Inside Llewyn Davis, Dallas Buyers Club and The Monuments Men

I had heard such good things about Inside Llewyn Davis, that I found it surprisingly disappointing. I was pretty bored through the whole movie, which is unusual for a Cohen Brothers film. When the brightest moments involved a beautiful ginger cat called Ulysses, you will see that I was not impressed.

But I was by Dallas Buyers Club. Not only did Mathew McConaughy amaze us all with his brilliant performance as Aids "victim" Ron Woodroof, but so did Jared Leto as Rayon. And the story/screenplay was a lot better than some critics had warned. So director Jean-Marc Vallee and writers Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack are to be congratulated.

The Monuments Men is a strange concoction. It may have wanted to be an old time war movie, full of wisecracks and jolliness. But the subject matter really did not suit this approach. I guess it all looked good as an idea, the recue of works of art at the end of the second world war. But the script and story was all over the place, especially as our seven heroes split up for the middle part of the movie and the constant switching between locations did it no favours. The cast is full of stars, and they are good company for the most part. But George Clooney must take the blame as director/co-writer for a flimsy film that could have been so much better. It certainly looks good, and there are high production values. As a relaxing and diverting 100 minutes, it was OK.