Touted years before as being the twelve months of the blockbuster, 2015 certainly delivered in terms of spectacle. The first proper Star Wars film in three decades wowed cinemagoers, Jurassic World became a surprise box office behemoth and the Marvel juggernaut continued to roll on unabated.

Elsewhere, a series of tremendous prestige pictures have fired the starting pistol on one of the closest Oscar races in living memory. From Sicario to Carol to animated hit Inside Out, there are at least half a dozen really strong contenders to win Best Picture.

With blockbusters and Oscar hopefuls on equal footing, here are the 20 best films of 2015.

20. Mad Max: Fury Road

Few films have had as difficult a development as Mad Max: Fury Road. Released 30 years after franchise threequel Beyond Thunderdome, pre-production on the film actually started way back in 1997. Production delays and the chaos surrounding star Mel Gibson repeatedly pushed the project back, until it was finally shot in 2012.

The resulting film was a brutal, adrenaline-fuelled shot in the arm not just for the franchise, but for action cinema in general. Fury Road benefited not just from its innovative CGI-augmented practical effects, but from its tremendous simplicity. There was no complex plotting and very little in the way of side stories. This was Charlize Theron in an unforgettable role, Tom Hardy on silently ferocious form and a bucketload of vehicular carnage.

19. The Gift

Trailers teased a standard stalker movie. The Jason Blum seal of approval promised horror jumps and jolts. Nothing, however, prepared viewers for what The Gift actually turned out to be – an efficiently nasty thriller with a trio of great, morally murky central performances. Joel Edgerton excelled both in front of the camera as the creepy Gordo and also behind it in his directorial debut, making great use of the tightly wound plot.

The true star of The Gift, though was Jason Bateman. The actor portrayed a layered character, who became gradually darker as the movie progressed, inverting and twisting the traditional hero-villain dynamic. Its genuinely unsettling finale proved incredibly divisive, but this was definitely one of the surprise packages of 2015.

18. Chappie

Since wowing just about everyone with District 9, Neill Blomkamp is a filmmaker who has divided critical opinion. The intriguing Elysium met with mixed reviews, but robot-themed sci-fi Chappie received a downright kicking from a number of film writers. In one of the year’s biggest injustices, the film sits at only 31% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Chappie was anchored by a stellar mo-cap performance from Sharlto Copley, who completely inhabited the role of the android imbued with human emotions. He turned Chappie into an empathetic character, particularly as he was corrupted by the band of criminals portrayed by quirky hip hop outfit Die Antwoord. It built to an all-action finale and a brave final twist that ensured the film would not be forgotten in a hurry.

17. Straight Outta Compton

Controversial hip hop group NWA occupy a major place in musical history, so it was only a matter of time until they got the biopic treatment. The result, Straight Outta Compton, was one of the better music-themed movies of the last few years. Boasting a solid cast of young performers, including the son of Ice Cube, Compton really got under the skin of the men behind the music.

The film was criticised for taking a scalpel to some of the more troubling issues surrounding NWA and it’s certainly true that the film was a sanitised version of events. However, as a partial history of one of rap’s most charismatic groups, it was an impressive, well-acted piece of work.

16. Steve Jobs

Cinema is fascinated with the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. It was Michael Fassbender’s turn to portray the tech celeb this year in Danny Boyle’s drama Steve Jobs. Via an innovative, theatre-style three act structure, the film was able to examine the relationships of Jobs’ life and the personality that made him such a difficult man to work with behind the scenes.

Fassbender completely inhabited Jobs and was helped by a scene-stealing Kate Winslet performance as his closest adviser. The unusual structure proved to be the perfect way of deploying Aaron Sorkin’s trademark rapid fire dialogue, with the stagey setup allowing the words to really fly. In the company of a terrific Sorkin script and a cast on top form, two hours just flew by.

15. Bridge of Spies

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg can be relied upon as two of the most consistent figures in modern cinema. Their past collaborations, such as Saving Private Ryan, have produced acclaimed work. With the addition of the Coen Brothers on script-polishing duties, Bridge of Spies was another A-grade work from the Hanks-Spielberg partnership.

Hanks excelled as the likeable American everyman tasked with exchanging a Russian spy for an American pilot at the height of the Cold War. Veteran Brit thesp Mark Rylance provided stellar support as Soviet agent Rudolf Abel in a role of very few words. Bridge of Spies isn’t the most thrilling movie in the conventional sense, but it makes men talking in smoke-fuelled rooms feel glamorous, exciting and utterly compelling.

14. It Follows

Director David Robert Mitchell’s dreamlike horror It Follows wasn’t on many people’s radars until it opened to rave reviews at the beginning of 2015. Now, however, it stands up as one of the best horror movies of the last year. The film boasted an original concept – that of a simple force that can take the form of any person and follows the victim permanently at a slow, deliberate pace.

Maika Monroe, seen previously in The Guest, gave a truly mesmerising central performance as a young woman caught in a desperate situation. The film’s message regarding sex is muddled, perhaps deliberately, but there are many layers to the film’s allegory. Of all of the films on this list, It Follows will perhaps reward rewatches the most.

13. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Well done JJ Abrams. Having already given Star Trek a makeover, the director was given the keys to Star Wars – one of the most beloved franchises in movie history. No one need have worried, because The Force Awakens was the perfect mixture of modernity and nostalgia. Abrams allowed fans to bask in the successes of the past, whilst also introducing a whole new wave of reasons to fall in love with the galaxy far, far away.

Daisy Ridley and John Boyega proved to be excellent and identifiable new lead characters. Adam Driver, too, made a definite impact as the petulant young villain Kylo Ren. There was plenty of looking back in The Force Awakens, but it was a film that gave fans tonnes of reasons to look forward as well.

12. John Wick

Keanu Reeves underwent something of a career rejuvenation this year courtesy of his lead role in surprise package action movie hit John Wick. Reeves found the perfect vehicle for his lack of charisma as a former assassin lured back into the dark world of his murderous past when his dog was killed in the midst of a robbery. What followed was a kinetic orgy of Hong Kong inspired violence.

John Wick boasted some of the most impressive sequences of gunplay ever committed to cinema, under the directorial eye of stunt performers Chad Stahelski and David Leitch. The film created an intriguing underworld of crooks with honour and anchored it all with a joyous and welcome sense of action cinema as pure adrenaline.

11. The Voices

Few of the films on this list flew under the radar as completely as Marjane Satrapi’s psychedelic horror-comedy The Voices. The film, which focused on a serial killer spurred on by the voices of his pet dog and cat, was yet another step on Ryan Reynolds’ pre-Deadpool career renaissance. It was met with little interest by critics, but had a delightfully offbeat tone that balanced jet black comedy with total surrealism and macabre horror.

Reynolds was a revelation in the central role, also lending his vocal talents to the voices of his pets. Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick were equally adept at navigating the film’s tonal minefield created by Michael R Perry’s near-perfect script. The Voices was the kind of film that screamed potential cult classic, so its esteem may grow in years to come.

10. Suffragette

There are films on this list that are considerably better than Suffragette, but few that feel as essential. Written by Shame scribe Abi Morgan and directed by Sarah Gavron, it was a rare example of a women-centric film almost entirely created by women. It felt less like a document of history and more like a polemical call to arms, urging women not to give up the fight for equality.

Carey Mulligan’s working class heroine allowed Suffragette to focus on the everyday footsoldiers of the movement, rather than its middle class public faces. Solid supporting turns from the likes of Helena Bonham Carter and Anne-Marie Duff provided more fuel to a film which had fire at its core. There was shocking brutality throughout, but also a palpable sense of still unquenched rage that made Suffragette a genuine must-see.

9. The Martian

It’s fair to say that Ridley Scott’s directorial work had been in something of a slump prior to 2015. However, the man behind Gladiator once again found the perfect marriage of script and performance in The Martian. Drew Goddard, co-writer of The Cabin in the Woods, adapted Andy Weir’s cult novel into a playful, spectacular and occasionally devastating sci-fi treat.

Matt Damon was excellent as the lone astronaut left on the surface of Mars. The ensemble on Earth were equally impressive, anchored by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jeff Daniels. The Martian will, however, primarily be remembered for how surprisingly funny it was, packing one of the sharpest, wittiest scripts of 2015 and a real sense of fun.

8. Amy

Asif Kapadia marked himself out as a major director to watch with his F1 doc Senna. Five years later, tragic musician Amy Winehouse was his subject in the devastating Amy. The film, using interviews from just about every major figure in Winehouse’s life, traced the star’s childhood before documenting her rise to fame and fall from grace under the glare of paparazzi flashbulbs.

Amy was a shocking portrayal of the destructive power of fame. The press were shown to be a cacophonous source of relentless pressure and influences within her own family were spotlighted for their shortcomings. Mitch, Winehouse’s father, has expressed his disapproval at the film, but its true genius was in its refusal to blame anyone. Kapadia’s eye was neutral, but never ambivalent.

7. Crimson Peak

There has always been a clear divide in the work of Guillermo Del Toro. On the one side is his mature, dark Spanish language work and, on the other, are his big American blockbusters. Crimson Peak straddled the line between those twin styles, marrying the supernatural sophistication of Euro Del Toro with the A-list casting and English language of his blockbuster side. The film was a financial plot, but an absolute filmmaking triumph.

Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska proved to be an excellent romantic double act, boasting real chemistry. The third point of the horror triangle was Jessica Chastain, in a role that she seemed to be enjoying immensely. Crimson Peak, with its cavernous practical sets and vibrant colours, was also a bold visual treat that rewarded Del Toro’s unique gothic vision. It got a little lost on its Halloween release, but it’s a film that will be reappraised in years to come.

6. Birdman

Back at the Oscars, Birdman surprised just about everyone when it bested Boyhood to win the double-whammy of Best Picture and Best Director for Alejandro González Iñárritu. Almost a year later, the film still stands up as one of the most intriguing and intelligent releases of 2015. Michael Keaton’s meta turn as an ageing actor plagued by one famous superhero role was a casting masterstroke alongside the innovative notion of a film presented as one continuous take.

