the counselor review

Watching on a mobile? Everyone involved, including many award winning and nominated actors gives a career worst performance. I was overwhelmed by the lack of structure, incoherence of plot and sheer pomposity of the characters. I don't see this as a complaint, since A.) Cameron Diaz was good. 10/10. I ain't kidding. Apparently I am one of the few who came into this movie with no pre- conceived ideas of what it would actually be like. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film stars Michael Fassbender as a high-priced lawyer who decides to dabble in something a bit less than legal in order to make some extra cash. Jonathan Stevenson, ... Best of The New York Review, plus books, events, and other items of interest. Who knew that murderers from the drug cartels ruminate on philosophical aspects of life an death, morals and consequence? With a star studded cast, featuring the likes of Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt, and directed by Ridley Scott, with a script from one of the greatest American novelists alive, Cormac McCarthy, obviously I went to see "The Counselor" on face value alone. The Counselor is a 2013 crime thriller film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Cormac McCarthy.It stars Michael Fassbender as the eponymous Counselor as well as Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt.The film deals with themes such as greed, mortality, love, and trust in the context of the Mexican drug trade. I'll tell ya, its the only way to go. After getting his fair share of praise and love (justifiably so) for his achievements as a novelist, Cormac McCarthy's first-ever film script is laughably bad and a total embarrassment. Really. Awards All actors were on top of their game. A dark, bleak masterpiece about predators - 10/10, A classic that will be recognised in time. In a world populated by villains, speed is everything. Although he is constantly told that things could go wrong and the effects would be irreversible, his greed cannot let him decline. But now I know. The plot, setting, and, more generally, the world, McCarthy creates are vehicles for the theme, that of the human condition, man's striving, reaching, cunning, and ultimately, his animal nature. Read full review The Counselor is a verbose, overstuffed, yet disastrously terrific work from Ridley Scott. reviewer gave the film her highest marks whereas others viewed the film as being sub par or even disastrous. The Counselor proves that talented people can produce a horrendous mess. Full Review | Original Score: F Brian D. Johnson Maclean's Magazine The Counselor – Movie Review. It just sounded so promising; extremely capable actors, an inventive director, and what seemed like an intriguing story to top it off. Its relentlessly depressing plot is likely to turn off audiences. Anyway I have confidence this film will be remembered in later decades. A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking. October 25, 2013. With the club being funded by Westray (Brad Pitt), things for the Counselor could not be better, that is until one of his clients, Ruth (Rosie Perez), calls the Counselor from jail, and asks him to get her son released from jail over a speeding ticket. The Counselor is a hard film to recommend. Admittedly, aside from the fact that this is not a very cinematic endeavor, the first half of this film is pretty bad. The Counsellor – review 2 / 5 stars 2 out of 5 stars. I loved Heli, and I loved the Counsellor, this is why. It's a depiction of the life of rich and beautiful, not a life story of an office worker. Metacritic Reviews. An all-star cast (Penélope Cruz, Michael Fassbender, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt) and legendary director Ridley Scott all but assured that the film would be a success. Some are more oblivious to it (or outright merciless), and some are much more humane in their methods. As an example each of the main characters gets a chance to make a speech and all do well (my favourite being Bruno Ganz's)and if people were left totally bemused by the film after watching the trailer then you need to stop watching trailers. The action may be fast as a pingball, but the high-calibre cast can't stop Ridley Scott's latest from running out of ping … 10/10. The dialog itself is sharp, cryptic and original, I loved hearing the characters' philosophical banter about death, religion, sex, acceptance etc. But what impressed me most is the moral decay and corruption of human beings, the ruthless jungle surviving rules. The Counselor's primary idea is that of a destroyed society and way of life; as well as the… Review by SilentDawn ★★★★ 10 Ridley Scott's The Counselor is a devilishly twisted and desolate morality play, supported with a screenplay of immaculate nihilism and dangerously sexy performances. Jeremy Lebens October 27, 2013 Leave a comment. This is sooo not the movie for you. Fassbender is as awesome as his performance in Inglourious Basterds. No such discipline exists in The Counselor, a droning meditation on capitalism in the form of a thriller about cocaine trading on the Tex-Mex border. As for the points about the plot going nowhere are the story being disjointed I would say to these people ...... stop watching trailers! The Counselor held a great deal of promise. One of the most promising movies this year. Many of the scenes are lengthy, one on one exchanges between two characters who speak in long extended monologues. Cast: Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Rosie Perez. Anyways, I've read a couple reviews offering it high praise and a lot of them completely bashing it, I'm somewhere in the middle but leaning more toward the former positive critique. The Counselor Review. Twitter. some of the obvious foreshadows have great pay offs, and