Locke

You wouldn't really think that a movie about a Welsh construction expert's middle-of-the-night motorway journey which has been filmed exclusively inside a car with only one actor and a supporting cast of phone voices to drive the narrative, would be a riveting piece of modern cinema would you?
But it is.....
Locke is a masterclass of good film making .
It has pathos, humour, a great deal of drama and a central performance worthy of an Oscar, everything you would want on a Wednesday night, when you are venturing out during round 2 of The Great British Bake Off.
Like I said, Locke on the surface is a simple story. Ivan Locke ( an almost unrecognisable Tom Hardy) is a successful , meticulous and quietly spoken construction foreman. On the eve of his biggest work deadline ever, he juggles an irate boss, a panicking junior foreman, a needy one night stand who is in labour with his baby and a shocked and bewildered family who he loves dearly.
All this is done by phone  with characters we never see, and so it is up to Hardy and Hardy alone to carry the entire film and give it the dramatic punch the story requires.
Tom Hardy is a revelation. This is clearly his best film to date, and in a restrained and careful performance he perfectly captures a man of great principle who is haunted by the trauma of an absent father and a catastrophic life challenge
He also masters a wonderfully sexy welsh accent with some aplomb
9/10