Movies about extreme survival go back to the dawn of Hollywood. Survival comes in many forms. It could be on a deserted island or a deserted planet. It may be in a jail or as a prisoner of war. There are many ways characters have to survive dangerous and arduous situations, and these movies will leave you white knuckling it until they either escape, get rescued, or perish trying to do either.

The Martian

Matt Damon plays an astronaut exploring Mars when he is accidentally left for dead on the red planet and is forced to find a way to live with no food and limited resources. The Martian has been praised for the science in (most) of the movie, but it's the survival aspect of the movie that really draws fans in.

The Bridge On The River Kwai

How dedicated are you to your country, and what will you endure to keep your pride? The legendary The Bridge On The River Kwai explores just how far a person will go in pursuit of both of those. In extreme conditions, the British prisoners of war go through the worst of everything, extreme heat, fatigue, disease, and torture, cannot keep them from that stiff upper lip attitude of the era.

28 Days Later

Plenty of movies show the extreme and terrifying nature of surviving a dystopian future or a zombie apocalypse. Few do it better than Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. The zombies are the things of nightmares, but somehow the characters keep living in whatever way they are forced to.

12 Years A Slave

There may be no better example of surviving under the most extreme conditions than the era of chattel slavery in 19th-century America. 12 Years A Slave is one of the hardest movies you'll ever watch, and it's also one of the most important movies of the last half century on the subject. Survival doesn't even begin to describe just how hard it was.

Society Of The Snow

The Oscar-nominated Spanish film Society of the Snow tells the now-infamous story of the Uruguayan rugby team who survive a plane crash in the Andes only to be forced into committing cannibalism to survive in the barren wilderness. It's as terrifying as it is inspiring.

Apollo 13

There are only three people in the history of the world who can really understand what it's like to survive a disaster in space. Tragically, most astronauts who have, didn't live to tell the tale. The three astronauts on the Apollo 13 mission did survive, and the 1995 movie starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon brings the story to the big screen in amazing fashion.

127 Hours

The true story of Aron Ralston, played by James Franco in 127 Hours, is one of the most visceral ever shown in a movie. It's a story that basically can understand just how harrowing it is. We can all imagine ourselves in a similar situation and wonder just how far we would go to save ourselves. Ralston goes further than most even dream possible, but he made it, and set an example of human endurance few have ever matched.

Schindler's List

Schindler's List is the kind of movie you are amazed by, but might not want to ever watch again. Of course, history is known to everyone who has been to school in the last 80 years, but that doesn't make the movie about the horrors of the Holocaust any easier to take in. It's an amazing movie and one of the scariest stories of survival by an entire group of people ever told. And it's told in honor of the six million who didn't make it.

The Revenant

Being left for dead in the wilderness, getting attacked by hostile people, and surviving a bear mauling certainly qualify a survival story for this list. Those things all happen in The Revenant, the movie that finally won Leonardo DiCaprio the Oscar he's been so deserving of.

Dunkirk

Dunkirk is not just about the survival of the British soldiers on the beaches of the titular town at the outbreak of World War Two, it's about the survival of the whole nation. Had the army not been evacuated, the entire war would likely have gone very differently, not to mention the history of the United Kingdom. Christopher Nolan's masterpiece tells a number of stories of survival, and every one is important.

Cast Away

You knew this one had to be here. It's a story as old as time: a man surviving on a tropical island. It's been in myths and stories for centuries, and there is no better example in modern times than Cast Away. From making fire to building a raft to escape on, this one has it all.

The Shawshank Redemption

Being wrongly accused and convicted of a crime you are not guilty of is a nightmare that many people share. One of the best movies of the '90s, The Shawshank Redemption lets everyone see just how scary and emotional something like that could be. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman are amazing in this enduring movie that people will still be watching and relating to for many more generations.

Alien

"In space, no one can hear you scream," is the tagline for one of the most celebrated sci-fi horror movies of all time. Ridley (Sigourney Weaver) in Alien is a survivor on her own level throughout the franchise, and it all started with her surviving this movie.

First Blood

Sometimes, survival comes at the expense of the people trying to hunt you, like the cops in First Blood who make the mistake of forcing Green Beret John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) into the woods. Rambo knows how to survive, the cops never stand a chance.

The Pianist

Surviving the Holocaust has rarely been shown on screen as emotionally as it is in The Pianist. Adrien Brody's Oscar-winning performance is as powerful an example of survival as has ever been put on film.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games may not seem like it belongs on the list, but it certainly does. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) has to endure a lot to survive the games, and she thrives when she has to. The movie may be fiction, but the reality doesn't seem impossible, as scary as that is.

A Quiet Place

Surviving is hard enough. Surviving in total silence? Wow, that is truly another level. In A Quiet Place, we learn just how terrifying the silence can be, or really how scary it is when that silence is disturbed. A budding franchise shows just how viscerally people feel the quiet.

Rescue Dawn

Prisoner of war movies are pretty common in Hollywood history. Each brings their own nightmares of survival. Some of the most terrifying come from the Vietnam War, even when the camp is not in Vietnam, as is the case in Rescue Dawn. Christian Bale stars in this movie based on the true story of a pilot shot down over Laos and the horrors he must endure as a POW.

The Road

Cormac McCarthy's excellent (and bleak) book The Road was turned into an even bleaker movie starring Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee and set in a dystopian future. Human endurance is incredible, as even in the worst kind of situation, some survive. Never underestimate the love a father has for his son.

Unbroken

Angelina Jolie directed one of the most incredible stories of POW survival ever in Unbroken. The true story, about Louis Zamperini surviving multiple ordeals, including a plane crash, 47 days in a raft in the middle of the ocean, and two years in a POW camp. At the camp, he was tortured and used as forced labor. How he survived is nothing less than astonishing. The movie has mixed reviews, but the story is incredible, no matter how it's told.

Lone Survivor

Peter Berg directed Lone Survivor, based on the incredible true story of Marcus Luttrell, who was, as the name of the movie implies, the only survivor in a group of Navy SEALs on a mission in Afghanistan. Mark Wahlberg plays Luttrell, and Taylor Kitsch plays one of the members of his team who was killed. Though the account has been disputed, the movie still serves as a shining example of survival.

Into The Wild

Sometimes, it's human hubris that puts us in a position where we have to survive. Such is the case in the book and the movie Into the Wild. Alexander Supertramp, aka Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch), made his own choices that led him to the desperate situation that eventually, tragically killed him as he tried (and failed) to survive in the Alaskan wilderness.

Gravity

Surviving space is hard enough when you have other people with you. On your own, it's downright impossible. That's the situation Sandra Bullock's character finds herself in in Gravity. It's science fiction, but it's so believable. It's not like Alien or even The Martian, it's much closer to home.

The Diary Of Anne Frank

Maybe the most famous example of survival during the Holocaust is the story of Anne Frank and her family in German-occupied Holland during World War II. The incredible diary the young girl kept has inspired countless people and put a real face on the victims of the Third Reich. The book was turned into a movie nominated for eight Oscars, winning three.

Deliverance

It was supposed to be a relaxing and exciting canoe trip that instead turned into a harrowing story of survival after a group of friends, led by Burt Reynolds in Deliverance, are terrorized by a nasty group of locals who don't want them on the river. The incredibly popular movie is part action/adventure, part horror movie as the campers deal with some really scary actions from those out to kill them.

Alive

A few decades before the Society Of The Snow brought the story of the Uruguayan Rugby Team, who survived a plane crash and weeks on top of a mountain, to the big screen, Ethan Hawke and company told the story in Alive. It's not as visceral as the newer movie, but it's still an incredible telling of the story.

The Great Escape

To be fair, The Great Escape is as much a "boys adventure" movie as it is a story of survival. Still, there is no question that there are some sad, harrowing moments for the POWs in a German camp during World War II. People do die, and there are real stakes (at times) in this classic movie from old Hollywood with an all-star cast.

Children Of Men

Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 movie Children of Men is, in a world, incredible. It may be overshadowed by his more recent work, like Gravity and Roma, but it's my favorite movie of his. It's also a unique look at survival, not just by the main characters in the movie, but humankind as a whole.

The Is The End

We had to include one comedy on this list. There are a few examples of funny takes on survival, but none are quite as ridiculous as This is the End. The all-star cast of Hollywood stars playing ridiculous versions of themselves is both funny and actually pretty scary at times.

Into Thin Air: Death on Everest

Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, a television movie based on the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It depicts the true story of one of the deadliest seasons of climbing the world's highest mountain. Not everyone survives, but those who do, like Beck Weathers (Richard Jenkins), endured some of the most harrowing weather conditions ever seen on Earth.

The Swiss Family Robinson

One of the most famous stories of "surviving" has to be The Swiss Family Robinson, as told by Disney in a couple of different versions, including one in 1960. It's hardly harrowing, and it's pretty luxurious and therefore unrealistic, but it sure does seem like fun! Survival doesn't always have to be a nightmare in movies, apparently.

Man Friday

It's sort of surprising that the story of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe hasn't been made into more movies. Man Friday is probably the best adaptation of the enduring novel, so it'll stand in for all of them.

Brad Pitt isn’t slowing down at 61, and I’m not just talking about his 2025 movie release, the Kosinski new racing thriller F1, or the recently announced continuation of his Cliff Booth character. He’s about to throw down a cinematic challenge to his longtime friend Leonardo DiCaprio, as he prepares to film his upcoming survival thriller Heart of the Beast. According to a new report, an insider claims Pitt is training harder than he has in years, allegedly with one goal in mind: to match—or top—DiCaprio’s extreme performance in The Revenant.

According to InTouch Weekly, Pitt is fully locked in on the physically grueling shoot, which will see him portraying a former U.S. Navy SEAL stranded in the remote wilderness alongside his retired combat dog. The insider notes that the Bullet Train headliner is taking the lead not just as the film’s star, but also as a producer, and he’s well aware of the physical punishment ahead. The source told the outlet that allegedly:

Topping Leonardo DiCaprio's performance in The Revenant is no easy feat. From the intense bear sequences to the raw meat-eating scenes, DiCaprio truly brought his best to a role that earned him his first Oscar. The Titanic star famously endured weeks in freezing conditions, swam in icy rivers, and reportedly slept in an animal carcass to portray fur trapper Hugh Glass in Alejandro Iñárritu’s 2015 epic, a performance that finally earned him an Oscar. Now, insiders suggest the Ad Astra actor is aiming for the same level of visceral authenticity in Heart of the Beast:

The Troy actor has reportedly been spotted on set in New Zealand’s South Island, sporting a rugged look complete with a knit beanie and beard, and was seen kayaking in the wilderness where much of the film is being shot. Rather than relying on conventional training, the Fight Club star has allegedly embraced outdoor cardio and endurance routines to prepare for the demanding role. The insider added:

Despite his age, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood alum appears ready to take on the physical toll of telling this survival story. With a plot focused on isolation, resilience, and the bond between man and dog in the face of nature’s worst, the movie offers plenty of opportunities for extreme moments that could rival DiCaprio’s icy ordeal. If the execution matches the ambition, it could be one of his most intense roles yet.

Up next for Pitt, he stars as Sonny Hayes in F1, playing a retired driver brought back to the sport by a friend (Javier Bardem) to mentor rising star Joshua "Noah" Pearce (Damson Idris). The talented ensemble cast also stars Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Shea Whigham. With action that will demand the big screen experience, the film hits U.S. theaters June 27.

A lot can happen to a movie between the time a script is written and a premiere is held, and in some cases, a whole lot of bad can happen. Over the years, Best Picture winners, some of the greatest horror movies of all time, and cult classics have experienced nightmarish productions, with some being far worse than anyone could have ever imagined.

Come with us as we go through the history of Hollywood and break down 32 movies with disastrous productions that have since become the stuff of legend. And while we will be avoiding spoilers, some details are not for the faint of heart.

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1982)

Arguably the most infamous disastrous production, Twilight Zone: The Movie is mostly remembered for the on-set deaths of Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, who were all killed in a freak accident involving a helicopter. Slate would later write extensively about the accident, what led to it, and how the segment’s director, John Landis, dealt with the ramifications.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Though known as one of the best war movies ever made, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic is more times than not remembered for being one of the most intense, grueling, and disastrous productions. An overweight and ill-prepared Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen’s heart attack, and several other issues have since been well-documented in documentaries like Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.

The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)

The Island of Dr. Moreau is one of those movies that so many people wanted to work on, but it just wasn’t in the cards. The early dismissal of original director Richard Stanley (he was replaced by John Frankenheimer less than a week into shooting), Marlon Brando’s odd behavior, and Val Kilmer stepping in when Bruce Willis left shortly before production began all contributed to the madness on set.

Rust (Unreleased)

Who knows if the world will ever get to see Rust, as Joel Souza’s Western film has been wrapped up in all kinds of investigations, criminal trials, and litigation ever since a freak accident on set claimed the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021. According to the Los Angeles Times, star Alec Baldwin was practicing a shooting scene when his gun fired a live round, killing Hutchins and injuring Souza. Production has been suspended ever since.

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Werner Herzog’s 1982 epic Fitzcarraldo tells the story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald (Klaus Kinski) as he attempts to transport a steamship through rivers and over a steep hill to find his fame and fortune. Herzog, not one to take the easy way out, decided that he and his crew would drag an actual 320-ton ship up a hill, as seen in the must-watch Les Blank documentary, Burden of Dreams. 

The Shining (1980)

In addition to having some great improvised movie moments, Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining also has a reputation for being a movie where the tyrannical director pushed and pushed and pushed his cast to their breaking point. Kubrick’s primary target, Shelley Duvall, had an especially hard time on set, according to The Mirror, and was left in poor health because of the intense and chaotic shoot.

Jaws (1975)

Steven Spielberg’s 1975 summer blockbuster, Jaws, had everything you’d want in a big movie: legendary acting performances, an all-time great John Williams score, and one of the scariest monsters captured on screen. As the director remembered in Spielberg: The First Ten Years (via Vanity Fair), a boat began to sink with the actors (and sound equipment) aboard, the shark didn’t work half the time, and the whole project went over budget. Still, it’s one of the greatest of all time.

Back To The Future (1984)

Back to the Future is remembered today as one of the best ‘80s movies and an iconic sci-fi flick that helped turn Michael J. Fox into the biggest actor on the planet. But before the Family Ties star came into the picture and brought Marty McFly to life, Eric Stoltz was famously cast and then fired weeks into the production. Though all of the McFly scenes were reshot, there’s still a single shot of Stoltz in the final cut. 

The Revenant (2015)

The Revenant, which earned Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar, experienced one of the most grueling and difficult productions in recent memory. Director Alejandro G. Inarritu insisted on shooting the film in order, which caused a myriad of issues along the way, including going over budget by the tune of $7 million, subjecting the cast and crew to extreme weather conditions, and having to move everything to a different continent to find cold enough weather.

The Wizard Of Oz (1939)

The Wizard of Oz is a movie that should get its own biographical drama series because so much drama happened on the set of the landmark 1939 film. From the production using asbestos to make fake snow to the alleged abuse and harassment on set to recastings and new directors, a lot went wrong in the process of making one of the most influential films of all time.

Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars (later retitled Episode IV – A New Hope) launched one of the biggest franchises of all time back in May 1977, but it wasn’t all peas and carrots on the set of the game-changing sci-fi epic. George Lucas and company battled all kinds of issues during the disastrous production including shooting in the deserts of Tunisia and Death Valley, budget problems, and droids that just wouldn’t work led to a series of headaches for all involved parties.

Cleopatra (1963)

Described by the A.V. Club as both an unmitigated disaster and runaway smash hit, Cleopatra is one of the most well-known movies of all time. Production of the epic starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton was stalled by unexploded World War II landmines, medical emergencies, and a ballooning budget.

Waterworld (1995)

A bad movie with a great plot, Kevin Costner’s Waterworld has a reputation for being one of the worst and most expensive box office failures of the ‘90s. According to Yahoo! Entertainment, Costner’s choice to ignore Steven Spielberg’s advice about shooting on open water was largely to blame for the movie’s massive budget and a plethora of issues experienced by the cast and crew on the set.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

On top of being a wildly inaccurate biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody is also a film that was marred by on-set issues. A lot of the issues were connected to original director Bryan Singer, who was fired partway through production after numerous run-ins with the cast and outbursts on set. But the problems didn’t stop there, as the screenwriter later sued the film’s producers.

Titanic (1997)

James Cameron’s Titanic is one of the biggest movies of all time, as well as one that experienced one of the strangest incidents during production. As later covered by outlets like Variety, someone spiked the cast and crew’s clam chowder with PCP, which resulted in dozens of people flooding a local hospital suffering from all kinds of psychedelic and physical effects.

Blade Runner (1982)

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner is a top-tier sci-fi classic, but the director’s techno-noir film wasn’t without its fair share of incidents. From rewrites to missing deadlines to an insistence on adding narration by Harrison Ford, there was a lot that went wrong before the movie hit the big screen.

Heaven's Gate (1980)

Heaven’s Gate, the 1980 Michael Cimino movie and not the cult from the ‘90s, is often regarded as one of the worst and most disastrous movies of all time. Released a few years after Cimino’s iconic The Deer Hunter, the Western epic ended up coming in $30+ million over budget, many days late, and according to IndieWire, was so bad United Artists decided to shelve the film not long into its run.

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

The Bridge on the River Kwai, Davide Lean’s 1957 war epic is often regarded as one of the best World War II films, but it too, had its share of production issues. Among them were problems director David Lean had with the British actors and the botched filming of the iconic bridge explosion caused by a cameraman not getting out of the way in time.

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Regarded as one of the best action movies of all time, Mad Max: Fury Road took the genre to new heights with its story about Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) and Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). However, as reported by Vanity Fair, the two stars hated one another, which made things difficult on set.

Tombstone (1993)

One of the best Westerns ever made, Tombstone is one of those movies you just have to watch whenever it's on TV. But we’re lucky the movie was even made, as its production was the stuff of nightmares (at least for Hollywood). Kevin Jarre, the screenwriter and original director, was fired early in production and there have long been rumors that star Kurt Russell was his replacement, not George P. Cosmatos, who’s credited as the director.

The Crow (1994)

The Crow, which would go on to become one of the biggest cult classics of the ‘90s, will forever be known as the movie in which star Brandon Lee was tragically shot and killed during production. 

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, was long believed to be a movie that would never see the light of day. Over the course of nearly 30 years, multiple attempts, and countless casting replacements, Gilliam finally released the movie in 2018

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

One of the most shocking movies of all time, Cannibal Holocaust has become a rite of passage in some circles due to its gratuitous violence and pure depravity. The found footage horror film, which features the decapitations of animals among other things, ended up getting its director, Ruggero Deodato, sent to court after people thought it was a real documentary.

Sorcerer (1977)

Riding high on the success of The French Connection and The Exorcist, William Friedkin took on one of his most ambitious projects: Sorcerer. The box office dud is mostly remembered all these years later for being the movie that sent at least 50 crew members to the hospital with ailments like gangrene and malaria, per Collider.

The Abyss (1989)

Though not the best James Cameron movie, The Abyss is still a great addition to the sci-fi genre and a wonderful alien movie. But know what wasn’t great? The film’s production. Cameron pushed things way too far for the cast, crew, and himself to the dangerous limits throughout the shoot, and, according to SyFy, he almost died on set.

Deliverance (1972)

Few movies capture a sense of dread and danger better than Deliverance, and it sounds like what happened behind the scenes was just as terrifying as anything featured in the 1972 thriller. Between Jon Voight almost dying performing a stunt, fistfights on set, and run-ins with the locals, a lot went wrong.

Alien 3 (1992)

David Fincher is one of the best directors in Hollywood, but the man behind Seven, Fight Club, and The Social Network had a bad start in the business thanks to the disastrous Alien 3. Fincher has been vocal about the production woes in the past, which could be attributed to a revolving door of creatives and a studio not knowing what it wanted.

World War Z (2013)

Have you ever watched World War Z and wondered why the final act of the 2013 Brad Pitt zombie movie feels like it has nothing in common with everything that led to that point? Well, that’s because the final third of the movie was completely rewritten and reshot.

Roar (1981)

Watch the Roar trailer and it shouldn’t take long to figure out why this 1981 cult classic is on the list. During the production of this wild creature feature, 70 crew members were injured by real-life lions, with some getting gangrene and puncture wounds.

American History X (1998)

It wasn’t so much the production of American History X that was the disaster as it was the post-production work. According to The Independent, director Tony Kaye, who was upset with New Line Cinema for making him recut and lengthen the film, ended up punching a wall and breaking his hand during the editing before going on a crusade to bad-mouth his film and having his name removed from the credits.

Tootsie (1982)

Going off an excerpt from David McGiffert’s The Best Seat in the House (via The Wrap), it sounds like Dustin Hoffman was just as difficult to work with as his character in Tootsie. In his book, the assistant director goes into great detail about the confrontations between Hoffman and director Sydney Pollack, which really adds to their characters’ scenes together.

Suicide Squad (2016)

Before all the Justice League brouhaha in the years that followed, the DCEU gave the world Suicide Squad, a movie pieced together by so many different parties it’s unnecessarily complex and hard to follow. Years later, director David Ayer still gets crap for the movie.

Some of these movies are cinematic masterpieces, while others have been largely forgotten to the sands of time. However, they all have something in common: they all had disastrous productions.

There are just some movies, that despite how great they are, are just impossible to watch more than once. Either the subject is too heavy, like a holocaust film, or the violence is too much, like some horror movies, or any other number of reasons. This is a list of 32 of those amazing films that you just can't watch a second time. 

Schindler's List (1993)

The Steven Spielberg classic Schindler's List is one of the most difficult movies to watch ever. It's absolutely brilliant in the way it depicts the horrors and personal costs of The Holocaust, and while it's completely gripping and an amazing story, it is really hard to watch, emotionally. I've actually seen it twice after swearing to never watch it a second time, but I don't think I have it in me to watch a third time. 

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

The Rwandan genocide of the '90s is still very raw in that part of Africa. The movie Hotel Rwanda is like other movies about people trying to save people from such events, like Schindler's List, is both heartwarming and completely heartbreaking. You really feel for everyone viscerally when you watch, and because of that, it's really hard to watch a second time. 

The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile is a very different story than we are used to coming from the mind of Stephen King. It's not scary, in a traditional sense, but boy is it emotionally fatiguing. Michael Clarke Duncan's performance is what makes this heartbreaking movie about a prisoner on death row. The raw emotion he plays the role with is spectacular but absolutely draining.   

The Zone Of Interest (2023)

The 2024 Oscar winner for Best Sound, The Zone Of Interest, is one of the most worthy recipients of that award in history. The way that director Jonathan Glazer told the entire menacing part of the story with sound is simply incredible. It is also not for the faint of heart. Not seeing the horrors of the Holocaust depicted on screen makes it all the more powerful because it's all in your mind, making it much more real somehow. 

Uncut Gems (2013)

There is little harder than watching one man's decent in desperation and despair, like Howard (Adam Sandler) in Uncut Gems. You want to just reach out and hug and tell him to stop making things worse for himself. Audiences see every bad, desperate decision coming and are helpless to stop it. Sandler's performance is so good, that you completely forget this is the guy who played Billy Madison and is known for being funny more than a dramatic actor. 

12 Years a Slave (2013)

Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave should be required viewing for every American. It should be taught in schools, it's that important. Chiwetel Ejiofor's depiction of the real-life Solomon Northup, a free Black man kidnapped and enslaved for 12 years in the American South. Slavery is America's original sin, one we still are grappling with a century and a half after it ended, and seeing the way Ejiofor and McQueen show it is really, really hard, but really important to do.  

Midsommar (2019)

Horror movies are a lot of different things to different people. They can be campy and fun, or they can be psychologically terrifying. Midsommar is the latter, by a mile. There is nothing "fun" about Midsommar. It's one of the most disturbing movies made in the last decade, and it's a movie that will sit with you for a long, long time. So long, that you probably don't want to put yourself through it again. It's so good at doing what it sets out to do, you never want to see it again. Even star Florence Pugh was greatly affected by it. 

Inside (2023)

2023's Inside is one of those movies I went into knowing virtually nothing about, save for the fact that it starred Willem Dafoe. Wow was that a tough watch to see a man trapped in a gilded prison cell of his own making when Dafoe's character finds himself unable to escape a penthouse apartment he was trying to rob. Dafoe's performance of a man driven to madness is both brilliant and terrifying. 

Manchester By The Sea (2016)

Manchester By The Sea is one of those stories that just when you think things can't get worse, they do. One tragedy after another is revealed as the movie goes on and Casey Affleck's performance is one of the all-time greats in Hollywood history as the man who just can't seem to ever get a break, and is living one of the saddest lives you've ever seen on film. It's such a good movie, but too emotionally draining to watch more than once. 

The Passion Of The Christ (2004)

Even for non-Christians The Passion of the Christ is an incredibly difficult watch. The sheer amount of violence so viscerally depicted is stomach-churning and disturbing. I do think it's worth watching once, despite the controversy that has always surrounded it and its director Mel Gibson, but once is enough. 

The Revenant (2015)

Like a few others on this list, The Revenant is here not because of the story it tells, but rather how it's depicted. It's raw and violent and bloody and disturbing. It's a (mostly) true story, which makes it almost too incredible to believe, and Leonardo DiCaprio puts in one of his finest performances, but it's not a movie you watch over and over. 

The Machinist (2004)

2004's The Machinist is worth watching - and impossible to watch again - for one reason, really, Christian Bale's performance. The actor legendarily lost 62 pounds for the role, playing an emaciated, delusional factory worker who is unable to sleep, ever. It's one of the most incredible acting jobs you'll ever see, and never want to see again. 

Requiem For a Dream (2000)

Watching a decent into drug addiction can be among the most harrowing things to see in a movie and no movie is better (and scarier) for that than Requiem For a Dream. Viewers not only watch Sara's (Ellen Burstyn) downward spiral, but they feel it with Darren Aronofsky's direction and Burstyn's amazing performance. 

Oldboy (2003)

When a movie starts out as unsettling as the 2003 South Korean masterpiece Oldboy and only gets more harrowing from there, you know it belongs on this list. Choi Min-sik is amazing as the man imprisoned in what looks like a hotel room for years. As he learns the disturbing fate of his wife on TV, he sinks further into despair. Things only get worse when he is finally freed from the room. 