C.) knowing what's to come and watching anyways has a sort of knowing dread about it. The National Security Counselor. Through thematic contrivance is created a jungle filled with various inhabitants. Amazing cinematography. By the time it's over you realize this is more blood curdling and wicked than any horror tale. With things going smoothly in his life, the Counselor tries to make some money on the side by getting himself mixed in with drug trafficking and opening a club with his friend, Reiner (Javier Bardem). In his crime thriller No Country for Old Men, … From the direction, to the story (Holy man what a script, absolutely brilliant) to the superb acting all round, it had everything...and in buckets. The movie’s title may make cruel sense — the Counselor is a man who himself takes no counsel — but a truer encapsulation of its worldview is “No Exit.” “The Counselor” is rated R … I saw it and got it as it was directed by Ridley Scott, written by a great author and had a decent cast list. The film may be judged upon different merits. It was written by the talented Cormac McCarthy, this is his screenplay debut and his lack of experience shows, he seems to forget that he is writing the script of a modern film and not a novel or a play. real people get involved in this stuff knowing bad things can happen despite all the warnings heard ahead of time and B.) An A-list cast recite B-movie dialogue in Ridley Scott's disappointing collaboration with Cormac McCarthy. The "overly-long" dialog was especially trying for short attention spans but those who may have enjoyed the great cinematic classics over the past century will adore this creation. Peopled with the kind of endlessly soliloquising drug dealers whom even Quentin Tarantino would give a wide berth, The Counsellor gets an A-list cast to recite B-movie dialogue with C-minus results. News about upcoming issues, contributors, special events, online features, and more. It is a slow moving film, with lots of dialogue, and every character seems to get a lengthy monologue. The directing is slick and stylish, and there are a few scenes that are actually brilliant to see unfold. I've read reviews complaining its too predictable but I feel like that's the point, as it involves a relatively "good man" getting in bed with a drug cartel and everyone kind of tells him to be sure that he understands, that bad things could/will happen. In any event, time for director Ridley Scott to start thinking about new horizons as well. Highly underrated gem but apparently only if you are a film fan with a IQ above 70. Technically amazing and a fantastic reality of the drug trade, corruption, violence, power and greed. And so should you. Much time is taken up discussing the nature of evil in a manner so datedly naff that when snuff movies rear their ridiculous head you find yourself longing for the Nietzschean heft of Nic Cage in Joel Schumacher's 8mm. Tag Archive: The Counselor – Movie Review. The Counselor is one of the most bizarre movies I've ever seen. | But, if you're patient enough to stay with this film until the second hour, you will be rewarded by witnessing how McCarthy and Scott weave this almost action-less tale together, quietly guiding audiences into a brilliantly disturbing and hypnotic finale. Loading Despite the impenetrable exterior, The Counselor is tense as hell. /. Pinterest. Film Review: ‘The Counselor’ Cormac McCarthy's first original script is nearly all dialogue, but it’s a lousy story, ineptly constructed and rendered far too difficult to follow. Or, see all newsletter options here. But it sneaks up on you. Google+. I'm no youngster but anyone who thinks that a novelist can START writing screenplays at 80 needs to think again. I prefer brutal realism where humanity is depicted in a much less phony manner. In addition, it appears to be a crime thriller, which definitely commences my adrenaline rush because it's personally my favorite genre. The Counselor achieves the almost unheard-of daily double of giving us the most outrageous sex scene of the year AND the most unforgettably brutal murder of the year. The "average movie-goer" probably enjoys toilet humor, sophomoric dialog, and endless, often pointless action scenes piled one on top of the next, ad nauseam. | I believe that the writing is that which has created the vast disparity in professional reviews. Please ignore the critics, Mr. Scott, and continue allowing your cinematic muse to light your path, even if Hollywood keeps telling you that you must help pay the bills. Mark Kermode reviews The Counselor. The Counselor is a novelist-turned-screenwriter experiment likely to be met with mixed reception between the get it and don't get it types in the audience. Felt like a two hour ad for Calvin Klein, but a really good one. Ridley Scott you are a true artist. The Counselor: A Shakespearean tragedy of greed and desperation. Everything is very well explained by the Mexican drug barron near the end and funnily enough probably at the beginning by Javier Bardem. Granted, I gave Runner Runner and OK review and The Fifth Estate an mediocre review at best, I would recommend those movies a thousand times before I would recommend The Counselor once. Technically, it is a thing of great beauty in the style of super-crisp cinematography and high-level production values frequently seen in Scott's contemporary films such as American Gangster and Prometheus - there is nothing to be faulted in this area of the film's construction. The film doesn’t temper enough of Cormac McCarthy’s excesses, but Ridley Scott and his ensemble find enough meat in the scenario to make for diverting, bloody pleasure. Ever since it came out I was intrigued how it got very mixed reviews when it had such an amazing cast and crew. Pinterest. Despite the bad ratings, it's