The Counsellor (Ridley Scott / Cormac McCarthy)

matTNT

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2193215/

Just saw this coming out later in the year. Pitt, Bardem, Fassbender and Natalie Dormer (Maergery Tyrell in Game of Thrones) Then it's a novel from Cormac MacCarthy who wrote "The Road" and finally it's directed by Ridley Scott.

This movie could be great

Da Shins Kelly

Don't think it's a Cormac McCarthy novel, I think this is actually his first attempt at screenwriting, which is very, very exciting. Excepting a very bloodily profound affair.

matTNT

Yeah I was looking for the book on Amazon I just realize that it says screen play now.

JP Liz V1

Great cast for this

bnt

First trailer is out, and it looks pretty sick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FX1bn1U-SY

Dir. Ridley Scott, written by Cormac McCarthy, starring Michael Fassbender, Natalie Dormer, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, John Leguizamo, Rosie Perez, Goran Visnjic ... even Bruno Ganz (Downfall) pops up in a small role. Serious cast, then.

JP Liz V1

bnt wrote: »

First trailer is out, and it looks pretty sick:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FX1bn1U-SY

Dir. Ridley Scott, written by Cormac McCarthy, starring Michael Fassbender, Natalie Dormer, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, John Leguizamo, Rosie Perez, Goran Visnjic ... even Bruno Ganz (Downfall) pops up in a small role. Serious cast, then.

Could be another show stealing performance from Bardem plus his hair playing a leading role again :P

Burt Macklin

Interesting teaser. I like the fact that it gave a sense of the movie without detailing the entire plot like most trailers. Really, really hope now that this film turns out to be good!

matTNT

It looks very like NCFOM. Which I love

pixelburp

A full trailer has appeared. It certainly looks the part, and it's definitely giving off the vibe of McCarthy. One to keep an eye on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4rTztvVx8E

Da Shins Kelly

Bardem's hair never ceases to amaze.

Bullseye1

International Trailer is now up.
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=38491

Burt Macklin

This movie can’t come out soon enough.

kryogen

Really looking forward to this!

weiland79

Bardems hair?

F that, how hot does Diaz look?

Movie looks pretty good too:pac:

Capajoma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ML50I0mVHY

This looks really good, great cast, anyone else excited?

Ole Rodrigo

Big time. I love Mcarthys poetic nihilism.

Ipso

No reviews????

brevity

This looks great. Cant wait.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Ipso wrote: »

No reviews????

Not proper reviews but some tweets that showed up in my timeline today.....

Good pal texted me The Counselor is guaranteed to get an F CinemaScore.

Man, The Counselor is mean. Just ugly, ugly cinema. Bleak with a capital B.

Cameron Diaz is either getting a Razzie or an Oscar nom. There's no inbetween for this movie.

It's a very subjective terrible. Some will love its delicious vamping.

Wait, everyone's badmouthing THE COUNSELOR now? I liked it.

My personal favourite was....

Really loved Cameron Diaz as White Rihanna in The Counselor.

Burt Macklin

Seems to be polarizing opinion then. I've read a few people praising the actors, but criticising the script. Also from twitter

Saw "The Counselor" last night; wasn't high on it. Thinking about "The Counselor" today; now, I think I kind of loved it. So many feelings.

Da Shins Kelly

Any review I've seen of this has been bad. Very clunky script apparently, and horrible directing job by Ridley Scott. One critic even compared it to Showgirls. :eek:

Sad Professor

[McCarthy's] wordplay is rich, rhythmic, clearly the product of someone in love with language and everything it can both conceal and reveal, but listen closely and you will also hear the espousing of a philosophy of the world, where love is a mirage and only in death may we find something like redemption. “The Counselor” is one of the best films Ridley Scott has made in a career that is not often enough credited for just how remarkable it has been.

