- The Card Counter reviewed by Mark Kermode
- The Card Counter (2021) – Movie Review
- The Card Counter movie review – Breakfast All Day
- The Card Counter (Starring Oscar Isaac) | Bet Small And Win Modestly | Extended Preview
- Real Card Counters react to scenes from “The Card Counter” (2021) Starring Oscar Issac
- The Card Counter Explained
- THE CARD COUNTER: Movie Review – Oscar Isaac Couldnt Save This Movie!
The Card Counter reviewed by Mark Kermode
the card counter which is the latest,from writer director paul schroeder,revisiting sort of familiar themes of,lonely men facing damnation or possibly,salvation so oscar isaac is william tell,tillich get up because hes willing to,tell,um hes the card player he has a haunted,past he travels from town to town,staying under the radar small wins no,fuss,he has rituals when he arrives at a,motel he covers everything in the motel,with sheets and then ties it all up with,strings so that partly it seems at first,that is he protecting himself from the,motel but know that hes clearly what,hes trying to do is to leave no trace,everything is kind of completely you,know sort of uh,isolated,he pays in cash uh he just keeps under,the radar uh he goes to a security,conference which he gate crashes in a in,a hotel where theres a casino and he,sees a bit of a lecture by,major john gordo played by william defoe,and then he meets this disillusioned,youngster played by ty sheridan who,gives him his card,and says you know who that guy is and i,know who that guy is and i want to do,something about that guy,he then meets tiffany haddishs la linda,who hes met before who runs a stable of,gamblers,and to join the stable of gamblers you,basically you have access to to backers,so the stakes are higher but he doesnt,want to do it but there may be a reason,for him to do it hes a clip,whats your name again,william tell us,ive watched you play poker,and i wonder why you play at such low,stakes youre a cracker jack,i keep to modest goals well theres no,reason for that you need someone to,stake you an mtt,makes seven million payout,thats what you do you you run a stable,im always looking for a good,thoroughbred mm-hmm i can get someone to,back you 100 on my word,i prefer to work under the,radar i thought you were a gambler so,there is however going to be a point in,which he realizes that he may not want,to work under the radar just this once,because there is a possibility of him,doing something that might give him some,kind of closure or some kind of,redemption with the past which haunts,him and whilst we watch the film there,are flashbacks,to abu ghraib and visions of torture and,visions of horror and this is all,clearly the past that hes carrying,around with him um so much of,paul schrader is to do with revisiting,themes and you know i mean hey if you,have if if these things obsess you and,you write and direct well about them,then fine so,he wrote taxi driver raging bull,obviously card counter revisits riffs,from american gigolo and and light,sleeper albeit without the kind of the,mainstream glass of american gigolo or,for my money the haunting power of light,sleeper its at times its a little bit,like,paul schraders hits on 45 remember,those hits on 45 thing in which thered,be like a disco song that would have 20,famous disco songs in it but theyre all,played out at round about the same beat,stars on 45,stars on 45 keep on burning in your mind,but we can work it out remember twist,and shout the one thats the bunny okay,um,that said the film looks great its uh,the cinematography is alex dinan or,dinan um who shot after love and hes a,very good cinematographer and he makes,makes these son of these casinos and,these faceless uh motels and hotels,actually kind of they have a kind of,crepuscular glow to them so the whole,film has a slightly vampiric arabic is a,crepuscular glow its some crepuscular,is that thing between night and day,isnt it its when its in the in the at,least i believe thats what it means it,means in the kind of in the shadowy you,know into i like it okay,um theres a lot of talk about the,philosophy of card playing which really,is actually talk about the philosophy of,male rituals,and masculinity so i think its its,good solid trade i mean nobody does this,you know angsty male guilt,ritualistic,solipsistic stuff better than trader,also schraders back catalog recently,has been very erratic on the one hand,weve had you know first form which is,absolutely great on the other hand weve,had the canyons which was terrible and,it was dog-eat-dog which i think even,some people went that schrader so its,its a good modern trader but its not,doing anything that schroeder hasnt,done before or wont do again but hey,hes straighter this is what he does
The Card Counter (2021) – Movie Review
