Posts tagged Javier Bardem
“The Counselor ” More Novel than Movie
Nov 3rd
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“More Novel Than Movie”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Counselor has so much going for it that you would think it has to be a successful movie, right?
Wrong!
First of all, it stars Michael Fassbender, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, and Rosie Perez, and of all the lineups of acclaimed stars in acclaimed movies, this is definitely one of them.
Second of all, it was directed by Ridley Scott, and of all the acclaimed directors who have won awards for their movies, he is definitely another one of them.
And third of all, it was written by Cormac McCarthy, who is an acclaimed novelist with many of his novels having been made into acclaimed movies, and of all the great screenwriters in the history of movies, he is a pretty good novelist.
This movie has three other things in it that are worthy of mention: a graphic sex scene, a graphic murder scene, and many scenes of too much talking and not enough action.
The sex scene involves a woman, a fancy car, and a man sitting in the front seat of the car watching, but it is more laughable than erotic.
The murder scene comes in an unexpected location, it involves an unusual device, but takes so long and shows such agony and pain and so much blood that it is more disgusting than effective.
And the scenes of too much talking that are also more philosophical than descriptive would be better read in a novel than heard in a movie. They sound as if they had been written by an acclaimed novelist instead of an acclaimed screenwriter.
Wait a minute! They were!
Anyway, here is the story. A successful attorney in El Paso, Texas, with a busy practice, a beautiful girlfriend, and an expensive car wants more, and so he gets involved in the illegal trafficking of drugs from Mexico into the U.S.
He meets with the necessary contacts he needs in order to arrange for a deal that involves $20 million of drugs to be shipped across the border on its way to Chicago, but as usually happens in the movies, something goes wrong.
Terribly wrong, disastrously wrong, and murderously wrong.
As a matter of fact, those are the very words that could be used to describe this movie.
The Counselor, as a movie, is a spectacular novel.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Counselor – Movie Trailer
Oct 26th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Movie Trailers
Legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott and Pulitzer Prize winning author Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men) have joined forces in the motion picture thriller THE COUNSELOR, starring Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, and Brad Pitt. McCarthy, making his screenwriting debut and Scott interweave the author’s characteristic wit and dark humor with a nightmarish scenario, in which a respected lawyer’s one-time dalliance with an illegal business deal spirals out of control.
“Skyfall” Explains “Last Rat Standing”
Nov 17th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“Last Rat Standing”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Skyfall is the 23rd “official” James Bond movie, which began 50 years ago with the 1962 Dr. No, and the third one starring Daniel Craig as British spy, Agent 007.
And of all the Bond films over the years, official and unofficial, both serious and spoof, this is definitely the most recent one.
Oh, all the traditional, key elements are there: Bond looks good, damn good, when he is dressed to kill; there is a memorable villain, played by Javier Bardem, but he has a back story that we have already seen before in the 1995 GoldenEye; there is another in a long line of so-called “Bond girls,” but her name isn’t as striking as previous ones; there are chases aplenty; there are gadgets for Bond, but some of them we have literally seen before; and finally there are familiar names, but they are played by new characters.
In other words, call me jaded or call me old, but I have pretty much seen it all before.
Except for the opening sequence, which features a motorcycle chase across the rooftops of buildings in Istanbul, a fight between Bond and another man atop a moving train, and then while Bond’s backup agent can shoot to save him, but doesn’t have a clear shot, the agent is ordered by M back in London, “Take the bloody shot!”
Unfortunately, the agent misses the villain, hits Bond, and Bond falls off the train into a river, over some falls, and he is missing from the story long enough for M, again played by Judi Dench, to write his obituary and have his government-paid apartment cleaned out of all Bond’s possessions.
But not to worry. Bond comes back, perhaps reluctantly, when things go bad in London for M, MI6, and the entire secret agency.
However, Bond has to prove that he is still able and fit for his license to kill, and he is back on the job.
He goes to Shanghai, he goes to Macao, and he encounters Silva, who has a personal grudge against M from days long past.
The story ends in Scotland, the meaning of the film’s title is revealed, and the movie ends with a comment about “last rat standing.”
Skyfall also ends with a promise that James Bond will return, but I say give it a rest.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”