Justice League
Battle of the Sexes
Paddington 2
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Jigsaw
The Death of Stalin
Thor: Ragnarok
The Snowman
Maze
Blade Runner 2049
Home Again
Kingsman: The Golden Circle

To read more of our mini-reviews, visit our Reviews page.

A Packed January 2015

A Packed January 2015

16th December 2014

This began as a look ahead to the big and interesting releases of 2015. Problems began when I started with January, as there are about twenty eye-catching films out in the year opening month. This list holds my top picks.

WARNING: MAY NOT CONTAIN TAKEN 3, SORRY, I MEANT TAK3N. Due Jan 8th by the way. SHIT.

  • Birdman

    January 1st

    Michael Keaton plays a washed-up actor who once played an iconic superhero(geddit?). This obviously haunts him and affects his ego as he tries to get on with his life and find new successes.

    This aims to be a new take on the superhero genre as it's completely different to our usual fare. Don't be expecting a Marvel logo in the opening titles but do expect a starry cast. Backing up Keaton are Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis to name only a few.

    Birdman definitely promises to be interesting and is one of many films out this month which arrives on the back of a bucket-load of internet hype. Hopefully it has earned it.

  • Enemy

    January 2nd

    "A man goes in search of his exact look-alike".

    That man is Jake Gyllenhaal, who just happens to be one of the most interesting actors around at the moment, from End of Watch to Nightcrawler. The latter happens to be one of my favourite films of 2014 as he is mesmerising in it. So yeah, point being, I'd pretty much go see this based on his presence alone.

    Last year he was in fierce thriller Prisoners and he made a run-of-the-mill detective vastly more interesting through his performance and Enemy reunites him with that film's director, Denis Villeneuve. Fingers crossed that this partnership once again returns something great.

  • Foxcatcher

    January 9th

    Channing Tatum, Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo show off their acting chops and probably some athleticism in this hotly-tipped Oscar favourite.

    Focusing on two wrestling brothers (Tatum, Ruffalo) training for the 1988 Olympics with Carell as coach. This is based on a true story of which I know little about due to spoiler dodging but I'm going to guess that it doesn't go well for the brothers and coach pairing as everyone looks grim in the posters.

    Channing Tatum was tipped to lead acting nominations from this film but his co-stars have overtaken him. Both Carell and Ruffalo have been nominated for Best Actor and Supporting Actor respectively in the SAGs and the Golden Globes. Expect quite the heavy drama with this one.

  • American Sniper

    January 16th

    Bradley Cooper plays the titular gunman in this biopic where he recounts his military career. The military career in question, is that of America's most prolific sniper.

    This is Clint Eastwood's return to more serious territory after a massive misstep with this year's lame Jersey Boys. Judging by the trailer, this is definitely better quality. It looks like it could prove controversial and a seemingly taut drama.

  • Whiplash

    January 16th

    Miles Teller (our new Mr. Fantastic) plays a young promising drummer and J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson himself) plays his fiery instructor.

    Dare I say it, but this film is arriving on even more hype than Birdman. I have honestly not seen a single response from anyone who has watched it being less than amazing or one of the year's best! In fact, many critics whose Top 10 rules bend a bit, have included this in their Top 10s of 2014. Expect great things. Actually, to temper expectations, expect average things.

  • Ex Machina

    January 23rd

    A.I., Artificial Intelligence, a module I'm about to fail in uni, the topic of this film.

    Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) and Domhnall Gleeson (About Time) star in this new sci-fi where a young programmer is hired to evaluate a new female form of artificial intelligence.

    This science fiction comes with a high pedigree as it's written and directed by Alex Garland who also wrote Sunshine, Dredd and 28 Days Later. The CGI and designs may look a bit off but I'm willing to overlook these in favour of a fascinating film.

  • Big Hero 6

    January 30th

    The first Disney animation based on a Marvel property, albeit a little known one.

    This follows the adventures of Hiro (handy name that) and his giant marshmallow friend/robot/thing Baymax. The latter I fell in love with in the first trailer, he looks so fun. Set in the fictional city San Fransokyo it already sounds pretty cool and hopefully it's great fun too. I was unfortunate to miss this at the Foyle Film Festival this year so I'm anxious to see if it's worth this extra wait.

  • Inherent Vice

    January 30th

    There Will Be Blood's director Paul Thomas Anderson adapts Thomas Pynchon's novel of the same name with stars such as Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin getting in the 70's groove in a druggy L.A.

    The neon poster alone would've sold me on it but the trailer also does a good job of selling the sense of irreverence that's not usually associated with PTA's films.


Well at least that's January's most anticipated done with, sorry it took me so long. You should probably expect a similar pace from me for the rest of the year. I like to create low expectations in the hope that I can potentially surpass them.

There's plenty of other films out in January too that I failed to include but I thought 8 was a fair amount for a single bloody month to cover. The Theory of Everything and Into the Woods are also out to name two so there, does that count as 10 now?

Fancy giving this a share?

Ethan M Barr
Embarr Himself

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Embarr Films was created by myself, Ethan Barr, as somewhere to share film views with local film lovers.

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