Movies, Mom & Me

• 
  Commentary:  I didn't think I'd seen this movie, then, when I watched it, parts of it came back to me. It's a message movie and I'm not really a fan of blatant message movies, but there is a lot else to enjoy with this movie besides the message. I would never have bought a single copy of it for myself but I'm not displeased that I own it. Edward Norton's performance is, as mostly usual (I'm thinking, off hand, of Primal Fear, Fight Club and even The Illusionist), a glory to watch.
    Edward Furlong as the younger, suseptible brother to Edward Norton's character is spot on, as well. Watching this movie, now, causes me a bit of sorrow that his career didn't continue long and strong. Oh well, you never know what the future might bring.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Edward Norton	Derek Vinyard	Edward Furlong	Danny Vinyard	Beverly D'Angelo	Doris Vinyard	Jennifer Lien	Davinia Vinyard
  Ethan Suplee	Seth Ryan	Fairuza Balk	Stacey	Avery Brooks	Dr. Bob Sweeney	Elliott Gould	Murray

  
    Originally published in this journal on 081416.
    Here is the Wikipedia link to a write-up of this movie.
    Release Date: 1998
    Directed by Tony Kaye.
  

Labels: edward-norton

# posted by gail @ 12:40    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Go ahead. Make fun of me. I don't care. I love this series of movies for just pure action thriller enthrallment. I even like the one without Matt Damon. I was introduced to these movies through a friend of mine who you wouldn't expect would like them, since she's not ordinarily a fan of spy action-thrillers. She nagged me, though, until I finally started checking them out of the library, one by one. It is these movies that hooked me on action-thrillers. I don't know why I developed a taste for them late in life but, well, I did, and I'm enjoying the hell out of the flavor.
    They are all personal guilty pleasures. Not much more to say about these movies that hasn't already been said, except I understand there's another in the theaters and I can't wait until it hits DVD. Well, I can wait until the price drops. There is even a slot in the collection's case for that DVD. You can bet I'll be filling it.
  Update 6/2/2022:  This post was originally published on 8/14/16 but disappeared from public view. I am now reinstating it.
    The movies in this collection are:
    
  
  The Bourne Identity
    Did you know there is a 1988 version of this film (same name), a TV Mini Series starring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith? Although IMDb rated it a bit lower than this one, it wasn't a ratings slouch. If you read the comments, you'll notice that almost everyone liked to loved it; some even preferring it to the Matt Damon/Jeremy Renner franchise.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Matt Damon	Jason Bourne/David Webb	Franka Potente	Marie Kreutz	Chris Cooper	Alexander Conklin	Clive Owen	The Professor
  Brian Cox	Ward Abbott	Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	Nykwana Wombosi	Gabriel Mann	Danny Zorn	Julia Stiles	Nicolette Parsons

  
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
      Release Date: 2002
      Directed by Doug Liman.
    
  
  The Bourne Supremacy
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Matt Damon	Jason Bourne	Joan Allen	Pamela Landy	Brian Cox	Ward Abbott	Franka Potente	Marie Kreutz
  Julia Stiles	Nicolette Parsons	Karl Urban	Kirill	Marton Csokas	Jarda	Oksana Akinshina	Irena Neski

  
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
      Release Date: 2004
      Directed Paul Greengrass.
  → joan-allen
    
  
  The Bourne Ultimatum
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Matt Damon	Jason Bourne	Julia Stiles	Nicolette Parsons	David Strathairn	Noah Vosen	Scott Glenn	Ezra Kramer
  Paddy Considine	Simon Ross	Édgar Ramírez	Paz	Albert Finney	Dr. Albert Hirsch	Joan Allen	Pamela Landy

  
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
      Release Date: 2007
      Directed by Paul Greengrass.
  → joan-allen, david-straithairn
    
  
  The Bourne Legacy
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Jeremy Renner	Kenneth James Kitsom/Aaron Cross	Rachel Weisz	Dr. Marta Shearing	Edward Norton	Col. Eric Byer	Stacey Keach	Mark Turso
  Dennis Boutsikaris	Terrence Ward	Oscar Isaac	Outcome #3	Joan Allen	Pamela Landy	Albert Finney	Dr. Albert Hirsch
  David Strathairn	Noah Vosen	Donna Murphy	Dita Mandy	Željko Ivanek	Dr. Donald Foite	Shane Jacobson	Mackie

  
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
      Release Date: 2012
      Directed Tony Gilroy.
  → joan-allen, željko-ivanek, david-straithairn
    
  
  Jason Bourne
  Update 2/5/2018:  Yes, I purchased the fifth installment to fill the fifth slot in this collection, Jason Bourne, which surprised me. I actually expected it to be, well, more of the same. It was, but different. Interesting. Yes, I enjoy it as much as the first four. Yes, the purchase included a DVD copy, as well as a Blu-Ray copy. I may, later, pass the DVD copy off to someone who wants it.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Matt Damon	Jason Bourne	Tommy Lee Jones	Robert Dewey	Julia Stiles	Nicolette Parsons	Alicia Vikander	Heather Lee
  Vincent Cassel	The Asset	Ato Essandoh	Craig Jeffers	Riz Ahmed	Aaron Kalloor	Scott Shepherd	Edwin Russell

  
  → tommy-lee-jones
      Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
      Release Date: 2016
      Directed Paul Greengrass.

