I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I'll tell you why so serious

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This movie is about religious philosophy. If you are not into religious philosophy or seeing the raw sexuality of Milla Jovovich then go elsewhere. The movie asks questions about the seemingly contradiction of free will vs. God's will. If God has a master plan, then aren't our wrong doings part of it? If so, should we regret our sins?In what appears to be a role reversal De Niro places a parole officer and Edward Norton a prisoner. Early on we find out that De Niro has some anger management problems. As a child he hit his brother in the head with a hammer and threatened to kill his daughter if his wife left him. He is the parole officer who judges people.Norton plays a convict who started a fire to cover up a crime committed by his cousin. His nickname is "Stone." Stone, according to the new religion of Norton is the beginning phase of a soul. We all start out as stones and work our way up to humans as part of the eternal process. His simple questions and answers cause De Niro to think and examine his own life and religious belief.Milla's religious views come out late in the movie, and they too have an effect on De Niro. Much of the movie consists of various conversations with very little action. The background radio chatter of a religion station sets the mood. If you know how to listen, God will talk to you. Sex, nudity, f-bomb and a few other expletives that surprised me.Milla is extremely sensual in this film: Her eyes, raised eyebrow, lips, smile, mannerisms, nudity, and especially her whispers.

Jack Mabry (Robert De Niro) is a complicated man. As a young father, he hangs his daughter out the window to force his wife Madylyn (Frances Conroy) to stay. He has a few weeks before retirement as the prison parole eligibility officer. One of his last cases is Gerald 'Stone' Creeson (Edward Norton). He's combative but also demanding to get out early. He gets his wife Lucetta (Milla Jovovich) to seduce Mabry.De Niro and Norton get a couple of interesting characters to work with. This seems to be set up for some great acting and intense character drama. I do like the interactions between the two leads. Jovovich is able to keep up. It stumbles here and there. I don't really get the mishmash of religion in this. I think this could have been award winning performances if the movie is better written.

...well, this movie was waste of my time and waste of Edward Nortons talent. Categorized as "drama" and "thriller"? I would add new category for it : "boring as can be". Nothing happening, full of religious nonsense, you just hope for it to end. It's almost never that I force myself to turn off the movie before it ends but I have barely endured this one. Total, but really total waste of time. I have no idea who makes a movie like this, or even worse - who enjoys it? Robert De Niro is making some bad movies lately, right? I mean, OK, you can act depressed and guy with inner conflict but come on. What has become of once such a great actor? The only reason I am giving it 2 stars is Edward Nortons performance...and yeah - Millas appearance :),I'm just weak for her :)

This is a movie contrived of being all philosophical while trying to bring out human nature but it's a mess and underdeveloped. It's like the director or the writers weren't sure which direction to go. The main reason I decided to check this movie out is because it has Edward Norton playing a convict. But he plays a different type of convict to the one he played in "American History X". He is this kinda whinny and weird character that has a epiphany and tries to show his parole officer played by Robert De Niro that we are the way we are no matter what. While De Niro's character tries to convince himself that he is different by judging others. And the only character that is somewhat likable in this whole movie is Edward Norton's character that goes by the nickname Stone. But even he is underdeveloped and you really can't get a grip on any of the characters or who they are really. Even when the movie is finished, and it's a pretty crap ending by the way. They probably tried to go in a different direction and is indulgent in some areas but it doesn't really work. This movie become tedious and dull pretty early on without having any elements that make it gripping or even interesting. Even Robert De Niro's character is dull even though in the beginning his character seemed to have potential to stand out or at least be interesting. It's not a awful movie but by the end of it all I didn't feel like I gained much from this flick at all. Also the way Edward Norton's character Stone talks made me want to cough since he seemed to have a strep throat.5.1/10