Murder on the Orient Express, The Killing of a Sacred Deer and A Bad Moms Christmas The Film Review

FA Cup Sportsday, but now 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.

So Mark, what do we have this week?

So we have Kenneth Branagh's take on

Murder on the Orient Expression.

Killing a sacred deer from Yorgos

Lanthimos.

And the bad mums are back in bad

mums Christmas. It is that time of

year.

It is.

Let's start with Murder

on the Orient Expression. Had just a

bit of publicity, people probably

know it is out.

You would be

hard-pressed to avoid it. It has

been on the big screen and small

screen before, there was an early

70s version,ings so this is the new

version directed by Kenneth Branagh

who stars at Hercule Poirot with the

most unbelievable twin layers

moustache. The moustache should get

a billing of its own. He is

travelling from Istanbul to call

lay, on the train. He has to get

somewhere but once he gets on,

something is going to happen, there

is a virtual Cluedo board of famous

people. So we have Derek jack by,

Will Liberal Democrat Defoe, Dame

Judi Dench, Michelle Pfeiffer and

Johnny Depp as a gangster. Something

is going to happen. Here is a clip.

Well, hello.

Eye linger any longer

I'll have to charge rent.

I'll pay.

Have another drink.

Are you insulted?

Disappointed.

So men have a good look. All they

have to do is keep their mouth shut

and they can take home any prize

they want. Still the mouth opens.

Hmmm.

I don't know why I am laughing. I

don't think I am meant to.

You are.

There is lot of scenery chewing.

There are scenes of Hercule Poirot,

eating chocolate cake, enjoying it

and so have the cast. They are

sinking their teeth into the

scenery. A murder is committed.

Everyone is a suspect. Everyone has

secrets and everyone has to be

interrogated. What I like about

this, and I did like it, is firstly

it is old fashioned entertainment. I

remember seeing the 74 version and

with this, I knew the story, I know

some people won't, if you don't you

are in for a treat because it is a

real Swiss watch kind of constructed

mechanism. But the whole thing takes

place on the train, and it is shot

in 65mm. The camera sashays up and

down the train, outside and inside.

You get this wonderful overhead

shot, there is a sequence in which

we discover the victim's body. It is

like they have gone to, every

possible end to make the most

visually of this confined space.

Some of the exterior shots look like

The Polar Express. What What I liked

about it was the cast, they all get

what kind of movie they are in. They

are playing ripe character, it is

thumbnail sketches. Branagh is

enjoying himself enormously. He

likes the character of Hercule

Poirot. Hercule Poirot is a

perfectionist, he is a bit

obsessive, he keeps trying to

straighten people's ties, he says I

see the world as it should be and I

can't relax if something is out of

kilter. You have to go into this

thinking it is an Agatha Christie,

there is...

Does it need to be

remade? It looks beautiful but I

don't know... Does that matter?

I

thought it was big screen

entertainment, like a variety show,

the train becomes a stage, we have

famous stars come on, do their bit,

I really enjoyed it. I went in

feeling trepidatious, smiled all the

way through and despite the fact I

know the plot, I thought its

revelations were handled well. I

know some critics have been sniffy

about it. It's a solid piece of old

fashioned entertain. It looked good.

It looks really good, that is not a

little thing.

OK. OK. The Killing of

a Sacred Deer. I mean, I have seen

the trailer so many times and I am

terrified by that. That really look

good but terrifying.

Yorgos

Lanthimos, he has worked in black

comedy before, this is something

more disturb, Colin Farrell is a

heart surgeon, he has a perfect

life. He has a glamorous house and

two lovely children. He has a

strange relationship with a teenager

called Martin who turns up at work.

At first he seems to be innocent but

then he starts to look like a young

Norman Bates. There is a hint of We

Need To Talk About Kevin the story

is becoming a weirdly surreal

revenge drama. You start laughing

awe you would, then it starts moving

into the territory of The Shining

there are cameras creeping through

corridor, we look to some extent

towards a film like Funny Games

which is painful to watch. The thing

I like about it and Yorgos Lanthimos

would like, I spent the film not

knowing where it was going. Yes, it

is a horror movie on one level, on

one level it is Saw for the up

market, art house crowd. On another

level it's a strange distance black

comedy. You never quite relax into

it. I felt very uneasy and I have

thought a lot about it since I saw

it.

Is there going to be a

recommendation for Bad mums

Christmas

Three women decide to

rebel against the tyranny of being a

super mum with the help of swearing

and alcohol. Along comes Christmas,

this time they rebel against the

tyranny of the most stressful time

of the year. Here is a clip.

Manufacture

I am like a giant stress

ball from November to New Year, I

just want to enjoy Christmas again.

Yeah.

Let's do it.

What?

Guy, what

is wrong with us? Have we learned

nothing? We are mothers. If things

are not going our way, what do we

do?

We hide in the bathroom?

No, we

don't do that. No, we stand up, and

we fight back.

Yes.

So if we want to

do Christmas our way this year, then

weir going to do Christmas our way.

I laughed during that clip. Clip.

When I saw the first one, I went

along, low expectations and I

enjoyed it. In the case of this same

thing, I went along thinking I

enjoyed the first one and it was

nothing like as funny, it is not

because this time the bad mums are

having to deal with their own bad

mums so it is like three separate

story, that said I counted how many

times I laughed and I laughed seven

times. I have a six laugh rule. If

you laugh six times it is officially

a comedy, and yes it is all over the

players it doesn't make sense, it

doesn't have anything like the

simplicity of the first one, but I

kind of laughed. I liked the

character, it is very very much a

retread of the only thing, once

again the solution involves alcohol

and swearing but I would be lying if

I said I didn't laugh.

That is

Christmas!

So very, the remake of

Wages of Fear it did really badly 40

years ago and nobody got to see it.

Now it is back and it is one of the

most brutal gruelling visceral

American action movies of the 70s.

It is a extraordinary piece of

working you need to see it on the

big screen. It is coming out on

Blu-ray on Monday. If you get a

chance to see this film projected.

Score by tan yes Rien Dream it is a

brilliant cinema experience.

I was

about to say I am going to borrow

your Blu-ray you you are saying

watch it on the big screen.

You need

to see it on a big screen, this is a

film they worked out, two-years in

the making, and, then it came out

and it came out the same time as

Star Wars, they didn't want a

gruelling visceral thriller, that,

you know, a story that starts at a

point of no hope and goes down hill

from there.

OK. DVD for anyone who

wants to stay in

It Comes At Night

it is a chill her. It is a story in

a near future in which a virus has

attacked mankind. Our family are

hiding in a cab none the woods. It

comes at night, but actually the

danger is from within. It is about

people turning on each other,

distrusting each other, paranoia, it

has a lot to say about the modern

political landscape and it is not a

film that relies on gory shock, it

has an atmosphere of creeping dread.

I have brought a DVD for you, you

are going to like horror films in

the very near future.

You have said

woods, cabins and paranoia, you do

that deliberately.

In a subtle way.

That Stle paranoia I love. Thank

you. It is my early Christmas

present. It is a delight. Thank you.

Try harder next week.

A quick reminder before we go that

you'll find more film news

and reviews from across the BBC

online at bbc.co.uk/mark kermode.

And you can find all our previous

programmes on the bbc iplayer.

Thank you for watching, enjoy your

cinema going. Bye.

Thank you for watching, enjoy your

cinema going. Bye.