Jack O'Connell continued his trajectory towards megastardom over the Christmas break with his central role in the hugely successful (commercially, if not critically) Angelina Jolie-directed Unbroken. With '71 the young actor dons a different uniform, this time playing a British soldier who finds himself lost in the hostile backstreets of Northern Ireland. While '71 has been doing the rounds in the UK for a while - and was screened at a number of film festivals throughout the US in 2014 - it's only just getting a broad release in the States at the end of the month. It's a taut, lean thriller held together by O'Connell's strong performance and has already won a British Independent Film Award for Best Director for Yann Demange, which are two very good reasons why you should check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-BaKfl1Ms4