Civil War (2024)

Alex Garland's Civil War has garnered huge praise that it is worthy of, but the movie's premise and action are so tough to watch, that I'll likely never see it again. That sickness in my stomach I felt as I watched is both high praise and the reason for my decision. Seeing some of the images of a country at war that you never expect to see is haunting and scary. 

The Whale (2022)

Like other examples on this list, The Whale is carried by the performance of its lead actor, Brendan Fraiser. The Academy Award-winning role is played with such raw emotion, that it's impossible to look away from, yet it's not something I ever want to relive. 

Whiplash (2014)

There was a ton of praise for Whiplash when it was released in 2014, and it's deserving of all of it. The depiction of a student learning drums from an impossible taskmaster is nothing short of fantastic, yet you can't watch the movie and not feel all the violence and mental anguish right in your gut for the runtime of the movie. JK Simmons is terrifying in his role as the sadistic conductor pushing Andrew (Miles Teller) to the brink of sanity. 

Happiness (1998)

Though it's billed as a comedy, Happiness is as dark as a comedy can get. It's praised for its bold decision to cover issues that are rarely talked about, and so disturbing I'd rather not do that here, and the cast, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ben Gazzara, Jared Harris, Lara Flynn Boyle, and more. Still, it's hard to watch even once, much less twice.  

Life Is Beautiful (1997)

It's rare for a movie as funny as Life Is Beautiful to be so hard to watch again, but that's exactly what is it. The movie was controversial for the comedic elements within telling a story about the Holocaust, but Roberto Benigni is so good at the tragic clown that it's impossible to appreciate the movie. Even if you never want to see it again. 

American History X (1998)

While some movies are too hard to watch a second time because they are emotionally draining, American History X is impossible to watch again because it's just too disturbing. We don't want to believe that people like Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) exist, though we know they do and that makes it really hard to digest once, much less twice. 

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

The level of self-destruction that Nicolas Cage's character in Leaving Las Vegas is astounding. When I saw it, it both repulsed me and made me want a drink, which is disturbing on a lot of levels. It's so heartbreaking to watch anyone so depressed and hopeless as the character is. 

The Pianist (2002)

Like other movies about The Holocaust, The Pianist is incredibly heartbreaking and hard to watch. Unlike movies like Schindler's List, it's really about one man's trials through the whole event and that makes it even more tragic to see everything happening around him. It's not just those murdered in the Holocaust, the survivors are also victims. 

Nightcrawler (2014)

Nightcrawler asks a lot of important questions and despite being almost a decade old, it's still questions we need answers to about the role of the press in our society. For that reason, it's an important movie to watch. The violence and disturbing images make it both critical and appalling to watch and for those reasons, once is enough. 

My Girl (1991)

Everything is tougher when it's kids. The death of a child is among the most heartbreaking things in the world, and My Girl is brutal in that respect. What makes it even harder is how sudden the death is in the movie, making it a wonderful movie, but one that you never want to watch again. 

The Saw Movies

The name of the company that produces the Saw franchise is Twisted Pictures and that name says it all. The horror movies are stone classics in the genre, but for anyone even a little squeamish, these movies are unwatchable nightmares. Even those of us that can stomach them once, have had enough by the end. 

Steel Magnolias (1989)

There is no question that Steel Magnolias has an amazing cast, led by the great Sally Field in one of her best roles. It's still a movie you only want to watch once. It's a little more rewatchable than some of the other movies on this list, but only due to the performances. It's truly one of the most iconic tear-jerkers in Hollywood history. 

The Act of Killing (2012)

Most of this list is fictional movies, but The Act of Killing is a documentary and that makes everything even more visceral. It's not only a true story - and a disturbing one at that - it features the real people involved. It's a naked look at the worst humanity can be and for that it's necessary viewing, but not multiple times. 

Marley & Me (2008)

There are millions of families that can directly relate to Marley & Me, which is what makes it both wonderful and sad. Many people know exactly how important dogs can be, especially to young families, and even though we know in the back of our heads that our dogs won't live forever, yet when we lose them, it really hurts. Marley & Me would be very rewatchable if it ended with the family moving the farm and Marley happily running around. But that's not how it ends and for that, it puts it in the same category as Old Yellar. Once is enough. 

Sophie’s Choice (1982)

There is no question that the role of Sophie Zawistowska in Sophie’s Choice is one of the finest performances of Meryl Streep's career, and that is really saying something. It's a revelation to watch her play this incredibly difficult role, and for that, everyone should see the movie. The "choice" she has to make wouldn't be wished on anyone's worst enemy and for that, we know we can only watch it once. 

Fruitvale Station (2013)

2013's Fruitvale Station forces the audience to confront, viscerally, some of the worst aspects of life in America for African Americans. It's not a pleasant thing to watch, though like others on this list, should be required viewing. It's hard to get through, but completely worth it in the end. It's a movie that will stick with you forever, so once is all you need. 

Mother! (2017)

There is a genre of movie, like Mother!, that are so hard to watch for mothers especially that they deserve their own sub-category of movie. That's not to say it's easy to watch for anyone else. The ending is so disturbing, that I still have nightmares about it, despite loving the movie. 

127 Hours (2017)

Danny Boyle's 2017 film about the harrowing ordeal Aron Ralston (James Franco) went through is so well told and shown that audiences can feel the scariest moments. The scene of Ralston cutting through the nerves on his arm is to this day the most squeamish I've ever felt in a movie. Another movie I absolutely loved, along with many of Boyle's movies, but the only one I never want to watch again. 

Movies scores add so much to films it’s hard to overstate just how important they are. Music can completely change the mood of a movie, or a scene, in ways that little else can. Most movie scores follow a tried and true formula and while we would never discount the importance of such scores, the ones on this list are different. They are meant to be jarring, or at least different enough that they reach new heights in what a film score can be. Here are 32 of the most unconventional film scores we think are among the best of all time. 

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

We’re all very used to Dany Elfman’s contributions to film scores at this point. He’s been one of the most in-demand composers for decades. That wasn’t always the case, and when Tim Burton brought him in to do the score for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Elfman’s eclectic style wasn’t at all conventional. Elfman came from an art-rock background and by diving into movie scores, he brought a very fresh perspective. It fit Burton’s style perfectly, which explains why they’ve worked together so often since. 

There Will Be Blood

Leave it to Paul Thomas Anderson to think outside the box and bring in Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood to do a soundtrack for him. There Will Be Blood was not Greenwood’s first soundtrack, but it was his first for a major studio production. It’s a haunting, discombobulating soundtrack that adds so much to the movie, that it’s hard to imagine that the film would be as harsh and disturbing as it is without it. 

Birdman

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Birdman is unconventional in many ways, not the least of which is the percussion-heavy score by jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez. The pulsing rhythms push the story forward as much as the editing of the movie, meant to be seen as all one take. It’s brilliant. 

No Country For Old Men

Composer Carter Burwell has been scoring the films of the Coen Brothers for decades, but with No Country For Old Men, his score is different, mostly because of how little there is of it. A majority of the movie has no score at all, but that makes the rare times it does appear so much more effective. In all, there are only 16 minutes of music on the soundtrack and even those are minimalist. It evokes a perfect eerieness for the film. 

The Social Network

Trent Reznor had never composed a film score before David Fincher approached him to do the music for The Social Network. Reznor, and his co-composer Atticus Ross, weren’t sure they could do it at first, but Fincher stayed on them and we’re all lucky for it. The pulsating soundtrack, which reminds us of Nine Inch Nails, but definitely isn’t,  is one of the many reasons the movie’s seemingly mundane story crackles to life on screen. 

Tron: Legacy

The original Tron was a groundbreaking film in its use of CGI, and so for the sequel, which was almost three decades in the making, the filmmakers knew they had to make a splash. Hiring EDM legends Daft Punk to score the film was a stroke of genius. While the soundtrack only has fleeting moments of the duo’s signature sound, it’s completely outside the box of what one expects from a soundtrack and fits the movie’s CGI look perfectly. 

28 Days Later

According to director Danny Boyle, he had the post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor “in his head” the whole time he made 28 Days Later. While one of the cult band’s songs, “East Hastings” appears in the film, they did not write the foreboding soundtrack. Still, composer John Murphy's soundtrack evokes GY!BE brilliantly, and it makes for a seriously scary soundtrack, in all the best ways. 

A Clockwork Orange

Groundbreaking composer and musician Wendy Carlos’ first foray into film scoring came in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. The combination of her Moog-heavy electronic sounds with the classical music (mostly Beethoven) in the movie is spot on for the dystopian future the film portrays. Carlos would work with Kubrick again on the eerie soundtrack for The Shining as well. 

Punch-Drunk Love

Classical music critic Greg Sandow calls the soundtrack to Punch Drunk Love “sounds” as much as music in his glowing review. He’s completely right, as composer Jon Brion used field recordings as much as music to create the soundtrack, to amazing effect. It’s unlike any other rom-com soundtrack you’ve ever heard, which is what you expect from a movie directed by P.T. Anderson. 

Dredd

Most of the soundtrack to Dredd has a fantastic heavy synth/industrial sound which is pretty unique on its own, but what sets this soundtrack truly apart from others is the music set to the “slo-mo” scenes. The composer, Paul Leonard-Morgan, took inspiration from a Justin Bieber song he heard that was slowed down so much that one minute represented 10 minutes of music in real-time. The ethereal effect is astounding. 

Requiem for a Dream

Kronos Quartet is one of the most avant-garde classical music so if they are going to agree to perform on a soundtrack, you know it’s going to be interesting. The work they do on composer Clint Mansell’s Requiem for a Dream soundtrack is wild and unsettling, just like the movie. It’s impossible to think of the film with any other music. 

Psycho

Without Bernard Herrmann’s legendary score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, it’s safe to say that it’s a completely different film. It’s easy to watch Psycho today and giggle at what seems like tropes in the filming and the music (the violin screeching in the shower scene), but you have to remember it was all cutting edge in 1960. It’s one of the scariest scores to one of the scariest films ever. 

Metropolis

Metropolis was originally released as a silent movie in 1927, but in 1984, the great composer Giorgio Moroder reimagined the film with an entirely new and modern score. Moroder wrote the music and enlisted some of his friends, like Freddie Mercury and Loverboy, to perform the music. While it was panned at first, it’s gone on to achieve cult status and is definitely a unique take on an old movie. 

Sicario

The music for Sicario first makes its presence felt in a very real way in the scene just before the main characters cross from Texas to Mexico for the first time. “Presence” is the best way to describe it, because audiences feel the music as much as they hear it. The rumbling bass and minimalist music convey the perfect sense of dread the scene needs. 

The Virgin Suicides

The soundtrack for Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides, composed and performed by the French electronic duo Air, has been hailed by numerous publications as one of the best of all time, and with good reason. Despite the movie, released in 1999, being set in the 1970s, the music is very much of the era in which it was released, and its bright-yet-dark, fresh sound sets a perfect tone. 

Thor: Ragnarok

Marvel movies aren’t the first place most people would think of looking for a unique soundtrack, but Thor: Ragnarok isn’t a run-of-the-mill superhero movie, either. Director Taika Waititi brought in former Devo leader and long-time film composer Mark Mothersbaugh to do the soundtrack. Mothersbaugh is probably best known for his work on Wes Anderson movies but for Thor: Ragnarok, he incorporated more synth than usual and went out of his way to create a different-sounding Marvel movie, and boy does it work.

Blade Runner

Vangelis, a Greek composer whose career started in the 1960s is best known today for his avant-garde work in the early ‘80s on soundtracks like Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner. His electronic sound was the perfect compliment to the dark future presented in Blade Runner and without it, with a more traditional score, the movie would have been very different. 

Flash Gordon

There are a few reasons Flash Gordon has remained a cult classic over the years and one of the big ones is the amazing soundtrack. Written and performed by Queen, it has remained one of the most interesting soundtracks ever made and is just as listenable as an album as it is backing the movie. 

Rushmore

Composer Mark Mothersbaugh and director Wes Anderson have formed one of the most fruitful partnerships in modern Hollywood. Mothersbaugh's quirky music fits Anderson's style to a T and the music has been as much a part of Anderson's style as the production design and camera angles. When you hear a Mothersbaugh score, you know immediately who wrote it. Their first project together was Bottle Rocket but it was on Rushmore that the former member of Devo found his true voice within Anderson's world. 

Hanna

One surefire way to get a unique soundtrack is to task The Chemical Brothers with creating it. Hanna's soundtrack is spectacular and the pulsing rhythms and dream-like movements drive the movie forward like they are part of the main character's psyche. Without the soundtrack, it just wouldn't have the urgency that it has throughout. 

Friday Night Lights

Post-rock band Explosions in the Sky has a big, bold, triumphant sound. It's a style that fits Friday Night Lights perfectly. It's not the kind of music you'd expect to accompany a movie set in West Texas, or about high school football for that matter, but it just works so well. It moves you as much as the movie does. 

2001: A Space Odyssey

The score for 2001: A Space Odyssey is notable on this list because it's the only one that used predominately previously recorded works. It was very rare at the time for movies to forgo original scores and yet Stanley Kubrick did, choosing to use the music that inspired him to make the movie, rather than the original score by Alex North. It's hard to imagine the ending of 2001 with another other than György Ligeti's "Atmospheres"

Suspiria

One of the most underappreciated soundtracks on this list is Suspiria, written and performed by the Italian prog band Goblins. It's like no other soundtrack on this list and is one of the best to listen to on its own if you are a fan of '70s prog rock, though you've probably never heard anything like it. The 2018 remake of Suspiria also features an incredible and unique soundtrack written by Radiohead's Thom Yorke. 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The soundtrack for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is probably the most conventional on this list, but even though it was composed by the great Hans Zimmer, it still falls outside the box of most of his work. Zimmer worked with a supergroup to co-write and record the music that included Pharrell Williams, Johnny Marr, Mike Einziger, Junkie XL, and others. 

The Third Man

In 1949, when The Third Man was produced and released, music in movies was generally written for, and performed by large orchestras. Composer Anton Karas was a zither player, and as such, he wrote much of the music for that unique instrument. It has a jangly, post-war jazz style to it that was very different for its time and it's just lovely. 

The Warriors

The cult classic The Warriors has a soundtrack full of ominous synths and driving beats that composer Barry De Vorzon expertly crafted to fit the style and plot of the movie. While there are a number of pop songs included, it's the score itself that best represents the action on the screen. It is jarring at the best of times and keeps the audience on the edge as the gang navigates the city towards the safety of Coney Island. 

The Revenant

The late Ryuichi Sakamoto was a true pioneer in electronic music. Beginning with the Yellow Magic Orchestra in Japan in the late 1970s, Sakamoto was always pushing the envelope musically, and that includes his work on movie scores, especially The Revenant. For the score, he teamed up with Alva Noto and The National's Bryce Dessner to create something unique and special. 

Forbidden Planet

The soundtrack to Forbidden Planet, written by Bebe and Louis Barron, was like nothing that had come before it. It is considered the first entirely electronic score and it literally set the tone for sci-fi soundtracks for decades. 

Annihilation

The music in Alex Garland's Annihilation is haunting and eerie, just like the movie. Made up more of evocative sounds than a true score, it's still a work of genius by co-composers Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow. The two have teamed up a number of times to work with Garland including the incredible 2024 release, Civil War.

Hereditary

Horror films often incorporate interesting and nontraditional scores and Hereditary is a perfect example. It oozes feeling and dread in the best way. Written by multi-instrumentalist Colin Stetson, who is known for his work with bands like The Arcade Fire and TV on the Radio, the soundtrack is sparse but powerful. 

Midsommar

Midsommar's writer and director Ari Aster found inspiration while writing the movie in the music of electronica artist Bobby Krlic, also known as The Haxan Cloak. Aster naturally hired Krlic to compose the score and it's a home run, and not what you would expect from the movie, yet fitting perfectly. 

The Road

Indie music legend Nick Cave is not someone you might expect to compose the music for a dark, post-apocalypse movie like The Road, yet his work, alongside co-writer and fellow Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis, is as haunting, terrifying, and beautiful as the story the movie tells. 

To be perfectly clear, we do not condone violence (or even something as harmless as a prank) as a solution to any conflict… in reality, that is. However, in the realm of fiction, few things are as satisfying as seeing a character get even with their worst enemy, especially if the inciting incident was something truly unforgivable. See if you agree by reliving some of the best revenge movies and TV shows that incorporate the theme in the coldest, but ultimately justifiable, ways possible.

John Wick (John Wick)

In 2014’s first installment of the John Wick movies, all Keanu Reeves’ eponymous former assassin wanted was a life free of violence, until a Russian mobster's punk son killed his dog and stole his car very shortly after the death of his wife. Getting back into the deadly world he was desperate to leave behind was worth it just to make sure Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) and his crew paid for their wicked deed.

The Bride (Kill Bill)

The title role of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill movies (David Carradine) and the remaining members of his DiVAS unload a massacre at Beatrix "The Bride" Kiddo's wedding rehearsal, nearly killing her and her unborn child. The retired killer awakens from a four-year coma believing that her child is dead, develops an insatiable desire to punish her former colleagues, and gets her hands on a brand-new samurai sword to go on a “roaring rampage of revenge.”

Jen (Revenge)

In the aptly titled Revenge, Jen (Matilda Lutz) suffers a senseless act by one of her married boyfriend's perverse business partners, and her boyfriend's solution is to push her off a cliff, where she becomes impaled by a tree at the bottom. Inexplicably, she survives and proceeds to ruin the trio's hunting trip by waging a brutal war on them in the middle of the desert in writer and director Coralie Fargeat's enthralling thriller.

Red Miller (Mandy)

Lumberjack Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) watches the love of his life, the titular Mandy (Andrea Riseborough), get burned alive by a sadistic cult led by a spiteful, Charles Manson-inspired musician (Linus Roache). Red retaliates by brutally taking them out one by one (even being forced to take on an otherworldly biker gang) in Panos Cosmatos' visually stunning and truly heartbreaking fantasy.

Wade Wilson (Deadpool)

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) finds himself extremely dissatisfied by the experimental procedure that, despite curing his cancer by giving him regenerative healing abilities, left him with a "haunting" appearance that forces him to leave his fiancée and don a costume covering every inch of his body. The Canadian mercenary makes it a personal mission to punish Francis "Ajax" Freeman (Ed Skrein) for his cruel experiments on him in 2016's cinematic adaptation of Marvel's hilarious Deadpool comics.

Paul Kersey (Death Wish)

In director Michael Winner’s adaptation of Brian Garfield’s novel, Death Wish, Charles Bronson plays Paul Kersey — an architect whose wife is killed and his daughter is left traumatized by abuse after a brutal home invasion. As a result, he takes it upon himself to find the perpetrators and continue to be judge, jury, and executioner on the streets of Manhattan.

Arya Stark (Game Of Thrones)

Following the infamous events of the Red Wedding, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) vows to avenge the deaths of her family members, orchestrated by Walder Frey (David Bradley). In the Season 6 premiere of Game of Thrones, she finally gets what she desires by not only killing Frey, but his entire family.

Eric Draven (The Crow)

In Brandon Lee's final film, The Crow, the actor plays Eric Draven — a rock star who is senselessly murdered by a vicious street gang, along with his fiancée, Shelley, on the night before their wedding. One year later, he is resurrected with a mission to punish his killers in one of the best comic book movies not based on a Marvel or DC title.

Hugh Glass (The Revenant)

Bear attack survivor Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is left for dead by fellow fur trader John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), who also murders his son in front of him after he tries to prevent Fitzgerald from murdering Glass. The harrowing journey the badly injured man endures through unforgiven wintry terrain in writer and director Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant makes finding and punishing Fitzgerald all the more satisfying.

Mattie Ross (True Grit)

Two of the greatest Western movies of all time (one made in 1969 and the other in 2010) are based on Charles Portis’ novel 1968 novel, True Grit. It tells the story of an intelligent teenage girl (originally played by Kim Darby and later by Hailee Steinfeld in an Oscar-nominated performance) who goes to far lengths to avenge her father's murder, including enlisting the help of a famed U.S. Marshall (first played by John Wayne in an Oscar-winning performance and later by Jeff Bridges).

Dwight (Blue Ruin)

The story of Jeremy Saulnier's Blue Ruin is a unique one for the revenge category and the key factor is the central protagonist: a homeless man named Dwight (Macon Blair. He proves to be hopelessly inexperienced, unequipped, and unprepared for his bid to avenge the senseless murder of his parents years earlier after learning their killer was released from prison.

Omar Little (The Wire)

“Vengeance” might as well have been the middle name of Omar Little (the late Michael K. Williams) for how much the theme defined his arc on creator David Simon’s The Wire. In Season 1, the good-hearted stick-up man took down Anton “Stinkum” Artis (Brandon Price) after he murdered his boyfriend, Brandon Wright (Michael Kevin Darnall) and in Season 3, he and Brother Mouzone (Michael Potts) killed Russell “Stringer” Bell (Idris Elba) for setting them both up for death previously.

Cassie Thomas (Promising Young Woman)

Emerald Fennell earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for her feature-length debut as a writer and director, 2020’s Promising Young Woman, which tells the story of  Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan), who becomes consumed by a desire to avenge the horrific abuse that drove her best friend to take her own life. Even though it would cost her her own life (as she predicted), Cassie does manage to bring her friend's abuser, and other people associated with the crime, to justice and even gets the last laugh with a series of text messages programmed to automatically send at the time of his arrest… during his own wedding.

Django Freeman (Django Unchained)

In one of the best Quentin Tarantino movies, 2012’s Django Unchained, the titular hero (Jamie Foxx) is freed by bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), who offers him the chance to punish the men who treated him horribly when he was enslaved. His new partner also helps him reunite with and rescue his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from ruthless plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Frank Castle (The Punisher)

One of the darkest characters in Marvel Comics history is Frank Castle, who became better known as The Punisher for his reputation to show no mercy for the worst criminals imaginable following the savage murder of his own family. The war veteran-turned-vigilante has been adapted for screen multiple times, but one of the most acclaimed portrayals is by Jon Bernthal, who debuted in the role on the Daredevil TV series before earning his own spin-off.

Carl Lee Hailey (A Time To Kill)

Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) believed he was right to kill Billy Ray Cobb (Nicky Katt) and James Willard (Doug Hutchinson) after he was told the two white men could very likely walk free for what they did to his young, Black daughter, Tonya (Rae’Ven Larrymore Kelly). Honestly, we cannot help but agree with him, which is part of what makes Joel Schumacher's 1996 adaptation of John Grisham’s A Time to Kill so compelling. 

Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)

Out of every character in the Breaking Bad cast, Jesse Pinkman (Emmy winner Aaron Paul) is the one most deserving of redemption… and revenge. In the series finale of creator Vince Gilligan’s revolutionary drama, he deservingly gets to be the one to rid the world of the most coldly sadistic of his captors, Todd (Jesse Plemons).

Sansa Stark (Game Of Thrones)

On Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) undergoes a devastating arc, following her tumultuous relationship with her sadistic, abusive husband, Bolton Ramsay (Iwan Rheon). She later retaliates by feeding her former spouse to his own dogs.

Shosanna Dreyfus (Inglourious Basterds)

In the breathtaking opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 World War II-era drama, Inglourious Basterds, Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) becomes the only survivor of a massacre on her French Jewish family orchestrated by the ruthless Col. Hans Landa of the SS (Christoph Waltz). While she does not end up bringing Landa to justice herself, she does wipe out most of the Nazi regime by burning her own movie theater to the ground during the premiere of a propaganda film.

Josey Wales (The Outlaw Josey Wales)

Clint Eastwood both directs and stars in the title role of 1976’s The Outlaw Josey Wales in which a mild-mannered Missouri farmer and family man is transformed into a fearsome, notorious cold-blooded killer. By the end of the Civil War-era Western thriller, Wales kills the leader of the crew who made him into the person he is in the first place by savagely and senselessly murdering his wife and son. 

Bella Baxter (Poor Things)

Director Yorgos Lanthimos’ adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, Poor Things, chronicles the reanimated Bella Baxter’s (Academy Award winner Emma Stone) discovery of the joys and pains of life, despite the people who wish to coddle her — including the husband of her former self, Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott). She punishes the controlling misogynist by also, technically, saving his life by replacing his brain with that of a goat.

Gordon "Gordo" Moseley (The Gift)

While admittedly, quite sinister in his actions (to say the least), it is easy to understand why Gordo (Joel Edgerton) harvested such wicked feelings for Simon (Jason Bateman) in 2015's The Gift. In high school, Simon fabricated a story about him being taken advantage of by a male teacher, leading to incessant bullying, him changing schools, and his homophobic father, subsequently suspecting his son to be gay, attempting to kill him.

Dr. Richard Kimble (The Fugitive)

Both the 1960s series, The Fugitive, and its acclaimed 1993 cinematic adaptation follow the wrongly convicted Richard Kimble (originally played by David Janssen and by Harrison Ford in the film) searching for the one-armed man who actually murdered his wife. The TV show ended with Kimble’s search finally being over and the movie with him learning the conspiracy behind his wife’s death, both with the reluctant help of U.S. Marshal Gerard.

Bud Fox (Wall Street)

In Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) becomes consumed by the wealth he initially acquires after being taken under the wing of his hero, Gordon Gekko (Academy Award winner Michael Douglas). However, when he learns his mentor is planning a deal that would ruin his own father's (Martin Sheen) company, Bud opts to turn against the ruthless Gordon, which ultimately puts them both behind bars.

Sam Wheat (Ghost)

In 1990’s Ghost, the lingering spirit of Manhattan banker Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) discovers that his murder was orchestrated by his two-faced friend and colleague, Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn). With help from a medium (Whoopi Goldberg) who can hear him and his newly learned abilities as a ghost, he is able to send Carl and the man hired to kill him, Willie Lopez (Rick Aviles), to a darker corner of the afterlife.

Grey Trace (Upgrade)

After a group of attackers render Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) a quadriplegic and murder his wife, the mechanic accepts a tech innovator's offer to be implanted with a device that, not only allows him to control his limbs, but is programmed with an AI named STEM that makes him a brutal fighting machine. Grey and STEM team up to punish his attackers, but — SPOILER ALERT — it turns out that STEM orchestrated the entire thing, wanting to take over a human host and, thus, making 2018’s Upgrade a cautionary revenge tale.

Claire Carroll (The Nightingale)

In writer and director Jennifer Kent's The Nightingale, Claire Carroll (Aisling Franciosi) is taken advantage of by Lt. Hawkins (Sam Claflin), who also kills her husband and her infant child. With the help of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), the burdened Irish woman takes it upon herself to bring the sadistic army lieutenant to justice.

