First Time Viewings: January 2014
I managed 15 films in January, which easily surpassed the films I saw in January '13 & '12 combined but failed to reach the 24 I saw in 2011. 12 of the 15 were from 2013, just trying keep up with awards season. The best film I saw was The Wolf of Wall Street and would be my vote for the Oscar but I know it doesn't have a chance against the far inferior films Gravity, American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave.
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- DirectorDavid O. RussellStarsChristian BaleAmy AdamsBradley CooperA con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild F.B.I. Agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia.Viewed: 1/1/14
My Score: 7/10
I normally LOVE these types of movies, but this one just didn't feel quite right somehow. Maybe a little forced? Seemed to me like David O. Russell was trying to make the next best picture winner, rather than just making a good film. A wonderful cast and a fool-proof script but it somehow seemed like a wannabe great film to me. I would be quite happy with Jennifer Lawrence winning a second Oscar but I hope the awards stop there. Enjoyable, but far from Oscar worthy. - DirectorPeter JacksonStarsIan McKellenMartin FreemanRichard ArmitageThe dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring.Viewed: 1/1/14
My Score: 6/10
After being pleasantly surprised with the first film, I was looking forward to this one but this turned out the way I thought the first would be. I'm not a LOTR fan or a Hobbit fan in any way, just a movie fan, I like good movies. I don't care about the book on which it was based or anything along those lines but Jackson really seems to be going out of his way to put ludicrous sub-plots in this. This one still has many exciting scenes but by the end I couldn't care less about seeing the third, whereas after the first I was really excited to this. - DirectorJonathan LevineStarsNicholas HoultTeresa PalmerJohn MalkovichAfter a highly unusual zombie saves a still-living girl from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion events that might transform the entire lifeless world.Viewed: 2/1/14
My Score: 8/10
A zombie love story... and they pull it off to great effect. A cross between Romeo & Juliet and any given zombie movie may not sound like something that could be successful but I think with the outpouring of zombie movies over the last few years, this is a breath of fresh air. - DirectorBasil DeardenStarsJack WarnerDirk BogardeJimmy HanleyThe daily routine of two London Policemen is interrupted by a killer.Viewed: 4/1/14
My Score: 7/10
Won best British film at the Baftas back in the day but far from greatness. Certainly has many interesting elements but fails somewhat on the dramatic side. - DirectorCharles FrendStarsDonald HoustonMeredith EdwardsMoira ListerBrothers from a Welsh village take their first trip to London to collect a prize, and meet a con artist and various other urban distractions.Viewed: 4/1/14
My Score: 6/10
British comedy that mostly rings flat but has the occasional laugh and charm. - DirectorSteve McQueenStarsMichael FassbenderLiam CunninghamStuart GrahamIrish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.Viewed: 5/1/14
My Score: 8/10
Excellent film based on the hunger strike started by Bobby Sands which cost him his life. While the film doesn't seem to take sides the fact it doesn't show you any of the horror the IRA caused does seem to take Bobby's side. Personally I'm very thankful for these IRA members to kill themselves by starvation, if only they all did and not just 10. Back to the actual film though and it is so wonderfully made by debutant Steve McQueen and the extended scene between Sands and the priest is one of the all-time great scenes. - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioJonah HillMargot RobbieBased on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.Viewed: 15/1/14
My Score: 10/10
The first masterpiece I've seen for 2014 so far, I only managed 9 or 10 last year so it'll be interesting to see if I can top it this year or if I'm getting tougher in my old age. Onto the film and I couldn't imagine having more fun in three hours, in fact it felt nowhere three hours. The wonderful performances all around, the deliberately excessive direction, script and cinematography, it all makes for a pure cinema experience. I would love DiCaprio to win the Oscar but Matthew McConnaughey equally deserves it so I won't be too upset if either win. - DirectorSteve McQueenStarsChiwetel EjioforMichael Kenneth WilliamsMichael FassbenderIn the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.Viewed: 16/1/14
My Score: 7/10
The film that will probably win the Oscar for best picture (though for once it's a close race between Gravity, American Hustle and this one). The film was quite well done for a large part and Michael Fassbender deserves the Oscar (though he won't win) but the film really let me down in the end. There were a few moments during the film that seemed a little too bs for my liking and Chiwetel was good in the role but far from great and I'll be very disappointed if he wins best actor. I watched Hunger and Shame recently to get myself acquainted with Steve McQueen, and I love his style in his first two films but he adopts a more classic style in this film probably to make his film more accessible but It doesn't resonate with me. Plus the movie takes many liberties with the real story, which I normally don't take into account but they really push the limits with this one. - DirectorJean-Marc ValléeStarsMatthew McConaugheyJennifer GarnerJared LetoIn 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.Viewed: 18/1/14
My Score: 8/10
Wonderful film that's close to a masterpiece if it wasn't for the horrible performance from Jennifer Garner in a fairly important role, whoever cast her should be forced to do 2000 hours of community service. At the other end of the spectrum you have Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey who are absolutely wonderful. Jean-Marc Vallée also does a great job in the director's chair. - DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsTom HanksBarkhad AbdiBarkhad AbdirahmanThe true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.Viewed: 18/1/14
My Score: 8/10
Yet another 'Based on a True Story' film up for the Oscar. This one has Tom Hanks as a captain of a freight ship getting hijacked. Solid and tense the whole way through and Barkhad Abdi is quite a standout as the leader of the hijackers. - DirectorSpike JonzeStarsJoaquin PhoenixAmy AdamsScarlett JohanssonIn a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.Viewed: 19/1/14
My Score: 9/10
Easily one of the most unique and sweet love stories I've ever seen, but you know it's going to be when Spike Jonze's name is somewhere there. Scarlett Johansson is especially great with her voicework, and Joaquin Phoenix is subtle but effect in his role. All round wonderful sweet film. - DirectorJohn Lee HancockStarsEmma ThompsonTom HanksAnnie Rose BuckleyAuthor P.L. Travers reflects on her childhood after reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big screen.Viewed: 19/1/14
My Score: 7/10
Entertaining but overly Disney-fied account of Mary Poppins making it to be the big screen. Emma Thompson is great and I'm very surprised she didn't get an Oscar nomination. - DirectorJeff NicholsStarsMatthew McConaugheyTye SheridanJacob LoflandTwo young boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the vigilantes that are on his trail and to reunite him with his true love.Viewed: 23/1/14
My Score: 9/10
Wonderful small film with a brilliant pre-Dallas Buyers Club Matthew McConaughey as a criminal hiding out on an island in a boat up a tree. Two boys stumble across the boat and want it for a cubby house then discover someone lives there. Quite the adventure film at times but also quite tense at others times, and quite nuanced throughout. Just wonderful. - DirectorWoody AllenStarsCate BlanchettAlec BaldwinPeter SarsgaardA New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister. She looks like a million dollars but isn't bringing money, peace or love.Viewed: 29/1/14
My Score: 9/10
Cate Blanchett gives the performance of a lifetime as a rich snob forced into moving in with her poor sister when her husband goes to gaol and kills himself. Some comedy but mostly a dramatic script from Woody Allen is just sensational. - DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsHugh JackmanJake GyllenhaalViola DavisWhen Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts.Viewed: 30/1/14
My Score: 8/10
A slow burn of a film with Hugh Jackman as a father whose daughter has been kidnapped and will go to all lengths to try to find his daughter while the cop played by the brilliant Jake Gyllenhaal goes the way of the law instead which infuriates Jackman. The 2½ hours zoom by, though a car racing through the streets to get somewhere almost writes the film off as it is so ludicrous and unlikely but I'll forgive it that.