tv The Film Review BBC News August 16, 2020 11:45pm-12:01am BST
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next, it's the film review. cheerio. hello and welcome to the film review, with me, anna smith. i am filling in for mark kermode's review this week's releases. first up, be byteeth, an australian comedy—drama starring eliza scanlen, who appeared as beth march in greta gerwig's fabulous little women.
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i wanted to ask you something. uh-huh. will you come to my school formal? i'm a bit old for it? no. do i have to wear a suit? i don't think so. i'd like to wear one. scanlen plays miller, a terminally ill teenager who falls for an older boy called moses, played by toby wallace. moses isn't exactly what miller's parents would consider boyfriend material — he steals, he takes drugs and he's been kicked out of the house by his own mother. but sheltered miller is enchanted by his rebellious spirit. so her folks reluctantly let him into their home. based on a stage play
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by rita kalnejais, babyteeth is a remarkable debut from director shannon murphy, who deftly steers the tone from dark, character—driven farce to tragicomedy without missing a beat. she's also assembled a note—perfect cast. scanlen and wallace have a palpable connection, while essie davis and ben mendelsohn are hilarious and heartbreaking as miller's pill—popping mother and her psychiatrist father. this is a film about love, loss, compromise, sacrifice, and accepting the realities of life and death. it's hugely entertaining and it's ultimately deeply moving. i suggest you keep tissues handy. don't forget your mask either, because babyteeth is in cinemas now.
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the story of the puppet pinocchio has inspired many a movie version, including the cutesy 1940 disney classic. a new live—action version from italian director matteo garrone is a very different beast. a relatively faithful adaptation of the 1883 book the adventures of the pinocchio by carlo collodi, it stars roberto benigni as geppetto, the woodcarver who crafts a puppet that magically comes to life. using elaborate prosthetics and cgi, the child actor federico ielapi is transferred very credibly
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into the wooden puppet who just wants to be a real boy. the bond between geppetto and his "son" is tangible, so it's nerve—racking when the gullible pinocchio wanders off and gets lost in the countryside, encountering robbers and conmen. pinocchio is a gorgeous—looking film that occasionally tugs on the heartstrings. but it's much more satisfying in the subtitled version, which is showing in independent cinemas, than it is in the dubbed one that is showing in the multiplexes. the cloying english voices make it seem creepy. either way, pinocchio feels unusually dark and disturbing for a pg film, so while fans of garrone's twisted fairy tale film tale of tales will find plenty to feast on, the parents with younger children might want to wait for the upcoming disney live—action film from robert zemeckis. what is going on? it is me, kurt, from kurt's world. ijust realised something big. i'm calling it the lesson.
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it is a sure—fire way for me to go viral and guess what? the best part being i can do off of the front seat of my spree. so you guys stay tuned, buckle up and i will show you the ropes. peace out. much love, you guys. a cab—driver turned into a serial killer in spree, a comedy—horror warning about the perils of social media. in the desperate bid to gain more followers, kurt, played by stranger things‘ joe keery, gets a job as a cab—driver for the conveniently named company spree. he fits the car with cameras, starts a live feed and begins slaughtering his passengers — using spiked bottled water and a variety of gorier methods. at first, he's got too few followers for anybody to notice, let alone believe it's for real. i don't even know why i'm making these videos. "nobody wants to watch a white guy drive around," one of his friends taunts in one of the films many meta—moments. enter sasheer zamata as a standup comedian.
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she makes things more interesting. spree is a decent entry into the social media crime thriller genre. more engaging than recent film infamous, though less insightful than the 2017 comedy ingrid goes west, which i loved. spree has about two points to make and it does so repeatedly. but it takes its own advice by inserting a few wtf moments that really have an impact and there are plenty of known jokes for its target market, if, of course, they can stay off their phones for long enough of course. spree is in cinemas now. onto a small—screen horror that takes itself much more seriously. sputnik is a russian sci—fi about an astronaut who comes back from space with an unexpected passenger in tow. set in 1983 and coloured in neutral grey and brown hues,
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it stars oksana akinshina as a psychologist, tatyana, who is surprised when she is asked to treat a famous cosmonaut in a secret soviet facility. it turns out he's suffering from more than ptsd. he's harbouring a parasite inside of him. openly influenced by the alien films, this delivers mild scares and a smattering of gore. having the creature in captivity somewhat limits the potential, really, but egor abramenko's film is very efficient at building tension, atmosphere and characters. all in all, it's a serviceable horror that's on digital platforms now. if you're a fan of quirky documentaries with eccentric characters, check out my rembrandt,
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which is in cinemas and on demand now. prior to 2003, it had never occurred to me that one could buy a painting by rembrandt. you mean that one could actually buy? dropping in on buyers, auctioneers and art experts, the film follows people with a passion for the dutch painter, revealing the price they'll pay for what may or may not be his work. trust me. billing itself as an epic art thriller might be slightly overstating it, but it's still a fascinating offbeat watch with a playful sense of humour. hi, i'm michelle payne. i'm available for track work. i'll be outside if anybody needs me. new to dvd this week is ride like a girl, the true story of michelle payne, who in 2015 became the first woman to win the melbourne cup.
