January is a strange month for cinema. While American audiences are bemoaning the lack of decent new releases, here in the UK we are enjoying this years big Oscar contenders.
American Hustle: “some of this actually happened” the true-ish story of Abscam. The performances are phenomenal but the story is a little thin. (Nominated for 10 Oscars)
12 Years a Slave: The true story of Solomon Northup, a free man who is sold into slavery. Suffers from a week sense of time and space but still an excellent film Chiwetel Ejiofor finally gets a part to live up to the promise he demonstrated in Dirty Pretty Things. (Nominated for 9 Oscars)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom: The CliffsNotes of Nelson Mandela’s life. Idris Elba is excellent but the film lacks is too sporadic. It would have worked better as a mini series or a two part movie like Steven Soderbergh’s Che. (Nominated for 1 Oscar)
The Wolf of Wall Street: My fourth movie of the year, and the fourth based on a true story. Martin Scorsese’s take on Jordan Belfort makes Boiler Room (2000) look tame. Scorsese’s best movie in years and possibly Leonardo DiCaprio’s best performance. (Nominated for 4 Oscars)
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit: Lightweight but enjoyable reboot of Jack Ryan sees Chris Pine as the fourth incarnation of the the character. All the cast are good but Kevin Costner steels the show.
August: Osage County: The third and most accessible but possibly weakest movie based on a Tracy Letts play. The fantastic cast is led by Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts who are both nominated for Oscars. (Nominated for 2 Oscars)
Inside Llewyn Davis: A week in the life of fictional folk singer Llewyn Davis set in Greenwich Village folk in 1961. A film only the Coen Brothers could have made, and all the better for it! (Nominated for 2 Oscars)
The Movie of the Month is:
Yep – it sucks that we have to wait so long for movies in the UK but it does mean we get the big Oscar-worthy ones in January/February. Wolf On Wall Street is definitely my favorite. Looking forward to Her in a couple weeks! : )
I love the wolf on wall street. Such an astounding and brilliant performance by DiCaprio, He’s a shoe in for best actor.
DiCaprio was brilliant but I don’t see him as a shoe in for the Oscar. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew McConaughey are certainly in contention. Christian Bale is probably making up the numbers but
I wouldn’t write-off Bruce Dern.
I agree January is a great month here in the UK! I managed to see most of the new released luckily, 12 Years and Inside Llewyn Davis were great 5/5 films for me! American Hustle was a little disappointing and over hyped, I haven’t seen Wall Street yet but for me Inside Llewyn Davis would be my favourite for January.
We have to wait even longer in Mexico to get the majority of these films. I’ve managed to catch wolf of wall street and american hustle though – both, I thought were brilliant.
Surprised you have to wait, I always thought you would get films around the same time as USA and Canada. The bright side, you still have some great films to come then.
So many great movies here. Inside Llewyn Davis and August: Osage County topped the month for me, closely followed by Wolf Of Wall Street. Looking forward to Her in February!
Of the lot, Inside Llewyn Davis would get my vote but Wolf of Wall Street is worthy of the top spot.