The supporting work, from the likes of Edward Norton and Emma Stone, was uniformly impressive and the rhythmic nature of the script was a technical marvel. It seemed a little emotionally empty on a first watch, but the artifice and surrealism melted away on second viewing to reveal a surprisingly potent beating heart lurking underneath.

5. Brooklyn

When the awards for the best films of 2015 are doled out in the first few months of 2016, it’s likely that Brooklyn will be something of a minor presence. John Crowley’s romantic drama was a subtle, gently powerful film about Saoirse Ronan’s young woman displaced in the world, feeling as if she no longer knew where home was.

Ronan’s performance was expressive and nuanced. She perfectly sold the turmoil of choosing between her exciting new life in America and the cosy comforts of Ireland. It was a film that really resonated deeply and told its story in a deeply old-fashioned, but entirely welcome, way. In a year dominated by blockbuster cinema, this was a much-needed slice of quiet.

4. Sicario

Denis Villeneuve is increasingly marking himself out as one of the best thriller directors working in cinema today. His 2015 effort, Sicario, was a complex and often terrifyingly brutal examination of the war on drugs, focused on the Mexican border. Emily Blunt’s FBI agent was thrown into a situation of murky morals by shady CIA operative Josh Brolin and his even shadier associate, played by Benicio Del Toro.

The film repeatedly amped up the tension and fed the audience information slowly, teasing out the true importance of the operation, in which no one involved is entirely a good guy. As the awards nominations have begun to be handed out, Sicario has been sadly and unjustly overlooked in the major categories. Alongside Soderbergh’s Oscar winner Traffic, Villeneuve’s Sicario is one of the best films to focus on the war on drugs.

3. Carol

A wave of critical adoration surrounded Carol when it made its UK cinema bow following a garlanded run on the festival circuit, including a Best Actress win for Rooney Mara at Cannes. Todd Haynes’ romantic drama was a china doll of a film – delicate and fragile, but utterly perfect. Mara and Cate Blanchett made for a pairing with immense chemistry, capable of saying an awful lot without using a single word.

Carol is already dominating the awards season, leading the nominations for the Golden Globes. The film was a subtle tale of attraction that crackled and sparked with the potency of a love that ran into constant blockades and problems. It still felt brave, even in the more liberal world of 2015, and definitely served up a slice of 1950s America.

2. Whiplash

I first saw Whiplash well over a year ago at the London Film Festival, where it blew me away with its sharp writing, lean storytelling and cacophonous musical finale. In the face of strong competition, it still managed to emerge as one of the best UK film releases of 2015. The tale of Miles Teller’s drumming prodigy and his verbally brutal mentor JK Simmons thrilled with its simplicity and sense of the sacrifice necessary to get to the top.

Young director Damien Chazelle gave the film a sense of rapid fire urgency, which meshed neatly with Simmons’ ferocious putdowns. It all culminated in a bravura final scene that is as close to pure cinema as anything in 2015 – the perfect marriage of sound and picture. For that alone, Whiplash more than deserves its spot on this list.

1. Inside Out

There aren’t many film studios in the world that can even come close to Pixar when they’re firing on all cylinders. Inside Out, which delves deeply into the complicated psychology of children, might be their best work since the Toy Story trilogy. It was shocking in its commitment to constructing a sophisticated narrative wearing the clothing of a knockabout kid-friendly adventure.

Director Pete Docter gave the audience a fleeting, but detailed glimpse of the world inside the head of humans, guided by their emotions. He gave the audience just enough time to grasp those workings, before shaking them up by displacing Amy Poehler’s Joy and Phyllis Smith’s Sadness in the midst of their child’s memory. There, they encountered Richard Kind’s imaginary friend Bing Bong, who quickly became the most memorable and, indeed, devastating character of 2015.

Inside Out proved that it’s completely unnecessary to talk down to children when making films that cater to a family audience. Kids are more than capable of grasping complex emotional stories, particularly when they contain the level of wit and invention that has always been the trademark of Pixar. With that ethos, Inside Out is definitely the best film of 2015.

Do you agree with my list of the best films of 2015? Which films are missing and which of them really don’t deserve to be there? Let me know in the comments section.

Hi there, readers!

I’d like to apologise for the lack of reviews and posts on this blog over the last couple of months. Since graduating university in the summer, there have been lots of new pressures on my time as I have tried to adjust to life as a freelance film journalist, balancing pesky financial commitments with my desire to write for The Popcorn Muncher.

Since the summer, I have managed to create for myself a ridiculous backlog of reviews. I’ve been telling myself, like George RR Martin with Game of Thrones, that I’ll get there eventually, but it’s time to stop kidding myself on that front.

As a result, I’ve made the decision to clear the slate of all of my reviews in order to start anew with 2016. I’ll have a review up of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the next week, but other than that, I’m going to focus entirely on new releases such as The Danish Girl and Joy.

This does mean that a number of great films, such as Todd Haynes’ Carol, Guillermo Del Toro’s sumptuously shot Crimson Peak and drug war thriller Sicario will go unreviewed, but you can catch up with my views on the best and worst of those in my Review of 2015 posts.

I would like to apologise once again for the lack of content over the last few months. Rest assured, though, that 2016 is going to be a much better year!

Genre: Sci-Fi
Certificate: 12
UK Release Date: 17th December 2015
Runtime: 135 minutes
Director: JJ Abrams
Writer: JJ Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt
Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac
Synopsis: The search for Luke Skywalker brings together an unlikely band of characters old and new to combat the evil First Order.

It’s fair to say that there hasn’t been a film as highly anticipated as the new Star Wars since… well, since the last new Star Wars trilogy kicked off in 1999. That didn’t turn out very well at all, but this time geek icon JJ Abrams was at the helm of the franchise, having already worked his magic to reboot Star Trek for a new generation. The result was always going to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year, but the question remained as to whether it could live up to the beloved original films. Thankfully, the resulting film was satisfying in just about every way, whether you know a Jawa from a Tusken Raider or can’t tell which way up to hold a blaster.

Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) has vanished and Resistance pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) secures the final part of the map to his location. He is captured by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) of the Empire-loving First Order. Rogue Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) soon finds himself embroiled in the plans and, in his quest to destroy the First Order, he comes across mysterious scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley) and eventually Han Solo (Harrison Ford), who introduces the newcomers to a complex and dangerous world.

Everything about Star Wars: The Force Awakens is precision-tooled for maximum nostalgia. Where the prequel trilogy got bogged down in exposition and nonsense, Abrams’ film simply relaxes into a state of pure, joyous entertainment. The Force Awakens isn’t interested in carving its own path and is perfectly happy to trace the broad story strokes of the 1977 original film. But, in this most unique of contexts, there’s nothing wrong with that. This is a band on their first reunion tour – new stuff is nice, but you want to see them play the hits.

| “How do we blow it up? There’s always a way to do that.”

Much of the pre-release publicity for The Force Awakens focused on the fact that the stars of the franchise’s past would be returning. However, the film shouldn’t be underestimated for how successfully it introduces its new roster. Daisy Ridley, despite a wooden first few minutes, does a very solid job as Rey, whilst Attack the Block star John Boyega proves to be a remarkable comic talent as Finn. The dynamic between them is fascinating, with wannabe macho hero Finn repeatedly cut down by the fiercely independent Rey, who is a hell of a role model for the franchise’s female fans. Credit must also go to Oscar Isaac, who manages to be the most Harrison Ford performer in a film that actually features Harrison Ford.

More interesting than either, though, is Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. In one film, Driver gives Ren the depth that the entire prequel trilogy failed to give Darth Vader. This isn’t a powerful ruler, but a petulant teenager rebelling in genuinely unsettling fashion. Other minions of the dark side, such as Domhnall Gleeson’s Nazi-esque General Hux and Gwendoline Christie’s much-heralded Captain Phasma, are underused here, but should resurface in future films.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of The Force Awakens is its self-awareness. Abrams, veteran scribe Larence Kasdan and everyone else involved seemingly realised early that this film was a completely unique case. This isn’t a film designed to hold up as a piece of art, but is merely a rollercoaster driven by the desire of the fans to return to the universe they loved as kids. Every thrilling dogfight and surprisingly visceral lightsaber war emerges from a single goal – to help the audience have as much fun as possible.

| “I was raised to do one thing… but I’ve got nothing to fight for.”

It’s possible that The Force Awakens won’t hold up nearly as well once the wave of nostalgia breaks. It’s built upon fan adoration and a filmmaker willing to remix and modernise. For now, however, it’s a deeply emotional cinematic experience that begs to be revisited over and over again.

Pop or Poop?

It’s with a collective sigh of relief that the world has embraced Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the sequel the original classics deserve.

Old characters get their victory lap and new characters emerge into the spotlight, all wrapped up by Abrams in an immensely satisfying explosion of pure, cinematic adrenaline.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Drama
Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: 1st January 2016
Runtime: 119 minutes
Director: Tom Hooper
Writer: Lucinda Coxon
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw, Amber Heard, Sebastian Koch
Synopsis: A Danish painter, born a man, begins to embrace her true personality as she becomes a pioneer of gender reassignment surgery.

Few films have caused more discussion with their first publicity still than The Danish Girl did with its first image of Eddie Redmayne as trans pioneer Lili Elbe. After months of controversy and scrutiny by the trans community, the film itself has finally arrived, with a wave of awards season attention at its back. It’s something of a glossy disappointment.

Einar Wegener (Redmayne) is a Danish painter, married to fellow artist Gerda (Alicia Vikander). When standing in for one of Gerda’s female models, Wegener unmasks transgender feelings that later spur her to embrace the identity of Lili Elbe, undergoing experimental surgery at the hands of Dr Warnekros (Sebastian Koch) to become a woman.

After all of the controversy, it’s shocking just how safely The Danish Girl plays out. Its subject matter couldn’t be more timely, and yet, the film seems reluctant to break free of the basic structure of a historical drama, couched in the kind of historical gloss that has Academy voters frantically filling in their ballot papers. It seems more preoccupied with securing statuettes than in doing justice to the struggle of its central characters.

| “I love you, because you are the only person who made sense of me and made me possible.”

The issue comes to the fore in Tom Hooper’s direction, which has almost no subtlety. He seems more interested in pointing his camera at lavish interiors than in exploring his protagonist, framing Lili’s inner struggle as a mere series of longing looks at blouses and dresses.

