it has a target group in mind, even if the advertisements don't tell you that. It's for those of you who want a character drama driven by conversations primarily about morality, philosophy and religion. It has great acting, but it lacks tension because of cinematic techniques that make it, well, a motion picture. It would have worked better as a play, especially since that's what it was written to be.

The dark atmosphere of De Niro is nice, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something is missing. There is huge opportunity here blown on this movie and I really thought something deeper will come out of this. Maybe it did and I only need some time to reflect about it. Anyhow, acting is super, I enjoyed it a lot.

Major let down. One would think that pairing up Deniro and Norton would make for an incredible movie and with Stone, its a shameful waste.

It is nice to see Edward Norton and Robert De Niro working together again. Norton in particular does an excellent job with his character. The story is not groundbreaking or very original. I would recommend this one to watch the performances of De Niro and Norton.

55.000

Great acting terrible script. No wonder I didn't hear anything about this movie when it came out.

Edwarn Norton was amazing as always... but this movie didnt have much else to offer

Not bad.

The movie has interesting moments, but falls flat more often than not. Milla Jovovich is a revelation, though. With De Niro recycling past performances and Norton biting off more than he can chew, Jovovich's enigmatic bitch remains the film's only consistently intriguing aspect.

Mila Jovovich's breasts. It's the only good thing I can say for the movie. Other than her playing with her breast in the mirror, it was a lot of preachers on the radio, pretentious dialog from De Niro and Norton, and scenes of walking and driving.

Alright Milla Jovovich's practically perfect breasts make at least six of that twelve, but the rest of the film was really empty, a sicko warden who didn't think he was too bad and a guy who made a druggy mistake, pretty boring else wise.

Milla Jovovich is one of the hottest woman alive, De Niro is Robert motherfucking De Niro, and Ed Norton is one of the best actors of his generation.... how you fuck up this movie up is beyond me. To say the writing is shitty would be a total understatement; Curran must be a complete idiot as well. What a waste. PS- holy nipples on Milla....

A showcase for good acting by the four main characters but the movie is so dull and sometimes boring that in the end you just want it to be over. Some of the characters in the movie don't believe in anything but the audience will be happy to believe in anything if it means that the movie finally ends.

Overall, the acting was above average (as should be expected from Norton & De Niro) and the story depicts a realistic and fathomable narrative. The message the film sends could be. Construed in several lights, however I found myself experiencing an almost erie, watchful eye, type of sensation after.

This movie was very disapointing . . . excellent case, very slow movie without a point. I found myself fast forwarding to get to the end sooner.

#11#, story, casting

two of my fav actors Robert De Niro and Edward Norton a movie with great acting but the plot wasn't that good.

I really liked De Niro and Norton in this movie, but I didn't like the movie. The story is good, the message is nice. But the movie itself is not alive.

Edgy, creepy, squirmy. Also pretty stagy and schematic, but it's buoyed by its overall unpredictability and ominous message about the possibility (or lack thereof) of redemption. Sharply performed by De Niro and Jovovich; Norton showboats a little, though. And the denouement disappoints. Generally, a fairly tight, notably small-scale psychological thriller.

Terrible in every way. The acting was flat and one dimensional, the writing was terrible. Actors who are seasoned veterans in the business looked immature and worn out. Jovovich was the worst of the bunch, her character was completely pointless to the story and seemingly just appeared to have sex with everyone. Deniro has lost his touch to add any emotion to his role and Norton was at his career worst. Nothing from this movie stood out. Stone is an awful film, skip it.

first time i did not enjoy norton's performance

Great performances by Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Milla Jorovich can't save this film.The plot is slow and plodding and there's no real resolution at the end.

De Niro, Norton and Jovovich. How this movie could bomb so badly is beyond me. It started off great, setting up the storylines with lots of suspense, unfortunately none of them are really explored deeper. The movie tanks completely half-way through and the only thing that makes the rest of it watchable are the acting skills of Norton, De Niro & Jovovich.

Good acting can't always save a bad script. I have no fucking clue what this story was about.

I agree with a comment on rotten tomatoes: A lot of talent goes to waste in this repulsive movie directed by John Curran. This mishmash of profanity, kinky sex and religious babble should have gone straight to DVD.

Norton made a top notch work here. De Niro was not bad either. Female cast was mostly supporting. The story was very spiritual, religious and it was actually not bad. But the executing failed in big scale. The story started good, but in the mid section the director was totally lost. There was nothing special in the lives of people but the ending sums the story good. Shame that it was already too late to save the movie.

* Great performances, good directing, interesting editing (Scorsese comes to mind).. I need a re-watch to get the subplots but still a great film even at the first watch.

"Collaborations between Robert De Niro and Edward Norton - one generation's most respected actor paired with another's most affected - seem doomed to be defined by acting with a capital A." - Jesse Cataldo