Cecile (Cruel Intentions)

In Cruel Intentions, the 1999 teen drama reimagining of the French 18th Century novel, Dangerous Liaisons, wealthy step-siblings Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) use the innocent and naive Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon) and Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair) as pawns for a wicked wager in romantic and reputational manipulation. Annette and Sebastian find true love with each other which ends in tragedy, while Kathryn’s reputation is the one that gets destroyed after Cecile makes her manipulative ways public with copies of Sebastian’s journal.  

Kim Soo-hyun (I Saw The Devil)

You could argue that Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun) goes a little too far when exacting his revenge on Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) in the 2010 Korean horror favorite, I Saw the Devil. However, there is no debate that Kyung-chul went way too far when he beat Soo-hyun’s wife to death and dismembered her.

The Nerds (Revenge Of The Nerds)

Every socially alienated college student who was ever persecuted for their intelligence or the way they dress received some much-needed wish fulfillment vicariously through the main characters in Revenge of the Nerds. The 1984 sees Lewis Skolnik (Robert Carradine) and others turn the tables on their cruel bullies and acquire the popularity and respect they crave.

Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: First Contact)

In one of the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) is transformed into a race of cybernetic organisms called Borgs. He eventually punishes the cruel alien race for what they did to him and other crimes in the 1996 feature film, Star Trek: First Contact.

Jason Shepherd (Big Fat Liar)

In 2002’s Big Fat Liar, compulsively dishonest teen Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz) accidentally leaves his writing assignment in the limo of movie producer, Marty Wolf (Academy Award nominee Paul Giamatti), who passes it off as his own idea for a movie that gets greenlit soon after. Desperate to earn his parents’ trust, he and his best friend, Kaylee (Amanda Bynes), travel all the way to Los Angeles and — with help from more of Wolf’s enemies — set out to expose and ruin the scumbag once and for all.

They say that revenge is a dish best served cold, but what these characters achieve makes us feel warm inside.

Movies based on true stories and real history have been staples in Hollywood since its earliest days. Getting the history incorrect has been a tradition as well. It’s important to note that just because a movie isn’t 100% true, doesn’t always mean it’s a bad movie. 

There are many reasons filmmakers may choose to omit facts or change the story for cinematic reasons, but it’s still important that those changes be noted. Other times though, those missing facts or changed moments ruin the film completely. 

Braveheart (1995)

Mel Gibson’s Braveheart is the king of historically inaccurate movies. Fans love the battle sequences, but those sequences are nowhere close to how they were in history. There are too many historical inaccuracies to note here, but one important one is the portrayal of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, in which there is no bridge in the movie. William Wallace used the river and the bridge brilliantly to win the battle, instead, audiences get a giant melee on an open field. 

Pearl Harbor (2001)

There are a lot of reasons to criticize 2001's Pearl Harbor, but for brevity’s sake, let’s just say that there was no one in history who was in the Battle of Britain, and at Pearl Harbor, and who took part in the Doolittle Raid, as Ben Afflect’s character did in the movie. It’s frankly insulting that they would make such a character, diminishing those who did participate in each event. On the other hand, it is about Pearl Harbor. Sort of. 

1492: Conquest Of Paradise (1992)

1492: Conquest Of Paradise is… not a good movie. It’s easy to go on and on about Christopher Columbus’ reputation, and how he is portrayed in the movie as a hero, but rather than do that, we’ll focus on one glaring historical mistake. No one with any kind of education in 1492 believed the world was flat. The idea that Columbus’ ideas were not widely accepted or even heretical is hogwash, like this movie. 

Tombstone (1993)

1993’s Tombstone is one of the best Westerns ever made. That doesn’t mean it’s historically accurate. The movie relies on the myth of Wyatt Earp more than fact. It makes for a doozy of a watch, but don’t go teaching it to kids about how life was in the Wild West. 

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Biopics are notorious for changing the facts to suit the story and the reputation of the people they portray. Bohemian Rhapsody is no exception, even though it deserved the awards it won. The worst moment for fans of Queen and those who know their history comes at the end of the movie. It ends with Queen’s epic performance at LiveAid, but that wasn’t the first time they’d played together in years as depicted, nor was Freddie Mercury aware that he had HIV/AIDS at the time. They crammed a lot in at the end. 

The Imitation Game (2014)

No one can watch The Imitation Game and call it a bad movie. No one, that is, except historians. There are numerous examples of a good story getting in the way of historical accuracy throughout the movie, from Alan Turing’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) personal life, to his personality quirks, indeed even to how he worked, and what he worked on, at Bletchley Park. Just for starters, he had a lot of friends and worked closely with everyone on his team. There are plenty of more examples, but we can leave it that for now. 

Cool Runnings (1993)

It seems a little silly to have a movie like Cool Runnings on this list, but despite being a really fun movie, it takes a lot of creative license. For one, the team was not shunned by the bobsled community, they were celebrated. They also were never in medal contention, as the movie implies. Finally, it was pressure from the whole bobsled world that got their appeal approved to even compete, not the work of one man, as depicted. Still, it’s a wonderful movie. 

Napoleon (2023)

Director Ridley Scott makes great movies, but historians love to jump all over the liberty he takes with the facts. Napoleon is no different, as many historians have come down hard on the film's inaccuracies. The criticism is something Scott simply doesn’t care about, and he strongly denounced those who called him out, telling them to, “Get a life.”

Argo (2012)

Argo is the perfect example of a great movie, that takes a lot of liberties with the actual history. The Best Picture Oscar winner tells the story of the CIA creating a fake movie as a cover to get hostages out of Iran. The problem with the movie is that most of the people involved, including President Jimmy Carter, say that the role of the Canadian government, especially Ambassador Ken Taylor, played by Victor Garber,  was greatly diminished in the movie and that they deserve most of the credit. 

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood isn’t supposed to be the “true” story of the Sharon Tate murder, but it’s still worth noting on this list. It’s presented honestly, as an alternate history where Tate is saved from the Manson Family, but obviously, that’s tragically not what happened. 

JFK (1991)

Oliver Stone’s 1991 epic JFK is a little tricky here. The movie famously focuses on Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) and his investigation into John Kennedy’s assassination. The investigation has been criticized as being mostly conspiracy theory, therefore making it fairly inaccurate. However, the movie is actually pretty accurate to Garrison’s investigation. So that makes it both accurate and inaccurate, a rarity here. 

Apocalypto (2006)

Mel Gibson’s directorial follow-up to The Passion of the Christ took him all the way to the other side of the world with Apocalypto. Set about 500 years ago during the Mayan Empire, Apocalypto is a fascinating movie, but many scholars have called it out it for unfairly portraying the Mayans as far more barbaric than in reality. While there were examples of human sacrifice in Mayan history, for example, it wasn’t as common as the film implies. 

Gladiator (2000)

Remember, historical inaccuracies don’t automatically make for poor movies and Gladiator is a perfect example. It’s a great movie, with amazing performances and set pieces. But it plays very fast and loose with the facts, including, most notably, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) killing his father, Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris). 

U-571 (2000)

Few movies produce as much anger in historians than U-571. This is especially true of British scholars. Even then-Prime Minister Tony Blair declared the movie “an affront” to British sailors during World War II. Why? The entire plot of the movie revolves around Americans capturing the first German Enigma Machine in 1942. The problem? The Brits had captured one a full year before, months before the Americans even entered the war. Oops. 

Battle Of The Bulge (1965)

1965’s Battle of the Bulge, about the battle of the same in World War II is so historically inaccurate that Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander at the time of the actual battle, was described as “outraged” by the movie. I think that’s all we need to say. 

Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk is another tricky one here because most of the inaccuracies are because Christopher Nolan wanted to make a great movie, as well as tell a true story. The biggest problem most scholars have is a lack of soldiers on the beach. In reality, it was 10s of thousands of soldiers. Nolan didn’t want to use CGI, so the beaches look far less crowded than the reality. There is also the stunning scene at the end with the plane flying over the beach after running out of fuel, which is physically impossible. Still, it’s an amazing movie and much of it was very accurate. 

Gods And Generals (2003)

Among the most criticized films on this list is the 2003 Civil War epic Gods and Generals. The Southern Poverty Law Center said it “glorifies the Confederacy” and serves to further the “Lost Cause” narrative of neo-Confederates. Even the author of the book that the movie was based on denounced it. 

Mississippi Burning (1988)

This has to be the most heartbreaking movie to include on this list is Mississippi Burning. The incident it portrays is one of the most important moments of the Civil Rights movement when two Jewish and one Black civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi in 1964. It’s a critical story to be told. Yet, it was so fictionalized in the movie that many Civil Rights activists denounced and boycotted it. 

The Patriot (2000)

Roland Emmerich 2000’s film about the American Revolution, The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson as a widowed father of seven children who is reluctant to join the fight is so offensively inaccurate that even Gibson himself called it “sheer fantasy.”

Amadeus (1984)

1984’s Amadeus won eight Academy Awards, and for good reason, it’s fantastic. It’s not, however, a true story. It may be based on the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but very little of what happens in the movie happened in real life. It was meant to be a fantastical version of his life, sure, but it’s important to remember that often myths, like the ones this movie creates, become historical beliefs in the future. 

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Like Quentin Tarantino’s other movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, his Inglourious Basterds is presented as alternate history. Everyone knows that Adolf Hitler died in a bunker like a coward at the end of World War II, not in a gun battle in a theater, as the movie shows. That’s ok, there’s nothing dishonest about Tarantino’s presentation, but it’s still nowhere close to historically accurate. 

The Death of Stalin (2017)

Okay, so The Death of Stalin is a really tricky one. On one hand, it really does accurately portray the chaos and power-grabbing battle that happened with the high-ranking officials in the Communist Party in the Soviet Union after Stalin died. On the other hand, it’s a comedy and a farce, meant to be funny. It is, of course, hilarious and wonderful, but the characters are very different from how they were in real life. Still, a fantastic movie. 

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

A Beautiful Mind is fairly accurate in its portrayal of mental illness, as it shows the harrowing way that the film’s protagonist, John Nash (Russell Crowe), dealt with his schizophrenia. On the other hand, much of the events of Nash’s life are not accurate, or even fabricated. So this one gets a 50% in its accuracy. 

The Revenant (2015)

The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is a story so wild that audiences would be forgiven for thinking the whole thing was made up. It’s not though, much of what is seen in the movie is true. It’s an insane story, which makes it all the more curious that the filmmakers would not be accurate with Hugh Glass’ private life, where there is no evidence he had a Pawnee wife or children, as the movie claims. 

The Untouchables (1987)

Sean Connery won an Academy Award for The Untouchables, and Robert De Niro’s performance as Al Capone is among the very best of his career. The movie is really fun to watch and is completely rewatchable. It’s not, however, historically accurate at all. Virtually every event in the film is complete fiction. 

300 (2006)

Okay, okay, we’ll obviously acknowledge that 300 is supposed to be a fictionalized version of history, but like other alternate histories, or whatever you want to call 300, it’s important to point out that King Xerxes was not an 8-foot-tall God in real life. We’re just saying. 

The Greatest Showman (2017)

While Hugh Jackman’s performance in The Greatest Showman is truly wonderful, very little about the character resembles the real-life P. T. Barnum. Barnum was cruel to his animals and many of his human performers. He was also a teetotaller, which Jackman’s character was not. A wonderful movie with terrible history.  

The Great Escape (1963)

1963’s The Great Escape is one of the greatest war movies of all time. It’s legendary reputation is based on the wonderful storytelling and great performances from a slew of Hollywood’s biggest stars of the day. While it’s based on a true story of Allied airmen breaking out of a POW camp, how it went down in real life bears little resemblance to how the movie shows. 

Elizabeth (1998)

Cate Blancett’s performance in Elizabeth from 1998 is great. Like, really great. The movie’s history, however, is a total mess. The timelines are totally off, many of the locations are wrong, and some events are totally made up. There’s more historically wrong than right in the movie. Still, it’s worth watching for Blancett. 

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

It’s impossible to imagine that 1998’s Elizabeth isn’t the most inaccurate movie about Queen Elizabeth I of England, and yet, its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age, is actually an even worse offender. Cate Blanchett is wonderful, again, as she was in the first, but the plot of the movie is even less based on real history than the first. It’s completely frustrating and, unlike the original, completely forgettable, despite Blanchett. 

Captain Phillips (2013)

This is a movie we didn’t want to put on this list because it’s a white-knuckle adventure that is very much based on a true story. Still, it has to be on this list because the crew members of the Maersk Alabama, the ship captained by Capt. Phillips (Tom Hanks), insist the movie does not show how the real events really happened. It seems they disagree that Richard Phillips was not the hero he is portrayed as. 

The Green Berets (1968)

Leave it to John Wayne to make a pro-Vietnam War movie in 1968, at the height of the conflict. With war protests raging across America, Mr. Patriotism John Wayne stepped in to make a piece of pro-war propaganda that extolls the virtues of the US’s involvement in a civil war in Southeast Asia. It is inaccurate and doesn’t represent the mood of the country in any way. 

While many of the movies on this list are excellent movies and we don’t want to discourage you from watching and enjoying them, it’s always good to know how close to the real history they are. 

In the comparison I could have never, ever, ever predicted Glen Powell just explained why his new rom-com with Sydney Sweeney is like the movie that won Leonardo DiCaprio his Oscar. That’s right, he hilariously compared Anyone But You to The Revenant (yes, you read that right). 

Before we get to the comparison part, you need to understand why Glen Powell claims The Revenant is his favorite rom-com, because it’s relevant to his explanation. Speaking with Sydney Sweeney about the Leonardo DiCaprio-led film on Anyone But You’s Instagram, Powell said:

Sweeney also interjected, joking that it was “the greatest love story I’ve ever seen.” I guess that’s one way to describe The Revenant… But, anyways, continuing to lean into his bit, Powell clarified why his relationship with Sweeney in their film is like Leo and The Bear’s, saying: 

After that, Sweeney asked who the bear in their relationship was, and the Top Gun: Maverick star cheekily said:

Obviously, these two were joking, and they both got a great laugh out of this bit, as you can see in the video below:

However, the notion that the bear and DiCaprio’s character are in a tense relationship where there’s a lot of hatred involved, is not not what the upcoming rom-com is about. Based on what we know about Anyone But You, it follows two characters who absolutely despise each other and decide to fake date in an effort to make their respective exes jealous. So, the tension and hatred is comparable, in a way.

This defense is a stretch though. I’m confident the rom-com on the 2023 movie schedule will not feature nearly as much violence and murder. Plus, assuming it follows general romance tropes the movie will end with the two characters together, happy and not starving and freezing in a wilderness. 

Also, if you’ve seen the Anyone But You trailer, and both Powell and Sweeney’s reactions to that spider, I don’t think they have it in them to do anything like what Leo or the bear did in The Revenant. 

Overall, I think this hilarious comparison is just another example of the fabulous sense of humor Anyone But You and its stars seem to have. The cast and director got a kick out of Nathan Fielder’s parody of the trailer, and both actors interact with each other on social media in a fun and cheeky way (take Sweeney’s birthday post for Powell for example). So, it’s not off-brand for these two to make jokes like comparing their movie to The Revenant.

To try and understand why Glen Powell would make such an outrageous comparison, you can see Anyone But You in theaters starting December 22. 

There are actors who play protagonists we just can’t help but root for, and there are others who are so effective as villains we just can’t help but root against. And then there those like Domhnall Gleeson, who can, at one moment, portray characters like a hopelessly romantic time-traveler in About Time and then go on to take on the role of the ruthless First Order officer, General Hux, in the Star Wars universe. 

Gleeson has proven time and time again that he is capable of giving dynamic performances in a variety of roles. And, since we love exploring actors and their best screen appearances, this seems like a golden opportunity to look at some of the Domhnall Gleeson’s best movies. 

About Time (2013)

On his 21st birthday, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) learns of a life-changing secret: the men in his family can travel back in time and relive major moments from their past. But, it isn't all fun and games, as there are some major rules as well as consequences if they are broken.

What makes Richard Curtis’ 2013 romantic comedy About Time such a gem of a movie is Domhnall Gleeson’s approach to the everyman character. He is charming, believable, and just easy to root for in his quest to find the secret to love, life, and happiness. It also helps this movie play out like an emotional thrill ride.

Stream About Time on Starz.
Rent/Buy About Time on Amazon.
Get it on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Ex Machina (2015)

After winning a contest to spend a weekend at the estate of eccentric CEO Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), programmer Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) realizes that things aren’t as they seem with his boss' latest experiment.

Alex Garland, who previously worked as a screenwriter, made his directorial debut with the 2015 sci-fi thriller, Ex Machina. Gleeson, once again playing the everyman, is absolutely brilliant in his conversations with Ava (Alicia Vikander in one of her best roles), an advanced android whose capabilities defy logic and reason.

Stream Ex Machina on HBO Max.
Rent/Buy Ex Machina on Amazon.
Get it on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Brooklyn (2015)

After coming to America seeking a better life, Irish immigrant Ellis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) is forced to return home, resulting in a life-changing decision where there are no real winners or losers.

One of four critically-acclaimed movies starring Domhnall Gleeson to come out in 2015, John Crowley’s Brooklyn is right up there with any of Gleeson’s other roles. His portrayal of Jim Farrell, the warm, soft, and charming suitor waiting for Ellis back home is often overlooked but should be near the top of the list.

Rent/Buy Brooklyn on Amazon.
Get it on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Revenant (2015)

Frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is attacked by a grizzly bear in the Dakotas and left for dead by trapper John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy), setting off an emotional and painful rebirth story where the hero is motivated by revenge.

Alejandro Iñárritu’s 2015 epic, The Revenant, is mostly remembered for the tremendous performances by DiCaprio (who won his first Oscar) and Hardy, but the supporting cast is just as remarkable. Such is the case for Domhnall Gleeson, who is absolutely perfect in the role of the group's leader, Andrew Henry.

Rent/Buy The Revenant on Amazon.
Get it on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Frank (2014)

After essentially lying his way into an up-and-coming band on the cusp of fame and fortune, Jon Burroughs (Domhnall Gleeson) finds himself forming an unusual bond with the group’s lead singer, a mysterious man by the name of Frank (Michael Fassbender) who is never seen without a large papier-mâché mask covering his head.

One of the A24 movies streaming for free on Plex, Lenny Abrahamson’s 2014 comedy, Frank, is also one of the most interesting of the bunch, and of Gleeson’s career. The way in which Gleeson carries himself in this quirky feature is something else and again shows the complexity of his range as an actor.

Stream Frank on Plex.
Rent/Buy Frank on Amazon.
Get it on Blu-ray on Amazon.

True Grit (2010)

Following her father's death, 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) decides to pursue his killer, Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).

The Coen Brothers’ 2010 remake of True Grit is one of the best westerns of the modern era, and like the great westerns of yesteryear, it has an incredible cast. Domhnall Gleeson is among the greats with his portrayal of an ill-fated outlaw who has a change of heart a little too late, and steals the show whenever on screen.

Stream True Grit on Hoopla.
Rent/Buy True Grit on Amazon.
Get it on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows — Parts 1 And 2 (2010 - 2011)

The final two installments in the Harry Potter movie franchise go out with a bang as “The Boy Who Lived” (Daniel Radcliffe) takes on Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) to protect Hogwarts (and the world) from utter destruction, no matter the cost.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was split into two movies, sees heroes and villains of the Wizarding World in a final showdown, including the eldest Weasley brother, Will (Domhnall Gleeson). Though not one one of main players in the story, it’s always nice to see Gleeson’s character swoop in with a helping hand.

Stream Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 on HBO Max.
Stream Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 on HBO Max.

Rent/Buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 on Amazon.
Rent/Buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 on Amazon.
Get the Harry Potter 8-Movie Collection on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens (2015)

Years after the Battle of Endor, the Galactic Empire’s successor — the First Order — makes its presence known just as a new hope rises from the wastelands of a desert planet, starting her own hero’s journey.

People like to harp on Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, but one thing that can’t be denied is Domhnall Gleeson’s portrayal of the iron-fisted First Order officer, General Hux, with his terrifying yet commanding speech on Starkiller Base being nothing short of brilliant.

Stream Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens on Disney+.
Rent/Buy Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens on Amazon.
Get it on Blu-ray on Amazon.

American Made (2017)

Renegade pilot Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) gets the job of a lifetime when he is recruited by the CIA to fly in a dangerous mission that leads to a whole mess of trouble.

Doug Liman’s 2017 biographical action drama, American Made, features one of the most unhinged Tom Cruise characters while also one of the more dangerous performances by Domhnall Gleeson. The actor is astounding as Seal’s CIA handler, who will do anything to help the agency and the country.

Rent/Buy American Made on Amazon.
Get it on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Calvary (2014)

After receiving the confession of an unknown man who says he will kill him in seven days, Father James (Brendan Gleeson) spends what could be the final week of his life contemplating his life and the threat while also going about his normal business.

One of the most startling scenes in John Michael McDonagh’s 2014 drama, Calvary, comes when the priest meets with Freddie Joyce (Domhnall Gleeson), a killer who cannot recall where he left his last victim. The younger Gleeson is remarkable in his portrayal of an unhinged cannibal, so much so he feels like a three-dimensional human being as opposed to a character on screen.

Rent/Buy Calvary on Amazon.
Get it on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Even though we’ve talked about 10 great movies, this barely scratches the surface of Domhnall Gleeson’s body of work, and doesn’t include some of his great shows like Black Mirror, Run, or Catastrophe. And, then there’s the 2022 TV schedule entry, The Patient, that looks incredibly promising.

I want to love The Revenant so badly, and have ever since I saw it back when it first released in 2015. But…I just…don't. You don't understand; this has bothered me for years now, because I love Leonardo DiCaprio, I love Tom Hardy, and I love its director, Alejandro González Iñárritu. I also love westerns (especially non-traditional westerns that don't fit the norm), as well as meditative films that ruminate on the ideas of loss and vengeance.  

So, why don't I love The Revenant, then? It checks off all the boxes for me, and yet...I just don't. Here's the most frustrating thing about this - I KNOW it's a great film. I even put it on my list of the ten best Leonardo DiCaprio movies, well aware that I don't really enjoy it all that much. This really burns me up inside since I want to love it! I really do!   

But, I think I finally made some revelations upon my fourth viewing of it the other day, and I want to share some of those revelations with you. Why? Well, because misery loves company, I suppose. And not liking The Revenant makes me miserable! So, listen! 

Oh, and spoilers up ahead.  

It Was Filmed Almost Entirely In Natural Light, Which Is Really Impressive, But I Don't Think It Adds To The Film 

I love Stanley Kubrick movies, and one of my favorite movies of his is Barry Lyndon, which is as beautiful as it is engaging. The reason why I bring that movie up is because it famously uses a lot of natural lighting, with some shots filmed entirely using candle light. This makes the film feel more authentic given the time period, and it's all the more interesting because of the setting being such a stand-out feature.   

Mexican cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, who also worked on Birdman, worked his butt off, I'm sure, to use so much natural lighting in The Revenant, as that's no small feat.

But…well, I find The Revenant to be a very dark film, even with all that snow, because of it. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but as much as I want to be impressed by the natural lighting of The Revenant, I find that I'm not. In fact, at times, I feel like I have to remind myself that the film is actually using natural lighting, and if I have to remind myself to be impressed, then I’m not actually impressed.  

Leonardo DiCaprio Won An Oscar For This Performance, But I Think He Deserved It Much More For Other Movies 

As I mentioned earlier, I listed The Revenant as one of Leo's best films, but I kind of feel like I had to since it's the movie that he won the Academy Award for. But, I actually find many of his other performances to be much more impressive, like his vicious character in Django Unchained, where he even used his real blood, or, his character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, who had that great trailer freak out.     

In fact, I find Leo to be a much more interesting actor in most of his other movies. In The Revenant, he plays a fur trapper named Hugh Glass who gets mauled by a bear, is left for dead, and finds his son murdered. He then sets off on a quest for vengeance, which is fascinating in theory, but Leo gives a very patient and quiet performance. I know this is what is supposed to make it so powerful, but I don't think it's as good as the other two films I mentioned earlier. 

In fact, to use a Gen-Z term, I find his performance in The Revenant to be kind of mid, which makes me wonder: Did Leonardo DiCaprio get the Oscar because he was really that good, or, did he get it because he suffered so much? I'm still not sure of the answer to that question, even today.  

Tom Hardy Gives A Great Performance, But It's Lost On Me 

Another one of my favorite actors is Tom Hardy, as I feel he can do anything. From Bronson to Inception to Venom, you put Tom Hardy in it, and I'll watch it. And I watched The Revenant, but…I have a hard time even understanding what the hell he's talking about throughout the film. 

It's because he swallows his words. Yes, I know this is intentional for the character, however it just bugs me all the time when he starts talking about stuff like, "God is a squirrel," and it comes out sounding like "God is a Squirtle" to my ears. Many would consider Squirtle to be a godly Pokemon (especially when he evolves into Blastoise), I don't even consider it as one of the 12 best Pokemon. So, speeches like God is a Squirtle in The Revenant get lost on me, and it's all because of Tom Hardy's character. That's right. It's not the acting. It's the character, and the way he talks! Bothers me every time.  

The Director Received Wide-Spread Acclaim For Making This After Birdman, But I Thought Birdman Was Way Better

Only three directors have ever won back-to-back Best Director trophies, and that’s John Ford, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. And, like Ford and Mankiewicz, who both had one movie that won Best Picture during those consecutive wins (Ford's was How Green Was My Valley, and Mankiewicz had All About Eve), the same goes for Alejandro González Iñárritu as Birdman won Best Picture, but The Revenant didn’t (it lost to Spotlight). 

But, here's the thing. I LOVE Birdman. In fact, I think it's one of the best Academy Award Best Picture winners of the 2010’s. Following Birdman, I thought The Revenant was going to be another special, mindbender of a movie that took me to new places, but no. The Revenant is not that kind of film.  

Honestly, The Revenant is much closer to the director's more dour movies (more on that in a few) prior to Birdman, and it's my fault that I set my expectations needlessly high. It still bothers me that I absolutely adore Birdman, and I can't have that same love for The Revenant. Thems just the breaks, though, I suppose.  

People Like It For Being Dark And Dreary, But I Personally Find It Too Dreary 

Lastly, The Revenant is just TOO dreary for me. And I LIKE dreary movies. In fact, I like this particular director's dreary movies, like Babel, 21 Grams, and Amores Perros. But, The Revenant just feels TOO cold and too distant for me. By the end of it, I'm emotionally drained to the point that I’m exhausted. 