Hooper does, however, triumph in securing two tremendous performances from his central actors. Eddie Redmayne, completing another fascinating physical transformation after last year’s Oscar-winning The Theory of Everything, is wonderful in his mannerisms and brings an impressive wide-eyed innocence to Lili. Alicia Vikander steals the movie from under him, though, with Gerda shouldering a lot of the film’s emotional lifting. Vikander has had a remarkable year and The Danish Girl contains perhaps her most complete performance, elevating the film whenever she appears.

Unfortunately, Vikander and Redmayne are saddled with a script packed with clichés and clunking awkwardness. Given the dark realities faced by many transgender people today, it’s jarring to see Lili Elbe’s struggle being rendered in a way so clearly designed to be palatable for the average cinemagoer. Everything about The Danish Girl feels artificial, particularly as it winds achingly slowly towards the inevitable climax.

| “I think Lily’s thoughts. I dream her dreams. She was always there.”

The Danish Girl should’ve been an interesting prestige picture with a very timely context for its story. However, leaden pacing and a tendency towards schmaltz over substance really let it down. By the time the credits rolled, the film had totally outstayed its welcome and proved all of its detractors right.

Pop or Poop?

It seems bizarre that a year of such controversy could have been sustained around a film as deliberately inoffensive as The Danish Girl. The film takes no risks and does a disservice to its interesting story.

Redmayne and Vikander give stellar performances, but the entire package is wrapped in stilted dialogue and direction that is given a very cynical awards season glow.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant

It was a big night for The Revenant yesterday in Hollywood, as the Golden Globes 2016 were handed out. Alejandro G Inarritu’s survival drama was the ceremony’s biggest winner, scooping the gongs for Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Drama for Leonardo DiCaprio and Best Director for Inarritu. Given the film’s Globes success, speculation will inevitably turn to whether the film can similarly triumph at the Oscars next month. After four nominations over the course of two decades, could this finally be DiCaprio’s year?

Few people had The Revenant earmarked for such a comprehensive sweep. Conventional wisdom suggested that Tom McCarthy’s journalism drama Spotlight would win the night’s biggest prizes, but it seems as if that film’s lack of nominations in the acting categories cost it dearly.

The same is likely to be true with the Academy, who are set to unveil their shortlists this week. Historically, films without nominations across all of the major categories struggle to score victory in the Best Picture field on Oscar night.

The Revenant is not going to have any of those problems, with nominations likely to be spread across the three categories in which it won at the Golden Globes. It will also put up a strong showing in the technical categories, with Inarritu’s policy of using only natural light to shoot likely to lead Emmanuel Lubezski to his third consecutive Best Cinematography statuette. It would not be a surprise to see a handful of other technical gongs go the way of The Revenant, bolstering its case for Best Picture.

Leonardo DiCaprio won the Best Actor Golden Globe for The Revenant

The real question, though, is whether Leo can finally climb the mountain. DiCaprio has been chasing the elusive Oscar with a series of daring and exciting recent roles in films like The Wolf of Wall Street. The golden baldie has eluded him thus far, but he is already building up a real head of steam and, following his Golden Globes triumph, he must now be considered the clear frontrunner.

It’s not necessarily that The Revenant is a better performance than those others, but the competition is far lesser. In 2014, DiCaprio was up against Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew McConaughey for their powerhouse performances in 12 Years a Slave and Dallas Buyers Club respectively. This year, Leo’s toughest competition is likely Eddie Redmayne, but the Brit’s turn in The Danish Girl has been overshadowed by the controversy of the film’s subject matter and the consensus of mediocrity from critics.

DiCaprio will also be given a boost by the fact that his work on The Revenant had received an enormous amount of publicity before anyone in the critical fraternity even saw the film. Stories spoke of DiCaprio enduring freezing cold, sleeping inside animal carcasses and eating raw bison liver. These tales of artistic endurance can only help DiCaprio’s case, providing Academy voters with a clear reason to vote for him in a year that has otherwise refused to yield a clear favourite for Best Actor.

The Golden Globes are usually a decent predictor for the Oscars and, this year, they’ve given a pretty clear indication of where the wide open race is likely to end up. The Revenant, with its brutal subject matter and newsworthy production, is in pole position to scoop all of the biggest prizes on Oscar night.

And for Leonardo DiCaprio, it looks like 2016 could be the year.

Do you think Leonardo DiCaprio will win the Best Actor Oscar for his work on The Revenant? What do you think of the Goldem Globes 2016 results in general? Let me know in the comments section.

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Genre: Drama
Certificate: 12
UK Release Date: 1st January 2016
Runtime: 124 minutes
Director: David O Russell
Writer: David O Russell, Annie Mumolo
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Isabella Rossellini, Virginia Madsen, Edgar Ramirez
Synopsis: A single mother with a dysfunctional family decides to enter business when she invents a unique mop.

Over the course of the last few years, David O Russell has established an impressive body of work, anchored by a recurring cast of performers. At the centre of them all is Jennifer Lawrence, who has already become beloved in Hollywood. Joy has sold itself almost entirely around the unmatchable charisma of its central performer. As a result, it has gone somewhat unnoticed in marketing materials that the film is utterly barmy in just about every way.

Joy Mangano (Lawrence) is a single mother, struggling to hold together her family. Her father Rudy (Robert De Niro) cannot hold down a relationship, her mother Terri (Virginia Madsen) is permanently in front of the television and her ex-husband Tony (Edgar Ramirez) still lives in the basement. One day, she comes up with an idea for a self-wringing mop and asks Rudy’s new partner Trudy (Isabella Rossellini) to provide some money to get the business going. Her business eventually has her cross paths with QVC exec Neil (Bradley Cooper).

It’s clear from almost the first moment of Joy that David O Russell had absolutely no idea how to pitch this movie. A straight biopic of a cleaning entrepreneur would not have impressed in the awards season scrum, so some sort of risk had to be taken. The result is a bizarre mess of tones that never coalesce. There are huge swathes of pedestrian family drama, alongside an offbeat discussion of the American Dream, with an occasional dash of Lynchian surrealism in the mix as well. O Russell is at his best when he focuses on character, such as in The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook.

| “Don’t ever think that the world owes you anything, because it doesn’t. The world doesn’t owe you a thing.”

Here, O Russell becomes bogged down in trying to produce something innovative. Joy does, however, have one enormous thing going for it. Jennifer Lawrence is a consistently captivating and believable presence in the lead role. Even as the material varies wildly in its tone and quality, Lawrence is a constant anchor point for the action. She has an intangible coolness that radiates from the character, harnessing the everywoman appeal that has powered her career.

The rest of the cast get very little to do, given the dominance of Lawrence’s performance. De Niro does nothing other than grunt, Rossellini is needlessly sinister and Bradley Cooper is given very little time to twinkle. The segments involving Cooper and the process of selling via QVC are the film’s best moments, creating genuine tension from the question of whether a young woman can successfully flog a mop.

It is in these moments that Joy has real focus and shows the story’s potential. Unfortunately, the first and third acts that bookend the QVC portion aren’t even close to that quality, leaving the film feeling somewhat overlong by the time it comes to an unusual and not entirely satisfying conclusion. There simply isn’t enough discipline to the storytelling, which regularly leads the film off the rails.

| “You’re like a gas leak. We don’t see, we don’t smell you, and you’re silently killing us all.”

There is just enough creativity and spark at the heart of Joy to make it a success. It stands no chance at carving out a major path in the awards race, but it is a respectable addition to the canon of O Russell and his travelling group of performers. At the centre of it all is Jennifer Lawrence, who is very quickly becoming an essential and valuable part of the Hollywood furniture.

Pop or Poop?

It’s an utter mess of a film, with no idea what it is supposed to be, but thankfully, Joy has the immense talent of Jennifer Lawrence in its back pocket.

Lawrence completely takes ownership of the movie, which would otherwise have been a rather half-baked drama. In her hands, Joy Mangano becomes a compelling movie protagonist, even as the world around her often veers off course.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Western
Certificate: 18
UK Release Date: 8th January 2016
Runtime: 168 minutes
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Demián Bichir, James Parks
Synopsis: A series of unsavoury characters meet at a chilly rest stop, with exceedingly violent consequences.

There are very few filmmakers who have amassed as much of a brand around their name as Quentin Tarantino. He is one of only a handful of directors who can sell a film based on their name alone. The result of that has been a quite remarkable increase in indulgence on his part, culminating in The Hateful Eight – a near-three hour monument to empty, violent cinema that has absolutely none of the director’s previous vision.

John Ruth (Kurt Russell) is a bounty hunter traveling to the town of Red Rock in order to claim the bounty on the head of  Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh). They run into fellow bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L Jackson) and future sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) head towards Minnie’s Haberdashery in order to take cover from a blizzard. It’s there that they meet the bizarre residents of the rest stop, who seem incredibly interested in the prisoner.

The problems with The Hateful Eight, of which there are many, certainly have nothing to do with its visual style. Tarantino has a unique eye for how to stage violence and, when the claret gets flowing, there’s real energy to the film. The lighting, too, creates a unique atmosphere, with the warmth of the haberdashery a stark contrast to the icy wasteland outside its broken front door.

| "You only need to hang mean bastards, but mean bastards you need to hang."

However, it’s there that the fun stops. The Hateful Eight, at just shy of three hours, is an endless act of self-love from Tarantino. All of the director’s most persistent tropes are present and correct, but without the acerbic wit that characterised his early work. All of the elements are there, but there’s a complete absence of substance. This is a film that is about nothing and, as a result, achieves nothing. By the time Tarantino himself turns up as a narrator in the second half, the film has completely disappeared up its own rear end.

This is Tarantino allowed completely off the leash and, as a result, his most pervasive deficiencies are thrown into sharp focus. Several of the characters seem present solely to indulge Tarantino’s love for a certain racial epithet and there’s nothing in the story to justify the nihilistic bloodletting of the final half hour. Even chapter headings and aspects of nonlinear narrative seem contrived to adhere to the Tarantino brand rather than to service the story.

