Michael Nus at the TIFF

All the Insider TIFF stories are right here! ACTION!

The TIFF is in full swing now and it’s time to see some movies! Although there are lots of parties to go to this year I still prefer the premier screenings. So lights, camera, ACTION here is my first movie review for you courtesy of my post over at the Stella Artois blog. Go on over to ClubStellaArtois.ca/film and check out the other posts as well as a special guest post from none other than Sean Ward reporting for MichaelNus.com as he took on the Red Bull Art and Sole show!

Without further ado, here is my review of Stone, starring Robert Deniro, Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich.

Thanks to Stella Artois I enjoyed an evening of great film with some of the greatest actors of our time. Directed by John Curran, written by Angus MacLachlan and starring Edward Norton, Mila Jovovich, Frances Conroy and Robert De Niro, Stone was one of those movies you know will be in contention for an Oscar. Although I had the pleasure of being introduced to the stars before and after the film I felt it was important to judge the film based on its own merits, putting aside any warm fuzzies that may come from the personal touch the TIFF affords a moviegoer by virtue of being able to interact with the cast of a film they are about to see.

I’m happy to report that Stone was exquisite in its profound depiction of how even the most ordered of lives can have its foundations crumbled by the human failings each of us struggles with. Norton plays Stone, a convicted arsonist who looks to manipulate his parole officer (De Niro) into granting his parole by thrusting his beautiful wife (Jovovich) into the life of De Niro’s character, Jack Mabry, while Stone himself begins to reform in prison. The dichotomous tension caused by the clash of Jack ‘s pedestrian regiment of work and home life with his subjugated wife Madylyn (Conroy) against his own ironic temptation to do wrong is brilliantly captured through excellent acting, cinematography and thematic music that puts the viewer into the head of each character subtly yet powerfully.

Stella Artois | September 11, 2010 | 12:00 pm