This may be the biggest reason why I don’t like The Revenant, since I always need to take a nap after watching it. I'm just so emotionally drained while watching it that I can't even enjoy it. A lot of people will likely tell me that this makes The Revenant a great movie, and I agree. I actually feel something while watching it. But, even I need at least a little hope in my movies, and this film just feels so hopeless that I can’t even get behind it. I'm sorry, but I just can't, no matter how hard I try to force myself to be a fan. 

Do YOU love The Revenant? For more news on other great movies (that I may or may not like), make sure to swing by here often!

Even the most innocent and forgiving souls can understand the feeling of wanting to punish those who have treated them wrong, which is why revenge movies like John Wick, star and director Dev Patel's Monkey Man, and other classic tales of characters getting the revenge they deserve are so appealing. Of course, the concept alone is so simple and so familiar that only a handful of films have managed to pull off a truly unique and captivating take on the matter, and we believe we have compiled the best revenge movies that are now available on streaming, for digital rental, or to purchase on physical media.

Django Unchained (2012)

In the pre-Civil War South, a Black man (Jamie Foxx) is freed and enlisted for help by a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) who teaches him the tricks of the trade.

Why it is one of the best revenge movies: Even before the plot to rescue Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), from Calvin Candie’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) plantation kicks in, watching Django Unchained’s title character punish those who tormented him during his enslavement already makes Quentin Tarantino’s Academy Award winner one of the best Western movies of all time.

Stream Django Unchained on Starz.
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Buy Django Unchained on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Promising Young Woman (2020)

A medical school dropout (Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan) conspires against the people involved with a personal tragedy that continues to haunt her. 

Why it is one of the best revenge movies: Emerald Fennell earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for feature-length directorial debut, Promising Young Woman – a clever, twisted vigilante story.

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Buy Promising Young Woman on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Gift (2015)

A man (Jason Bateman) sees his life begin to unravel after he and his wife (Rebecca Hall) run into a man from his past (Joel Edgerton).

Why it is one of the best revenge movies: Without giving too much away, The Gift – also Edgerton’s feature-length directorial debut – is not your typical revenge story, due the fact that it does not reveal itself to be one early on and keeps you guessing over who to root for throughout.

Stream The Gift on Netflix.
Rent or buy The Gift on Amazon.
Buy The Gift on Blu-ray on Amazon.

9 To 5 (1980)

Three office workers (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton) decide to show their “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” of a manager (Dabney Coleman) who’s boss.

Why it is one of the best revenge movies: Anyone who ever had a boss who was a nightmare to work with will surely feel the gratification they longed for by seeing how the leading ladies in the hilarious 9 to 5 deal with their workplace frustrations.

Rent or buy 9 to 5 on Amazon.
Buy 9 to 5 on DVD on Amazon.

The Fugitive (1993)

A former surgeon (Academy Award nominee Harrison Ford) wrongly convicted of his wife’s murder goes on the run in search of the truth. 

Why it is one of the best revenge movies: Ford’s Dr. Richard Kimble goes to unimaginable lengths to clear his name and avenge his wife’s death in director Andrew Davis’ cinematic adaptation of the hit TV series, The Fugitive, for which Tommy Lee Jones received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Stream The Fugitive on Tubi.
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Buy The Fugitive on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Nightingale (2018)

An Irish woman (Aisling Franciosi) enlists the help of an Aboriginal tracker (Baykali Ganambarr) to find the sadistic colonel (Sam Claflin) who killed her husband and infant child.

Why it is one of the best revenge movies: After making her directorial debut with one of the best horror movies of its time, The Babadook, writer and director Jennifer Kent followed it up with The Nightingale – an equally (if not more) harrowing piece of historical fiction.

Rent or buy The Nightingale on Amazon.
Buy The Nightingale on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Big Fat Liar (2002)

Hoping to make up for the lies he told in the past, a teen (Frankie Muniz) sets out to prove that an even more dishonest Hollywood producer (Paul Giamatti) stole the idea for his latest movie from his writing assignment.

Why it is one of the best revenge movies: The ways Muniz’s Jason Shepherd and Amanda Bynes as his best friend, Kaylee, turn the tables on Giamatti’s Marty Wolf make Big Fat Liar one of director Shawn Levy’s funniest family films.

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Buy Big Fat Liar on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Revenge (2018) 

A young, naive, American woman (Matilda Lutz) undergoes a dramatic, hardening evolution to punish her married boyfriend and his hunting buddies after a despicable act leads them to leave her for dead in the Moroccan desert.

Why it is a great revenge movie: The title says it all, but French writer and director Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge – which is also available with a Shudder subscription – exceeds its simple concept by offering one of cinema’s grittiest, bloodiest, and most inspiring subtextual messages of female empowerment in recent memory.

Stream Revenge on Amazon Prime with AMC+ add-on.
Buy Revenge on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Kill Bill (2003-2004) 

A retired assassin (Uma Thurman) embarks on an international journey to punish her old boss and ex-lover (David Carradine) and her former colleagues after nearly killing her in a brutal attack. 

Why it is a great revenge movie: Two of the best Quentin Tarantino movies, 2003’s Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2 from the following year, turn the action genre on its head with its provocatively gory and enchantingly balletic style.

Rent or buy the Kill Bill movies on Amazon.
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John Wick (2014)

A retired assassin (Keanu Reeves) gets back to business to punish the arrogant son of his former colleague after he steals his car and kills his dog shortly after the death of his ill wife.

Why it is a great revenge movie: Action movies (and Reeves’ career) would face another major turning point upon the release of the first chapter of the John Wick movies, which brought “gun fu” to the mainstream and made mysterious world-building a more in-demand point of interest in the genre.

Stream John Wick on Peacock.
Rent or buy John Wick on Amazon.
Buy John Wick on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Deadpool (2016) 

A former mercenary (Ryan Reynolds) – made immortal, but also physically grotesque by an experimental procedure – hunts down the man who screwed up his face and his relationship with his fiancée. 

Why it is a great revenge movie: Superhero movies would also face a major evolution upon the release of Deadpool – a hilarious, exciting, and unapologetically R-rated adaptation of Marvel Comics’ crass, fourth-wall-breaking Merc with a Mouth, whom producer Reynolds was undeniably born to play.

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Rent or buy Deadpool on Amazon.
Buy Deadpool on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Death Wish (1974)

An architect (Golden Globe winner Charles Bronson) takes up a side gig as a vigilante, posing his deadly attacks on New York City’s vicious muggers as self-defense, shortly after the senseless murder of his wife.

Why it is a great revenge movie: One of the first movies to prove that vengeance can inspire any average person to become a lethal purveyor of justice was the original Death Wish – director Michael Winner’s grounded and gratifying adaptation of Brian Garfield’s novel that also made then-53-year-old Charles Bronson America’s favorite badass.

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Buy Death Wish on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Mandy (2018) 

A lumberjack (Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage) goes on a furious killing spree against a sinister cult leader, his devoted followers, and a pack of demonic bikers after they murder his girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) right in front of him.

Why it is a great revenge movie: Cage gives one of the greatest and most wonderfully manic performances of his career as the brutally vengeful, unlikely hero of one of the best horror movies on Hulu, Mandy – a surreal, acid-dipped, and action-packed heavy metal album cover brought to life from director Panos Cosmatos.

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Buy Mandy on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Upgrade (2018)

In the near future, a technophobic mechanic (Logan Marshall Green) is implanted with an experimental device that allows him to walk, fight, and track down the people who made him into a quadriplegic and murdered his wife (Melanie Vallejo).

Why it is a great revenge movie: Green’s average, unlikely hero gets some special (and much-needed) help to become a purveyor of justice in the form of a highly-advanced artificial intelligence in Upgrade – the sophomore directorial effort of Leigh Whannell that is more action-packed but equally as thought-provoking as many of the best Black Mirror episodes so far.

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Buy Upgrade on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Crow (1994) 

A rock star (Brandon Lee) is magically brought back from the dead with supernatural abilities and a mission to punish the people who killed him and his fiancée exactly a year earlier.

Why it is a great revenge movie: The slain, unlikely hero of The Crow – one of the best non-Marvel or DC-inspired comic book movies – has some special and much-needed help to become a spirit of vengeance in the form of a mystical entity in Alex Proyas’ beautifully told adaptation of James O’Barr’s influential comic book series.

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Rent or buy The Crow on Amazon.
Buy The Crow on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Revenant (2015)

After suffering a near-fatal bear attack, a frontiersman (Leonardo DiCaprio) endures harsh terrain and numbing temperatures in order to track down and punish the fellow fur trader (Tom Hardy) who killed his son right before his eyes in 1823.

Why it is a great revenge movie: Based on Michael Punke’s harrowing historical fiction novel, The Revenant is a thoroughly captivating visual feast from co-writer and director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu which finally earned DiCaprio his first Academy Award. 

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Rent or buy the Revenant on Amazon.
Buy The Revenant on Blu-ray on Amazon.

True Grit (2010) 

A precocious teenage girl (Hailee Steinfeld) enlists the help of a grizzled, drunken, one-eyed U.S. Marshal (Jeff Bridges), and also receives the unrequested help of a proud Texas Ranger (Matt Damon), to track down and punish the dirty criminal (Josh Brolin) who killed her father in 1878.

Why it is a great revenge movie: Celebrated writing and directing duo Joel and Ethan Coen managed to adapt Charles Portis’ classic novel, True Grit, into a film that some believe surpasses the 1969 original Western classic starring John Wayne and also earned a very young Steinfeld her first Academy Award nomination.

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Stream True Grit on Pluto TV.
Rent or buy True Grit on Amazon.
Buy True Grit on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Blue Ruin (2013) 

A homeless man (Macon Blair) returns to his childhood home with a mission to track down and punish the man who killed his parents after learning that he was recently released from prison.

Why it is a great revenge movie: We have talked about unlikely vengeful heroes a lot throughout this list, but none hold a candle to the pathetically amateur and foolish vigilantism of Blair’s otherwise empathetic protagonist in Blue Ruin – a wicked, heart-wrenching cautionary tale from an expert in brutal and grounded drama: Green Room writer and director Jeremy Saulnier.

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Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

A convicted thief (Academy Award winner George Clooney) enlists the help of 10 other professional criminals to pull off an elaborate heist targeting the smug Las Vegas casino owner (Andy Garcia) who is currently dating his ex-wife (Julia Roberts).

Why it is a great revenge movie: Writer and director Steven Soderbergh proved that not all revenge tales have to be so dark with his irresistibly witty, remarkably clever, and damn near perfect modernization of a snatch-and-grab classic, which also boasts one of the coolest, star-studded ensembles that Hollywood could ever afford in the Ocean's Eleven cast.

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Buy Ocean’s Eleven on Blu-ray on Amazon.

If you have never acted on your own vengeful instincts, that’s a good choice. Reward yourself by checking out some of these great revenge movies.

Years after his long-awaited introduction was teased in one of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s post-credits scenes, we finally know who is playing Adam Warlock in the Marvel movies: Will Poulter. The talented, 28-year-old British actor has an eclectic filmography that includes intense dramas like The Revenant, goofy comedies like We’re the Millers, and, more recently, fact-based limited series like Dopesick on Hulu, but he will be making his superhero movies debut in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as one of the most powerful cosmic beings in Marvel Comics history. In the meantime, let’s revisit the highlights of his career thus far with some of the best Will Poulter movies available on streaming, for digital rental, or on physical media, starting with his very first credit.

Son Of Rambow (2007)

A young boy (Bill Milner) and a notorious school bully (Will Poulter) form an unlikely friendship while shooting their own movie inspired by First Blood  - the first of the Rambo movies - in 1980s England. 

Why it is a good Will Poulter movie: Will Poulter was 14 when he made his screen acting debut in Son of Rambow, an inventive and charming coming-of-age story that brilliantly sheds light on all the highs of lows of friendship during childhood.

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Rent/buy Son Of Rambow digitally on Amazon. 
Buy Son Of Rambow on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (2010)

Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund Pevensie (Skandar Keynes) bring their cousin, Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter), to the wondrous world they once discovered years earlier for a trip to the edge of the world aboard a royal ship that brings them face-to-face with dragons, long-lost warriors, and more.

Why it is a good Will Poulter movie: Will Poulter got to experience a sudden uptick in scale and budget with his second movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - the third (and, unfortunately, last) installment of the fantasy/adventure franchise inspired by C.S. Lewis’ beloved book series.

Stream The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader on Disney+. 
Rent/buy The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader digitally on Amazon. 
Buy The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Maze Runner Movies (2014, 2018)

A group of young amnesiacs manage to escape a labyrinth crawling with deadly machines, only to discover even more horrifying circumstances and dark secrets in the outside world that inspire them to lead a rebellion against their former captors.

Why they are good Will Poulter movies: In his next experience acting in a big budget franchise based on a book series, Will Poulter played Gally, who evolves from a ruthless rival to a redemptive ally of central hero Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) in the first and third Maze Runner movies, which are based on James Dashhner’s hit YA dystopian novels.

Rent/buy The Maze Runner digitally on Amazon. 
Buy The Maze Runner on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.
Rent/buy Maze Runner: The Death Cure digitally on Amazon. 
Buy Maze Runner: The Death Cure on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

We’re The Millers (2013)

A middle-aged pot dealer (Jason Sudeikis) enlists his broke stripper neighbor (former Friends cast member Jennifer Aniston), a hapless young introvert (Will Poulter), and an edgy teen runaway (Emma Roberts) to pose as his wife and kids on a trip to Mexico for a huge drug pickup.

Why it is a good Will Poulter movie: Before returning to big budget spectacle, Will Poulter would branch out into funnier and raunchier territory with We’re the Millers - director Rawson Marshall Thurber’s fun twist on the family road trip comedy in which the then 20-year-old actor’s character suffers a tarantula bite in a very awkward place.

Stream We’re The Millers on HBO Max. 
Rent/buy We’re The Millers digitally on Amazon. 
Buy We’re The Millers on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)

A young, aspiring designer (Fionn Whitehead) attempts to adapt a choose-your-own-adventure novel into a video game, only to find that his own life seems to be its own choose-your-own-adventure story that he is slowly loosing control over, in 1980s England.

Why it is a good Will Poulter movie: You will never know what to expect from how you choose the story to continue in the Emmy-winning interactive movie Black Mirror: Bandersnatch - one of the best Netflix movies also spun-off from on the best Netflix TV shows - but can count on Will Poulter to give a stellar performance as a famed video game programmer whose eccentricities are fueled by dark secrets. 

Stream Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on Netflix. 

Midsommar (2019)

Hoping to find solace from a devastating tragedy, a young woman (Academy Award nominee Florence Pugh) joins her emotionally distant boyfriend (Jack Reynor) and his classmates at a traditional Swedish festival that proves to be a more bizarre and ominous experience than they were prepared for. 

Why it is a good Will Poulter movie: While Black Mirror: Bandersnatch could be considered Will Poulter’s first foray into horror movies, his most definitive performance as a “Scream King” is in writer and director Ari Aster’s masterfully unnerving sophomore effort Midsommar - one of the best movies on Amazon Prime and one in which he, once again, does a fantastic job playing an insufferably bullish character.

Stream Midsommar on Amazon Prime. 
Rent/buy Midsommar digitally on Amazon. 
Buy Midsommar on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

Detroit (2017)

The story of the deadly police raid that led to one of the most infamous race riots in American history in 1967.

Why it is a good Will Poulter movie: Two years before co-starring in Midsommar, Will Poulter and Jack Reynor played two police officers who participated in the horrifying true events depicted in Detroit - another stunningly intense drama from writer Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow, in which Poulter gives another sinister performance.

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Rent/buy Detroit digitally on Amazon. 
Buy Detroit on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Revenant (2015)

A frontiersman (Leonardo DiCaprio) defies death in order to exact revenge on a member of his hunting crew (Tom Hardy) who killed his son and left him for dead after suffering a horrifying bear attack.

Why it is a good Will Poulter movie: Will Poulter was thankfully given a chance to be a more sympathetic character in The Revenant - another intense, yet visually engrossing, retelling of an (allegedly) true story that earned director Alejandro González Iñarritu his fourth Oscar and star Leonardo DiCaprio his first.

Rent/buy The Revenant digitally on Amazon. 
Buy The Revenant on DVD/Blu-ray on Amazon.

War Machine (2017)

A seasoned U.S. military general (Brad Pitt) assigned to “clean” things up and exit Afghanistan after eight years of war is instead more interested in winning the fight.

Why it is a good Will Poulter movie: Will Poulter appears as an ambitious American soldier in some of the more memorably intense moments from the Netflix original film War Machine, which is an otherwise absurdist satire that explores when enough really is enough when it comes to war.

Stream War Machine on Netflix.

While there are no 2021 movies starring Will Poulter to look forward to once you have finished this binge, the actor has completed filming a musical heist movie called The Score, is currently filming a limited series based on Agatha Christie’s novel Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? premiering in 2022, and, of course, his debut as Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is expected for May 2023.

As an accomplished, versatile actor who is often quick to challenge himself and put himself into different projects, both big and small, Tom Hardy is one of our most riveting and impressive actors. While some viewers might know him best for Venom, that Sony blockbuster only gives us a brief look at what he can do. Certainly, Hardy has proven the depths of his versatility in a number of outstanding performances, even in some films where his work is better than the movie itself — though that is a matter of opinion. If you love Tom Hardy, you should make a point to check out these movies.

Bronson

In this thunderous title role, Tom Hardy rarely — if ever — leaves our focus in Bronson. As one of the most violent, infamous prisoners in Britain history, Bronson certainly isn't an endearing protagonist on the page. But through Hardy's uproarious turn, it's invigorating. He's our central figure in every respect, appearing in nearly every frame, while also narrating his story and adding his own commentary throughout his unique look at his locked-up life. It's a colorful, sensational, boisterous role — one where our lead really needs to demand our full attention. 

Thankfully, Hardy is more-than-capable of delivering the goods in Nicolas Winding Refn's highly entertaining, (possibly) strongest film. His captivating take on Charles Bronson is stunning and immersive, making you forget about the performance and only letting you see the larger-than-life true-life character presented. It's an incredible, astonishing performance — arguably Hardy's best yet. Stream it on Tubi.

Locke

Locke is the sort of premise that shouldn't work as a feature-length film. It follows our title character, Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy), the only on-screen character, driving to London to be with a one-night-stand who is prematurely in labor with his child, leaving behind his duties on an important night job and his awaiting wife and sons, who expect him home for a big game. We watch our central character take call after call, breaking apart the life he's build, piece-by-piece, to do what he believes is right after an egregious wrong.

It takes place entirely in the confines of a car, watching a man drive and answer life-altering calls. It's not flashy, nor exceptionally cinematic. But through Hardy's mesmerizing performance, we're riveted. Only someone this commanding could pull this off, but it works wonderfully thanks to his exhilarating performance. From the beginning, you're hooked. Stream it on Netflix.

Lawless

Certainly compared to other performances on this list, Lawless isn't Tom Hardy's flashiest or most showy work. He plays a coolly contemplative presence throughout the 2012 western, complete with deadpan delivery and an emotionally-reserved exterior. His grumbling, mumbling performance might not work for everyone, but in a film sparked by violence and anarchy, notably with Shia LaBeouf's controversial on-set behavior, Hardy's rugged-yet-nuanced role is a key part of the film's success. 

Under the character's rough exterior is an intelligent, introspective, hard-fought man, and Hardy's layered performance captures that dichotomy well. Not many actors can make a refrained, inward character come to life on the screen, but it's clear that Hardy is adept at making both splashy and subtle characters work in his favor. Lawless is a pretty good example of the latter case. It's a fine showcase for his captivating presence, even when scaled back. Stream it on Netflix.

Legend

Two Tom Hardys for the price of one? What more do you need to know? Indeed, Hardy takes on dual roles in Legend, a biopic about the Kray twins, a pair of English criminals who terrorized London throughout the '50s and '60s. While the movie never matches Hardy's rich dedication otherwise, the actor gives two of his finest performances here, providing not one, but two nuanced and compelling performances — which is particularly impressive whenever he must act opposite himself. That's a task that's certainly not easy, even for the best actors, but Hardy pulls it off handily, which makes the movie itself well worth seeking out for his fans. 

It's a shame the rest of Legend is lukewarm and forgettable —ironically enough— never matching the wit and passion of its actor's committed portrayals, but Hardy fans would certainly be remiss if they skipped it. Stream it on Netflix.

Capone

Admittedly, Capone isn't exactly what you expect from a gangster biopic. This isn't a cradle-to-the-grave look at the notorious criminal's life. Instead, this is a hand-in-the-grave examination of an intimidating mobster at his weakest, most fragile and vulnerable point. Examining the last year of his life before Al Capone passed away at a mere 48 years old, writer/director Josh Trank makes an unsettling, deeply unconventional look at the horrors that come from dying and deteriorating at an early age, knowing that your legacy is behind you and any sort of redemption and salvation you wish to find won't come into reach. 

Naturally, that's a hard sell; it's understandable why many found this strange, morbid film off-putting. But even if Capone isn't your bag, you can't take your eyes off Tom Hardy's portrayal. His bizarre, unhinged lead performance is magnetizing and absolutely arresting, not to mention even darkly funny at times too.

Warrior

Execution is key. On the paper, 2011's Warrior could've been a tepid, familiar sports/family drama with a cookie-cutter story and expected beats. But Gavin O'Conner's tender, visceral, effectively grounded film is a bonafide winner, notably in how it brings out the goods with its lead actors, including Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, and Tom Hardy. As the beefed-up ex-marine who clashes with his brother in a mixed martial arts tournament, Hardy is gruff and intimidating, but we often see his moody, reflective side. 

While it's easy to focus on his muscle-bound intensity, what truly makes this performance sing is the soft sensitivity Hardy showcases in the quieter, more intimate moments. Hardy's performance, much like the fine work of his co-stars, is a key reason why Warrior transcends cliches and potential melodramatic tendencies to become an affecting, engrossing tale of masculinity, emotional distance, dysfunctional homes, and self-discovery. Stream it on Hulu.

The Revenant

Though The Revenant is typically considered Leonardo DiCaprio's movie, notably since it's the one that got him his Best Actor Oscar, Tom Hardy's performance as John Fitzgerald shouldn't be overlooked. Though it won't be the role that he's most remembered for, it was the role that finally earned him his first (and only) Oscar nomination, serving as the antagonistic figure whom DiCaprio's left-for-dead Hugh Glass seeks to hunt and kill. 

As we've noted, Hardy brings a brooding physicality and an unwavering intensity to his most noteworthy roles, showcasing a menacing, intimidating presence that's befitting of the grueling, unrelenting terrain shown throughout this grizzly awards contender. While he doesn't get as much screen-time as his Oscar-winning co-star, Hardy certainly proves to be a formidable opponent, bringing a malign and deprived humanity to what might've been a stock, leaden villainous character in a lesser actor's hands.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Modern action movies don't get much better — or any madder, really — than Mad Max: Fury Road. Though it's the fourth film in writer/director George Miller's dystopian action movie series, Fury Road is bristling with life, energy, and inspiration, producing arguably the best, most intense, most invigorated installment in the franchise. 

Taking over the reigns from Mel Gibson, who played the title role in the original three films, Hardy's Max is almost a silent movie character, complete with a face mask covering up his mouth throughout a good chunk of the first act. Relying a great deal on Hardy's wide-eyed expressions and raging fierceness, Hardy's assumes the popular role with vigor and humor, resulting in an arguably more maniacal, sometimes even goofier portrayal. But Hardy does bring bit of somberness and emotional gravity to the famous role in key moments too, making it his own.

In addition to these roles, you should also make a point to check out Tom Hardy in The Drop, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Inception, and The Dark Knight Rises if you haven't seen those movies already. What's your favorite Tom Hardy performance? Which films would you recommend to his biggest fans? Let us know in the comment section below!

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most sought after and talented actors working in Hollywood today. But there’s no denying it. He also really knows how to pick great movies to star in. And while there are a whole slew of great movies he decided not to star in, almost every movie he has chosen to be in has ended up being one of the best movies of that respective year.

In fact, there are so many great Leonardo DiCaprio movies that it was tough to narrow it down to just ten (Sorry, Catch Me If You Can! Sorry, Blood Diamond!). And with his recent Best Actor Nomination for Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood, it looks like the roles will keep on coming his way at a steady clip. So here are the top ten best Leonardo DiCaprio movies ever made. And oh yeah, sorry, Shutter Island! Man, this is going to be a tough list to make. Spoilers up ahead, of course.

10. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Johnny Depp may have been the star of this 1993 drama, but Leonardo DiCaprio, playing a mentally disabled boy named Arnie, stole the show. It was also Leo’s very first Oscar nomination, which was well warranted. The film, in a nutshell, is about a young man, played by Johnny Depp, who must become the head of the household after his father commits suicide, and his mother’s crippling depression causes her to gain massive amounts of weight. But again, the film is really bellied by Leonardo DiCaprio’s stellar performance, which is exceptional.

9. Revolutionary Road (2008)

Talk about a real downer! Revolutionary Road is the second time that Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet would appear in a movie together, and it is absolutely nobody’s fan-fiction about what Jack and Rose from Titanic would have ended up like if Jack had actually lived. In this adaptation from the Richard Yates novel of the same name, Leonardo DiCaprio plays a real son of a bitch who cheats on his wife and fights with her on multiple occasions. So yeah, it's not much of a crowd-pleaser.

But for a movie about a failing marriage in the 1950s, it feels disturbingly modern. This might be because it tackles heavy themes such as infidelity and existential anxiety. Michael Shannon also makes an appearance as a man who was once in an insane asylum and speaks his mind in the worst possible situations. It may not be Leo’s best performance overall since he sometimes goes a little overboard with the shouting, but as a film overall, it’s a powerhouse. One of director, Sam Mendes’s, best.

8. Django Unchained (2012)

Quentin Tarantino’s western, Django Unchained, has all the trademarks of a Tarantino flick—stylistic violence, funny banter, and great music—but it also has one defining factor that only one other Quentin Tarantino movie has going for it—Leonardo DiCaprio. And even though I wouldn't rank Django highly among Tarantino's films, DiCaprio plays such a charming scumbag, that he kind of makes up for the lagging second half of the movie when he isn't in it.

