Love and Friendship, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Money Monster The Film Review

from the biggest and fastest car race in the world, the Indy 500.

That is at 6:30pm. Now it is time for the film review.

Hello and welcome to the Film Review on BBC News.

To take us through this week's releases we are joined by Anna

Smith. We have got a Jane Austen adaptation

to start with. Kate Beckinsale starts as a scheming widow.

Then we have Alice Through the Looking Glass. James Bobin is

directing. Finally, we have Money Monster. Jodie Foster directs a

hostage thriller starring George Clooney. Love Friendship, given

the British love of bonnets and men on horses, I suspect this would be a

big hit? I suspect so. This is not what you would expect of Lane

Austen. It is based on Lady Susan, a novella she wrote when she was 18.

It was published Posthumus Lee. A little bit more mischievous. I think

this is probably her naughtiest adaptation on screen to date. Kate

Beckinsale is so much fun. She plays a scheming widow who goes to the

country to patronise relatives, flirt with the gentleman, and IV

women and try to marry off her daughter, as we see now. -- annoy

the women. Have I done anything to dishonour your father? To honour

means to listen with respect. I do. Perhaps you will pay attention to

the law of the universe. An offer as splendid as this is not likely to

come around again. He has offered you the one thing he has a value to

give, his income. I fear and reproach myself having shielded you

for far too long. Have I let you start -- had a let you starve a

little bit more you would have resisted less. I was often hungry at

school. Not nearly enough. I can see Sir James is a kind man and if it

was not a matter of marriage, I'm sure I could like him. Marriage is

for one's whole life. That is one of the things we love about Jane

Austen, she is so waspish. So sharp. She is a beautifully written

character. Whit Stillman next most of it and builds on with his own

writing. The comedy is so sharp. She's the kind of character you

recognise in the modern day. This is a woman who knows how to wrap

everybody around her little finger and passes off her own selfishness

as being very ultra with stick. There are wonderful lines. She has a

handmaid who packs and unpacks her. She says, as there is an element of

friendship involved... Some lovely lines. I think that is something one

could steal in a restaurant. Jane Austen is terrific. One of the

things I see in a lot of costume dramas on television, we like the

bonnets and stuff like that, but is that daughter, mother relationship

reflected today? Obviously you have got the drawback that times have

changed and it is about arranged marriage -- marriages. We live in a

time where women can make their own living. But at the same time these

characters are timeless. The only moment I did not like was that Chloe

Savini is cast as American friend. There are jokes at her expense her

husband played by Stephen Fry. She is the wrong actress for this. She

was with Kate Beckinsale in the last days of disco. It seems like

sentimental casting. Besides that, great cast. Alice Through the

Looking Glass, another one that we love. Do we need another Alice? We

really do not. The last one, Alice in Wonderland, was not a great

success in terms of criticism and my feelings about it. They have decided

to replicate a similar formula. It has very little in common with the

original text. Apart from she goes through a mirror. She ends up in

Wonderland and indulges in a time traveller fantasy, which I am pretty

sure was not in Lewis Carroll. It becomes this bombastic, loud, heavy

soundtrack. Great CGI but there is too much of it. It looks quite

hallucinogenic. Also, when was the last film with Johnny Depp in it

that you really like to? Some years ago now. He seemed to peak then. Is

a shame because he can really turn it on. Sacha Baron Cohen is not

going through a great part either. He is not but he is funny in this.

He is playing time. He has a relationship with the director.

Maybe that is why it works. The month -- we want everyone to see is

Money Monster. -- the one I really want to see is Money Monster. It is

a newsroom thriller set in a TV studio, George Clooney playing this

confident, Brache presenter. A gunman breaks into the studio and

wholesome hostage. He wants to find out what happens to his investment.

Julia Roberts is the producer trying to manage things and control it.

Here is a look. You have got a delivery? Don't move. Jesus! Cut the

feed. Turn those cameras back on. Whoever is in their turn those

cameras back on! I cannot. Turn those cameras on! I'm going to

discount to three. I swear to god I am pulling the trigger. -- I am

going to count to three. Tents. I am a sucker for these

real-time hostage thriller is where you're on the edge of your seat and

you are waiting to see what happens and how the different characters

deal with it. I thought this worked quite well. I could enjoy it broadly

speaking. What we do not see their is they are dealing with the firm

that is accused of being corrupt. There is perhaps too much going on.

They are trying to spread out the characters and the action. It is

essentially a two hander between George Clooney and Jack O'Connell.

The big short and so on are about the evils of our age. That shows

something more like dog Day afternoon. Two very different

movies. Exactly. It is trying to comment on financial corrupt and

then make a moral statement. Apparently originally it was very

much about those two guys. It suffers in to undertake on too much.

If I paid money for this in the cinema I think I would be quite

happy. It is still mainstream and enjoyable and it delivers as a

thriller. Bankers and financial people have become the villains of

the day. One thing about the premise that made me wary is do people

really take financial tips from guys on television seriously. You think,

George Clooney, lovely guy, but if you about making money he would not

be a TV person. Exactly. Jack O'Connell's character, you are not

sure that if he was ripped off, his first thought would be to march into

the studio. The best of the week, Singh Street? I love this film. It

is a musical set in Ireland in the 1980s. A young boy wants to join a

former band to impress a girl. Simple but lovely. If you are a fan

of the Cure and the jam and grew up with that music, it is a treat. I

love the idea of a guy who says to a girl, you can be in my band, but he

does not actually have a band or Anni musical talent. He has got a

lot of confidence. He is quite sweet. And your DVD choice is

Victoria. Very gripping. This is real-time. It was filmed in one

take. It is slightly improvised. It is about a young girl on the Berlin

clubbing scene who meets a group of guys. It is about them hanging out

and having fun and then things take a turn. It is incredibly ambitious.

You may think that is just a gimmick, doing the whole thing in

one take. The question is, does it work or doesn't it? Everyone I have

spoken to says it works. Yes, you are totally immersed. It is a very

intense experience. I bet Hollywood will come knocking for the director.

Thank you very much. That is it for this week. Thanks for watching.

Enjoy the movies. Hello there. Will the weather be

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