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Alejandro González Iñárritu began filming his 2015 film "The Revenant" in October of the previous year, working very closely with his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, to capture a very specific, very natural look to the movie. Indeed, the pair assured that their film, which is set mostly outdoors in the 1820s, employed only natural lighting. Because shooting locations were so remote, and because filming had to coincide with the rising and setting of the sun, filming took longer than expected. Shooting was supposed to take place from October to May at the latest, but ended up stretching into August. That included an unexpected six-week break, but "The Revenant" shot for a long time by any gauge. 

The film is based on the poem "The Song of Hugh Glass" and the biographical novel "The Revenant" written by Michael Punke, adapted by screenwriter Mark L. Smith. Both sources detail the adventures of the real-life Missouri frontiersman Hugh Glass,...

Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu's epic Western The Revenantis officially headed to a new streaming home.

Per Hulu, 2015's The Revenant is slated to premiere on the streaming platform in less than two weeks. Fans will be able to begin streaming The Revenant on Hulu on April 1.

Directed by Iñárritu from a script co-written with Mark L. Smith, which was adapted from Michael Punke's 2002 novel of the same name and is itself based on the 1915 poem The Song of Hugh Glass by John G. Neihardt, The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a fictionalized version of the legendary frontiersman and trapper, Hugh Glass. The film follows Glass after a brutal bear attack leaves him at the mercy of his fellow trappers, who decide to end his life out of mercy. When Glass' son intervenes and is killed for defending his father, the elder trapper takes on a mission of revenge...

Westerns may not be as popular as they once were from a box office standpoint, but new titles in the genre continue to be released regularly. The Western (and the neo-Western) has also become particularly popular in the TV landscape, with the Taylor Sheridan universe essentially reviving the genre with Yellowstone and its spinoffs like 1883 and 1923. The genre isn't quite dead on the movie side of things, though, as 2015's The Revenant proves.

Taking place in the 1820s and in a frozen landscape that's less often featured in a typical Western, The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, a frontiersman who sets out for revenge after being left for dead. The movie hails from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu with a script from Iñárritu, Mark L. Smith, and Michael Punke, and it was a major critical and commercial hit. Smith is now returning to the Western genre with a new Netflix miniseries,...

The following contains spoilers for American Primeval, now streaming on Netflix.

Netflix's American Primeval is a TV series that lives on gut instinct, depicting a visceral cesspool of pioneering settlers, religious zealots, and Indigenous Americans all fighting for supremacy. Mark L. Smith, who co-wrote Oscar winner The Revenant with Alejandro J. Iñárritu and Michael Punke, is behind this frontier story, which rivals that 2015 movie. Just as The Revenant pulled no punches, American Primeval, set in Utah circa 1857, takes an equally brutal approach to depicting the harsh realities of frontier life.

The show's world is defined by powerful personalities and public acts of extreme violence. Taylor Kitsch inhabits the grizzled figure of Isaac Reed, swathed in animal hide and concealed beneath facial hair. He's a man of few words who is forced into the company of Betty Gilpin's Sarah Rowell and her son Devin. Their rescue from and survival of...

The real Hugh Glass faced a journey even more unbelievable than the film, with historical records being scarce and unreliable. Glass actually spared John Fitzgerald's life for reasons different from the movie's narrative of vengeance for a slain son. After a remarkable survival story, Glass continued his frontier life, but ultimately met a tragic end at the hands of the Arikara tribe.

Leonardo DiCaprio earned his first Best Actor Academy Award for his performance as Hugh Glass in The Revenant, but the story of what happened to the real Hugh Glass after the bear attack might be even more unbelievable than the film. While the inspiration for Alejandro Iñárrritu's masterpiece was a real frontier man by the name of Hugh Glass, it's nearly impossible to discern how much of The Revenant is a true story due to the lack of reliable historical records. Michael Punke's 2002 novel of the...

The Revenant showcases brutal survival in the wilderness, depicting human perseverance through its protagonist Hugh Glass. Despite production challenges, the film led to Leonardo DiCaprio's first Oscar win, along with accolades for direction and cinematography. Inspired by true events, The Revenant stays faithful to American frontiersman Hugh Glass' story of survival and revenge against his former hunting team.