the card counter is the newest film from,oscar isaac the poe dameron actor of,course and card counting really does not,play a part in this movie whatsoever i,was lucky enough to see this film early,and im gonna give you my thoughts right,now,[Music],hey everybody my name is brandon aka the,brando critic thank you guys so much for,clicking on this video im sending you,all positive vibes your way but if,youre new here and you want to see more,early movie reviews just like this movie,reactions and hangout live streams where,we talk about movies then this is the,place for you consider hitting that like,and subscribe button i appreciate every,single one of you and so to my partners,at movies in canada make sure you check,them out as well their link will be in,the video description box below but,today im gonna give you my honest no bs,review for the card counter and tell you,if its worth a watch so,we have the card counter directed by,paul schrader and you know him from,movies such as,light sleeper blue collar and first,reformed and it stars oscar isaac,tiffany haddish and ty sheridan very,interesting group of characters right,there and its about an ex-military,interrogator who becomes a professional,gambler and when he rises the ranks of,the professional gambling scene we see,him fight with the ghosts of his past,now is this movie worth a watch it,depends it depends on what you want from,a movie like this,there are parts in this film that i,really enjoyed and there are other parts,where i was so,bored now i just watched kate on netflix,the mary elizabeth winstead action movie,a couple days ago and this movie is,almost a reverse of that where kate was,a movie with a pretty lackluster story,but it was told in a very visually,exciting way this movie is the opposite,i can see a really fascinating movie in,here but it is just suppressed with,bland boring drab direction my best,analogy for this would be think of a guy,at a party with a really boring mundane,story but he tells it with such flash,and energy and youre like oh my god im,really invested even though the story is,you know quite boring but then you have,a really amazing story told by someone,who just cant hold your attention who,cant hook you and just keeps on getting,sidetracked and youre like okay dude,come on like lets just get the story,over with like you know im interested,in what youre saying because you know,its an interesting story but come on,dude you gotta spice it up a little bit,thats this movie now oscar isaac really,great performance really subtle,performance and every single line of,dialogue that he delivers you can just,feel the weight of what has happened to,this character in the past and his,struggle and his trauma every single,time hes on screen he commands the,screen with his presence he has charm,hes charisma hes really good in this,movie and seeing his struggle with his,past actions i wont spoil what they are,its a really fascinating story and i,really felt like you know again its,frustrating because,i want to see this movie i want to see,this story be told,ah,it is lost in extremely,bland direction and like i said earlier,how the card counter really doesnt have,any card counting in it this movie,should be called talking at casino bars,the movie because thats what the movie,is you have some characters go to the,bar at the casino sit down order drinks,they talk very standard shot reverse,shot really bland cinematography they,talk with just really boring dry,dialogue then he goes home oscar isaacs,character william tell goes home or goes,to a motel thinks about his past goes to,do some gambling rinse and repeat thats,the entire movie now when the movie,started you hear some voice over from,oscar isaac talking about card counting,and talking about blackjack and poker,and i was like oh my god is this gonna,be like the big short because that movie,is fantastic and i dont know a single,thing about the stock market but that,movie made me care about it that movie,made me feel like an expert in that,subject and when this movie started when,hes talking about all this card,counting business im like do i want to,get out you know a notebook and start,taking down notes and go to a casino and,really try out my luck obviously i,wasnt going to do that but,you know it made me miss going to the,casino it made me miss playing cards it,made me want to become a better card,player even though i dont really go to,casinos that often im like this is,going to be really fascinating the movie,is not about that really whatsoever its,just a coat of paint for the overall,story but even still its really not in,the movie that much so if youre,expecting some big poker casino movie,while sure the movie takes place in a,casino its not that type of movie at,all this story was told in such a bland,boring way it needed some spice it,needed some flavor this is so just meat,and potatoes with some salt on it like,you need some barbecue sauce guys you,need to bring some energy to it ty,sheridans performance was spotty at,best and he can give a good performance,ive seen it,here its like oh man its getting into,m night shyamalan territory the pacing,was a real problem and i think the,biggest problem with this movie that,will plague just average moviegoers,maybe not cinephiles because when i,watch a movie even if im watching it at,home i almost rarely turn it off when i,start a movie im like all right im,gonna finish it,i never really turn away but i know a,lot of people who might not be the,biggest cinephiles in the world where,they will put on a movie on netflix you,know and then after 10 minutes if they,just arent hooked then they turn it off,right i know a lot of people like that,which to me