Star Wars, The Danish Girl, Joy, The Revenant, Room Film 2015

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On tonight's show, a little film you may have heard of.

Luke, Han and Leia return in The Force Awakens.

And what's coming out over Christmas and the New Year,

Jennifer Lawrence in mop biopic Joy.

Revenge epic The Revenant starring Leonardo Di Caprio.

And Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl.

I believe that I am a woman. I believe that, too.

Plus, we'll be looking at festival hit, Room.

Joining me on our vaguely festive sofa is the wondrous Danny Leigh.

And seasonal super-critic Ashley Clarke.

First up is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, director JJ

Abrams' much-anticipated continuation of George Lucas' sci-fi

Those stories about what happened... It is true. All of it.

The Darkside... The Jedi... They are real. The force is calling to...

Chewie, we're home! People will be worried but we will not spoil

anything, I promise. We will have to be very careful. Imagine if we said

it was terrible! Luckily, not, it is blended and spectacular. This

frothing last whirlpool of fun and no flammable be disappointed but

more important, there will be grubby tendrils that will be brought along

for the ride and that is more important than that because we were

both veterans of the playgrounds in the 1980s and what made Star Wars

everything was not affected our parents were into it, it was because

we loved it. On the subject of offspring, we took our own offspring

and they loved it, we loved it. I don't know if you have read any

reviews. A friend of the show said he cried three times, I felt

emotional and I looked at my boys and they were screaming, can we go

again? I don't have kids but I'm sure they would have cried! It was

great from the action point of view, it reminded me of mad Max this year,

a film that understands the primacy of action, out of the blocks, not a

lot of exposition, the way that the director uses his frame, there is so

much going on and you always know where you stand, great action

directing and action storytelling. The first 45 minutes, particularly,

is spectacular. There are a Lord Rose dollops of nostalgia and this

moment when the Millennium Falcon comes back to life, and I keep

coming back to that idea, you can love the movie without reliving your

childhood. You mention nostalgia but I don't know how much of my welling

up, and we had a bunch of people who should be grumpy and just wanting to

watch it, journalists, and people were screaming and crying and the

moment you heard that music, there is something so thrilling about that

stature. He is very faithful to the tone of the previous films. The

casting director deserves great credit for bringing in such new

talent and John Boyega is fantastic, he nails that hero role, Daisy

Ridley is great and Adam Driver, in particular, deserves credit because

he does that capital acting we have seen, he brings real pathos. Daisy

as well, she carries a lot of it. We have seen John Boyega being

fantastic before, we knew what he was capable of but Basie Ridley has

done casualty, and it is interesting to see her coming out of the locks

and becoming so on. Did, having a good time. That scene, running

towards the camera with this tomboy grimace. Some of the more

experienced actors, Domhnall Gleeson, has a particular knack with

this dialogue, Harrison Ford was talking about that line, George

Lucas can type it but it is harder to say it. Domhnall Gleeson has to

say, we are using those ventral cannons and the ventral cannons were

used. That is not a spoiler! JJ Abrams has swept the boards, he has

raised those prickles from the past. No one is talking about those

prickles, this is what had to happen, George Lucas has been put on

the patio chairs and left over their with Jar Jar. Not just for the super

fans, you can come to this is not having seen any before and still be

entertained. It has kept the meaning of Star Wars, this billion-dollar

spectacle going on and also this slight creepiness, which is what the

original films had, for all of that money and expectation, it is like an

old dude in a tank top. The art sign is fantastic. I thought I must get a

lunchbox! -- design. Jennifer Lawrence teams up again

with director David O Russell in this real life story of a woman

who risked it all to invent You are going to grow up and be a

strong, smart young woman. And you are going to do wonderful things.

And that is what is going to happen to you. To me, it is about the

promotion, across those three major areas of time. The pure innocent Joy

of a child playing in the snow. Making things in your Room, and then

when you get married to somebody, very special and euphoric and it

feels like you have won the lottery. A nice man, this lawyer. Are you

talking about this? And the Joy of after being divorced. And you need

to pick yourself up and you find yourself as a single mother and you

have to become friends with her ex-husband. This will be a musical,

we should sing this together. ... Until you think you have the time to

spend an evening with me... He is married to my daughter and that is

already a mistake as far as I am concerned and it gets worse and they

get divorced and that is good but then he moves into her basement and

that is not good and then I get thrown out by my ex-girlfriend. What

are you doing here? Returning him to you, I don't want any more. What? He

is damaged, he has nowhere else to go. He is very keen understanding of

all the layers of the family dynamic. It might seem like a

dysfunctional from the outside but what family really is functional?

