Maybe you areOriginally Posted by 1marley1
I’ve replied to 2 of your idiotic posts this week and I still can’t red rep you… what’s broke?
Maybe you areI’ve replied to 2 of your idiotic posts this week and I still can’t red rep you… what’s broke?
I recently watched this movie and it is indeed bad. It's not bad in a Lucky You way (which I would argue is far more entertaining), it's bad in an overly artsy fartsy way. It's actually quite baffling.
Won't do a full review but here are a few observations:
-It's called "The Card Counter" but the movie is way more about poker than blackjack. There's about 5 minutes at the beginning when the main character (Oscar Isaac) explains card counting and a few times he mentions that he was just playing blackjack but other than, most of the gambling in the movie is related to poker.
-Regarding the poker, they don't show any hands. It's just showing Oscar Isaac playing poker tournaments from afar. He keeps winding up at final tables with an Eastern European "poker celebrity" who has a pro-USA persona (his supporters follow him around and inexplicably yell "U-S-A" every time he wins a pot). It's very obnoxious and over-the-top. Joe Stapleton was the advisor for the poker segments in this film but I have to imagine all of his suggestions were disregarded and they made the actual poker play irrelevant. They also keep talking about Isaac's character trying to "qualify" for the World Series of Poker or something like that which, of course, doesn't make any sense unless he means earning $10,000 to enter the Main Event but he wins much more than that throughout the film.
-Tiffany Haddish plays Isaac's backer in poker tournaments and she's brutal in this film. Meanwhile, Isaac is a spectacular actor. It's like watching Jordan play one-on-one with a child.
-The characters have eccentricities and oddities for no apparent reason. Quirkiness for quirkiness sake which drives me nuts in these indie movies. For example, another main character is named "Cirk" (pronounced "Kirk") but with a "C". Also, Isaac's character stays in off-casino motel rooms where he carefully covers all of the furniture including lamps and chairs in linens. There's no explanation for this behaviour.
-There's a pivotal scene with Willem Dafoe that occurs off camera that's trying to make a point with its ambiguity but it's still very frustrating.
-The final shot of the film is so perplexing I can't even begin to understand it. It's like a two minute slow motion shot of two characters touching each others' index fingers. It must be an homage of some sort but I don't know the reference.
All in all, a bad flick. I don't recommend it. Do yourself a favour and rewatch "Mississippi Grind" or "California Split." Those are two superior road gambling movies.
Spoiler alert: Oscar Isaac dies early in this movie.
Oh shit, that was DUNE.
NM.
Oscar Isaac's best movie was probably Ex Machina from 2015.
He was great in it.
It was a small independent film which only had a small number of actors in the entire movie.
He was also really good in “Inside Llewyn Davis” playing a struggling folk singer.
Might be one of the only movies that I liked Adam Driver.
Only non gamblers like this turd as far as I’ve seen.
All unanimous that Oscar is great and Tiffany stinks.
86% on Rotten Tomatoes?!
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_card_counter
Yet only 42% of the audience liked it.
Typical gap between critics and audience, where critics are impressed by artsy shit, and often that allows them to credit bad movies as good.
What’s shocking to me is it’s still not available via free streaming. Places Ive looked still $5.99 to watch it via rental or $19.99 to buy. Yeah no thanks… I’d be shocked if anybody was paying to watch this thing at all now.
www.jokerstarspoker.com / www.jokerstarspoker.net / www.jokerstarspoker.eu
www.jokerstarspoker.club (not your mommas chinese poker app)
Watched it last night, was a fucking train wreck.
I am the market for films like this. I love much of Paul Schrader's stuff, including his previous one First Reformed that is similarly paced and themed. I love Oscar Issac, obv gambling stuff appeals to me.
Tiffany Haddish getting casted as the backer is truly confounding.
Avoid.
PokerFraudAlert...will never censor your claims, even if they're against one of our sponsors. In addition to providing you an open forum report fraud within the poker community, we will also analyze your claims with a clear head an unbiased point of view. And, of course, the accused will always have the floor to defend themselves.-Dan Druff
BUMP
Very dark movie, worth a watch and actually depicts the life of a poker player pro with authenticity.
Am a big Schrader and Oscar Issac fan, this one didn't land for me. All his usual beats are here too. No idea wtf Tiffany Haddish is in this.
PokerFraudAlert...will never censor your claims, even if they're against one of our sponsors. In addition to providing you an open forum report fraud within the poker community, we will also analyze your claims with a clear head an unbiased point of view. And, of course, the accused will always have the floor to defend themselves.-Dan Druff
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