jack-fitzpatrick Reviews

Brooklyn (2015)

This is (Potentially) an award winning film?

[6/10 · 18 February 2016]

In all honesty, this is a good movie. I mean, it was well put together, it had an OK story and I'll even say that I did enjoy some of it.

But the fact of the matter is that objectively Brooklyn is nothing special. The story has been told, the characters have existed and the relationships have been played out. It's a fine movie that I enjoyed well enough but I simply don't understand the love for it. With multiple nominations (Damn, I'm discussing it again) Brooklyn really does steal the show from other – more deserving titles.

But hey, film taste is a matter of opinion… Let me explain mine. Let me start off by saying that this movie is basically what you expect. Seen the posters? Seen the trailer? You know what this is. It's not a big surprise and it won't blow you away. If you're into it, you're into it… If you're not, you're not. So considering this I will clearly state that this movie was not made for people like me. I probably don't quite hit that demographic… in the slightest. But as I said, film is subjective, And I saw it anyway.

As a consistent period piece, the film follows a young woman from Ireland as she makes her move to the bigger and busier city of Brooklyn. (Duh) The contrast between settings and lifestyles of 1950s Ireland and America is heavily implied and exposed throughout the film, and this is where Brooklyn succeeds. The simplicity and familiarity yet boringness and lack of opportunity at home compared to the intimidation of a big new city filled with many new faces is quite a staggering difference. From the colour palette on screen to the general aesthetic, Brooklyn visually demonstrations an obvious comparison. We see this through the eyes of our protagonist; Eilis. Paired up with the pressure of new responsibilities and a lack of experience, Eilis is in the middle of a relatable situation. We've all been 'The new guy,' in one way or another and the film presents this in a realistic way; We feel what she feels, as she learns to live this new life style and deals with life's general hurdles. The character development of Eilis is clear and realistic, and we grow with her throughout the film.

Another strong suit of this film is the relationship between Eilis and her new found boyfriend Tony. Tony is easily the most likable character in the film (In a film full of lifeless human-mannequins) He's charming, ambitious and clearly loyal. In the end however, Tony truly represents the city of Brooklyn to Eilis and thus to us. We do root for these characters, however the drama which effects them is completely blown out of proportion and comes off as totally exaggerated.

Tony and Eilis however, are just about the only interesting characters in the film. Everybody else feels as if they're not really people living their own lives but these personality-less beings that weave in and out of the story. Even Domhnall Gleeson's (Who I'm recently a fan of) character is boring. We pretend as an audience to care about the people Eilis cares about, but in the end these people are side characters that we never really get to know; They don't really stand out and don't have much to do. They're dreary and sometimes downright unlikable despite the actors' best efforts. The acting in the film is something to pay attention to if anything, it's at times rather melodramatic and 'soap opera-y' however mostly keeps low-key and realistic. There are not too many cliché 'Oscar worthy' moments here, but rather the film managed to keep restraint and never went over the top in terms of acting.

Themes of 'leaving the nest,' and being a young adult can be a relatable story, and it's here where the film keeps most interesting. I enjoyed seeing Saoirse Ronan play an awkward inexperienced young person in almost comedic fashion as well as her interactions with Emory Cohen's (I didn't have to google that or anything) character Tony. In this way, the film could often at times be surprisingly funny. Moments of comedy are hidden between the cracks of the films mechanical like drama.

However, the film fails to really be about anything - Not much happens in Brooklyn and there's not much beyond that to say about it. This is where the film falls hardest. We witness characters speaking to each other, going from point A to point B scene after scene. Perhaps stories such as this are better left in written form, because as a film, Brooklyn is a bit of an eventless drought.

The film is extremely slow, and in the end mostly uneventful. It comes off as a bit pretentious. This isn't a movie strictly for intellectuals and it's not a movie that will be all that remembered as a classic. It's an alright movie though, that you may or may not enjoy, may or may not see in cinemas and may or may not care about at all. It's in no way terrible, but also doesn't come close to amazing either. It's enjoyable enough to give it a watch if you're interested and even surprisingly funny and relatable.