There are bright spots in terms of performances, with Samuel L Jackson excelling as always when he gets the chance to deliver a grandstanding monologue. Walton Goggins, too, creates a memorable turn in amongst an ensemble of much bigger names. Unfortunately, none of the talented performers involved are given anything to chew on. It’s not just that the characters are unlikable; it’s that they’re entirely uninteresting. This also robs the film of any shock value, which leaves cinema’s leading provocateur without his raison d’être.

| "Justice delivered without dispassion is always in danger of not being justice."

Advertising would have audiences believe that The Hateful Eight is a non-stop orgy of the sort of violence that Tarantino fans have grown to love and expect. However, the film is instead a sluggish, pedestrian tale that completely fails to create a reason to care about the gore when it finally does come. There’s visual style to be found in The Hateful Eight, but that doesn’t plug the gap created by the film’s utter lack of meaning.

Pop or Poop?

Arriving in cinemas on a wave of extraordinary hype, The Hateful Eight is ultimately shocking only in how distinctly it fails to shock. Even as the film piles on a series of twists, Tarantino resolutely refuses to let his audience in. As long as he emerges as the smartest man in the room, he’s happy.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Drama
Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: 15th January 2016
Runtime: 118 minutes
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Writer: Emma Donoghue
Starring: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Joan Allen, William H Macy, Tom McCamus, Sean Bridgers
Synopsis: A woman, imprisoned by the man who kidnapped her years before, tries to open her young son’s eyes to the world outside of their predicament.

This year’s awards season is unique in that, for the first time in a long while, there is an embarrassment of riches in the Best Actress category, with five excellent performances fighting for the gong at the Oscars. The arguable frontrunner is Brie Larson, who has attracted major plaudits for her work in Room – which is a unique tale that mixes harrowing subject matter with an uplifting lust for life.

Ma (Larson) and her son Jack (Jacob Tremblay) live alone in “room”, with no means of escape. Ma is visited every night by her abusive captor Old Nick (Sean Bridgers), who is Jack’s biological father. On Jack’s fifth birthday, Ma decides that the time is right to let her naive son know that there’s more to the world than “room” and she begins to plan an escape.

Room is an absolutely devastating film, in every sense of the word. Emma Donoghue, adapting her own book for the big screen, wisely makes the decision to focus the story not on Ma but on Jack, who is played with tremendous maturity by nine-year-old Jacob Tremblay. This minor perspective shift turns the story into something truly unique, away from the tropes of the kidnap film and into the wonderful world of childlike innocence. For Jack, “room” is the entire world. He has no idea of the true horror of the situation.

| “When I was small, I only knew small things. But now I’m five, I know everything.”

Tremblay’s performance is one of quite remarkable complexity for an actor of his age. He perfectly embodies the unusual naivete of a child who believes that the entire universe exists within the confines of a garden shed. Tremblay’s work is both completely alien and entirely recognisable as the way in which children rationalise the world around them. It’s this childlike innocence that makes Tremblay such a compelling character to root for, which helps to crank up the tension to unbearable levels as the plot of Room moves forward. The escape scene at the film’s halfway point is a white-knuckle sequence of the scale that few films in recent memory have managed.

The ingenious use of perspective shields the audience from the explicit nature of the characters’ predicament, but it never feels as if Room is manipulative or whitewashed. The horrors are there, but the fact they are occurring just outside of the audience’s reach only serves to make them more heartbreaking. It’s this that allows director Lenny Abrahamson to bring true potency to the story. By not wallowing in the unimaginable cruelty of the story, Abrahamson makes both Ma and Jack recognisable and, crucially, sympathetic.

Alongside Tremblay, Brie Larson does equally subtle work as Ma. Unlike her son, she has experience of the outside world, but has indulged in a fantasy in order to protect him from the horror of their predicament. Larson’s frazzled appearance betrays a woman experiencing something terrifying, but exhausted from the effort of concealing her suffering for the sake of her son.

This complexity really comes to the fore in the second half of Room, which sees the complex emotional turmoil of Ma play out in the background as Jack’s exploration of a new world becomes the film’s focus. This choice allows the film to maintain an unusual tonal balance between its depiction of troubling material and the uplifting, innocent eyes through which we see the events as they occur. Room could easily have been grief porn, but it instead chooses a far more interesting path.

| “The world’s like all TV planets on at the same time, so I don’t know which way to look and listen.”

Room is a complex, emotionally satisfying film that benefits from a handful of excellent narrative choices, ported over from the original book. It never veers towards sensationalism, despite the ease with which that could have happened, and also resists the urge to wallow in grimness. It’s true that Room has moments of intense peril and turmoil, but it’s a film that ultimately emerges with its head optimistically in the clouds.

Pop or Poop?

With a pair of intense, powerful central performances and direction that maximises the best aspects of the story, Room deserves its place in amongst the year’s top awards contenders. Lenny Abrahamson never allows the story’s darkness to overtake its core focus, which is squarely on the relationship between a mother and a son – a relationship that can endure just about anything.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Drama
Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: 15th January 2016
Runtime: 156 minutes
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Writer: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mark L Smith
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson, Forrest Goodluck, Paul Anderson
Synopsis: A fur trapper is left for dead by his colleagues when he is mauled almost to death by an angry bear.

Much of the publicity for The Revenant has focused on one of two things. First, there was the bizarre, and erroneous, reports that the film contained a scene of rape by a bear. More importantly, though, this will likely be the film that finally nets Leonardo DiCaprio his elusive Academy Award. With Birdman director Alejandro G. Iñárritu at the helm, this is a brutal tale of human survival against the forces of nature.

Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) is the most experienced fur trapper in a party led by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson). He is savaged by a bear and placed under the protection of hostile John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and the naive youngster Jim Bridger (Will Poulter). Fitzgerald murders Glass’s son (Forrest Goodluck) and leaves him for dead in a shallow grave. Glass somehow manages to survive and vows revenge on those who left him behind.

On paper, The Revenant is quite a tough sell. It’s a largely dialogue-free story of one man doing the sort of things that would make even Bear Grylls blush. In the hands of Iñárritu though, alongside returning DoP Emmanuel Lubezki, the film is a work of quite astonishing beauty that still maintains a sense of dirt under its fingernails. Every frame of the film, shot using natural light, is beautiful in communicating the physicality of the world in which these people have placed themselves. It’s enough to have Lubezki as a dead cert for his third consecutive Oscar for cinematographer – sorry, Roger Deakins.

| "I ain’t afraid to die anymore. I done it already."

Physicality is very much the word that encapsulates everything about The Revenant. It’s a film about how the dogged determination of the human survival instinct butts heads with the brute, unstoppable force of nature. Nowhere is this more obvious than in DiCaprio’s performance. Tom Hardy’s spittle-flecked Fitzgerald may be the film’s nominal antagonist, but the story is truly about Glass’s battle with the elements.

It’s certainly impossible to doubt DiCaprio’s commitment to the role. Much has been made of how he clambered inside animal carcasses and defied his vegetarianism to munch on raw bison liver. After slicing his hand open on glass in Django Unchained, Leo has gone one better in an intrepid turn that deserves the major awards recognition is getting. Even outside of the survivalist stunts, there’s a rage in DiCaprio’s eyes that sells every turn of the film’s narrative, even when Iñárritu loses sight of the film’s strengths.

Iñárritu is both the best friend and worst enemy of The Revenant. It is his singular vision that brought the film to fruition, but his indulgence that often threatens to drag it off the rails. Strange spiritual interludes often suck momentum from the story and a bizarre segment involving a Native American pal for Glass drags for far too long. The film is at the best when it’s visceral and simple, but these complications bloat the running time unnecessarily.

| "He’s afraid. He knows how far I came for him."

The Revenant does, however, do a stellar job of adding depth to its supporting characters. Hardy gives tremendously plausible ferocity and Domhnall Gleeson has a certain cowardly gravitas, but it is Will Poulter who steals the show as a young man full of nervous bravado, but way out of his depth in the midst of a metaphorical minefield.

There’s no doubt that, for all of its flaws, The Revenant is filmmaking at its most potent. Iñárritu and DiCaprio cannot be accused of playing it safe and they have produced something that is truly unique. It doesn’t always come together, but when it does, it’s nothing short of masterful.

Pop or Poop?

All of the press attention may be on Leo, but The Revenant is an exceptional achievement from all involved. It missteps occasionally, but Alejandro G. Iñárritu deserves all of the credit in the world for mounting a project of such scale and ambition.

It might not emerge victorious amongst the more Academy-friendly films on Oscar night, but The Revenant is modern filmmaking at its most physical and muscular.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Awards season is in full swing, but the glut of major January releases has left February looking a little thin on major awards fodder. Elsewhere, however, it’s a month of extraordinary variety at the multiplex. There’s all sorts on offer, from weighty true life drama to a man in spandex shooting people in the head.

It seems that February is the month in which to take risks, with several very intriguing propositions coming to the table. Alongside the aforementioned burst of superhero violence, there’s also a macabre take on Jane Austen and a film that blends the western genre with a twist of horror.

Here are the ten films you should be watching in cinemas this month.

10. Concussion (Feb 12)

Will Smith has been one of the most high-profile stars to speak out in favour of the #OscarsSoWhite campaign. He was a surprise omission from the Best Actor category for his work in topical drama Concussion, in which he plays a Nigerian sport doctor.

Smith plays Dr Bennet Omalu, who is investigating the head trauma suffered by professional American football players. His dogged determination in the face of an enormous corporate behemoth exposed the serious risks posed by football players and the repeated blows to the head they take on the field.

The film looks like traditional Oscar bait, albeit with a hardcore topical edge and a strong central performance from Smith. It doesn’t look like a standout on paper, but it could be a surprise package.

9. Dad’s Army (Feb 5)

Given the box office success of British sitcom-to-screen transfers in recent years, filmmakers can probably be forgiven for looking to television history for material. Dad’s Army, one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 1960s and 1970s, does not seem an obvious property to remake, though.

The story covers the Home Guard during the Second World War. In the 2016 version, the war is coming to an end and the guys are fairly bored, until a glamorous female journalist turns up. Toby Jones will play the iconic Captain Mainwaring, with the likes of Michael Gambon, Blake Harrison and Bill Nighy filling out the ensemble cast.

