The Beguiled, Cars 3, War for the Planet of the Apes The Film Review

second Test match tween England and South Africa -- we also have news.

We also have details about the British Grand Prix, but now it is

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. We have The Beguiled, which is Sofia

Coppola's remake of the Don Siegel film from 1971. We have Cars 3, the

animated sequel, more cars. And War For The Planet Of The Apes, the

ongoing saga continues. Sofia Coppola. Yes, the point is,

this is based on a novel by Thomas Cullinan that was filmed before by

Don Siegel in 1971, a famous adaptation. Cult movie. In the Civil

War a wounded soldier is found in the woods by a young girl from a

place for young ladies, and he is brought back, he is very badly

wounded. And his presence immediately starts to cause a

kerfuffle, not only because he is an enemy soldier, but also because he

is a man. He is a clip. -- here. You know you're not

supposed to go that far. Quick, we need to move

him to the porch. So what happens, because of what she

calls Christian charity they bring him into the house. They look after

him and he gets better and immediately he starts to get into

everyone's confidences and he is flirting and he sees what each

character wants and needs. The film appears to be one kind of film, but

who is the beguiled, that's the question. Sofia Coppola said when

she saw the original, she wanted to tell the story from the point of

view of the women's characters, and you could say the film and the novel

which have multiple narrators voices aren't necessarily just on females

-- just from the male character point of view. But this changes the

way in which the dynamic between their relationships works and is

beautifully photographed but almost like a fairy tale. It is very

serial, it is a beautiful looking film. That fairy tale quality is

partly deliberate but also what it does, this is set in the Civil War

but it might as well not become the Civil War is very distant. In the

Don Siegel version we have shots of the battlefield and flashbacks but

none of that here, it is just in the distance. In the novel and the Don

Siegel version there is a character who has been written out of this,

Sofia Coppola said because she did not want to ever lies the subject

and also because that is not what the story is about -- trivialise for

top I am fond of the Don Siegel version, it is expectation with some

very wall seems, but I like it. This version takes it in a given

direction, a very different tone. It is a valid interpretation --

different tone. Is it worth revisiting? It is worth it because

it is such a different film, and I actually prefer the Don Siegel

version but I'm happy... The two versions can coexist because they

are such different films, and personally, I grew up loving 70s

exploitation cinema and I will always have a fondness for the

original, but the performances are very good, Nicole Kidman is very

nuanced and Colin Farrell is terrific. He has the sly look in his

eye, you think he's in control but maybe he isn't. I would encourage

people to see this but also the Don Siegel version which is still a very

fine film. Your next choice could not be more

different. The problem is, it is very samey, it is Cars 3, and you

know Cars and Cars 2, there are some cars on it. I remember seeing the

first one, I remember loving the designs, I like the landscapes, but

the problem here, the narrative, we have been around this track before,

it feels very threadbare. The central character Lightning McQueen

has got to go back to school to learn about new ways of winning a

race in the process, is trainer has got to learn about being more than a

trainer. There are individual set pieces which are good and the

animation is terrific, and it comes with a short film at the beginning,

and the little short film is really sweet and smart, about bullying and

how bullying comes from being hurt yourself and it is really short and

compact and everything that is smart about that little short film is what

is wrong with Cars. Overall it feels very baggy. Is it about selling

merchandise? If we start going down that road, we can wipe out most

mainstream cinema, to be honest. It is not fair to say that about this

film, but as every mainstream franchise has got that. I wouldn't

mind that if the film felt more original, but it felt like I had

seen that before. Right now we have got War For The

Planet Of The Apes. I'm in the dark hair. -- here. The original series

of the planet of the ex was great, forget about the Tim Burton remake,

but now we have got this with performance caption -- the original

series of the Planet Of The Apes. He is a clip.

That more soldiers from the North would be joining you here.

What I like about this, the performance capture work is so

great. Andy Serkis specialises in this, he is remarkable. His

relationship with performance capture goes back to Lord of the

rings and working with Peter Jackson and King Kong and now this. What is

extraordinary, this evolution has happened in a fairly short period of

time, I remember watching the Tim Burton Planet Of The Apes and

thought they had developed a prosthetic to allow one of their

lips to move, but now they are mapped onto a performance. I think

the story is good, very dark, and there is a lot of Apocalypse now in

there, which there also was in skull Island, but I think the way of the

performance capture, you think, this is astonishing. I'm actually

watching these characters, and I'm not actually concentrating on how

well rendered they are. I think Andy Serkis's work is brilliant, and

there has been talk about whether he will get an Oscar-nominated and I

think it is long overdue. What I like about this, as someone who is a

die-hard Planet Of The Apes fan, I have always said everything I have

learned about politics I learned from Planet Of The Apes and I'm not

joking. Now I do have to watch it. This has taken the series and then

it is dramatic. The synthesis of performance and technology is really

really well captured in this film. Clever. Interesting for the what is

best out? It Comes At Night, I still think is terrific, some people think

this might be a slam bang horror movie, but it is not that, and I

asked you to go and see this, but you didn't? I have had a busy week.

You have got to go and see this, it is a creepy film, it is a really

creepy film, family holed up in this house in the woods and there is

something out there. I really like it and I think you will admire it.

I'm a bit chicken about that kind of think about I am really desperate to

see your DVD. This is a great film, The Levelling, one of the best debut

films I've seen in a long time, set in the Somerset levels after the

flood. There is a estranged father and daughter, on the farm but he

owns, that is failing, they are trying to find their relationship

again, it is a very tactile film, you can feel the earth and the

history, and all of that stuff bubbling up from the ground. I

thought it was terrific, great soundtrack, beautiful use of

incidental music. Her debut feature film? She was named as a rising star

many years ago, all these newspapers saying this, and it took a long time

to get this made, but boy was it worth it. If you can make a film

that good, take as long as you want. Excellent. Mark, as ever, thanks for

joining us. 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 iplayer. That is it for this week. Enjoy your

cinema going. Goodbye. Your weekend weather is coming up,

and we start with a bit of Friday, and for many of us a