Drink & Watch: The Revenant

Some people enjoying drinking American whiskey because of the sometimes rugged, frontier image we associate with it. Hell—Bulleit Bourbon even refers to itself as "frontier whiskey". If you're one of those guys who fantasizes about heading into the American wilderness, living off the land, and sipping from a flask next to a blazing campfire, then you need to go see The Revenant. While I'll admit that I do find the whole idea rather romantic, sneaking a bottle into the movie theater to watch it all on the big screen is as close as I want to get to the mountains right now. I can always just take a pull from my Filson copper flask and imagine I'm there with Leo himself. That's exactly what I did last night. Fill 'er up!

There are no punches pulled in Alejandro González Iñárritu's latest flick—his follow up to the Oscar-winning Birdman. If you can't stomach both the stress and the gore, then maybe this isn't your cup of tea. Or maybe that just means you need to pack a little extra juice in your pocket. I found myself gritting my teeth for most of the picture—and it's about two and a half hours of non-stop turmoil. Much like some of the men who get sliced up in the film, I was going to either need a wooden stick to bite down on or a shot of something strong to endure all the damage. I went for the latter. But besides the fine on-screen performances from both Mr. Dicaprio and Tom Hardy, the scenery and the way the film is shot are simply spellbinding. The mist, the fog, the snow, the raging rivers, the majestic mountains—they're all presented in glorious fashion. This is not a film you'll want to wait for on DVD. You've gotta go see this one in the theater. And you're probably gonna wanna bring something high in proof along with you.

-David Driscoll

David Driscoll