I think it was on Inside the Actor's Studio that Edward Norton said the number one reason he could not turn down the movie, though he was initially inclined to, was that he wouldnt be able to live with the regret when he walked by a poster and saw Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, and Some Other Guy. Can't say I blame him.

The Score is a heist movie (is that officially its own genre yet?) and Norton plays the inside man on the job. This is about as sleezy and douche-y as we ever see him. He's prolly sleezier in The Italian Job, but this wins on the d-bag front. But for me, his character is by far my favorite, and not just because it's Edward Norton.

De Niro is the center of the movie. He's the one with the internal conflict about whether or not to do the job, and he's the one we're supposta care about thru everything. Unfortunately, he just annoys me. What he tries to play as cautious and conflicted comes off as melancholy and ploddingly slow. Norton, on the other hand, yeah you wanna punch him half the time. But part of why he's the inside guy is because while working at the customs house they plan to rob, he's posing as a mentally ill janitor's assistant. So acting wise he's practically playing two characters. And I just love his handi-capable alter ego. Because it's meant as a fake, he can push the limits of how far to take the act. I'm sure that was also part of the draw for him.

One thing I love about heists is I love how ridiculous they are. There's so many of 'em out there, that writers are just reaching to come up with new scenarios and fun and interesting ways to accomplish the mission. While The Score may not have the light fun tone of say the Ocean's movies, they do get some creativity points. And IMDB trivia tells me (spoiler alert if you click) that MythBusters actually attempted this scenario. Result was "plausible". Its not exactly the best hesit film. Hell, its not even the best one Norton's in. But it's still enjoyable, thanks to the cast.

Another repeat with my Top 100. Although I didnt write too much then, so I guess I actually do have some work to do here.

Edward Norton actually directed this one as well as starring in it. A lot of actors talk about wanting to give directing a try some day, and he got there much quicker than most. I'd like to see him do this again.

When you think about Edward Norton as an actor, you usually think of him as one of the great dramatic actors of our time. I mean c'mon, any of the movies I've discussed so far are prime examples of that. You rarely ever think of him as a comedic actor, but Keeping The Faith shows that he does have it in him. And I really like seeing this side of him. True, its his intensity with the dramatic that has won me over, but he has so much fun in this type of movie that he's truly a joy to watch. I'd actually be curious to see what he'd do in a Will Ferrell movie. I think that should be his next step.

On the surface Keeping the Faith is marketed as a rom com, but ultimately it's more of a bromance. The third piece of the love triangle doesn't come into play until halfway thru, but the hetero life mate chemestry between Edward Norton and Ben Stiller is so cool. I want to be Anna, not to be the object of their affection, but to be able to hang out with them. And also cause she's pretty bad ass as far as leading ladies in this type of movie go.

Sometimes, you're just wrong about a movie.

When I first heard they (whoever they are) were making a movie based on Battleship, I rolled my eyes, muttered "oh God" and dismissed it from memory. I didnt think too much about it, assuming it was far out in the future if it ever even happened. Then one day at work, a few of us are sitting around waiting for a meeting to start. One guy is on his laptop and just screams out "oh my God" and busts out laughing. He proceeds to tell us that he just came across an article describing this Battleship movie, and he has us guess who's been cast. Each detail he reveals sounds more and more ridiculous. So much so that I again forget about it, thinking this can't be real. Then the trailer appeared before some of the many many movies I saw and I realized, yes, this was happening.

I had started to be more selective about what movies I saw, and was initially inclined to just skip this one. But for some reason I just couldnt. I had to go. That reason was mostly Taylor Kitsch and Alexander Skarsgard. I made sure to pack an extra lollipop in my bag in case I got bored. Now, some of this may just be a matter of exceeding low expectations, but I actually really enjoyed Battleship. For reals.

The first thing skeptics (including me 6 hours ago) would say is "really? A movie based on Battleship?" cause how exactly would that concept make sense. The answer is that there are elements of the game, but I wouldnt say it's based on it. You have a fleet of ships just like the ones you command in the game, and you see them damaged in sections, which was kinda cool. Eventually you do get to a point where our heroes are looking at a grid and blindly sending out shots at the bad guys. I actually got kinda giddy during that because it really did work so well. I think the problem was with getting this concept across to the audience. Arguably, the solution would be to not call the film Battleship, but there were other thematic reasons why the name makes sense. So maybe you dont plaster the Hasbro name all over everything and dont play up the fact that it's based on the game. Let that be a pleasant surprise.

The other possible perceived flaw is aliens. Really, aliens? Yeah, that does seem kind of like a cheat. They needed a generic enemy and that was the solution. I still dont know how I feel about them as a concept choice, but it mostly worked. While the trailers may have hyped up the invasion, the movie really downplayed it. It was more about the navy than extra terrestrials. I feel that should have been conveyed more in the promotional material, which is something I think the powers that be realized a little late. For the past couple weeks there's been one of those before the trailers promos that highlights how they had actual Naval officers on site advising them. That's what they should have played up more.