6.5/10

Deadpool (2016)

A surreal, comedic and insane masterpiece

[10/10 · 13 February 2016]

A sprinkle of 'Smart-Assery,' some very cool camera work and a wacky- overly comic book styled tone, the opening credits had me in awe. And the movie didn't let up these elements. It kept up with the feel from start to finish.

This film was clearly a passion project and it shows, the people behind this film have a love for Deadpool, the fans that came to see it opening day have love for Deadpool, and now, the movie will introduce new people and welcome them to have love for Deadpool. Filled with clever meta-humour and wit. This is the definition of a Comic-Book movie; future Marvel and DC projects should pay attention here.

The action is insanely fantastic. I sat there simply impressed by what they accomplished in a movie that at first, was probably considered something to not take seriously. But this film holds up just as well against the other Avengers films in terms of action and special effects. From over the top physics which result in goons and bad guys being taken out on a whim by The Merc with the Mouth himself (As well as a few X-men friends) to the comedic (As well as non-comedic) brutality present throughout. The movie isn't afraid to be violent, which is actually quite an amazing thing. Henchmen kicked and punched, sliced and diced, shot and blown up, and generally murdered in all sorts of creative ways throughout. Deadpool never restrains from violence – It Embraces it. Wilson is portrayed with quick-fire wit, a sense of silliness, but also a dark side. Wilson is quite a tragic character and the film should be praised for presenting this. The comedy behind Deadpool comes from misfortune and sadness, he is a tortured soul, a broken clown if you will. The characters' motivations are actually quite realistic, and we see that this is a determined character with purpose. This film is a revenge story and an action film as much as it is a superhero based comedy. And there are some real moments to feel for Deadpool. Which brings me to the love story, which I found to actually be quite compelling. There are certainly quite a few crass jokes here, there and in-between however to the core of the film Deadpool portrays genuine heart, and I think that's what really makes the film; Yes, it's a comedy, yes it's satirical of other superhero films and yes, it's wacky, but it's also a genuinely good film on its own. The movie never drags, at just under two hours, I wanted it to keep going! The pacing is absolutely perfect, never once slowing down too much or becoming dull or uninteresting. Deadpool holds your attention and makes you care, even when he is decapitating dudes left, right and centre. I do have one Subjective flaw that I should probably mention though. Some of the jokes just fall completely flat, and some feel like they're just being gross and tasteless simply for the sake of it and due to the film makers' freedom. Yes, the film gained its' (American) R rating, but… relax! However, I went in expecting this, and most of it did its job well.

Deadpool is a human being, rather than a cartoon, (Despite his personality.) The film was also so fast paced and quick cut that by the time one joke was said, another was about to be. And there was a fair share of fantastic jokes and humour throughout. The tone of the film and titular character was pretty spot on.

The real great thing about the movie is that it portrays Deadpool correctly. At this point Ryan Reynolds IS Deadpool. Renyolds fits into his role as a superhero icon among Hugh Jackmans' Wolverine and Robert Downey Juniors' Ironman. His comedic timing, dedication to the role and faithful performance result in perfection. The other characters set in this oddly dark as well as cartoon like world come in forms of different relationships to Deadpool. There is his love interest, Venessa, whom matches Wilson's personality. She is much more of a normal person though, so it's toned down as she isn't a super human or anything, however the characters' compatibility is believable, as they are both wise-ass people who joke around with each other, have vague and unhappy pasts and both feel strongly for each other.

Ajax, his nemesis of the film, who is played very straight. He is not an amazing character with lots of depth of personality, however he is what the film needs out of a villain, and gets the job done. You dislike him in the way that you are supposed to, and you do want to see Deadpool reign victory over him.

