26/04/2014 The Film Review


26/04/2014

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reserve based in London". Those are the detail. No names, but confirming

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the five British people died, saying it was a routine flight `` details.

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Coming up next, it's The Film Review.

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Hello, and welcome The Film Review on BBC News. To take us through this

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week's cinema releases is Mark Kermode. What do we have? A mixed

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bag, I'm sure you know. We have Transcendence, the new movie

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starring Johnny Depp, which is done, let us say, not so well in America.

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We have Tracks, a recreation of an epic journey across the Australian

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outback. One woman, four camels and a dog. We have The Other Woman, a

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story about women turning the tables on the man who wronged them. You

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said something about Transcendence there, not doing particularly well

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in the United States. It has been loathed, hated and dumped on as the

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worse non`blockbuster of the year? Comparisons have been made with John

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Carter. That is not something that one does casually! The film is the

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debut from Wally Pfister. It stars Johnny Depp. It was based on a

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script, referred to as the Black List, a very fated but as yet

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unproduced screenplays back in 2012. Johnny Depp is an artificial

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intelligence specialist, who is enthusiastic about reaching the

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point when computers basically overtake mankind and can know and

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understand the world in a more extraordinary way than mankind can.

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This of course causes many people to think, you know, aren't you playing

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God? Isn't this all about a bit dangerous? Here is a clip.

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These are state`of`the`art processors. You won't find faster

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power anywhere else in the world. Good evening, Dr Tagger. He has seen

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old pictures of you. Good evening, Donald Buchanan. It knows me? Of

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course it does. Social media. Tell the agent can an about yourself? I'm

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a physically independent neural network invented by Dr Will Caster.

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Can you prove that you are self`aware? That is a difficult

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question, doctor. Can you prove that you are?

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What happens very early on, he is attacked by terrorists. The only way

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of surviving is he has to upload his personality to a data bank and

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become an electronic presence. Become somewhere between man and

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machine. However, is the uploaded presence really him, or is the

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entity for which his wife is now in love, actually something completely

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different, something sinister something that really isn't the man

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she married? The interesting thing with the film is, it has gone down

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very badly in America. The box office has been poor. Bad reviews.

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That looks like it will be repeated over here. Someone who is a fan of

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Wally Pfister, as a cinematographer, he is really brilliant. I went into

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this with high expectations. Generally, I liked it. I thought it

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was... What it is. You are the only the man of the planet who liked it,

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as far as I can see? I found a couple of others. It's throw back

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1970s B picture. Wally Pfister pictures like Silent Running, Omega

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Man... Big idea films. The problem with the film, at $100 million, you

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make movies that have lots of explosions in it. Chris Nolan when

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he made Inception, which Wally Pfister shot, it was clever and

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intelligent. It's like an extended episode of the Twilight Zone. What

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would happen if you uploaded your personality to the computer and the

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computer had access to the internet. It's low on crowd pleasing

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explosions. Johnny Depp is billed at the star. Early on he is sidelined.

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He becomes a cyber presence. The heavy lifting done by Paul Bettany,

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a brilliant actor and Rebecca Hall. I like her very much. It is shot

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beautifully. As you saw from that clip. It is a film, which unlike the

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standard trend for scientific movies doesn't have an edit every

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millisecond. It wants to take its time. It is true. Some of the

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dialogue is clunky, in a sort of Star Trek way. I thought it was a

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film with big ambitions, dealing with an interesting idea in a

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populous manner, I thought. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed all two hours

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of it. I'm genuinely surprised by just how hostile the reviews have

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been. We are in favour of diversity in this programme, as you know. Here

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is what you need to do. Go and see it and find out... I will. Make up

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your own mind. I will. Don't let it put you off. I won't. Now, Tracks.