doesnt fit in my brain but,this movie they will turn off because,the vital information about william,tales character oscar isaacs character,is not revealed until very late in the,movie and its hinted at early okay but,the way that they hint at it is again,just with some dry dialogue really bland,cinematography just characters talking,at a casino and honestly im like okay,why am i supposed to care this is really,boring i almost checked out of the movie,at that point but of course later on in,the movie when you find out about his,character im like okay this is visual,this is entertaining this is very,surreal its very experimental in a way,its very creative and i was really,invested at that point,it came a little too late and i think a,lot of people will be checked out by the,movie at that point and i think a lot of,people will just turn it off especially,if they watch it at home theyre like,im not watching this this movie is,boring and bland and dry and i totally,agree with you and its frustrating,because i see a good movie in here,its just buried,it is really really deep down there so,again i was,wanting to see this movie,really succeed because im like okay i,understand what theyre trying to do i,like oscar isaacs performance i think,hes great in the movie but come on just,give me something so overall im gonna,give this movie a two out of five it was,okay i almost was thinking about giving,it a one almost,but,you know the ending im like okay you,know what it sticks the landing,but god damn it it takes a long time to,get there,a lot of just dry,bland,boring direction,it is a real shame and now im not one,of those people who will be like you,know if i was directing this movie i,could tell it in a more exciting im not,going to do that but,if this movie was directed by like a,david fincher and had some rewrites,where it would be more streamlined,thats what i think could benefit this,movie right im not saying that thats,what would work right because you never,know,but,this movie again it seems like theres a,great story here but its just lost in,some,vision that isnt unique or,exciting or engaging and it doesnt hook,you,ah this one was frustrating for sure but,what about you guys let me know what you,think down in the comment section down,b
More: hustlers review
The Card Counter movie review – Breakfast All Day
hey everybody welcome to breakfast all,day matt christie alonso uh card counter,the new film from paul schrader recently,premiered at the telluride film festival,uh and because ive been putting through,toronto and uh telluride and venice,reviews all week i didnt get a chance,to watch it but these guys have so,theyre going to tell you all about it,uh yeah card counter stars oscar isaac,as the title character oscar isaac is,the con,uh he is a,relatively small time professional,gambler like he makes enough to get by,and and,you know has some very specific things,that he does early on you get a view,that,you know the way he handles his motel,rooms theres something a little off,about him um but he plays relatively low,stakes you know he does he talks about,you know you get this narration where,hes counting cards uh and he talks,about how you know he then tells another,character later uh,about,how he kind of stays off the radar of,the casinos this is written and directed,by paul schrader who among other things,wrote,taxi driver,has given us a bunch of you know classic,gritty movies that worked with scorsese,this has got that feel all over to it,all over it um,i its got a fair amount of nihilism too,which i kind of like actually in this,paul schrader movie i know right um,but you know listen if schraders gonna,rip somebody off might as well be his,own early stuff,tiffany haddish is in this as a,kind of,go-between for uh the types of investors,that bankroll,gamblers and we learn a little bit about,that world we learn about,uh,oscar isaac or will,we learn a little bit about how he kind,of views gambling and and you get some,of the,inside baseball talk about it i i felt,as i was watching this that oh this is a,movie that ben would probably enjoy,watching i was wondering what ben,thought of it yeah um,and then uh ty sheridan comes in,uh as,this,kind of wild card that,oscar isaac takes under his wing,and,im not a huge sheridan fan um,its the movie becomes a little muddled,as to where,will is kind of going in his life and,why hes kind of taking on kirk with a c,um,and we learned theres you know,something in his past about having been,involved in stuff in afghanistan and,um,but im i like i mean this is look this,is a grim,dark movie theres,you could almost say theres a theres,that,isaacs character could maybe be a,distant cousin to travis pickle a little,bit maybe,um well you know schroeder,when i i did a tribute to him at a film,festival back in the 90s and he he asked,us to show what he referred to at the,time as his knight trilogy and it was,taxi driver american gigolo and light,sleeper so i think you could point to,some films since then like the walker,and and probably this one where like,this is this is a this is a well he,likes to go back to a lot like the,people who live at night the people who,are sort of isolated from society the,people who are,more and more tightly