Deadpool is a character that you root for, and a movie that you sit in astonishment at. Though at parts it may be silly, Deadpool never strives from admirable. You care about him as much as you laugh with him, and the film manages to maintain an extremely interesting and difficult balance. Deadpool is the definition of an unbalanced character, Deadpool could have easily gone wrong. The minds behind the film have earned a well-deserved praise. First time director Tim Miller knocked this one out of the park, as well as writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

The film is vibrant and energetic. It's pure fun and doesn't take itself too seriously, but manages to be able to when needed. The film is Stylish, and oddly (In a good way) Personal. It's deserving of praise, fast paced and anything but conventional. It's far from boring, funny and contains some really well done action and set pieces. I enjoyed it from start to finish, I finally got to see my hero done right on the big screen, and I very much look forward to future instalments involving Deadpool 10/10

The Choice (I) (2016)

It's Nicholas Sparks, You either like these things or you don't

[5/10 · 5 February 2016]

I'm about half way on the Nicholas Sparks Love – Hate scale. I feel roughly the same when it comes to all of these movies. I sit there, counting down the clichés and thinking about how it's the same god damn thing, but I'm not tearing my eyes out. I'm not going to attack people for liking it, demand my money back after seeing it or try to call Nicholas Sparks mean names. I mean hell, he's made eleven movies out of this gig, I guess he's doing something right. And yes The Choice feels the same, and it's not really anything new.

Nicholas Sparks based movies tend to not be too strongly centred around the actual story, but the characters. The world doesn't change around them, and the events effect nobody but the protagonists, but the relationship is why people bother in the first place. The Choice is no different and this is no surprise.

The movie tells the story of a girl who moves in next door to a guy, they annoy each other and initially sort-of dislike each other, then time goes on and eventually end up loving each other… Then some other stuff happens. Look the actual story is nothing new. Have you seen Safe Haven? The Last Song? Countless other movies in this genre? Then you've seen this. The difference in these movies are the actual characters, however trivial or gimmicky these differences may be.

Travis is a formulaic easy going guy with a southern accent and a cowboy attitude, he is loud and obnoxious and annoys the girl next door; Gabby, she's an intelligent woman who's interning to be a doctor… with some obligatory drama added in, these characters interact and we see their relationship grow throughout the film. This is used as an obligatory comparison between the two protagonists, as he's introduced partying and listening to rock and roll. There are also some side characters in the film who are simply not people in any sense of the word. They play along as 'Friend Number 1,' 'Friend number 2,' and 'friend 1's wife' and so on. They also seem have all of the free time in the world, can ditch their children whenever it's convenient and look like they're auditioning to advertise picnics on the cover of some magazine as they all smile for eternity and are nothing but absolutely perfect at having fun and partying. I'll keep my complaints here limited, as this isn't too big of a deal considering that they are side characters. Some other side characters with more depth however appear in the film too; Gabby's boyfriend from the beginning of the film Ryan is a doctor whose parents own the hospital where she and he work. (They all have relationships that are super complicated to explain in these movies!) He's predictably played off as some 'Villain' character even though he actually doesn't do anything wrong… The morals regarding this part of the story I personally find to be pretty messy… If anything, Gabby is the villain… Travis' family including his father and sister are also present. His sister doesn't really have a story of her own but acts as a catalyst for dialogue. His father has a sad and cute little story of his own thrown in for good measure as well.

The movie uses many open shots of lakes, beaches, stars and so on to romanticize everything in the film from something as prominent as the protagonists' relationship to even minor details. Everything looks perfect. This movie is like an advertisement. It glorifies its' settings, praises its' characters and unrealistically portrays a life of… perfectness. It's an advertisement. You want to have a relationship like this, you want to live in a place like this and you want to be as happy as all of the perfect people in the movie. Anything that does go wrong is soon shown as a good thing because it showed how much characters loved each other or it helped in some way that wasn't obvious at first.

The dialogue is cheesy, but the actors are competent enough and do sell the emotion. Especially on Benjamin Walker's part playing Travis, I admit he turned out to be pretty likable even after being initially unlikable. I even felt a little for him in the final act. Whether they are phoning it in or not, I believe that the actors do a good job here. Nothing ground-breaking in terms of film acting but nothing illusion breaking either.

The writing does feel is lazy, as we fall back into elements taken straight out of the ten previous installments of this 'franchise.' It's also extremely unbalanced. There is a part in the film where I could have sworn that could have been the ending and it would have been fine… But it just kept going… But if you just sit back and watch, it's a cute little film to see on (or around) valentine's day.

