The Score (2001, DVD)

~~~~~~~~~ Theater = Entertainment ~~~~~~~~~ Theater going isn't on my regular to-do list. It fell off around the time my first son turned one. So when I do get released from parent shackles for a night on the town, I want to be entertained. Tickets were difficult to pre-order for The Score. It seems everyone in town wanted to see it tonight. When I finally found some tickets, I felt like I had won the Publishers' Clearing House Sweeps. Tons of ads and previews later, the movie started to a hushed full house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Plot Appetizers ~~~~~~~~~~~~ De Niro was on screen, competently...

A really nice looking golden scepter is the score in The Score, a film about an elaborate break in and theft occurring at Montreal's Custom House. This film starring Robert Deniro, Marlon Brando, Edward Norton and Angela Bassett moves along at a decent pace taking us into most all the aspects of pulling off this complicated heist. The film is well done, but just doesn't feel like something we are commonly introduced to in the summer. There is little action in any of the film until the last half hour. The film instead deals with the characters, their plotting, and their situations. Deniro is...

As far as I am concerned, anything done by Steve Buscemi, Forrest Whittaker or Edward Norton is well done. Okay, so Buscemi disappointed me with Armageddon, and Whittaker with Battlefield Earth, but Norton hasn't disappointed yet. I found The Score to be no exception, although really, it is DeNiros movie, all the way. Directed by Frank Oz (a.k.a., the one time voice of Miss Piggy), I class this movie as suspense more than as 'action', although that is how it appears to be being marketed. THE SET UP This is the story of three men at various stages of their criminal careers. Max, (Marlon Brando.

There is nothing new under the sun, or so the good book says. The story of The Score is nothing new. You've seen this story many times before. What makes this movie different, however, is how well it has been done (in places). From the look of the film, to the acting, to the directing. Even the script, which presents a fairly standard story, does it so well (at times) that one can't help admiring the craftsmanship involved. Unfortunately, the quality of the movie is not consistent. The middle section's pacing is off and feels like it drags. The ending is predictable - not because anything is..