5Vote!
No Trivia (Free subscription) | yesterday
... ballot: 1. Star Trek (J.J. Abrams, United States) 2. Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America (Tony Stone, United States) 3. Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone, Italy) 4. Madea Goes to Jail (Tyler Perry, United States) 5. Public Enemies (Michael Mann, United States) 6. Two Lovers (James Grey, United States) 7. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, United States) 8. Good Hair (Jeff Stilson, United...
Explore : Cinema,
J.J. Abrams,
James Toback,
Michael Mann,
Moon,
Movies,
Music,
Sciences,
Solar System,
Star Trek,
TV,
TV Producers,
Tyler Perry,
Tyson,
Wes Anderson
8Vote!
Cinematical (Free subscription) | 12/07/2009
... months of his enlistment on "notification duty" with the apparently unbalanced Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson). The two of them are tasked with telling the next of kin that a soldier won't be coming home, a job that consists of knocking on a door, reading from a script ("the Secretary of the Army extends his deepest condolences..."), and bracing oneself for...
11Vote!
The Huffington Post (Free subscription) | 12/03/2009
... won best supporting actor for "The Messenger." In the film, the actor plays Captain Tony Stone, who is tasked to inform the families of fallen soldiers. Best animated film went to Pixar's "Up," an adventure about an elderly man who has always yearned for adventure and finds it when he flies away in his house with a boy who has stowed away. "The Cove,"...
Explore : Books,
Carey Mulligan,
Cinema,
Clint Eastwood,
Film Studios,
Fine Arts,
George Clooney,
Jason Reitman,
Joel and Ethan Coen,
Morgan Freeman,
Pixar,
Walter Kirn,
Woody Harrelson
7Vote!
Detroit Free Press (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009
In a sense, the soldiers at the center of "The Messenger" are engaged in house-to-house combat. Capt. Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) and Sgt. Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) are unwelcome visitors, wary of what might detonate behind the next door.
3Vote!
The M.O. (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
... who have lost a family member. His stern commanding officer and companion on the ominous visits, Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), explains to the disciplined but conflicted soldier that his new job is about “character” and one that must be done “before you can understand it.” Neither of the men has the benefit of training in grief counseling and their job is simply...
11Vote!
Hullabaloo (Free subscription) | 11/22/2009
... no such thing as a satisfied customer,” deadpans Casualty Notification Officer Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) to his new apprentice, Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), who is emotionally shattered by his virgin encounter with bereaved “NOK”. Sgt. Montgomery is a decorated, recently returned Iraq War vet whose enlistment is almost up. Although he accepts this...
3Vote!
Film Intuition: Review Database (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
... leave room for uncertainty for those in denial . These are just a few of the rules that Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson) shares with Ben Foster’s injured, decorated and returned Iraqi war vet Will Montgomery who has been assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification team for his three remaining months of military service. Furthermore, Montgomery is additionally warned...
7Vote!
Pajiba (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
... for mining the kind of indie-film lamentations that awards season adores. Will is paired with Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), a Jesse Ventura-jawed loner who recognizes that he's the head shovel on the shit crew and not everyone can hack the morbid duty. It's reminiscent of the gravediggers in Hamlet , a gallows humor-type approach to a job so uncomprehensibly awful. A magnificent dichotomy...
5Vote!
Christian Science Monitor (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
The Messenger'The Messenger' is an understated character study of two Army officers assigned to inform families that their loved one has been killed. | Film critic of The Christian Science Monitor "The Messenger," filmed in and around Fort Dix, N.J., is about two Army officers assigned to work for the Casualty Notification Office – an all-too-timely subject. The two men, Capt. Tony Stone...
3Vote!
Entertainment & Sports Safari (Free subscription) | 11/19/2009
... only three months left on his tour of duty, who is assigned to work alongside recovering alcoholic Tony Stone (Harrelson) for the Casualty Notification Office. Viewers may be familiar with scenes of family and friends being forced to come to terms with the news of their loved ones' death in combat but what makes The Messenger's approach to its subject so unusual is that we see the...
5Vote!
USA Today (Free subscription) | 11/20/2009
Foster, a stellar character actor, is magnificent in a rare lead role as Army Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery, a decorated veteran of the Iraq War. Montgomery is tapped by Capt. Tony Stone (Harrelson), a much more hardened party-hearty type fellow, to join him in the army's casualty-notification service. Will, in contrast, is emotionally shut down.
4Vote!
From the Front Row (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
... their loved one has been killed in action. His commanding officer is the tough-as-nails Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), a man still bitter about not having seen any combat during Desert Storm, but completely devoted to his duty with the CNS. It's a job time has hardened him to, and the youthful idealism of Montgomery, more interested in the human factor than the stiff regulations,...
5Vote!
DCist (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
... here. It's emotionally taxing work, and it's no wonder that Montgomery's partner, Captain Tony Stone (Woody Harrelson), a seasoned veteran of Casualty Notification, is a recovering alcoholic. How could you deliver that kind of news and witness that kind of pain and not need something to take the edge off? Experienced screenwriter Oren Moverman ( Jesus' Son , I'm Not There ) makes...