The Revenant is notable for its brutal and graphic displays of survival in the wilderness, but the extreme nature of its storytelling has prompted discussions of its real-life influence for years. The Revenant's brutal tale of revenge also highlights the tenacity and perseverance of the human spirit through its protagonist, Hugh Glass, as he's seen overcoming insurmountable odds throughout the film. The Revenant's lush cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki and gripping score by composer Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto also further express the emotional core of Alejandro G. Iñárritu's gritty,...

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn fulfills the promise he made at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, when we spied a metal incubator in the chambers of Sovereign leader Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) that housed the artificial superbeing Adam Warlock. Now in the conclusion of Gunn’s trilogy, Adam emerges – albeit prematurely – from his cocoon, charged by his mother and the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) with destroying the Guardians and returning Rocket (Bradley Cooper) to the latter, who created Rocket as part of his vile attempts at creating a perfect race.

Played by British actor Will Poulter, this version is quite different from the character most fans of Marvel Comics may be familiar with. While both are incredibly powerful cosmic beings, the print version (who debuted as Him in the pages of Fantastic Four in 1967) has vast superpowers, supreme intelligence, and is something of a godlike figure,...

Keith Redmon has joined Teddy Schwarzman’s Black Bear Pictures as a partner. He’s being tasked with heading up Black Bear Global, a newly created division which will focus on building strategic alliances and co-productions between the company and talent, production companies and partners overseas.

Redmon, who was at Anonymous Content for two decades, will also help build Black Bear’s management portfolio. He will continue to represent motion picture and television literary clients including: Daniel Barber (“Harry Brown”), Stephen Berra (“The Good Life”), Hagen Bogdanski (“Berlin Station”), Giuseppe Capotondi (“The Burnt Orange Heresy”), John Hillcoat (“The Proposition”), Kyle Killen (“Halo”), Raine Allen Miller, Schiaffino Musarra, Michael Punke (“The Revenant”), Johan Renck (“Chernobyl”), Michaël Roskam (“The Drop), Isaiah Seret, David Slade (“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”), Mark L. Smith (“The Midnight Sky”) and Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”). Redmon was ousted from Anonymous in June. At the time, the company offered...

FilmNation Entertainment, the independent studio behind “Arrival” and “Room,” has promoted Ashley Fox and Brad Zimmerman to senior VPs of production.

The pair will source and develop material that can be transformed into movies and will oversee film productions on behalf of the company. They will continue to report to Ben Browning, FilmNation’s president of production, film and television. Fox previously served as VP of development and Zimmerman was VP of production and acquisitions.

“Brad and Ashley are tenacious, driven and have great taste,” Browning said in a statement. “As we are looking to increase our film output, they have proven their ability to identify distinctive films and manage productions. It is exciting to see them grow their responsibilities at FilmNation.”

Fox is currently in post-production on Dominic Cooke’s “Ironbark,” a spy thriller that stars Oscar-nominee Benedict Cumberbatch and Emmy-winner Rachel Brosnahan. Her upcoming projects include Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman,...

Aliya Whiteley May 12, 2017

Exploring the story of The Revenant, three different ways - and how the film changes things...

This article contains spoilers for The Revenant

See related Denis Villeneuve interview: Sicario, Kurosawa, sci-fi, ugly poetry Dune reboot: Denis Villeneuve confirmed to direct

Over the next few weeks, with help from BookBeat - who we thank very much for their support - we're trialling a book club series of features, where we look at books, how they translate to movies, how they work in audiobook form, and just generally chat about a certain title. You can get a free trial of BookBeat - a sort-of Netflix for audio books - right here. Den Of Geek readers get a full month free trial, as opposed to the usual two weeks. But you need to click on that link to get it!

This week, we've looked at The Revenant, the film version...

★★★☆☆ Based on the novel by Michael Punke which is itself based on true events, Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Oscar-winning The Revenant - out now on DVD and Blu-ray - is the tale of a frontiersman named Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his relentless quest for vengeance after his comrades left him for dead in the wilderness of the Louisiana Purchase following his brutal mauling by a bear. As flawed as the source novel, though in different ways, this is a piece of visual and aural ingenuity that impresses more than it moves, feeling as icy and empty as the snow-laden landscape.