probably the best allegorical films about greed and justice. It contains (but not by design) probably one of the most effective "anti-drug" messages since "Traffic"; but more interestingly, it is so well told that I sincerely hope you ignore reviewers here who don't agree with me that it is a Ridley Scott masterpiece. In the beginning, the counselor finds himself in a situation, where he is not exactly short for cash, but needs more to buy a diamond. On the other hand, if you are among the diminishing number of movie-goers who actually enjoys deeply portentous dialog (this is a GOOD thing), first-rate acting, and a story line leading to a denouement that that will leave you wanting to see this film again and again, then this is a film for you. Just to sum up this is a brilliant movie and worth seeing on the fly. (See Mr. Welles, not Mr. At first glance, it seems as if it's impossible for The Counselor to be proved a disappointment from the looks of its amazing cast (the likes of Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt, and Penelope Cruz), exceptional director with a credible resume, and a totally prestigious author signed on for his first screenplay. While there are some worthwhile themes at play here (like visceral evidence that the wages of sin is death, a topic we’ll deal with more in the conclusion), it doesn’t contain much that you specifically point to … Twitter. There is enough blood and perversion to keep you smiling, but the weight of its humanity will grip your soul. It's hard to make out the details of what's actually happening and you constantly find yourself asking, what's the point? A Kafkaesque punishment, that doesn't care whether it's your first time, you had good intentions or it was going to be a one time thing. This is a badass journey from start to finish. Several scenes of dialogue rivals Robert Shaw's Indianapolis speech in Jaws. The film is one of the best I have seen for a long, long, time. The Counselor, like previous McCarthy adaptations, is gorgeous to behold, but unlike No Country and the others, this one is unnervingly bright, lensed in iridescent yellows and grungy grim tones. How could this be? Down in Mexico, drugs flow like water. “Truth has no temperature.” ― Cormac McCarthy, The Counsellor This is one of those movies (watched today, after reading said screenplay) where you definitely need the book/screenplay to maximize the message. Most of the criticism is directed towards unreal dialog, yet they forget the fact that the movies is not about people like them. Directed by Ridley Scott, starring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz. But where the movie really stands out (and really how movies should be first judged) is in the script. On the other hand this can also backfire with some movies....a lot of movies...so it is not worth pursuing but for this particular movie it was one of the real pleasures of movie watching. I'm fairly certain if you liked No Country for Old Men the style won't be all that different to you, since it is written by Cormac McCarthy like the source material for that one was, except The Counselor was personally written by his hand alone. On the outside it looks like a thriller, and it does have the set up of a good thriller, but its more just a dark brooding and sometimes darkly humorous drama that has thriller like moments. I write this as a Mexican living near the border, meaning, as a direct witness of the drug war. Michael Fassbender stars in The Counselor as the titular protagonist, a prominent lawyer who makes the life-turning decision to enter the underworld of high-end drug trafficking. What's left after a terrible script and a bad director---bad acting! Pitt the same in delivery, timing, inflection and cadence. So, I agree, if you fit that category, this film is not for you. Facebook. Fassbender does his best to hold it all together, chewing a toothpick to unconvincingly hardboiled effect before descending into snot-bubbling desperation and grief. People are punished and rewarded regardless of their actions and the main character just happened to get his punishment at that point. 2. All spiced up with brief interludes of U-for-unclassified excess featuring robotic garrotes, high-speed decapitations and Cameron Diaz having sex with a windscreen while Javier Bardem compares her genitals to the mouth of a scum-sucking catfish. Some lines of dialogue are powerful. Filed under: Movie Reviews — Leave a comment. Perhaps because of the origins of the script, from the hand of McCarthy, a literary master. While the script piddles endlessly around the cod-philosophical implications of living with bad choices, the stars are left to outdo each other in the shocking wardrobe department; Bardem's vomit-hued shirt offsetting a permatan face and Milo from Tweenies spikey 'fro; Brad Pitt as the Midnight Cowboy's stetson-sporting brother from another mullet; Diaz dressed as a cheetah (she gets to do a long speech about what it "means" to be a cheetah). Unfortunately their project, The Counselor, lacks all of the wonder that has gained them respect in the film industry. "The Counselor" is a movie with sex on the brain, but nowhere else. He's not the only one. Ridley Scott's The Counselor is definitely a movie worth seeing. Highly recommended. A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking. I was really angry during the movie and became angrier when I thought about the sheer waste of so much talent. I have not watched any for this and probably for the better. I did however enjoy the writing, it was dark and beautiful and I'd love to see McCarthy return to this style in another, perhaps more illustrative script. This was how I felt watching TC. Ridley Scott’s The Counselor is not quite what you might expect it to be. That is to say the first act