It has been a while since I’ve shown any sign of life but I managed to get a mild head ache and a case of bad mood (which means I skipped my Italian class) so I needed to come here and write something. Last week I went to the movies again, not exactly knowing what I was getting myself into. Stone was a movie that I knew almost nothing about and I even had not seen the trailer! That my friends, is something that never happens (but every rule has an exception and Stone was/is mine).
The only thing I knew about this movie was the cast – Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich. And this is the first thing I want to talk about because the cast was absolutely superb! I think the reason is connected with the fact that the movie was quite static and didn’t have much action – the good acting stood out. Norton’s performance was brilliant, I really haven’t noticed that before – Fight Club was such a fast base movie – but he has really sad eyes (not that it has anything to do with this post). De Niro was De Niro – I don’t hate the guy but I’m not a fan either, I think I just appreciate his good work. Milla Jovovich for me is Resident Evil but Stone showed that she has more than that and honestly, how come she doesn’t have an accent? I was focused and listening very hard but couldn’t detect any kind of Russian in her speech, I guess she has learned the American accent and very well I might add. She was naked a couple of times because she is a model and has a great body but she also managed to but some very good acting on the table. I was rather surprised and it was a pleasant surprise, so all in all I was happy about the acting.
Like I already said, the movie was rather static and the main emphasis was on the dialog and it seemed people didn’t really understand it (the movie I mean, not the dialog). A woman who was leaving the cinema said that she didn’t understand anything about the movie and I started thinking. These kinds of movies that have a low amount of action and lots of talking require some braincells – luckily I have them (not like the woman who didn’t get anything!) The movie was mostly about faith (God) and the different kind of bad people. For me the idea was that people who aren’t in prison can be as bad as those who are – that the line between good and bad isn’t drawn between freedom and prison. The poster gives another way to get to the point of the movie “Some people tell lies. Others live them”. If you keep that in mind I think you’d be able to watch Stone with a fixed context that will make it more understanding.
Over all the movie is rather good for a thriller and has a quite deep point to it. I don’t think it is for the masses but for people who enjoy serious movies and have braincells to understand them too. Do not expect it to be fast, it has a slow climing storyline that you have to fallow itently – the dialog is the biggest character in this movie.
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Hey thanks for the honest and great review! It is a great cast and it
ll be nice to see Jovovich step outside of the Resident Evil roles for a change! I like movies that make me think and not always the ones where stuff blows up real good, hahaha. Looking forward to this one!
Exactly, seeing Jovovich doing something out of her comfort zone was actually very refreshing! Trust me!
So what is the deep point exactly? I have brain cells. How can you say it requires brain cells, when you still have neglected to describe the plot? This movie sucked ass and was not even worth the dollar from redbox! You must have written the first two responses in order to make it seems like your reviews actually have people who give a crap. Good Luck wit that Mr Ebert Braincell
Having brain cells is not the same as using them. Besides, I don’t describe the plots in my reviews (in general) because I think it deserves to be left to the viewer to “discover”. And with Stone, the plot isn’t as important as the story – they are on two different planes of the movie.
And since you like to accuse me a lot in the second half of your comment, I’ve got to say that a) “no, I didn’t write the first response” and b) Ebert and I have different ways of writing reviews – so that name comes out as an oblivious insult.