I did really love the focus on the Navy. I have nothing but the utmost respect for our armed forces, and Navy is a branch that you never really see (besides Top Gun). If you ignore the aliens, the goings on on the ships felt very real, though as a civilian I can't speak to how accurate it may have been. I actually have a friend who's a Navy vet, so I need to make him see this and find out how this measures up to his experience (which I'm fairly sure did not include an alien attack). Either way, it did feel like the movie portrayed our servicemen with a lot of reverence and respect. There were some truly beautiful scenes, especially leading into the climax of the film.

I'd been ready to write off Taylor Kitsch as a gorgeous boy who had trouble picking movies (*cough* *cough* John Carter *cough*). Again, so wrong of me. His character was more complex than you'd expect for this big budget action movie (provided that you're basing your expectations on Michael Bay) and he executed the role perfectly. I loved every minute of his screen time, and not only because he's pretty. I could have used more Alexander Skarsgård, but I certainly dont have any complaints about what we did have of him. The other standout for me besides Kitsch was Rihanna. I was incredibly skeptical when I'd heard she was cast in this movie, but I really liked her. I expected her to be obnoxious, but she really wasn't. She was tough as nails but not overpowering. You did not think pop star when she was on screen. Liam Neeson felt a bit forced into the movie. He fit his role well, but I think too much of a big deal was made about him being a part of it.

I do think some of the earlier action scenes could have afforded to be trimmed down a bit. And the alien thing could have been thought through a bit more, but keeping the focus off the ET's worked great. Again, I think expectations and public perception of this movie is way lower than it ought to be, which is truly a shame. Or at the very least, I certainly dont feel this was a waste of my afternoon.

Battleship - \m/ \m/ \m/ \n

The movie that started it all for me. I knew nothing about Edward Norton before watching this movie. I'd seen Death to Smoochy, but at the time that was all about Robin Williams for me. The dude playing the rhino didn't register. I obsessed over Fight Club, which led to my previously mentioned buddy's suggestion of "You should watch Primal Fear. It has that guy from Fight Club". Fight Club is also my favoritest movie ever, after Aladdin. So yeah, I already have a write up done from that project. I swear there's only a couple more repeats and then I'll have some more hard core blogging to do here.

Again, most of my thoughts on the movie in general are on the previous write up. It's just such an important film for me personally. It highlights and satirizes some of my biggest life philosophies. It's a movie that makes me think. I can't go a week without finding some random excuse to quote this movie, and that's a very conservative time guess. It's prolly way shorter than that.

While Brad Pitt is usually the first association with this movie (duh, Tyler Durden) Edward Norton's performance here is stellar. He's taken a lot of the vulnerability we've seen with his earlier work, but adds this attitude we haven't yet seen from the man. You watch his character's confidence grow and see the transformation in everything from his physicality and appearance to his interactions and assertions.

This has to be the finest performance of Edward Norton's career. This movie is also one of my favorites. This blog post is gonna be a bit of a cheat because I think I said everything there is to say about this movie when I did my previous write up on the movie. My rant on Norton losing the Academy Award, general thoughts on his performance, scenes from the movie that haunt me. It's all in there. I really dont know what I can add to it without just gushing.

I have mixed feelings about Sacha Baron Cohen, or at least for his movies. I think he's a comedic genius. The way the man can commit to his kooky characters is \m/ brilliant and he is the master of the bad foreign accent of questionable origins. Back when Sweeney Todd casting was being announced, I was stoked to see him as Pirelli, and right now I'm really psyched to see him in Les Miserables. But when it comes to his own movies, I approach with caution. While his Borat and Bruno characters may have been fantastically played, I didnt find the movies funny. Partly it was because the joke just got old, but mostly it was the way those moves were scripted, or weren't scripted as the case may be. I love unscripted when you have two actors who are improv-ing, but when your unscripted includes a "victim" who is not in on the joke, it just gets awkward for everybody. So I was a little bit more optimistic for The Dictator than I would have if he were sticking to his old format, but I still wasn't quite sure what I was in for.

Turns out, yes, this is exactly the way that Cohen should make his movies. This is what works. The Dictator was hilarious. He still had freedom to play, as evidenced by the fact that many scenes from the trailer had completely different but equally hilarious dialogue. But at the same time, there was more structure. Things were set up to go in a particular direction, and everyone was in on the joke and trying to achieve the same goal. Now there were certainly gags that didnt work, namely a few of the planned scenelets (the baby scene comes to mind), but even within those seemingly unnecessarily sections there was some brilliant dialogue. There were some laugh out loud moments and some jaw dropping did-he-just-say-that?! moments.

