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We all wanted to run away from home one time or another, but few of us attempted it. Even fewer of us did it accidentally. But what would happen if you got lost, ending up thousands of miles from your home and family? This is Lion.

Over 80,000 children are lost in India each year. A terrifying and shocking statistic but Lion just looks at one example. After young Saroo (Sunny Pawar) is separated from his brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) at a train station and ends up on a train travelling away from home, he becomes lost and alone. He remains calm and rides the waves of chance that take him from one temporary home to another before being flown out to Australia to be adopted by Sue (Nicole Kidman) and John (David Wenham). Jump forward 20 years where Saroo (now Dev Patel) has made a home and a family for himself, but whilst he has gained a family, back home his mother has lost one.

Lion takes on two adventures: one away from India, and one back. Despite an incredible performance from Patel - who is easily the best thing about the second act - the journey to find Saroo’s family is flawed. The pace drops completely, which is understandable considering most of Saroo’s searching is through scrolling on Google Earth, but there’s also awkward and under-explained tension between Saroo and his adoptive brother Mantosh (Divian Ladwa). However, the first act is a moving, beautifully shot journey into the unknown. Sunny Pawar is an exceptional young talent and displaying a huge range of emotion and skill despite his age.

At this point, one needs to return to Dev Patel's performance as a 20-something year old Saroo. From humble beginnings on Skins, Patel has come a long way. Despite the clunky execution of the second act, Patel does an incredible job with what director Garth Davis gives him to work with. This is easily his best work; it is captivating and powerful, overcoming the issues of an awkward transition into the present day. The other success of Lion is its cinematography. Throughout, this moving story is captured beautifully by the camera - the landscapes of India and Australia, both rural and urban, have hardly looked better. It captures the intention of each scene, causing disorientation for the audience when Saroo is panicked, or creating calm when things are more serene. 

Lion is an emotional film, but one that lacks a satisfying climax. For such a large build up, the resolution is underwhelming; a bit more time spend on the conclusion and a bit more time spend on developing relationships in the second act would have benefited the movie massively. But altogether, a warm and touching tale of one boy’s journey home.

Aliens

Language underpins everything in our society. The very pillars of communication have formed over years of linguistics evolving from society to society. All of life has a way to communicate and if one could understand the language of other living things, who knows what lies in the future. This is Arrival.

When strange large extraterrestrial ships appear dotted around the globe as if by magic, it is up to the greatest minds in the world to make contact. There's theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and there's also the best in American brute force in army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker). Like twelve other ship landing (or more accurately, hovering) sites around the world, they team up to try to get the life onboard the vessels to answer one question - what is your purpose?

There has been a recent resurgence of quality science fiction films, taking a strong, socially applicable concept (see the need for fuel in Moon or the uninhabitability of Earth in Interstellar), a talented cast, and a director with a bold and cohesive vision. When these elements are combined, the film makers tap into a societal nerve and make something special. Arrival is no exception. In a world where military force is the first port of call when anything happens, Arrival poses a counter argument between brain and brawn, brilliantly represented in one scene where Louise analytically dissects the question the army want to ask, highlighting the necessity of patience and learning. Here, director Villeneuve proves his range and firmly establishes himself as the next big thing, following 2013's Prisoners and last year's Sicario.

Part of the beauty is no doubt in the cast. Once you can get around the notion that Renner is the coolest leading theoretical physicist ever, everything slots neatly into place. Whitaker is in familiar territory too as the authority figure and manages to be a good middle man between the academics and the military. But this is Amy Adams' film. Her performance is intelligent and emotional and is foundational to the film. We feel the fear in her nightmares, we share the joys in her success. It may feel to some like Merck Streep stole Adams' place on the Oscar ballot this year and Arrival (and last year's Nocturnal Animals) is evidence of her talent and her worthiness of further reward.

One part The Day The Earth Stood Still, one part Interstellar, one part E.T., Arrival encapsulates everything a good Sci-fi should. It also hops around back and forth in time through apparent flashbacks and memories, all of which serve to build the climax of the film, to finally reach understanding. It's complexity in the final third causes it to stumble occasionally or drag a little too long, but for the most part it's an exciting, fresh and innovative addition to science-fiction cinema and one that will no doubt provide inspiration to keep the trend of quality sci-fi on the rise.

Computers

Around awards season, inspirational true stories are often in abundant supply telling the tales of those people in history who, despite the odds, rose up against societal oppression and made a name for themselves. Sometimes, however, they help make history from behind the scenes. This is Hidden Figures.

In the 60s, the Soviets and the USA were racing each other to put a man in space. The problem for the USA was that they were stuck on the ground whilst the Soviets had cracked the equations needed to get them into space. What the geniuses of NASA needed was something different and in a time of racial segregation and gender inequality, you cannot get much more different than a small group of extremely intelligent black women. Enter mathematician Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), engineer Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), and not-quite-a-supervisor Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) who step up to the plate despite oppression and the egos of their white male counterparts to change the face of American history forever.

The film may be Hidden Figures in name, but not in nature. In fact, Hidden Figures' greatest strengths lie in its talented cast who dazzle throughout. The standouts come in the form of lead Taraji P. Henson and Kevin Costner who are the spearheads of the work at NASA. It is Harrison who makes movements to remove the segregation from NASA to allow his top computer to not have to run across campus to the bathroom, and Costner plays it with a cool authority; he is likeable and determined. Henson's Johnson, too, fights fearlessly for an equal workspace where her mind can be recgonised.  Unlike other films this year (cough Suicide Squad cough) who let their supporting cast get absorbed by the background, Hidden Figures lets theirs shine. Monáe and Spencer are both delightful additions to the film and make it what it what it is. They balance the tone and add comic relief to an otherwise heavy subject matter.