Mexican film-maker wins best director for second year in a row for frontier survival western starring Leonardo DiCaprio

Oscars 2016 live: follow the ceremony and every Academy award winner

Alejandro González Iñárritu has won the Oscar for best director for The Revenant at the 88th Academy awards, his second in a row after triumphing in the same category in 2015 for Birdman. Iñárritu was the favourite for the award, despite strong competition from the likes of Tom McCarthy for Spotlight and Adam McKay for The Big Short.

Based on a novel by Michael Punke, The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio as 19th-century frontiersman Hugh Glass, who is left for dead in the wilderness after a bear attack. The film was reportedly a gruelling production, with Iñárritu suggesting he may have made “an irresponsible decision” in the way he went about it. However, The Revenant proved a box office hit, grossing over $380m worldwide to date.

Typically, when a book is catapulted to the top of best-seller lists as the source material for a multiple-Oscar-nominated film, it’s something for the author to crow about. Not so for Michael Punke. A New York Times profile of Punke highlights the 2016 Oscars’ silent success story. Punke, the deputy United States Trade Representative and the U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization, also wrote “The Revenant” in 2002, the novel that served as the basis for director Alejandro G. Inarrritu’s film nominated for 12 Academy Awards. Also Read: 'The Revenant' Will Win Best Picture at Oscars ... According...

Directed by Oscar-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant is a revenge drama based on the 2002 fact-based novel by Michael Punke. The film effectively transports us to a time and a place without explicitly specifying its intentions. We are completely immersed in this world, which is rendered believable in each small detail. The Revenant, tells the true story of […]

The post Oscars 2016 Best Picture Review: ‘The Revenant’ Is Harsh and Visceral, Iñárritu At His Best appeared first on uInterview.

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck, Paul Anderson, Kristoffer Joner, Joshua Burge, Duane Howard, Melaw Nakehk’o, Fabrice Adde, Arthur RedCloud | Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mark L. Smith | Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

The Revenant a simple story of revenge, but the arduous journey from aggrieved to exacting that revenge is anything but simple. This is Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s latest film and is a huge departure from last years eccentric, superhero movie Birdman. We join the history of how the USA was colonised at the point where white settlers from Europe have disrupted and destroyed all prior notions of civilisation to such a degree that Native Americans are reduced to the same killer tactics to survive and thrive as their recent arrivals. These are hard, frontiersmen times. Snow is on the mountainous, untamed ground and peace and tranquility is nothing but a fantasy.

Leonardo DiCaprio gives his all in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s visceral, icebound survival story

The legend of American frontiersman and fur trapper Hugh Glass, who was left for dead after being mauled by a bear in the early 1820s, inspired Richard C Sarafian’s 1971 film Man in the Wilderness, in which Richard Harris starred as “Zachary Bass”. Now it returns to the screen in a film based in part on Michael Punke’s 2002 book The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge.

Related: Revenant is meaningless pain porn | Carole Cadwalladr

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A closer look at the 2016 Oscar Best Picture nominees, including reactions, reviews, and in-depth features.Oscars 2016‘The Revenant’ leads Oscar race with 12 nomsFull list of nominations

Scott, Spielberg, Sorkin shut out

Nominees’ reactions

Comment: Oscar nominations reward ambition

Galleries: Best Picture; ActorsThe Big Short

Director: Adam McKay

Cast: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pit, Ryan Gosling

Synopsis: Based on the 2010 Michael Lewis nonfiction book, this film chronicles the few individuals who predicted the 2008 Us housing market crash- and decided to make a profit off it.

Screen Review: “There are very few heroes in this film, and even the ostensibly good guys are deeply complicated” [Full Review]

Oscar nominations: 5

Categories: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Best Director (Adam McKay), Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay

Bridge of Spies

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance

Synopsis: James B. Donovan is a Brooklyn insurance claims lawyer, formerly an Oss counsel and assistant prosecutor at Nuremberg...

A closer look at the 2016 Oscar Best Picture nominees, including reactions, reviews, and in-depth features.The Big Short

Director: Adam McKay

Cast: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pit, Ryan Gosling

Synopsis: Based on the 2010 Michael Lewis nonfiction book, this film chronicles the few individuals who predicted the 2008 Us housing market crash- and decided to make a profit off it.

