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all the weekend's football, but
we'll be focusing on the rugby, at | 0:00:00 | 0:00:02 | |
half past six on BBC news. Now, it
is time for The Film Review. | 0:00:02 | 0:00:16 | |
Hello and welcome to
The Film Review on BBC News. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:23 | |
To take us through this week's
cinema releases is Mark Kermode. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:25 | |
So Mark, what do we have this week? | 0:00:25 | 0:00:30 | |
We had a new version of journeys
end. Helen Mirren in Winchester, the | 0:00:30 | 0:00:39 | |
ghost story chiller. And an
Oscar-nominated Denzel Washington in | 0:00:39 | 0:00:43 | |
Roman J Israel, Esq.
Journeys end, is it a tough watch? | 0:00:43 | 0:00:52 | |
I was very impressed by it, it is
directed by a man whose previous | 0:00:52 | 0:01:00 | |
film was about World War II. This is
set in the trenches of World War I, | 0:01:00 | 0:01:05 | |
a terrific ensemble cast, Toby
Jones, Paul Bettany... And | 0:01:05 | 0:01:11 | |
essentially what the film does is
capture the sort of day-to-day | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
squalor and struggle and comradeship
of people in those trenches in the | 0:01:14 | 0:01:18 | |
middle of that terrible war. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:21 | |
My darling Joan. When you read this,
I don't imagine that for one moment | 0:01:31 | 0:01:37 | |
you will feel bitter and resentful.
But you will find comfort in the | 0:01:37 | 0:01:44 | |
thought that I went down fighting
for my country. You are too | 0:01:44 | 0:01:49 | |
clear-headed for that, my darling.
There is a job to be done. It ought | 0:01:49 | 0:01:57 | |
never to have arisen, but that is
not the point. I have had so very | 0:01:57 | 0:02:02 | |
much out of life. And all these
youngsters do not realise how | 0:02:02 | 0:02:07 | |
unlucky they are. So new are they to
their very existence. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:16 | |
Paul Bettany, capturing the
understated power of the drama. This | 0:02:21 | 0:02:25 | |
is a story that everyone knows, but
I think they bring something new to | 0:02:25 | 0:02:30 | |
it. There is a palpable sense of
terror, as -- the fact that we are | 0:02:30 | 0:02:37 | |
waiting for a German attack, it
hangs heavy over the drama. I think | 0:02:37 | 0:02:42 | |
the director cranks up the tension,
while all the time reminding us that | 0:02:42 | 0:02:46 | |
this is to do with the characters,
their day-to-day life, that strange | 0:02:46 | 0:02:50 | |
mixture of on the one hand grinding
boredom and on the other hand | 0:02:50 | 0:02:55 | |
imminent terror balanced very
nicely. You get a raw sense of being | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
there in that trench environment. I
think what this film manages to do | 0:02:58 | 0:03:02 | |
is take a classic text and make it
completely relevant, it is very | 0:03:02 | 0:03:06 | |
cinematic. The performances are
terrific, there are laughs as well, | 0:03:06 | 0:03:15 | |
and there is real vibrancy in it.
But I find it very moving, very | 0:03:15 | 0:03:19 | |
powerful, very harrowing, and a very
sort of potent reminder of just what | 0:03:19 | 0:03:23 | |
was at stake in what was sacrificed.
I thought it was really good, it was | 0:03:23 | 0:03:28 | |
a really good adaptation. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:36 | |
You are a horror film fan, argue?
Winchester is not going to scare | 0:03:36 | 0:03:42 | |
you. This is inspired by the true
story of Sarah Winchester, the | 0:03:42 | 0:03:46 | |
widowed heiress of the Winchester
rifle fortune. Some people said she | 0:03:46 | 0:03:50 | |
was haunted by the spirits that have
been killed -- spirits of the people | 0:03:50 | 0:03:55 | |
killed by the firearms. Is she
crazy, is she haunted, is it all in | 0:03:55 | 0:04:01 | |
her mind? This sounds like a great
set up, no, all that ambiguity goes | 0:04:01 | 0:04:09 | |
out in ten seconds. The house goes
bang, there are lots of jump scares, | 0:04:09 | 0:04:13 | |
the movie shout at you... OK, fine,
it is an interesting setup, but once | 0:04:13 | 0:04:20 | |
you are into it, it is like the most
mechanical roller-coaster ride. None | 0:04:20 | 0:04:24 | |
of it is scary. Dame Helen Mirren
does a brilliant job of keeping a | 0:04:24 | 0:04:31 | |
straight face!
Why did she say yes to this? She | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
said it is in the tradition of great
Japanese ghost stories, it is | 0:04:33 | 0:04:40 | |
nothing like that! It is like
Twister. At no point, at any point, | 0:04:40 | 0:04:46 | |
did I feel there was any ambiguity,
any uncertainty, and it was not | 0:04:46 | 0:04:52 | |
scary. You are completely safe with
this. I can't see it! You have sold | 0:04:52 | 0:04:58 | |
it. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:08 | |
Denzel Washington, 30 years after
his first Oscar nomination, he plays | 0:05:11 | 0:05:16 | |
a savant law attorney, very
dedicated to civil rights causes, | 0:05:16 | 0:05:21 | |
but is absolutely terrible with
people. So for most of his career he | 0:05:21 | 0:05:25 | |
has been the person in the backroom,
who does the book work, then the | 0:05:25 | 0:05:29 | |
partner he has been working with
suddenly finds himself in hospital, | 0:05:29 | 0:05:33 | |
and he has to step up and do the
interaction, and he cannot do it. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
Here's a clip. My client is
interested in discussing a deal. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:52 | |
Refresh me. Convenience store
shooting, a man was killed. The | 0:05:52 | 0:05:57 | |
shooter in this case was a fugitive.
