:00:00. > :00:19.Now on BBC News, it's time for The Film Review.
:00:20. > :00:22.Hello and welcome to The Film Review on BBC News.
:00:23. > :00:25.To take us through this week's cinema releases is Mark Kermode.
:00:26. > :00:30.So, Mark, what do we have this week?
:00:31. > :00:40.We have The Which, which is possibly a horror story and possibly
:00:41. > :00:48.something else. We have Allegiant, not the most
:00:49. > :00:59.recent clumsy of titles. And Anomalisa, and adult animation.
:01:00. > :01:04.Now, the Which. It is very interesting. It was set in the 17th
:01:05. > :01:08.century in New England. We meet a family at the beginning of the film
:01:09. > :01:12.who are being cast out of the New World community, they seem to have
:01:13. > :01:18.some kind of religious disagreement. They go out to live on the edges of
:01:19. > :01:24.civilisation, just in front of a huge wood. They are very
:01:25. > :01:28.God-fearing, they are convinced that evil and Satan and demons lurk
:01:29. > :01:32.everywhere, particularly in the wood. As the movie progresses, we
:01:33. > :01:34.start to wonder whether the evil is coming from without or from within.
:01:35. > :02:27.Here is a clip. That is scary. Almost nothing
:02:28. > :02:36.happening at all. What follows is like a cross between Arthur Miller's
:02:37. > :02:43.crucible and if it kills brother Graham with a bit more thrawn end.
:02:44. > :02:47.What I like about this is that the director is convinced that the devil
:02:48. > :02:51.is in the detail, getting the historical detail right, you can
:02:52. > :02:55.smell the environment that makes you believe in the kinds of things they
:02:56. > :03:01.believed in. Secondly, it is a film that does show its monsters, to some
:03:02. > :03:11.extent, it always acts you to question whether what you have seen
:03:12. > :03:17.is real or part of the general hallucination. The family starts to
:03:18. > :03:21.turn in on itself and there are accusations and counter accusations.
:03:22. > :03:24.Everyone thinks they can see them everywhere. There is an obsession
:03:25. > :03:30.with some and that brings the very thing it fears upon them. The
:03:31. > :03:40.scariest goat performance I have ever seen. A genuinely scary goat.
:03:41. > :03:44.Is it a Satanic goat or is the idea that it is Satanic within the mind
:03:45. > :03:51.of the family? That is the centre of the film and white it works well.
:03:52. > :03:57.You recommended another film, the barber took. It is very scary and
:03:58. > :04:05.this ends like the same kind of territory. Many people have compared
:04:06. > :04:09.it to that film and others, and I can see where that comparison comes
:04:10. > :04:17.from. For me this is a slightly different take. Other films are
:04:18. > :04:22.internal, but this has its feet in history. They are similar because
:04:23. > :04:30.both films asked the audience what they think is going on. If they are
:04:31. > :04:33.scary, and I thought this was scary, it is because the ideas get under
:04:34. > :04:40.your skin because there are images that stay with you at the film has
:04:41. > :04:44.finished. It is not a run of the mill scary film, it wants to give
:04:45. > :04:58.you a bone chilling feeling that all is not well with the world. The
:04:59. > :05:03.Allegiant. You will remember this is another young adult dystopian
:05:04. > :05:08.fantasy and this particular one is about Chicago being divided into
:05:09. > :05:14.factions. Society has been broken up. Now the factions are broken down
:05:15. > :05:17.and are heroin bricks out of the city and goes to Tomorrowland,
:05:18. > :05:23.project Daniels explains the plot at great length while she listens to
:05:24. > :05:31.him. It is the weakest of the series so far. It is not totally without
:05:32. > :05:36.positive points, I do think the heroine is good, but it feels like
:05:37. > :05:41.it was treading water and I never clicked with the idea that society
:05:42. > :05:45.is divided into those people who are giving, those who are fighting, it
:05:46. > :05:55.doesn't make sense. There is a lot of Jeff Daniels saying the reason
:05:56. > :05:59.why never made sense was... It took the central character and gave her a
:06:00. > :06:03.lot of time listening to her but took away the sense of agency that
:06:04. > :06:13.drove the series on. There is nothing here to challenge The Longer
:06:14. > :06:17.Games. -- hunger. They are becoming interchangeable. NEC silly something
:06:18. > :06:28.special. I have not seen Anomalisa but I am fascinated by the idea. The
:06:29. > :06:33.director is normally a writer. It started life as a sound play, which
:06:34. > :06:41.was people sitting on the stage reading the sound and they could see
:06:42. > :06:46.the sound effects being done live. It is now coming to the screen with
:06:47. > :06:50.stop motion animation. It is visually very extraordinary. There
:06:51. > :06:56.is this replacement frame by frame the facial expressions are changed.
