0:00:00 > 0:00:00Australian open and defeat for English cricketers in Australia.
0:00:00 > 0:00:04That is all coming up at half past six. First, it is time for the film
0:00:04 > 0:00:05review.
0:00:05 > 0:00:13First, it is time for the film review.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Hello and welcome to The Film Review on BBC News.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26To take us through this week's cinema releases is Mark Kermode.
0:00:26 > 0:00:36So Mark, what do we have this week?
0:00:37 > 0:00:42And interestingly, we have got Downsizing. Earlyman, the latest
0:00:42 > 0:00:46offering from Aardman Animations, always a treat. And last flag
0:00:46 > 0:00:54flying.It looks intriguing, your first choice, that is what I would
0:00:54 > 0:01:01say.Intriguing is exactly the word. This is something a bit different.
0:01:01 > 0:01:08The best way to describe it is it takes riffs from The Incredible
0:01:08 > 0:01:14Thinking Man and combines it with a bit of inconvenient truth and the
0:01:14 > 0:01:20American satire Spanglish. The earth's resources have been depleted
0:01:20 > 0:01:23and process has been discovered to shrink people down to five inches.
0:01:23 > 0:01:33You can save the planet, you become and use less resources. Everyone has
0:01:33 > 0:01:37agreed it is a good idea. But the reason people are doing it is
0:01:37 > 0:01:40because the lifestyle you get offered if you agree to become small
0:01:40 > 0:01:49is more extravagant than you get in the big world.So the decision...
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Downsizing takes pressure off, especially money pressure.It must
0:01:52 > 0:01:57be a good to know you are making a difference.All that crap about
0:01:57 > 0:02:02saving the planet? Yes. Downsizing is about saving yourself. We live
0:02:02 > 0:02:09like kings.I am still in the same house I was born in, Audrey is dying
0:02:09 > 0:02:15to move, but we are strapped.Do not mess around. You get the best
0:02:15 > 0:02:22houses, best appliances, doctors, the great restaurants. The kids love
0:02:22 > 0:02:27cheesecake factory is. We have got three of them. Can you back up a
0:02:27 > 0:02:32little? They might be too much garlic in the source.It is an
0:02:32 > 0:02:36interesting setup and it looks like the beginning of a great movie. Then
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Matt Damon's character decides he is going to downsize and when he does,
0:02:40 > 0:02:47he is isolated, alone and not content like he was in the bigger
0:02:47 > 0:02:52world, but only smaller. Then the film loses its direction. Once you
0:02:52 > 0:02:56get into the small community there is very little of interacting with
0:02:56 > 0:03:01the large one. Most movies dealing with the miniaturisation have them
0:03:01 > 0:03:04interacting. Here you can forget that you are in the small world,
0:03:04 > 0:03:10which is the point. More troublesome is the fact it has a number of
0:03:10 > 0:03:16threads it is trying to deal with, the eco-crisis, the personal crisis,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20a commentary on consumerism, staff about general middle-aged malaise,
0:03:20 > 0:03:25and somehow those elements do not only not come together, they start
0:03:25 > 0:03:31completely fracturing. The film is not short. It is two and a quarter
0:03:31 > 0:03:35hours long and it could have done with some Downsizing in its running
0:03:35 > 0:03:38time. After the initial setup and promise, after what looked like
0:03:38 > 0:03:43being a good use of a science fiction premise it falls apart. It
0:03:43 > 0:03:47is a shame because there are lots of interesting ideas and it is always
0:03:47 > 0:03:51good to see a director aiming big even if it does not come together. I
0:03:51 > 0:03:59have to say there was a good half of it I find frustrating. Having given
0:03:59 > 0:04:04you all these ideas, it then does not know what to do with them. It
0:04:04 > 0:04:08does not know whether it wants to be funny, satirical, sombre about the
0:04:08 > 0:04:13fate of the planet or whether it wants to concentrate on a marriage
0:04:13 > 0:04:19falling apart. It ends up not satisfying any of them.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Unfortunately it is terribly unsatisfying, despite the fact it
0:04:22 > 0:04:30starts well.Very disappointing. I was a big fan of Sideways. And I am
0:04:30 > 0:04:34a very big fan of Wallace and Gromit.And no disappointment for
0:04:34 > 0:04:41Earlyman. A Stone Age tribe is driven out of its valley by the
0:04:41 > 0:04:45arrival of Lord Knuth who says the stone age is over and long live the
0:04:45 > 0:04:52age of bronze. What then happens the young hero, Dug, agrees to have a
0:04:52 > 0:04:57football match for ownership of the valley. It turns out that way back
0:04:57 > 0:05:04in his heritage, football is deep in his genes. However, all his
0:05:04 > 0:05:09tribesmen cannot play football, so they have to recruit a young woman
0:05:09 > 0:05:12to teach them to get the match ready. Firstly, the visuals are
0:05:12 > 0:05:19incredible. They use some computer graphics to get a sense of stadium
0:05:19 > 0:05:25size, but all the primary animation has that Aardman Animations feel, it
0:05:25 > 0:05:32is physical, and I can see you looking at these images. It is
0:05:32 > 0:05:39wonderful. And it is properly funny. It has great slapstick jokes that
0:05:39 > 0:05:43referred to Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. There is a homage at the
0:05:43 > 0:05:49very beginning, but it is also not about straightforward end of the
0:05:49 > 0:05:54pier, innuendo and human. I started laughing right from the very
0:05:54 > 0:05:59beginning. I never lost it, I laughed all the way through. In the
0:05:59 > 0:06:03screening there was only me and the other person. I became embarrassed
0:06:03 > 0:06:08by how much I was laughing. They were enjoying it but not as much as
0:06:08 > 0:06:13I was. You see so many comedies with insufficient laughter. All the way
0:06:13 > 0:06:17through this I chuckled and I was delighted by the visuals.The story
0:06:17 > 0:06:23was charming. And I can go on my own, I don't need to find a child?
