Posts tagged Velibor Topic
“The Counselor ” More Novel than Movie
Nov 3rd
“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
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.
“Robin Hood” The Early Years
May 20th
The Early Years
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
ROBIN HOOD, the 2010 version starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett and directed by Ridley Scott, could well be the most historically accurate of all the poems, legends, songs, movies, and television shows that have been created about the legendary English outlaw who stole from the rich and gave to the poor.
This is ironic, of course, because there is no evidence that Robin Hood actually existed.
However, the secondary characters of King John, King Richard, and King Philip of France all certainly did exist, which makes the closing title that says the characters in the movie are fictitious and any resemblance to characters living or dead is coincidental all the more ironic, if not a blatant lie.
So, this version begins in 1199 A.D. in France, and we see King Richard the Lion Heart on his way back to England with his army after 10 years of fighting in the First Crusade.
For reasons that aren’t made clear unless we just assume that the English and the French hate each other, Richard says there is one more castle to sack and then it is home to England.
Spoiler Alert! King Richard dies in the attack, and one of the king’s prize archers is Robin Longstride, a natural leader of men, who was being punished for being too honest.
Robin encourages some men to head for the coast with him, but when they complain that they haven’t been paid, Robin tells them, “Try getting paid by a dead king.”
Then through a series of circumstances, Robin and his followers end up in possession of the king’s crown when the noblemen taking it back to England are killed, and Robin also takes the sword of Sir Robert Loxley, who was protecting the crown.
They travel to England posing as noblemen, return the crown to London with the news that King Richard is dead, and then return the sword to Sir Robert’s father and Marion, Sir Robert’s widow.
A traitor in King John’s court knows the truth, Robin is declared an outlaw, and after many fights that go on so long, they become boring, we see a title that says, “And So the Legend Begins.”
ROBIN HOOD should have been subtitled “The Early Years,” and we will have to wait for the sequel to get to the good stuff.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