Labels: §4, action1, adventure1, chris-cooper, david-strathairn, drama5, edward-norton, joan-allen, neo-noirB, oscar-isaac, political2, rachel-weisz, spy, super-hero2, thriller2, tommy-lee-jones, violence2, željko-ivanek

# posted by gail @ 11:55    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  A sophisticated movie about a completely unsophisticated man in a completely unsophisticated predicament. I watched the movie with enjoyment the first time, without any inkling that I might want to own it. Then came the surprising, delightful ending and I watched it again, immediately. I knew I'd be adding it to my collection. And, dear reader, I did.
    By the way, two writers at RogerEbert.com chose to weigh in on this movie. The first, linked to the title of this post, weighed in after the movie's success at Telluride. The second review was written about a month and a half later, once the movie had saturated American theater screens.
  Update 11/17/2021:  This post was originally published February August 14, 2016. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Michael Keaton	Riggan Thomson	Benjamin Kanes	Young Riggan/Birdman	Zach Galifianakis	Jake	Edward Norton	Mike Shine
  Andrea Riseborough	Laura Alburn	Amy Ryan	Sylvia Thomson	Emma Stone	Sam Thomson	Naomi Watts	Lesley Truman
  Lindsay Duncan	Tabitha Dickinson	Merritt Wever	Annie	Jeremy Shamos	Ralph	Bill Camp	Crazy Man

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2014
    Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Labels: dramedy1, edward-norton, film-art1, satire1, spiritual1, super-hero2

# posted by gail @ 21:38    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I just added this movie to my collection today, 8/25/21. I haven't watched it yet but I don't think I'll be disappointed. I'll report back within the next few hours, or days, depending.
    It should be noted that this movie was written, produced and directed by Edward Norton and stars him, as well. This is one of the reasons I wanted to add it to my collection, since I'm becoming interested in Edward Norton's work. The critics were impatient with, and mostly downgraded their reviews because of, its length. The length of a film never bothers me, unless it's because it wasn't well edited, which no one accuses this film of being. As well, according to Wikipedia, Edward Norton's "personal engagement" with this film is immense, and, might I add, compelling to me, at least.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Edward Norton	Lionel Essrog	Bruce Willis	Frank Minna	Gugu Mbatha-Raw	Laura Rose	Alec Baldwin	Moses Randolph
  Willem Dafoe	Paul Randolph	Bobby Cannavale	Tony Vermonte	Cherry Jones	Gabby Horowitz	Michael K. Williams	Trumpet Man

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2019
    Directed by Edward Norton.

Labels: §1, edward-norton, neo-noirC, police-procedural, willem-dafoe

# posted by gail @ 13:08    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I'm so pleased I am adding this movie to my collection! After watching The Illusionist (yet again) a couple of nights ago, I realized that, although I have a few Edward Norton fixes in my library (besides The Illusionist I have American History X, The Bourne Legacy, and Birdman), I don't have enough. While I love his performances, even if they are not lead performances, as in the last three I just mentioned, I decided it was time to add a few movies in which he's the lead actor. This one, of which I never tire, I've seen and look forward to seeing again and again. Another will be joining my collection in a couple of days that I haven't seen, in which Norton plays a detective with Tourette's syndrome. I've heard good things about the story and he's got loads of wonderful actors flanking him, so I'm particularly excited about its arrival.
    Especially because of the surprise ending, this movie contains a signature performance, and is enjoyable no matter how many times I've seen it.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Richard Gere	Martin Vale	Laura Linney	Janet Venable	John Mahoney	Shaughnessy	Alfre Woodard	Shoat
  Frances McDormand	Molly	Edward Norton	Aaron/Roy	Terry O'Quinn	Yancy	Andre Braugher	Goodman
  Steven Bauer	Pinero	Tony Plana	Martinez	Stanley Anderson	Rushman	Maura Tierney	Naomi

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1996
    Directed by Gregory Hoblit.

Labels: edward-norton, john-mahoney, laura-linney, richard-gere

# posted by gail @ 13:42    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I watched this movie last night, 8/20/21. As with most of the movies I acquire, I'd seen it before, only once, as I recall, with my mother, and have been intrigued by it ever since. Not with the magic. Although I find watching magic immensely entertaining, it's not an entertainment upon which I've much ruminated.
    That's what I realized, last night, I enjoy about the movie. It does my ruminating for me, sparks questions in my mind about illusion, suggests answers, asks more questions, swirls all this around a romance story that could go either way, around the character developments of all the principal participants in the movie, all of which could go any way, and then comes to a satisfying but still mysterious end.
    I've called the end "mysterious" because, well, I had trouble following Inspector Uhl's (played masterfully by Paul Giamantti) summation at the end of the movie. At first I thought it was me, but as I considered the movie further after watching it and then replayed the scene containing his final summation, I realized that I think it was meant to be confusing, as, the magic of illusion is that everyone sees something different because considering any illusion has different consequences for each person who sees it. Some don't even consider an illusion illusory. Prince Leopold certainly didn't, and look what happened to him.
    Which brings us to the resolution of the romance. By the end of the movie it seems inevitable that Sophie and Eduard come together, something they've both been fighting for all their lives. But the final scene of them together has an otherworldly quality about it, as though, somehow, their lives were ended and their romance takes place in some sort of afterlife.
    Which I found satisfying to contemplate. It's as though, well, you don't get what you're striving for until you can no longer strive for it.
    'Nuff said, I think.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Edward Norton	Eisenheim The Illusionist/Eduard Abramovich	Aaron Johnson	Young Eduard Abramovich	Paul Giamatti	Chief Inspector Walter Uhl	Jessica Biel	Duchess Sophie Von Teschen
  Rufus Sewell	Crown Prince Leopold	Eddie Marsan	Josef Fischer	Jake Wood	Jurka	Tom Fisher	Willgut

  
    The Wikipedia write-up for this movie is here.
    Release Date: 2006
    Directed by Neil Burger.

Labels: dramaD, edward-norton, fantasy4, historical4, paul-giamatti, period6, romance4

# posted by gail @ 13:59    0 comments    email......this post