and a half is far too cryptic for its own good, with dialogue that is in love with its own double entendres and lines which sound as though they would be more at home in a novel than spoken aloud by human beings. It is very different than it's advertised, or what people may be expecting. The Counselor Review It has been a long time since I have posted on this Blog, I am sorry for that. It's like "Savages", "Blow" and "Traffic" all rolled into one that reaches out and punches you in the throat with the scope and depth of the cold blooded darkness it portrays. Written by Cormac McCarthy. Brutal, meditative, and smart. One reviewer quipped that The Counselor is "not for the average movie-goer". This idea is brilliantly delivered near the end by Ruben Blades. Literally. Sorry, that's not my kind of story as overdone as it is. It’s a daring piece that breaks all the rules we’ve come to expect and should be appreciated as such. Directed by Ridley Scott. 5. stars 2 out of 5 stars. The movie was sloppily made, confusing, poorly written, uninteresting, and boring. The Counselor Review. The Counselor review. I have watched a lot of movies since I last posted, I just have not had enough time to write the reviews (it takes a while even though they are only a few paragraphs long). The Counselor is so in love with itself that it gives no one else a reason to love it, let alone care. It lacks the scope of a Gladiator or a Kingdom of Heaven, instead acting as a somehow intimate, character-driven (or perhaps "dialogue-driven" is better) tale. Review: The Counselor. Movie Review: The Counselor. It disarms you from the beginning with the extensive normality in it's engaging dialogue, it's interesting characters and even humor, especially one scene involving a Ferrari. Having long failed to bring Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian to the screen ("it would have been rated double-X"), Ridley Scott settles for second prize with this self-consciously overcooked existential thriller in which McCarthy proves that while he may be a matchless author, screenwriting is not his forte. Andrew Roebuck | June 28, 2014 | New Movies | 2 Comments. The simple yet tragic story however is muffled by the heavy abstract dialog, which seems to be trying to be as far from expository as possible. I actually hadn't heard of The Counselor before a friend invited me to see it, so I just quickly checked the one sentence synopsis at the top of the page on IMDb. With three of his novels being adapted into critically acclaimed films, Cormac McCarthy has opted to try his hand at screen writing, and the fruits of his labor can be seen in The Counselor. Google+. 'The Counselor' is like a road-map through Hell, if Hell looked like Juarez, moved like Cameron Diaz, and smelled like Javier Bardem's hair gel. Disguised as a suspense thriller ... and with a script to die for. Email * Interests. I'm already running out of positive things to say so let's get right into it. I was recently watching a Tennessee Williams play adapted for the screen by Kazan, and I could feel the weight of its literary origins. External Reviews One of the biggest disappointments of the year. It opens with Michael Fassbender and Penelope Cruz in bed together after what is supposed to be a marathon lovemaking session, but director Ridley Scott films the first part of this scene so that they are totally covered by white sheets, as if they were mummies. Went and saw The Counselor tonight. It's the only reason you care about anything that's happening. Facebook. Ridley Scott‘s latest disaster of a film, The Counselor, is a real nasty piece of work. But even knowing this I doubt anyone would be prepared for where it takes them, unless they come from this world. And the only reason I write this review is that I think this film is underrated too badly. When I first heard about this film and its pedigreed credentials: Director Ridley Scott, Starring Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt, I was excited to see it. However, because of the very poor reviews and box office performance Stateside, I have tempered my expectations before I went to see it. The acting first and foremost is phenomenal, particularly Fassbender and Bardem. The surprise of the year. Written by Cormac McCarthy, it's very similar in tone to his best known work, "No Country for Old Men". The Counselor is more like a two-hour Fassbender audio book than a conventional drama. With Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem. Was so very reluctant to go see this due to the amount of extremely negative reviews, glad I didn't listen. With so much talent in front of and behind the camera, The Counselor should have been something more. What follows is the punishment for this decision, that cannot be changed or compromised with. Spielberg.). If you believe that the test of a film is the use it made if the talent available, then The Counsellor is sure to be among this (or any other) year's worst movies. When a successful lawyer decides to go into business with criminals to get a piece of the action, the blood starts flowing too. I never saw any trailers or reviews and just had the briefest of description of the story. Every single episode of his TV produced series "Numbers" was better than this film. FAQ It escalates the height and remind me of the Greek tragedy of Euripides. Normally, I fully appreciate bleak films with utterly despicable characters that leave you thinking rather than leaving the theater with a smile on your face, joyous to the fact that the hero saved the day yet again. This is my first review in IMDb. That's exactly what The Counselor promises as its characters take fairly regrettable paths- flawed people that make mistakes in a criminal environment.

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