That is a very strange question. It is multi layered. The story about

getting to know yourself. There is the story about family. You are like

a gas we don't see you or smell you but you are silently killing all of

us. And imagination, faith in yourself. It is very serious. Good

luck, here we go. And what it means when you find success. The world

does not mean anything, it does not owe you one thing. There are so many

different elements that I hope people can walk away with all of

them. My name is Joy, by the way. Ashley?

Just like that. Straight into it! Sometimes you have to hold up your

hands and say you have been utterly confounded by a film. There are

these hairpin tonal shifts all the way through, I did not know if this

was a satire or family comedy and I was trying to work that I that the

stakes stakes were so low. I did not feel invested in anything. I cared

about her about a foot family, interesting to see David O Russell

saying this is about Joy. What? That the surname that that family was

vile, I cannot write this off, I don't want to tell people not to see

it but I want them to explain it to me. It is about mops. It is about

mops! It is about the invention and the salesmanship of mops and that is

a weird film, you called it. I would be there enthusiastically but my

hands are staying here because it is a strange film in that strange

seductive way, strange like half a bottle of cough syrup. Nothing makes

sense. This is the in-flight movie, it does not make any sense at all. I

am with Ashley, and quite admire the film I can think, I have no idea

what this is about, inside the brain of David O Russell, I have no idea

what I thought was being hatched. He has done heightened, surreal things

before. Like Huckabees, he built that world and it felt consistent

but this is like a very big ensemble cast and they feel that they are all

in different films, Robert De Niro does that act from Meet the Parents

and Jennifer Lawrence... She is not doing David O Russell any favours

after this! What film is she in? Very strange. I like the fact that

somewhere in Los Angeles at that moment and Executive on a treadmill

is the man that created this, Green let this film that David O Russell

sold them as a Christmas movie and then Joy arrived! I think maybe I

preferred this to that one, to which Mr smoothie man thought that he had

requested. I want to see this another 20 times. I cannot wait to

see what people have to say about this in 15 years, whether it was

some sort of social commentary? Like recaps Popeye? David O Russell has

no idea who I am but they have nurtured a dislike of him first very

long. He is so friendly. These howlers, cinema history is littered

with them and in 30 years, people will think that Joy is the best film

ever made! Joy is out on New Year's Day, let us know what you think!

Next is director Alejandro Innaritu's Oscar-tipped

Leonardo Di Caprio is left for dead after being attacked

I am not afraid to die any more. I have done it already. This is a

story based on the real anecdote of a man 200 years ago in the middle of

the United States in this manner is part of the company of trappers and

he is attacked by a bear. He has been taking care of by his

colleagues. And they decide to abandon him and take his rival. And

then he has to drag himself and heal himself in the midwinter form with

them 200 miles. It is an epic augmentation of the journey of Hugh

Glass through harsh conditions and difficult terrain and natural

obstacles to seek vengeance. We were shooting in very remote places with

the most beautiful light possible, with very complicated shots. So

those long takes and wide lenses and the right light and his continued

shots always allowed people to really be submerged in that 360

degrees in motion, it was very hard to make web when it happened it was

a beautiful movie, it was like a wing into a painting, you become

part of that. -- but when. I mean, whoo! I did not see this film so I

am terribly sorry, I have read brilliant things, if it is like that

last shot! I will certainly see that!

The idea is they have taken a lot of technology and money and used it to

basically drag people back into this brutal, bloody place and time. You

are put right there amid the elements, and if you ever wanted a

film that would leave you the feeling of being savaged by an angry

grizzly, this film does that. It is interesting because the film makes

all these hints towards things like Apocalypse now, but I don't know if

it is on that kind of level. You feel this film physically, you can

smell it, but I don't... That sounds perfect. I felt it physically, but

it was also boring, I felt like it was a 90 minute movie trapped inside

this three-hour beast. It was a very straightforward, simplistic film

that takes itself incredibly seriously, and I have got to say, it

works more than anything is a brutal satire on the lengths one actor will

go to try to finally get that Oscar. He deserves it, doesn't he? He

suffers, only survives. He eats some liver, he swims a frozen lake, he

takes a kip inside a dead horse. I do get the bare grills stuff, they

will be a T-shirt handed out at the end, but I think there is a genuine

darkness to it. It reminds me of Cormack McCarthy in the novel Black

Meridian. There are arrows in the sky and blood in the water, and this

is a place in the world where you are either killing and eating or you

are being killed and eaten. Birdman had it too, this arrogant. But

Birdman was tight. It is difficult to make this film timidly. There is

a certain virtuosity to it. Some of the landscapes and action pieces are

as good as any I have seen this year. Will Poulter has a tricky role

but he brings the heart to it amongst all the grunting and

shouting. It would be so easy for the actors to get lost, and you have

to have actors capable of going big. We know that Tom Hardy can do that.

