The Counselor

By N

Did I miss the stroke of genius behind this cinematographic adaptation of Cormac McCarthly’s screenplay; or was it really what I saw: a typical story of a drug deal gone wrong, only this time the director explores human boundaries and death through the self-contemplation of his characters. The story is fine but not great, and approximately 100 minutes too long.  I am not going to lie: I was quite bored watching it that I had to check my emails. Three times.

Ridley Scott‘s direction of this movie mismatches the original screenplay. The whole experience didn’t work: the dialogues seemed too moralistic and pretentious; the characters were not much more than mere caricatures. As a result, you are never able to empathise with what is happening to them. Also, the movie takes us to Mexico, Texas, Amsterdam and London, but I found that the use of images to show those places was fad and didn’t add anything to the movie.

I have to say, the brochette of actors is impressive, but sadly this movie does not do them justice. I was particularly skeptical about the love story between Penelope Cruz and Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem’s caricatured personage, or the sex scene between Cameron Diaz and a car.  All of this played to a spectacularly non-convincing tune. Oh, and let’s not forget Brad Pitt…Actually, let’s.

Anyway, if you saw it, please tell me if I missed something, but in the meantime…I would be mean to recommend the film.

Gambit

By M

Having seen only A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I am clearly not an expert on Michael Hoffman, of which this is the last movie.

The screenplay is by the Coen brothers so one would expect… or not.

As everyone else, I like Colin Firth since A Single Man, and I have always liked Cameron Diaz. She is good in this movie by the way, plays way her otherwise not very interesting role (she is a Texas rodeo queen). I am also super happy to see Alan Rickman elsewhere than in Harry Potter’s universe (not that I have anything against it, I just like to be reminded sometimes that actors are actors).

Well, let’s face it, I don’t have much to say about this movie. It’s entertaining, but not witty. It makes you smile, but not laugh. You won’t miss anything if you don’t watch it. If you have some time to kill, then do.