The Quite Nerdy Blog

Nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Picture. Vice is the much anticipated follow-up to The Big Short which, I can confirm, still holds up brilliantly. This time though, director Adam McKay is aiming his satirical gaze at ex-Vice President and all around dick head Dick Cheney. He's not a familiar figure to many here in the UK (or at least, not many my age) but fortunately, that's what the film is all about, no prior knowledge of him needed. It careens wildly through his life, flash forward and backward with little abandon, from the time when he was a college dropout getting drunk all the time, to when he was first working in the White House, all the way to when he was Vice President of the United States of America. One of the most interesting things about the film for me was that I didn't know the story, so getting to hear it (from an admittedly anti-Cheney standpoint) was interesting. What I didn't like was that the story is tol...

My first review of the Awards Season is quite an exciting one because it's a film that has really captured me in a fascinating way and by the time you read this, we'll know how well it's done at picking up nominations but for the record, I think this film is probably going to lead the nominations. Anyway, I'm talking about The Favourite, the new film from weirdo Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. Maybe the weirdest thing about the film is that the plot is relatively normal, on paper just a typical period drama. It's about Queen Anne (a real life figure) who is suffering from gout and will therefore often hand over her regal duties to her friend, adviser and lover Sarah Marlborough. This however is complicated when Sarah's cousin Abigail rocks up into town and seems to be trying to usurp Sarah's position. Their struggle for that position of huge power and what their motivations behind that are make up for the majority of the film, in that I would be hard pu...

Edit: this post has been altered to reflect what did and didn't get nominated this year with correct predictions in green and incorrect predictions in red . Total correct predictions at the bottom Oscars Season is here again and that means it's time to celebrate movies that are quite good while the ones that I thought were the best typically get sidelined. Regardless, it's a solid crop this year already but not all of them can be nominated. Some great films are not going to make it and that's my job here, to try and work out which films those are. As such, I largely am keeping my opinion out of the main predictions but there will be a little entry in each whose work was brilliant yet may get sidelined. So, let's predict some nominations for some bullshit awards that really don't mean much! Best Cinematography Likely Bets: Alfonso Cuaron for Roma Robbie Ryan for The Favourite Linus Sandgren for First Man Unlikely but Worthy: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom for S...

2018 has been and gone which means we're now in a time for new starts. Or more realistically, it being the second week of the year, you considering that maybe your new start can wait until next year, yeah, definitely do it next year. Regardless, and as with all things in my life, this has me thinking about films, specifically the ones that are coming out over the next 12 months. As ever, this is going by UK release dates and nothing I've already seen will be making the list, meaning The Favourite and Beautiful Boy do not make the list. I'd also like to add that if you're waiting for a best TV of 2018 list, I haven't done one this year, but I did talk about it a bit on my twitter, which you can find at @quitenerdyblog. With that sorted, on to the honourable mentions. Avengers: Endgame Maybe the most obvious choice here, Avengers: Endgame only isn't higher because it has such a high chance to disappoint. I don't think it will but there's a ...

Hey guys, we did it. We made it all the way through 2018, impossible as it seemed at times. I've spent much of the year complaining about the state of cinema but honestly, there's been plenty of amazing films to escape into when reality has gotten a bit much over and over and over again. When I call 2018 a disappointing year for cinema, what I really mean is that there hasn't been anything I've given a ten to, nothing that blew me away on the level of Call Me By Your Name, Paddington 2 or Baby Driver last year. While nothing has quite reached those heights though, I've still been delighted, repulsed and shocked by all forms of cinema in 2018. As with all other years, I'm only talking about 2018 releases in the UK so Lady Bird is in whereas The Favourite is out. For the first time ever though, I actually have a ranking of all the films I saw from this year on my Letterboxd, on which you will always find the depressing answer to the question "What has Henry b...