11/07/2014 The Film Review

million. We look ahead to Sunday's World Cup final as well. Now, time

for the film review. Hello and welcome to The Film Review

on BBC News. To take us through this week's

cinema releases is Mark Kermode. We have very heard, starring Ellar

Coltrane. We have Transformers. We really want is more Transformers in

our lives! And we have Begin Again. Barely heard has a nine`year`old boy

and ten`year`old boy. We first meet the central character at the age of

six and the film is filmed over 12 years. It is a portrait of growing

up from boy to adolescent teenager to adulthood. What is extraordinary

about it is that it could equally be called parenthood for motherhood or

system modal brotherhood. We see the entire family changing. It is tender

and a very human portrait of the changes which affect everybody,

whether they are young or old, from a director who primarily cares about

character. You met him. I met him last month, in fact.

Last month, I interviewed the director Richard Linklater and star

of the film Ellar Coltrane, and they told me about the challenges of

Every year, we had this luxury of talking, next year, we will need to

go, and we got to talk about it. This was about filming and thinking.

A collaboration. Then you are, eight, nine, ten, did you feel he

was listening to what you were saying? Definitely. It's very

incidental but there is a lot of me reflected in the director. What most

impressed me was the ambition of this film. It's very simple but

can't be simple: 12 years to do a project in Hollywood as a lifetime.

When you are watching it, you don't think there thinking of the

logistics and difficulties. You watch it and it is like dropping in

as a family member. This action just happens in place out in front of you

and the intimacy you have with these characters, the film is 166 minutes

long, that time flies by, but you never think, wow! How hard is that

to do? It is not just to do with physically watching the characters

change. It's the way the film understands with different periods

of people's lives. Particularly, even though as the father, in a way,

he is just as Polish as is young son. He grows up as well. The

director is extraordinary. The key thing, where tourism is a part of

cinema. He appears to look with his characters. The film is really

remarkable. I think Transformers is also 166 minutes long. Transformers

is exactly the same running time and yet, it feels about 50 times longer.

It feels like you could grow an entire new set of teeth. We have

Mark Warburg stepping into the central role and then we have got

2.75 hours of great big machines hitting each other while the camera

looks up the leading lady's skirt and everything explodes really

loudly. But sadly, not better. Forgive me, but I am missing the

point here. Isn't this just the hamburger in movies? It's the same

one, time after time, if you like that kind of thing. He makes the

same movie over and over again. Actually, most people don't enjoy

it. I have yet to meet someone who says, Transformers two is a

masterpiece! The director said, it's great having critics slack my movies

of. It's terrible! He's an appalling film`maker. There is another

argument that this is the beginning of a new kind of cinema for 3`D.

Begin Again. He made a lovely movie once about a busker. A busker, a

woman, a Hoover and a song. This is a similar idea. Keira Knightley is a

British singer`songwriter in New York. She meets a man who decides

she has star potential but she doesn't necessarily want to be

snapped up. Here's a clip. I'm in. What? I want to make records. I want

to produce them, I want to sign you. Did you see what just happened up

there? I don't like music. Who cares if they don't get it? You need to

work on your performance a little bit. Are you really ANR man? You

look more like a homeless man. That is some song you've got there. Plus,

you are beautiful. What is beauty got to do with anything? I just

think music is about is, not eyes. And I am not Judy Gyle and. ``

Garland. The dialogue is great! I think you're Knightley is pretty

terrific. `` Keira Knightley. It's a fairy tale, a fantasy about bucking

the music industry. It is a companion piece to the other movie.

What it is is moving, charming, sweet natured and I really enjoyed

being in their company. In the past, many years ago, I didn't think Keira

Knightley was the best actress in the world but I think she is

terrific in this. And he looks like a homeless man! It's made with a

lotta love and affection. The songs are not quite as good this time but

the film is still charming. It is a very warm experience. And I like the

characters. The best of the week is not a warm experience. No. It's set

in a very particular time, a time of video cassettes and pre`mobile

phones. It flips between, one minute a thriller, one minute a horror

movie, almost a social satire. Very fine performances by the central

cast. Annual DVD of the week. Scarlett Johansson is posing as an

alien. It's very ambitious. It is based on a very difficult novel and

doesn't always work but what I love about it is the amount of ambition

it has, the fact it goes, if I will fail, I will fail on my own terms.

Things and are breathtaking, things don't work, but I love the fact that

you have Transformers, and the year, a science`fiction movie who is

interested in ideas first and foremost, not money. Everybody

should see it. A quick reminder before we go that

you'll find more film news and reviews from across the BBC online,

including all our previous shows. For the last couple of days, we have

had weather fronts coming in from the North Sea. This weekend we will

flip a coin back to business and as usual and have our weather systems

coming in off the Atlantic. Splashes of rain and the potential for some

of it to be