tv The Film Review BBC News May 8, 2021 11:45pm-12:01am BST
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hello, and welcome to the film review with me, mark kermode, rounding up the best new movies available for viewing in the home while we look forward to cinemas reopening in the very near future. the mortal kombat video game series first came to the cinema in the mid—�*90s during an early wave of dismal console—to—big screen adaptations that included the live—action super mario bros
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starring bob hoskins and the ill—fated street fighter, which teamed jean—claude van damme with kylie minogue for reasons no one could fully understand. by comparison with these stinkers, the original mortal kombat movie, directed by paul ws anderson and starring christopher lambert, wasn't bad. not great, but not terrible either. the same could not be said of the sequel annihilation, a flop which effectively killed the live—action franchise. first learned about this seven years ago on a mission in brazil to capture a wanted fugitive. now, more than two decades later, we have a new mortal kombat movie. produced by saw and insidious co—creatorjames wan and co—written by greg russo, a devotee of the games who promised to stay true to the existing mythology and to give fellow fans a faithful screen adaptation. get over here!
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now, that's all well and good, but the film still needs to work for audiences unfamiliar with the games, so we get lewis tan as new character cole young, a cage fighter with a mysterious birthmark who finds himself drawn into a world that conveniently has to be explained to him en route. throughout history, different cultures all over the world reference a great tournament. enterjessica mcnamee�*s sonya blade, who spends a lot of time doing an impression of basil exposition from the austin powers movies, ensuring that no one gets confused, although if truth be told, i did get confused a bit. kano wins! also along for the ride isjosh lawson's impressively obnoxious kano, a loudmouthed australian, as opposed to all those quiet australians, who accompanies cole and sonya to an otherworldly tournament encountering laser eyes, freezing stares, robotic arms, killer lizards, on—demand fireballs and lethal frisbee hats. really.
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while previous mortal kombat films have felt rather toothless, this reboot is an impressively blood—splattered affair, packed with much enjoyably squishy violence and moments of utterly gratuitous gore that left me feeling nostalgic for the good old days of the video nasties. gamers will doubtless argue over the presence of some favourite characters and the absence of others, but with a sequel in the pipeline, this hasn't finished the franchise. there's still time for any absentees to get a look in. on the downside, this reboot is lumbered with some clunky dialogue and uninspiring performances, with lawson too often saving the day as the only really charismatic character on screen. but considering the depressing history of console—to—screen transitions, this is, to misquote the game, definitely not a fatality. it's available to rent now from all major streaming platforms. now, last week, movie fans endured the horrors of christopher walken�*s
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ear—scraping irish accent in the baloney—filled romcom wild mountain thyme. there are more americans at large in the emerald isle in end of sentence, an offbeat drama from icelandic director elfar adalsteins. so, what is this anyway? a little father—and—son fishing trip? kind of skipped over all of the things that started with father—son. his bail. sorry, can you repeat that? couldn't hear you ? oh, i said unless you count posting bail. . john hawkes and logan lerman play estranged father and son frank and sean fogle, the latter of whose mother dies while he's serving a stretch in prison. unhappily reunited with his dad upon release, sean reluctantly agrees to accompany frank to ireland, following a deathbed request from his mum, who was clearly a screenwriter in herspare time, and knew how to spot an off—the—peg,
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last—wish road movie set—up. initially, things are touchy and hostile, but after meeting up with sarah bolger�*sjewel — yes, she really is called jewel — the frostiness seems to thaw and formulaic movie bonding ensues, albeit temporarily. you wanted clark kent for a father. had clark kent, wanted superman. there's little in end of sentence, that played at the edinburgh film festival way back in 2019, that seasoned moviegoers wonn�*t have seen before, although hawkes does a fine job of quietly portraying the loss and pathos of frank, a man whose son despises him for what he perceives as his weakness and frailty of character. # i kissed my love by the factory wall. ..# but while this largely sidesteps the blarney romance of wild mountain thyme, i'd still love to see a movie which didn't imagine every pub in ireland has a welcoming band just waiting to burst into a rendition of dirty old town, joined on vocals
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by a sultry local beauty while everyone sinks pints and sings along. note to film—makers — it's an island, not a theme park. you can find end of sentence on digital download from monday. altogether more surprising is cowboys, the new film from writer—director anna kerrigan. she likes cowboy hats. so what, she just wants to be like you. and you encourage it, troy. no, no, no, she said that she is a boy. oh, god. that she feels like she's in the wrong body, that she's like an alien living in someone else's body. like the body snatchers movie. like the body snatchers movie? troy, what are you talking about? steve zahn stars as the parents ofjoe, a girl that identifies as a boy, something which baffles and distresses sally, who thinks