As expect, Cohen was spot on with his performance. Actually, he was pulling double duty (pun halfway intended) with two characters. There are few actors who can commit to such an extreme character as well as he can. Again, master of the geographically ambiguous accent to the point where I forget what his sexy deep Brittish voice sounds like. I was actually YouTube-ing interview clips for a few minutes just to hear him talk. He had some good supporting people and cameos: Ben Kingsley, John C Reilly, and there was a quick cameo that I wont give away, but I'll give you the obvious hint that if you've been reading my blog for the past week, you'll know why I was incredibly happy to see this person on screen, even if only for 5 silent seconds. Unfortunately I felt Anna Faris was a bit of a weak point. It took me a while to get used to her hipster minded to the max character, and I think she tried too hard to match Cohen's over the top-ness. Had she held back a little bit, it might have worked out better.

Yeah so maybe it was just a matter of expectations, but I was rather pleasantly surprised by this movie. I really thought it was gonna be a painful 90 minutes, but it was just right.

The Dictator - \m/ \m/ \m/

There's a certain kind of movie that I refer to as a "Mighty Ducks" movie, and that would be your typical underdog sports movie. There's a variety of them, both family friendly and for the big kids, and for just about every sport. I'd start listing examples, but we'd be here all night cause I wouldnt be able to stop. Well now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Mighty Ducks of lacrosse: Crooked Arrows. Mighty Arrows? Crooked Ducks?

While this movie may not have gotten much attention on the movie scene, it's actually been on my radar for quite some time. Mainly because it was filmed in the greater Boston area. And it stars our returned Superman, Brandon Routh. For weeks I studied his twitter hoping I may run into him in the city one day. Superman is my hero and I could truly die happy if I were to meet one of our Men of Steel, it really didnt matter to me which Kal-El because I love 'em all.

I actually could have been an extra in one of the big game scenes. I saw a few email announcements go out on a list I'm on and saw a few more go out on Twitter. I can't remember why exactly I didnt go. I think it was a combination of the timing not being too good and me not having enough money to spend on the Zipcar to drive out to Danvers. Yeah, I was kicking myself thru that whole scene while watching the movie. I really dont know how I let that one slip away from me.

The movie itself turned out to be quite enjoyable, though it took a while to get started. First of all, I know zero about lacrosse (or I did before watching this). I also didnt expect the whole Native American element, so there were a few minutes there where I wondered if I wandered into the wrong auditorium at the Common. But yeah, took a lil while to find its groove. Some of the character relations felt forced, a few of the newer actors took some time to get comfortable on screen, and the set up seemed so cliche. Once things started to pick up, however, I did get really into it. Yeah, we've all seen this before and the plot was incredibly predictable, but it had a lot of heart. You really wanted to root for these guys, and everyone in the theater really was. I heard so many audible whoops and claps, to the point where it started to feel like I actually was at a sporting event. You dont get that type of reaction much outside of a midnight show. Especially for this less than full house, quite unexpected.

Okay, so just how much of this movie have we seen before? It has got to be the most blatant Ducks rip off ever.
-Gordon Bombay is a hot shot lawyer, forced to coach a kids hockey team vs Joe Logan a hot shot casino owner, forced to coach a kids lacrosse team.
-Bombay was the former star of the now rival team who missed the final shot in a championship game back in the day vs yeah same back story
-Charlie Conway is the quiet can't-do-anything-right teammate who is put into some key plays against his will, and he also happens to be the child of the coach's love interest. Arrows' had Toby
-Fulton Reed is the misunderstood outsider who the kids are afraid of but he joins the team because he's a fantastic enforcer. Here he was Maug and the kids thought he was the Sasquatch.
-Goldberg, the chubby comic relief? His counterpart was named Chewy.
-Bad ass chick Connie Moreau who can kick more butt than most of the guys, but especially has the attention of our star player Guy Germaine. We had Nadie, who caught MVP Jimmy's eye.
-The Hawks kick some Duck pretty badly in their first game, only to face off again in the championships. And the Hawks are the privileged kids. Replace Hawks with snooty prep school Coventry.
-Team name change part way thru the movie as the kids find their deeper connection to the game, check.
-Fun play names. Flying V for the Ducks, and, um, let's keep this one spoiler free.
The list goes on. But you know what, I didnt care. I was having fun. Oh and for the record, I pulled all of that Ducks data without needing IMDB. I've established it's a favorite and I've seen D2 more than any other movie except maybe three.

Crooked Arrows also got me thinking a lot about my experience playing sports in school. These movies always have these great inspirational coaches that form wonderful familial bonds with their kids. Yeeeeah never saw that happen. Basketball was my sport, and I played off and on throughout all of school. I had some good coaches, and I had some bad ones. Not even the good ones were ever half as engaged as you see in this kind of movie. And certainly none of them were ever as gorgeous as Brandon Routh. If so, I think I may have played just a bit more ball.