The story concerns a slave, played by Jamie Foxx, who gets trained by a bounty hunter, played by Cristoph Waltz. The two of them successfully gun down three outlaws, and then go on a mission to save Django’s wife. But at the center of the story is Leonardo DiCaprio’s plantation owner, Calvin J. Candie, who got so into his role that he even cut his hand for real and just kept on acting. Now that’s commitment. Django may be B-level Tarantino for me, but B-level Tarantino is pretty much A-level everybody else, so it definitely fits on this list as one of the greatest movies Leonardo DiCaprio has ever been in.

7. The Aviator (2004)

“Way of the future. Way of the future. Way of the future.” Leonardo DiCaprio’s role as Howard Hughes might just be his best performance yet, as the rise to success and fall into OCD madness that Leo portrays in this film is the stuff of legend. But this is not a list of Leonardo DiCaprio's best performances. It’s a list of his best movies. That being said, The Aviator is one damn good movie.

It’s all in the storytelling. Martin Scorsese’s biographical film about Howard Hughes moves at such a brisk pace that you're probably not even aware that you’re learning about one of America’s most fascinating individuals. From Hughes directing Hells’ Angels, to his dating of Audrey Hepburn (amazingly played by Cate Blanchett) to Hughes’s deterioration into madness, The Aviator is one for the ages.

6. The Revenant (2015)

Though it will likely go down as the movie where Leonardo DiCaprio gets mauled by a bear, The Revenant, which also stars Tom Hardy in one of his scariest roles ever, is a deeply emotional movie that is part thriller, part western, and all amazing. Leonardo DiCaprio plays frontiersman, Hugh Glass, on the hunt for the man who killed his Native American son. What follows is a harrowing journey into the hellish Dakotas that I still can’t quite shake ever since I saw it in theaters.

It should be noted that this is the role that Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Best Actor Oscar for. And while the story may differ from actual history, the movie is both beautiful and disturbing enough for me to let all that go and just “enjoy” everything else that takes place on screen. If I can even use the word “enjoy” to describe my experience. And that last confrontation between Leo and Tom Hardy where DiCaprio uses Dohmnall Gleeson’s corpse as a decoy… well, it doesn’t get much better than that.

5. The Departed (2006)

A film so good that even Mark Wahlberg got nominated for an Oscar, The Departed is the movie that finally got Scorsese his much deserved Best Picture and Best Director win at the Academy Awards. Leonardo DiCaprio plays an undercover cop who infiltrates a crime ring run by Jack Nicholson. I mean, did you read what I just wrote? That sentence right there should be all I need to say about this movie.

But there’s more, of course. The Departed features an all-star cast, with Matt Damon playing a hood posing as a cop. What follows is a nail-biting movie that has one of the most startling and abrupt death scenes in movie history. This is one film where you really don’t know where it’s heading until the bittersweet end.

4. Titanic (1997)

Titanic is so iconic that I don’t even have to look up the date. I will never forget 1997. That was the year that everybody was spreading out their arms and yelling, “I’m the king of the world!” The movie pretty much dominated everybody’s conversation back then, mostly because of its young heartthrob, Leonardo DiCaprio. The fact that Leo went on to become one of the most respected actors in Hollywood after appearing on countless teen dream magazines back then is a testament to how great an actor he truly is.

You know the story. A poor man meets a rich woman on the fated boat that crashed into an iceberg, and the poor man freezes to death while holding onto a floating door. Cue the tears. Also in the movie is Billy Zane looking cool shooting a gun, and Kathy Bates being saucy. Titanic had young women around the world wanting Jack to paint them like one of his French girls, and it still surprisingly holds up today. A great, great movie that has stood the test of time.

3. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

The Wolf of Wall Street is the fifth film Leonardo DiCaprio has worked on with Martin Scorsese, and in my opinion, his very best. In it, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort, a stock broker based off of a real person who made his fortune off of penny stocks. In fact, this is yet another biopic from DiCaprio and Scorsese. But unlike The Aviator where DiCaprio played Howard Hughes and it took place in the 20s-40s, The Wolf of Wall Street took place in the 1980s, so it contained all the sleazy excess that the decade represented. And Leo is just too good as a smarmy Wall Street guy. With that slicked back hair and that charming look in his eyes, it was the part he was born to play. It’s like the Oliver Stone movie, Wall Street, but on steroids.

Matthew McConaughey makes an appearance, pounding his chest and humming some ridiculous song, Jonah Hill delivers possibly his best performance of his career as Belfort’s sleazy business partner, and Margot Robbie plays his impossibly beautiful trophy wife. It’s definitely one of Leo’s funniest movies, and at the time, it even held the record for the most f-bombs in a single movie. Now that’s saying something!

2. Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood (2019)

Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood is both peak Tarantino and peak Leonardo DiCaprio (Oh, and peak Brad Pitt, too!). So you know it had to land high on this list. DiCaprio plays Rick Dalton, a former TV western star who tries to branch off into movies but finds that he's not so successful. This leads to scenes of Dalton freaking out on auditions, including one specific scene where he has a fit of rage in his trailer after messing up his lines. And would you believe that that scene was totally improvised?

Nestled within Once Upon A Time, though, is a snapshot of a bygone era of Hollywood that is all the more impressive because of its attention to detail. Sure, much like Django Unchained and Inglorious Basterds, this is yet another of Tarantino’s revisionist history lessons. But the whole film is so impressively done and funny, that it all comes together and makes for one of the most enjoyable Leonardo DiCaprio movies to date. This one will age well. I can feel it.

1. Inception (2010)

Christopher Nolan’s dream caper movie, Inception, is the greatest movie Leonardo DiCaprio has ever been in, bar none. It’s twisty, it’s creative, it’s wonderful, and it’s the kind of action picture that is both incredibly intelligent, but also lands with audiences in all the right ways. Anytime somebody says that they had a dream within a dream, they’ll probably think about Inception.

Everything is great about this movie—the cast (Tom Hardy again! Michael Caine!), the concept, the ending. Oh, man. That ending. Even Leo doesn’t know what to make of that ending. Inception is pretty much the perfect movie, and Leonardo DiCaprio is the star of it. What more needs to be said?

So while Mr. DiCaprio has starred in a long list of masterpieces, it looks like he won’t be hurting for work anytime soon. Here’s to another 30 years of Leonardo DiCaprio!

People get tattoos for any number of reasons, but, with the occasional drunken Vegas trip notwithstanding, they're usually well thought out reasons. Actor Tom Hardy likely thought long and hard about one tattoo that he has, but eventually decided that it was important that he remember the time he lost a bet to Leonardo DiCaprio. A recent image of Hardy with a fan reveals a right bicep tattoo that reads "Leo knows all."

The tattoo reportedly dates back to when the pair of Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio were filming The Revenant together. DiCaprio was apparently convinced that Hardy's performance in the movie would earn him some award show recognition, but Hardy disagreed. As we know now, DiCaprio was correct, as Hardy received numerous award nominations for his role as John Fitzgerald, including, most prominently, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Apparently, it wasn't only Leonardo DiCaprio's idea that Tom Hardy should get a "Leo knows all" tattoo, but DiCaprio actually wrote out the tattoo himself. Apparently, the first draft was written poorly, and Hardy only agreed to the tattoo after Leo took a second shot at writing it out, so technically, the tattoo is in DiCaprio's handwriting.

While Tom Hardy lost the bet, he won recognition and praise, so maybe he was ok with it. People often get tattoos to commemorate special events, and in its own way, that's what this is. "Leo knows all" is actually a remembrance of the time Hardy was honored for his work. Tattoos are nothing to agree to lightly, no matter how many of them you already have. Having said that, it would have almost been worth Hardy not receiving the awards nominations if that meant Leonardo DiCaprio now had a tattoo that said: "Tom knows all." If Hardy had the presence of mind to predict that The Revenant would finally be the film that won DiCaprio the elusive Best Actor Oscar, it's possible that could have happened. It's not clear what exactly Leo's side of the bet actually was if Hardy had been right, it might have been a tattoo of his own or something else entirely.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy have appeared on screen together more than once and the two are clearly friends off-screen. This is probably part of why Tom Hardy was willing to tattoo another guy's name on his arm. In this case, he's not just giving credit ton another actor, but a good friend of his and that is the sort of thing that somebody would tattoo on themselves, even without a bet to force it to happen.

They don't call him Franchise Viagra for nothing! If you need some serious spice to save your franchise, then there's only one guy to call: The Rock. Dwayne Johnson has saved more than his fair share of sequels, using his natural leading man charisma and action prowess to turn himself into the most sought after man in Hollywood. The Rock probably to go through tons of different pitches, and not all of them can be great. Check out this video of The Rock getting pitched ideas for hilarious sequels that not even The Rock would be able to save.

Thanks to GQ for making this video, we now know what The Rock would look like as Napoleon Dynamite. The short video finds The Rock meeting with his agent (Titus Burgess!) to discuss his next project. His agent as selected some scripts that he thinks are real winners, and they all happen to be sequels. However, after picturing them in his head, Dwayne Johnson can't exactly see them being good ideas. First, he's pitched on a sequel to Goodfellas, where he plays the illegitimate son of Joe Pesci's character who moves to Queens to try and make it as a stand-up comedian. Problem is, he shares his father's hatred of being called funny, which doesn't exactly make for a good comedian. It is, however, hilarious to watch Johnson dressed as Pesci on steroids getting furious over a compliment.

Next up, someone wants The Rock to play the lead in Home Alone: They Forgot My Ass Again. Didn't we say everything that needed to be said with the third Home Alone? Yes, which is why this one has a twist: this time the burglars are the kids. That would mean The Rock would have to wound children with goofy yet sadistic traps, so again, not a great idea.

Following that, The Revenant is getting a sequel from the writers of The Notebook, but The Rock isn't down with having sex with animals so that's out too. Finally, the best was saved for last: Napolean Dynamite 2. Jon Heder was apparently not available and The Rock was asked to wear the wig and glasses. We're then treated to The Rock doing the dance at the end of Napolean Dynamite for 10 seconds. Needless to say, The Rock is firing his agent.

The Rock doesn't need these movies anyway, because he is the single busiest man in Hollywood. The list of his upcoming projects include this month's Baywatch, Rampage, a Jumanji sequel, the Hobbs/Shaw Fast and Furious spin-off, Journey 3, San Andreas 2, Big Trouble in Little China, and a future as Black Adam in the DCEU, to only name literally a few of his projects.

You can next see Dwayne Johnson in Baywatch, out later this month on May 25.

From January to December, 2016 wound up being a big year for box office numbers - the industry posting a record-setting gross as major hits were released theatrically in just about every single month. Of course, in the modern world, major blockbusters also mean major illegal download numbers, and the past twelve months were definitely no exception.

TorrentFreak has posted its annual list of the most downloaded movies on BitTorrent, and while there are plenty of expected titles that made the ranking, there are also some interesting surprises as well.

10. The Revenant

Every other film that you'll find on this list would be considered a standard blockbuster by most, but Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant is the exception from the norm. It seems that there was a significant audience that wanted to watch Leonardo DiCaprio suffer in the woods for two-and-a-half hours, but were unwilling to legally pay to do so. It didn't exactly have too much of a negative impact on the box office results, as the film still brought in over $500 million internationally by the time it was done with its big screen run.

9. Finding Dory

The year 2016 was a great one for animation - with titles like Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Moana - but Andew Stanton's Finding Dory was the only one that wound up on this list of Torrented movies. This is another case where the illegally downloaded versions of the feature didn't impact the film's box office take, as it was one of only three features to pass the $1 billion mark worldwide, but it seems that there was a big audience that wanted to watch the Pixar sequel at home before they officially could do so.

8. Suicide Squad

David Ayer's Suicide Squad wound up being one of the most successful blockbusters of the year, pulling in $746 million against its $175 million budget - but it wound up being one of the most popular titles to be Torrented as well. The difference between this film and the previous two entries is that this is the first on this list that really got decimated by critics, and had seriously rough buzz going into theaters. We can't really say if this was an influential factor in the film being illegally downloaded, but it is a factor that will reappear on this list going forward. Speaking of which...

7. Independence Day: Resurgence

Being featured on this list is definitely adding insult to injury for Roland Emmerich's Independence Day: Resurgence. After all, the film first suffered at the hands of critics last summer - getting absolutely rotten reviews going into theaters - and then it seriously under-performed at the box office (making just $387 million internationally versus its $165 million budget). Learning that it was one of the biggest hits on BitTorrent almost certainly won't make anyone who worked on the film very happy.

6. Warcraft

Like Independence Day: Resurgence, Duncan Jones' Warcraft was another middling performer at the box office, ultimately bringing in a little over $430 million worldwide, but it did find a certain level of popularity with the users of BitTorrent. Of the movies on this list, it's worth noting that it's the highest ranking title that isn't based on a pre-existing cinematic franchise... though given how the ending of the story plays out, it's pretty clear that it was intended to be a launching point for one.

5. X-Men: Apocalypse

Comic book movies are some of the few sure-fire hits at the box office these days, but they're also quite popular with the folks who like to illegally download movies. Half of this Top 10 list is made up superhero properties - including Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse at the #5 spot. Like some of the other titles discussed here, the Memorial Day weekend blockbuster wasn't exactly loved by critics, but it's theatrical take seemingly wasn't dented by the Torrents, as it still pulled in a healthy $543 million worldwide.

4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the second film on this list that wasn't released in 2016, but given that the blockbuster wasn't in theaters until mid-December 2015, it was always destined to appear (in the same way that we can guarantee Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be on the Top 10 when we put together this list next year). As the film is the third biggest movie of all time, making about $2.1 billion internationally, Torrent downloads don't seem as significant a factor in the larger scheme compared to some other titles mentioned here, but ranking #4 is certainly still notable.

3. Captain America: Civil War

As of right now, Joe and Anthony Russo's Captain America: Civil War is the reigning champion of the 2016 box office, as it made more than $1.15 billion at the global box office... but it didn't manage to top this particular list. Instead, its ranking when it comes to illegal downloads actually matches its domestic ranking last year, taking the number three slot. Like I said, comic book movies are big with the BitTorrent crowd, and you'll see that reflected in the last two entries as well...

2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Taking second place on this year's list of illegally downloaded titles is Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Again, this is another example of a film that didn't get the support of critical buzz, meaning that some may have chosen to pirate instead of pay for a ticket - but it was also certainly one of the most popular titles of the year, which means that fans may have seen it on the big screen and then downloaded for a rewatch. That just leaves one last title to discuss, and by process of elimination, many of you have probably figured it out by now.

1. Deadpool

Tim Miller's Deadpool wound up being one of the biggest surprise box office hits of the year, and now, despite being Rated-R, it's actually the highest grossing title in the X-Men franchise. Another "honor" it received, however, is that it was illegally downloaded on Bit Torrent more than any other title in 2016. It certainly must help that it came out all the way back in February, meaning that it has been available for download more than any other title on this list... but you also can't discount the teenagers who wanted to see the movie, but were excluded from screenings due to the rating.

Alejandro Iñárritu's The Revenant made history earlier this year by helping Leonardo DiCaprio bring home his first Oscar. It was a well-deserved win for the seasoned actor, but he wasn't the only one who delivered a stellar performance in the film. Tom Hardy also received an Oscar nomination for his role in the project, but he never expected such recognition would actually happen. As a result of this disbelief, Hardy ultimately lost a bet with his co-star, which resulted in him committing to getting DiCaprio's handwriting tattooed onto his body. Hardy explained:

Tom Hardy recently opened up in an interview with Esquire and explained a friendly wager he had with Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of this year's The Revenant. Apparently DiCaprio saw the genius in Hardy's work, because he asserted that his co-star would receive an Oscar nomination for his amazing performance as John Fitzgerald. Hardy (apparently not realizing how great his performance really was) took DiCaprio up on the wager, and the two agreed that the loser would receive a tattoo decided by the winner. Hardy ultimately lost, and as a result he will eventually have to receive the phrase "Leo knows everything" somewhere on his body -- as long as Leo wrote it in neat handwriting.

If I am being perfectly honest, I have absolutely no idea why Tom Hardy would ever take that wager. His take on John Fitzgerald in The Revenant has unquestionably become one of the best supporting performances of the last year. Although the Oscar ultimately went to Mark Rylance for his role in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies, nobody would have been surprised if Tom Hardy had walked away with the award that night. He was that good.

Of course, it's obviously worth noting that the wager probably didn't mean much to Tom Hardy in the first place. The guy is already covered in tattoos, so another piece of body art indicative of his work on an Oscar winning film probably wouldn't bother him very much.

Even from that angle, I have a feeling that "Leo knows everything" would probably get lost in the shuffle. At the end of the day, I think there is an insanely valuable lesson that we can all glean from this story. Never, under any circumstances, gamble with Leonardo DiCaprio; if you lose, there is a very good chance that you will have to permanently ink your body. Not everyone is as comfortable with that as Tom Hardy.

CinemaBlend will bring you all of the latest, greatest and generally weirdest entertainment news as more information becomes available to us. Stay tuned for more details!

Movie piracy is a serious issue for studios. As such, they tend to prosecute offenders quite vigorously. The sentence just handed down to a man who leaked The Revenant online seems somehow both lenient and overly vicious. William Kyle Moriarty has pled guilty to leaking a pair of the 20th Century Fox films, and while he avoided jail time, he's been fined over $1 million.

The Hollywood Reporter announced the sentence with the headline "The Revenant Pirate Avoids Prison, Fined $1M." It's the sort of statement that would send you through numerous emotions if you were the one in court. We can imagine that William Moriarty felt relief at knowing that he would not go to jail, but the $1 million fine is nothing to sneeze at. You see, Moriarty was an employee at 20th Century Fox when he stole screeners and leaked both The Revenant and The Peanuts Movie online. Needless to say, he no longer works there, but that's part of the problem. Moriarty and his family are living off of his unemployment insurance, which will likely make him paying a $1.12 million fine more than a little difficult.

Having said that, prosecutors were asking for a year in jail as punishment, so Moriarty could have had a much worse day at his sentencing hearing than he did. Instead, he will receive eight months of house arrest, followed by two years of probation.

William Kyle Moriarty's leak of The Revenant credited with over one million illegal downloads of that film alone. It was one of the higher profile movies to get leaked last fall in the lead-up to awards season. Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight was another. Those responsible for pirating that one even went so far as to apologize to the director, sort of.

Exactly how much piracy costs movie studios is a much-debated figure. There's some question about whether or not those that pirate films would ever have paid money to see them in the first place. However, it's clear that the studios, and the courts, are going to continue to take such things seriously. It's unlikely that this decision will actually reduce movie piracy, but we'll have to wait and see. One million dollars is a lot of cash. If that's what getting caught costs, it may result in some deciding against taking the risk.

As we head into awards season yet again it will be interesting to see if the leaks continue with the same frequency that they did last year, or if there is any significant reduction. Based on comments from the U.S. Attorney, it would seem that the fact that Moriarty worked for the studio was at least part of the reason that such harsh punishment was requested. The rest of us might not be subject to requests for jail time, but either way, it's clear that piracy is getting to be an expensive activity.

After winning the Best Director gong at the Oscars two years on the trot Alejandro G. Inarritu could turn his prestigious talents towards any project that he wanted. While you might have expected the Mexican director to immediately try and eclipse Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) and _The Revenant _with his next outing, Alejandro G. Inarritu has instead gone in the complete opposite direction as he's going to release a short film. As you'd expect from Inarritu, that's only half the story, though, as it's going to be an experimental short virtual reality film.

A press release from Legendary Entertainment revealed that Alejandro G. Inarritu has been working on this tantalizing project for four years. Now after 48 months of development, Legendary and Fondazione Prada have finally provided the filmmaker with the green light to shoot the film.

Alejandro G. Inarritu will also work alongside his frequent collaborator, Emmanuel Lubezki, on the project. Since Emmanuel Lubezki has three of his own Academy Awards, which he also claimed in consecutive years for Gravity, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) and The Revenant, becoming the first cinematographer to do so, the short film will immediately pique the interest of cinephiles.

Alejandro G. Inarritu has established himself as one of the most beguiling filmmakers in American cinema over the last decade and a half, dating all the way back to 2000's Amores Perros. He's since followed this up with 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful and, of course, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance), and The Revenant.

While each of Inarritu's films have been greeted with widespread critical acclaim, it was the back-to-back triumphs of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) and The Revenant, which also grossed $103.2 million and $533 million, respectively, that have secured his place in cinematic history. That's because he became just the third director to win consecutive Academy Awards, something that had previously only been achieved by John Ford for 1940's The Grapes Of Wrath and 1941's How Green Was My Valley and Joseph L. Mankiewicz for 1949's A Letter To Three Wives and 1950's All About Eve.

While it's likely that Inarritu's upcoming short film will merely be a minor footnote to his career, by the sound of things, it could help to expand and evolve the way that we watch films. Still, considering the experimental approach of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) and the fact that Inarritu was the director that finally led Leonardo DiCaprio to the Best Actor Academy Award, it's no longer surprising that the Mexican director is yet again on the verge of creating such a cutting edge effort.

A wise person once said that you never truly know a person until you've fought them. If that's the case, then you're about to get to know a whole lot of people in a short amount of time, as we've found a hell of a clip. Showcasing some of the best fights of movie history, both past and present, we've got everything from bare knuckle duels to full on sword fights, with a healthy dose of martial arts to mix things up. When you're ready, ring the bell, and hit play below. FIGHT!

YouTuber Robert Jones is the artist behind the compilation you see before you, known as "Movie Fight Scene Tribute - Part 3." If this latest entry in the three video set is any indication, then those first two videos are most assuredly on our must watch list for the near future. Set to the tune of Tool's "Stinkfist," the video mixes both professional fighters from various sports and trained killers with the ultimate fighting skills, with good amount of old fashioned angry fisticuffs rounding things out. Indeed, the video moves fast and furious through scenes from big ticket flicks like Raging Bull and The Revenant, as well as smaller, but still vocally supported films, like Warrior.

Yet for every precise brawl that's included in this montage, there are the simple and brutal moments that barrel through the fight at hand, rather than dance. Take James Bond's battle against Mr. Hinx in last year's Spectre, for instance. While there's certainly a special degree of planning and plotting for a fight like that, the end result is something that's more knock down drag out than the fights involving the professionals. However, there's one type of combat that goes even harder than any of the others already mentioned, and that's the type of combat that combines the speed and ferocity of a Bond fight with the precision of the more sporting entries we've seen on display.

More specifically, we're thinking about the fights like the ones shown from Furious 7 and Kingsman: The Secret Service, where the action is fast, yet exacting, with every hit landing where it should. It's that fight style that seems to be the pinnacle of action adventure film-making, as the faster, more brutish approach can now effectively be mixed with the choreography of a slower, more paced fight. So when you see Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson square off in Furious 7, the excitement ramps up as fast as the combatants plot and deploy their next move with breakneck speed.

No matter what approach is your favorite, this video has you covered with what you need to pump yourself up. Be it for your own fight, or a round of exercise at the gym, this is the page you'll want to come back to in order to get yourself ready for action. In the meantime, hit the Comments below, and tell us what your favorite movie fight / fight style is, and why.

April isn’t a great month for DVD and Blu-ray releases. In fact, it would be a patently slow month if not for the huge, long-awaited release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is hitting Digital and is heading to Blu-ray and DVD at the beginning of the month. We’ve already heard a little bit about the release and seen the trailer for the deleted scenes, but there are a lot of other extras in that puppy. If you aren’t jazzed about the Star Wars: The Force Awakens release, there is other good stuff coming out, including both movies and TV shows. You can check out some more of this month's releases, below.

If you’re looking for the March releases, you can see them all here.

April 5

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-ray

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been one of the most highly anticipated home entertainment releases in recent memory—if not the highest. J.J. Abrams’ new film capably returns us to the Star Wars universe while intermixing new characters like now-General Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) with new ones, including Rey (Daisy Ridley), BB-8, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega). It’s a movie that works on a lot of levels, including moment for the longtime fanbase, as well as for a whole new generation of viewers.

By now, you probably already know if you are the audience for Walt Disney Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray set, but the entire extra disc of bonus content is certainly worth talking about. "Secrets of The Force Awakens" is basically a set diary, with entries from the leads, Director J.J. Abrams and even the producers. It’s so all-inclusive that you even get producers talking about how they basically knew nothing about the universe when they started, which isn’t the most exciting behind-the-scenes info we’ve ever learned. But for every tedious comment, there are moments where Simon Pegg’s process to get into costume or how the chess set was reworked are revealed. There’s a whole segment devoted to how BB-8 was created and how different iterations of the creation worked on the set. There are also shorter segments that look at visual effects or show fans part of the original table read for the movie. Throw in six deleted scenes--sadly none with Maz Katana--and there's a lot to get through.

You can order the Blu-ray with a DVD and Digital copy, here. Plus, if you don’t need the big set complete with all of the bells and whistles, the Digital copy has been available since April 1.

April 5 Blu-ray and DVD Releases

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Doctor Who: The Complete Ninth Series

Banshee: The Complete Third Season

Episodes: The Fourth Season DVD

House of Lies: The Fourth Season DVD

The Expanse: Season One

Tumbledown

Mojave

The Odd Couple Season 1 DVD

#Horror

Week of April 5 Early Digital Releases

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (April 1)

Joy (April 8)

Fear The Walking Dead (April 11)

April 12

April 12 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

Heroes Reborn

Welcome To Sweden: Season 2 DVD

The Forest

Week of April 12 Early Digital Releases

Krampus

The Fifth Wave

Ride Along 2

Jane Got A Gun (April 15)

April 19

The Revenant Blu-ray

The Revenant is a tough movie to watch. Amidst every single frame, you see the pain and sometimes torture the filmmaker and actors went through in order to realize their story. And what a story it is. The journey follows Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), as his son is murdered and he’s left for dead in 1823, following a bear attack that saw him slow down his crew of hunters and trappers. He vows revenge and fights through heartbreak and injury to get there. It’s the ultimate test of will, and every step of the way, The Revenant makes it clear to the viewer exactly how brutal the crawl back to society is. It’s painful to watch, but it’s also a testament to the human spirit and to the power of pure, old fashioned anger. Unfortunately, a whole lot less effort has been put into the special features than Alejandro G Inarritu put into his masterpiece. The only one of note is a documentary called A World Unseen. It’s really good and worth your time, but given how little else is here, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's set is primarily for those who absolutely love The Revenant and want to continue revisiting it over the next few years. You can purchase it over at Amazon, here.

