A United Kingdom, Allied, Paterson Film 2016

Thanks for staying up to talk movies.

This week we're mainly talking the thinking woman's

Fight Club? Thelma and Louise?

Or my personal favourite, Benjamin Button.

Let us know, the details are on the screen now.

Passion and patriotism. David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike star in A

United Kingdom. And poetry, public transport and Adam Driver in

Paterson. Just don't call it dull. Boredom is a good thing.

Plus, it's that magic moment, our first Christmas film of the season.

Billy Bob Thornton stars in Bad Santa Two.

Joining me on the sofa is festive favourite Rihanna Dhillon

Hello both of you. Hi. Break a leg! I will try to.

Kicking us off this week is director Amma Asante's A United Kingdom.

The story of a Botswanan Prince who caused some stiff upper lips

to quiver in the late 1940s when he married a white

The persecuted lovers are played by David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike.

My father, he wouldn't approve. I am just two streets away. Can we could

this again? I mean, meet. Is that too forward of me? No. What? Queen

Victoria, the men who negotiated for her protection. He was my

grandfather, a King. I am his heir. Oh! I see. I play Seretse Khama, he

was the heir to the throne of Botswana. While studying in London

he meets and false in love with Ruth Williams and their marriage which is

an interracial one, causes a diplomatic earthquake with South

Africa, Botswana and the United Kingdom. If you choose to marry the

leader of an African nation you will be responsible for the downfall of

the British empire in Africa. Have you no shame? For me it was always

important when I came on board this couldn't just be a love story. This

had to be a love story that involved politics because there are people

out there that view interracial relationships as a political

statement. So to ignore that would have been foolhardy, independenting.

Also any politics that you saw should come through the prism of the

couple's love. Are you insane? White, British. I think the reason

we don't know about this story is because at the centre is a black

protagonist and I think history is told by the victors and if a lot of

the people telling stories don't look like Seretse Khama they're not

interested. We have concluded you should be exiled. I belong with my

people. As someone of African descent myself, someone who has

loved period dramas growing up and never saw anyone like me in them,

when I saw the cover of that book, I thought, eureka, there it is, a

story I would want to see as an audience member let alone to be in

as an actor. I am told you no longer wish for me to honour my duty as a

King because of the colour of the wife I have chosen. These are

stories of my wild, they're stories that interest me, they pull together

themes that have impacted my life so it feels very natural. I feel that

we are very young in our story-telling journey as people of

colour and directors who are putting characters of colour at the centre

of their own stories. But there is a naturalness to what I do and I think

that's important. I am ready to serve you because I love my people!

I love this land! But I love my wife!

Oh, stirring stuff! Danny, was this really a story that was begging to

be told? I think it absolutely was. It's a great untold story and those

are very rare. Maybe in the telling of the story it feels sturdy and

cosy but I don't care because the story is anything but cosy. The

story is electric. It has to feel like Sunday night TV to reach the

kind of numbers of people who watch Sunday night TV, I am totally fine

with that, I admire this film hugely. It's hand some, it's a smart

movie: I urge people to see it. Don't you think there is a reason

why it was untold? I think the director sort of specialises in

these stories, she sort of digs up and actually I am not entirely sure

if it's sort of, it will make any difference this film, what do you

think? Well, I think, you know, you talked about Asante's past films,

one of a woman of mixed heritage and dual heritage and seeing a role

model like that in period dress was so wonderful. I had grown up

watching all white period dramas and loving them and wishing I could be

in them and to see a film like that I was thankful it was brought to our

scenes. So, I think the same is true for A United Kingdom. It doesn't

necessarily feel relevant in the way that it is however many years old.

Did you really feel you identified with somebody who married - who was

in Kenwood House? I think people who are, you know, my age now would have

been the children of those parents. I think that's really fascinating.

It's not that far off history. I think it is definitely relevant. We

don't see that many stories like that on our screens. Does it bother

you at all that actually the story was told in an incredibly route one,

incredibly beNiall way. It was structured like a rom-com. There was

a great emphasis applied to the fact, why would she marry him? Why

would she risk everything? She's rejected by her family. People sort

of attack them on the street. I think why would he marry her, she's

really boring? She is a really smart working woman at a time where there

weren't a huge amount... No evidence for that, but. It was 1947. There

was no evidence she was really smart. The point is she's ordinary.

