Oscar Isaac is playing for keeps in the trailer for Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter
Looks like Paul Schrader is dealing Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Willem Dafoe, and Tye Sheridan a winning hand with The Card Counter
Film News Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader is back, and if you can believe it, it looks like he’s got another lurid tale of human depravity and regret to cheer us up. And unlike his last movie, 2017’s absolutely fantastic First Reformed, The Card Counter looks like it’s going to be a little faster-paced than the meditative Reformed. A spoonful of sugar never hurt. (We’re really hoping that we’re the only publication referencing Mary Poppins in our Card Counter coverage).
The Card Counter stars Oscar Isaac as William Tell, a man who loves poker, whiskey, and furniture covered in sheets. Tell, presumably, has no “tell” in the poker sense—and also bears no relation to famed folk hero Willam Tell. An ex-military interrogator, Tell picks up card counting in prison, where he also is subjected to some kind of atrocity at the hands of Willem Dafoe and threatens others with his bloody smile. As if that weren’t bad enough, he’s also got a skeezy-looking Tye Sheridan and a confident-as-all-hell Tiffany Haddish egging him on. “Count the cards,” they whisper. “It’s the thing you’re the best at. You’re the card counter!” At least that’s what we assume happens. Well, we would if the movie weren’t hurtling toward the depths of misery like so much of Schrader’s work.
Still probably best known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, who produced The Card Counter, Schrader wrote Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Bringing Out The Dead. He’s also directed quite a few classics of his own, including Blue Collar, Hardcore, and American Gigalo. Schrader’s last picture, First Reformed, earned the Hollywood iconoclast some of the best reviews of his career and his first Oscar nomination. We here at The A.V. Club called it, “Schrader’s best film in a very long time,” so put that in your pipe and smoke it. Since then, we’ve been closely monitoring his Facebook page for any more stan posts about Taylor Swift, reports of “cancel culture” ruining his poker games, and news about upcoming projects. Back in April, he teased a new collaboration with his old pal Scorsese, a three-year series about the origins of Christianity. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard much about “Jesus Christ: Origins” since then. The Card Counter will have to do in the meantime.
The Card Counter deals its way into theaters on September 10.
25 Comments
“Jesus Christ: Origins”I thought the Snake Eyes movie flopping would put the kibosh on any future GI Joe movies.
Just wait until they bust out the Council of Nicaea Cinematic Universe.
That could actually be a really good backdrop for a film, I’d love to see a dark comedy or a crime film set during that.
I want a movie of that time when all the cardinals fucked around too long choosing a new pope so the local townspeople took the roof off the building so said indecisive clergy could “better communicate with God” and then, gosh darn it, after God communicated to them via a few showers and some freezing night, they suddenly voted for a new pope. Or one of that pope who paid hookers to scramble around naked on the floor for chestnuts. Or that pope who dug up the corpse of that dead pope and put it on trial.
Just a series related to Papal shenanigans could be fun, in a slightly disturbing way.
“Or that pope who dug up the corpse of that dead pope and put it on trial.”I’m not Catholic by any means, but the history of the popes is fascinating to me for some reason. They were some crazy MF’s between 500-1600 CE. And as someone else commented, I actually would like to see a “Council of Nicaea Cinematic Universe”. I can only imagine the amount of money and background shenanigans that went on to get what they wanted for religion and the Creed. I’m sure it was more Goodfellas than GoT, but still, probably worth a limited series at least.
The Winter Soldier is Nicholas of Myra.
0:05 the thin profile stainless steel watch with a stainless steel watch band doesn’t match the character or the clothes a professional gambler in black clothes wears a stainless steel collectible Rolex or a very expensive thin gold watch with a black leather watch band
“Willem Dafoe as Stan Lee in… The Card Counter.”
I was trying to figure out who he looked like, and yep, you nailed it. I will pretty much watch anything Dafoe is in, because unlike Nic Cage, his crazy is fun and enjoyable.
I mean, not that I’ve been paying attention, but I’m still pretty stoked that Schrader’s still making movies after The Canyons… uh… happened.
You should watch First Reformed.
Looks good! Will do, thanks!
Why does Isaac look like Clooney and Sheridan look like Andy Samberg?
WRONG!
That’s so bizarre they keep saying poker, and in some scenes he’s playing poker, but being able to count cards is of almost no use in poker (unless you’re playing seven card stud, and even there it’s not super important). Counting cards is a blackjack skill.
He plays blackjack like once in the trailer, but you’re absolutely right. Probably it sounds better than “The Check Raiser”.
Oscar Isaac is…THE ANTE-UPPER.
The Implied Pot Odds Calculator.
‘Looks like Paul Schrader is dealing Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Willem Dafoe, and Tye Sheridan a winning hand with The Card Counter’I get it! ‘Winning Hand. Card Counter’!!! Somewhere Gene Shalit is reading this and regretting his retirement.
Tiffany Hadish is an interesting choice
It’s genuinely bizarre that Schrader had never been nominated for Best Screenplay. Even if his scripts often have problems, just the fact that his name is on Taxi Driver and Raging Bull should have earned him a nomination. You would think.
No Paul Schraeder film will ever be more entertaining than HARDCORE, in which a 50-year-old George C. Scott rescues his daughter from the porn industry by punching every person in Los Angeles.
Is there a poker player who doesn’t play for keeps? If so, they might be doing it wrong.