Tuesday’s Top Trailer: Stone

Welcome to a weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Tuesday's Top Trailer. One of my favorite parts about going to see movies is the series of trailers that airs beforehand and, more often than not, the trailer is far better than the actual film. Each week, I'll be sharing a trailer I've recently seen. Please chime in with comments on what you think of the trailer and how you think the movie is going to be.

Stone – Opening October 8, 2010



Edward Norton’s name in the credits is reason enough for me to see a film. While I’m still missing a few of his early and most recent films, I’m almost always impressed to see who I consider to be my favorite actor on screen. I don’t know when his film “Leaves of Grass,” which is great, is ever going to be released, so this looks to be the next time he’ll be arriving in cinemas. So here you have Edward Norton, one of the best current actors, Robert De Niro, one of the best actors of the 1970s and 1980s, and Milla Jovovich, a three-time Razzie nominee? Up until that point, the movie looks good, but Jovovich’s presence in a film is never a good thing. This looks like the kind of flick that could either be surprisingly good or really, really bad (sort of like De Niro’s abysmal “Righteous Kill”). Sex and blackmail are intriguing and all, but the story can really devolve if not handled properly. I’m hopeful that the talent on both sides of the camera can make it considerably better. Norton was excellent in prison in 1998's "American History X," and he's pretty much terrific in everything that he does. Norton and De Niro were a lot of fun together in 2001’s “The Score,” and this more serious effort should provide a nice reteaming for them. Frances Conroy is also in the cast so that may help to balance out Jovovich being there. Director John Curran has a pretty impressive resume that includes “The Painted Veil” and “We Don’t Live Here Anymore.” And this is writer Angus MacLachlan’s first film since he penned “Junebug,” which was a wonderfully original and winning dramedy. As I mentioned before, this could end up being truly terrible, but I’m hoping for the best. What do you think?