24/05/2014 The Film Review

Welcome to the Film Review. Taking us through the latest releases is

Mark Kermode. We have a new X`Men film. As it cannot possibly have

missed, We have Heli, are extremely challenging film from Mexico. And we

have Feeding Gigolo in which Woody Allen acts and John Turturro writes

and directs. The X`Men, it's absolutely everywhere. This is a way

of putting together all the disparate elements of the franchise.

In this, we start in the near future. Terrible things are

happening, and in order to stop those things happening, Wolverine

has to be sent back into the retro past in order to do something that

will rearrange the present. There is a lovely bit of exposition at the

beginning in which they explain to Wolverine, " you don't age, so you

will look the same. " which is very useful. We're sent back to the 1970s

to meet the past and change it. Can I help you? What happened to the

school? Are you a parent? I hope not. I guess you only glimmer. There

is no professor here. You're pretty strong for a scrawny little beast in

new? I said the school is close. There is no professor here, I told

you that. You and I are going to be good friends. You just do not know

it yet. Basically, they send his spirits from the future back into

his body in the past but obviously as body looks the same. Much of the

fun of the movie is in knowing how various characters are going to play

out. It is an interesting film would too many characters to deal with

completely. Bryan Singer, the director, is a driving force behind

these movies. It dazzles you with enough gobbledygook that you do not

think, hang on, this does not quite make sense. It is utterly terrific

performance by the man who has invented these extraordinary robots

which will destroy the future of the past cannot be changed. There are

some good action sequences. It is colourful and bright. The cast

managed to do a good job of delivering dialogue while wearing

increasingly ridiculous costumes. It is a bold attempt to make the thing

tying together in a way that is rigorous and coherent. It does not

quite hang together. There was a cameo performance by Richard Nixon,

there is this blend of history, fact and fiction. It is not by any means

the best of the X:Men films, but you can't forgive it for the things that

are wrong with that. There is an underlying sense of it being a bit

of a road show, trying to get all of these disparate elements on screen

and allowing everybody to do the thing they do before moving onto the

next set piece. And moving back and forward in time terms, does that

work? You have to go with it. These things are happening in parallel,

both things are interconnected, the future in the past, but most of the

action takes place in the 70s. It is good fun and it is ambitious. It is

not a masterpiece by any means. Although some fans of the series

think that that is exactly what it is. To Mexico now, and Heli. This is

an incredibly grim portrait of life in modern Mexico. The central

character is a young man living in a House with his wife, his child, his

father and his young sister who's having a relationship with a

17`year`old cadet which will somehow lead to terrible catastrophe

family. The film earned notoriety at Cannes because it has won notorious

extended torture scene. Although much of it is very difficult to

watch, occasionally intolerable to watch, it does have in its central

character is a strange kind of resilience. You can see the director

has sympathy for the plight of the characters. He is trying to take

situations from modern headlines and put them on the screen in a way that

has sympathy for the people at the sharp end of it. Some people will

find it too tough and stop at some points, watching it, I thought, this

is almost intolerable. But afterwards, thinking about it, it is

a film with a heart, albeit a very dark heart, and it is a very tough

watch. And the view of modern`day Mexico that is uncomfortable. Deeply

uncomfortable. Certainly, there have been some worries in Mexico that the

film paints an unfettered portrait of the country. Fading Gigolo is

about a man who is an old gigolo. He takes on life as an escort. Here is

a clip. This is exactly my point. I am not a

beautiful man. You have a certain kind of sex appeal. Is Mick Jagger

and beautiful man? The man ` opens as mouth to sing, and it is a

horror. Some guys just like better when they are naked. I am figuring

that you one of them. What does that have to do with Mick Jagger? He's

rich and famous. You are sick man. I go for help twice a week. You need a

guy like Tom Ford or George Clooney. You are not that. You are man's man.

You can see that Woody Allen is doing what Woody Allen is famous

for. You have to get over the ego centres are to the central conceit,

that Sharon Stone will pay Woody Allen $1000 to provide her with

macro to to take part in a menage a trois.

This is clearly an absurdist male fantasies. It is quite hard to get

beyond that. If you can get beyond that, there are some gentle laughs

to be had. Especially when they are doing that nice conversational

stuff. There is a deeper plot in which he uses his healing hands on a

Hasidic window played by Vanessa Paradis, no, really, and that aims

more towards the metaphysical. There is something poignant about it but

you have to get over the most ridiculous of obstacles in order to

enjoy it. It is not to be taken seriously. It is fun but very

flawed. I liked description of Woody Allen's performance as saying that

he seems somehow liberated. It is not the first time he has shown up

on someone else's from, but he is clearly enjoying himself and having

fun. Woody Allen had a lot of input into the script. He played his part.

Yes. Let us talk about your favourite of the films that is out

at the moment. You're going to tell us about this. It is a better film

than the critics have given it credit for. Gareth Edwards takes the

Godzilla franchise somewhere new. Also, being very respectful and

intelligent with the original film, which was very much to do with the

Japanese response to nuclear testing and to the legacy of the atomic

bombs. That was a very smart thing. This takes that idea and something

interesting with it. His previous film, Monsters, made no money, this

cost 60 million, but it has the fingerprints of Gareth Edwards on it

and when you finally get to the third Act of the film, it is very

eager and impressive. `` $160 million.

I have seen it twice, and the sound is everything. It is a smart monster

movie. Good to him for managing to put it together. And the best DVD

pretty much I have chosen this, I was not crazy about it when it came

out in the cinema. If you're interested in the Greenwich Village

folk scene in the 60s, it is a slightly fictionalised version of

that. It refers to real events and real characters. It is made with a

lot of love, care and attention. I found it rather cold on the first

couple of viewings, but on the third viewing, it warmed up. Thank you

very much. A quick reminder that you can find more film, news and reviews

on Mark Kermode's blog. That's over this week. Thank you for watching

and goodbye. It was a light bank holiday weekend

with showers and thunderstorms for many parts of the United Kingdom. We

are going to keep it that way for most of the weekend. When the sun

comes out it will be pleasantly