Crooked Arrows - \m/ \m/ \m/ \n

This next block of Edward Norton movies is my favorite. All of his best, one right after the other. These are the ones I obsessed over, that I watched on repeat over and over and over before my movie collection grew too out of hand to be able to rewatch things. Rounders in particular was a big hit back on 1E, my hall back at my dorm. You couldnt go three days without catching someone watching it (usually my DVD) in the lounge.

What's kinda cool about watching Edward Norton's films in chronological order for the first time is seeing the progression of his career (and seeing him get just a lil bit older with each one). The first three movies had him playing (for the most part) sweet, sympathetic, innocent. This is the first chance to see him with some sleeze and some edge, but at the core he still has such heart as Worm.

This movie was also my first real intro to Matt Damon. I think I'd seen Good Will Hunting by this point but wasnt impressed with it at the time (the fact that Minnie Driver annoyed me was a big factor there) though I came to love it more the longer I spent in Boston and at MIT. I think I'd also seen Bourne by then, but really this is what made me a fan. There's so many other people in this cast that I couldnt fully appreciate until much later: John Malkovich, John Turturro, Famke Janssen.

As many times as I watched this, the one thing that kept me from watching it even more, which may also be how it missed my favorites list is that Gretchen Mol is \m/ annoying as all \m/. Watching it now, yup still true. Although now I realize it's more how her character is written than how she was played. She's so quick to be judgemental and sees everything as completely black and white, I just dont understand what Damon's character sees in her.

This last scene is giving me a wicked bad craving for Oreos.

This is a movie I gotta remember for the Kevin Bacon game: Woody Allen, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, Natasha Lyonne, Alan Alda, Gaby Hoffman, Tim, Roth, Goldie Hawn, Natalie Portman, Lukas Haas, and of course, Edward Norton. When I first watched this, I remember it being the first Woody Allen film I actually enjoyed. I'm sure I've said this before but I knew someone in high school who was to Woody Allen what I am to Quentin Tarantino. He subjected me to many of his films and I never really liked them. But then I watched this one out of my own free will, but why I mean I was still on my quest to see all of Edward Norton's work.

This was just before I started to get into musical theatre, so I think I still found the musical set up kinda strange. Certainly something I have more of an appreciation for now. Actually watching this now, and after IMDB trivia told me that Edward Norton was asked to sing a little less good (Woody Allen wanted very real sounding voices) I kinda wanna see him in a legit musical. That'd be kind of amazing.

Here he plays the love-ably doofy, Holden, which is prolly his sweetest performance. It's also a side we haven't seen as much in recent years, but it looks absolutely adorable on him as a young'un.

But yeah this movie def has a very Woody Allen vibe, plus jazz hands!! Which I certainly have a new appreciation for that I didnt have ten years ago.

Ah yes, the typical I-remember-when-I-first-saw-this-movie antecdote that tends to accompany any write up I do on an older movie. Let's journey back to high school. I'd already established Edward Norton as my favorite actor. I was determined to watch every single one of his movies, and was in the process of realizing that I very much enjoyed every single one of his movies. As I was making my way thru the list, the time came for me to use the power of my Blockbuster card to rent The People Vs Larry Flynt. Now, let me remind you a little bit about High School Dawn. High School Dawn lived at home with very conservative Christian parents. High School Dawn was very active in the church youth group. High School Dawn was about as much of a quiet and shy goody goody as you could possibly get. And now High School Dawn walks into the house with a movie about the guy behind Hustler magazine. Yeeeeeah, I waited until the 'rents weren't home to watch it. And I was kinda squeamishly uncomfortable thru most of it. I spent a good while just wondering what the \m/ I was doing watching this movie, and even wondered if I'd gotten the wrong thing since it takes a good 30 minutes for Edward Norton to first make an appearance.

But as the movie went on, I was drawn in. At this point, all I knew of Woody Harrelson was those few episodes of Will & Grace that he did, though of course at the time I didnt know him by name yet. But since then he has been towards the top of my watch list. Just such a stunning and deep and mezmorizing portrayal. The details of what were going on may have made me uncomfortable during that first watch, but I was so completely allied with the characters and the overall story. The idea of freedom of speech and expression is something that is very important to me.

As far as Edward Norton goes, I do love his limited scenes. He's got some great courtroom scenes. Certainly a smart career move taking on this film as a follow up to Primal Fear since it kept him in the big leagues with some big names in Hollywood. He masterfully holds his own against such an insane larger than life character.

High School Dawn has definitely grown up and come a long way in the 10 years or so since I first watched this. For one, I'm not shrinking into my seat in shame as I watch this today. There's this one bus stop in LA that I tend to end up at at least once per trip that's right by the Flynt Building, and I can't help by smile as I see it.