She's involved in the jazz scene, has a job, out there, clearly

interested in different cultures which wasn't a given in 1947 in

England. Absolutely why would you not make a film about this love

story? It changes history. I don't know, maybe it's different. My

school I didn't learn about a story like this which changed the world,

genuinely, all the cliches we pick up from movies about true love

changing the world that happened with this one. It's fascinating we

are talking about love, this is a political drama more than I think

it's a love story. I think it's a shame that Rosamund Pike is

sidelined a lot in this film. Obviously we know... The only person

who isn't sidelined is him. It's mostly an opportunity for him to get

up and do his civil rights voice, I am afraid. He is excellent at doing

that. It would have been great to see Rosamund Pike doing something of

the same. She's sidelined to these wry smiles. Don't you think in 2016

also there's something, you talk about relevance of the film, do you

not think we are supposed to be - you take a film that says actually,

the British Empire wasn't all good news for everyone. Even Churchill

wasn't a saint. That seems like a radical message. I agree there, the

way the civil servants are portrayed are ridiculous. Jack Davenport, have

you no shame? Who says that in a proper movie? Obviously the

apartheid wasn't something the film made up. This existed. I think

they've really nailed those attitudes. I think it's important

that we don't forget how culpable we were. It gets the history right.

Thank you. Yes, no, maybe.

Next is Back To The Future director Robert Zemeckis with Allied -

a wartime thriller starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard.

The tasty twosome find love as undercover spies behind Nazi lines.

But can their love survive back home?

Being good at this kind of work is not very beautiful. After the war do

you have a place? When the war is over what matters where imI am. It's

a love story, but it begins with two people who don't know each other.

Both of them are spies. They meet on a mission in North Africa during

World War II. They're going to fall in love and obviously in this

atmosphere of war it won't be that easy.

There's no easy way to say what we are about to say. We suspect your

wife is a German spy. That's insane. If you are right all this will be

forgotten. But if she is you execute her with your own hand. If you do

not comply you will be hack hanged. We weren't paying homage to any

specific film of the past although what was very obvious when I read

the screenplay from the first moment, that was the main

inspiration and then all the departments kind of felt that and

guided us to the style of this film. I was fascinated by American movies

from the 40s and the 50s when I was a kid. So, of course I was inspired

by this very special rhythm, this special energy and I was fascinated

by all those actresses. The first actresses who fascinated me actually

were actresses from this era. You were different with me last night.

Different? Like you were angry. As the conflict in the world starts

closing in on our characters, our feeling was that the whole design of

the film should start closing in, as well. The film should start closing

claustrophobic as the plot thickens. So we are talking lovely sets,

beautiful drapings, a lot of clothes. Is it sort of Allied or

Allied Carpets? Just to clarify, did you say sets or sex? But we could

talk about the sex if you like. The sets are beautiful. It's gorgeous,

set in Casablanca, harks back to one of the most beautiful movies. There

is a great scene where they climb into a car in the middle of a sand

storm and get it on. I thought that was incredibly hot. Didn't you think

the fact she climbed over him while trying to remove her 40s underwear

made her look like a fat tourist trying to sit on a camel, that's

what I thought? They're not teenagers, to - I think it kind of,

you know, the problem with this film is that everything hasn't quite been

thought through. There are amazing set pieces but they don't really

come together. I don't know if you thought that, Danny? The problem is

it's very camp but it really doesn't want to be. It works very hard not

to be camp, Brad Pitt is taking this very seriously. Quickly into the

film you have a throttling in a Phonebooth and blood on the marble

staircase. We are on the brink of show tunes at any given moment. Do

you think Brad's capable of doing a romantic lead? I thought I am not

sure this is his thing. The issue is that he is confusing gravitas. He is

a man of a certain age, he is confusing that with not moving your

face. That may not be deliberate, I don't know. It is Benjamin Button. I

thought Marion Cottillard was doing more of the work. She outclassed him

so much. They're both completely hostage to the costume department.