Screen Review: “There are very few heroes in this film, and even the ostensibly good guys are deeply complicated” [Full Review]

Oscar nominations: 5

Bridge of Spies

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance

Synopsis: James B. Donovan is a Brooklyn insurance claims lawyer, formerly an Oss counsel and assistant prosecutor at Nuremberg. Donovan is pressed into negotiating the first East-West spy exchange in the newly divided Berlin of 1962 and risks some unauthorised political brinkmanship to achieve his ends.

Screen Review: “Unusually for a Spielberg movie, Bridge of Spies is tonally uncertain, to the extent...

By Patrick Shanley

Managing Editor

With a number of big Golden Globe wins last night, including best director and best dramatic picture for The Revenant, director Alejandro G. Inarritu finds himself once more in the thick of the Oscar hunt. The Mexican-born filmmaker won big last year with three Oscars for his avant garde drama Birdman, which scored him the best original screenplay, best director, and best picture awards.

This year, with the western revenge thriller The Revenant, Inarritu has once more directed a film that he wrote himself, this time adapting the screenplay from the novel by Michael Punke with co-writer Mark L. Smith.

Inarritu is not the only writer/director with films in the race this year, however, as a number of other contenders boast a director who also penned the film’s script. The original screenplay hopefuls include Spotlight (directed and written by Tom McCarthy with co-writer...

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu Writers: Mark L. Smith (screenplay), Alejandro G. Iñárritu (screenplay), Michael Punke (based in part on the novel by) Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck Love it or hate it, I guarantee you that 2015 did not offer a film any more beautiful than Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant nor will you find a performance any more […]...

The Revenant, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, is opening in theaters to overwhelmingly positive reviews from film’s top critics. In The Revenant, five-time Oscar nominee Leonardo DiCaprio stars as frontiersman Hugh Glass. Inspired by Michael Punke‘s novel of the same name that’s based on a real life story, The Revenant follows Glass’ journey to exact revenge […]

The post ‘The Revenant’ Review Roundup: New Leonardo DiCaprio Flick Earns Glowing Reviews appeared first on uInterview.

Exclusive: The Revenant, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s brutal tale of survival and revenge, is of course gorgeous, but it’s also a constantly tense and terrifying character study, helped along by the script Gonzalez Iñárritu co-wrote with Mark L. Smith based in part on the novel by Michael Punke. In this new featurette released by Fox, the director/co-writer talks about the story, which he compares to the works of Jack London. “It’s beautifully savage, horrendously poetic, and…...

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu and Leonadro DiCaprio’s The Revenant is such an insanely good film! I caught an early screening of it, and I absolutely loved the maddening journey. While you wait to see the movie for yourself, we have a couple of fascinating must watch featurettes in which the cast and the crew talk about the themes of the film, the story, and the true story that it’s based on.

Iñárritu describes the film as being “beautifully savage, horrendously poetic and epic at the same time.” It certainly looks that way in the trailers that I’ve seen.

Inspired by true events, ‘The Revenant’ is an immersive and visceral cinematic experience capturing one man’s epic adventure of survival and the extraordinary power of the human spirit. In an expedition of the uncharted American wilderness, legendary explorer Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is brutally attacked by a bear and...

The last few days of 2015 are spent in reflection about the year that's just wrapping up and in anticipation of the year just ahead, at least for me, and since we had our ten best list last week, this week it's time for the runners-up, the fifteen films that also filled out our year. As always, I look at this list and I think it would make a perfectly spiffy top ten if that's how things had shaken out, which is to say that the only real purpose of any of these lists is to remind you of more of the experiences that were worth having in a theater. There are plenty of good films that aren't on either of my lists this year. That doesn't mean I didn't like them or they're not good. It just means that these films meant more to me for some reason. For now,...

Where life had no value, death had its price."

So begins Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More, the film's opening title card succinctly setting the scene for the carnage to come. And yet, for all of its ominous portent, the preface betrays a certain shortsightedness: Just because the film is set in the past doesn't mean that it should speak in the past tense. More than 40 years have elapsed since that spaghetti Western first hit theaters — and more than 100 since the twilight of the late 19th Century frontier that it depicts.