Being predictable, full of exaggerated emotion and attempting to be as romantic as can possible be, The Choice is a hit or miss. See it or not. If you don't see it you're certainly not missing out too much, but if you want to see it, then by all means see it and you'll get what you expect. It's better than Safe Haven and not as good as The Notebook. But honestly that's just splitting hairs. You've seen this before, but if it's your type of film, you'll probably enjoy it. Over all, I personally found the story to be somewhat lacking in originality, but the characters to be somewhat likable and the third act to be somewhat emotional despite being predictable and rushed. This movie's no masterpiece, but it's not offensive either. It's fine. And hey! This one has dogs! I like dogs! 5/10

Point Break (2015)

Average, Mediocre, Fine, OK and passable.

[5/10 · 31 January 2016]

POINT Break Review – Jack Fitzpatrick . In general, point break is sort of a mess. The characters are empty vessels, their motivations are sort of silly and how we are meant to feel about them is downright confusing. Truth be told: the movie wasn't THAT bad.

It was… Fine.

This movie follows a character by the name of Utah, an ex- famous athlete who is now making his way into a career with the FBI. Utah gets a big chance to work on a big case; Following a group of seemingly professional athlete criminals. Utah soon falls undercover so he can gain the trust of this group of people, find out the information he needs and take them down. The thing is, it's not really done right…

Alright, well I'll start off with the positive; To put it simply, they do some cool stuff. This movie basically felt like a YouTube video that RedBull or some other extreme sports channel would have to offer. The film is an extreme sports advertisement, and hey, some of it looks really cool. The action was shot exceedingly well.

From the opening scene with some sweet dirt bike action to the unique and odd looking act of Wingsuit Flying and the intimidatingly dangerous view of gigantic waves pursuing to crash over you while surfing. The movie did make me want to go out and try some of this stuff and was successful in making extreme sports look both dangerous and fun. Making these scenes even better is the fact that most of this stunt work was shot practically. Which seems to be a thing falling into fashion nowadays since films like Mad Max: Fury Road. Crammed between the action scenes however are our obligatory pieces of exposition. And this is where the film really begins to fail. The problem is that you just don't care. You don't care why the characters are doing what they're doing and you don't really care if they even make it out of these situations that they're trying to explain to begin with.

Really the main problem with this film was its characters. I have seen the movie and I still don't understand who these people are or why they are doing the things that they do. Our protagonist is a boring cardboard cut-out – Doing what he needs to and nothing more, and the antagonist is just as charmless, just as dull and lacking in any sort of personality. As well as a few side characters put in there for no real purpose, such as "The girl." Who is there solely to be "The Girl" of the movie.

The most offensive part of this film is that this is supposed to be a character piece. This is supposed to portray a compelling relationship. It is supposed to divide the Utah's Morals, but instead he stays completely good, we have no doubt in our minds that he is on the right side of the law for any moment. He is not seduced to a life of crime at any point.

Our antagonist Bodhi is just as nonsensical. The film attempts to make this character appear as some sort of deeply spiritual man, with a heart of gold who just happens to do bad things. He believes in this borderline religious belief about committing impossible acts as a way to gain the ultimate experiences… And then he must also commit more impossible acts but commit crimes these times to give back to the world because the first ones he did were gifts…? Look, the point is it's pretty ridiculous. The film should have had this character either just be a criminal because it's fun and for financial gain or they could have messed around with this idea without trying to make the character seem real cool and edgy. He didn't have to be so "Zen" is all I'm saying. He comes off as too preachy and too perfect. It's like the film wants you to root for this philosophically illogical guy.

Visually, this film is rather pretty. The cool colors of the environments surrounding our characters throughout the film drown the screen in profound blues and green. Scenes involving large oceanic waves, deep green forests and unfathomably tall mountainsides covered in pure white snow and jagged rocks are simply beautiful to look at. This is where the cinematography and framing really excels in the film. The film's camera work and editing is passable. It feels both professional and modern, it doesn't bring much that's new to the table however to be fair not many movies do or even can and the work put into the film visually should still be appreciated.

The acting is OK. There is nothing to stand out but it, but it the actors get the job done. The writing is FINE, but ultimately uninspired and comes off as a failed attempt of being overly spiritual and profound. (This is most apparent during Bodhi's dialogue especially.) Ultimately, the whole movie is nothing more or less than average. I'm not angry at the movie, I wasn't TOO bored, but I didn't love it and I wasn't… not bored either. All in all, Point break is acceptable and nothing more or less.