April 19 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

Haven: The Complete Series DVD

Haven: The Final Season DVD

Fifty Shades of Black

Silicon Valley: The Complete Second Season

Veep: The Complete Fourth Season

The Lady in the Van

And Then There Were None

Norm of the North

Little House on the Prairie: The Ninth And Final Season

Bob The Builder: Construction Heroes Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story Of The National Lampoon

IP Man 3

April 26

Krampus

As the follow-up feature to director Michael Dougherty’s 2008 cult favorite Trick r Treat, Krampus was one of the most anticipated movies of 2015 among horror fans. The hope was that the filmmaker hadn’t lost his touch in meshing gory thrills and black comedy, and there is indeed a lot about this Christmassy quasi-slasher that’s garishly fun and childishly frightening. Krampus’ story centers on a mismatched family getting together for the holidays, where everyone’s cold and unspirited feelings towards each other bring out the Krampus, the anti-Santa of German folklore that punishes bad folks in a variety of ways that aren’t very survivable. There is a great cast here – including Adam Scott, Toni Collette, Allison Tolman, David Koechner and Krista Sadler – and the dead-of-winter production design is everything you could want from endlessly icy gloom. Plus, the sequences involving Christmas staples coming to life are deliciously malicious. For all its championable qualities, though, Krampus may never be solidified as a holiday classic, largely due to the plot-specific awfulness of most of the characters’ behavior and uncomfortable interactions. Still, it’s fun to watch jerks get what’s coming to them, right? And the Blu-ray has more gifts for viewers than just the feature, as you’ll find a fun and detail-friendly commentary between Dougherty and co-writers Todd Casey and Zach Shields, a big batch of deleted and extended scenes complete with alternate ending, a silly gag reel, an engaging half-hour making-of feature that explores five different elements of the production and an extra specifically highlighting the effects work. Now be nice to your families, or watch out for weaponized gingerbread men. And head over to Amazon to purchase the Blu-ray or DVD.

April 26 Blu-ray And DVD Releases

Krampus

Ride Along 2

Jane Got A Gun

Son of Saul

Royal Pains: Season 7

Hot in Cleveland: Season Six

Phoenix

Hot in Cleveland The Complete Series DVD

Week of April 26 Early Digital Releases

Dirty Grandpa

The Boy

2016 was Leonardo DiCaprio's year, as he finally won the Academy Award he'd been working towards his whole career. It was The Revenant that afforded him that chance, and as Screen Junkies promised with their previous Oscar round-up, a full riffing of the Academy Award nominated film has come. You can watch the madness for yourself below.

Leave it to the guys at Screen Junkies to totally roast Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar winning performance, as a huge sticking point of their rundown of The Revenant seems to chalk the film up to a lot of sky shots, confusing accents, and the most soulful, award winning grunting a man could ever muster. After six nominations, this is the role that DiCaprio won his golden glory for, and this seems like a mixed bag judging by the reaction of the guys at Honest Trailers.

Though as good as Leonardo DiCaprio was in The Revenant, the video doesn't hesitate to point out that there were a lot of factors that helped DiCaprio's performance run as naturally as he would wish. Keep in mind, Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu did film his epic of fur trapping and revenge over the course of an extended, naturally lit shooting schedule. Not to mention, LeonardoDiCaprio himself actually went uber-method while shooting the film, which could only help clinch his nomination, and eventual win. All of that said, it still doesn't wipe away the fact that this film featured more grunting than any of the drug trips DiCaprio endured during his last award-nominated performance in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Strangely enough, The Revenant is criticized by this Honest Trailer for one, key factor. Despite the fact that the film has been heralded as a brutal, unflinching work of cinema, there are some who may find the pacing and artistry of the film a bit dull. Considering how the film was marketed as an intense exercise in vengeance and survival, it's fair to say that the finished product is a much slower burn than most would have expected. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on what type of moviegoer you are, as The Revenant is just as divisive as Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu's last film, Birdman, or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance. So if really artfully done, slow moving narratives still aren't your thing, you're obviously not going to enjoy this film.

No matter how you look at it, Leonardo DiCaprio was overdue for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and as far as award winning performances go, you could do a lot worse than his efforts on display in The Revenant. Should you need any convincing, you can purchase The Revenant on Digital HD now, with the Blu-ray and DVD releases scheduled for April 19th.

As expected, last night was a big night for Leonardo DiCaprio. After many years, and many nominations, the accomplished actor finally obtained the one prize that had been eluding him, the Academy Award. However, there’s another part of the Oscar process that has to feel special. Actually getting your name on the bloody thing. That part happened later in the evening. And now you can see it happen!

Since nobody, except the accountants, know who wins the Oscars until the envelope is opened, the statue itself is handed to the winner blank. They then need to have the Academy engrave their name on it later. Needless to say, there was a lot of press surrounding the engraving process, but Variety actually got video of DiCaprio's historic moment, which they put up on Twitter.

Apparently, the engraving actually takes place at the Governors Ball, the primary post-Oscar party for all of the nominees, which is a thing that we didn’t know happened. Of course, neither did Leonardo DiCaprio, who joked about that fact with the engravers doing the work. The engraver working on Leo’s statue seems to have trouble screwing the plate back into place. We can imagine working on such an historic Oscar could make one a little nervous. After the work is done on the nameplate, the actor receives a set of instructions for the proper care of the statue. Who knew winning an Oscar involved so much work?

It’s great to see Leonardo DiCaprio joking around and having a good time. It’s clear that above all else the actor is relaxed. He’s very happy to have won the award. He’d made it clear that he would always appreciate the recognition of his peers. What’s more, now that’s finally done it, people will stop asking him if it’s finally "his time." That had to get tiring after awhile. Whether his relief comes from the joy of winning, or simply the relief that it wasn’t another loss, DiCaprio is in very good spirits here.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar win was a big moment for a lot of people, not just him. It became the most tweeted about moment, not only of the show, but in the history of the social media outlet. Over 440,000 tweets per minute referenced the win once it occurred. After being nominated for four previous acting awards, he finally made it up on the Oscar stage for his role in The Revenant. In addition to DiCaprio’s award, the film also took home trophies for Best Director (Alejandro G. Inarritu) and for Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki).

We’re glad that Leonardo DiCaprio has finally achieved the pinnacle of success for his profession. Now we can move on to more important conversations, like why doesn’t Edward Norton have an Oscar?

The Academy Awards have been able to survive most of their 88-year history without Twitter. However, now that the social media site exists, it’s become the place to get instant reactions to all of the events that occur on the Oscar stage. Having a moment that gets noticed by a large portion of social media can be something of a badge of honor. Last night saw the most discussed Oscar moment ever on Twitter, and it’s something else that Leonardo DiCaprio can add to his list of accolades.

When Leonardo DiCaprio finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor, Twitter exploded. According to Yahoo, 440,000 tweets per minute were fired off by those watching the history making moment. By contrast, Ellen Degeneres’ massive celebrity selfie moment from 2014 set the company's then-record at 255,000 tweets per minute. The popularity of Leo’s moment says something, not only because it set a record, but because it was spontaneous. Ellen’s selfie was an obviously intentional moment to engage social media viewers. DiCaprio just got his statue and made his speech. Twitter did everything else on their own.

Here's Leo's moment:

And here's the moment that Leo beat (sorry Ellen!)

The Best Actor win was not the only popular moment of the night online. The (somewhat surprising) Best Picture win by Spotlight also saw social media buzzing. Although, to be fair, that may have been mostly due to the fantastic Michael Keaton celebration that we loved. Also Mad Max: Fury Road receiving their Sound Mixing award, as it was their sixth of the night, also got the TV audience buzzing. Apparently, Sam Smith’s performance for his, eventually, Oscar-winning song did not get as much notice as we saw it was getting at the time.

While many, if not most, of the influx of tweets, were supportive, you don’t get that much attention online without a certain amount of negativity. Whether it was those who weren’t convinced that Leonardo DiCaprio’s role in The Revenant was truly an Oscar worthy performance, or the fact that he took the moment to discuss the issue of climate change, one has to assume there were plenty of reasons for people to have something to say about the actor.

What were the moments that had you firing 140 characters off into cyberspace? Did you have a favorite, or least favorite, moment that you couldn’t help but talk about? Let us know in the comments. 

One of the reasons why we watch the Academy Awards is to see which upstart or underdog comes roaring from behind, out of nowhere, to walk away with Oscar gold. It happens each and every year, and the 88th annual Academy Awards were no exception. Perhaps there was nothing quite as big as Shakespeare in Love beating out Saving Private Ryan, or Crash taking Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain, but there were still a few choices that made you scratch your head and make a puzzled face. In that spirit, here are biggest upsets, shocks, and surprises of this year’s Academy Awards.

Mark Rylance Winning Best Supporting Actor Over Sylvester Stallone

The race for Best Supporting actor was never a foregone conclusion, with tough competition from Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Mark Ruffalo. That said, it was Sylvester Stallone, for his performance in Creed, who was the sentimental favorite, and after winning the Golden Globe, he appeared to be the frontrunner. It was a great story after all—it had been 40 years since his last nomination, for playing an older, broken incarnation of the iconic Rocky Balboa. Still, when the envelope was opened, it was Mark Rylance, and his quiet, understated turn as a resigned Russian spy in Steven Spielberg’s Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies, that walked away with the Oscar glory. And it doesn’t hurt that he gave an adorable speech and dressed kind of like a leprechaun.

Ex Machina Winning Best Visual Effects

This is the true surprise of the 88th Academy Awards and the real David versus Goliath story of this year’s ceremony. With a budget of $15 million, Alex Garland’s cerebral sci-fi thriller Ex Machina had roughly one-tenth the funds of the likes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Martian, Mad Max: Fury Road, and The Revenant. But as the underdog showed tonight, it’s not necessarily how much you have, but how you use it. Seamlessly bringing the artificially intelligent android Ava (Best Supporting Actress Winner Alicia Vikander) to life, the subtle, inconspicuous effects are every bit as impressive as the more bombastic, obvious competitors.

Sam Smith’s "The Writing’s On The Wall" Winning Best Song

There have been few songs as polarizing over the past year as Sam Smith’s "The Writing’s On The Wall," the theme to the latest James Bond adventure, Spectre. Though it has won some other awards, most notably a Golden Globe, Smith’s song has been reviled by a large portion of the population (seriously, we wrote a story about the hateful tweets that dropped after Smith won). When it was announced, it seemed especially hard for many to swallow as it came shortly after Lady Gaga totally destroyed it. She floored the entire audience, both those in attendance and those watching around the world, with her performance of "Til It Happens To You," from sexual assault documentary The Hunting Ground, which may be the moment of the night.

Mad Max: Fury Road Dominating The Technical Categories

Perhaps not a total shock, considering how well it was reviewed and how much love it has received, Mad Max: Fury Road slayed when it came to the technical categories, walking away with Oscars for Best Production Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Costume Design. Yes, that’s right, we now live in a world where a Mad Max movie owns six, count them, six Academy Awards. Sure, George Miller didn’t win Best Director, and there was no Best Picture in the cards, but any way you look at it, six Oscars is one hell of haul, and the post-apocalyptic adventure added an impressive collection of hardware.

Roger Deakins Loses Again/Emmanuel Lubezki Wins Again

Roger Deakins is one of the most celebrated cinematographers in the world, racking up an impressive 13 Academy Award nominations. He had, however, never won. Many thought this was his year for his impressive work on the tense, grim drug cartel thriller Sicario. But alas, it was not to, again. It was, however, Emmanuel Lubezki’s year, again. Not only has the Mexican cinematographer been nominated for an Oscar eight times, with his win for The Revenant, he now has three of his very own. And even more impressive, this marks his third consecutive win, a feat only accomplished a handful of times in history.

Spotlight Wins Best Picture Over The Revenant

Spotlight winning Best Picture is easily the least surprising item on this list. Early on, most of the chatter surrounding the big award revolved around The Revenant. It had so much prestige, so many name players doing good things, that it seemed an obvious choice. However, the closer we got, the more precursor awards that came and went, the more momentum Spotlight picked up. An ensemble cast of fantastic actors all doing topnotch work, and a weighty, important, topical subject, based on real life events, it was tailor made for awards recognition. When it won Best Original Screenplay earlier in the night, that was a big indicator that Spotlight could walk away with Best Picture.

Honestly, it couldn’t have gone to anyone else. This year the Academy Award for Best Director went to Mexican director Alejandro Iñárritu for his exemplary work on The Revenant. It was a crowded field and anyone could have won, but at the end of the day the award once again went to Iñárritu. As incredibly easy as it would be to say that we didn’t see this coming, that simply would not be the case.

We really cannot say that we are surprised to hear that Alejandro Iñárritu won this year’s Oscar for Best Director. The Revenant strikes an absolutely perfect balance between technical complexity and beautiful simplicity. We can heap as much praise as we want upon the performances of men like Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, but at the end of the day the most pivotal factor in the creation of a movie as raw and brutal as The Revenant is Alejandro Iñárritu. He’s the man who guides those who create the beautiful cinematography, and he’s the man who directs the perfectly acted scenes.

Honestly, just look at this brief moment from The Revenant to get the smallest understanding as to why Alejandro Iñárritu completely deserves the award for his historical epic this year:

Alejandro Iñárritu’s win makes an unreasonable amount of sense. While The Revenant tells an incredibly simple story, it does so in in equally incredibly complex manner. The job falls on Iñárritu to ensure that actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy deliver believable yet nuanced performances while still maintaining the integrity of a true story. In the beautiful creation of The Revenant, Iñárritu utilized numerous techniques from his previous Oscar win Birdman that became his trademark style. However, unlike Birdman, the techniques he used took place not in a small, contained studio, but outside in a world that notoriously fought back against the production of this film.

Photo Credit: ABC/Adam Taylor

I’ve said it before: the fact that a movie was difficult to make doesn’t make it worthy of an Oscar, but a director’s ability to hold everything together and create a work of art as wholly beautiful as The Revenant most certainly is deserving of Oscar recognition.

Of course, that’s the beautiful thing about the world of film: it really isn’t a black and white affair. Who do you think deserved to win this year’s Best Direct Oscar? Let us know what you think in the comments and keep the conversation going!

Leonardo DiCaprio has been sitting in the audience at the Academy Awards for years. He’s been nominated time and time again, but every year he's gone home without a prize. However, eventually, nearly all streaks come to an end. We knew that some day Leo would win, it was just only a question of when. Tonight Leo’s drought ended and he finally received an Oscar for his role in The Revenant.

As soon as it was announced that Leonardo DiCaprio was going to work with the director of the Oscar-winning Birdman, Alejandro González Iñárritu, the buzz began. While it was never an entirely sure thing, it never is, the talk never really went away. Even among those who weren’t sure that DiCaprio’s role in The Revenant was really Oscar worthy, there seemed to be a pervasive feeling that this would be his year regardless. Nobody could question the amount of work that went into producing The Revenant. There was certainly a sense that the actor had worked hard enough, cumulatively, to take the trophy home.

Leonardo DiCaprio received his first Oscar nomination in 1993 for his supporting role in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Following that, he received a string of Best Actor nominations for his roles in Blood Diamond, The Aviator, and The Wolf of Wall Street. He still could have won an Academy Award if Wall Street had won Best Picture, as he was a co-producer of the picture, but even that didn’t work out for him. DiCaprio was slowly entering Peter O’Toole territory. If he had lost tonight, you can bet that’s exactly the talk that would have begun.

Part of the reason that Leonardo DiCaprio emerged as an apparent frontrunner was because the field didn’t seem to have another obvious choice. While Matt Damon, Bryan Cranston, Michael Fassbender, and Eddie Redmayne all had solid performances, none of them seemed to win over everybody the way a single nominee often does. Whether you think DiCaprio truly deserved to be awarded the Best Actor Oscar for The Revenant or whether you think this was more of an award for his body of work, his talent cannot be questioned. Tonight the Academy finally paid tribute to that talent.

Do you think this was a deserved award for Leonardo DiCaprio, or was this more about paying dues? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

If you’ve been watching the 88th annual Academy Awards, you know that there have been some fantastic moments thus far in the broadcast. Hell, Chris Rock’s opening monologue was sharp and pointed and one for the ages. Not all of the jokes have landed (that Stacey Dash bit, yeesh, that was one of the biggest misses in recent memory). Still, there have been some wonderful bits, like the bear from the Best Picture nominated survival drama The Revenant showing up in the middle of the crowd. And having a hell time at the ceremony.

We talk so much about actors and actresses, about writers and directors and producers, but it’s nice that when they invite a giant, wild, rampaging beast like a bear to the Academy Awards. Too often they get overlooked and left out, but they like to get dressed up and rub elbows with the celebrities just like everyone else. Sure, they’re way more likely to go on a kill-crazy rampage than most of the other attendees, but this particular bear seems to be pretty well behaved and having a grand old time.

To be honest, I didn’t catch his reaction during the live broadcast, but this is the face that I imagine Leonardo DiCaprio was making when they cut away and the bear showed up.

You just know that he was having flashbacks to getting roughed up and dragged around the set of The Revenant by wires and cables, pretending to get mauled in freezing cold temperatures.

I don’t know that the bear was the best bit at this year’s Oscars. It was pretty damn funny, but that bit where Chris Rock was introducing the real-life people some of the nominees were based on and they cut away to Suge Knight from Straight Outta Compton. I almost spit a mouthful of water all over my computer.

Now if they could have found a way to stage it so that fake Suge Knight and the fake bear from The Revenant threw down, now that would have been something spectacular. Not to mention it would be a fight for the ages; bears are, of course, terrifying and huge, but so is Suge Knight.

What’s your favorite moment of the Academy Awards ceremony so far? Sound off in the comments below.

After months and months of build-up, the biggest night in Hollywood has arrived. Tonight, hundreds of the movie industry’s most talented filmmakers and performers will gather in Los Angeles, California to deliver awards to what history will see as some of the greatest films of all time. This year’s crop of nominees features titles from a wide variety of genres, and stylistic directors – really demonstrating the incredible breadth of the art form. But which titles will be taking home Oscars at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony? That’s the question we’re here to answer.

As the night unfolds and prizes are handed out this evening, we will be regularly updating this page, highlighting the Oscar winners in all 24 categories. What will the big upsets be? Will your favorite movie of the last year take home the award for Best Picture? Follow along with us and find out!

Best Picture

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

Best Director

Adam McKay, The Big Short

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant

Lenny Abrahamson, Room

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Matt Damon, The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Brie Larson, Room

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara, Carol

Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Animated Feature Film

Anomalisa

Boy and the World

Inside Out

Shaun the Sheep Movie

When Marnie Was There

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short

Brooklyn

Carol

The Martian

Room

Best Original Screenplay

Bridge of Spies

Ex Machina

Inside Out

Spotlight

Straight Outta Compton

Best Cinematography

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Sicario

Best Costume Design

Carol

Cinderella

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Best Documentary Feature

Amy

Cartel Land

The Look of Silence

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Best Documentary Short Subject

Body Team 12

Chau, Beyond the Lines

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

Last Day of Freedom

Best Foreign Language Film

Embrace Of The Serpent

Mustang

Son of Saul

Theeb

A War

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Mad Max: Fury Road

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

The Revenant

Best Original Song

"Earned It," Fifty Shades of Grey

"Manta Ray," Racing Extinction

"Simple Song No. 3," Youth

"'Til It Happens to You," The Haunting Ground

"Writings on the Wall," Spectre

Best Original Score

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Animated Short Film

Bear Story

Prologue

Sanjay's Super Team

We Can't Live Without Cosmos

World of Tomorrow

Best Live Action Short Film

Ave Maria

Day One

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)

Shok

Stutterer

Best Film Editing

The Big Short

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Spotlight

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Mixing

Bridge of Spies

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Production Design

Bridge of Spies

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Best Visual Effects

Ex Machina

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Seldom has a film ever felt so simultaneously repellant and magnetic. Alejandro Iñárritu’s The Revenant represents the evolution of a filmmaking style, and the use of that style to show how real life fur trapper Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) defied the elements and the odds on a quest for revenge in the American frontier. It’s a film the cast and crew went through hell to make, and that hell ultimately finds itself perfectly translated into every beautiful frame. Ultimately all of the hard work paid off, as Iñárritu’s revenge piece featured some of the most expert visual storytelling of any film produced in the last year, and he wholly deserves to bring home 2016’s Best Picture Oscar for those efforts.

Within the lengthy runtime of the historical epic, we can see numerous trademark stylistic choices that brought him home the Oscar gold at last year’s Academy Awards for his work on Birdman. Both Birdman and The Revenant combine long takes, beautiful cinematography, surrealist imagery to provide the audience insight into the conflict of a bitter, damaged protagonist.

However, The Revenant expands upon these tried-and-true techniques by taking them out of a safe environment and crafting a narrative in a wholly natural setting. From the opening Native American attack, to the grizzly (in both senses of the word) bear attack, the blending between naturalism and technology in the filmmaking process becomes almost seamless. Alejandro Iñárritu uses this cinema blend (boom) to craft beautifully terrifying sequences that strike a perfect balance between chaos, coherence, sadness and inspiration. There’s a sense that the world of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass is hellishly terrifying yet completely lived-in and realized.

Some people have leveled accusations that The Revenant has too basic of a story to deserve the Best Picture win, which ultimately seems like a gross oversimplification of the film. What The Revenant lacks in overall narrative complexity, it makes up for with its endlessly rich thematic elements. It tells a dark, gritty tale of revenge and perseverance against insurmountable odds almost completely nonverbally; it’s emphasis on storytelling through imagery rather than dialogue gets to the very root of film as a visual medium. Bare in mind that Leonardo DiCaprio's character spends much of the film alone in the wilderness; the responsibility falls upon himself and Iñárritu to convey the physical, mental, and emotional state of Glass as he treks through the wilderness, and they never miss a beat.

Additionally, I have to take some degree of umbrage with those who call The Revenant a simple film without leveling the same accusations against other Best Picture nominees. Neither Mad Max: Fury Road nor The Martian burden themselves with ideas like narrative complexity; they tell similarly straightforward, barebones stories. Few people have come after them with the same degree of malice that they direct towards Alejandro Iñárritu’a masterpiece, and it's difficult to discern why.

Does The Revenant deserve to win the Oscar just because it was a difficult film to make? Absolutely not. However, the movie is so well produced, and so emotionally cognizant of itself that the adversity faced by the Alejandro Iñárritu, Leonardo DiCaprio, and everyone else involved only makes the film’s very existence that much more impressive.

The Revenant ultimately works as well as it does not because of any one quality, but because so many different aspects of it coalesced – against all odds – to create a truly breathtaking piece of cinema. Between its haunting score, its realistic performance, and its rich visuals, the film tells one of the most deeply affecting stories of the past year.

It’s time to put up, or shut up. After months of tracking the ongoing Academy Awards race in our regular Awards Blend column, I finally have to put my official Oscar picks in the books And I’ll be 100% honest with you… I don’t feel comfortable with a few of them. This year, more than any other in recent memory, major categories still feel like they are a coin flip – and we are days away from Sunday’s ceremony. Best Picture looks like a three-picture race (four, if you wanted to make the argument). Best Supporting Actor could make a hard left turn. There’s mystery, which leads to excitement.

Other categories, on the other hand, appear to be locks. (Get your speech ready, Mr. DiCaprio). And then there’s the bit of good fortune accrued by the Academy of having Chris Rock as the host before the #OscarsSoWhite controversy hit. Who better to comment on the situation – and hold the Academy’s own feet over the fire they have created – than Rock? So, as we head into the actual final stretch of the lengthy Oscar marathon, here are my best-guess picks for Sunday’s competition, as well as explanations as to why I’m leaning in each direction. What do you think?

Best Supporting Actress

I’m going with the beautiful and talented Alicia Vikander, who really should be competing in the Best Actress race (as she shares just as much screen time in The Danish Girl as he co-star – the equally nominated Eddie Redmayne), and also should be rewarded for what ended up being an outstanding year. Vikander also deserved a nomination for her clinical work as an experimental A.I. in the brilliant Ex Machina. And while all five actresses in this category gave outstanding performances, the weight of the circumstances befalling Vikander’s Danish Girl character should propel her to a win on Sunday.

Best Supporting Actor

Will the sentimental favorite emerge victorious at the Oscars this year? I’m willing to bet on Stallone, who dusted his Rocky Balboa persona out of the mothballs at the request of director Ryan Coogler for Creed, and was rewarded for an Oscar nomination for his nostalgic, dramatic turn. The thing about Stallone winning, though, is that his presence along represents the diversity issue that is plaguing the Academy. How is the Caucasian actor nominated, while his African-America director and co-star are overlooked? It looks bad, Oscar, but not bad enough to keep Stallone off the stage on Sunday night.

Best Actress

One of the things that routinely happens during the season is that the same actor picks up numerous gongs during the lengthy season, making their status as Oscar winner all but inevitable. We will see that here, with Brie Larson in the Best Actress category, as well as in the Best Actor category (but that will be next). As both kidnapping victim and doting mother in Room, Larson held audiences captivated in a near-impossible dramatic situation – a single-room location for half of her movie’s run time. In the run up to Oscar, she picked up a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, a Critics’ Choice award, and a Screen Actors Guild award. Oscar will be next.

Best Actor

It’s Leo’s year. We all can agree on that, right? There have been other years where it looked like Leo "might" win, and he didn’t. At the same time, I’m not sure we all agree that Leonardo DiCaprio deserves the Oscar for his performance in The Revenant. Heck, THR ran a blind item from an Oscar voter who hated DiCaprio’s performance, and the movie in general. But much like Brie Larson, DiCaprio has picked up most of the major awards leading up to the Oscars, and I’d be stunned if he went home empty-handed.

Best Director

Here’s where I start making educated guesses, because you could make strong cases for different nominees in our last two categories. Because of the recent heat generated by The Revenant, there are many who think Alejandro G. Inarritu will win his second consecutive Best Director Oscar (after taking one home last year for Birdman). But winning back-to-back Oscars places Inarritu on an EXTREMELY short list of filmmakers who have accomplished that – rarified air, to say the least. Even though Inarritu won the Directors Guild, I think the Academy members will recognize George Miller in this category for the work he accomplished on Mad Max: Fury Road. Miller pulled off the impossible on that shoot. Then again… so did Inarritu. Coin flip, really.

