American Hustle

This is a good movie, not a great movie, and not as good as Silver Linings Playbook.  It is a farce and the plot has a lot of holes.  I guess we're to ignore those.  The cast is extraordinary in this good hair/bad hair movie.  In my opinion the stars, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner have great hair.  The other 3 stars - let's just call their hair - the craps.  I think Amy Adams deserves an Oscar nod, but none of the others.  Still, I liked this movie even though I think it is getting unjustifiable raves.  At the end of the movie weren't you surprised that all those politicians got arrested?  I thought it would end with all of them dancing on the head of the overzealous IRS agent played by Bradley Cooper.

Duds fo the Year

As for Gravity, it is without emotion, not engaging and boring, and that's all Samoblog has to say about it. Oldboy is absurdly violent.  Someone said this is Spike Lee's best movie since Inside Man.  Now that was one very good movie.  This is one very bad one.  The worst of the year, without question, though, is Out of the Furnace.  With a loaded cast, you'd think this has to be good.  Nope.  It's a dull story with no script.  Yuk.

Dallas Buyers Club and About Time

In Dallas Buyers Club Matthew McConaughey has reached the peak of his acting career (so far).  It's no surprise.  It was apparent as far back as We Are Marshall and Lincoln Lawyer.  He is mesmerizing all the way through here: when you can see him, that is.  He's lost a lot of weight!  The movie is based upon a  real person and a very courageous guy, who goes after drugs that will help him deal with his disease, AIDS, even if they have not been approved in the U.S.   About Time is a love story/comedy.  You've got to stick with this as it is somewhat hokey and involves time travel, a couple of aspects I'm biased against.  As the movie moves on and the great Bill Nighy becomes more of a presence, it becomes more and more engaging and finishes with a powerful message that is typically cliched, but not here, the build-up is so solid and yet unpredictable.