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This is a true story. Robin Davidson tracked from Alice Springs to the

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West Coast, armed with four camels, a dog, with a sponsorship deal with

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National Geographic. In order to do it she had to be met at regular

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intervals by a photographer. He would document her travels. For a

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lot of the journey she was alone. Certain parts of it she was joined

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by an elder. She is on her own. It is her, the animals, out in the

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desert facing her own demons. They do a back story about why she wants

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to be alone, her own personal issues. What is interesting about

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it, it doesn't over do it. It's a dangerous journey. There are moments

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of peril... Her survival is not quaranteed. The film doesn't feel

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the need to crank it up and do silly stuff. It's pretty much as it

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happens. It proceeds at a walking pace. Which is right. It looks

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beautiful. You believe Mia Wasikowska is that character. I

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thought it's not sentimental. It's not anything that tries to make this

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a jolly, sugary coated story. It's a very interesting story about a

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woman, who for reasons of her own, wants to be completely alone other

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than the company of these animals. The camels are extraordinarily

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expressive creatures. Talking about strong women, The Other Woman. If

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only we were Cameron Diaz and a revenge movie. Leslie Mann is

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married to a guy and she discovers he is having an affair with Cameron

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Diaz, they bond and get on and then they find out he is having an affair

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with another woman. I don't hate you at all. I got all of that out of my

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system with that woman. You can be friends with your husband's

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mistress. It's a dream come true. Ignore her. She is working through

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some stuff. You smell amazing. What is that? I think it's just sweat.

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That was remarkably funny. First Wife's Club meets 9`5? Yes. Absent

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of the wit and one liners. It's one of those films that says, what we

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are doing, sisters doing it for themselves. They don't appear to be

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doing it for themselves or each other or us. It's meant to be a

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comedy in which the nature of what is happening on screen, lots of

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hysteria. You are thinking ` I bet this was great fun to make. Why do I

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think that? It's boring to watch. The more fun it was to make, the

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less fun everyone has watching you do it. Comedy is a rigorous

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discipline. This misses everything. It doesn't... Challenge gender

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sterotypes. It repeats them, then says, it's OK, it's a story about

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women on top. Which it kind of isn't. It's something which trots

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out the old cliches. There is the brainy one, the ditzy one, the one

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who is the housewife. If those sterotypes appeared in any other

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movie you wouldn't give them the time of day. Underlying it all, it's

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not funny enough. The laughing you did to that clip, that is the most

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laughing that happened in the whole screening. I'm leaning towards going

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to see Transcendence. Exactly. Actually. Rebel Without a Cause,

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which I have seen on the telly, I have not seen on the big screen.

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There was a reissue. You have to seek them out. They are playing

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around the country, Google it. It's worth seeing on the big screen.

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Rebel Without a Cause stands the test of time. It is an extraordinary

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movie. I hadn't seen it it on the big screen. You have seen it on the

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telly. It works. It is powerful. A very different movie to the movie

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you imagine from the posters and the iconic imagery. James Dean really

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was a very, very talented, very promising actor. A lot of people

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dismiss him because there were three films. It's worth seeing. It reminds

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people, given it was in the 1950s, it reminds people that teenagers

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behaving badly, the problem with young people is not an entirely new

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phenomenon. No. It's about the story of a bad kid from a good home. I

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still think all those things still chime true. The performances arer

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terrific and it looks good. Your DVD choice That Sinking Feeling. It

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surprised me. It is directed by Greg Forsyth. It is his first feature.

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It's about a group of kids in Glasgow who solve their financial

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problems by stealing sinks. Hence the title. It's funny, really smart.

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It went into the Guinness Book of Records as officially the cheapest

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feature film ever theatrically released in the UK. It stands up to

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this day. All the things you love about Bill Forsyth are there in That

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Sinking Feeling. That is interesting. It bears out you talked

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about the theory about comedy. The cheaper the film, the more they have

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to work on the script. Therefore, actually the better it is. It may be

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the case that with Transcendence, that $100 million is too much money

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for that movie. Had they had the restrictions of Under the Skin it

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might have worked out in a more popular way. Cheap and cheerful.

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Thank you very much, Mark. A quick reminder before we go that you'll

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find more film news and reviews from Mark on his BBC blog Kermode Uncut.

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Thank you for watching. There have been showers around

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today, and some dry and sunny weather, at times too, despite the

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low pressure. South`west of us, and close to us, as we go through the

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day to

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