wound until they,snap in in various ways well also first,reformed i mean this is a lot of first,reformed in it and if he comes back to,the same kind of character and they look,alike too like the hair is slicked back,in the same way and they dress all in,black and oscar isaacs character will,writes in a journal and like narrates,everything that hes thinking and he,lives his very regimented austere life,and,he has his own code and the casinos he,goes to like this is not a stephen,soderbergh oceans movie these are not,sexy splashy casinos these are,depressing places and he doesnt even go,to win that much money hes just sort of,like doing it because he learned how to,count cards while he was in prison and,you know hes just sort of go there to,escape himself but its not even,depressing the way like its more just,like,i think weve seen more depression,around,vegas and some other casinos its more,just like yeah this is where i work,they all look like imports based on the,clips ive seen just yeah and the score,too adds to the feeling of like a bland,kind of droning the lead singer from,black rebel motorcycle club does a whole,bunch of original songs for this and,theres like a like a drone like a hum,that hangs over it likes the fluorescent,lighting above them and its just,its its sort of numbing you know i,really really wanted to like this i love,oscar isaac and everything um he and,tiffany haddish have a very,uncomfortable chemistry,she feels like shes coming out of a,whole different movie he is very austere,and very reigned in and shes not like,the wild girls trip tiffany haddish but,she cant help but be,like a bit more of a spark plug here and,they they never mesh in the way that the,movie wants us to believe that they do,she feels really miscast and really out,of place,so wait would you say they havent sorry,when you say they have an uncomfortable,chemistry do you mean they dont have,chemistry yes i mean they dont have,chemistry i mean that like were meant,to believe that they are really hitting,it off and that theres something you,know potentially really,important going on between them and i,never felt it it just didnt seem it,wasnt there for me,the scenes with thai sheridan are kind,of intriguing,but you know again,its just,its like hes scratching this itch,again,hes gone back to over and over again,and weve seen him do it in such better,ways traitor and because theres a movie,called first reform that came out just,before this which was excellent and like,one of his best its hard to look at,this and go like thats as good no it,does not,hes playing the hits without lindsey,buckingham yeah,theres a lot i liked in this though i,actually liked,this theres this weird distance that i,think actually really works between,haddish and isaac in that,theyre both so obviously,its almost like theyre playing like,every conversation its as if theyre on,at the poker table like neither of them,wants to really give in to,what theyre really thinking about and,really feeling until much later in the,movie and i i liked that i thought that,worked because it makes it,more,kind of,off-putting it and it,its yeah theres theres a weird like,stoic vibe to this movie in some places,that,i i just kind of dug it mostly worked,for me um,[Music],i you know i like the gambling scenes,you know that stuff all works well you,know there is a fair amount part of why,i think ben would like this is that its,a movie about a guy whos good at his,job that does it well um,how would you compare this to california,split which is also about sort of like,the the the less glamorous side of,gambling,those characters are more intriguing,yeah theyre more complex and i think,california split shows more chaos than,this shows like this is very much where,he,you know when we learn about his back,his past and why hes connected to,willem dafoe um and what that went and,some of the choices about showing that,past,mostly worked for me i think this could,be a more exciting movie absolutely and,you know,capture a kind of um,a tension that this one doesnt quite,get until,probably too late but for the most part,i actually and i think part of it is,just that its oscar isaac and tiffany,haddish,but the best thing i would say is,between him and ty sheridan and it takes,place later on in the film that is the,best scene in the whole movie that was a,great scene,yes because you get to see more of like,a,like the thing thats been bubbling,aside of him that hes been tamping down,you begin to see glimmers of that and,thats exciting to finally begin to,recognize okay heres what hes been,reckoning with all of these years um but,it maybe comes too late anyway im,saying six,yeah im not that far above you ill,give it a seven okay remember 6.5 the,card counter like our other movies our,previous movies weve talked about so,far is playing in theaters yes uh focus,features it should be whatever whatever,that universal deal is for whatever that,was in 18 days i think,really thats it okay i thought it was,longer all right great so anyway be on,the lookout for it streaming soon
More: mitsubishi outlander review
The Card Counter (Starring Oscar Isaac) | Bet Small And Win Modestly | Extended Preview
Real Card Counters react to scenes from “The Card Counter” (2021) Starring Oscar Issac