Early reviews for Dad’s Army have been decidedly mixed, but the wealth of talent on board suggests that there could be something here. The presence of Johnny English Reborn director Oliver Parker, though, is enough to set alarm bells ringing.

8. Goosebumps (Feb 5)

The books of RL Stine have been terrifying children for decades. He has become a household name as the scribe behind the Goosebumps series, which also spawned a TV series in the 1990s. Now, though, Stine’s creations will make their way onto the big screen for a spooky family adventure.

Jack Black plays Stine, who must confront the horrors he has created when the monsters who live within his books are unwittingly released into the world. He must team up with a group of teens to return the creatures to the pages before they destroy the world.

Based on the trailers, Goosebumps looks like a great, old-fashioned family film with the same sense of fun that made the books so popular. Jack Black’s finely honed presence in the lead role can’t hurt either.

7. Zoolander 2 (Feb 12)

There are few sequels currently in development that have been as in demand as Zoolander 2. Ever since the first film became a DVD hit years after its release, fans have been clamouring for Ben Stiller to reprise his role as the really really ridiculously good looking male model. Fifteen years after the original, it has finally arrived.

The plot sees Derek Zoolander and friend Hansel (Owen Wilson) recruited by Interpol to assist with their investigations after a series of celebrities die wearing Zoolander’s iconic “Blue Steel” facial expression. Meanwhile, Mugatu (Will Ferrell) is back on the streets.

Zoolander 2 is a film that could very much go either way. It could be a celebration of everything that worked with the original, or it could be a prime example of just how bad an effect sequels can have on the memory of their predecessors. The trailers certainly seem startlingly laugh-free…

6. Trumbo (Feb 5)

In the UK, February often sees the last few awards season movies make their way quietly into cinemas in amongst bigger blockbusters. One of the last awards movies to drop this year is Trumbo, in which Bryan Cranston stars as the titular screenwriter, who was blacklisted for his political views.

Cranston stars as major Hollywood writer Dalton Trumbo, who is outspoken in his left-wing political views. When he refuses to testify regarding his membership of the Communist Party, he is blacklisted and blocked from working in the industry. Through various clandestine means, he continues to write and becomes even more successful under the radar.

The draw here is Cranston’s performance. The story, meanwhile, is the kind of industry-centric fare that the Academy eats up. The question is whether it will work for everyone else.

5. The Forest (Feb 26)

In recent memory, the worst horror films on the slate have tended to drop in the early part of the year. That hopefully won’t be the case with The Forest, which will want to be more like It Follows than Devil’s Due or Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.

Natalie Dormer stars as Sara, who receives a message suggesting that her twin sister Jess is in trouble. They think she may have entered the Aokigahara Forest near Mount Fuji, which is a popular destination for the suicidal. Against the advice of just about everybody, Sara decides to try and find her sister.

Trailers for The Forest suggest an absolutely crazy movie, complete with supernatural beasties, bizarre hallucinations and plenty of darkness. There’s also the lure of seeing perennial supporting player Natalie Dormer move into a well-deserved leading role. Can she step up to carry a film?

4. Grimsby (Feb 24)

Sacha Baron Cohen is back aboard the comedy train, having appeared recently as the lighter side of more dramatic films like Hugo and Les Miserables. His latest film, action-comedy Grimsby, pairs him with Mark Strong with genre stalwart Louis Leterrier behind the camera.

Strong plays a highly trained black ops agent, who has one of his missions royally cocked up by his long-lost brother (Baron Cohen). Forced to go deep under cover, Strong’s character reluctantly joins his brother in Grimsby in an attempt to lie low.

Leterrier is something of an inconsistent director. For every Now You See Me on his resume, there’s a Clash of the Titans at which to balk. With Baron Cohen on co-writing duties, however, this could be one of the year’s most impressive comedy outings.

3. Bone Tomahawk (Feb 19)

The fusion of the horror movie and the western doesn’t seem like an obvious proposition. Based on the reviews coming out of America for Bone Tomahawk, though, it somehow manages to work.

Kurt Russell, appearing in another western after his showing in The Hateful Eight, plays a sheriff who heads out into the wilderness with a band of friends in order to rescue some captives. The captors, however, aren’t everyday bandits and are, in fact, cannibals. So far, so unique.

Bone Tomahawk, above anything else, could benefit from being totally different to just about everything else that will be in cinemas at the time. It’s a genre hybrid that has not been explored all that much. There’s always the chance, though, that there could be a good reason for the unexplored potential.

2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Feb 11)

Lily James, like so many British actresses before her, has proven to be rather at home in period garb. She starred in Downton Abbey before taking the title role in last year’s steadfastly traditional take on Cinderella. This month, she will don the corset again… but it will likely be splattered with the arterial blood of the rampaging undead.

James plays Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is a twisted take on Jane Austen’s iconic high society novel. A roll call of Brit performers, including Sam Riley, Douglas Booth and former Doctor Who Matt Smith, have lined up for supporting roles.

If told with British tongue placed firmly in cheek, this could be a really impressive romp of a movie and a potential breakout for James, who is an immensely talented young performer.

1. Deadpool (Feb 10)

It would be fair to say that, five years ago, few people would’ve expected a Deadpool movie to get off the ground. Marvel, DC and friends thrive on selling lunchboxes to kids, so the prospect of a sweary, ultraviolent antihero with a penchant for breaking the fourth wall didn’t exactly scream financially sound.

Enter Ryan Reynolds, however, who has marshalled the “merc with a mouth” to the big screen, with all of his rough edges in tact. It’s safe to say that this won’t be the version of the character who was so maligned by comic book fans when he turned up in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Trailers promise everything that fans have hoped for in a Deadpool movie and the marketing campaign has been refreshingly playful. The true test will not be whether the rabid fanbase for the character likes the film, though, it will be whether an adult superhero with a meta sense of humour catches on with the average cinemagoer.

Which films did I miss of this list? What are you going to see in February 2016 and what will you be avoiding? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Western
Certificate: 18
UK Release Date: 8th January 2016
Runtime: 168 minutes
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Demián Bichir, James Parks
Synopsis: A series of unsavoury characters meet at a chilly rest stop, with exceedingly violent consequences.

There are very few filmmakers who have amassed as much of a brand around their name as Quentin Tarantino. He is one of only a handful of directors who can sell a film based on their name alone. The result of that has been a quite remarkable increase in indulgence on his part, culminating in The Hateful Eight – a near-three hour monument to empty, violent cinema that has absolutely none of the director’s previous vision.

John Ruth (Kurt Russell) is a bounty hunter traveling to the town of Red Rock in order to claim the bounty on the head of  Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh). They run into fellow bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L Jackson) and future sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) head towards Minnie’s Haberdashery in order to take cover from a blizzard. It’s there that they meet the bizarre residents of the rest stop, who seem incredibly interested in the prisoner.

The problems with The Hateful Eight, of which there are many, certainly have nothing to do with its visual style. Tarantino has a unique eye for how to stage violence and, when the claret gets flowing, there’s real energy to the film. The lighting, too, creates a unique atmosphere, with the warmth of the haberdashery a stark contrast to the icy wasteland outside its broken front door.

| "You only need to hang mean bastards, but mean bastards you need to hang."

However, it’s there that the fun stops. The Hateful Eight, at just shy of three hours, is an endless act of self-love from Tarantino. All of the director’s most persistent tropes are present and correct, but without the acerbic wit that characterised his early work. All of the elements are there, but there’s a complete absence of substance. This is a film that is about nothing and, as a result, achieves nothing. By the time Tarantino himself turns up as a narrator in the second half, the film has completely disappeared up its own rear end.

This is Tarantino allowed completely off the leash and, as a result, his most pervasive deficiencies are thrown into sharp focus. Several of the characters seem present solely to indulge Tarantino’s love for a certain racial epithet and there’s nothing in the story to justify the nihilistic bloodletting of the final half hour. Even chapter headings and aspects of nonlinear narrative seem contrived to adhere to the Tarantino brand rather than to service the story.

There are bright spots in terms of performances, with Samuel L Jackson excelling as always when he gets the chance to deliver a grandstanding monologue. Walton Goggins, too, creates a memorable turn in amongst an ensemble of much bigger names. Unfortunately, none of the talented performers involved are given anything to chew on. It’s not just that the characters are unlikable; it’s that they’re entirely uninteresting. This also robs the film of any shock value, which leaves cinema’s leading provocateur without his raison d’être.

| "Justice delivered without dispassion is always in danger of not being justice."

Advertising would have audiences believe that The Hateful Eight is a non-stop orgy of the sort of violence that Tarantino fans have grown to love and expect. However, the film is instead a sluggish, pedestrian tale that completely fails to create a reason to care about the gore when it finally does come. There’s visual style to be found in The Hateful Eight, but that doesn’t plug the gap created by the film’s utter lack of meaning.

Pop or Poop?

Arriving in cinemas on a wave of extraordinary hype, The Hateful Eight is ultimately shocking only in how distinctly it fails to shock. Even as the film piles on a series of twists, Tarantino resolutely refuses to let his audience in. As long as he emerges as the smartest man in the room, he’s happy.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Drama
Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: 15th January 2016
Runtime: 156 minutes
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Writer: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mark L Smith
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson, Forrest Goodluck, Paul Anderson
Synopsis: A fur trapper is left for dead by his colleagues when he is mauled almost to death by an angry bear.

Much of the publicity for The Revenant has focused on one of two things. First, there was the bizarre, and erroneous, reports that the film contained a scene of rape by a bear. More importantly, though, this will likely be the film that finally nets Leonardo DiCaprio his elusive Academy Award. With Birdman director Alejandro G. Iñárritu at the helm, this is a brutal tale of human survival against the forces of nature.

Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) is the most experienced fur trapper in a party led by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson). He is savaged by a bear and placed under the protection of hostile John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and the naive youngster Jim Bridger (Will Poulter). Fitzgerald murders Glass’s son (Forrest Goodluck) and leaves him for dead in a shallow grave. Glass somehow manages to survive and vows revenge on those who left him behind.

