The Revenant (2015)

Iñárritu delivers another great film for the second year in a row. Featuring more of Emmanuelle Lubezki's fantastic cinematography, The Revenant is a beautifully shot, harsh and brutal visceral period epic lead by a great central performance from DiCaprio (the film could even be seen as a metaphor for Leo's Oscar quest) as well as a strong supporting cast (Tom Hardy is top notch as usual). It's plot is very straight forward and simple but that is certainly not a detractor as the film is more about it's execution in depicting it's characters' struggles and it certainly does that with pure excellence. I may not have loved it as much as Birdman but it's still one of 2015's best movies. ****1/2