he just doubled a 9 against a 10.,im colin im louden were a couple professional card counters and were going to be reacting to ,the movie the card counter it was in prison i learned to count cards,that was the whole training process what separates blackjack from other games ,is that its based on dependent events meaning past affects the probability in the future ,the house has a 1.5 percent advantage what so he just said the house has a 1.5 percent ,advantage there is no blackjack game that any reasonable card counter would play with a 1.5 ,advantage at least if youre counting cards at it the average game that a card counter would ,play is maybe half a percent advantage youre not going to beat a casino blackjack game with a 1.5 ,advantage with card counting to do this he has to keep track of every card that has played,okay he just said he has to keep track of every card thats played not exactly card card is not ,keeping track of every card thats played theyre keeping a count of the values of the kinds of ,cards theyve been played maybe its a nuance but still its a little different you keep track by ,knowing which cards you dont need to keep track of yeah basically count is based on a high-low ,system high cards 10 jack queen king have a value of minus one this is the worlds slowest dealer ,depleted players advantage goes down nine over four and a half gives you a true count of plus two ,as true count increases the players advantage increases ,wait a d i think he just doubled a nine against a ten did i see that right,nine over four and a half gives you a true count of plus two as true count increases the players,he just doubled a nine against the ten okay so at what count would you do that hes explaining card ,counting but theres something more fundamental that car carrying is based upon which is called ,basic strategy it is the proper way to play the game if you dont know how to play the ,game properly no amount of card counting is going to work for you and he just pulled a move no card ,counter would ever do doubling a nine against a dealers 10. how often have you done that uh never ,yeah zero to never like who consulted with this movie because that is such an egregious mistake ,he says the point is to bet little when you dont have the advantage well when youre doubling a ,nine against a 10 you definitely dont have an advantage he should have bet very little on that,going from the casino to the super six that feels about right yeah many a night so that ,actually feels accurate because uh card counters while we might have an advantage were not ,spending all of the money we made on these luxurious hotel rooms maybe you get a comp ,room from a casino otherwise yeah uh i think weve shared a super six or whatever that was ,before yeah youre just trying to keep uh expenses down while youre working so you dont want to ,blow all of your money on high priced rooms ive watched you play you count cards right ,im not that smart but you win so you count cards how do you avoid getting backed off ,ive been back there she says but you win so you count cards okay uh how often do you win uh ,55 of the time yeah thats definitely a misnomer about card gang is that you count cards you always ,win well you know what there are gamblers that sometimes win the the reality is gamblers are ,going to lose more often than they win but they have winning days card cameras have losing days we ,have plenty of losing days were going to win more money than we lose but you dont as a card counter ,win every time uh but thatd be nice how do you avoid getting backed off ive been back there ,he said that he had been backed off as if that was like the the worst the worst its gotten you know ,hey i havent experienced a back off just so you know i have experienced 100 back offs ,how many backups have you experienced probably twice as many 400 at least yeah ,yeah well its a matter of degree the house doesnt mind players who count cards ,they dont even mind players who count cards and win so he says ,casinos dont mind if you count cards and win uh i would beg to differ we have made a combined ,over 1.5 million dollars counting cards the casinos have minded every step along the way ,they put effort into keeping us from winning they only want losers at casinos unfortunately ,what they dont like are players who count cards and win big its about how ,much you win and how you win it i stick to modest goals the first time i came to vegas ,within eight hours i was down forty thousand dollars and had been thrown out of all mgm ,properties they said youre not welcome at any of our properties they they didnt say we dont ,want you because youre winning big they didnt say hey youre losing keep playing no they knew ,that i was playing with an advantage and they did not want any part of it sometimes its the ,big win that gets you kicked out sometimes its a big loss that gets you kicked out yeah all the ,casinos looking at is do you know how to play well and if the if you do they dont want you ,he is saying hes able to get away with what he does because he he keeps his wins modest like ,he he he just wins a certain amount and then he walks away people think that karkhang its like ,using a