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directed by the actor rachel griffiths from six feet under fame, it stars teresa palmer as the determined young writer who trains up with the help of her father, played by the great sam neill, and her brother stevie, who's actually played by himself. —— rider. it's told in a simple style for a broad audience, but it's got a positive spirit and enough dramatic events to keep the attention. what are you doing after the race? celebrating. griffiths pitched this as a pg feminist sports movie to make men cry, and i reckon she's got it about right. ride like a girl is on dvd now. we've spent our whole life trying to unite the world. and i'm tired, dude. ted, we have a destiny to fulfill. greetings, my excellent friends! now, if, like me, you're looking forward to the future release bill and ted face the music, then why not go back in time
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first in 1989 to bill and ted's excellent adventure? starring keanu reeves and alex winter as time—travelling school kids who scoop up famous people from history, this release comes with an intriguing new message at the start — "please note that this film reflects historical attitudes which audiences may find outdated or offensive." those are historical babes. now, much as i really enjoyed bill and ted as a teenager, i've got to say that re—watching it now, i have to see the point of this warning. there's the ogling over bill's stepmum missy and the crude caricatures of some of the historical figures. i winced a bit watching joan of arc do that fitness class in the mall. still, while this may not have stood the test of time as well as, say, back to the future, it's still a fun, retro ride with great leads and a few catchphrases we can all use right now. be excellent to each other. bill and ted's excellent adventure
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is out on blu—ray now. thanks for watching the film review with me, anna smith. i'll be back next week. meantime, be excellent to each other. i hate that part. bill, strange things are afoot at the circle k. hello there. we had lots of thunderstorms across england and wales on sunday, but it's not every day you see one of these. yes, a waterspout that formed out in the bristol channel, and this was seen by a number of our weather watchers, actually, from north somerset. it was also spotted around the newport area of south wales as well. that was all associated with this low pressure that's across northern france. we can see an occlusion. this band of cloud here that brought some thunderstorms across eastern england, and they were torrential. 28 mm of rain on sunday fell in bedford. looking at the weather picture
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at the moment, this system, essentially, is going to split into two bits, with this branch not really making much progress further north. that means the rain will continue to affect greater manchester, lancashire, merseyside along with wales for a time, before easing later in the night. it won't really push that much farther north. that means the far north of england, northern ireland and scotland stay largely dry over the next few hours, but with low cloud, there'll be some and fog patches, and maybe a little bit of drizzle around some mist and fog patches, and maybe a little bit of drizzle around some of the eastern coasts in scotland as well. for the rest of monday, the low pressure will continue to move its way in, and that will bring showers. this time, the showers will be affecting scotland and northern ireland through the afternoon, but it's further south across england and wales that the day's heaviest showers are most likely to be. 20 or 30 mm in the space of an hour. again, that's enough to cause some localised flash flooding. in between those showers and the sunshine, still feeling warm, still a little on the humid side. but we're not finished with the showery story just there, because tuesday will be
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another showery day. this time, the heaviest showers look more set to go in across northern england and scotland. lots of thunder and lightning, a bit of hail mixed in with some of these fewer showers in the south. still one or two fairly pokey ones as we go into the afternoon. beyond that, we see some changes in the weather. this area of low pressure slow—moving, will be with us for much of the rest of the week with fresher air following this cold front through. it means on wednesday, many of us start off on a dry note, but the cloud and rain will spread in across northern ireland, england and wales. eventually, it will turn a fair bit windier across the southwest. gusts of around 30—110 miles an hour, all the while staying largely dry in scotland through the afternoon with sunshine. fresher air then arrives from thursday on words, but that's not an end to the wet story. it stays unsettled with rain or showers to take us into next weekend.
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this is bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. in belarus — huge crowds fill the streets in one of the biggest protests yet against the president. but alexander lu kashenko remains defiant — telling his supporters he won't give up his country, after a week of demonstrations against his contested re—election. student activists stage more anti—government rallies in bangkok, demanding political change and reforms to the monarchy. and — as the democratic party prepares to hold its national convention — we take a look at how the party faithful view their presidential candidate
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