Best Picture

For the longest time, I thought Spotlight was the film to beat. Then, The Revenant started generating some serious, late-game momentum. Finally, The Big Short started turning heads, winning a Producers Guild award (a significant indicator of the Best Picture winner), as well as BAFTA and Critics’ Choice awards. Watch the Adapted Screenplay category. A win in that column earlier in the night could point to a Big Short upset… which wouldn’t really be much of an upset, at all. If Big Short falls short, I still think The Revenant and Spotlight have outside chances, as they have picked up important hardware during the race. But with a gun to my head, metaphorically, the Producers Guild win prompts me to pick The Big Short at the end of a ceremony that seems ready to spread the love.

The Oscars are that special time of year when Hollywood is honored by itself, and mocked just as openly. So what better way to lampoon the 88th Annual Academy Awards than a nice, heaping bowl of Honest Trailers! Open the envelope, and watch the 5 minute slam fest for yourself below:

Apparently the folks at Screen Junkies were so inundated with requests for Honest Trailers to the individual nominees for this year's Best Picture honors that they decided to hammer them all in one, compact video. The best thing that can be said about this format change is that the rapid fire element does keep things interesting. However, the only real set back with this change is that the usually targeted humor of the Honest Trailers team is spread a little too thin throughout the short video. That, and if you're curious as to how they would have handled the heartbreaking romance of Brooklyn, you'll be walking away empty handed.

Nevertheless, the Honest Trailer to The Oscars is still a pretty skewering look into the 7 films that the team already did see. Everything is taken to task, from the older skewing Bridge Of Spies being popular with audiences and voters in the more aged bracket, to Room being so beautiful yet depressing that talking about the story really doesn't yield too many laughs. The video pulls a little something special out of each film, though they do go easy on The Revenant. The big reason behind that is because they've decided to give it a full blast of justice in a separate, future video. You're safe for now, Leo; but don't get too comfy.

What wasn't safe, despite the severely small amount of time the subject was given, was the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, which amounted to two zingers at the very end of the video. Still, the suggestion that Straight Outta Compton should have been nominated over The Big Short is an interesting enough ending that audiences will be talking about this possible switch up until this Sunday's ceremony. Speaking of which, if you need a quick laugh at the tail end of Oscar night, hit mute when they announce the films nominated for Best Picture and list off the following substitute titles suggested by Screen Junkies in their place:

No Money, Mo Problems

Furiosa Road, Feat. Mad Max

Frozen

Newsies Might Want To Avoid These Houses

Not Nearly Enough Spies

Survivor: Mars

You Can Only See So Many Movies

Fucked Up Boyhood

The 88th Annual Academy Awards will air on Sunday night on ABC at 8 PM EST.

I need to get one thing out of the way before I go any further: I adored The Revenant. However, not everyone shares my enthusiasm for the recent team up between Alejandro Iñárritu and Leonardo DiCaprio. Even Hollywood insiders have begun to show their divided opinions on the highly controversial film. Some continue to call for Leo to finally get his Oscar win, while others remain steadfast in their belief that he simply does not deserve it this year.

A new report from THR indicates that an unnamed Academy voter spoke out regarding his or her distaste for Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in The Revenant:

Overall it appears that this voter does not consider volunteering to put oneself through hell a valid reason to win an Oscar. It’s technically a fair point; harsh working conditions don’t necessarily have anything to do with the quality of Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance. This particular voter eventually would go on to assert his or her belief that Eddie Redmayne should win for his role in The Danish Girl – a decidedly different film than The Revenant at just about every turn.

It would be easy to say that this is a bad sign, but there are numerous members of the organization, all of whom have their own opinions on the matter. However, this opinion does seem to echo the Revenant naysayers who continually assert that this is not the movie Leonardo DiCaprio deserves an Oscar for. Maybe this is a sign of backlash against DiCaprio, or maybe it's just an isolated (albeit heated) opinion.

Of course, this Academy voter didn’t just rule out voting for Leonardo DiCaprio, he or she ruled out voting for The Revenant altogether:

In all honesty that does sort of feel like an oversimplification of the entire movie. The Revenant is a story about perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds. Yes, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character takes a serious beating throughout the movie, but then again so did the real Hugh Glass. No matter what it seems like this voter has made a firm decision on the matter.

We will just have to wait and see how things pan out this coming Sunday. Leonardo DiCaprio could very well walk away with his first Oscar, or he could juts have to keep waiting. What do you think of his performance in The Revenant? Let us know in the comments and be sure to check out The Academy Awards when they air this Sunday.

This year’s list of Oscar nominees is a strange one. There are a handful of awards where the choice appears to be so clear that there isn’t even a discussion, and then everything else looks like a bloody free for all. Every Oscars ceremony tends to have a few upsets, but how can you have an upset when there’s no clear frontrunner? For those of us who fill out Oscar ballots with the same focus that others put together a March Madness bracket, what are we to do?

However, it's possible that a few of those "sure things" might not be quite as sure as you believe. There are a few places where we think upsets might actually be possible. Here are the places to keep an eye open for potential Academy Award upsets. If you lose $10 to your office mate based on this we accept no responsibility. However, if you win money, drinks are on you.

Best Supporting Actor - Mark Rylance

Ever since Sylvester Stallone got a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Creed and then walked out with the award, this year’s Best Supporting Actor award seems to be his to lose. The thing is, as good as Creed was, and as good as Stallone was in it, nobody walked out of that movie thinking it was an Oscar worthy performance. The Academy Awards do give awards for long careers on occasion but they also like to reward traditional actors playing very traditional award roles. If Stallone wasn’t nominated this year than Mark Rylance’s performance in Bridge of Spies would be just the kind of thing they would go for, and there may be just enough old school pull in the Academy to make it happen anyway.

Best Animated Feature - Anomalisa

Pixar has won the award for Best Animated Feature so many times they might as well name the award after the studio. Add to that the fact that Inside Out has been one of the studio’s highest regarded films in years and this one would seem to be a slam dunk. However, Pixar has never had competition quite like Anomalisa. It’s a unique movie from the equally unique Charlie Kaufman. It was a very well regarded movie generally speaking, and as this is the only award it’s up for, it has a better chance than you might think to steal this one from Pixar.

Best Original Screenplay - Inside Out

So if Inside Out doesn’t win the award for Best Animated Feature, how will the best Pixar movie in years receive its proper recognition? Perhaps by stealing the award for Best Original Screenplay. While Spotlight is the obvious frontrunner for this award, it’s ok that it doesn’t win this one (wait for it). The screenplay for Inside Out is truly unique and creative, ultimately it’s the reason the movie is as good as it is, so there’s no problem with it taking this award.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling - The Revenant

The technical categories that make up the bulk of the Oscar slate can be a little difficult get a handle on. Unless you’re an expert in the field it’s hard to know what the Academy is looking for. However, in a category that only has three nominees, and includes Mad Max: Fury Road, a film that contains absolutely wild makeup and hair, it may seem like an easy choice. Hold that thought. If you look back at the history of this award, while many science fiction and fantasy films get nominated, they rarely win. The Grand Budapest Hotel beat out Guardians of the Galaxy last year and expect something similar to happen here. Making Leonardo DiCaprio look mostly dead is actually more likely to take this award.

Best Director - George Miller

The Revenant is looking like the current front runner for many of the top awards. That means Alejandro González Iñárritu it sitting in the catbird seat for the Best Director Oscar. If he won it he’d be the first director since 1950 to win the award back to back. Ultimately, we’re not sure that’s going to happen. Leonardo DiCaprio will likely get his Oscar but this night will not belong to The Revenant. George Miller’s wowed movie fans and critics alike with Mad Max: Fury Road. It will take a number of the technical awards it is nominated for, but the crown jewel could very well be Miller’s own award for Best Director.

Best Picture - Spotlight

As we were saying, this may not be the night that The Revenant sweeps the awards, as so many seem to think. At the beginning of the awards season, many were pegging Spotlight to go all the way and there’s still a good chance that it will. In the final analysis Spotlight is just the kind of movie that the Academy really likes. It may not be the best movie of the year, but it has a good chance of winning the award and spoiling The Revenant’s night.

In the build-up to the Academy Awards, all eyes seem to be on Leonardo DiCaprio. His performance in The Revenant seems to be the one to beat. Much of the reason for all the talk is centered around the apparently harrowing experience that DiCaprio and the rest of the cast and crew went through in order to make the film. Well, Matt Damon would like to point out that he’s nominated for the same award, and he earned it while staying warm.

Damon was introducing Ridley Scott, his director on The Martian, at the Director’s Guild Awards on Saturday night and felt obligated to point out that it is possible to make great movies without risking life and limb. The Martian, like The Revenant, is also a movie about a lone man trying to survive amidst harsh conditions, but when filming ended for Damon, the harsh conditions did as well. It turns out you can actually be quite comfortable, and you don’t have to eat raw liver.

Matt Damon’s comments were spoken with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek as he was simply having a bit of fun at the expense of his former co-star. Both Leonardo DiCaprio and The Revenant director Alejandro González Iñárritu were in attendance at the awards show and, according to Vanity Fair, both laughed along with Damon at the joke. It’s not the first time they’ve heard it.

The Revenant has become as famous for the experience of making the movie as it has for the quality of the film itself. According to all reports the shoot took much longer and was much more expensive than originally planned. It cost about double what The Martian did, and took about twice as long as well. The shoot was so brutal that the movie was even attacked for unsafe working conditions. While it’s true that all that work did eventually lead to a quality movie, we can’t help but agree a little bit with Matt Damon, it’s not exactly necessary to go to such lengths. Having said that, The Revenant has had a much stronger awards season, so maybe all the hard work did pay off.

We’ll see who has the last laugh when Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio go up against each other for the Academy Award for Best Actor later this month.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s lack of an Academy Award is pop culture fodder. Leo’s constant process  of giving outstanding performances, being nominated, and then going home empty handed has been the subject of tons of memes, gifs, and posts across social media platforms. Now, since he’s been robbed so many times, it looks like some fans are going to extreme lengths to make sure that DiCaprio can have a golden statue of his own.

Vanity Fair is reporting that diehard Leonardo DiCaprio fans in Siberia, Russia are preparing for the worst in case he doesn’t win an Academy Award for his performance in The Revenant. Apparently the female Leo fans are donating their valuable gold and silver jewelry and trinkets to be melted down and used to form Leo’s very own special Oscar statue. That’s right, these fans are destroying their valuables so that the already super successful Leonardo DiCaprio can finally have an oscar. That is some dedication.

This effort is called the “Oscar For Leo” campaign, and it will apparently cost around $1,300 in U.S. currency to create the golden statue. Many of Leo’s Russian fans feel so connected to him through his work that they’ve taken extra measures to make sure the statue is still with them. For instance, some people donating one of their earrings and kept the other half of the pair. This way, part of the Oscar statue will stay with them. You can’t make this stuff up.

To date, Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated for five Academy Awards for his acting performances, including his leading role of Hugh Glass in The Revenant. While Leo is known for giving amazing and extreme performance during his career, something has always gotten in the way of his Oscar win. 

This year has widely been known as the year of DiCaprio, because of the extreme style of filming that he subjected himself to during The Revenant. Principal photography took nearly a year, due to the insistence of using natural lighting. DiCaprio is also a famously method actor who took to the extreme weather conditions and scenarios during filming. He crawled up to dead animal carcasses, ate raw meat, and filmed in freezing water. Additionally, The Revenant itself was filmed chronologically, which added both time and money to the production as a whole. 

Only time will tell if Leonardo DiCaprio will be able to take home an Oscar for The Revenant this year. Here’s hoping he does, and his Siberian fans will get to keep their valuables.

For kicks and giggles, check out this compilation of DiCaprio’s Oscar defeats. We can only assume this is what his nightmare are made of.

In the last century, Hollywood has pumped out a number of amazing and captivating survival stories, and while many of the fictional ones are incredibly impressive, it’s the ones that are based on a true story that carry an extra spark. In the imagination, one can think of a person surviving through just about everything anything, but it means a lot more when you watch someone go through ungodly trials and then find out those events happened to a real individual.

In the past few weeks, audiences have been going in droves to see one such film - Alejandro G. Inarritu’s The Revenant - so we figured that we’d take a moment to reflect on some of the great true story-inspired survival stories that have been adapted for the cinematic experience. Did your favorite make the cut? Read on to find out!

The Revenant

Let’s start off with the film that inspired this list, shall we? While we don’t know all of the exact details of the true story that inspired The Revenant - as it’s a tale passed down through campfire tales – we do have a pretty good idea of the basics. Expert woodsman Hugh Glass found himself savagely attacked by a bear while in the service of a party of trappers, and was left for dead in the woods by the man responsible for taking care of him, John Fitzgerald. Despite being very close to death, Glass managed to use his survival skills to get back to civilization to try and get revenge.

Alejandro G. Inarritu’s big screen adaptation of Hugh Glass’ story does change a few significant details – including Fitzgerald murdering a son Glass didn’t have, and a completely fabricated ending – but what The Revenant certainly does capture is the punishing journey the protagonist (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) had to endure.

Alive

Much in the same way that Frank Marshall’s Arachnophobia is the ultimate nightmare for people afraid of spiders, Marshall’s Alive is the ultimate nightmare for people terrified of stepping foot on a plane. What makes the latter even scarier, of course, is the fact that it’s based on a true story, and includes true accounts of cannibalism.

In 1972, a plane carrying a rugby team from Uruguay as well as their friends and family wound up hitting an uncharted mountain peak while flying over the Andes, and crash landed on a mountain slope. Thirteen of the 45 people on the plane died during or shortly after the crash, but some would argue that they got off easy after the events that followed. Ethan Hawke leads the cast of Alive as survivor Nando Parrado, and the film really is just as terrifying as it ought to be.

The Way Back

On planet Earth, there are few terrains rougher to hike than the land in Siberia. The combination of the sheer size of the area as well as the tremendously harsh weather conditions were what led the Soviet Union to send their prisoners there, and there wasn’t exactly a tremendous survival rate when it came to escapees. But this is just what makes former Polish prisoner of war S?awomir Rawicz all the more incredible, as portrayed in Peter Weir’s 2010 film <>a href= http://www.cinemablend.com/The-Way-Back-4885.html>The Way Back.

Rawicz (played by Jim Sturgess in the film) was a Polish military officer who was captured by the Soviets in World War II, and sent to a Gulag labor camp for being a spy. Driven to escape and get back with his wife, he organizes an escape with a group of other prisoners, and together they walked 4,000 miles to freedom with limited food rations, supplies and water. It’s an incredible story that’s wonderfully told in The Way Back - which is a film most definitely worth seeking out.

127 Hours

Danny Boyle's 127 Hours and the true story of Aron Ralston has taught us all an extremely valuable lesson: if you're going to go out climbing through canyons in the middle of nowhere, make sure somebody has a general idea of where you are. Otherwise, you may suffer the tremendously terrifying trial that Ralson faced, getting trapped between rocks with no hope of a rescue.

In April 2003, Aron Ralson (played by James Franco in 127 Hours) went out for a casual day of hiking, but despite being a veteran outdoorsmen, skipped a few safety steps. He found himself climbing through a narrow canyon when a rocked slipped and a boulder pinned his arm against the wall. With nobody aware of where he was, there was no chance anyone was going to find him, and for more than five days he subsisted on a little bit of food, rationed water, and urine – eventually using his pocket knife to cut off his own arm for freedom. It’s a harrowing and at times nauseating story, and made for a tremendous movie back in 2010.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Phillip Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence is about as emotionally shredding as movies get, and it's hard to watch the movie with the knowledge that what's being portrayed actually happened. The entire story exists because of extreme racism and hate on the level that makes your soul feel bruised. But it’s also an incredible story of survival amazingly following three young girls, all less than 15 years old.

In 1931, sisters Molly and Daisy and their cousin Gracie were taken thousands away from their home in Jigalong, Western Australia, where they were put in re-education camps and put on a path towards life as laborers and servants. Refusing to give up and wanting to go home, the three girls managed to not only escape the camp, but also travel the continent while being pursued by an expert tracker. Not everyone gets a happy ending, and the epilogue drives home that the story most certainly didn’t end just with the survival of the girls. It’s a powerful story that was turned into a powerful film.

Apollo 13

Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 is a bit different than most of the movies on this list. It’s main group of characters doesn’t have to go up against harsh weather conditions, and the search for food rations is not something that ever comes up. But those factors don’t diminish the film at all as a movie about survival – as it’s still very much about a tense and struggle-filled journey home that requires ingenuity and will to survive.

In 1970, a mission to the moon was interrupted when an onboard liquid oxygen tank exploded, knocking the shuttle off course and reducing the power supply. Not only was the crew of the ship (played by Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton) robbed of their chance to land on the moon, but faced the possibility of never returning to Earth. Apollo 13 is arguably the best film of Ron Howard’s directing career, and it certainly helps that he had such an impressive true story to work from.

Rescue Dawn

Lt. Dieter Dengler went through a good bit of hell back in 1966, when a plane he was flying over Laos was shot down and he was captured by the Pathet Lao. His refusal to denounce America left him malnourished and tortured as a prisoner of war, and had it not been for a well-timed escape and sheer willpower, he would have never made it out alive with a few of his fellow prisoners.

Werner Herzog first told Lt. Dengler’s story in the 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs To Fly and that film is just as fantastic as the narrative version that he himself adapted in 2006. Rescue Dawn required yet another transformative performance from lead Christian Bale, who really does an incredible job guiding us through a true and terrifying survival story.

The Perfect Storm

One could make the argument that Wolfgang Petersen's The Perfect Storm sits on the border between being a disaster film and a survival film, but it still most certainly qualifies in the latter category. After all, like many of these movies, the central struggle is a fight to return home regardless of what obstacles happen to be in the way. The tragedy in this story is that the obstacles facing the protagonists are three extreme storm fronts that actually prove to be more than they can handle.

Billy Tyne Kr. Bobby Shatford (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg) and the rest of the Andrea Gail crew were in serious danger of finishing the fishing season of 1991 with a yield much lower than what they required, and despite reports of storms brewing, they cast out anyway. This would prove to be the biggest mistake of their lives, as colliding storms would leave them between a rock and a hard place, unable to navigate home and facing waves as tall as 40 feet. It’s a tragic story captured in thrilling fashion in The Perfect Storm, though won’t exactly leave you cheering on the power of the human spirit by the end.

Touching The Void

In 1985, hikers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates climbed to the top of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, but found themselves struck by tragedy when Simpson broke his leg and was then dropped off a cliff suspended from a rope by Yates during a storm. Figuring that his partner was dead, Yates continued his decent down the mountain, but what he didn't know was that Simpson not only survived his fall, but wound up actually crawling into a crevasse and somehow managed to make it down to the base of the mountain.

This absolutely stunning story was turned into a documentary called Touching The Void in 2003, directed by Kevin MacDonald, and presents an absolutely stunning story with the help of both interviews and reenactments. It’s most definitely a documentary worth checking out, though it is certainly only a matter of time before a filmmaker adapts the story for a new Hollywood epic.

Into The Wild

Every film/story we’ve written about here has featured a character or group of characters who find themselves at the mercy of nature and/or fate, but the story of Christopher McCandless – as portrayed in Sean Penn’s Into The Wild - is a horse of a different color. McCandless didn’t so much find himself trapped and fighting for survival, but instead embraced the opportunity to live for it while driving cross-country and hiking to the Alaskan wilderness.

Based on the book of the same name by Jon Krakauer, Into The Wild finds Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) as a man who feels completely trapped by modern society and feels a desire to leave it all behind – including his immediate family. It’s a very different kind of survival story, as he is basically rejecting the same thing that most protagonists are striving for, but it’s just as compelling a narrative and comes together as a great movie.

It won last weekend at the box office, but Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s The Revenant is a brutal, punishing movie to watch. The action follows man who is mauled by a giant grizzly bear and is ultimately left for dead. This happens early in the movie, and is an impressive feat, but according to one stuntman involved in the process, bringing this moment to life was a total nightmare.

The bear attack is a grueling, visceral moment that feels grounded and real. But it wasn’t, the bear was actually a stuntman named Glenn Ennis. To accomplish this feat, he wore a big blue costume and walked, talked, and generally acted like a bear in the woods. And apparently it sucked. Talking to Global News, he said:

If you’ve seen The Revenant, or really any of Inarritu’s other movies, you know that that he’s fond of long, elaborate takes where there’s lots of camera movement and intricate staging and choreography. The epic bear attack is no different, and you have to imagine that with the director’s eye for detail and precision, this was a scene that required a great many takes. With the physicality required of Ennis, it’s easy to imagine how quickly doing this repeatedly would take a toll on your body. And this is a guy who was entirely engulfed in flames for a scene in Jason Vs. Freddy, among other things, so you know it must have been rough going. (I can’t help but be curious about his take on the "bear rape" rumors.)

This is another in a long line of anecdotes about how difficult it was to shoot The Revenant. They filmed outdoors in the frozen wilderness of Canada, and later Argentina, recreating the brutal wintery conditions, and a number of behind the scenes personnel left the production over safety concerns. Star Leonardo DiCaprio, who many believe is the frontrunner for the Best Actor Oscar this year, did all kinds of crazy stuff, like swimming through frozen rivers and eating raw bison liver. Shit got pretty real.

After all is said and done, one thing is clear, The Revenant was one hell of a harrowing production on just about every level. It’s in theaters now, and we’ll see if these extremes paid off in February as it is nominated for a number of Academy Awards.

While it feels like the whole world is waiting with bated breath for Leonardo DiCaprio to pick up the Oscar that fans believe is rightfully his next month, there’s another Academy Award nominated actor from The Revenant who hasn’t received quite the same level of acclaim. Tom Hardy’s turn as John Fitzgerald was so devilishly evil, but still achingly human, and it’s impossible to picture any other actor in the part. But there almost was. In fact, Tom Hardy has now admitted that Sean Penn was originally in line to play Fitzgerald.

Tom Hardy explained to De Pelicula how it was a lucky coincidence that he was able to play Fitzgerald in the end, because not only was Sean Penn in discussions for the part, but Tom Hardy was also due to film Splinter Cell at the same time. However, Splinter Cell ultimately hit its own production problems, with production set to start this year, while Penn then became unavailable, and the rest, as they say, is history. Hardy explained:

While it’s pretty much a certainty that Leonardo DiCaprio will win the Best Actor Academy Award at next month’s ceremony for his performance in The Revenant – in fact, if he doesn’t, it will be one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Oscars – Tom Hardy’s Best Supporting Actor field is much harder to call.

Because Bridge Of Spies’ Mark Rylance is the rank outsider, even though he is truly stunning in Spielberg’s taut Cold War tale, and Spotlight’s Mark Ruffalo is probably just as unlikely to take home the gong, Tom Hardy's main competition comes in the form of The Big Short’s Christian Bale and Creed’s Sylvester Stallone.

While I’d put Tom Hardy just ahead of Christian Bale in the pecking order, Sylvester Stallone is odds on favorite after his Golden Globes triumph in this category. Plus, the entire furor over the lack of diversity in the acting nominations might even help Stallone’s cause. Then a gain his recognition, and the lack of nods for Creed’s Ryan Coogler, Tessa Thompson, and Michael B. Jordan, is indicative of the Academy’s problems.

Because of this outrageous oversight, there might be a stronger urge to reward Creed, while, in this field especially, the Academy usually gets sentimental and nostalgic and rewards older actors. Just look to Christopher Plummer, Alan Arkin, and Morgan Freeman’s wins in the last two decades.

That means that Tom Hardy is still far from the favorite. But, even if he does miss out, Tom Hardy has been on such a bona-fide hot-streak in recent years (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, and Legend were all released in the last 12 months) he’s likely to get another chance in the very near future anyway. 

The Revenant finally had its day in the sun (or at least out of the cold) this weekend, holding out a little stronger than its major competition to land a weekend at number one.

More of a box office victory by attrition than any thing else, The Revenant got its gold sticker despite dropping almost 50% from last weekend to add just $16 million this weekend. But that was better than last weekend's top earner Ride Along 2 which dropped more than 60% from last weekend down to third place with $12 million. Star Wars: The Force Awakens managed to float up to second place, piling on another $14 million to its now $879 million high pile of box office gold.

Despite the song and dance shuffle, last weekend's top three held the top three leaving the newcomers, all of whom just barely managed to break into the double digit millions, to duke it out for fourth through sixth place.

Zac Efron and Robert DeNiro teamed up for Dirty Grandpa, but the bizarre excuse of a comedy only drew $11 million. You can blame the massive east coast blizzard for some of its under performance, but when a six week old Star Wars movie can best you, the problem isn't people being able to get to the theater. Dirty Grandpa edged out horror flick The Boy which also banked $11 million.

Someone apparently forgot to tell Sony that the dystopian sci-fi young adult novel adaptation train has not only left the station but has reached the end of the line and is waiting to be decommissioned. The studio's release of The 5th Wave made less in first weekend than a Hunger Games movie made in its first couple of hours. With a $10 million opening its a sure thing that no matter how many more books Yancey rights, there won't be movie sequels following.

For the full weekend top ten, check out the chart below:

The Revenant

$16,000,000Total: $119,192,522LW: 2

THTRS: 3,711

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

$14,257,000Total: $879,289,346LW: 3

THTRS: 3,365

Ride Along 2

$12,960,000Total: $59,110,040LW: 1

THTRS: 3,192

Dirty Grandpa *

$11,525,000Total: $11,525,000LW: N

THTRS: 2,912

The Boy (2016) *

$11,260,000Total: $11,260,000LW: N

THTRS: 2,671

The 5th Wave *

$10,700,000Total: $10,700,000LW: N

THTRS: 2,908

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

$9,750,000Total: $33,483,429LW: 4

THTRS: 2,917

Daddy's Home

$5,270,000Total: $138,780,265LW: 5

THTRS: 2,789

Norm of the North

$4,100,000Total: $14,296,203LW: 6

THTRS: 2,411

The Big Short

$3,500,000Total: $56,713,841LW: 8

THTRS: 1,351

While you can’t actually put money down (legally) in Vegas on your Oscar predictions, it doesn’t stop odds-makers from playing the "what if" game and putting together a betting line. One company, which is typically more likely to give you the point spread to next weekend’s NFL game, has gone through and put together the odds on all the major categories and if these numbers are to be believed, it’s only going to be a competitive night in some categories.