casino like an atm you just show up you play a little bit you make a little money but ,dont get greedy just make a little bit of money and walk away thats not how card kang works its ,much more like investing youre winning and youre losing you follow the system day in day out lots ,of times casinos dont like it but you dont just say oh let me just make a couple hundred bucks a ,day and then move on to the next place but the exception is when you double a nine against a ,dealers tent yeah let me lose a couple hundred bucks a day and then move on to the next place ,ooh atlantic city it looks nice from a million feet away yeah if i hadnt ,been there id say this looks like a place id want to visit six up he hits a 14 against a six,ouch i tell you they didnt even need to consult with a card counter ,to get this movie right they just need to consult with a basic strategy chart which ,theyll sell at the casino gift shop you can find it online a million places for free ,and they couldnt get that right he hits a 14 it gets to six,whatd you see blackjack pays six to five oh okay so this guy is playing it makes sense ,when he said that the casino has a one and a half percent edge because this guys playing ,a rule set if you see on our blackjack table blackjacks pay three to two ,all traditional blackjack blackjacks pay three to two theres this inferior version of blackjack ,thats popping up at low limit tables around the country where blackjacks pay six to five no card ,counter would sit down and play a table this guys playing at it doesnt know basic strategy ,the count doesnt drop and he walks away from the table hes hitting against a six with a 14. yeah ,terrible decisions and then even though the count doesnt drop he walks away andy tips like half a ,bet just walking away like here here i want to see the tip no wonder the casinos arent packing him ,off the way this guys betting hes losing about 75 bucks an hour and then hes tipping the dealer ,25 bucks so hes costing himself 100 bucks an hour not really a card counter who is their card ,counting consultant for this movie i thought with a movie called the card counter it might have some ,things that were a little like overly dramatic or not very accurate for card tank this is ,like it couldnt be much more wrong than this they just made a wild guess at what card counting might ,look like ive heard good reviews of you know the acting and that stuff i dont i dont know ,were just watching the card counting scenes and it sounds like if there was a movie you know said ,hey you check out this movie about basketball called airb
The Card Counter Explained
the card counter seems to be yet another,entry into schraders growing catalog of,notes from underground inspired films in,which we see spiritually physically or,socially lonely men grapple internally,with moral quandaries while the world,seems indifferent to their pain,occupying their time with professions of,waiting while they boil inside often,communicated with violent acts and,sickness the film showcases how cruel,actors within the state can bring out,the worst in us and transform regular,individuals into warped nightmarish,bearers of cruelty how the state can,break down the individual physically,mentally and discard them without any,aid relegating them to damaged,scapegoats for larger more responsible,actors such as high-ranking officials,and corporate contractors it also poses,the question what does it mean to truly,be punished for ones crimes as some,arbitrary number given to the convicted,doesnt account for the mental anguish,or lack of from the repentant but we,know these institutions are purely,retributive rather than reformative the,card counters narrative sees former,military interrogator william tell,simply existing in his newfound,profession of gambling haunted by the,guilt of his war crimes hes reserved,himself to a life of minimum pleasure as,he still feels that he has yet to,properly pay for his crimes despite,serving time in prison he fashions his,rooms as his cell and keeps his profits,as small as possible as to not gain more,than he thinks he deserves all while,keeping physical and emotional contact,from others at bay however this changes,when william sees a path to redemption,in a young man named kirk who he meets,at a security conference kirk like him,is filled with anger and hate that can,be traced back to the same man gordo he,caused the death of ones father and,brought out the worst that dwelled in,another all whilst escaping scot-free,from his war crimes and starting a,successful business this dynamic between,the kid and his elder is one that sees,william try to push the kids darker,thoughts back into him while said kidd,tries to pull him out of his older,accomplice william convinces himself,that if he changes kirks trajectory in,life itd counteract all the bad he did,which would lift him from his,self-imposed punishment humorously,communicated by this exchange ill make,you a deal kid,you go see your mother and ill [ __ ],get laid however his final gambit at,persuading fails and parallels the,ineptness of advance interrogation,techniques although one would hope that,tells theatrics were just a scare tactic,this perhaps also communicates just how,broken he