American ambassador Michael Punke is unable to discuss the much-praised film adaption of his book due to his role with the World Trade Organisation

The author of a novel on which the Oscar-tipped western The Revenant is based is unable to discuss the film due to his job with the Us federal government, it has emerged.

Related: The Revenant review – gut-churningly brutal, beautiful storytelling

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High-toned body horror that emotionally and tonally starts on one note and never deviates from it, which becomes rather exhaustingly dull. I’m “biast” (pro): like DiCaprio and Hardy, like Iñárritu

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Man walks into woods. Man fights bear. Man walks out of woods.

Actually, that makes The Revenant sound a lot more intriguing than it is. Leonardo DiCaprio is already in the woods at the beginning of the films. And he is still in the woods at the end of it. Oddly, while there is much climbing and descending of mountains, and dunks in raging rivers and leaps off cliffs, this is a very flat movie. Emotionally and tonally it starts on one note and never deviates from it. Perhaps that is meant to be indicative of...

Screenwriters, like actors and directors alike, can sometimes be "typecast," pegged to stay within one genre or to tell one type of story. On paper, writer Mark L. Smith would appear to be strictly a horror writer, having written the scripts for Seance (which he also directed), Vacancy and The Hole, along with an upcoming Martyrs remake, which is set for release on January 22, 2016. When you see The Revenant, opening in limited release Christmas Day before expanding January 8, you'll quickly learn that this writer can do so much more than just horror.

The Revenant (read my full review) went through several different iterations in development before finally hitting the silver screen. The project is based on Michael Punke's novel, which itself is loosely based on the true story of Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), a legendary frontiersman who somehow managed to survive a brutal grizzly bear attack, and get revenge...

Shock reviews the brutal survivalist horror drama The Revenant. Birdman Director Alejandro G. Inarritu’s The Revenant, based on the novel by Michael Punke, is an unusual film and not your typical horror cinema experience; meshing elements of The Grey, Django Unchained, Last Of The Mohicans and even Apocalypse Now it’s a survival tale that spirals…

The post Review: Leonardo DiCaprio Vs. Everything in The Revenant appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

History is written in blood by tooth and claw and gunpowder, and no recent film makes that point with more graphic impact than "The Revenant." Based on a novel that tells the story of Hugh Glass, a fur trapper who was attacked by a bear and then left for dead by the men who were supposed to tend to him, the film is a testament to punishment, both in terms of the story being told onscreen and in terms of what it must have taken to wrestle the film up onto the screen. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has been an expert chronicler of human suffering so far in his career, and it makes his films difficult emotional experiences. I still remember that sinking feeling I got when I saw "Amores Perros" in the theater the first time. I felt it again during "Babel" and again during last year's "Birdman." Innaritu seems...

Essential Killing: Inarritu’s Remarkable New Thanksgiving Film

After winning a trio of Academy Awards last year for Birdman (which took home Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu returns in surprising succession with another English language masterpiece, The Revenant. Based loosely on a 2002 novel by Michael Punke, which documents a near mythical 1820’s cross country trek by fur trapper and frontiersman Hugh Glass, it’s perhaps most important to note Inarritu’s ‘looseness’ in adapting an already embellished ‘true account.’ Grueling, impressively detailed, and beautifully shot by Inarritu’s returning DoP Emmanuel Lubezki, it’s a ragged portrait of the American frontier, a period and time often glorified for the white, European perspective. Though the film sees a theatrical release during the high tide of awards season zenith, one wishes it had been ready in time to open on Thanksgiving weekend due to its barbed depiction of historical American gang wars,...

Finally. After having seen The Revenant a few weeks ago and been under embargo from speaking about it, the veil of secrecy finally lifts. I’m in the same position with The Hateful Eight, embargo wise, but today I can talk about Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest. Surprising no one, this is a very good film, though perhaps it will surprise some how brutal it is. Leonardo DiCaprio is absolutely put through the wringer here, which won’t hurt his Oscar chances. I’ll get into it more below, but The Revenant is definitely a play for Academy Award nominations, though wins in more than one or two places may be harder to come by. The film is an adaptation of the Michael Punke novel of the same name and concerns a fur trapper (DiCaprio) and his quest for vengeance after being betrayed and left for dead by his former...

