Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Your Name, Indignation The Film Review

for Murray who has notched up another win at the ATP world tour

finals. Now on BBC News 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.

The man with the magic touch. I take it that is a reference to the fact

that we have Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them coming out. We

also have a fantastic animation from Japan, Your Name, and Indignation, a

film based on a book by Philip Roth. Let's start with Fantastic Beasts

and Where To Find Them. Based on the book by JK Rowling. It comes from

the Harry Potter stories to start with. The protagonists in this are

older. They are no longer at school. It is in this steampunk 1920s New

York. Eddie Redmayne's character is a magic zoologist. He brings with

him a suitcase when he arrives in New York which has beast in it. Due

to a mix-up the Beast get out. He then needs to help round them up

because this is happening at exactly the same time a group of people are

making lots of conversations about witchcraft in New York. So he has to

go to the magical underworld of New York. This is a clip. You are the

guy with the case full of monsters? You tell him, Fudge. I was hoping

you could tell me if there had been any sightings, that sort of thing.

You have a pretty big price on your head. Why should I help you instead

of turning you in? I take it I will have to make it worth your while.

Let's consider it a cover charge. Most offer more than that. Wait a

minute... That's a boat truckle, right? No. Come on, they pick locks,

don't they? You are not having him. Well, good luck getting back alive,

Mr scavenger. It sounds totally endangering. -- engaging. Certain

elements are flimsy. Sometimes we get into big, spectacular set pieces

which really feel like set pieces. However, when we are in that New

York which is on a set, I think it is a really engaging world. I like

the design of it. Some of the special effects are extraordinary.

Some of the visual effects at the beginning where we see the beast

scampering around, it is really effective. And because it is Harry

Potter you can get the pick of the crop as far as actors are concerned.

You have Samantha Morton, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, it is a

really, really great cast with good performances. What I like about it

is it's not quite in the same world is Harry Potter although it feels

like it is part of that universe. Its characters are engaging. It is

the small details, the design details, that is the stuff that

appeals. The stuff that works less well is the more spectacular stuff,

the stuff which feels like set pieces. But when we get to a period

where we want families to see movies together, come Christmas time, I

think it'll be a big success. It certainly leaves you with a smile on

your face. Look out for the guy with the pointy ears, he could run for

the presidency, who knows what might happen.

Your Name? I loved this. Huge hit in Japan already. It is an animation by

Makoto Shinkai. It is about a boy who lives in Tokyo and a girl who

lives in a remote mountaintop town. She longs to be a boy in Tokyo and

one day she wakes up and finds out her dream has come true. They body

swap. They swapped backwards and forwards, learning about each

other's lives, learning about each other, but never meeting or

connecting. Not knowing each other's names. This is much more of the

young adult story. But it is brilliantly done. The animation is

extraordinary, the photorealism, the stuff in Tokyo, which contrasts with

the mountaintop setting views. It has this fantastic JPop soundtrack.

It has depth. It is about men and women and town and country and

ancient and modern and magic and science. But it never feels like it

is doing anything that is hard work. It is enjoyable. It rips along.

Ravishing to look at. Terrifically good fun. I would advise anybody to

go and check it out. It is an old Aesop fable, isn't it? Town and the

country mouse. There is a 12th century Japanese story, the body

swap story, the gender swap story is something which happens to rout

cinema. But I think this is doing something new. It looked beautiful.

Indignation? Another Philip Roth. Last week we hand American Pastoral.

Logan Lerman is the Jewish New Jersey kid who goes to a university

in Ohio where he feels like a fish out of water. He is put into a dorm

with two the Jewish people and he feels he has been identified as

something but he doesn't want to be part of the Jewish fraternity. --

two other Jewish people. He is called to the dean 's office to ask

what he in. Dates. Dates? Yes, I have. A feud, some, many? -- few.

One. Just one? I object to being interrogated like this. These are my

private affairs. As is my religious life, my social life and how I

conduct it. I've broken no laws. Of course nobody injury or harm. And

have no way my actions impinged on anybody's rights. If anybody's

rights have been impinged on, they are mine. Sit down and explain

yourself. I also object having to attend chapel 40 times before I

graduate. I don't see how the college has the right to force me to

listen to a clergyman, of whatever faith, even once. That is a great

scene. Quite long. However, the rest of the movie struggles to keep up.

The movie feels inert. Philip Roth returns to the same themes of

anxiety, anxiety about sex, anxiety about women, about identity, about

religion. You get a sense of, OK, we have gone over this. Although the

performances are very good it never feels particularly cinematic.

Although I think it is a solid adaptation. It is clearly made with

great affection. It isn't something which leaps off the screen at you.

Did you feel the same way? I liked some of the performances. I thought

that particular scene was great. His mother and girlfriend were great.

And the script is also in bits interesting. But the title

Indignation sums it up, slightly grumpy but not really angry. That's

right. Slightly put out. Uncomfortable. Miffed. Solid but

nothing to write home about. Arrival? Amy Adams stars in the

science-fiction film. The story by Ted Chiang. Whatever one thinks

about the events happening in the world a film like Arrival will

suggest that perhaps we can take a positive look at everything.

Honestly, it is one of those films you will feel better after seeing,

Arrival. Your DVD choice is Napoleon. Fresh out of 1927. This is

the BFI Blu-ray release. It is five and a bit hours. It is a restoration

overseen by Kevin Brownlow. They've taken elements from a number of

different sources. It is a cleaned up digital copy which they have

tinted digitally. It is pretty much the definitive version. It is an

extraordinary piece of work. This is the way to see it. I think the BFI

have worked on this for decades, something like five decades. Kevin

Brown has been in love with this movie for as long as anyone can

remember. It is lovely to see a film given such care and attention,

presented to the public, and all these years later it is as urgent

and as fresh and as vibrant as it always was. And it is the complete

works. And if you have not been to the BFI before, it is near Waterloo.

Very good. I am working on it. People will want to watch this at

home, if they don't have five hours to go out for it. I'm fascinated by

this labour of love. Entire organisations have spent decades

doing it. It has been genuinely put together with the kind of care and

attention you want by enthusiast who wants you to see this film in the

best possible condition. That's what organisations like the BFI are for.

I would agree with you wholeheartedly. Absolutely. On that

happy note. A quick reminder before we go that

you'll find more film news and reviews from across the BBC

online at bbc.co.uk/markkermode, plus catch up with our latest

programmes on the BBC iplayer. That is it for this week. Enjoy the

movies. Goodbye. It has been another cold day with

blustery showers coming into the North and west in particular. Some

showers have been falling as sleet and snow. Here