Tom Hardy and will Poulter are this incredible double act. Tom Hardy is

the dark voice we all here at three o'clock in the morning. Will Poulter

is the angel. He has already bought the mop! We also do have to talk

about Leo. It is interesting casting, because he is playing a

father, and that is weird, because I see him and I still see two

eight-year-old boys standing on each other's shoulders. It is a step up

for him, so I am a big fan the new. The revenant is out on the 15th of

January. Next, Eddie Redmayne

and Alicia Vikander star in The Danish Girl, the story

of transgender pioneer, First time we met, she propositioned

me. She seemed so sure. I was sure. I still am. It is an extraordinary

love story about a young couple in Denmark in the 1920s establishing

themselves as artist, and one day the wife has to ask her husband to

stand in. Could you help me with something? And he is putting

stockings on and holding address, and we see this character starting a

process of reawakening, a sense of being a woman that was suppressed

throughout his life. Hello! We are going to call you lily. And they go

on this extraordinary journey of them starting to explore lily, and

it happens through the art, and she starts to paint lily. But lily's

sense that she wants to live as a woman puts her up against society at

the time. You are different from most girls. I

feel I would need to ask your permission before I kissed you.

Exactly what happened last night? There was a moment when I wasn't me.

A moment when I was just lily. It is a love story that is extremely

related double, and I found it quite iconic. We were playing a game.

Issues that lily faces are very much issues that people in the

transgender community still go through today.

Are you all right? When I first read the script, I knew nothing about

Lili's story, and what I read was this story that questioned the

boundaries of love. But also within this was a story of authenticity,

and what it takes just be yourself. The fact is, I believe that I am a

woman. And I believe it, too. I love you because you are the only person

who made sense of me. And made me possible. Let me just start by

saying that I loved this film. Why would you both do that? I thought it

was nice and exceedingly tasteful... Did we watch the same film? It was

brilliant! It takes a tricky, complex subject matter which a lot

of people are talking about now and sands it and to this job postcard

Oscar bait, and I think they are going to have to make a new Oscar

Freddy. The most quivering. I thought the depiction of Copenhagen

was beautiful. I love their relationship. She is wonderful, he

is fantastic. It is to tasteful, we can't bear this much taste. The real

people that this was a stone were Bohemians, they were impolite

people, and they have been sprayed with air freshener for the film.

Sanctified. They are a gift set of bath salts now. It isn't all right.

They are not! Would you also have a problem with him that he depicted

the French Revolution in Les Miserables? He has turned things

down a little, so instead of he stole a loaf of bread, we have a

tinkly piano in the back of everything. Tingle, tinkle.

Tinkering, drinking, sweeping. So we were not moved? I was sobbing. I

thought it was good. I wasn't moved. What about their relationship.

Alysia they candour brings so much to it, she seems frustrated she

isn't in a better role. She brings a lot of voice and character to

something that isn't written that well. I am totally shocked, she is

completely written, she is a pure person who was an artist and is in

love with this person. Everything is too pretty. Eddie Redmayne is

pretty, the background is pretty, and he doesn't know where to stop.

The snow is just so. I think Alicia Vikander is very good, and I think

Eddie Redmayne is very good. A giant man stuffed into a tiny suit. All

you can see is an M T thought bubble above his head. It worked in

Amadeus, you have all of these actors from different places talking

in English. I don't think, and I don't mean to be offensive, that you

are right. And I want to say that in a nice way, but I think everybody

else who will go and see the Danish girl will see masterful acting and

beautiful directing dealing with a sensitive but important subject. So,

sorry. It is out on New Year's Day. Next is Irish director

Lenny Abrahamson's Room. Already a hit on the festival

circuit, this tense thriller stars Brie Larson and seven-year-old

Jacob Tremblay as a mother and son Good morning. TV persons are flat

and made of colours, but me and you are real. Wider the aliens never

screamed back? I guess they can't hear us.

