Taken from the book written by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue Room is an unusual tale of Joy Newsome, (Brie Larson) a mother who is held captive along with her son Jack, (Jacob Tremblay) in a sparsely filled room within a shed in the back garden of the man who abducted her years before. The only interaction with the outside world that they have is through a small television, a skylight in the roof through which they can see the sky and the regular visits from the mothers captor.

The first section of the movie, while a little slow moving, does a good job of showing the bond between the characters while both director (Lenny Abrahamson) and cinematographer (Danny Cohen) do a great job in showing not only the claustrophobia of their situation but also the strength and resolve Larson shows in trying to protect her son from the real horror of their situation. When it becomes apparent to the mother that her captor is becoming more dangerous as the boy is getting older the pace of the movie really starts to pick up and the performance of Larson as the tragic figure of the abducted woman is superb as you feel her terror, anxiety and despair in equal measure. She realises that they need to break free from their prison before things get even worse, leading to a desperate plan where Larson is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice on a throw of the dice, so that they may escape.

From there the tale switches to their re-adaptation to the world and the progression of Tremblay in his adjustment, growing as a person while his mother struggles, and if anything regresses, back to almost childish ways. The movie is also hugely helped by what feels like a genuine bond between the mother and son acting team who are wholly believable as the captives and even more believable as part of the family unit trying to bring some normality back into their lives. Huge credit must go to Tremblay, who never actually seems to be acting and who unnervingly treats each new experience with the awe and wonder you would expect of a kid thrown into the world and his reaction to his return visit to his prison at the end of the movie is near perfect.

While the movie does take a while to get going and some of the content could be classed as disturbing, overall the theme is one of hope and endurance even when faced with horrible odds and it’s easy to see why this is on the shortlist for so many awards.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 out of 10

While this movie simplifies what was a difficult time in the movie industry it’s done through a medium of some good acting, writing and photography which gives this movie a realistic feeling of being a throwback to the era. Bryan Cranston in particular is superb as Dalton Trumbo but is ably assisted by Diane Lane as his wife who is the real rock of the family and must try to keep the house together through Trumbo’s periods of isolation while immersing himself in his writing and also through the turbulent times when he was blacklisted and the money was drying up.

Where the real issue with the movie starts is that it seems to try and introduce comedy moments for levity, which turns characters such as Hedda Hopper, played by Helen Mirren and The King Brother producing team, into comic relief. While this does work in briefly lifting the movie out of its gloomy depiction it also detracts from the seriousness of the situation which I thought the movie should have stuck with, as it was the core of the story.

While I appreciate that the movie is about Trumbo’s life in general it would have been nice to see a bit more of the broader picture of the situation with the HUAC, as it was an integral part of his career. I felt that there wasn’t a lot of time given to how the Hollywood 10 ended up in their position, or why the persecution they felt that they were facing, even outside the blacklisting, required them to make the stand in the fashion that they did through their open support for Communism during the great depression as an alternative, and in their opinion, better form of government than Capitalism at that time.

Overall the movie is an interesting and entertaining watch but, in essence, it feels a bit like a modern period piece and may be a bit heavy duty for some.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Two American girls go on vacation to Israel and end up bumping into a wannabe archaeologist whom they accompany to Jerusalem but their holiday is cut short when they are caught in the middle of a biblical apocalypse. Sounds like a regular B-movie horror film? You would be correct.

It’s good to see a horror coming from beyond the mainstream with this film being made by the Israeli directors Yoav & Doran Paz and the use of the city of Jerusalem as a setting gives some beautiful imagery in the first half of the movie but unfortunately once the ‘action’ kicks off it’s a lot of back alleys and dark buildings which look like they could have been shot anywhere.

With the movie being shot from the Google glass perspective the movie has a first person view which, while original, leads to some extreme shaky cam when the main character is running and this leads to a lot of ‘off screen’ action however this novelty is probably the best feature of the movie and could have been a great premise if done correctly. (Check out the trailer for Hardcore Henry to see what I’m talking about)

The wannabe archaeologist, who turns out to be the expert on the scenario, has only studied the ‘Darknet’ and has sourced all his knowledge from classified websites and blogs, but he turns out to be the link between the girls and outbreak that they are caught up in. However, other than the fact that there is a gate to hell in the city of Jerusalem, as mentioned in the bible, and the fact that the movie is set around Yom Kippur, there seems to be no reason as to why this event occurs at that particular time and while the city is in a state of lock-down there’s never any real sense of mass panic as you would expect from a city being ravaged by demons with little chance of escape.

So the demons suddenly appear and they do look quite look so credit to the make up department where it’s due and there a few shots a shot of a giant, Cloverfield like, monster that is never explored further and Cloverfield is probably a good example of what this movie is trying to achieve but it never quite reaches the same heights so in essence it’s a cliched ‘wrong place, wrong time’ movie with a few jump scares and lots of idiotic decision making by the supposed protagonists.

There’s nothing here to keep your interest unless you’re a die hard horror fan. If you want a good foreign horror movie check out the superb Spanish movie Rec instead, otherwise just watch Cloverfield for a better rounded movie with slightly less shaky cam.

DJ Speaks Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Well directed, well acted and tastefully told so it doesn’t delve into too much detail for shock value which kept the movie very much focused on the journalistic side of the tale and that served the picture very well. Also, the fact that film didn’t try to portray anyone as heroes was a classy move as there were no winners in this story and it felt like the actors were actually living the part as the rolling stone gathered its moss and the cover up went deeper and deeper which gave it an almost documentary like feel at times.

Great acting all around with Michael Keaton playing a great part as the editor of the investigative team (I still preferred his performance in Birdman) and Liev Schreiber excellent as the papers new editor who first highlights the potential story, but Mark Ruffalo was the standout as the bulldog like Mike Rezendes, though I still can’t see him beating Tom Hardy to the best supporting actor Oscar.

I highly recommend that you watch this film, it’s not the quickest paced and the subject matter is delicate so it may not be for everybody, but it’s a well told story and a must for any movie fan.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7.5 out of 10