On paper, The Revenant is quite a tough sell. It’s a largely dialogue-free story of one man doing the sort of things that would make even Bear Grylls blush. In the hands of Iñárritu though, alongside returning DoP Emmanuel Lubezki, the film is a work of quite astonishing beauty that still maintains a sense of dirt under its fingernails. Every frame of the film, shot using natural light, is beautiful in communicating the physicality of the world in which these people have placed themselves. It’s enough to have Lubezki as a dead cert for his third consecutive Oscar for cinematographer – sorry, Roger Deakins.

| "I ain’t afraid to die anymore. I done it already."

Physicality is very much the word that encapsulates everything about The Revenant. It’s a film about how the dogged determination of the human survival instinct butts heads with the brute, unstoppable force of nature. Nowhere is this more obvious than in DiCaprio’s performance. Tom Hardy’s spittle-flecked Fitzgerald may be the film’s nominal antagonist, but the story is truly about Glass’s battle with the elements.

It’s certainly impossible to doubt DiCaprio’s commitment to the role. Much has been made of how he clambered inside animal carcasses and defied his vegetarianism to munch on raw bison liver. After slicing his hand open on glass in Django Unchained, Leo has gone one better in an intrepid turn that deserves the major awards recognition is getting. Even outside of the survivalist stunts, there’s a rage in DiCaprio’s eyes that sells every turn of the film’s narrative, even when Iñárritu loses sight of the film’s strengths.

Iñárritu is both the best friend and worst enemy of The Revenant. It is his singular vision that brought the film to fruition, but his indulgence that often threatens to drag it off the rails. Strange spiritual interludes often suck momentum from the story and a bizarre segment involving a Native American pal for Glass drags for far too long. The film is at the best when it’s visceral and simple, but these complications bloat the running time unnecessarily.

| "He’s afraid. He knows how far I came for him."

The Revenant does, however, do a stellar job of adding depth to its supporting characters. Hardy gives tremendously plausible ferocity and Domhnall Gleeson has a certain cowardly gravitas, but it is Will Poulter who steals the show as a young man full of nervous bravado, but way out of his depth in the midst of a metaphorical minefield.

There’s no doubt that, for all of its flaws, The Revenant is filmmaking at its most potent. Iñárritu and DiCaprio cannot be accused of playing it safe and they have produced something that is truly unique. It doesn’t always come together, but when it does, it’s nothing short of masterful.

Pop or Poop?

All of the press attention may be on Leo, but The Revenant is an exceptional achievement from all involved. It missteps occasionally, but Alejandro G. Iñárritu deserves all of the credit in the world for mounting a project of such scale and ambition.

It might not emerge victorious amongst the more Academy-friendly films on Oscar night, but The Revenant is modern filmmaking at its most physical and muscular.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Awards season is in full swing, but the glut of major January releases has left February looking a little thin on major awards fodder. Elsewhere, however, it’s a month of extraordinary variety at the multiplex. There’s all sorts on offer, from weighty true life drama to a man in spandex shooting people in the head.

It seems that February is the month in which to take risks, with several very intriguing propositions coming to the table. Alongside the aforementioned burst of superhero violence, there’s also a macabre take on Jane Austen and a film that blends the western genre with a twist of horror.

Here are the ten films you should be watching in cinemas this month.

10. Concussion (Feb 12)

Will Smith has been one of the most high-profile stars to speak out in favour of the #OscarsSoWhite campaign. He was a surprise omission from the Best Actor category for his work in topical drama Concussion, in which he plays a Nigerian sport doctor.

Smith plays Dr Bennet Omalu, who is investigating the head trauma suffered by professional American football players. His dogged determination in the face of an enormous corporate behemoth exposed the serious risks posed by football players and the repeated blows to the head they take on the field.

The film looks like traditional Oscar bait, albeit with a hardcore topical edge and a strong central performance from Smith. It doesn’t look like a standout on paper, but it could be a surprise package.

9. Dad’s Army (Feb 5)

Given the box office success of British sitcom-to-screen transfers in recent years, filmmakers can probably be forgiven for looking to television history for material. Dad’s Army, one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 1960s and 1970s, does not seem an obvious property to remake, though.

The story covers the Home Guard during the Second World War. In the 2016 version, the war is coming to an end and the guys are fairly bored, until a glamorous female journalist turns up. Toby Jones will play the iconic Captain Mainwaring, with the likes of Michael Gambon, Blake Harrison and Bill Nighy filling out the ensemble cast.

Early reviews for Dad’s Army have been decidedly mixed, but the wealth of talent on board suggests that there could be something here. The presence of Johnny English Reborn director Oliver Parker, though, is enough to set alarm bells ringing.

8. Goosebumps (Feb 5)

The books of RL Stine have been terrifying children for decades. He has become a household name as the scribe behind the Goosebumps series, which also spawned a TV series in the 1990s. Now, though, Stine’s creations will make their way onto the big screen for a spooky family adventure.

Jack Black plays Stine, who must confront the horrors he has created when the monsters who live within his books are unwittingly released into the world. He must team up with a group of teens to return the creatures to the pages before they destroy the world.

Based on the trailers, Goosebumps looks like a great, old-fashioned family film with the same sense of fun that made the books so popular. Jack Black’s finely honed presence in the lead role can’t hurt either.

7. Zoolander 2 (Feb 12)

There are few sequels currently in development that have been as in demand as Zoolander 2. Ever since the first film became a DVD hit years after its release, fans have been clamouring for Ben Stiller to reprise his role as the really really ridiculously good looking male model. Fifteen years after the original, it has finally arrived.

The plot sees Derek Zoolander and friend Hansel (Owen Wilson) recruited by Interpol to assist with their investigations after a series of celebrities die wearing Zoolander’s iconic “Blue Steel” facial expression. Meanwhile, Mugatu (Will Ferrell) is back on the streets.

Zoolander 2 is a film that could very much go either way. It could be a celebration of everything that worked with the original, or it could be a prime example of just how bad an effect sequels can have on the memory of their predecessors. The trailers certainly seem startlingly laugh-free…

6. Trumbo (Feb 5)

In the UK, February often sees the last few awards season movies make their way quietly into cinemas in amongst bigger blockbusters. One of the last awards movies to drop this year is Trumbo, in which Bryan Cranston stars as the titular screenwriter, who was blacklisted for his political views.

Cranston stars as major Hollywood writer Dalton Trumbo, who is outspoken in his left-wing political views. When he refuses to testify regarding his membership of the Communist Party, he is blacklisted and blocked from working in the industry. Through various clandestine means, he continues to write and becomes even more successful under the radar.

The draw here is Cranston’s performance. The story, meanwhile, is the kind of industry-centric fare that the Academy eats up. The question is whether it will work for everyone else.

5. The Forest (Feb 26)

In recent memory, the worst horror films on the slate have tended to drop in the early part of the year. That hopefully won’t be the case with The Forest, which will want to be more like It Follows than Devil’s Due or Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.

Natalie Dormer stars as Sara, who receives a message suggesting that her twin sister Jess is in trouble. They think she may have entered the Aokigahara Forest near Mount Fuji, which is a popular destination for the suicidal. Against the advice of just about everybody, Sara decides to try and find her sister.

Trailers for The Forest suggest an absolutely crazy movie, complete with supernatural beasties, bizarre hallucinations and plenty of darkness. There’s also the lure of seeing perennial supporting player Natalie Dormer move into a well-deserved leading role. Can she step up to carry a film?

4. Grimsby (Feb 24)

Sacha Baron Cohen is back aboard the comedy train, having appeared recently as the lighter side of more dramatic films like Hugo and Les Miserables. His latest film, action-comedy Grimsby, pairs him with Mark Strong with genre stalwart Louis Leterrier behind the camera.

Strong plays a highly trained black ops agent, who has one of his missions royally cocked up by his long-lost brother (Baron Cohen). Forced to go deep under cover, Strong’s character reluctantly joins his brother in Grimsby in an attempt to lie low.

Leterrier is something of an inconsistent director. For every Now You See Me on his resume, there’s a Clash of the Titans at which to balk. With Baron Cohen on co-writing duties, however, this could be one of the year’s most impressive comedy outings.

3. Bone Tomahawk (Feb 19)

The fusion of the horror movie and the western doesn’t seem like an obvious proposition. Based on the reviews coming out of America for Bone Tomahawk, though, it somehow manages to work.

Kurt Russell, appearing in another western after his showing in The Hateful Eight, plays a sheriff who heads out into the wilderness with a band of friends in order to rescue some captives. The captors, however, aren’t everyday bandits and are, in fact, cannibals. So far, so unique.

Bone Tomahawk, above anything else, could benefit from being totally different to just about everything else that will be in cinemas at the time. It’s a genre hybrid that has not been explored all that much. There’s always the chance, though, that there could be a good reason for the unexplored potential.

2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Feb 11)

Lily James, like so many British actresses before her, has proven to be rather at home in period garb. She starred in Downton Abbey before taking the title role in last year’s steadfastly traditional take on Cinderella. This month, she will don the corset again… but it will likely be splattered with the arterial blood of the rampaging undead.

James plays Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is a twisted take on Jane Austen’s iconic high society novel. A roll call of Brit performers, including Sam Riley, Douglas Booth and former Doctor Who Matt Smith, have lined up for supporting roles.

If told with British tongue placed firmly in cheek, this could be a really impressive romp of a movie and a potential breakout for James, who is an immensely talented young performer.

1. Deadpool (Feb 10)

It would be fair to say that, five years ago, few people would’ve expected a Deadpool movie to get off the ground. Marvel, DC and friends thrive on selling lunchboxes to kids, so the prospect of a sweary, ultraviolent antihero with a penchant for breaking the fourth wall didn’t exactly scream financially sound.

Enter Ryan Reynolds, however, who has marshalled the “merc with a mouth” to the big screen, with all of his rough edges in tact. It’s safe to say that this won’t be the version of the character who was so maligned by comic book fans when he turned up in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Trailers promise everything that fans have hoped for in a Deadpool movie and the marketing campaign has been refreshingly playful. The true test will not be whether the rabid fanbase for the character likes the film, though, it will be whether an adult superhero with a meta sense of humour catches on with the average cinemagoer.

