Julieta, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, War Dogs The Film Review


Julieta, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, War Dogs

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Now, on BBC News, it's time for The Film Review.

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Hello, and welcome to The Film Review on BBC News.

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To take us through this week's cinema releases is Mark Kermode.

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Some interesting stuff. We have a new movie by Pedro Almodovar called

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Julieta. Popstar never stop never stopping and War Dogs. A true life

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satire about the arms industry. We start with Julieta. Are you a Pedro

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Almodovar fan? Ish. OK. That's... Some say that was a cop out. But,

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no, I was reading review views of this one. It's flashbacks that can

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be - It's not a flashback movie. Let us be clear about that. It's.

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More complicated than that. Basically, it's Pedro Almodovar film

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based on three short stories by Alice Munro which he adapted, turned

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into one single narrative. Two actresses playing two central

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characters, Julieta, Adriana Ugarte and Emma Suarez. The story moves

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between the 80s and several years later. We meet Julieta played by

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Emma Suarez who is doing well. In control of her life. Lives in an

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organised apartment. A chance meeting on the street changes things

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for her. Here is a clip. You can see from that, what happened

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was that news came as a total shock to her. She is astranged from her

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daughter. She knows nothing about her at all. What happens, she moves

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back into the apartment block where she used to live together. . Writes

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the story of their odyssey. A story of Strangers On A Train, guilt

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passed down generations and a great silence and the pain that silence

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can incur. What I loved about the film is, firstly, the two central

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performances are both brilliant. You do think of it as being parts of the

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same personality. It's absolutely one unified personality going on in

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this. It's not a film about flashbacks, it uses flashbacks

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format. It has a wonderful score which reminded meed of Bernard

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Herman it brings up Hitchcock themes. One character says at one

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point - I feel I'm becoming a Patricia Hysmith obsessive. Because

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Almodovar is a visual director, the adviceuals as.

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As the dialogue do the storytelling. An apartment is uncluttered to do

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with someone clearing away their memories. Another apartment full of

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the past. The costumes define and explain a character's interior life.

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The use of bold colour, blue, red, white. All of which tells you where

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you are emotionally with the story. The thing that I loved most about

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this is, it is a story about grief and loss and guilt and separation

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and all those things which sound terribly negative. It doesn't

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necessarily sell it? In fact it's passionate. We open with an image of

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red cloth which maybe a rose, a heart, it's a red dress. There is a

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blood line that surges through the film it's a film about ageing and

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looking back an an unruly can career and drawing together all those

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elements. If youing a nottist on the subject of Almodovar you should go

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and see this. I think it will win you over. It's a magnificent piece

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of work. Which makes me all the more guilty for bringing in the next one,

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which is Popstar. A music mockumentary. When you think mock

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umentary is it as good as Spinal Tap the answer is no. Nothing is as good

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as Spinal Tap. It's the changing fortunes of a guy called Conner, a

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rapper come singer. He was in a group called the Style Boyz. He's a

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solo artist. He has fallen from grace with the public, he's trying

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to do whatever he can to win their approval by organising all these

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sort of stupid stunts, the kind of which you can see on the screen at

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the moment. There are several gags in the film that raise a chuckle. I

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mean, I have this six laugh test. For something to be a comedy it has

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to make you laugh six times. It just about scraped it. Most are in the

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parody songs which are well done. It's littered with backslapping

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cameos which are occasionally funny. Occasionally - Paul McCar cart any

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appears. Ringo Starr raises the biggest laugh that he has raised in

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several years. It's kind almost worth it for that. It's fine. It's

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not going to change the world. It's not great. It's not Spinal Tap or

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Fear of a Black Hat. It's fine. Let's move on. War Dogs. Yes. The

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idea of arms dealers on television we had Night Manager which is a

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certain view. This is a different view? The poster for this says, from

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the director of Hangover trilogy, based on a true story and images

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from Scarface. It's mixed messages. Based on a

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Can rolling Story article on a true story. They end up being armed

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dealers because of the way in which arms are out sourced. The US is out

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sourcing its military needs. They aric pricking up on crumbs they come

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across a deal which would offer them the cake if they could find a way to

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crack it. Here's a clip. Henri has a dinner in 10 minutes. I

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wanted you to hear it first half. He can help. Which part. Great. He can

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fill the whole o order. You know it's 100

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million rounds, right? They're in the process of joining

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Nato. they have to dispose

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of all of their Soviet air weapons and I can get most of them

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for pennies in the dollar. You're looking at the exclusive

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agent for the whole thing. Why don't you just bid

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on the contract yourself? Got it. How much for the AK ammo. 10

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cents a round. You are on a terrorist watchlist. Do you work for

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Homeland Security. Relax, bro. You should talk to one. We will. We are

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very interested. Good. My it flight leaves tomorrow morning at 10.00am.

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I can't spend more than 24-hours in this dump. I say Vegas is a 24-hour

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town. I was talking about America. The film tells this true, dark grim

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story with humour. That is also its problem. It can't quite decide how

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tough, how sharp, how edgy, how dark it wants to be. On the plus side

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Jonah Hill is terrific. He has done really good work. There has been

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comparisons between this and Wolf of Wall Street due to the presence of

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Jonah Hill. If you want to find a precedent fwor this movie you have

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to go back to Deal of the Century, a comedy about arms dealing which

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nobody remembers, because almost no-one went to see it. That is more

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of a precedent. There is an interesting use of pop music from

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different generations flagging up things like the madness of Vietnam.

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And, I was never bored. The performances worked well. It's

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sharply written. Sharply edited. My problem with it is, I wanted it to

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be darker. I wanted it to be edgier. I want it get gnarly about its

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subject matter and its antiheroes. It's problem is it can't quite

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decide how dark to go. That said, it's worth seeing for Jonah Hill's

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performance. It's messy and scrappy. It's entertaining. The question is

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whether it needs to be more than that. We move on to the Best Out.

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Current release which you would have to seek out which is Behemoth. It's

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about industrialisation. It has these kind of hellish visions of

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furnaces, the title has a biblical reference. It has enormous visual

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power. I went to see it because a fellow critic recommended it and had

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written powerfully about it. I was struck by it. You will have to seek

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it out. It's worth making the effort for because it's very, very

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cinematic. It's telling a very important tale. Doing it with a

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visual angle and interesting use of music as well. Best DVD and we are

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looking at the life of Sid Vicious. Sid and Nancy is 30 years old. It's

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out on Blu-ray. Seeing it again was interesting. It works. It works

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because of Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb and the strength of their

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performances. At the time there was worry about whether the film was

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romanticising their relationship which ended tragically. Alex Cox has

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great sympathy for his characters. When you see it again now, after all

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these years, what really makes it work is the strength of conviction

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of the performances. Those performances draw you in. Alex Cox

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makes the films he wants to make. That is all admirable. Thank you

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very much. See the Almodovar, you will love it. I'm there!

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A quick reminder before we go that you'll find more film news

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and reviews from across the BBC online at bbc.co.uk/markkermode.

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Plus, you can watch our previous programmes on the BBC iPlayer.

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