Rating: 
Summary: GREAT heist movie
Review: THE SCORE might be one of last year's movies you just didn't get around to seeing in the theatres. Now's your chance to see Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton match wits and nerve in this tautly-written and directed heist/action caper.Angela Bassett stars as Robert DeNiro's girlfriend, and that's about the extent of her part in this film. Too bad she couldn't have been written into the story more. Marlon Brando has maybe two scenes as one of DeNiro's cronies from the ole' days, but he's not really crucial to the story. Edward Norton holds his own against DeNiro in a story that does move a little slowly in the middle, but the ending is the real clincher. Highly entertaining...
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining way to spend an afternoon
Review: The score opens with De Niro's character cracking a safe (and needing reading glasses to do it) and being discovered by a young woman. Obviously shaken, he tells his fence Max(Marlon Brando, for what he probably cost the producers could've hired 100 of me and been just as well off) that he's quitting (his girlfiriend Angela Bassett wants him out too).Max wants him to do one more job a cocky new guy (Edward Norton)has come up with.
DeNiro's character isn't interested and says so, then tries to have Norton beaten up for pestering him. That doesn't work , he finally reluctantly agrees to the job on the condition that he runs every aspect. I thought that things developed pretty well through the story, even the small details looked very convincing to me. I liked the look of the theft itself, DeNiro being set up by Norton, the look on Norton's face when he realizes that the "old" guy he hated for telling him to be patient has in fact outfoxed HIM. I can't condone thievery, but it was well presented here, I'm not sure what I'd change but mostly a good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Great cast and acting
Review: This movie has enough to be entertaining, though not the best performance of ANY of the actors in it. Deniro is his usual gruff self. While he is a great actor, watching the outtakes of him and Brando makes you think that he's done it all before. Brando on the other hand, while good, is totally out of it and it comes across in the film. He's trying, but he doesn't know he's there. Norton is once again great. This young actor is one of the best out there and delivers a great performance. Now, the plot of this movie is pretty cool. The whole heist thing keeps you interested and on the edge of your seat. This combined with the acting makes this a really good movie. Make sure to watch the special features to catch Brando out of it. And yes, he was wearing pants as far as I could tell.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining
Review: It's hard to not produce a decent movie with Frank Oz as Director, De Niro, Norton, and Brando...Bassett underutilized...script interesting but predictable...I'm fan of De Niro, therefore I may be a bit biased...all in all I can recommend movie...
Rating:
Summary: A decent Making The Big Score film
Review: This film turned out pretty well, though with a cast consisting of DeNiro, Brando, Bassett, and Norton, it's nigh-impossible to have a completely miserable failure. It was a pretty generic plot, but it was still entertaining, and I really enjoyed Frank Oz's direction. He made use of a lot of low camera shots and there were a number of scenes with very interesting blocking. Sure sure, DeNiro is the thief with a heart of gold who's just looking for His Last Big Score, and the love of his life
is about ready to leave him because she doesn't believe that This Time He Means It, No Really. Norton plays the young up-and-comer who's a bit too big for his britches. His cover character is "Brian," an autistic janitor's assistant, which Norton plays brilliantly and convincingly. When not posing as Brian, Norton finds a few excuses to show off his upper torso in gratutous tank top & shirtless scenes. Hey, Ed? We get it that you've beefed up, ok? We got it in "American History X;" you're ripped. Fine. But you still run like a girl. Let's talk about the 400-lb gorilla that everyone pretends not to notice and finds uncomfortable to talk about; Marlon Brando. Four hundred pounds might actually be underestimating him, but I honestly can't hold his weight against him. There were times, though, a scene here and there, when all I could think of was a giant, sweaty, mumbling Sylvester the Cat. He's become a parody of himself with the lisping and the muttering and the heavy mouth breathing. His role is not particularly inspiring, though, so it wasn't as if he had a lot to work with. Speaking of actors who have become nothing but their trademark schtick, I was pleased that DeNiro seemed to take himself less seriously than he has in other recent roles. In films such as "Meet the Parents," "Analyze This," and others, it's seemed as if he's doing an impression of himself, rather than trying to actually act. But this role reminds me of his Sam in "Ronin," which was a nice change. Angela Bassett's role was unfortunately very small - it had a lot of potential, but she wasn't ever allowed to get a full head of steam worked up. Alas. I expected at least one more double-cross than there actually was, because the trailers pretty much gave away two of them - but that's all there were. Well, that's kind of disappointing. There's a little suspense here and there during the final half hour, when The Big Heist is actually taking place, but it's nothing we haven't seen before, and the new "Ocean's 11" does it better. Still, it's a decent bubble-gum-for-the-brain kind of movie, a good afternoon flick when you don't want to think about anything too heavy.