As is the case with, I’m sure, many of you, there are a few current opinions I do not share with my teenage self, at least not as passionately. Seventeen-year-old Scott loved Fight Club. Loved it. Thought it was the greatest movie ever made. Now, I still like Fight Club, but I’ve also seen thousands of other movies in the twelve years that have passed, and I know they get so, so much better than Fight Club. Much as I can still see in that film what so enthralled me at that age, I occasionally see a new film that has little to offer me at this stage in life, but which would have been utterly essential and world-changing if I’d seen it as a teenager. The Revenant is such a film.

Freely in discourse with everything from Terrence Malick to first-person shooter games, Alejandro G. Iñárritu...

The Revenant

Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu & Mark L. Smith (based on the novel by Michael Punke)

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

USA, 2015

Humans seemingly have an endless capacity for suffering, and the new revenge western, The Revenant, pushes those tolerances to the limit. Using man, beast, and nature, director Alejandro González Iñárritu creates some unforgettably grueling sequences. There is also extraordinary beauty, with some first-rate cinematography and stunning sound design. Sadly, repetition in the final hour diminishes much of the film’s power. It becomes less a tribute to the human spirit than a voyeuristic showcase of bodily horror. Still, the towering technical achievements and bravura sequences are enough to warrant a visit to this grim wilderness.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about The Revenant is that its main character, Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), was an actual frontiersman who really did stagger through the wilderness for six weeks after...

After (mostly) constricting themselves to the confines of a single building in Birdman, director Alejandro González Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have ventured deep into the great, savage outdoors for The Revenant. Its roots are in a classical revenge / survival story, and its unrelenting brutality swallows emotion at every turn. Yet thanks to Lubezki’s idyllic touch and Leonardo DiCaprio‘s tenacity in enduring anything thrown at him, the film remains compelling in its grand scale and near-comical excess.

The Revenant, set in 1823 and loosely based on a true story, follows fur trapper Hugh Glass (DiCaprio) as he helps lead an expedition of a few dozen men, whose camp is attacked by a group of Native Americans. With a handful surviving, including Glass’ half-Native American son, noble leader Andrew Henry (Domnhall Gleeson), the unseasoned and eager Jim Bridger (Will Poulter), and Tom Hardy‘s John Fitzgerald — a heartless Texan whose balding head displays an unsuccessful,...

I have always been a sucker for movies based on true stories. I'm not completely sure why I'm drawn to these adaptations, even though they're often more fictional than fact-based. There are some, though, that are so incredible it's almost incomprehensible these events actually happened, and Alejandro Gonz&#225lez I&#241&#225rritu's The Revenant is one of them. This adaptation is based on the revenge novel by Michael Punke, which itself is based on the true story of Hugh Glass, who remarkably survived a bear mauling and being left for dead by his expedition before making the 200-mile trek to the nearest American settlement in 1823. Unfortunately, this brilliant adaptation is already starting to make headlines, for all the wrong reasons.

Naturally, the bear attack is a prominent part of the film, and even the most detailed description of this scene can hardly do it justice, since it is truly remarkable and harrowing.

Finally. After having seen The Revenant a few weeks ago and been under embargo from speaking about it, the veil of secrecy finally lifts. I’m in the same position with The Hateful Eight, embargo wise, but today I can talk about Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest. Surprising no one, this is a very good film, though perhaps it will surprise some how brutal it is. Leonardo DiCaprio is absolutely put through the wringer here, which won’t hurt his Oscar chances. I’ll get into it more below, but The Revenant is definitely a play for Academy Award nominations, though wins in more than one or two places may be harder to come by. The film is an adaptation of the Michael Punke novel of the same name and concerns a fur trapper (DiCaprio) and his quest for vengeance after being betrayed and left for dead by his former...

Let's be clear about something: no, a bear does not rape Leonardo Di Caprio in "The Revenant." Some days, I find myself wondering how certain people are even part of the ongoing conversation about film based on how alarmingly stupid they are, and how much trouble they have deciphering even the easiest of movies. It's not my job to police the internet or to correct every bit of misinformation that's out there, but when you see something truly wrong starting to take hold and spread, it seems like there is a responsibility to speak up and make sure the correct information is on the record somewhere. For example… no, a bear does not rape Leonardo Di Caprio in "The Revenant." Let's look at why I am sure that is not the case. First, I've seen the movie. And while I am still under embargo for a review, I don't think...