Which films did I miss of this list? What are you going to see in February 2016 and what will you be avoiding? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Drama
Certificate: 12
UK Release Date: 15th January 2016
Runtime: 133 minutes
Director: Ryan Coogler
Writer: Ryan Coogler, Aaron Covington
Starring: Michael B Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Tony Bellew, Graham McTavish
Synopsis: The son of Adonis Creed seeks out Rocky Balboa in order to train him to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a star in the ring.

Did anyone really want to see another Rocky movie? Before the marketing campaign for Creed stepped up a gear, nobody was all that interested in seeing what happened to Sylvester Stallone’s grizzled pugilist after the events of 2006’s belated sequel Rocky Balboa. However, by shifting the focus to a younger, more interesting character, Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler has breathed new life into one of cinema’s most memorable sporting franchises.

Adonis Creed (Michael B Jordan), after a troubled childhood, decides that he wants to follow the path of his father and become an in-ring fighter. He travels to Philadelphia and recruits the reluctant services of Rocky (Stallone), who agrees to train him ahead of a big money bout with a bad boy British champion (Tony Bellew). Meanwhile, Adonis becomes attracted to his singing next door neighbour Bianca (Tessa Thompson).

There’s a freshness to Creed that immediately marks it out as a worthy film, which largely ignores its status as a Rocky sequel. It’s true that the story features characters and references to the series, but there’s never a sense that the narrative is being weighed down by its connections to the past. This isn’t the seventh Rocky film – it ‘s the first Creed film.

| "You can’t learn anything when you’re talking. That’s a fact of life. As long as you’re talking, you’re not listening."

Most of the acclaim – and awards attention – around Creed has gone to Stallone. It’s certainly true that this is as human a character as he has ever played and there’s a fragility underneath the toughness here that is genuinely heart-breaking. Michael B Jordan, so badly served by Fantastic Four, is given a role with real meat. He is an angry youngster who grew up without an influence other than a father whom he had never met. Everyone mythologised Apollo Creed, which left Adonis with no choice but to do the same on a more intense level.

Jordan is aided by director Ryan Coogler’s excellent fight sequences. As with recent boxing flicks like The Fighter and Southpaw, every blow of the bouts in Creed lands hard with the audience as well as the characters. One early sequence plays out in what looks like an unbroken take, heightening the violence. Coogler saves his stylistic flourishes for the sport aspect of the story, with new fighters introduced by title cards indicating their career prowess.

It’s a nice touch of directorial invention that ensures the focus of the film comes back to boxing, regardless of character work. That character work, though, is as dynamic as the pugilism. Jordan’s relationship with Tessa Thompson, tenderly realised, is an intriguing sideplot that proves there’s more to Adonis Creed than trying to escape from the shadow of his famous dad.

| "Time takes everybody out. Time’s undefeated."

Coogler really gives a good account of himself here following the indie success of Fruitvale Station, which alerted the world to the talents of both Jordan and his director. It’s no surprise that the punch of Creed allowed Coogler a swing at making a Marvel film in the shape of Black Panther. A sequel is entirely inevitable, but Coogler and Jordan could well ascend to the Hollywood stratosphere before then.

Pop or Poop?

A film like Creed had almost no expectations of quality going into it, with many imagining a lacklustre follow-up trading entirely on the star wattage of Sylvester Stallone.

Thankfully, Ryan Coogler’s film is a stellar showcase for ascendant star Michael B Jordan that has real energy to everything it does and never gets bogged down in the fan service that could so easily have driven it into generic territory.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

British vigilante horror–thriller K-Shop has netted a distribution deal with Bulldog that will see the film, shot in Bournemouth, grace British cinema screens this summer.

The film, directed by first time feature helmer Dan Pringle through Bournemouth company White Lantern Film, was shot two years ago, but will finally be seen by the public.

It follows kebab shop owner Salah (Ziad Abaza), who develops a murderous dislike of British binge drinkers when his father dies at the hands of pissed-up punters.

Soon, the mild-mannered student is chopping up corpses and selling their meat in his shop, like a late-night, present day Sweeney Todd.

A huge roster of British acting talent also stars, including Waterloo Road star Kristin Atherton, Reece Noi (Game of Thrones), Scot Williams (Redirected) and Ewen MacIntosh, last seen in award-winning comedy The Lobster with Colin Farrell.

K-Shop is set to arrive in 10-20 screens in the UK in early July through the Bulldog deal.

Dan said: “Bulldog then intend to secure TV deals with either Sky or the Syfy channel and then we are looking at a potential arrangement with Netflix for the video on demand rights.”

Although there’s a lot of work ahead, Dan is confident that the finished product is a film that audiences will enjoy, with a strong, socially-conscious message.

He said: “In the last two months we’ve screened the film privately in London and Bournemouth and on both occasions the reception has been incredible.

“It’s great seeing an audience react to the film as I always hoped they would and I think it’s fair to say that we’ve succeeded in creating an original piece of British cinema that provides a unique rollercoaster ride of an experience.”

For more coverage of K-Shop on The Popcorn Muncher, click here. Are you excited to see the film? Let me know in the comments section.

Tonight, hundreds of people across the UK saw burning anticipation turn into crushing disappointment in a single instant. They were all about to watch Triple 9 – John Hillcoat’s new thriller. Almost all of them, however, were certain that they were about to get an early glimpse of Deadpool.

These people were Cineworld Unlimited Card holders and they were attending “secret screenings”. In these screenings, customers book a seat without knowing what they are about to see. This initiative is also popular with ODEON in the UK, who run their “Screen Unseen” events once a month.

In this case, it would be fair to say that people were incredibly unhappy as a result of tonight’s screening.

Social media was ablaze with bizarre fury from people who had signed up to see a film for free and were subsequently angry that they hadn’t been allowed to see one of the year’s most highly-anticipated movies hours before the review embargo was lifted. Apparently logic wasn’t exactly in abundance.

The social media chaos was treated with a mixture of carefree trolling and slight disdain by the people behind the Cineworld Twitter feed. It’s as if they didn’t know how to deal with people complaining that they had been given different free stuff to the free stuff they wanted.

As one Twitter user stated, the Deadpool controversy said rather more about our culture than it did about people’s views on a Hillcoat actioner that has attracted middling reactions.

This isn’t even the first time that the Cineworld secret screenings have angered fans. Back in December, the chain showed In the Heart of the Sea at a screening that took place around a week before the release of Star Wars. There were walkouts from fans who had made up their minds and weren’t going to take anything other than Harrison Ford at the helm of a spaceship.

The same is true of ODEON Screen Unseen. The depressing prejudice towards animated cinema led to people walking out the door when the multiplex showed Inside Out last year and once clues began to point to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl in August, plenty of people loudly opted not to attend.

There’s an inherent risk to these events, but that is part of the fun. The sense of mystery is what makes these secret screenings work and it’s ridiculous to complain when the film isn’t what you want it to be. This is particularly true if the film you want to see, like Deadpool, is out within a week anyway.

Secret screenings can be a way to experience films that would not have otherwise been on your radar at all. They can broaden cinematic horizons and shine a light on gems that won’t get the major marketing push of something like Star Wars or Deadpool. That should be welcomed; not attacked.

Were you at the Cineworld secret screening? Were you disappointed not to see Deadpool? How do you feel about secret screenings in general? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Drama
Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: 22nd January 2016
Runtime: 130 minutes
Director: Adam McKay
Writer: Adam McKay, Charles Randolph
Starring: Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, John Magaro, Finn Wittrock, Marisa Tomei
Synopsis: A group of disparate outsiders in the world of banking see the global financial crisis coming and decide to make as much money as they can out of it by betting against the housing market.

The prospect of a film that delves into the nitty gritty of the 2008 financial crisis doesn’t exactly seem like a riveting one. It’s a complex situation and one that largely revolved around arrogant rich people swaggering around shouting unintelligible jargon at each other. Anchorman director Adam McKay, however, has decided that the crisis is fertile ground for an ensemble dramedy. On the basis of The Big Short, he is deeply wrong.

Dr Michael Burry (Christian Bale) discovers instability in the US housing market that could cause financial meltdown. He begins to “short” the market by betting against it, which draws the attention of trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) and subsequently hedge fund manager Mark Baum (Steve Carell). Young investors Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) discover Burry’s idea and they enlist retired banker Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) to help them capitalise on the upcoming crash.

The Big Short is acutely aware of its central issue, which is how to make the complexity of the crisis palatable for a mainstream cinema audience. McKay’s approach to that is to pat the audience on the head and reassure them that it’s okay for them not to understand. Occasionally, the film’s voiceover – a self-conscious evocation of The Wolf of Wall Street – is interrupted in order for a random celebrity to explain a financial term whilst relaxing in a bubble bath or playing blackjack.

| "You know what I hate about fucking banking? It reduces people to numbers."

On paper, this might have seemed like a good idea. In practice, though, it comes across as incredibly condescending stuff from a filmmaker determined to prove that he is the smartest guy in the room. In place of actual explanation and wit, The Big Short specialises in rat-a-tat ending and deafening rock music in an attempt to paper over the cracks in its deeply uninteresting take on the story of the crisis.

The ensemble cast does a decent enough with the material they are given, but there’s never really even a hint of the person underneath their character’s surface. Bale is the nominal lead for the first half an hour of the film, but then disappears to be replaced by Carell, who spends almost all of his screen time yelling expletives into a mobile phone without context. Women are almost completely absent from The Big Short, unless they’re near-mute wives or gyrating strippers. This is a world full of men doing important stuff whilst women dance for their amusement.

Nothing the actors do though is as infuriating as McKay’s approach to the material, which talks down to the audience at every possible opportunity. The Big Short is two hours of machine gun dialogue about collateralized debt obligations and ISDA master agreements that is completely impenetrable to anyone without an economics degree. Whilst the script makes superficial attempts to address and explain what led to the economic crisis, it never actually gets under the skin of anything or anyone.

| "For fifteen thousand years, fraud and short sighted thinking have never, ever worked. Not once."

It’s that lack of human connection that most hampers The Big Short. There’s no single compelling character to match Jordan Belfort in Wolf of Wall Street. It’s also stark and disturbing not to see anything more than a token glance at the real people who were affected by the chaos of the housing crash. Instead of watching the harsh realities instigated by rich, arrogant Americans, the film instead opts to focus on other arrogant Americans getting even richer. It’s an enormous missed opportunity for drama.