is as this seems to be the,only way he can truly communicate or,thinks its the only way he can get,through to the kid his past service,seems to be a lens in which every action,he takes is run through even his casual,conversations are tainted by his prior,service,she said to me,did you ever see a city all lit up at,night,i said yeah ive seen a whole city on,fire there is no aspect of his existence,that isnt a reminder of his past sins,along with his stunted ability to,communicate and self-imposed punishment,another constant reminder of his misery,caused by his past is mr america a,recurring character who seems to solely,exist as a red herring to bait the,audience and be a walking representation,of the twisted form of accessorized,nationalism that allows for war crimes,to exist at all because of this we,believe the final showdown will be,between those two however true to,schraders nature the finale focuses on,gordo and william instead said finale,sees two broken men one who is,indifferent to his sins and the other,who still haunted by them settle their,quarrel in an absurd display of mutual,cruelty of course this exchange much,like their war crimes bears nothing but,pointless suffering while the ending,sees tell behind bars perhaps for the,rest of his life this isnt a sad one,from his perspective as hes completely,content to serve more time for his past,sins to us this just makes it more,depressing as it seems like his,punishment will never end as his war,crimes have left his mind in absolute,shambles its the final nail in the,coffin to get across just how bad of a,state his country has left him in he was,used then left tehran something we see,often with veterans as in many cases,they arent given mental or medical,services after they leave the military,while this is undoubtedly one of,schroeders lesser thematically rich and,well-crafted films this still is leagues,above his worst and considering the,quality of his worst works that says a,lot however one wishes he tighten his,technical craft as while the odd,lighting does serve a purpose which is,to highlight the lifelessness,tastelessness and lonesomeness that a,life lived in casinos and motels can be,unfortunately it also highlights some,issues with makeup hair styling and,costumes although considering the budget,this can be forgiven by the more lenient,viewer do you agree with my explanation,of the card counter comment down below,if you do or dont,[Music],you
THE CARD COUNTER: Movie Review – Oscar Isaac Couldnt Save This Movie!
whats up geeks and gamers mike and i,are back once again with another movie,review and today were going to be,talking about the card counter a movie,that came out this past weekend starring,oscar isaac and william defoe and uh,mike i just want to just lets just go,ahead and just talk about this movie get,it out of the way because i think we,both have some uh,pretty critical thoughts about this,movie um overall so mike what are your,initial thoughts about the card counter,yeah so i went into this knowing um it,was probably gonna be a bit of a slow,burn um paul schrader directed it um,same guy that directed um,the last tentation of jesus christ,raging bull taxi driver,he does a lot of thought pieces uh so i,was like okay cool oscar isaac is a,phenomenal actor and i think he elevates,just about any movie hes in will willem,dafoe is a legend,um and then they there was a i didnt,know that tyler sheridan i believe his,name is um was in this or that tiffany,um,was in this either so i was kind of,surprised to see them um,but,man oh man was this movie slow,and i i dont mind slow movies i can,handle a slow burn movie that really is,like trying to deal with psychological,themes or just character building,character development yeah,boy oh boy is this movie slow and it,plods along and it plods along and then,when you think its gonna go somewhere,it goes well were gonna do this,conclusion,at a very slow pace,and then im not even kidding you this,movie ends,with im not gonna tell you who the the,other finger is but it ends with oscar,isaacs finger,another characters finger,touching through a window like this,and it lasts the shot lasts for almost,30 seconds im not even kidding you its,its pretty crazy its pretty great and,its 30 seconds before the credits roll,and then the credits start rolling with,their fingers still touching yep but,its 30 seconds,of fingers touching and music playing,with nothing else,happening no you start to you start to,just feel uncomfortable after a while,yeah because youre like is something,else gonna happen am i,yeah so i dont know it you know the,concept of this movie was interesting i,said isaac being a card counter who,plays poker but hes like all hes all,for like small bets hes just trying to,get through life you find out a lot more,about his backstory that he was a,soldier that he worked in like,guantanamo bay he had some you know he,did some questionable things in his past,and then he meets this kid whos like,kind of connected to his past all,interesting things yeah,um tiffany haddish is like a bookie who,works for like a bunch of rich people,that want like to stake,card counters and players for like,high-stakes poker games so they can make,money on gambling and stuff and