Rating:
Summary: "The Score" is a brilliant caper flick worth watching!
Review: "The Score" is a one-of-a-kind thrill ride of a heist movie that has three generations of highly acclaimed actors that you'll ever see in one movie: Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, and Edward Norton, each arguably the single most talented actor of his generation. So what if the film they have chosen for their act-off is a minor heist drama? These three provide a heft that, for the two hours of watching this movie, makes director Frank Oz's "The Score" both pleasurable and involving. De Niro stars as Nick Wells, an expert jewel thief who also happens to run a jazz club in Montreal. He has eluded the law for his entire career by sticking to his three rules: 1.) Avoid excessive risk.
2.) Always work alone.
3.) Never pull a job in the town where you live. Nick is tempted to put aside those maxims when Max (Brando), a longtime friend and underworld crony, offers Nick $4 million to steal a jewel-encrusted 17th-century scepter from the Montreal Customs House. Nick agrees to the job, promising his flight attendant girlfriend (Angela Bassett, who hasn't been seen a whole lot in this film) that it'll be his last. But Nick soon develops some doubts both about the job and the ambitious young accomplice, Jack Teller (Norton), with whom Max has teamed him up with Nick. And one mistake, just one little mistake, could bring down not only Max and Jack, but Nick as well! The number of scenes between Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro crackle, offering a fascinating clash of acting styles. (Of course, this is their first time onscreen together; they shared the role of Vito Corleone, with Brando in 1972's "The Godfather" and De Niro in 1974's "The Godfather Part II".) To me, I think that Edward Norton, whose character fakes being simpleminded at times, has the flashiest role, but smartly steps aside when both De Niro and Brando strut their stuff. The DVD version of "The Score" is very well-made with some extras including the making-of "The Score", the original trailer, and deleted scenes. Check "The Score" out and you'll agree that it's one of the excellently made caper movies around!
Rating:
Summary: SWEATY PALMS GRIPPING
Review: The movie takes place in Montreal where Nick Wells (Robert DeNiro) is a high living jazz night club owner with a criminal past. He is about to almost reform from a life of crime for the sake of his gorgeous girlfriend (Angela Bassett), an airline stewardess. He'd like to settle down with her but he has a few nagging big bills to pay to keep his night club and lifestyle afloat. Who should drop by to solve all of his financial problems but his old mentor and partner in crime, a very large Max (played by Marlon Brando). Max proposes that he can make the score of his life .... for $4-million. Then he can live happily ever after. The conflict in the movie begins to build when Nick's girlfriend is on the verge of walking out on him if he does another "job." But Max prevails on Nick to carry out the last greatest heist of his life: breaking into the Montreal Customs House to steal a priceless 17th Century golden scepter which has been locked up in the sub-basement safe of the ancient Customs House. The safe is inside a cage, inside another cage with security cameras and laser alarm systems surrounding it all the time. Max has financial troubles with a local gangster and needs the score to buy his way out of it. So for friendship and profit Max prevails on Nick to do this one, last, big job. While Nick is mulling the whole thing over, suddenly the youthful, high tech thief Jack (well acted by Edward Norton ... similar to his weasly character in "Rounders" ) drops in on him. Jack pressures him to do the "score" because it's do-able. Nick instantly dislikes Jack because of his youthful arrogance and disrespect. But the "kid" has talent. Eventually, they come to an understanding and decide to do the heist. Most of the movie deals with preparing for the big score and the dynamics surrounding Max, Nick and Jack. Nick has the lion's share of the work because he has to actually get past all of the seemingly impossible security, break open the safe, and get away with the scepter. Jack has to do the high tech stuff of disarming the security system. At some critical point the two have to trust one another. Watching DeNiro's acrobatics as he breaks into the Montreal Customs House vault is reminiscent of him as suspected terrorist Harry Tuttle swinging to the rescue in the futuristic bureaucratic fantasy BRAZIL made nearly 20 years ago. So far, I haven't given anything away because the movie is full of plot twists and surprises. The break in sequence takes up half the movie, and is filled with suspense and uncertainty. The story line itself is as old as the hills in Hollywood. How many movies have you seen where a group of thieves (often led by Sean Connery) have to get through an impossible security system to steal something big? But here, the three main actors carry off the suspense from beginning to end. The surprises keep coming (I won't tell you what they are). And until the credits begin to roll, you have no idea of how this is going to wind up. Get your popcorn, soda or beer lined up before the movie begins. Then prepare to sit on the edge of your seat for 120 minutes.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Execution All Around
Review: Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Marlon Brando and Angela Basette star in this interesting little film about a veteran robber, (De Niro) his friend Max,(Played wonderfully by Marlon Brando) who sets up jobs for him, and a new comer in the buisness (Norton) who plan to pull off a large heist of a French
National treasure; a golden royal sceptre to be specific, incrusted in jewels.