They're running this entire movie. They're used like dress-up dolls

from scene to scene and both of them have the look of, you know if you

see a little dog that's been done up with the little booties and looks

miserable and ashamed. That's Brad and Marion in this movie. It was

like how to kill the German ambassador through linen alone. All

they thought about was the outfits. He ought to be a good director and I

don't understand how this project spun out of control. He makes fun

films and entertaining films that are slick and stylish. Allied,

perhaps it doesn't have as much substance as it should. For example,

Marion's character gives birth during the blitz and they manage to

make it look romantic and exciting. You would be absolutely terrified

and probably miscarry I think at that point. I like that scene. The

script write certificate a good writer and when he goes for this,

these big moments, so sufficient the sex scene in the sand storm and the

giving birth, those work. Those are moments you think it works.

Especially with her shrieking through the blitz and she was meant

to give birth that you never believe they've had together because there

is zero chemistry. I thought, I mean, it's not like they've even met

each other before. I think it was what was lovely, when she kind of

comes up to him on the roof and they have to be play agenting and it's

like a fantasy because they haven't met before and they're having to

build this relationship from scrap. I think it's a great idea on film.

That's a lovely scripted moment. I mean, it's bringing me out in hives

to agree with you, but you are right. We can't agree!

You loved this film? It is really entertaining and it will bring

people out of their homes and that is a good thing. There were some

very deft classic, but there was a lot of camp touch. A tweet from

Michelle says, I think the first time I noticed him was in Thelma and

Louise and he made quite an he did. Sean Griffiths says Jesse James. Not

only is the film a masterpiece, Brad Pitt's performance is a masterclass

in understated menace. I would not go as far as that. I did not expect

him to be funny after he gave a goofy smile I was laughing louder

than Brian Blessed that. I totally agree, I would say it was

my favourite performance in Burn After Reading. What is your

favourite moment? Fight club because he is dark in that, but oceans 11.

What about you? 12 Monkeys. He is doing something with his hands all

the time where is at the moment he is statuesque and slightly weird.

Next Adam Driver stars as a New Jersey bus driver and

part-time poet in Jim Jarmusch's Paterson.

When you are a child you learn there are three dimensions, height, width

and depth, like a shoe box. Later you hear there is a fourth

dimension, time. Paterson is about a guy named Paterson who lives in

Paterson, New Jersey, who drives a bus. Is your name Paterson or did

they just give you that? My real name is Paterson. He is a bus

driver, but he also happens to be a poet, or you could say the opposite,

that he is a poet but he happens to be a bus driver. Your poetry is

really good and some day you might let the world read it. I mean it,

you are a great poet. It is not a story with a lot of conflict, it is

the exact opposite. My wife wants me to take her to Florida, but I am

behind the mortgage payments, my uncle is coming from India and I

need money for the wedding and I have a rash on my back. How about

you? I am OK. I had to learn how to park a bus in Queens and that tests

your patience. I have a situation. It could have exploded into a

fireball. Oh, Danny. Snog, married or avoid? I am not answering that.

It is a very Jim Jarmusch movie and it is deadpan and deliberate and

sometimes that charms me and it drives me up the wall sometimes.

Here it works. It has the slightly adolescent quality, it wants to show

you its book collection and its record collection. Is it needy? Yes,

but what elevates it is the perfect casting. He takes this conceit, this

idea of a character and he makes him seem real. I am still a little bit

torn about Jim Jarmusch, but I am a major fan of Adam Driver. A minor

crash. A little bit. He has got a fabulous face, I could watch it all

day. You do not necessarily want to have sex with him to see him more on

screen. I am glad we have reached that point very fast. Did you find

this film seductive or blind? I did not find it bland at all. It looks

into your eyes. I think Adam Driver is spectacular, but also his

on-screen girlfriend who is quirky and makes cupcakes. She was so

irritating and so annoying and I could not take her seriously when

she said, I love your poetry. The poetry is naff and that is part of

the charm. I loved the poetry. But it got better and better and towards

the end you could see it being published. But the fact that she

believed in him, your poems should be published, and you really

believed in the couple. Did you like him because he was a sort of folk

hero, he has a modest job, he writes poetry by water balls? I want to go

back to the quirkiness. A bit of a weakness with Jim Jarmusch movies

means he is focused on the girlfriend character, unfortunately.

