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Get Reel: January’s Must-See Movies
Your latest roundup of blockbusters and buried treasures features Leonardo DiCaprio battling a bear, Natalie Portman going cowboy and the thrilling rise of two breakout stars.
In Theatres
The Forest (January 8, Focus Features)
Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer continues her foray into features with this supernatural thriller. She plays Sara, an American woman who flies to Japan to track down her missing twin sister, last seen entering Aokigahara Forest — a notorious suicide spot. Warned by the locals that only darkness and torment awaits, Sara ventures in, struggling to sift through an ocean of restless, angry spirits in search of her other half.
The Revenant (January 8, Fox)
Leonardo DiCaprio gets put through the ringer in Oscar contender The Revenant.
Photo Credit: Fox/metro.co.uk
A different sort of wilderness adventure also makes its way to theatres this week in director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s much-buzzed follow-up to last year’s Oscar-winning Birdman. Based on a true story, Leonardo DiCaprio (who could well take home his first Oscar for this one) plays fur trapper Hugh Glass, who is mauled by a bear and abandoned by his companions (including Tom Hardy) to die in the woods. What ensues is a two-hour battle with the elements that will test Glass’s mettle at every turn, as he claws his way out of a near-certain grave to seek his revenge.
Jane Got a Gun (January 29, Weinstein Company)
Natalie Portman taps into some true grit in Jane Got a Gun.
Photo Credit: Weinstein Company/deadline.com
Natalie Portman sports a Stetson and a six-shooter in this rip-roaring Western about a frontierswoman who’s forced to do battle with a gang of outlaws (led by Ewan McGregor) after they shoot her husband (Noah Emmerich) and then come looking to finish the job. The only backup she can count on? Her ex-fiancé (Joel Edgerton). Needless to say, it’s not long before sparks and bullets alike begin to fly.
On DVD
Mr. Robot: Season 1 (January 12, Universal)
Christian Slater and breakout star Rami Malek play a pair of super-hackers in Mr. Robot.
Photo Credit: Universal/gizmodo.com
One of the most unexpected hits of the 2015 TV season, this Fight Club-ish thriller centres on a socially stunted computer programmer/part-time hacker named Elliot (Rami Malek) who’s recruited into the ranks of a cyber-anarchist dubbed Mr. Robot (Christian Slater). With the chance to finally shake up the status quo and strike back at the world’s corrupt financial system, Elliot is intrigued; but before too long, it becomes clear that Mr. Robot isn’t quite what he seems. A timely story told in slick, smart, altogether exhilarating fashion, with one of the year’s breakout performances from Malek.
Straight Outta Compton (January 19, Universal)
The NWA crew took the box office by storm this past summer.
Photo Credit: Universal/straightouttacompton.com
Photo Credit: Universal/straightouttacompton.com
From a small-screen sleeper hit to a big-screen one, Compton chronicles the rise of NWA. Director F. Gary Gray zooms in on the early days of Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.), Eazy-E (Jason Mitchell), Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and their peers as they battle their way from the titular hard-luck streets to become one of the most important rap groups of all time. Love, betrayal, blood and platinum records ensue.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl (January 19, Sony)
Newcomer Bel Powley floored many critics with her stirring, nuanced performance.
Photo Credit: Sony/teaser-trailer.com
A coming of age story unlike any you’ve seen before opens in the 1970s, on 15-year-old Minnie (Bel Powley, in a revelatory turn), who keeps a log of her burgeoning sexuality on a tape recorder. It’s an endeavor that kicks off when she has her first-ever carnal encounter — with her mom Charlotte’s (Kristen Wiig) slacker boyfriend Monroe (True Blood’s Alexander Skarsgård). From there, Minnie proceeds to test her boundaries, going after Monroe while also experimenting with anonymous, group and just about every other kind of sex. It’s been hailed as a raw, unconventional, powerful and, above all, refreshingly frank depiction of growing up.
Main Image Photo Credit: Fox/variety.com
Matthew Currie
Author
A long-standing entertainment journalist, Currie is a graduate of the Professional Writing program at Toronto’s York University. He has spent the past number of years working as a freelancer for ANOKHI and for diverse publications such as Sharp, TV Week, CAA’s Westworld and BC Business. Currie ...
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