Robert Redford's 'All is Lost' isn't the only one-man movie of the year. And there's more to come.
It's been years since we've had a good solo adventure, and now two come along at once. With Gravity still in the box office charts, All Is Lost is just arriving in cinemas (read our review here). For other examples, you have to go back to 2009 for Moon (Sam Rockwell in an abandoned moon base) or even further to 2000's Cast Away (Tom Hanks on an island with a volleyball). Please don't mention 2010's Buried (Ryan Reynolds in a box) or 2012's Brake (Stephen Dorff in a car boot).
Robert Redford in 'All is Lost'
Both Gravity and All Is Lost have essentially the same plot, following a single character - played by awards contenders Sandra Bullock and Robert Redford, respectively- in a series of life-or-death moments that have us on the edge of our seats. Both plots are more than a little contrived, but they make up for it with bravura filmmaking.
Studios don't make these kinds of movies because it's cheaper to film without all those pesky costars. They green-light these films because they're passion projects made by first-rate filmmakers who know what they're doing. And the concepts are so simple that even an impatient Hollywood executive can understand them.
Watch the trailer for Robert Redford's All Is Lost:
So is this a new trend, or a one-off convergence of two similar films (like Armageddon and Deep Impact in 1998, or Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down earlier this year)? Well there's another one doing the festival rounds: Tom Hardy is the lone man on screen in Locke, a new film from Steven Knight (Hummingbird/Redemption) that takes place entirely in a car over a 90-minute drive down an English motorway. Like Bullock and Redford, Hardy is someone who's easy to watch for 90-minutes straight. But who will be next?
This hugely enjoyable adventure is a loose remake of the 1977 Disney hit that blended...
That generic title obscures a surprisingly complex exploration of the real-life events surrounding the fall...
Pete is a young boy who lives in the forest, not many little boys would...
Mary Mapes is the producer of CBS' '60 Minutes' and, in the run up to...
Echoing his witty writing style, Bill Bryson's memoir of his trek up the Appalachian Trail...
Bill Bryson has been living in the UK with his English wife for a long...
This is the Marvel movie that divides the fans from the casual filmgoers, as the...
Steve Rogers has awoken after a deep sleep lasting 70 years following his fight with...
After the award-winning Margin Call, writer-director J.C. Chandor shifts gears completely for this fiercely detailed...
Following events during World War II and his confrontation with Nazi adversary the Red Skull,...
A veteran mariner makes a brave voyage into the Indian Ocean on his large yacht,...
When an aging mariner takes to the Indian Ocean on his yacht on a solitary...
Ben Shepard is a young and ambitious reporter determined to make a name for himself...
Robert Redford revisits the Lincoln assassination with this earnest historical drama. Being a relatively obscure...