The Revenant

First off, this film struck a cord with me due to frankly boredom and depression sending me into a pit of binge watching various documentaries. Some of these docs being about Native Americans, so I've been educating myself on the life in America before the white man entered. 

The Revenant may or may not be on the better end of how Native Americans are represented in the media. 

(Do not get me started on Pocahontas).

(Especially after days on end discussing it back and forth in my Animation essay... now that was a rocky road).

Basically, Leo is great in it... but I'll be the one to say it... TOM HARDY WAS BETTER! There we go, someone had to bring it up.
Let's face it, Tom Hardy is amazing at anything at the moment. Bane, Mad Max, Kray Twins, I feel that he's not going to blow over any time soon.
Hardy's performance, for me, outshone DiCaprio's perhaps. I want to make it clear though that Leo should get the Oscar, only so everyone WILL SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT IT!
Just let the meme die people.

In The Revenant we see a lot happen within the opening, and trust me it's gruesome but awesome. And also there's a cool bear. And loads of death. And revenge. My type of film really. Director - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, I have to say has the most amazing vision. His take on filmmaking to me seems so unique, I for one haven't seen anything like his work before. Birdman shares many similar aspects as The Revenant, and yes I did love it.
I loved this film to a degree that I would say it should win Best Picture.
And that's a given and everything, but it does deserve it.
Inarritu should ave won more for Birdman in my opinion.
I say all of this and yet I've only watched half of Birdman, and nothing other than that and The Revenant... I appear to have not watched any of his other works....

Just watch the film, and then not watch it again for a very long time, so you can appreciate it better.
This 'review' has been pointless and unhelpful.
I am sorry.

The Hateful Eight

What I found whilst narrowly avoiding my Animation assignment on representation, was that this film was so so long.

Damn, it was long...

I mean it was entertaining, but I'll repeat the annual faux pas and say that yeah, it wasn't at all Tarantino's best.
I liked the narrator, and Samuel L Jackson is amazing as always.
It was good at the end of the day... just not amazing, and if I'm honest a little forgettable.
A fresh face among the old and ugly comes Channing Tatum, which was kind of nice... I mean I appreciate Time Roth as much as the next young girl with a thing for good actors, but alas his delivery was sub-par at best.

I've probably put a lot of you off, but as I said it was long and I figure that's a massive factor into a film which rarely changes scenery throughout.
However I'll say this, my most favourite part was Kurt Russell. I don't what it is, but with this and Death Proof, he always makes his characters somewhat likeable... even though they're horrible humans.
 Also Jennifer Jason Leigh knocks it out of the park with her part of Russell's prisoner. With all the amazing actors on set, the storyline still dragged a little and made me not too worried about purchasing it upon release.

Along with a small twist which you can figure out for yourself quite quickly, you'll find that it stinks of Hitchcock, and as much as I love Taratino films it's basically a repeat of a repeat.
Which I know is his style, but I'm bored of it, and no Quentin you would never have done a better job of directing Scream. (Just to put it out there). So let's all agree that this was to be appreciated for aspects you've viewed already within a different film, and get used to it, because The Hateful Eight appears as a spin-off from Django.
I'm so salty over this and I don't even know why.
Probably because I was expecting more, but it fizzled out.
Just leave me be Quentin... you've done enough.

Room

I've found my winner for Best Actress this Oscars season, by means that if I must in that list of yet again whitewashed actors and actresses.
TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of rape & imprisonment.

Now this film tackles a sensitive issue, a woman is kidnapped and locked away for seven years. Out of those seven years, she gives birth to a boy within her first two years of being held captive. The man who imprisoned her to his garden shed rapes her every night and of course fathers the boy.
Let me say that this is hard-hitting, but not in such a blunt way as I expected, Room is quite poetic. We see through the eyes of 5 year old Jack, who is rather annoying, and loves Room where he has only known those fours walls all of his young life. He is annoying in the sense that he is a little bitch to his mother often, and won't help her with anything.

I mean you feel sorry for him, because how can he imagine a world he's never seen before.
Joy, his mother, suddenly uproots her storytelling of how a world outside Room does not exist. She's already told him that the people on T.V. are fake, everything they see on T.V. is actually fake. When she suddenly breaks and tells him she was lying and there are others in the world other than them, he becomes more annoying and is ruder than ever. You feel mostly bad for her due to his ignorance, but then again she put it in his head in the first place.

In short, Joy uses Jack to gain freedom from their prison, and they are rescued slowly but surely. It then begins to concentrate on their acceptance to the world Joy had left behind. With her parents divorced and the press hounding her family, Joy soon becomes unhinged and disregards her fragile son. Without providing spoilers, things become bleak, but the faith of one little boy brings Joy back to life and things become less stressful - for Joy and the audience.

Room stressed me out if I'm honest, but on the whole this was a very interesting film. I enjoyed it and took on board how emotional is was. You may cry, I sniffled at one point, only due to being close to home. The concept of this film, if you will, probably stems from how strong a mother's love can be. I dunno, something mushy like that.
Just be aware, when you watch this you may feel alienated to an extent.

Overall it's amazing acting, from both Brie Larson as 'Ma' and Jacob Tremblay as 'Jack'.
The acting from Jacob Tremblay especially, concerning his abilities to play an unappreciative yet innocent and generally impressionable little boy.
All I'm saying is that my hopes and predictions go to Brie Larson for Best Actress, because she outdid herself.