helplessness in the face of an uncaring universe, and that the only way out is some fluke

Movies like that don't bother me; that's how I feel all the time anyway.

I don't usually feel like I'm on the brink of death far away from everything familiar, so I find movies like that an escalation from my normal state.

Bruhl was amazing. Lauda was amazing. Sure, rest your marketing on Thor--that's the is the sensible decision

Except I do think I read something about them putting Bruhl up for Supporting Actor awards.

Except I do think I read something about them putting Bruhl up for Supporting Actor awards.

I was about to say something about how that doesn't conflict when I realised "supporting" and then...hmmph. I'm sure Chris walked away with the lion's share of the money and press and stuff, but...hmmph, fine. I even think Bruhl might have had more lines in the end.

There's a Green Wing quasi-reunion in this, for people who liked that. Amused me.

Here, in a piece that's mostly about Enough Said:

There's also noise about a campaign for Daniel Brühl, the magnetic German actor who gives a fine, biting performance as the testy Austrian racer Niki Lauda. Although Rush is about the competition between the by-the-book, Ivan Lendl–ish Lauda and the brash, freewheeling asshole live wire James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, slimming down and stepping up from Thor), and the movie gives their personal lives equal attention, Brühl is for some reason being talked about as a Best Supporting Actor candidate. This is one of those category-fraud moments so brazen that you wonder if the people who made Rush even want the story they have invested so much time and effort in telling to be perceived accurately. Is the movie, as it appears to be, about two intense alpha dudes who are driven to achieve victory in profoundly different ways? Or is it, as the Oscar campaign would suggest, about one big, tall, handsome blond guy and his aspirations and feelings, and only secondarily about this other guy who keeps getting in his way and whose aspirations and feelings the camera and the script sure seem to spend a lot of unwarranted time with? If Lauda is truly meant to be a supporting character in Rush, then everybody involved did a really bad job making the movie. They didn't, and he's not: Instead, Brühl is every Academy Award campaigner's worst nightmare — a super-talented, little-known co-lead with an umlaut in his last name.

I have to admit, it took me a while to realise that they'd submit Chris for an Oscar too. But just about everyone gets submitted. I just...he was fine. But nothing amazing.

I did think Hemsworth showed previously unguessed depth of acting talent; however, Brühl was the standout. I don't think I'd put the former up against Forest Whitaker, but the latter could hold his own.

I just noticed Bruhl's name opposite Benedict Sexypants in Fifth Estate. That will get me to the theatre faster.

Good job!

Speaking of whom, Hobbit part 2 trailer is out.

SO MUCH to nitpick (new Elf character! Legolas for some reason!) but oh man, I could listen to Smaug taunt Bilbo all day.

I love Bendypants Crumblybatch's Smaug voice.