:00:00. > :00:00.Prix. Six Nations News and Welsh snooker open as well. All of that
:00:00. > :00:20.Hello and welcome to The Film Review on BBC News.
:00:21. > :00:23.To take us through this week's cinema releases is Mark Kermode.
:00:24. > :00:39.We are still in award season so we have Hidden Figures, a different
:00:40. > :00:46.look at the space race. We have The Great Wall in which Matt Damon goes
:00:47. > :00:51.head to head with crazy monsters. And Miller Lite, for my money one of
:00:52. > :00:59.the best films I have seen this year. -- and Moonlight. Let's start
:01:00. > :01:05.with Hidden Figures. True and fascinating story. Please tell me it
:01:06. > :01:08.is good. The Hidden Figures are both the head and mathematical equations
:01:09. > :01:14.needed to get a man into space and also the head and people used in
:01:15. > :01:18.making it happen. The tag line is meet the woman you do not lobby had
:01:19. > :01:24.the mission you do and is based on the story of African American women
:01:25. > :01:29.working in Nasa working on a mathematical formula necessary for
:01:30. > :01:33.the space race. The three main characters are all struggling to be
:01:34. > :01:43.recognised for their talent both at work and at home. Who is a clip.
:01:44. > :01:50.The pastor mentioned you work at Nasa with computers? The web woman
:01:51. > :02:01.handle that sort of stuff? That's not what I mean. What do you mean?
:02:02. > :02:10.I... I am just surprised something so taxing. Mr Johnson, if I were you
:02:11. > :02:21.I would quit talking right now. I will have you know I was the first
:02:22. > :02:27.black female student at West Virginia graduate school. I computed
:02:28. > :02:32.over 10,000 calculations by hand. Yes, they let women do some things
:02:33. > :02:40.at Nasa, and it is not because we were Scots, it is because we wear
:02:41. > :02:44.glasses. -- wear skirts. It is a very likeable film and tells the
:02:45. > :02:48.story had not heard before, the celebration of people breaking down
:02:49. > :02:52.barriers of race and gender. Kevin Costner is the head of the space
:02:53. > :02:58.task force who just wants to do the job done whatever. It is a broad
:02:59. > :03:02.strokes film and the complexity is left for the equations but it knows
:03:03. > :03:07.how to engage the audience and get them involved with the characters
:03:08. > :03:12.until this uplifting story. Also how to make the solving of the equation
:03:13. > :03:17.is exciting. It is quite difficult to make someone solving equations on
:03:18. > :03:21.a blackboard look exciting but they do it well. The performances are
:03:22. > :03:27.very likeable and busy film that takes a true story until it in a way
:03:28. > :03:35.that engaging. It is eye opening and the story I did not know before. It
:03:36. > :03:39.does it really well and in a way which is crowd pleasing. You will
:03:40. > :03:47.come out of it with a skip in your step filling uplifted. Because it is
:03:48. > :03:53.not just lecturing about the sexism and racism? It absolutely is not. It
:03:54. > :03:57.tells it in a way that engages you with the characters. It is a broad
:03:58. > :04:02.strokes but done so in the week when it knows when to use sentimentality
:04:03. > :04:06.or melodrama and does it rather well. It is very entertaining which
:04:07. > :04:13.is what you need a mainstream film to be to draw in the audiences.
:04:14. > :04:18.The Great Wall... You are already laughing. The most expensive film
:04:19. > :04:27.ever made purely in China. 1700 years to bill 500 miles long. What
:04:28. > :04:31.were they keeping out? This is a spectacularly silly and spectacular
:04:32. > :04:35.film. Matt Damon is in search of magical black power and the sky
:04:36. > :04:43.built to keep out out mythical creatures. He encounters one early
:04:44. > :04:47.on and he cut its hand off so they think let's get him involved in the
:04:48. > :04:53.fight. But will he joined forces or end up trying to still be magical
:04:54. > :04:59.powder. Frankly, who cares. The thing about Zhang Yimou is he knows
:05:00. > :05:04.how to stage an exciting action sequences, however, my own opinion
:05:05. > :05:08.is Duncan Jones in Watercraft was doing some of this rather better and
:05:09. > :05:14.when we get to the final battle it is essentially a rerun of a battle
:05:15. > :05:19.in Lord of the rings up with Matt Damon doing in dodgy accent. It is
:05:20. > :05:23.colourful, they are well choreographed sequences but it is a
:05:24. > :05:30.piece of artwork tomfoolery and it is a rather long. You would have got
:05:31. > :05:35.away with it if it was slightly shorter. It probably is not as long
:05:36. > :05:42.as it felt, it just felt like a long film. That is a bad sign for any
:05:43. > :05:48.film. However, all not long enough is Moonlight. It is astonishing work
:05:49. > :05:54.from Barry Jenkins. It is a coming of age story about a young man in
:05:55. > :06:03.the neighbourhood in Miami with poverty, identity bristling with
:06:04. > :06:06.these issues. Three actors play the central character and the chapters
:06:07. > :06:13.are identified by the names he assumes or is given. In the first
:06:14. > :06:18.section having been essentially abandoned by his drug addict mother
:06:19. > :06:25.he is befriended by a local dealer who you will recognise from the
:06:26. > :06:33.previous clip. Let's take a look. What happened? What happened? Why
:06:34. > :06:41.did you not come home like you were supposed to?
