The Counselor = Cormac McCarthy + Ridley Scott + (Fassbender + Pitt + Cruz + Bardem et al)

A solid B. but yeah: almost more fun to think about than watch.

Reviewing tonight, will post when it runs.

the cheetahs look cool, might see it just for the cheetahs

On my way to a 9:50 show.

Loved it, basically.

"Redemption" is the most overused word and concept in Hollywood today, and here's a story with no opportunity for it. Plus, the movie is all consequences to decisions that we barely see--we're just seeing the aftermath.

Would be very interested in hearing how the movie goes over in the Southwest and in Mexico.

Also found the most moving scene (vague here, not spoiling) was a moment late in the movie when he's most alone and most in danger and discovers that he's actually not alone and has something in common with a huge chunk of society, at least south of the border.

"Don't even think i'm making this up. You can't make this up," Bardem's character says about the car-fucking, but the same thing holds true time and time again in the stories in the 'drugs, murder, and mexico' thread.

This review basically spoils everything but makes the case for it being better than 12 Years A Slave as stories of unstoppable cruelty.

oh hey I just figured out what was on that DVD

lol

what'd you think he was crying about? Bunheads being cancelled?

some telenovela called HOLA!

coulda just been some movie they watched together y'know

besides "oh hey this must be what brad Pitt told me about bcz sledgehammer foreshadowing #2"

http://splicetoday.com/moving-pictures/witness-a-reptilian-cameron-diaz-more-cheetah-than-cougar

The Counselor vs Clair Denis' Bastards

http://www.fandor.com/blog/the-film-in-the-shadows-ridley-scott-vs-claire-denis

http://www.film.com/movies/the-cult-of-the-counselor

Is the film worth it? “The Counselor” is a didactic movie about how a) women are predatory whores (Cameron Diaz is tattooed with cheetah spots to drive the point home) b) a man defines his character by being appropriately stoic about death. It’s an idiotic exercise in some respects, but a rare opportunity to watch talented performers (Diaz aside) figure out the rhythms of non-naturalistic dialogue that’s quite fascinating when you ignore its offensiveness; it’s not quite “Cosmopolis” or Harold Pinter, but the exercise is in the same ballpark. Novelty filmmaking perhaps — another 20 movies like this simply wouldn’t do — but the multiplex is better for it, and it’s proof our internet Red Alert mechanisms are working faster than ever.

"Women are predatory whores" vs. "Cameron Diaz's character is an aggressive predator."

I think it's essentially being pulled from theaters after today btw.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/07/fashion/in-the-counselor-fashions-and-furnishings-play-a-pivotal-aesthetic-role.html?src=me

Oh man this movie

Definitely "worth seeing"

I liked it,kinda

pretty much my feelings.

i look forward to seeing it again actually. something tells me it'll play well on cable.

it really reminded me of Cosmopolis--particularly in that it seemed to revolve around a series of rather abstract conversations. intriguing.

Ha that was almost a haiku

Self xpost

But yeah, ryan otm

Also, it doesn't become clear for a while that half the movie at least must be conversations between The Counselor and a character who only appears in a single scene.

really want that ruben blades coffee service

on motorized decapitations

http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2013/11/cormac-mccarthy-truman-capote-herschell-gordon-lewis.html

lol there's three names I never expected to see together

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-blog/10447186/The-Counsellor-when-good-scripts-go-very-bad.html

what sux about the movie is mostly in the script

Wasn't that bad, did have some interesting bits, but seemed to overstretch the amount of subplots and be self-consciously amoral which is probably totally oxymoronic.

Saw it in a cinema with one other person in the audience which is a bit weird. Guess word of mouth is out about the film. I enjoyed some of it quite a bit.

imo the best things about it are the peculiar digressions and the particular flavor of mccarthy's dialogue and ideas

And that one sunflower Versace shirt Bardem wears.

I've been saying "I've seen it all; it's all shit" pretty regularly since I saw it. I love pithy nihilism tho.

I haven't finished watching it but ws penelope cruz + fassbender in that opening scene daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn

extended disc cut in Feb, 21 mins longer

no thx really

I think the early conversation with the Amsterdam jeweler about love and death and fate and god is much longer.

longest Bruno Ganz monologue since Hitler rant

unironically cant wait

psyched

http://www.uproxx.com/filmdrunk/2014/01/cormac-mccarthys-ex-arrested-brandishing-gun-pulled-vagina-dispute-aliens/

Yeah I'll be checking out the longer cut. Hopefully there's not more of *that* scene.

this was terrible imo. everyone in it is miscast, save maybe penelope cruz. the dialogue is the major problem, a brisk no thank you sir to the extended cut

More like michael miscastbender and javier boredom and brad shit in this one, thanks for nothing boremac mcsharty

so who has watched the expanded version, and...?

Eszterhas scripts are better.

Four-hour commentary track.

HBO Max has the extended version (20 minutes longer), though you have to search under extras to the page to find it. Much better than the original cut.

Reminds me structurally of Gomorrah as far as a collage of how many people have jobs to make a smuggling operation happen.

Yes, that was the most canny thing about the movie: the way that the scenes of abstract philosophical speech were interspersed with scenes of people going about the operation with minimal or functional dialogue, a really striking contrast.
One of my least favourite things in this is the trope of the powerful evil guy who says, "I know you don't want me to do this evil thing, but fate makes it inevitable". There's a lot of interesting stuff in this movie, but I'm not convinced its moral compass is any more evolved than Mötley Crüe's "Dr. Feelgood".

I love this movie. I own the director's cut Blu-Ray. I don't need an evolved moral compass from a movie whose entire message is "fuck around and find out."

I should rewatch this.