My client may know his whereabouts | 0:05:57 | 0:06:05 | |
and might be willing to testify. He
will deliver on that? If you waive | 0:06:05 | 0:06:11 | |
all objections on appeal, and he is
willing to cooperate, we will drop | 0:06:11 | 0:06:16 | |
the assault and kidnapping, and drop
murder 1-2 in voluntary | 0:06:16 | 0:06:20 | |
manslaughter, ten years. It is a
good deal. I'm sorry for taking a | 0:06:20 | 0:06:30 | |
nanosecond of of your rubber-stamp
assembly-line existence... Hello?! | 0:06:30 | 0:06:40 | |
So he can't do any of the
interaction stuff, but he needs | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
money. So he sells out. The
beginning is him accusing himself of | 0:06:43 | 0:06:49 | |
having sold out. It is an uneven
drama, it tries to cram a huge | 0:06:49 | 0:06:54 | |
character arc into a small period of
time. But he is really watchable, | 0:06:54 | 0:06:59 | |
you do believe in his transition
between somebody who is very | 0:06:59 | 0:07:04 | |
idealistic to somebody who is
selling himself out, even if you | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
don't quite believe the drama around
him. It is quite often funny, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:12 | |
sometimes the town is uneven to the
point of not working, and I have to | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
say it really loses its way in the
third act. -- the town is uneven. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:21 | |
And ultimately it is not hang
together, but wouldn't you rather | 0:07:21 | 0:07:26 | |
look at a movie which tries to do
something interesting and doesn't | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
quite pull it off, rather than
something that is quite down the | 0:07:29 | 0:07:33 | |
line? It is held together by his
performance, which is immensely | 0:07:33 | 0:07:38 | |
watchable. And he is so likeable, I
so liked Denzel Washington, but I | 0:07:38 | 0:07:43 | |
guess you want it to be better. Was
it created just as a vehicle for | 0:07:43 | 0:07:47 | |
him? Look, I think it is a film that
is trying to do a very complicated | 0:07:47 | 0:07:54 | |
character arc, in a very compressed
period of time, and it doesn't quite | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
hang together. But it has such a
strong lightning rod performance at | 0:07:57 | 0:08:03 | |
the end of it, that you can't
forgive it for the things that are | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
wrong with it.
Phantom Thread. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:14 | |
This is the new Paul Thomas
Anderson. I think it is his best | 0:08:14 | 0:08:19 | |
film since Punch Drunk Love. Daniel
Day-Lewis is obsessed with rituals, | 0:08:19 | 0:08:29 | |
everything in his life has to be one
way... Lesley Manville is his | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
sister, and some -- suddenly his
life falls apart. He falls in love | 0:08:33 | 0:08:39 | |
with a woman. Firstly it has a
brilliant score by Jonny Greenwood | 0:08:39 | 0:08:44 | |
who has been Oscar-nominated. In the
music is wonderful. I do think | 0:08:44 | 0:08:51 | |
Lesley Manville is going to win for
Best supporting actress. I have no | 0:08:51 | 0:08:56 | |
seen this four time, and every time
I see it it looks like it is a | 0:08:56 | 0:09:01 | |
different film. -- I have now seen.
The more I watch it, the more it | 0:09:01 | 0:09:08 | |
becomes a fairy tale, like a Powell
and Pressburger film. But it is also | 0:09:08 | 0:09:13 | |
about a woman entering a film -- a
world that is like Bluebeard. The | 0:09:13 | 0:09:20 | |
art ventures out into the forest,
strange mushrooms that have | 0:09:20 | 0:09:27 | |
extraordinary powers... -- the art
ventures. O'Lynn it is odd! It is | 0:09:27 | 0:09:33 | |
beautifully made.
-- Wright it is beautifully made. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:39 | |
That is such a backhanded
compliment! | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
I loved the first half hour so much,
and there is such attention to | 0:09:42 | 0:09:46 | |
detail, with the music and the
costumes, but the relationship | 0:09:46 | 0:09:49 | |
between the two of them just got
weirder and weirder. But it is a | 0:09:49 | 0:09:54 | |
fairy tale, it is a mythical
allegory. It is a horror! What it | 0:09:54 | 0:10:01 | |
really is, it is a ghost story about
him being obsessed with the ghost of | 0:10:01 | 0:10:05 | |
his mother. If you want a ghost
story, forget about Winchester, go | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
and see this.
Very quick thought about DVD, I'm | 0:10:09 | 0:10:14 | |
curious as to whether, should Blade
Runner even be watched on DVD, isn't | 0:10:14 | 0:10:19 | |
it made for the big screen? I saw it
first on a huge IMAX screen. Here's | 0:10:19 | 0:10:26 | |
the good news, it does stand up,
because big -- beyond the | 0:10:26 | 0:10:32 | |
extraordinary visuals, it is a film
that has substance. It is about | 0:10:32 | 0:10:36 | |
something, it is about what
artificial intelligence is and what | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
it means to have a soul not have a
soul. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:43 | |
It is a very different experience on
home viewing, but even if you saw it | 0:10:43 | 0:10:49 | |
in the cinema and loved it, it is
going to work again on DVD or | 0:10:49 | 0:10:54 | |
Blu-ray. And though it is really
divisive for some people, but I | 0:10:54 | 0:10:58 | |
think it is great.
Mark, thank you very much. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:04 | |
A quick reminder before we go that
you'll find more film news | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
and reviews from across the BBC
online at bbc.co.uk/mark kermode. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
And you can find all our previous
programmes on the BBC iPlayer. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:19 | |
I think it is the week | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 |