Black Panther, Pad Man, Fifty Shades Freed The Film Review

of Team GB's medal hopefuls ahead of

16 days of competition across 11

different ovens. That is all to

come, but 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

cinema releases is Mark Kermode.

So Mark, what do we have this week?

We have Black Panther, which opens

on Tuesday. We have Pad Man, based

on a true, inspiring story. And 50

shades, it all comes to an end.

Black Panther, why isn't it opening

until Tuesday?

I presume it is

because it will give it a long,

opening weekend. It has been eagerly

awaited. At the beginning of the

film, it is a technologically

advanced society and they must keep

their secrets away from the rest of

the world in case it falls into the

wrong hands. The movie plays great

attention to detail. Here is a clip.

Remote system activated.

Wait, which

side of the road is it?

Just drive.

Let's go! Look at your suit. You

have been taking bullets.

Run around

the track.

Show off.

That is the most generic

stuff. Its strengths are threefold.

It looks great. It is superbly

realised will stop you feel you are

in the world and it is well evoked.

The second thing, it sounds great,

everything from the shop dialogue to

the superb music keeps the action

moving along. It really involves you

in the characters. It is well

played, the cast Angela Bassett, it

is a really good cast. But the most

important thing is, you believe in

the world of the film. You believe

in the characters and you know and

understand the characters and both

it -- motivation. I am not a comic

book fan. The thing about this is,

it works on its own terms as a

stand-alone piece. There has been a

lot written about the importance of

this movie at this moment. But it

will only work if the film itself

works as a rip-roaring piece of

entertainment and it does.

It is

important, but I can look at that

and say, as well documented on this

programme, action films are not my

thing but they are the thing of my

other half. Our debate will be, is

it two hours of my life I will never

get back and she will say, no, we

have to go and see it.

You get the

spectacle, all the stuff you want

and it does look and sound

wonderful. But you know the

characters, you like them and

understand them. This is a world

where there are no gender imbalances

you often get. Women are on an equal

playing field. When they have the

big fight sequences, even I

understood who everyone was, who

they were fighting, why they were

fighting and what they were trying

to do with their time. As a piece of

drama, it is well laid out. I

enjoyed it.

I might have a hope. I

am normally nudging going, what? Who

is this person? Why are they doing

that?

No, I understand it.

You give

me hope.

Pad Man. Sounds unusual? It

is a man in India who invented a

machine for making cheap sanitary

pads. The hears a newlywed young man

who doesn't understand why his new

bride spends five days every month

out of the house. Then he is ashamed

why the women around him suffer

every month. He designs a machine to

make low-cost sanitary pads, which

will not only protect the health of

the women but provide employment.

But he does so in a culture in which

there is a lot of shame around this

subject. The director of the film

said he wanted to make the story as

accessible as possible. He does, it

has slapstick comedy, music

sequences, laughs, romance and

tension. It is a joyful and

uplifting film. It is telling the

story, which has its roots in a

real-life story. It is a

fictionalised version of a real-life

story, but it does stick close to

the truth. It is charmingly done and

playing to the widest possible

audience and succeeding in taking

that story and making it completely

accessible it is charming and

uplifting. Another hit.

Fantastic,

wonderful story.

Based on a true

story, which is more than be said

the Fifty Shades. We do have

twilight to thank for this. The

story is, having taint Christian

Grey, Anastasia must see if she can

find independence and happiness

within their marriage. Here is the

clip.

You do want to have kids

someday?

Someday, sure.

You don't

really sound sure.

You know what I

am sure about? It is great steak.

Christian? Do you not want to have

kids?

Of course. One day, just not

now. I am not ready to share you

with anyone.

He doesn't want

children. I can tell her that now.

There is a narrative. It is easy to

sneer at the Fifty Shades movies

because they are not very good. The

first one, they tried to do

something interesting, but it was

too restricted. The second one was

directed and it stuck to the ear

scraping dialogue of the source. It

is badly written, the actors are

doing their best. James Foley is

directing on autopilot. He has been

given this as a safe pair of hands.

It ends up looking like a promo

simply for a glamorous lifestyle for

fast cars and designer apartments.

Although there is some kinky fetters

vision, it is very peripheral. What

the film is interested in, look back

Private Jet! It is a film about

possessions and about those kind of

aspirations. In the end it ends up

looking like a commercial or pop

promo. It makes you look back to the

days of nine and a half weeks and

think wow, what a ground-breaking,

Citizen Kane like a movie that was.

I don't know why people get angry

because it is playing to a certain

audience who are devoted to it. It

will pack the audience is out on the

first weekend. I am clearly not the

target audience. As a cinema goer,

the first one was the only one that

was vaguely interesting and the next

two are just dull. You cannot

criticise the cast. If anybody gave

you that dialogue to me, Laurence

Olivier would struggle to deliver

some of those lines, which are on

the level of everything, is

everything all right? Can I get you

a Latte.

I think I will sleep Black

Panther. Have you seen Phantom

thread again, the last time we met

you had seen it four times.

No, I

have not seen it again. I love

Johnny Greenwood's score. Has been

Oscar-nominated. People say they

don't like the central character.

You are not meant to like him, he is

meant to be difficult. Leslie

Manville steals the show. I think it

is the best film since Punch-drunk

Love and they make a romance double

bill. I would watch Phantom thread

again but alongside Punch-drunk

Love.

There is something about it.

There was a debate whether the

costumes he designs were

deliberately not very good.

Everybody says he is a fabulous

dress designer but the first thing

he designs has somebody dressed up

like the Queen of hearts. But that

is kind of the point, I like it.

The

DVD, Loving Vincent. It reminds me

of art conversation last week when I

said can you watch Blade Runner on a

DVD, it is the same about Loving

Vincent.

Narrative is a bit flimsy,

it is about going back to find out

what happened in Vincent Riendeau

off's lie. I have seen it on the big

screen and the small screen and it

has the same... It is hypnotising,

like watching paintings you know,

moving around.

Slightly odd, but

stunning.

If you have it on DVD, you

can go back and watch it again and

marvelling at the hours of work that

must have gone into creating it.

Six

years of painting to create the

film.

Astonishing.

Thank you. A

quick reminder, you can find all the

film News and reviews across the BBC

on the website. All our previous

programmes are on the iPlayer as

well. That is it for this week,

enjoy your cinema going. Goodbye.