Category: Hall of Fame

The Revenant (2016)

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The Revenant’s gruelling shoot is already crossing over into Hollywood myth and legend.  It endured everything from freezing temperatures to an unusual lack of snow in Canada and saw more than one crew member either walk off the set or be fired.  All to bring us the story of Hugh Glass, (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is buried alive and left for dead by his fellow trappers after he is attacked by a grizzly bear.  Somehow he survives to pull himself out of his grave and give chase, seeking revenge on those that have wronged him.  So the question is, was it all worth it?

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Room (2016)

There are minor spoilers for Room in this review, although they are all revealed in the trailer.  If you want to know nothing, you should probably stop here.  It’s brilliant, go see it.

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To call Room harrowing is the mother of all understatements.  At the start of the film, we find Brie Larson’s Ma living in a garden shed barely bigger than a closet, imprisoned by ‘Old Nick’ who kidnapped her seven years previously.  In that time, she has grown to be dependent on him and has also had his child, Jack, who is now five years old.  Despite the circumstances of his birth, she has grown fiercely protective of him, letting Nick nowhere near him and raising him best she can in their horrifying circumstances.

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

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When Disney purchased the rights to Star Wars there was, well, a shitload of emotion.  From those loudly proclaiming Star Wars was crap anyway to fans who were terrified that the big mouse was going to ruin the films that they held so dear.  In among all that chaos, one thing became certain.  It was back and was in the process of setting up a film universe to rival Marvel’s current behemoth (another Disney franchise).

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Grandma (2015)

Road trip movies are both a rich seam of comedy history and a horrifying one.  For every classic, there are ten frat boy comedies with as much originality as a joke about airplane food.  In other hands, Grandma may well have ended up with a title like Bad Grandma and ended up heading down that route.  In the hands of writer-director Paul Weitz, this story of a woman trying to help her granddaughter raise money for an abortion is a touching and real piece of cinema.

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Bridge of Spies (2015)

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While in a perfect world you want to enter every cinema free of expectations and ready to be wowed, there are times when you know what to expect.  No one goes into the latest churned out Paranormal Activity film expecting greatness.  While walking into a Steven Spielberg directed, Coen brothers‘ scripted and Tom Hanks‘ starring film is more like slipping into a hot bath.  You kind of know you are in safe hands.

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