Scott Foundas
http://variety.com/2013/film/columns/the-counselor-rearview-ridley-scott-1200770790/

Mr. Scott manages all these swiftly spinning parts with impeccable control and a lucid visual style. The story may be initially elusive, but there’s a clarity, solidity and stillness (the camera moves but doesn’t tremble) to his images that augment the narrative’s gravity and inexorable momentum. The beauty of the landscapes is about all that feels coherent in an often unrecognizable, unsettling world.

Manohla Dargis
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/movies/the-counselor-a-cormac-mccarthy-tale-of-mostly-evil.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Da Shins Kelly

Looking like a pretty divisive film then. I want to see it anyway because I love Cormac McCarthy.

Phoenix Park

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

Any review I've seen of this has been bad. Very clunky script apparently, and horrible directing job by Ridley Scott. One critic even compared it to Showgirls. :eek:

Well thats me sold!

silver_surfer

Being a huge Cormac McCarthy fan this is my most eagerly anticipated film in a long time, can't wait.

LuckyLloyd

When is it released here?

Sad Professor

Mid November, I think.

Burt Macklin

UK release date is listed as 15th November.

ricero

It got awful reviews in the states

wowy

Saw a cineworld screening tonight. It's stylish, and moves along at a nice pace, but some of the dialogue was ridiculous.

Diaz's monolgue at the end just felt completely out of character and tipped the character from outrageous to OTT.

Overall left feeling a bit underwhelmed. It's a fine; if not truly remarkable; story and was a great movie to look at, with good performances from Fassbender, Bardem and Diaz

(not a believable character, but regardless she pulled off the ridiculousness of it very well)

but still missed something....

The Dom

Very disappointed. A disjointed mess of a film.

Dialogue felt forced much of the time also.

Was like watching a film that had a load of scenes missing.

Two scenes stick out though and it will be obvious after watching what they are but as a film, it was not up to much really.

Think Pitt thought he was making Killing Them Softly II.

FlashD

Cormac McCarthy is a great author but has little to no experience of screenplay writing, both are completely different mediums requiring a different set of skills or vision.

He has overstepped his mark here and in future should really stick to what he is good at.......or he'll end up damaging his rep permanently!

poundapunnet

They ripped this to shred on BBCFilm2013 last night as well, though one guy was saying it might just be a misunderstood masterpiece. Have to say it always did seem like a strange choice of director for the material, I'll try reserve judgement til I see it though.

Ole Rodrigo

poundapunnet wrote: »

They ripped this to shred on BBCFilm2013 last night as well, though one guy was saying it might just be a misunderstood masterpiece. Have to say it always did seem like a strange choice of director for the material, I'll try reserve judgement til I see it though.

Ridley Scott was all set to direct ' Blood Meridian' , but bailed during pre production.

Maybe he felt he owed one to McCarthy ?

johnny_ultimate

ror_74 wrote: »

Ridley Scott was all set to direct ' Blood Meridian' , but bailed during pre production.

A good thing if so! Cannot possibly imagine Scott doing that book justice. If Blood Meridian ever gets made - and given its content, I'd imagine the studios are incredibly reluctant to do so - it needs as bold and uncompromising a director as they can get. Alas, it's been a long time since Scott fulfilled those two criteria

Ole Rodrigo

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

A good thing if so! Cannot possibly imagine Scott doing that book justice. If Blood Meridian ever gets made - and given its content, I'd imagine the studios are incredibly reluctant to do so - it needs as bold and uncompromising a director as they can get. Alas, it's been a long time since Scott fulfilled those two criteria

Well McCarthy himself said in an interview ( one of only two he's ever done, fascinating read ) he thought it was possible for someone who had the kahunas. Since Scott jumped ship its been passed around like a hot potato and is now sitting on Scott Rudins shelf.

For a different thread but I reckon the Coens or John Hillcoat could pull it off ( The Proposition took some influence from it ). Casting would be a different matter.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing The Counselor.

grames_bond

I thought it was awful, just such a shame as it has a class cast, but they forgot to write a coherant movie IMO.

Galvasean

Terrible film. I'm trying to write a review of it right now but cannot bring to words how poor it was.