But when he comes home and he has had a terrible day at work and the

bus has collapsed and she says, is there anything I can do for you? He

does not say, I want you to play a song on the acoustic guitar. The

movie allows something else to happen and it is quirky. Jim

Jarmusch is aware. I do not think that is a problem. I think it is

interesting, New Jersey, backwater type fields here. Jim Jarmusch is

older than me with an elaborate pompadour quiff and he still needs

to show us that he has read certain novels, mannered is the word. I

think it was taking the Mickey and it was very tongue in cheek. Do you?

Yes, and it was inclusive and it was a very multicultural film and it was

not rammed down your throat and back is very important. It is nice to see

a movie that is not even remotely offensive, you can drive a bus and

write poetry as well, and there is nothing remotely conflict in with

that. That nothing happens in this movie. Yes, I agree. Most people

might die of boredom. Sorry. Maybe they have done tonight.

Bust open the baubles and ready the whisky,

it's the first Christmas film of the season.

Don't get too excited, though, as this particular man in red

is the last guy on earth you'd want to be ho-ho-ho-ing

Billy Bob Thornton stars in Bad Santa 2.

Be prepared for some fruity language. Merry Christmas,

disturbing children. Come on you Dick heads. Well, you still hit like

your daddy. Eat me. You do not trust your mum? I trust her about as far

as I can throw you. I didn't even know you had a mum. Has this just

hatched? I travel across the country for charities. Have you got a

problem with that? Downright I have a problem with that. No way have

these guys got 2 million bucks. You have got smaller. Have you got a

problem with that? You need a hug. Let go of me. It feels like

Christmas. You are both miserable. When you do not have a family, you

have to have a new one. I am going to tear all my clothes off and say I

really enjoyed this film. I thought it was really funny, it was better

than the last one. The last one was well received and I thought the

script was great and Cathy Bates was the gangster granny. I did enjoy it

and I will say that, but you will disagree with me. I agree, I think

it is better than the last one, but that is not saying much. But it is

very unsavoury. I unsavoury? It did not feel like any of the actors

wanted to be there and it was a slog for them to be in the movie and a

slog for us to watch. It was difficult to tell because his

character is meant to be unenthusiastic. Except when he is

getting lucky with a lady. That is what is weird about the movie

because this guy wets himself and vomit on himself and all these

incredible women want to... Is that rude? I thought the Christina

Hendricks character came out and they had this sort of thing and she

is suddenly dropping her pounds and he is screwing her up against a

wheelie bin. We have all been there. What did you make of it? I think the

original in its wake is a great movie and is not. If you are going

to do a cheap and nasty character 13 years later so Billy Bob Thornton

can buy whatever he wants with his salary, if you are going to do that,

make it really terrible. Make it the spirit of the original and make it a

terrible movie. It is half funny and they throw so many jokes at you, but

by a lot of average some of it works. It is a bit of a commercial

enterprise and you understand that people like Octavia Spencer who has

an Oscar is going to return as a prostitute. Maybe there was a

terrible clause in her original contract. The women do badly out of

this. She does badly out of it and Christina Hendricks has to hire a

new agent or something. Cathy Bates, it is about the fact she is a little

larger. I think there are some brilliant monologues. The one where

he tries to tell the child, the 21-year-old character, how to have

sex is absolutely hilarious. It is sure-fire funny, ridiculous,

disgusting. I think, Danny, you are grossed out by how disgusting it is

and you cannot take it. Is that what it is? You may well be right. You

have rolled over. You are right, I think moment is the best character

and he is very sweet. I wish they would find more for him to do in it.

I have seen the sweet side before in the film Elf. Well, I really enjoyed

it. Decision time, what is your film of the week? Allied was a lot of fun

and entertaining and slick and Brad Pitt is still fit. Danny? I, Daniel

Blake, which is still on. It is one of the most inspiring films from one

of the greatest directors Britain has ever produced. I would urge

people to see it again and again. I liked bad Santa two.

Next week it's Have I Got Views For You Paul Merton at the helm.

But for now, we'll leave you with an early look

at Kong: Skull Island, starring Brie Larson

and Tom Hiddleston, due out next year.

These are photos of an island in the South Pacific. We will use explosive

to shake the earth, help us to map the surface of the island. You are

dropping bombs. Scientific instruments. Is that a monkey?

She pretty, Reg? Hard to say from this angle.

Well, you keep your hands to yourself.

Don't you worry, I've done this before.