Point break is the definition of 'Style over Substance.' With an uninteresting 'Romance,' some cliché 'cop moments' and a laughable redo of a classic scene from the original - Point Break mostly fails. But it's still far from the worst thing I've ever seen.

It's entertaining enough if you have nothing to do and it's got some great action. This is the kind of movie to pop on, half-watch and enjoy some thoughtless action, and to be fair there is nothing wrong with doing that every once in a while. If you can let the 'Remake Bias' go, and keep your expectations low, this movie's fine. 5/10

Room (I) (2015)

Emotional and Dark, Depressing yet Uplifting

[10/10 · 26 January 2016]

Simply put, "Room" is an emotional film. And it seems as though half the time you do not even know what you're feeling. Seamlessly the film manages to portray happiness in a tragic way, depressingly dark situations yet present some optimism and make you feel genuinely scared and/or worried about its fictional characters. Room is emotional in a very real sense; it's not just another movie where a romance falls apart, or where a loved one gets a terminal illness and it doesn't tug on your heart strings with cheap bullshit. Room doesn't try to trick you into feeling things, its realistic tone and grim story is enough. Not to make light of the cinematography, music or any of anything else which made the film, these are all good too, however we are really in this one for the writing and acting; the story and characters.

The film follows its protagonists as they live their day to day lives trapped inside a small dirty room with no way out. Locked in by a nameless man that they call 'Old Nick,' The characters are a mother and son 'Jack,' 'Ma' has been inside this room for seven years and her son has never experienced anything beyond the room in his life. For around half of the movie we stay in the room with these characters, we as an audience never leave the room until the characters do. Personally I was beginning to feel the claustrophobia myself, the movie makes you feel as trapped as the characters are. The room feels hopeless as it does small and the atmosphere is actually quite haunting.

Now though, that Jack is five years old, Ma believes that it's now time and that he is finally old enough to help her make their escape. Through a series of events, the two do make it out of the room, however we are still only about half way through the film as we follow their lives after leaving 'room.'

The films point of no return; leaving 'room' is both scary and cheerful for both us and the characters in the film. The juxtaposition of being stuck in the room and the freedoms of such an open and unknown world is mind blowing. Yet, before they leave and it is uncertain whether they will succeed or not, you almost don't want them to try. Jack pleads his mother to wait till he is six years old and this is a terrifying theme throughout the film; Comfort and security over freedom. Jack's life and world may have been horrible, however the thought of leaving was frightening and almost made no sense to Jack.

The movie manages to portray a horrible situation without feeling like a cheap horror movie, this is to be taken seriously and manages to portray despicable acts and conditions of the characters, without reverting to gross out moments or cartoonish dark villains. The villain of the film, is definitely disgusting and hateable, but ultimately is not the point of the film. The maturity of the film dealing with a sickening character and subject is appreciated. Another running theme of this film was the experience – or really inexperience of five-year-old Jack. He'd never known anything beyond this one room his entire life, basically; 'room' was his world. And this is such an interesting concept to me. Jack's concepts of fiction and reality blur and at such an age he is vulnerable to information. It's important to learn the truth however almost incomprehensible due to his extremely limited knowledge.

Possibly my favourite shot of the film, has Jack creating shadows with his hands in the partial sunlight that comes through via sunlight. This shot has obvious relation to 'The Allegory of the Cave' philosophical theory. Put simply, if a caveman never leaves his cave, and all he ever sees are shadows, this is what he believes in, this becomes his reality. And the same goes for the child in the film. 'Room' is all he knows, and beyond stories he's told or what he sees on their television, Jack's sense of reality is inaccurate. He knows about animals such as dogs and cats, he knows about grass and trees and he knows about general bits of information, however due to his isolation he cannot separate reality from fiction and therefore will not know which things are real and which are not. A dragon for example is as real or fake as a dog in his mind.