:06:57. > :06:58.We meet are central character, Michael, who is misanthropic and
:06:59. > :07:05.miserable and having a midlife crisis. As far as he can tell in the
:07:06. > :07:12.world around him, everyone else is the same person. Here is a clip.
:07:13. > :07:15.Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to be the first to welcome
:07:16. > :07:21.The local time is 7:43pm and the temperature is
:07:22. > :08:12.I laughed. He then tries to seduce a woman who seems to be someone else.
:08:13. > :08:18.She is the Anomalisa of the title. I think the film is visually stunning
:08:19. > :08:26.and there is so much to enjoy as far as the way it is presented. I am
:08:27. > :08:32.less crazy about the play itself. I think he is such a difficult
:08:33. > :08:35.character to get on with. After a while your patience with Michael, at
:08:36. > :08:42.least my patients, we're somewhat thin. I don't think it is his best
:08:43. > :08:47.script, but I do think it is a really interesting animation and an
:08:48. > :08:54.interesting exercise in the disjunct, it is for adults, between
:08:55. > :08:57.the subject matter and how it is presented. It is strangely
:08:58. > :09:03.artificial but realistic. It does have a magical quality. I just wish
:09:04. > :09:10.that I liked it more. It does look like anything I have
:09:11. > :09:15.seen. I think the look is very fascinating. You can absolutely get
:09:16. > :09:20.lost individuals. I just wish that I like the story and the character
:09:21. > :09:27.slightly more. Hail Caesar, your best film of the
:09:28. > :09:34.week. It is a pleasure to have a movie that is funny. It is a homage
:09:35. > :09:40.to 50s Hollywood. The central character has to fix problems for
:09:41. > :09:44.the stars. Then he gets kidnapped. How will they finish the movie? I
:09:45. > :09:52.just laughed all the way through and it was a pleasure. Generally the
:09:53. > :09:57.director 's best work is shot in the dark, but there is almost no
:09:58. > :10:02.darkness in this film. There are no goats? No scary goats. You should
:10:03. > :10:10.see it because I think you would love it. You either love it or hate
:10:11. > :10:16.it and I think you would love it. Mississippi Grind is your DVD. This
:10:17. > :10:23.is a character piece about two misfits who get together to go on
:10:24. > :10:27.the road in search of gambling big winnings, but that is not what the
:10:28. > :10:30.film is about, it is about the fact that they are both lost and looking
:10:31. > :10:38.for something. It is very 1970s style. Many films say they are
:10:39. > :10:43.referring back but they don't, but this film really does. It has
:10:44. > :10:47.texture and the locations are run down and drab yet intimate. Unlike
:10:48. > :10:52.the central character in Anomalisa, although both these guys are
:10:53. > :10:56.fundamentally damaged in some way the company is enjoyable. You want
:10:57. > :11:00.things to go right for them. It got overlooked in the cinema but got
:11:01. > :11:07.good notice from the critics, however it and find huge audiences.
:11:08. > :11:10.If you can see it on DVD it is really, it has heart and soul and it
:11:11. > :11:15.is fantastic. I liked it very much. A quick reminder before we go that
:11:16. > :11:17.you'll find more film news and reviews from across the BBC
:11:18. > :11:20.online on our website. And you can catch up
:11:21. > :11:23.with our previous shows on iPlayer.