Odds-maker America’s Line put together the hypothetical odds on the four major acting awards as well as Best Director and Best Picture - and you can see the breakdown of the top category below:

Best Picture

Spotlight, 4 to 5

The Revenant, 6 to 5

The Big Short, 8 to 1

The Martian, 8 to 1

Mad Max: Fury Road, 20 to 1

Bridge of Spies, 30 to 1

Room, 40 to 1

Brooklyn, 50 to 1

While a few of the awards look at least a little competitive, based on these numbers, there are also a few actors who can go ahead and just write their acceptance speech based the odds compiled by Variety. The most competitive category is actually the Best Picture race, which puts Spotlight in the best position at 4 to 5, but with The Revenant only slightly behind it at 6 to 5. In horse racing terms, a $2 bet on Spotlight would win you $3.60 while the same bet on Revenant would net you $4.40. The only other bet that’s even really close is the one for Best Supporting Actor. Sylvester Stallone is the safest bet with odds equal to Spotlight. Mark Rylance of Bridge of Spies is close behind with 7 to 5 odds.

From there, however, it looks like it’s no big deal that you can’t actually bet on the Oscars, because the rest of the major nominees are such sure things that you wouldn’t actually win much money. Leonardo DiCaprio is being given 1 to 5 odds for the Best Actor Academy Award, which would win you a whopping 40 cents on top of your $2 bet if this was a horse race. If you put the same $2 on Michael Fassbender, who has the next best odds, you’d come home with $12. That’s how much of a sure thing Vegas thinks Leo is right now.

Brie Larson is nearly as safe with 1 to 3 odds fr her performance in Room, while Rooney Mara (Carol) and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant) both come in at 1 to 2. You rarely see these kinds of odds in actual sports betting because there is still a decent element of chance to any contest of skill. Vegas doesn’t seem to think there’s as much chance when it comes to this year’s Oscars.

Of course, with such sure things leading the odds, the rest of field has some pretty long odds. If you're a fan of The Danish Girl, Vegas doesn't like your chances. Eddie Redmayne is listed at 10 to 1 for Best Actor, while Alicia Vikander is listed at 7 to 2. The same goes for The Martian, which has 8 to 1 odds for Best Picture, and star Matt Damon is staring down 20 to 1 odds for Best Actor.

Would you put money on the Oscars if you had the option? Would you best a sure thing like Leonardo DiCaprio, or take a long shot? If so, Brooklyn is looking good at 50 to 1 for Best Picture…

After years of being snubbed at the Oscar alter, Leonardo DiCaprio looks to be at the cusp of yet another possible Oscar win. With the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama already in his hands, The Revenant’s star is ready for his acceptance speech; and the world is right behind him. However, looking at the field that’s in competition for the Best Actor honors at this year’s Oscars, it’s not going to be an easy victory for everyone’s favorite upset. Envelopes in hand, here are the rankings for the Best Actor field and their possible ability to continue Leo’s losing streak.

4. Eddie Redmayne

For the second year in a row, Eddie Redmayne has picked up a nomination for a transformative performance, this time for Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl. With Redmayne’s chameleon powers on full blast, his performance was tipped for a nod long before it even hit the screen. But the fact that he won last year for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything weighs heavily against his odds with The Academy. Not to mention tempers toward The Danish Girl are either cool, if not negative, towards the film. Despite his previous win, it doesn’t look like it’s Eddie Redmayne’s year for victory.

3. Bryan Cranston

Working his way through the EGOT paradigm at a fair clip, Trumbo’s Bryan Cranston has already bagged himself some Emmy awards for Breaking Bad, as well as a Tony for his portrayal of Lyndon B. Johnson in All The Way. With a Best Actor nomination at this year’s Academy Awards, Cranston is continuing to ride the train of goodwill he’s earned from his critics. The unfortunate downside to Bryan Cranston’s wave of good feelings is the fact that Trumbo went from awards front runner to also-ran in the blink of an eye. Still, Cranston is an actor for our time, so we’ll expect him to rack up some more nominations in the future.

2. Michael Fassbender

How’s this for coincidence: Michael Fassbender is nominated for the titular role in Steve Jobs. That very same role was offered to, and rejected by, Leonardo DiCaprio himself; yet here it is… back to haunt him from his past. Fassbender has gotten some great notices on his performance in the Danny Boyle helmed biopic, and his candidacy is where the tide starts to swing away from DiCaprio’s favor. Thanks to Kate Winslet’s win for Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes, the talk around Michael Fassbender’s performance could spark up again, as his nomination is proof that Steve Jobs hasn’t been completely forgotten.

1. Matt Damon

Out of the entire Best Actor field that’s been nominated for this year’s trophy, it’s fellow Golden Globe winner Matt Damon that’s the force to be reckoned with this year. With The Martian being the most commercial hit of the pack, a Damon win could be in the cards, so as to please the public who turned out in droves to see the film. Of course, it also helps that Matt Damon’s performance as Mark Watney is truly an organic masterpiece of solo work that deserves awards recognition. If Leo’s going to lose again this year, it’s a good chance that Damon will be the one snagging the gold this year.

This poll is no longer available.

The Academy Awards are always good for a full of surprises. Sure, some filmmakers, actors and movies seem destined for Oscar gold, but there are always plenty of key snubs and shocking inclusions that leave everybody either completely enraged or delighted. And it’s 10 of those that we’re here to talk about today.

What were the most surprising turn of events during this morning’s nomination announcements for the 88th annual Academy Awards? Read on to find out!

Quentin Tarantino And Aaron Sorkin Miss Out On Best Screenplay

Between the two of them, Quentin Tarantino and Aaron Sorkin have three Academy Awards and two separate nominations in Oscar screenplay categories, but both of them wound up being completely shut out of the 2016 race for their work on The Hateful Eight and Steve Jobs, respectively. It’s obviously their track record that makes the snub this year so surprising, but the results of the Golden Globes certainly don’t help it make any more sense. After all, not only were both Tarantino and Sorkin nominated, but it was Sorkin who actually walked away with the trophy.

Adam McKay Gets Nominated For Best Director

After a career of making ridiculous comedies like Anchorman and Step Brothers, director Adam McKay changed gears a bit to make The Big Short - certainly his most serious work to date – and it has paid off in a huge way. McKay’s nomination for the main prize from the Director’s Guild was certainly a clue that he was very much in the running for the Academy Awards’ Best Director prize – but that doesn’t really make seeing his name on the ballot any less surprising.

Tom Hardy Gets A Best Supporting Actor Nomination

Despite putting on one of the best supporting actor performances of last year – starring in The Revenant as the man who left Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass to die after being attacked by a bear – Tom Hardy was completely looked over during the Golden Globes, and wasn’t even able to secure a nomination. The Academy most certainly did what they could to right that wrong. There’s no guarantee that Hardy will win, as the competition in the category is pretty crazy, but he most certainly deserves to be recognized for his impressive work, and it’s a nice surprise that that’s happening.

Ridley Scott Misses Out On Best Director

Of all the big surprises from this year’s crop of Oscar nods, this one is definitely the biggest. The Director’s Guild Of America nominations usually do an excellent job predicting who will be nominated for an Academy Award – and while Ridley Scott’s work on The Martian earned him attention from that organization, Lenny Abrahamson took his slot thanks to his work on the emotionally devastating Room. The Academy has previously been kind to Scott, delivering a Best Director nomination on three separate occasions, but he apparently couldn’t get the votes this time around.

Room Gets A Ton Of Attention

Lenny Abrahamson’s Room didn’t exactly light the box office on fire when it came out this past fall, pulling in just $5 million and never making it into more than 198 theaters at one time, but the Academy has made it pretty damn clear that they think it’s a film worth celebrating. While left out of all the technical categories, the emotional drama is in the mix for three of the Oscar’s biggest races: Best Actress (Brie Larson), Best Director and Best Picture.

Michael Keaton Gets Passed Over For Spotlight

Many were disappointed last year when Eddie Redmayne wound up taking home the Best Actor Oscar over Michael Keaton, but at least the actor's turn in Birdman was nominated. Sadly, the same thing can't be said about his fantastic turn in Tom McCarthy's Spotlight. Admittedly the Best Supporting Actor category is an extremely tough one this year - and many of the votes that would have gone Keaton's way went to Mark Ruffalo instead – but it’s still surprising that the veteran actor couldn’t find his way on to the list.

Charlotte Rampling Gets A Best Actress Nomination

Charlotte Rampling has been working as a professional actress since 1965, but has never exactly been known to get a lot of awards attention. That has changed in a big way thanks to her performance in writer/director Andrew Haigh’s drama 45 Years. She has been picking up nominations left and right over the last few weeks for her starring role opposite fellow veteran Tom Courtenay, and it’s all led to his first ever Oscar race.

The Peanuts Movie Misses Out On Best Animated Feature

Last year was a rather incredible year for animation, and the nominees for Best Animated Feature Film most certainly demonstrate that. Unfortunately, this fact wound up being bad news for Steve Martino’s The Peanuts Movie. The project certainly earned acclaim from professional critics last fall, and made a significant score at the box office, but apparently this wasn’t enough for it to crack the Top Five with Academy voters. Inside Out and Anomalisa are certainly the frontrunners in the category, but it’s still surprising to not see Peanuts get recognized.

Sylvester Stallone Gets Nominated For Creed

Sylvester Stallone earned a pair of Oscar nominations back in 1977 for his work writing and acting in the original Rocky, but his career since then hasn’t exactly been filled to the brim with award-worthy films or performances. With Creed, however, it’s all come full circle, as the franchise has been given new life, and Stallone is picking up attention from the Academy. After the Golden Globes, we all definitely knew that a Best Supporting Actor nod was possible, but it’s still surprisingly nonetheless.

Mad Max: Fury Road vs. The Revenant

We got to see so many incredible movies come out in 2015, and we would have been happy to see a whole lot of them get a lot of recognition from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences… but nobody could have predicted that George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road and Alejandro Inarritu’s The Revenant would be leading the pack in nominations this year. The former is competing in a grand total of 10 races, while the other is in 12. They’re both huge epics, feature amazing performances, and film productions went through hell to get the work done – but they really couldn’t be more different at the same time. Which film will ultimately collect more wins? We’ll leave it to all of you to predict that in the comments below.

The nominees for the 88th annual Academy Awards were announced this morning in Los Angeles, setting the stage for the next few weeks of Oscar campaigning. The Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday, February 28, in a star-studded event hosted this year by comedian Chris Rock.

Let’s get right to the nominees, starting with the eight films picked for Best Picture this year.

Best Picture

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

Best Director

Adam McKay, The Big Short

George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road

Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant

Lenny Abrahamson, Room

Tom McCarthy, Spotlight

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Matt Damon, The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Brie Larson, Room

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara, Carol

Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Best Animated Feature Film

Anomalisa

Boy and the World

Inside Out

Shaun the Sheep Movie

When Marnie Was There

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Big Short

Brooklyn

Carol

The Martian

Room

Best Original Screenplay

Bridge of Spies

Ex Machina

Inside Out

Spotlight

Straight Outta Compton

Best Cinematography

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Sicario

Best Costume Design

Carol

Cinderella

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Best Documentary Feature

Amy

Cartel Land

The Look of Silence

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Best Documentary Short Subject

Body Team 12

Chau, Beyond the Lines

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness

Last Day of Freedom

Best Foreign Language Film

Embrace Of The Serpent

Mustang

Son of Saul

Theeb

A War

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Mad Max: Fury Road

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

The Revenant

Best Original Song

"Earned It," Fifty Shades of Grey

"Manta Ray," Racing Extinction

"Simple Song No. 3," Youth

"'Til It Happens to You," The Haunting Ground

"Writings on the Wall," Spectre

Best Original Score

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Animated Short Film

Bear Story

Prologue

Sanjay's Super Team

We Can't Live Without Cosmos

World of Tomorrow

Best Live Action Short Film

Ave Maria

Day One

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)

Shok

Stutterer

Best Sound Editing

The Big Short

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant

Spotlight

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Mixing

Bridge of Spies

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Production Design

Bridge of Spies

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Best Visual Effects

Ex Machina

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

After weeks of campaigning, months of tracking, and a full year of Oscar-worthy films being screened, it’s finally time to put up or shut up. The Academy is about to unveil its full slate of nominations for the 88th Academy Awards, which will be handed out during a ceremony on Sunday, February 28. The nominees will be revealed on Thursday morning. But why wait? Let’s guess them right now.

This is a lot harder than you would imagine. This year, above several others, the field seems significantly spread out, with numerous films enjoying waves of passion but no film rising up to claim the coveted mantle of "Frontrunner." If the Golden Globes are an indicator, Alejandro G. Inarritu’s The Revenant has a real shot at several Oscar nominations. However, the guilds and critics groups leading up to the Oscars sprinkled attention on everything from Carol and Mad Max: Fury Road to Spotlight and The Big Short. Where will the Academy land? Here are my bold predictions for the top six categories. I expect to be wrong. Where do we agree? Where do we disagree? Let me know in the comments section below.

Best Picture

Things get tricky right off the bat. The Academy changed its rules a few years back, allowing as few as five films to be nominated for the Bets Picture category, and as many as 10. Because this is a year where so many films have strong support, I’m going to go out on a limb and choose 10 Best Picture nominees, hoping that all of these outstanding movies are able to call themselves Oscar nominees as early as Thursday morning:

Best Director

In this category, 10 potential Best Picture films have to be reduced to only five Best Director slots. The Directors Guild nominations, released on Tuesday, are usually a good indicator of what will happen at the Oscars in this category. However, the one change I have from the DGA to the Academy is that I believe the Oscar voters will find room for Steven Spielberg, who they tend to adore, or Todd Haynes, who masterfully recreated 1950s New York with Carol:

Best Actor

It’s Leo’s year, right? That’s the narrative. It was aided by the Golden Globes, and it will be cemented by the Academy, who will nominate Leonarod DiCaprio for his role in The Revenant. But can anyone beat Leo in this category? Here are the four actors who I think will give it a shot:

Best Actress

Last year, we had a ridiculously stacked category of Best Actor candidates. This year, the ladies knocked numerous roles out of the park, making for a Bets Actress race that’s harder than normal to predict. Here are the five women who I think have solidified their positions as the 2016 Oscar nominees:

Best Supporting Actor

If it were up to me, I’d fill all five of these Best Supporting Actor slots with the male members of the cast of Spotlight. If you read the site, you know how much I adore that film, and I think everyone in the ensemble is Oscar-worthy. That being said, these five men likely will hear their names when these nominations are revealed. (Now watch, all the Big Short guys will get in):

Best Supporting Actress

This may go down as the Year of Alicia Vikander. It’s very possible that she picks up her second Oscar nomination of the day in this category. One nominee I thought was a lock (Rachel McAdams) doesn’t feel like a lock this week. And finally, I found some room for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, which might not have the best day on Thursday. We shall see:

Ask anybody and they will tell you: the five words Hollywood loves more than anything else are, "Based On A True Story." By making films that take inspiration from real events filmmakers not only save time coming up with original ideas, but they also have an opportunity to honor the sacrifice, perseverance, and ingenuity of real life people. This trend has been apparent for years, and the recent Golden Globe winner The Revenant only represents the latest in this seemingly permanent pattern.There’s just one problem with calling The Revenant a true story: it’s not entirely true.

Sure, the film follows the exploits of Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) about as accurately as possible, given what little information we have regarding his adventures, but they still took artistic liberties. For example, the real Glass never had a son murdered by John Fitzgerald, and he never got an opportunity to take the revenge he sought when he finally made it out of the wilderness. Does that make The Revenant a bad film? Of course not, it’s an amazing piece of cinema; all we are saying is that movies that frame themselves as true stories often fictionalize quite a bit. With that in mind, we have compiled a list of famous Hollywood films that framed themselves as true stories, but contained major untruths somewhere hidden in their narrative. Let’s get the ball rolling with something dark and violent out of Texas…

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

To this very day, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s low production value and unknown cast give the film and aura of authenticity – it genuinely feels like a real snuff film. This is also assisted by the fact that the film framed itself as being based upon genuine events. The reality of the matter is somewhat different, although no less disturbing. Director Tobe Hooper based Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) on real life serial killer Ed Gein, and while Gein did in fact murder two women and make keepsakes out of their skin, he mostly just robbed graves and never once used a chainsaw for his dastardly deeds.

Remember the Titans

Set in 1971, Remember the Titans tells the story of T.C. Williams High School in Virginia as the newly racially integrated football team must overcome their preconceived notions about race and come together to win a championship. It’s a beautiful film with a strong moral message and great performances – particularly from Denzel Washington – however, it gets one definite major aspect of history wrong. T.C. Williams High School had racially integrated years before they went on to win their 1971 championship, and by that time much of the racial tension had died down to the point where people no longer protested outside of the school.

Pearl Hearbor

We did say that not every movie on this list was a great movie, didn’t we? Pearl Harbor takes numerous liberties with the history of America’s early involvement in World War II, but perhaps none so glaring as the final act of the film. Following the Japanese attack on the titular military installation, Rafe (Ben Affleck) and Danny (Josh Hartnett) volunteer to take part in a daring bombing run on Tokyo with James Doolittle (Alec Baldwin). The reality of the situation is that they never would have taken part in that attack; nobody present at the attack on Pearly Harbor ever went anywhere near the Doolittle Raid, as all of the members of Doolittle’s Raiders came from the 17th Bombardment Group, which was stationed in South Carolina.

The Untouchables

Brian DePalma’s classic gangster film The Untouchables really is just as much of a history film as it is a remake of the classic Untouchables TV show. That being said, the film still frames itself as a historical drama depicting how Al Capone was brought down, so the liberties need to be noted. The biggest of these come during the film’s climax, during which Treasury agent Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) throws Frank Nitti (Billy Drago) off a roof after discovering Nitti murdered Jim Malone (Sean Connery). History tells us that this incident never even remotely happened, as Nitti died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1943 – long after Capone went to prison for tax evasion.

The Patriot

Much like Pearl Harbor, The Patriot is a straight-up action romp that tries to elevate its content under the guise of historical accuracy – of which it has very little. The movie is basically an excuse for Mel Gibson to dust off his persona as Martin Riggs and take a tomahawk to the earliest days of America. One of the most glaring issues with the film is the way in which it depicts British soldiers. One scene involves them locking innocent townsfolk in a church and setting the place of worship ablaze. Most sources indicate that this sort of thing was never reported to have occurred at the hands of the British, and the inspiration for the fictional atrocity was actually attributed to the Nazis. Our guess is that if you’re going to have Mel Gibson butchering bad guys with Native American weaponry, you better write your script so they deserve it – even if that means faking history.

Argo

Argo tells the story of U.S government official Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) posing as a Hollywood producer to rescue six Americans hiding out in Tehran after they slipped away during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The film itself actually follows the real life story of how this all unfolded – until the final act. In classic Hollywood fashion, Argo ramps up tension by featuring a major chase down the Tehran Airport runway as the Iranian authorities get wise to Mendez’ plan and try to stop him. In reality, history tells us that the plane that flew the American refugees out of Iran only experienced a minor one-hour mechanical delay with no grand final chase.

Public Enemies

Michael Mann’s Public Enemies depicts the final days of legendary gangster John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) as law enforcement officials struggle to keep up with him. Throughout the film several other real life gangsters – such as Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum) and Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) – are gunned down by the forces of lawman Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) before Dillinger himself is finally killed at the film’s climax. Telling the story this way establishes the threat posed by Purvis, and makes Dillinger out to be the last of a dying breed, but in reality Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson both outlived John Dillinger by several months.

The Pursuit of Happyness

All spelling errors aside, The Pursuit of Happyness is one of the most uplifting and inspirational films of the last decade. It tells the story of brilliant, yet unlucky, single father Chris Gardner (Will Smith) as he balances caring for his son while interning for free at a high powered brokerage firm to eventually put a roof over both of their heads. As the story is told, Gardner seems like a perfect father who will stop at nothing to care for his son, but most sources indicate that the real Gardner was a relatively absentee parent during his internship, seldom knowing where his son even was for months on end. If you’re going to hire nice guy Will Smith for a role like that, then odds are you’re going to brush over a few of those nastier details.

A Beautiful Mind

Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind depicts the tragic yet uplifting story of the late John Nash (Russell Crowe), a brilliant mathematician who suffered from hallucinations that threatened to tear his life apart. The movie portrays these illusions as living breathing people, indistinguishable from actual human beings to Nash. The truth of the matter is that while Nash did in fact suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, his hallucinations were mostly auditory and he could never have fostered relationships with them the way he did. Many experts have criticized the film for its incredibly inaccurate portrayal of Nash’s condition – although it is still a beautiful and endlessly entertaining piece of cinema.

The Strangers

The 2008 home invasion horror romp, The Strangers, marketed itself heavily on the idea that it’s based upon a true story. The reality of the matter is that the reports of masked invaders breaking into a house and butchering residents have been greatly exaggerated. Shortly after the film’s release it was revealed in the production notes that The Strangers is based upon an incident in which someone came to director Bryan Bertino’s door when he was a kid asking for someone who didn’t live at his home. He later found out that these people had been going from house to house and robbing unoccupied homes and he combined elements of that story with the Manson Family Tate/LaBianca murders, and that's how we got The Strangers.

Having the opportunity to star in a feature film is a great one, and that’s especially true if that film is being directed by Oscar winner Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and features Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy as the leads. It was this exact situation that young actor Forrest Goodluck found himself in after being cast as Hugh Glass’ son, Hawk, in The Revenant -, though he didn’t exactly leave the best impression after his first ever take during production. In fact, he fell flat on his face… quite literally.

The first sequence that Forrest Goodluck shot during his time on The Revenant was the epic camp invasion that finds his character joining his father fleeing an attacking Arikara tribe. His debut on-screen appearance was designed with him running across the screen, though this didn’t work exactly as planned from the get go. Instead, he found himself having serious trouble with the sloppy environment in which he was running. As the actor explained to me during an interview last month,

You can watch Forrest Goodluck talk about his fun embarrassing moment in the video below:

This surely must have been blush-inducing for Forrest Goodluck when he was actually on set filming The Revenant, but in retrospect it’s probably a good thing that he found himself face down in the mud. After all, there are surely thousands if not millions of actors out there whose very first take in a feature film wasn’t actually all that memorable. Goodluck now has a story to tell for his entire acting career.

So when you go see The Revenant - which is in theaters everywhere now - and watch Forrest Goodluck running past the screen during the invasion sequence, you’ll know in the back of your mind that things didn’t exactly go precisely as planned the first time around.

There’s a lot of love out there for Leonardo DiCaprio at the moment. Fresh from his Golden Globes success last night, fans of the actor are now already counting down the days until the Academy Awards ceremony next month, where they believe he’ll get the Oscar it’s roundly believed he covets so badly. Basically, Leonardo DiCaprio is the biggest actor in the world at the moment. He can do what he wants. But directing isn’t part of his plan.

Leonardo DiCaprio made this admission before his triumph at the star-studded ceremony on Sunday night, revealing that he believes his success as an actor alongside some of the finest filmmakers to ever step behind a camera probably means that he’d be doomed to fail if he ever tried to shift behind the device himself.

In fact, during his cover story interview with Variety, which was released to coincide with the wide release of The Revenant but also rather fortuitously hit stands a few hours after he picked up the Best Actor for Drama at the Golden Globes, DiCaprio admitted that he somewhat regrets not paying attention and taking notes while working with some of the finest directors cinema has to offer.

This has included Baz Luhrmann (Romeo & Juliet & The Great Gatsby), James Cameron (Titanic), Danny Boyle (The Beach), Steven Spielberg (Catch Me If You Can), Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road), Chris Nolan (Inception), Clint Eastwood (J. Edgar), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Ridley Scott (Body Of Lies), Alejandro G. Inarritu (The Revenant), and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf Of Wall Street, Shutter Island, The Departed, The Aviator, and Gangs Of New York). That’s a pretty nifty list of cinematic talent, especially when you consider that Leonardo DiCaprio is still only 41.

However, Leonardo DiCaprio has a pretty good reason for his ignorance, as he insisted that he’s never been able to sit back and learn from the likes of Scott, Scorsese, Nolan, Mendes, Inarritu, et al, because he was so concerned with what he had to do as an actor on their respective sets. Total pro.

The fact that DiCaprio is still so young means that we shouldn’t completely rule out ever seeing him behind the camera. Clearly, as an actor he likes to think long and hard about the roles that he ultimately takes. That’s why he’s usually only in one film every year. If Leonardo DiCaprio did find himself visualizing a story and script that he had in his possession, then audiences would definitely be interested in seeing what he can produce as a director. But, if not, that’s cool too. Because simply seeing him up onscreen is more than enough.

Just like that, the 73rd Annual Golden Globes Awards have come to a close. As many of you surely know, it was an interesting night full of laughs, tears, and some truly great cinema. When the whole affair was said and done, Alejandro Iñárritu and Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Revenant walked away with three of the most important awards of the night: Best Director, Best Actor, Drama, and (perhaps most importantly) Best Picture, Drama. The accumulation of these three honors has led many to believe that The Revenant is now the official film to watch when the Oscars roll around later this year - which naturally begs only one question: is it?

The Revenant ultimately taking home the Best Picture trophy does make a great deal of sense. It’s a shining example of filmmakers going through hell to produce an incredibly unique film that’s stylish, engaging, and utterly raw. In his creation of the American frontier, Iñárritu proved himself capable of constructing a landscape that felt completely alien, yet utterly immersive. The film also provided a platform for Leonardo DiCaprio to reaffirm the idea that he is one of – if not the – most committed actors working in show business today, and represents his best shot at finally nabbing an Oscar for himself. From top to bottom The Revenant was – and always will be – a marvel of modern filmmaking, of that we have no doubts.

However, while we can heap endless amounts of praise upon The Revenant – and believe me when I say I would love to do nothing more – it’s also worth noting that doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed any victories from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Sure, making the film entailed a grueling and exhausting shoot for the cast and crew that stylishly showcased the brutality of the natural world – but then again so did Mad Max: Fury Road. As this year has already shown, the film landscape is as competitive and diverse as ever, with upsets occurring left and right. For example, Steve Jobs had pretty much fallen off everyone’s radar until it scooped up an unexpected two wins while audience favorite Spotlight unexpectedly walked away empty-handed. No one can know for sure how these awards ceremonies will go until the final name has been called by the presenters and the winners take the stage.

We still have a long way to go in awards season, and anything can happen. Now that the Golden Globes are in our rear view, this only makes the race for the Oscars even more interesting. The Revenant has staked its claim as one of the best films of the year, but we will see if it can manage to hold onto that title for long.