Sneak Peek more footage, plus images from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu's upcoming Western thriller "The Revenant", based on author Michael Punke's 2002 novel of the same name, inspired by the life of frontiersman 'Hugh Glass', starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, and Domhnall Gleeson, opening December 25, 2015:

"...in 1823, fur trapper 'Hugh Glass' (DiCaprio) is mauled by a bear while hunting in what will become the 'Dakota Territory'. 

"His companions then rob him, murder his young half-Native American son, and leave him to die, but he survives and sets out on a 200 mile trek...

"...to get revenge on the men who betrayed him and find the man (Hardy) who killed his son..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Revenant"...

Filming the harrowing wilderness epic The Revenant was like "rock climbing without a rope," director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu told a robust crowd on Monday at one of the first public screenings of the film.

"There is no way down," Inarritu said. "You have to go up or you die. There was no choice for us."

After the credits rolled and the audience stood up to cheer, Inarritu was joined on the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre stage at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Poulter, and other members of his filmmaking team, who braved a brutal British Columbia winter to shoot the film this past year. He put the final touches on the film last week for its Oscars-qualifying limited release on Dec. 25 followed by a nationwide expansion on January 8.

Set in 1823, The Revenant, based on a 2002 novel by Michael Punke, follows Hugh Glass (DiCaprio...

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Bearing in mind that those involved on Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant often recall the gruelling nature of the production, which was almost resolute in its commitment to realism, it should come as no surprise that the latest film from the Oscar-winning director boasts a running time befitting of its sprawling scope.

According to Kyle Smith of the New York Post, the soon-to-be-released revenge thriller will clock in at 156 minutes in length which, for the sake of comparison, is still half an hour shy of The Wolf of Wall Street‘s bum-numbing running time.

Just found out The Revenant is 156 minutes… so, pretty much guaranteed to win the Oscar.

— Kyle Smith (@rkylesmith) November 19, 2015

Today’s confirmation comes off the back of a fresh batch of images for The Revenant, showcasing some of the film’s icy environments. Captured via natural lighting on exterior sets, Iñárritu...

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s epic stars Leonardo DiCaprio.

Twentieth Century Fox has announced that The Revenant will be released in UK cinemas on Jan 15, 2016.

Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman) and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson and Will Poulter, the film is already generating awards buzz.

Inspired by true events, the film is set in the 1820s and centres on frontiersman Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), who seeks vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling, including his confidant John Fitzgerald (Hardy).

Based on the novel by Michael Punke, the screenplay is by Mark L. Smith and Alejandro G. Iñárritu.

Iñárritu is reunited with Oscar-winning DoP Emmanuel Lubezki (Birdman, Gravity).

Producers are Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent, James W. Skotchdopole and Keith Redmon.

Executive producers are Brett Ratner, James Packer, Jennifer Davisson, David Kanter, Markus Barmettler and Philip Lee.

The original score is by Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto ([link...

Sneak Peek footage, plus images from director Alejandro G. Iñárritu's upcoming Western thriller "The Revenant", based on author Michael Punke's 2002 novel of the same name, inspired by the life of frontiersman 'Hugh Glass', starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, and Domhnall Gleeson, opening December 25, 2015:

"...in 1823, fur trapper 'Hugh Glass' (DiCaprio) is mauled by a bear while hunting in what will become the 'Dakota Territory'. 

"His companions then rob him, murder his young half-Native American son, and leave him to die, but he survives and sets out on a 200 mile trek...

"...to get revenge on the men who betrayed him and find the man (Hardy) who killed his son..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Revenant"...

With only two months left in the year, I figured it would be a good time to assess what’s left for my viewing pleasure at the local cinema. It’s the prestige movie season filled with big blockbusters vying for your wallet and small independent movie garnering Oscar attention.

Of all the movies I’m looking forward to seeing in theaters, I narrowed down My Top 5, and here they are. Talk to me on Twitter or Facebook and share your own!

Spectre – November 6

The question on a lot of people’s minds going into Spectre will no doubt be “is it going to be as good as or better than Skyfall?” Skyfall was certainly an awesome Bond movie, but if there is one thing we can take away from incident likes Quantum of Solace, it’s that we should take each Bond movie as a single experience and try not to compare too much.