0:06:23 > 0:06:29They make genuine family films for people of all ages. I would happily
0:06:29 > 0:06:34go back and see it again, not least because they were so many fleeting
0:06:34 > 0:06:40sight gags that I did not catch the first time round. I love Nick Park,
0:06:40 > 0:06:47he does a great job.A genius.Your third choice? Last flag flying. It
0:06:47 > 0:06:54is adapted from a novel and the last detail was adapted into a film and
0:06:54 > 0:07:04this is the novel sequel to his novel. It is an adaptation of a
0:07:04 > 0:07:09novel that is not a sequel. Three former Marines are reunited decades
0:07:09 > 0:07:13later when one of their sons dies in Iraq and they go on a road trip
0:07:13 > 0:07:19together. One of them has taken holy orders. They go on the road trip
0:07:19 > 0:07:22together and they bicker and the bond and they talk about the past
0:07:22 > 0:07:30and the present.What if I don't like it? We get stuck with a
0:07:30 > 0:07:38contract for two years?Two years. What if you fall down? Have you
0:07:38 > 0:07:43thought of that? With your legs that is a possibility. You cannot get up
0:07:43 > 0:07:48and nobody can see you? But with your mobile phone you can get it out
0:07:48 > 0:07:56and if you could see the numbers, your glasses, I can't say, help me,
0:07:56 > 0:08:03I cannot get up.911 calls do not count against minutes either.Come
0:08:03 > 0:08:11on! If I say yes, Will you shut the hell up?The joy either
0:08:11 > 0:08:19performances. Laurence Fishburne is really good. He is the person facing
0:08:19 > 0:08:24up to grief. I think he does that really brilliantly. If you go there
0:08:24 > 0:08:29looking for a film that is as cutting edge as the last detail, you
0:08:29 > 0:08:33will be disappointed. If you see it as a film in its own right and you
0:08:33 > 0:08:38are able to enjoy the ensemble performances, it is a film about
0:08:38 > 0:08:43their relationship, it is melancholic, it is sad and
0:08:43 > 0:08:47nostalgic. It is often laughed out loud funny. It will not change the
0:08:47 > 0:08:52world. Rather than saying it is the sequel, it is more of a footnote,
0:08:52 > 0:08:57but a rather charming footnote, largely because the three central
0:08:57 > 0:09:01performances carried through. You were enjoying that clip. It is a
0:09:01 > 0:09:07film that stands on its own. Oddly enough, the problem becomes if you
0:09:07 > 0:09:16try and put it next to others and it is a different kettle of fish. It is
0:09:16 > 0:09:25a kinder not sequel to the movie.Is that clear? I think so.And the best
0:09:25 > 0:09:32DVD? Coco came out last week and I love Free Billboards. It is great
0:09:32 > 0:09:39that Pixar animation is finally back at the top of its game. Some really
0:09:39 > 0:09:44complicated subjects. Life, death, grief, loss, memory, but it does it
0:09:44 > 0:09:47in a way that children and adults alike can watch it. It looks
0:09:47 > 0:09:55beautiful. If you see it and you love it, get The Book Of Life on
0:09:55 > 0:10:02DVD. It is also a very good movie. And DVD. I felt ignorant when I read
0:10:02 > 0:10:07lots about this because of your forthcoming recommendation, and it
0:10:07 > 0:10:13sounds fascinating. I felt bad I did not know very much about it.In
0:10:13 > 0:10:18Between is a story about three women living in Tel Aviv, each fighting
0:10:18 > 0:10:23their own personal battle for freedom against political, religious
0:10:23 > 0:10:27and social repression. It is beautifully observed, fantastic
0:10:27 > 0:10:32performances, really well written. It deals with difficult subject
0:10:32 > 0:10:36matter, often very light-hearted and funny. It has a beautifully
0:10:36 > 0:10:44enigmatic ending and the best way of describing it is you have seen The
0:10:44 > 0:10:48Graduate? At the end is that incredible sense of ambiguity, I
0:10:48 > 0:10:55think has that. It is really well worth seeing. It did not get a huge
0:10:55 > 0:10:59theatrical release, but I have yet to meet anyone who has seen it who
0:10:59 > 0:11:07has not loved it.Thank you very much, Mark. An interesting week. We
0:11:07 > 0:11:12are now creeping up towards awards season as well. Lots to talk about
0:11:12 > 0:11:13in the coming weeks.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Lots to talk about in the coming weeks.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17A quick reminder before we go that you'll find more film news
0:11:17 > 0:11:20and reviews from across the BBC online at bbc.co.uk/mark kermode.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24And you can find all our previous programmes on the bbc iplayer.
0:11:24 > 0:11:30That's it for this week though.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Enjoy your cinema going. See you next time, goodbye.