The themes throughout the film and the emotion that these themes bring are all portrayed through the actors; who all did a fine job, but the performance that really stood out was child actor Jacob Tremblay as Jack. Children are often not the best actors, they're still young; still learning, but this kid is ahead of his time, ahead of his age really. For such a thematically complex film as well as a mature and grim one, Tremblay did an amazing job making me believe in his character, as well as his collaboration with Brie Larson as mother and son, their relationship is strong and convincing.

The film gave me chills when it needed to in moments of pure intensity the beautiful moments were made that much nicer in comparison to the dreary and depressing ones. It even gave me a new perspective on the world and the way we might look at it. What if we are all experiencing some version of Jack and Ma's 'room?' But, this is just a movie review, I don't want to get too philosophical.

"Room" is saddening yet uplifting. It may be hard to watch for some yet I'd think also hard to stop watching, and overall the film has the ability to change ones' perspective. "Room" is shocking, yet beautiful and most of all unforgettable. This is Drama at its' best. 10/10

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Vicious, Intense and even a little Cartoony

[10/10 · 23 January 2016]

The Hateful 8 had a lot to live up to. Tarantino has been delivering what are considered to be some of the best Cult Classics for years. They're so pop culturally relevant that they have been and still frequently are quoted, parodied and loved by fans all over. Personally I find Django Unchained to easily be one of my all-time favourite movies ever. So it's safe to say there were high expectations, I'm happy to say that The Hateful Eight reached those expectations.

THE HATEFUL EIGHT REVIEW – JACK FITZPATRICK

To the core; this IS a Tarantino film. From the intense moments juxtaposed by the light conversations of unique dialogue to the wide shot cinematography. The Hateful Eight delivers on just about every note. You know those moments in Quentin Tarantino films where the tension is building constantly and it just keeps going until the scene erupts into a violent mayhem; Scenes like the 20 minute conversation in the beginning of Inglorious Basterds and the friendly dinner conversation in candy land which soon turns chaotic from Django Unchained. Well, the entirety of the Hateful Eight is one of these scenes. Trapped in a claustrophobic environment, the film follows a group of people caught in a blizzard. The characters begin to unfold throughout the movie and we see that they aren't always who they say they are, and are all capable of committing acts of brutality.

Throughout the film, the characters spend quality time with one another while the tension escalates and the suspicions rise. Nobody can be trusted, and everybody is in it for something. It's up to the viewer to decide who they trust and who they do not and the film doesn't take sides. Characters get their fair share of screen time and this is basically an extended take of fantastic actors bouncing off of one another as their characters, often chewing the scenery and making the film their own. This being said, I definitely was on Samuel L Jackson's character's side for a lot of it, he was just so undeniably cool throughout. But all of the characters had a moment to shine in, and as I said, it's really up to you as a viewer to decide who you like or who you trust – The two don't necessarily coincide. Tim Roth, Kurt Russel and best of all Samuel L Jackson are returning cast for Tarantino movies and do their other roles justice. However, all of the characters in the film are fantastically written and well thought out. They all have their own stories and motivations and even if we don't like them or wish them to lose, we still understand why they are there and are doing what they are doing. The characters make sense. The writing makes sense, and that's important. The majority of the film is set in an old, partly run down cabin in the middle of a blizzard. Visually though, the film manages to stray far off of boring. I won't pretend I know too much about the 70mm, I'm no expert on aspect ratio or really practical filming in general, however I do watch A LOT of movies and I can appreciate the wide angles exposing characters in the background and the clarity of the film, revealing the tiniest of details such as the dust and snow falling through the air within the cabin throughout the movie. Something I loved about the movie as I mentioned above is that you can see other characters throughout it even when they are not the key focus in that particular scene. The film feels much like a stage play in that way, and it ups the stakes as important things can be happening in the background at any moment and the actors have to stay in character for the majority of the film. The movie doesn't shy away from keeping the background characters and set from staying consistent and logically present. Another element that must be mentioned when talking about any Tarantino film, but especially this one in particular is the violence. And I just have to say 'wow,' because this is one violent movie. Easily Tarantino's most brutal film to date, even beating out such scenes as The crazy 88 fight of Kill Bill and the cinema massacre of Inglorious Basterds; The Hateful Eight certainly earned it's R18+ rating. The film makes even gun combat feel close and personal. I will not spoil anything but I will say that not everybody makes it out alive by the end of the film, and the moments of human deduction are glorious. (Dare I say GORE-ious? Nah, I probably shouldn't actually.) The movie is extremely long, but copes without feeling like it's dragging. The film starts off slow for sure, but this isn't a bad thing. It needs to – This makes where it's headed that much more impactive. That being said the dialogue keeps up and doesn't slow down, and we get a feel of who the characters are and what their relationships are like or might become right off the bat. It never feels boring and once it really 'gets into it' You can't look away. The pacing is absolutely perfect and there's never a dull moment. The momentum keeps everything going steadily – only thing is, the movie's a car headed for a brick wall, and we as an audience sit there sadistically waiting for it all to wildly explode.