All the charecters were played to their best possible performance, in a laxed environment feuled by a beutiful collection of Jazz tunes.
This film is over-looked but very well done.
Rating: 
Summary: i can't believe this movie averages 4 stars
Review: everyone i have spoken to who has seen this movie found it mediocre at best. i paid 2 full price admissions (me and my wife) to see it in the theatre, and came out thoroughly disappointed. with the director and cast involved, i expected greatness, or at the very least, entertainment. what i walked out with was a profound sense of disappointment and regret for shelling out hard-earned money for a lackluster (and really quite predictable) heist movie that got average performances from great actors (deniro, norton), and a laughably poor performance from a once-great actor (brando). what peeved me the most was the fact that edward norton seemed to have been typecast with an almost exact replica of the character he played in primal fear, which led to a subconscious as well as conscious premonition that blew the so-called surprise ending... four stars my heinie.
Rating:
Summary: GOOD RATHER THAN GREAT BUT WELL WORTH WATCHING!!!
Review: Aren't heist movies great? Warm and familiar like a comfy old armchair, they are one of the oldest and (if done well) most enjoyable film genres around. You can sit back at the movie theatre with your popcorn in one hand or at home in front of the TV with a beer, safe in the knowledge that some craggy, world weary old thief set on retirement will be persuaded to do one last job, with a rookie understudy whom he doesn't trust, on a job which you just know wont go as smoothly as planned. The Score is no different in that respect in that it stars Robert De Niro as a craggy old world weary thief, persuaded to take on one last high risk job before retiring. Ed Norton plays the rookie understudy scamming his employers by posing as Brian, a man with a disability and learning difficulties. Of course Robert De Niro's character Nick, always works alone and doesn't trust anybody but he is persuaded by his camp bloated old fence, Max (Marlon Brando) to work with Jack (Ed Norton). You see Max (Brando) is in up to his eyeballs in gambling debts and is likely to be forcibly shuffled off this mortal coil unless he comes up with the money, Jack (Norton) is working on the inside and Nick (De Niro) is the only man with the knowledge and the skills to get the job done. Like most heist movies it's a bit of a slow burn build up, it's all about building up the tension until showtime. Inevitably there are a few scares along the way and Director Frank Oz (yes that's right Yoda, or at least the voice of Yoda) does a decent job in building up the tension. Of course one of the great draws of this movie is Frank Oz's coup in getting Brando, De Niro and Norton all on screen at the same time in the same movie. Brando was in his day was considered to be the world's greatest living actor, a mantle De Niro has carried for the past 20/25 years. Edward Norton is not far behind and is generally considered by many (including myself) to be the greatest actor of his generation on the back of great films (American History X, Fight Club) and great performances (Primal Fear, Rounders, Keeping The Faith, The People Versus Larry Flynt, Everybody Says I Love You). Robert De Niro is of course reliably good but not at his brilliant best and it is Ed Norton in the dual role of Jack and Brian who has the meatiest part and adds some energy and vitality to the whole production. Marlon Brando's role however, is something of an oddity. It's not much more than a cameo and its something that he could do in his sleep, which is just as well because it looks like that's exactly what he did. If there are any criticisms to be levelled at The Score it has to be on the basis that it really is a by the numbers crime caper and lacks none of the originality or vitality of something like Reservoir Dogs and nor does it really take full advantage of its AAA list cast. The opening sequences whilst interesting, perhaps lack the action and intensity you might wish, although they do serve as an insight into Jack's MO (he always works outside the country, he always plans meticulously, doesn't take chances and is never greedy). That said The Score is enjoyable first and foremost for its excellent cast and the opportunity to see them share screen time. Secondly the last forty minutes of the movie where we eventually get to witness the heist are excellent; the heist is great edge of your seat stuff and there are plenty of unexpected twists and turns and an excellent climax. Ultimately though, you are left with the feeling that you've seen this all before and done better. It's more like that trusty old arm chair, warm and comfortable rather than new and exciting. That said it's an enjoyable yarn. Good rather than great BUT still well worth a watch.
|