The movie starts in what looks like a crummy little tiny apartment, but

as the story progresses and you see their simple sparse lifestyle you

realise that they are actually trapped in this space, and this

woman was captured at 17 and has been never seven years. I have been

locked in here for seven years. There is a world on the other side

of that door. What other side? You will love it. What? The world. But

that is just a setup for the two of them to work together to escape.

You have to play dead, and all the neck will come and take you outside,

and I will be in your head talking to you. I'm scared. I know.

Most of the movie takes place outside with them seeing the world

for the first time and learning about it and it is rinsing it and

growing and feeling a sense of liberation. There were two main

challenges. One was how do you preserve the tension and dramatic

intensity in the second half of the story after they have escaped, so

after the most immediate danger is over. How do you replace that with

something as compelling in the second half? And the other challenge

was, how do you capture the story being told from the boy's point of

view? And at the same time, you are looking at the reality of it from an

adult point of view. When I was four, I only knew small things. But

now I'm five, I know everything. They will never find us.

I can't talk about this film without crying, which would be not festive

and weird, so you begin. It would be an appropriate response. I wish

there was a better word than oppressive to describe Room, but it

does a similar thing to what the Revenant does. It is and in the

great outdoors, it is an incredibly small space, it is a prison drama

with flyboarding strip lighting. The as you physically and you start to

feel quite uncomfortable. Then you open up, and it has this tricksy

structure which is difficult to pull off, and I don't want to talk about

what happens to much, but it is almost similar to Psycho in a way. I

think the film is very brave in the way that it throws you in without

expectation and allows you to figure out their world. They are already

advanced in this life, and it isn't gloomy. They are in a terrible

situation, but there is a lot of love them but emotional power comes

from the performances and the bond they have. The boy gives the best

child performance since Gary Coleman in different strokes. He is just

stunning. And Brie Larson equally is fantastic. And it captures the kid's

eye view, it is about capturing it from a low angle, but also your

attention wanders, so something very important might be going on in one

corner of the room, and you are looking at carpet fibres or a

cardboard box, but also as a kid you see things the adults miss. And

Jacob Tremblay, what a discovery he is. He doesn't seem like a trained

child actor. He does it without being cute. And you have to give

credit to everyone involved, to the director and to Brie Larson. Jacob

Tremblay was seven when they made this film, and my sense was that she

had to mother him through the role a little bit, just hold his hand and

collectively the whole set had to get involved to coax this

performance out of him. This is absolutely my film of the year. I

can't stop talking about this film. It was they with you, it is about

motherhood and about how much you need and out much bigger things. It

will resonate, and then you will want to read everything the author

has ever said full of do you agree? I think there are a lot of

metaphorical things going on. They don't do a big scary villain, he is

just on the fringes, so it is about them and it is quite hands off in

places. There are lots of chunks you don't see him. My one criticism

would be that some of the choices were heavy-handed, and the music is

overbearing, which was a surprise, because when you look at Lenny

Abrahamson's other films, I think maybe he would've replicated the

hands off technique, because the performances are what drives the

emotion. We should all talk about -- also talk about Joan Allen, who is

fantastic, and William H Macy, who is probably only in two scenes. He

only dropped in for a couple of hours! Is made for it. And we are

sitting here as to parents and a nonparent as yet, and it does pull

on your nerves as a parent, but you don't have to have a kid.

Danny, you just quickly wanted to mention one more film.

Creed is coming out, it is part of the Rocky series, but the best way

to think of it is as a sequel to Rocky Balboa. As a boxing movie this

film is superb. It has everything. Rocky means a lot to me, but I think

is a technical film, a film full of soul and heart, it deserves it. Star

Wars and Room my films of the week. Room and Read our both out in

January, as is Star Wars. Well, that's all for

this week and for 2015. But playing us out is

a seasonal favourite. Made in 1965, The Sound of Music

stars Julie Andrews, Happy Christmas, go and see Read!

# So long, farewell... # I hate to go and leave this pretty

sight # So long, farewell, adieu to you

and you interview # So long, farewell I'd like to stay

and taste my first champagne... Yes? No!

# So long, farewell, goodbye # I leave and heave a sigh and say

good I # Goodbye

# I'm glad to go # I cannot tell a lie

# I flipped, I float, I fly # The sun has gone to bed

# And so must I # So long,

farewell auf Wiedersehen, goodbye # Goodbye

# # Goodbye

# Goodbye... It cannot be true, Holmes.

It cannot.