The Hateful Eight is Vicious, funny, intense and even a little cartoon-y all while managing to stay serious in tone and suspenseful throughout. Competing closely to The Revenant, I suspect this movie will land as one of my top 10 movies of 2016.

10/10

The Revenant (I) (2015)

Beautiful film about everything but beauty

[10/10 · 8 January 2016]

A beautiful film about everything but beauty.

From the very moment that the film started I knew that I was going to love it. A slow sweeping long take featuring beautiful scenery and the calming flow of water soon interrupted by the interference of man.

The opening battle sequence sounds like something that would be described in something like a Star wars film, however this (and it is a) battle sequence is one to take your breath away. A brutal depiction of small scale war, the scene takes place in one shot weaving in and out between bullets, arrows and death. Putting viewers in the middle of the battlefield, creating personal conflict. There aren't really any 'sides' to this scene, all that's present is desperation and utter unnecessary viciousness.

The actors of the film all did stellar jobs on their performances, more so than most in films I've ever seen in my life. I'm not one to recognize great acting or even bad acting, usually I buy the actors playing as their characters, but in this it was beyond that. I believed that Hardy's Fitzgerald was the biggest scumbag on the face of the earth and I felt the betrayal, desperation and will to survive through DiCaprio's protagonist. Man did this movie make me hate Tom Hardy! But most importantly I just have to mention the actor Domhnall Gleeson, this guy is the definition of diversity. Most recently he played a cartoonishly evil Star wars character in The Force Awakens, before that I'd last seen him in Unbroken and earliest I'd seen him in About Time as a charming romantic comedy lead. I look forward to seeing more of this guy and literally don't know what to expect from him either.

Beyond the actors however making it's appearances larger than life was simply the setting. Beautiful shots all throughout the film, used as not only establishing shots but interesting angles and shots for even moments of dialogue and general conversation. The Revenant is a visual marvel. From the unique look of the world we see through the film's directors eyes to the astonishingly impressive long takes that I was in love with. The film took what I loved about Birdman (The film making) and added (What I thought Birdman was lacking) fantastic characters and an interesting story which happened to revolve around revenge and survival.

Another thing about the world this film was set in was that it felt full and real. Other people in the film had their own stories, their own fights and motives that we saw glimpses of even though we ultimately followed solely the protagonist. This made the movie feel larger, like a real piece of history.

And not to mention the sincere intensity that this movie holds throughout its entire run time. (Which is saying something considering it's just short of 3 hours.) The pure violence in this movie was actually quite shocking, and that's saying something coming from somebody who has watched some of the "Most disturbing films of all time."

Early on in the film is an in-famous scene featuring a bear, I won't spoil anything beyond this scene but I will say that you can feel this scene. You believe this scene. It holds you and it keeps going for longer than comfortable… and it's great. This isn't a movie you "Enjoy" It's a movie that you experience and personally, a movie I fell in love with almost instantly.

The unique lighting style and the subtle sounds showing that the movie wasn't afraid to use silence combine to make a realistic and fierce portrayal of a look into a fictionalized past. It's a long one but I feel like the pacing is perfect, I wasn't bored at all and there were times where not much was actually happening but not once did I feel like it was slow and dragging. This is one tough act to follow, and as much as I'm looking forward to movies like Civil War and Deadpool, I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be my favourite movie of the year.

10/10