:06:42. > :06:54.And who are you? Nobody. I found him yesterday. I found them. Some boys
:06:55. > :07:00.chased him he was geared more than anything and would not tell me where
:07:01. > :07:06.he lived until this morning Mo Farah -- he was scared. He usually can
:07:07. > :07:20.take care of himself. -- he was scared until this morning.
:07:21. > :07:24.Little man,... Wonderful work there. You know he is
:07:25. > :07:29.a drug dealer but is also a very paternal figure and becomes a role
:07:30. > :07:33.model to some extent. The film tells the story in a way which is poetic
:07:34. > :07:39.and understand there is hardship but also intense beauty. It is a very
:07:40. > :07:44.sensual film. The sound of the ocean is the backdrop to everything. That
:07:45. > :07:51.is the key sequence he is taught to swim. It is just an ecstatic moment.
:07:52. > :07:59.It has such, and of the cinematic medium both with imagery and music,
:08:00. > :08:02.the music is superb, from classical to original compositions to pop
:08:03. > :08:07.music, blended together to take you inside the psychology of the
:08:08. > :08:10.characters. Most importantly, it is very sympathetic to central
:08:11. > :08:14.characters which gives voice to characters which in other movies
:08:15. > :08:20.would be sidelined or stereotyped. The first time I saw it I was
:08:21. > :08:25.overwhelmed, the second time I spent a lot of bit trying because I found
:08:26. > :08:31.it so moving, so profoundly poetic and sympathetic. It is heartfelt,
:08:32. > :08:38.elements of tragedy but also very tactile sensuous feel to it. It is a
:08:39. > :08:48.remarkable second feature from Barry Jenkins. Still only in his 30s.
:08:49. > :08:50.Terrifyingly talented. It is the major awards contender and for my
:08:51. > :08:58.money the best film I saw this year, it came out in America last year. I
:08:59. > :09:05.think it is very important, but also a wonderful piece of entertainment
:09:06. > :09:10.and a piece of art. Everything, how it looks, sounds, written, you can
:09:11. > :09:14.feel the honesty and integrity and it is so authentic and please tell
:09:15. > :09:21.me you Love it, too. I loved it and we know you love it too. Best out at
:09:22. > :09:27.the moment as the film I said last week, even watching the trailer, oh,
:09:28. > :09:35.my goodness. Moonlight is the best thing out but this is also the next
:09:36. > :09:38.best thing. The black comedy about Father bopper estrangement. Have you
:09:39. > :09:47.seen the film? Ignore the trailer and see the film -- father and
:09:48. > :09:53.daughter estrangement. For someone who wants to watch a DVD? There is
:09:54. > :09:59.this documentary called Hammered A Person. She was the camera person on
:10:00. > :10:05.a number of films and has taken out the footage and put it together to
:10:06. > :10:10.make an odyssey of her career in which the same stories become the
:10:11. > :10:15.central story. It is a wonderful story about documentary making and
:10:16. > :10:20.how you can find a story where you least expect it. It is very eye
:10:21. > :10:21.opening and I think you will like it very much. Mark, thank you very
:10:22. > :10:24.much. A quick reminder before we go
:10:25. > :10:27.that you'll find more film news and reviews
:10:28. > :10:30.from across the BBC online. And you can catch up
:10:31. > :10:33.with our previous programmes