The Five January Cinema Releases You Need To See

The Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations are out while Oscar nominations are less than a week away; January is always a time when many of the year's best films hit cinemas. Here we'll cast our eye over what's coming to Irish cinemas this month and advise you on the films that are worth spending your hard earned cash to go see.

We've already had the privilege of seeing the likes of Brooklyn, Bridge of Spies, The Martian and the Box Office mega hit Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the previous months. Many of these are generating serious Oscar buzz, and rightly so, but for now let's focus on what's ahead of us, the Irish January cinema releases.

In no particular order, here's the 5 films you need to see this month:

Room
Release Date: 15th January
Brie Larson is already favourite for Oscar glory in her role as 'Ma' in this story of a mother and son held captive in a tiny room and their eventual escape (not a spoiler, it's in the trailer!). More than that it's about how a child is told that there is more to the world than just the room he has lived his entire life in and how he finally gets to discover it. Room is written by Dublin born Emma Donoghue who also wrote the book upon which the film is based.

The Revenant
Release Date: 15th January
This may be our pick of the bunch! DiCaprio's character, Hugh Glass, is part of a hunting party when he is injured in a bear attack and left for dead in a shallow grave. Glass survives and embarks on a vengeance fuelled hunt for redemption. There's another Irish connection here with Domhnall Gleeson playing the commander of the aforementioned hunting party. Could this be the film that finally earns Leo an Oscar?

The Big Short
Release Date: 22nd January
In an all too familiar story for many Irish people, The Big Short takes on the housing bubble and consequent market collapse in the USA. More specifically it's about the men who saw it coming and used their knowledge to be some of the very few to actually profit from the whole thing. There's a serious cast involved in this one too with Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt all playing major roles. Also based on a book, The Big Short was written by Michael Lewis who also wrote Moneyball and The Blind Side. As a result, we have high expectations!

The Hateful Eight
Released: 8th January (TODAY)
I'm sure we can expect the usual blend of originality, action, comedy, intertwining story lines and extreme violence from Tarantino's latest. I'm not even going to try and explain the plot and I don't really want to know too much either. I just want to sit down in the cinema and see what happens! This movie nearly never happened after the script leaked in early 2014; reviews so far indicate that it's a good thing that it did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnRbXn4-Yis

Creed
Release Date: 15th January
It's another reboot for the Rocky franchise but with a significant difference. This time Rocky is the mentor as he takes on protégé Adonis played by Michael B. Jordan (of Friday Night Lights fame); the twist, Adonis is the son of Apollo Creed, Rocky's original rival in the franchise! 'Creed' chronicles Adonis' journey as he attempts to emerge from the shadow of a father that he never knew and make a name for himself as a boxer in his own right.

Honourable mentions:

13 Hours (for your annual, explosion riddled Michael Bay fix) - 29th Jan
Spotlight (serious and heavy subject matter with great reviews but not something you need to see in the cinema) - 29th Jan

Release dates via Scannain