Logan, Viceroy's House and Certain Women 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.

A very mixed bag, we have Logan, a superhero movie that is not really a

superhero movie. Viceroy's House, a handsome period drama from Gurinder

Chadha. And Certain Women, the latest low-key offering from Kelly

Reichardt. So Wolverine, back with us. In a way, that missiles it, so

this is basically a superhero movie that isn't about superheroes, it is

about ageing and arthritis and growing old. Wow, I am already

surprised! It is an X-Men movie for people who prefer westerns to comic

book adaptations. Dead in a not too distant future in which the Hugh

Jackman character, will bring, is making a living as a limo driver. He

is looking wretched, bloodshot eyes, and he is looking at their Patrick

Stewart's Charles Xavier, who has a degenerative brain disease in the

most dangerous brain in the world. They are living off the grid, trying

to keep themselves to themselves, or at least that is what they are

trying to do. Hey, Carl, it looks

like Mr Munson hired some muscle. Friend with a big mouth.

I hear that a lot. I'm going to count to three, and

you're going to start walking away. One.

I have a lawyer now. You know the drill,

get the hell out of here. Now, the interesting thing about the

film is, often with the superhero comic book franchise is, you know

exactly where you are. This is such a different beast, the plot involves

a young girl who Logan Byndom is of having to take care of, he is forced

to do so by circumstances. -- finds himself. The real themes of violence

and redemption, there is a big Western theme, it refers again and

again to Shane, Clint Eastwood's And forgiven. There is a line that

recurs, there is no living with the killing. Some of the violence does

involve a young child, it is bloody and brutal and properly shocking.

Like Deadpool, this is a 15 certificate, it is not for kids. But

unlike Deadpool, it is not played for laughs, it is a film about what

happens when you get old, when you are trying to make sense of your

life, when you are trying to find some kind of redemption in a world

which is fundamentally broken. As I said, when you talk about those

things, the Western theme keeps coming back. There is violence,

quite surprisingly and is. And that is the bit that puts me off. But it

has context and meaning, and it has pain, it doesn't just feel exciting,

it feels like there is genuine pain. When you think that we have seen so

many of these movies in which entire cities are merrily wiped out and you

don't feel anything at all, in this you do. No-one was more surprised

than me, it is directed by James Mangold, obviously, a really fine

piece of work that stands on its own, and you don't have to have seen

all loved the other films, you should give it a. OK. The next one I

want to like, because I really like company macro's work. And I do like

it, it is a handsome period drama which blends history and personal

drama. You have Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson as Lord and Lady

Mountbatten. The story is told through the prism of the people who

are working in the household, so whilst upstairs you have dignitaries

and politicians arguing about the fate of nations, downstairs you have

all these different characters whose fates seem to reflect those of the

larger end Byron. There is a Romeo and Juliet romance at the heart,

which was a false move, it never really gelled for me. It looks like

Gurinder Chadha wanted to make a popular, mainstream drama, that

would work for a multiplex audience, that would be entertaining, and I

think she has done that. I know that some people have complained that the

film plays to the gallery, it is so simple, broad strokes characters,

but I think that she has understood what the audience needs, and she has

managed to delay complicated story in a way which is accessible.

Obviously, it is a particular take on that story, but I was

surprisingly charmed, because it is a movie that has that right cheeky

wit, which are a lot of the stuff does, even among these complex

historical events which are often so brutal. Certain Women, I don't know

much about it, quite a cast. It is great, Kelly Reichardt, this is a

triptych of tales by Maile Meloy, and they are put together in one

film, and the stories intertwine, but only slightly. In one of them,

Laura Dern is a lawyer who has a client who has an old Casey keeps

coming back to, cannot move on from it. Michelle Williams is attempting

to build a dream house while her life and marriage is falling apart.

In the third, Kristen Stewart and Lily Gladstone are a teacher and a

rancher who strike up an unlikely friendship, here is a clip.

I took this job before I finished law school. I wanted any job,

family, loans coming through. I guess I was thinking about Belgrave,

which is a lot closer. So stupid. Then I got a real job. And they are

letting me do this because they think it is funny. It takes me four

hours to get here, it is going to take the four hours to get back. I

have to work in the morning. You can tell from that, the tone of

the film seems to be, remember that famous quote about Waiting For

Godot? Nothing happens twice? In this film, nothing happens three

times, but an awful lot is happening when nothing is happening. It is the

looks which are saying more than the dialogue, and what I like about

this, Kelly Reichardt was a film-maker who works on mood, long

shots, you believe in these characters absolutely, and the story

is not evident immediately, you have to give its time, let it settle. It

is a film I want to see again. The performances are fantastically

naturalistic, you do believe in the characters, sometimes to the point

where you think, I am going to stay with them for a while, even though I

am not sure whether narrative thread is going. Over the course of the

drama, it does have a cumulative affect, but so much of it is to do

with the tone of the atmosphere, you know, the way in which people look

at each other, the environment in which they find themselves, the

isolation, the way in which they do or do not relate to the other

characters around them and the landscape. That is a very hard sell,

you are not going to put that on a movie poster, the way you may or may

not relate to the people and the landscape around you! But it is a

film that you have to meet halfway, but she is a superb director, great

performances. It sounds intriguing to me, that put it on my list, for

sure. And can there be any doubt about film of the week? Moonlight is

the best thing in cinemas at the moment, the best thing I have seen

in a very long time. It won the best picture Oscar, and when was the last

time that the best film of the actually won the Oscar for best film

of the year? Finally it happens! It is so brilliant that it did, Barry

Jenkins has done a brilliant job, a coming-of-age story, a triptych,

three periods in the same character's life, played by three

different actors. It is about a tough life, but it has got immense

beauty, wonderful soundtrack, it looks fabulous, you really believe

in the characters, it is tactile, sensuous and strange and

adventurous. And everything that you want a movie to be. Everything about

it says, this is great, no way this will win big at the awards, and it

did, and it is such a brilliant thing, I am so pleased for Barry

Jenkins. He is still a very young director, and you don't realise

that, in movie terms, it was made on a berry small budget. Absolutely

tiny, and it is one of those demonstrations that it is not about

your resources, it is about passion, commitment and talent. This is a

low-budget movie, when you compare what it is up against, and it is

really wonderful. You talk about passion and it meant, that takes us

to the DVD. I, Daniel Blake, it was overlooked by the Academy, and it is

a great shame that it was, unbelievably powerful, directed by

Ken Loach, great performances, and the story which basically has a

message, the message being that bureaucracy can be used as a tool of

oppression. That doesn't sound like it will make for great drama, but it

does, it is about characters that you like and care about, and it has

got a foodbank sequence that is one of the most perfect pieces of

film-making, understated film-making. The cameras stay a long

way away from the character, they watch the action play out in real

time, and it is so powerful. So moving. It is not just that it has a

message, the way in which tells the story is powerful. As a piece of

film-making, it is really brilliant. I, Daniel Blake is out on DVD if you

don't want to go to the cinema, stay at home and watch and possibly sob!

It is a good week in all those varieties.

A quick reminder before we go that you'll find more film news

and reviews from across the BBC online at bbc.co.uk/film.

And you can find all our previous programmes on the BBC iPlayer.

Good evening. We saw a fair bit of cloud and rain through the day, all

working northwards, and this was a picture taken not so long ago by one

of our Weather Watchers in Barnsley, big puddles in the garden, and we

are expecting