The conditions have been harsh, crew members have revolted and the tension has been palpable, but the imagery coming from Birdman director Alejandro G. Iñárritu's latest, The Revenant, is certainly striking. And that continues with the new poster, which eschews giant floaty heads for a moody landscape shot and embers twisting in the wind. Adapted by Mark L. Smith from Michael Punke’s novel, The Revenant follows an ill-fated fur trapping expedition to chilly 1820s South Dakota. Hunter Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is mauled by a bear in the harsh climate, and his companions leave him for dead. To add insult to injury, several men (Tom Hardy, Will Poulter and Domhnall Gleeson) are assigned to bury what everyone assumes is his dead body. But the greedy scavengers decide to rob him and leave him helpless instead. Glass recovers, and swears bloody revenge... While there have been some controversy over...

Will this finally be the year? It’s ostensibly become an Internet meme at this point, Leonardo DiCaprio and that gold and elusive Oscar statuette. And whether or not you buy into the whole kerfuffle, the actor has a bona fide contender on his hands with Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s (Birdman, Babel) gripping new drama, The Revenant.

Indeed, DiCaprio’s name was plastered all over the tabloids earlier in the week after it was revealed that the actor endured quite the shoot for the director’s bold new feature. Between eating raw bison liver and sleeping in animal carcasses, DiCaprio was committed to the craft, and that raw intensity really shone through during the film’s maiden trailer.

Part and parcel of that aesthetic, though, is Iñárritu’s filmmaking style. Relying on natural lighting while keeping special effects to an absolute minimum, the director has went the extra mile to...

Leonardo DiCaprio was pushed to the limit in The Revenant, as he revealed that he had to sleep in animal carcasses and eat raw bison liver for the movie. Pleasant.

The Hollywood star offered a glimpse of what he had to endure while taking on the lead role in Alejandro González Iñárritu's upcoming thriller.

"I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I've ever had to do - whether it's going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set," he told Yahoo.

"[I was] enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly."

When asked what he had to eat for the film, DiCaprio replied: "I certainly don't eat raw bison liver on a regular basis.

"When you see the movie, you'll see my reaction to it, because Alejandro kept it in. It says it all. It was an instinctive reaction.

While the visual aesthetic of Alejandro G. Inarritu's "The Revenant" will be steeped in the past, sonically the director going with a modern touch. We've already learned that experimental/minimalist composer Ryuichi Sakamoto will contributing music to the movie, and now a couple more names have been revealed. Read More: 'The Revenant' Author Michael Punke Is Not Allowed To Do Press For The Movie Bryce Dessner of indie titans The National and Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto are also working on music for the movie. The former, when he's not making everyone feel totally fucking bummed out, is an accomplished modern composer, and has released albums alongside Kronos Quartet and Jonny Greenwood. As for the latter, he's an electronic artist. All told, I'm really eager to hear the aural landscape of this movie and see show it works up against the gritty realism. "The Revenant" opens in limited release on Christmas Day.

Okay, so this little tidbit is from nearly a year ago, but it's a bit more relevant given that the promo machine for Alejandro G. Inarritu's "The Revenant" is really going to start heating up. We already know the movie has "Inception" duo Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy reteaming for a harsh vengeance story, shot in harsh conditions, told, well, harshly. But one person you won't be seeing on the awards season campaign trail for the picture is Michael Punke, the author of the book upon which the movie is based. Read More: Leonardo DiCaprio And Tom Hardy Battle The Elements In New Trailer For 'The Revenant' As Maxim revealed, Punke, in addition to being a writer and screenwriter, just happens to also be the Deputy United States Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (Wto) in Geneva, Switzerland. Damn. As such,...

Leonardo DiCaprio is something of an anomaly. He is, without doubt, one of the greatest actors of his generation, and he has a set of Academy Award nominations to prove it – and yet, he has never won. The director of his new movie has, though – three times, to be exact. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has come to The Revenant from the hugely successful, and very unusual Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), and looks to have crafted another unusual and fascinating film – or so says his star, DiCaprio, in a recent interview with Yahoo.

“It’s going to be one of the most unique film-going experiences that audiences have seen in modern times. It’s epic poetry, an existential journey though nature, and this man finding a will to live against all odds.

“I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do.