Hidden Figures tells a nice story. It's a feel-good narrative of the underdog fighting oppression and segregation that appeals to our humanity and our morality. However there is little new or exciting about it. Whilst the performances are powerful and the film is well constructed, it often feels like we are hearing a story we have heard before and director Theodore Melfi plays it safe, keeping the story accessible and familiar. This has its advantages: the story is an important one, and its crucial that as many people as possible can enjoy it so that these women can be remembered. The disadvantage of course is that it doesn't feel special, courageous, or different and these are all adjectives that describe the protagonists; rather than embrace what made these women great, Melfi tells a great story with as little risk as possible.

Enjoyable but forgettable, which is a shame. A typical film for this time of year: a well produced, socially challenging piece of cinema that does a bit of everything, but not quite enough of anything. Its cast pull the film out of the realms of mediocrity, but not enough to excel it to greatness.

Jaws: The Female Edition

Back in 2010, Ryan Reynolds starred in a particularly good claustrophobic thriller called Buried where he was trapped on his own for 90 minutes and survival seemed unlikely. Now, in 2016, his wife is doing a similar thing. This is The Shallows. 

On a travelling holiday, Nancy (Blake Lively) finds herself on a beach that her late mother visited many years before and the beach is home to one of the most phenomenal surfs around. Grabbing her board, Nancy hits the waves, makes some friends, and catches some waves. As the sun begins to set she decides that after the next wave, she will call it a day. That is, until a great white shark knocks her off her board, bites her leg, and leaves her stranded on a small rock with no rescue in sight. With the tide against her, and having invaded the shark's territory, she will have to get inventive in order to survive.

Solo movies are hard work. The lead performer has to be captivating enough to hold the audience's attention between the action and engaging enough for us to care about them when danger approaches. If you fail in this respect, the film will instantly fall flat. Fortunately, Blake Lively is in fine form. She's smart, strong, and resilient, and whilst the filmic landscape around her may lack clarity,  she performs with all of the conviction required of a leading role. In this day and age, it is so crucial to portray women in a way that does not treat them as secondary to men and if The Shallows has one major success, it is Blake Lively. Whilst some of the early shots are not dissimilar to soft-core pornography, as the film progresses Lively overpowers the male gaze of the camera. Not only does her character, Nancy, fashion her own tourniquet out of a wet suit, she also demonstrates a far greater survival instinct and understanding of her surroundings than any of the men that appear throughout the film.

One part 127 Hours, one part Jaws, but not quite living up to the standard of either,  The Shallows struggles to balance realism or logic with the story the film makers want to tell. Whilst the action is consistently exciting and suspenseful, characters' reasonings get lost at sea. From inexplicably located flare guns to straight up strange decision making, from disappearing dead bodies to never-turning tides, the film suffers from a sloppy approach. A few extra hours editing the script and a bit more focus in shooting and post-production would have helped hugely. The essentials of a great film are all there but it feels like they've been torn apart by the film's aquatic antagonist and messily pieced back together by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film's director.

A sloppy script and a lack of care has left The Shallows feeling a bit washed up. It is not beyond redemption - the keen survival film fan will find plenty to enjoy - but for the rest of us, the film is little more than shallow entertainment.

Dead Dan

Sometimes in life, there are things that are difficult to comprehend and events that are almost beyond words. Today's film is one of those occurences. This is Swiss Army Man.

Hank (Paul Dano) is at the end of his tether. He is marooned on an island with no food, nowhere to go, and no sign of rescue. The camera pans down a rope to his face, a noose fastened around his neck, and he surveys the hopelessness of his situation. Then just before he kicks the stool out from beneath him, he notices a corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) on the beach which is passing wind powerfully enough to propel it through the water. Cue an ingenious plan to use the corpse as a jet ski and as Hank hurtles forward on the corpse, the narrative follows suite. We follow Hank and the corpse (later named Manny) as they discover new things about Manny's exceptional body and then bound, roll, drag, and fart through the forest trying to find civilisation; the results are spellbinding.

It is hard to know where to start with Swiss Army Man; there is something special and unique about it whilst also being hugely referential with massive pop-culture influences. It seamlessly blends together crude comedy and heartfelt moments that are exceedingly touching. Dano, known for his strength as a troubled individual (Little Miss Sunshine), really shines here. This is, after all, his journey and we instantly captivated by his story. He is the worm and Radcliffe's Manny, with his limitlessly skilled body, is the hook. Together, they drag you into their tale of friendship, fellowship, of life and death. Radcliffe's performance too cannot be understated. This is one of the finest physical comedic performances in years. The strength of the two leads may even force you to shed a tear of sadness, and they are guaranteed to bring on fits of laughter.

Swiss Army Man is gloriously grotesque but disgustingly delightful. Chuckles turn to belly laughs, belly laughs turn to tears. For a film about a farting corpse that wants to understand pooping and masturbation, Swiss Army Man is surprisingly philosophical and thought provoking. Veiled beneath the crude humour is a deep analysis of societal norms and the nature of life and living and, strangely enough, it is almost impossible to imagine a better vehicle for the topic at hand. Directors Dan Kwan, and Daniel Scheinert take films like Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and, along with their superb script, drags them through the digestion track of cinema and excrete something magical and special. With a powerful and moving acapella soundtrack, often originating as diegetic singing, the film overwhelms the senses in the best way possible. It is hard to imagine anything like Swiss Army Man  existing again and it's difficult to recall anything like it existing before. 

There is something special here. It is stupid but intellectual, crude but beautiful. Whilst some have found the ending a bit jarring, the journey more than justifies it. You have to see it to believe it.