a blog about a lot of things

So, I've been watching lots more movies than usual lately (which, is quite an achievement cause I love movies) due to a combination of finishing postgrad, being unemployed and breaking my foot (which has me very immobile for the next 5 weeks). So I made a list, as I usually do. Other than the top 5 the rankings are quite fluid and all the films are quite good. (Disclaimer: I haven't seen  Nebraska   which is why it's not on the list.) 11. Frances Ha - USA- English. Directed by Noah Baumbach. If you watch Girls  then this film will remind you a lot of that series. It'll also remind you of Manhattan from Woody Allen, but younger people and also 40 years later. But there's that same sense of drifting yet drifting energetically. I like films about nothing at all so I'm biased but really this film is impossible without Greta Gerwig being quite likeable as Francis. It's less of a plot that just vignettes of aimless life in New York and so, of course, is ste...

Best Actor Most Likely Winner: Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club. Starting to look pretty secure after wins at the SAG and Globes and to be honest he very much deserves it if he does get it. Quality serious acting from Matthew McConaughey, who could see that coming after all the romance-comedy stuff? But he is excellent and completely convincing in a difficult portrayal (as true stories always are). And the weight loss is dramatic as well. Large parts of the movie I can't believe he's so skinny. Backup Pick: Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave. About half the film he doesn't speak at all and the acting is just conveyed by facial expressions. And it's done. With facial expressions alone Ejiofor gives us the look of a man in the trenches with a thousand yard stare occasionally broken by the reluctance to let despair take full control. This film is extremely difficult to watch and that's not least due to the excel...