I watched a couple of last year"s Oscar faves today, namely War Horse and The Descendants. Before I sat down with the munchies, the former I wasn"t too interested in and the latter I was really looking forward to, though TBH I found the results were completely the opposite.
War Horse was far more exciting, emotional and entertaining than I expected it would be, with very strong performances from a largely British cast, including Tom Hiddleston, Peter Mullan and Emily Watson. The star of the movie "Joey" completely stole the show though and had me enthralled throughout.
The Descendants, despite a fine performance from George Clooney, didn"t fill me with any inspiration at all as it fizzled out to a rather undramatic conclusion. I had high hopes for this misfit family drama, which admittedly had it"s moments, but nowhere near enough to keep me interested for 2 hours. Ultimately it left me with no empathy or feeling for the characters, despite their vulnerabilities, weaknesses and traumas that surrounded them.