shes,trying to recruit oscar isaac all,interesting concepts but they really it,just felt like it really went nowhere,and the movie kind of ends with oscar,isaac in a place that he was in the,beginning of the movie but no better for,it so,yeah,um i mean basically this entire movie it,really does feel like youre just kind,of plotting along but you arent really,going anywhere like theres no,destination in mind um i think we both,agreed that the first act of the movie,we really liked a lot kind of the setup,of the film and stuff because they were,setting up a lot of really interesting,ideas and plots and themes they were,going to explore we thought throughout,the movie and they dont really end up,executing any of them or exploring them,or flushing them out or anything like,theres a lot of plots and ideas in this,movie that are very very underdeveloped,and never really go anywhere the,development of this movie as far as the,plots go were pretty awful in a lot of,ways um,and um i think that that a lot of the,characters really had honestly not that,great of development either um because,you dont really you dont really ever,get to dig deep into these characters or,really see like their,the raw side of them the struggles that,they have all that type of stuff its,very surface level with a lot of these,characters even even the main character,oscar isaac like,um i think oscar isaac did a phenomenal,job as this character and as he usually,does i think oscar isaac is a really,really good actor good actor but he was,only given really so much that he could,do with the script because they didnt,really dive into him as a character,necessarily like you didnt really feel,like you knew what he wanted or where he,was going or what his purpose was or,anything like that so yeah um and even,the ideas that kind of like gave you,where oh you know oscar isaac he he,really wants,this,they dont really ever talk about it,until towards the end of the movie again,its kind of like they are like this is,what he wants and then theres like a,huge space where youre like okay is it,really what he wants like is this really,what hes trying to go after and then at,the end of the movie hes like oh by the,way you remember that thing that we said,that he wanted yeah well now now he,really wants it and hes gonna get it so,yeah,yep thats exactly what it feels like,and um you know oscar isaacs character,like you said he kind of does the best,with what hes given,this movie requires that everybody else,around his character be on their a game,yeah um willem dafoe does practically,nothing in this movie he could have been,any actor yeah and it would have been,fine and i dont mean that to to dunk,and willem dafoe he just has nothing to,do his character is barely in the movie,and he has very little to to play off,with but tyler sheridan and tiffany,haddish are like,supposed to be the two um,the the two foils according to oscar,isaacs character yeah its supposed to,be the emotion and the drive for him to,like be,changed or develop or have any kind of,like heart issue or to any of that and i,dont mean this to be mean but like ive,never thought that tyler sheridan was,that great of an actor um and ready,player one even as uh,uh cyclops and the x-men the newer x-men,films and stuff ive never thought he,was that strong of an actor and he,doesnt do a good job with this,character um i thought it was a miscast,and i like tiffany haddish and i like,her and really in in the right roles i,think shes actually awesome i love her,story i love that shes somebody that,has been working her ass off to get,where shes at and then she works hard,and shes trying she tries in this movie,but,oscar isaacs character is not the dude,no for her and and i think she does her,best to bring charm to the character,some of the dialogues a little stinted,for her um you can tell that shes,trying,to like play with it and work with it,theres not a lot because oscars,character is not the kind of guy that,you like play banter off with yeah um so,a lot of the charm that she normally has,on a roll,falls very flat in this movie so i think,that her and tyler sheridan were a,miscast or that they needed to write,them differently than they were,established so yeah overall it just it,wasnt a great time,um um i didnt learn i didnt walk away,feeling like the themes of this movie,were really amazing i would have loved,for there to have even been the concept,like i would love to have watched this,and said hey maybe i dont get it but,maybe somebody thats a soldier might,watch this movie and go like hey i can,relate to to his struggle or,you know something like that you know,but also and this is,a nitpick but also its not,they spend a very,good amount of time in the beginning of,this movie,teaching you what cod card counting,means they teach you what it means they,teach you what plus ones and plus and,zeroes and not minuses and they and,oscar isaac narrates the whole thing he,tells you what its supposed to look,like yeah they show him doing it hes,like oh you know cutting cards oh you,gotta remember to back off so you dont,make too much money and blah blah so you,think,card counting because its called the,card counter theres gonna be some kind,of thing that hinges on c