The Big Short is a film that is, much like the bankers it depicts, entirely sure of its own intelligence. And just as in their case, that faith is misguided.

Pop or Poop?

Cocksure and patronising in its approach to its very modern subject matter, The Big Short is a film that knows you won’t keep up and doesn’t care all that much. It’s directed in a flurry of noise and breaking of the fourth wall that never does its job of distracting from how little sense it all makes.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Action
Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: 22nd January 2016
Runtime: 112 minutes
Director: J Blakeson
Writer: Susannah Grant, Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner
Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Alex Roe, Maika Monroe, Liev Schreiber, Zackary Arthur, Tony Revolori
Synopsis: A young girl finds herself alone in the wilderness when an alien invasion separates her from her family.

Harry Potter ended long ago. So did Twilight. The curtain just fell on The Hunger Games. For the first time in more than a decade, there is no franchise sitting atop the young adult mountain. The latest pretender to the crown is The 5th Wave, which has been rather unceremoniously dumped into cinemas whilst everyone is looking at the Oscars contenders. It’s easy to see why.

Note: If you’re really sensitive to plot spoilers, perhaps give this review a miss.

Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a normal high-schooler, going to parties and crushing on classmate Ben (Nick Robinson), right up until a bizarre alien invasion changes her world. She is soon torn away from her family and is forced to survive alone, until she meets Evan (Alex Roe). Meanwhile, Ben finds himself under the command of Colonel Vosch (Liev Schreiber) as part of a child army taking on the aliens.

It would be easy to rip The 5th Wave apart as a lazy attempt to capitalise on the popularity of YA cinema. However, it’s not at all a bad film. It’s simply the slightly uncool kid who arrived a few years too late to the party and no one had told it that the dress code was a family-friendly 12A certificate. The 5th Wave is a slightly unusual film that never gets the chance for its intriguing parts to gel together into an impressive whole.

| "I didn’t know it then, but that was the last normal day of my life."

At the centre of the action is Chloe Grace Moretz, in a role that probably seemed like her ticket to the big time when she signed on the dotted line. She certainly throws herself at it with enthusiasm, finding surprising depth in a character that is written in the most clichéd terms imaginable. There’s also no Katniss Everdeen to be found when Moretz’z character falls incompetently into the arms of Alex Roe’s dashing, but bland, outdoorsman.

Meanwhile, Nick Robinson, a far cry from his excellent work in the underseen The Kings of Summer, is saddled with a secondary plot in which everyone but the characters can see the big twist coming. Liev Schreiber’s sneering villainy isn’t even concealed – we’ve all seen enough young adult films to know that the one adult actor with a recognisable face is always a bad guy. Robinson does, however, get to share some spicy chemistry with It Follows star Maika Monroe, who is by far the best thing about The 5th Wave.

There’s a novel idea at the heart of The 5th Wave, but it all comes across as more than a little contrived. Plot turns are either utterly nonsensical or telegraphed way in advance. By the time all of the central characters converge in the third act of the movie, it’s all become just a little too convenient – from the bleak universe to the shoe-horned love triangle.

| "The Others took my brother and I’m gonna go get him."

It would be wrong to dismiss The 5th Wave as a cheap cash-in because it’s a much more interesting movie than that, thanks largely to Moretz’s solid performance. The 15 rating and subdued release betrays a studio with absolutely no confidence in the product. Even they could tell that they’d missed the boat.

Pop or Poop?

Chloe Moretz doesn’t quite find her Katniss in The 5th Wave, which is a fairly contrived and poorly written addition to the rapidly expanding young adult canon. The twist is obvious from a mile away and the plotting is wafer-thin, but there’s something to it at its heart that, five years ago, might have been enough.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Comedy
Certificate: 12
UK Release Date: 22nd January 2016
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: Tim Story
Writer: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
Starring: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, Tika Sumpter, Bruce McGill
Synopsis: The dysfunctional brother-in-laws from the first film travel to Miami in an attempt to track down the people behind a drug trafficking operation.

It’s been nearly two years since the alarmingly terrible buddy cop comedy Ride Along made its way into UK cinemas. Kevin Hart has still failed to make much of an impression as a cinema funnyman, with a string of miserable movies littering his filmography. Much the same has been true of Ice Cube, outside of the Jump Street franchise, at least. Both are going back to the well again with Ride Along 2, which is unfortunately more of the same.

James (Cube) is a tough cop investigating a drug empire. A crucial undercover mission, though, is thwarted by Ben (Hart), fresh from police academy. James heads to Miami to save the investigation, but his sister Angela (Tika Sumpter) convinces him to take her fiancé Ben along for the ride. There, they butt heads with Florida detective Maya (Olivia Munn), who is already handling the case, and must deal with bumbling informant AJ (Ken Jeong).

It must be said from the start that Ride Along 2 is considerably less irritating than its predecessor. The jokes still don’t land as often as they should and there is still a great deal more cliché than there is humour, but there has certainly been an edge taken off the relentlessly annoying nails-on-a-chalkboard disaster of the first film.

| "Oh my God! He’s a zombie! Headshot, Walking Dead!"

There is a clear and obvious chemistry between Ice Cube and Kevin Hart that powers Ride Along 2. The two performers are so obviously different that they mash together into a decent whole, with Hart’s manic energy mixing nicely with Cube’s trademark grouchy persona. The addition of Olivia Munn as a badass female officer is a welcome change to the male-dominated atmosphere that made the first film so disappointing.

Unfortunately, the plotting is so wafer-thin that the chemistry between the leads has absolutely nowhere to go. The entire story is simply contrived to place Cube and Hart into a series of bizarre situations, often dragging the shrieking and infuriating Ken Jeong along for the ride… along. By the time the pieces of the plot puzzle begin to slot into place, it’s really difficult to care all that much.

The comedy in Ride Along 2 is certainly more successful than that of the first movie, even if the cop movie plotting is severely lacking. There are a handful of chuckles in the script, mainly as a result of Hart and his nervous habit of shooting people out of the blue. The problem comes when the often lengthy gaps between those chuckles are made up of cheap slapstick jokes and tired fish-out-of-water gags.

| "I can’t feel my face."

Ride Along 2 is simply a non-entity of a movie – not good enough to be exciting or bad enough to justify any real anger. It’s another lazy step in the big screen careers of both Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, but one that will likely score an impressive box office that more or less ensures the series will become a trilogy.

Pop or Poop?

As Hollywood comedies go, Ride Along 2 is about as blandly inoffensive as anyone could have hoped it would be. The jokes occasionally land, the performances are appropriately ridiculous and there’s a certain energy to it. But that’s not nearly enough to sustain a movie.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.

Genre: Comedy
Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: 29th January 2016
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: Dan Mazer
Writer: John Phillips
Starring: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Aubrey Plaza, Julianne Hough, Jason Mantzoukas, Zoey Deutch
Synopsis: A sensible young man has his worldview questioned when his bereaved grandfather takes him on a debauched journey to Daytona Beach.

Sometimes there’s something delightful about watching a bad movie. There’s a reason that people flock to special screenings of The Room. Often, a truly bad piece of cinema is almost as captivating as a Hitchcock masterpiece or a proper Spielberg blockbuster. Sometimes, though, a bad movie is a chore so severe and depressing that you’d rather be anywhere else but the cinema. On which note… it’s time to review Dirty Grandpa and the continuing decline of Robert De Niro’s once glittering career.

Following his grandmother’s funeral, Jason (Zac Efron) agrees to take his grandfather Dick (De Niro) on a road trip. Jason’s fiancée Meredith (Julianne Hough) is unhappy, but agrees to let him go as long as he returns before their wedding day. It soon transpires that Dick is out for a hedonistic weekend of sex, sun and more sex, which looks set to comes to fruition when they encounter a trio of college students, including the sexually liberal Lenore (Aubrey Plaza).

It’s tough to know where to begin in unpicking the sheer, unadulterated horror of watching Dirty Grandpa. Robert De Niro has always been a very gifted comic actor, albeit one who fits somewhat bizarrely into the genre. This off-kilter persona found the perfect home in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy and was actually reasonably entertaining in the widely disliked Fockers trilogy. Dirty Grandpa, though, takes the work of art that is De Niro’s career and draws an enormous dick right in the middle of it.

| "Let’s get in that giant labia you drove up in and get out of here."

The problems with Dirty Grandpa go far beyond the fact that it isn’t funny. It is so unpleasant and committed to dragging itself through the dirt that it burrows itself into your brain and lays a litter of cockroach eggs. It’s a film that, like a dog on a lamppost, leaves its grotesque stench behind. There are jokes in Dirty Grandpa that reference rape and paedophilia, as well as more than one moment that makes a punchline of De Niro dropping the N-word.

It’s not just De Niro that gets dragged through the dirt here. Zac Efron spends most of the film half-naked and the other half being forced into excruciating moments that are supposed to deepen the film emotionally, but in reality just make it feel even longer than it already does. Julianne Hough fares even worse, being forced into the “uptight wife” role that probably should have died out in the days of old TV sitcoms. In fact, the only person who emerges from Dirty Grandpa unscathed is Aubrey Plaza, who is having way more fun than anyone else in the film and easily ten times as much as anyone watching it.

The most mind-boggling aspect of Dirty Grandpa is that it could have been something much better. The script turned up on the Black List of the best unproduced screenplays in 2011. It’s unclear how much the project was changed since then, but there’s certainly nothing that made it to the screen which would suggest any creative achievement whatsoever.

| "You don’t just die from cancer, Jason."

It might only be the beginning of February, but I think it’s fair to say that it’s unlikely that there will be a movie as bad as Dirty Grandpa released into cinemas this year. Everyone involved in the film should be thoroughly ashamed at helping something so creatively bankrupt make its way into multiplexes.

Anything that has audiences yearning for the comedy genius of Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa is a truly special achievement in bad filmmaking.

Pop or Poop?

It’s incredibly rare that a film as purely terrible and without redeeming features as Dirty Grandpa comes along, and rarer still that it stars a performer as otherwise talented as Robert De Niro. There’s an unrelenting feel of filth and dirt – the cinematic equivalent of bathing in raw sewage for two hours.

Do you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments section.