Independence Day: Resurgence, Raman Raghav 2.0, Elvis & Nixon The Film Review

Hello, and welcome to The Film Review. Here he is Mark Kermode. . A

mixed bag. Independence Day Resurgence. Raman Raghav 2.0, an

Indian noir. And Elvis Nixon. Independence Day. One review I read

said it shows no sign of intelligence life. -- intelligent.

I love that the original. It was funny and witty. The story is, Will

Smith was in the original, it was too expensive to get him back, he

said he wanted millions of dollars, they said no, so we do have

returning characters, including the aliens, who are bigger than before.

Age at a make several times. Let's have a look. --A joke they make.

EPIC MUSIC. Oh! Oh my god. What goes up, must come down. Don't worry.

Controlled dive. EPIC MUSIC. Oh! Watch out for the landmarks.

Straight through Tower Bridge. They love the landmarks. Jeff Goldblum is

the best thing in the film and I wanted him to be in it more. Because

it has so many storylines there is not enough Jeff Goldblum. The other

problem is you get the feeling you have seen all of this before. And

not just in Independence Day. The destruction of landmarks is in so

many movies. You get it in Star Wars. A theme about people having a

communal memory or hallucination that those a lot to Close

Encounters. And I was thinking of Godzilla as well. -- owes a lot to.

When you are thinking of how many films it reminds you of, that is bad

news. The script is all over the place and makes no sense. The

previous one had some logic and this doesn't. But it isn't without some

popcorn spectacle theme. There is one moment when they say the aliens

will land and it will go in the ocean. And someone said, which part

of it, all of it! At it felt perfunctory. -- but. No one was

screaming out for it. If you love the original as much as I do,

nothing will make you think they are two equal parts. This isn't

Godfather II. It is the absolute definition of hmm, all right, not

great. A classic sequel. OK. Raman Raghav 2.0. This is a noir Turella

from a respected director in Mumbai. -- thriller. It is inspired from a

serial killer in the 1960s. But it is not about that killer, it is

about another, and a drug snorting corrupt pop. This is a familiar

idea. -- cop. Two sides of the same coin. We have seen it many times.

Especially in Martin Scorsese's films. What we have is a terrific

performance by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the killer. It seems to be all

style, but one of the most impressive things about it if it is

quiet gruelling and tough, but most of the violence happens offscreen.

It is interesting that things happening away from the camera can

be more interesting than what isn't. And we had Frost Nixon, this is

Elvis Nixon. Slightly different. This is based on the true story. But

I think that is always the giveaway. They made up a bunch of stuff.

Elvis, for reasons that are compensated, got on a plane and went

to DC where he turns up at the White House saying, I want to meet the

president, it is a matter of national importance. Richard Nixon

was the president and didn't know what to do about it but his aide

said you should meet him, he is important. And there was a meeting

which was initially meant to be secret but later on the photograph

of them shaking hands became iconic. There was no taping at that point.

This is pre-Watergate. Anyway, the story is, they thought, let's have

fun with it. Put them in The Oval Office. Michael Shannon and Kevin

Spacey enjoying themselves. Here is a clip. One of the girls outside

reminds me of someone. How many square feet is Graceland? 10,000? A

fine size for a home. Of course, the White House here is 55,000 feet

something like that. I made a few additions. It might be more than

that. I don't think it is the size of a man's home that defines him.

Mnm's are my favourite. Mine as well. So, how can I help you? The

answer is, he wants to become a thread all agent at large. He wants

to collect a Federal badge. Collected in. -- Federal agent. It

gets a lot right. But Michael Shannon doesn't have the vocal heft

for elders of that period but he does have the hand gestures. I am

and Elvis fan and I like his performance. When you consider how

bizarre the real-life meeting was, it is odd that they thought they

needed to embellish and have a karate demonstration. Eldest did

those but it is weird to insert it. For myself, I think it would be

better if it was closer but they decided to do it broadly

comedically. There are a few touches that showed genuine affection

towards Elvis, at least. All the time I was watching it, I thought,

it was fine, but there is a much were the story behind this which is

just the straight, down the line meeting between the two. For me, the

weird thing was the fact that Richard Nixon was three times during

the meeting recorded as having said it was important he retained his

credibility. He was almost prophetically obsessed with

retaining his credibility. And Elvis said he had laid Vegas and said it

was a tough gig. -- played. And Nixon said he did. He knew. But they

played off each other well. It is fanciful fluff. What is the best

film out? Tale of Tales. A film with sea beasts and dragons and Toby

Jones becoming obsessed by a giant flea. An adult fairytale. I thought

it was good fun. I have now seen this film three times since it

opened and it just gets better. Have you got plans to see it again? No,

that is enough. And I love that I am Belfast. A wonderful filmmaker. A

film about a woman who claims to be Belfast, the embodiment of the city.

She takes us on a tour of its history and its location is. It is

lovely. This is not so much like a documentary as a pull and, a visual

bomb about the place he grew up. -- poem. It has a magical eye for what

appears to be completely insignificant and irrelevant detail

but he will find something truly interesting about it. No one else

makes movies like it. I think it is a fine piece of work. It is out on

DVD now. Not enough people saw it in the cinema. It sounds lovely. Check

it out. Many thanks, as ever. And a quick reminder, you will find more

film reviews on our website. That is it for me is weak. Thank you so much

for watching. Goodbye. -- for me this week.

It's a slightly fresher feel to the weather this weekend,

as the high humidity moves away, which fuelled the thunderstorms over