Ole Rodrigo

I think its fair to say this could have been better. There were some great scenes, it looked well..some good performances ( it was probably saved by these ). I had the feeling something went wrong along the way. Parts of the script sounded out of place. Maybe nobody wanted to tell McCarthy certain things needed to be changed for it to work on screen ? Who knows.

Overall it lacked cohesion, I still liked it though.

Bullseye1

Disappointing reading some of the reviews. Had been looking forward to seeing this but I think I will wait for the rental.

lucky john

Went to see this last night. Strange film. The most educated drug deals ever. Some of the dialogue was so deep I had no idea what they were on about. Some scenes looked like they were from a different film because they added absolutely nothing to the this film anyway. Poor connections between scenes as well. I feel like I missed something though. Like there was a deeper story there that went over my head. Unfortunately, cant say I really liked it.

The Dom

Went to see this again last night with friends for the craic.

The best thing about it is how bad it is.

Sections in the cinema were cracking up for no reason.

A great unintentional comedy.

DubOnHoliday

Saw this earlier today, wish I'd heeded the reviews here as it is rubbish. You'd swear it was a bunch of mates getting together for a bit of craic with a side project of making a movie. For the first hour I didn't know what was going on it was so disjointed. Avoid,

pixelburp

So go on, hands up: who's kinda curious to find out just how bad this film's supposed to be? It sounds truly dreadful, but entertainingly so, and part of me wants to see how badly such a combination of talent can apparently mess things up...

poundapunnet

pixelburp wrote: »

So go on, hands up: who's kinda curious to find out just how bad this film's supposed to be? It sounds truly dreadful, but entertainingly so, and part of me wants to see how badly such a combination of talent can apparently mess things up...

Cameron Diaz having sex with a car and being described as white Rihanna? I'm sold! Have heard clips though, and the script does sound wojus.

Da Shins Kelly

pixelburp wrote: »

So go on, hands up: who's kinda curious to find out just how bad this film's supposed to be? It sounds truly dreadful, but entertainingly so, and part of me wants to see how badly such a combination of talent can apparently mess things up...

I'm going to see it with friends on Tuesday. We're gonna drink vodka slushies and get sh*tfaced.

LuckyLloyd

Really looking forward to seeing this tomorrow evening now! I assume ye are all wrong! :pac:

KERSPLAT!

Went to see this last night. I've never walked out of the cinema before but Christ I was close last night. Absolutely crap! The windscreen part was funny and Pitt at the end looked cool but my god, a worse film I have not seen in a long time!

Burt Macklin

One star reviews in the Ticket on Friday and in the Culture section in the Sunday Times, this film sounds like an absolute train wreck. A real shame, given the talent at their disposal.

Burt Macklin

I think it might have been improved by a better director, or someone co-writing (and possibly making sense of) McCarthy's script. He's a fine writer, but he has basically no experience adapting his own work for the big screen. A friend of mine whose seen the film said that it has plenty of long monologues which are supposed to be deep and thought provoking, but come off as pretentious and empty. Disappointed as this was one of my most anticipated films this year.

poundapunnet

NiallMH93 wrote: »

I think it might have been improved by a better director, or someone co-writing (and possibly making sense of) McCarthy's script. He's a fine writer, but he has basically no experience adapting his own work for the big screen. A friend of mine whose seen the film said that it has plenty of long monologues which are supposed to be deep and thought provoking, but come off as pretentious and empty. Disappointed as this was one of my most anticipated films this year.

There's only ever been one adaptation of his work which did justice to it though* (No Country For Old Men), and that even skated a bit close to the line during some of the more talky scenes, fair play to the Coens for keeping it on the right side of pretentious. Then there was one terrible one (All The Pretty Horses), one fairly good one which lost so much of the impact of the book (The Road) and one that people have been trying to adapt since the dawn of cinema (Blood Meridian). In hindsight it mightn't have been a great idea to let this man who's very good at writing books that are hard to adapt for the screen write a feature script by himself.

*and then there's Child of God, if that ever gets any kind of distribution.