The Card Counter

I can understand why some people described this film as slow and boring. Action movie it isn't, but as a study of a deeply damaged individual who wants to atone for the hurt he has caused other human beings, I thought it was superb.

Stopped watching out of boredom, 33 minutes in. A restrained performance tipped over into dull tedium. Sloppy, disjointed narrative didn't help.

An excellent film which requires patience and some understanding of the context. Iraq, Abu Ghraib. Brilliant acting and the slow pace combine to draw you into its moral questions.

My review is a question. We're they paid for this?

An odd film. Decent enough though. Spoiler alert. Not quite sure why the Card Counter takes the Kid under his wing. Yes, he went through what the Kids Dad went through - but that doesn't really explain the act of great generosity. The Card Counter makes tons of money and just gives it to him. OK - bit of a twist at the end. And why does he wrap everything up in cotton sheets? Trying to atone for the squalor he lived in at the interrogation centre? Anyway, brooding. Built nicely to the denouement. The 1 on 1 between the Card Counter and the Kid in the hotel at the end was unnerving...

Like all of Schrader's good movies, it unfolds like a tight and engaging short story. The Iraq War stuff plays really well here as it seems to have unfortunately faded from our cultural memory.

Oscar Isaac gives a mesmerising soulful performance as a man methodically moving through life hoping for some kind of peace and redemption from his former life.An unbelievably profound film that will stay with you long after the credits roll.

When I first started this movie, I was confused as to what this movie wanted to be, I was weirded out by it, but it really picked itself in the second half, and I enjoyed it, my criticisms were the role of Tiffany Haddish, who I felt was heavily miscast and didn't really fit into the movie, and the first half can really put some people off. Otherwise, good movie, soundtrack was nice, really liked the claustrophobic setting.

A slowburn that keeps you captivated due to Issac's performance, but fizzles out in the end with it's lacklustre and poorly conveived final stanza.

Boring story. So-so acting. Quite liked the music.