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that zahn�*s troy has been putting ideas into their child's head. troy decides to make a new life for both of them in canada. with a supporting cast that includes the great ann dowd, whose forthcoming film mass is already shaping up as one of my favourite films of the year, cowboys is a low—key treat, a film of great sensitivity and tact, but also a genuinely engaging drama packed with humour and heartbreak, offering real humanist insight into its characters�* strengths and foils. you understood what we were doing! what was the plan? you were supposed to protect me! although it deals with hot—button issues, it neverfeels preachy or polemical. it's honest, designed to be enjoyed by the widest possible audience, finding strength and positivity in the prospect people as they are,
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with genuinely moving results. it's available on curzon and digital download now. from america to greece with apples by christos nikou, which was his country's entry for feature oscar at the 93rd academy awards. set amid an epidemic of amnesia, aris servetalis cuts a lonely figure as a man who finds himself unable to remember his name, his occupation or his home address. so, he's placed in a bizarre recovery programme designed to create new memories in a new identity. to do this, he receives taped instructions from mundane tasks like riding a bike,
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diving into a swimming pool or going to a fancy dress party — tasks that require photographic proof of completion, with the pictures duly posted into an album of memories. nikou describes apples as an allegorical comedy—drama born out of a personal bereavement and exploring the subject of whether we are all, in the end, the sum of all of those things we don't forget. there's an echo of eternal sunshine of the spotless mind in the premise, but i was also reminded of the hungarian drama preparations to be together for an unknown period of time, which similarly explored the mysteries of memory. as with the greek weird wave compatriots, he balances profundity with absurdism, along with a hilarious potted synopsis
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of james cameron's titanic that's worth the ticket price alone. apples is on curzon home cinema now and then in cinemas when they reopen. i'll leave you with news of charlatan, a biographical drama. from polish director agnieszka holland. perhaps best known to english—speaking audiences for her brilliant �*90s adaptation of the secret garden. in charlatan, holland revisits the young story of a young jan mikolasek,
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a herbalist that diagnosed and treated patients with plant—based remedies and ran afoul of the czech authorities. tending to nazis and communists alike, he earns a tidy sum, but then becomes a target of the regime accused of poisoning party stalwarts. real—life father and son ivan and josef trojan, who respectively play the older and younger mikolasek, breathe convincing life into this somewhat unfathomable character, aided by strong turn from the herbalist�*s assistant and speculative lover. for all the dramatic intrigue of its story, charlatan feels oddly episodic, like a tv movie who's structure never quite brings together its disparate elements.
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it's available on curzon and bfi player through virtual cinema screenings. that's it for this week. thanks for watching the film review. stay safe, and i'll see you next week. who's that? it's nobody. hello. after saturday's cloud and rain, somewhat brighter skies around during sunday, but there's every chance you're going to see some wet weather at some stage of the day. really due to the proximity of this area of low pressure, so either showers close to that or indeed along this weather front with still the chance for seeing some outbreaks of rain. certainly more cloud than there will be elsewhere if you're close to that. we're still drawing in some warmer air from the south, so if you do get to see a bit of sunshine, it will actually feel quite pleasant, particularly across south east england and east anglia, which will see the higher temperatures. but this is where we're starting the day. it's a much milder start than we've had recently, and particularly across england and wales. now, along the weather
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front i pointed out, some cloud from south west england, south east wales, the midlands and on towards yorkshire. just edging a little bit further east with a chance of a few spots of rain. doesn't look like much more than that for much of the day. close to the low pressure, northern ireland and scotland will see some quite heavy showers, thundery possibly, too. quite blustery, particularly in northern ireland. these are average wind speeds, but gusts here could be over a0 mph or so. and as for temperatures, it will feel a little bit warmer if you do get to see a bit of sunshine during the day, mainly 14—17, but a few spots in east anglia, south east england mayjust get above 20 degrees just depending on how much sunshine there is. but be aware — as we get into the evening, there could be some quite heavy and thundery downpours moving through here, whereas elsewhere overnight and into monday, we will continue with a few showers, particularly across western areas. and just to reinforce the fact that it's a bit warmer by day and it is overnight as well. these are the temperatures to start things off on monday morning, so there won't be any frost around. that area of low pressure is still,
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though, close by on monday. in fact, as it will be for the week ahead. and so that's going to mean that there'll be plenty of showers, and this is where we're expecting them to be during monday. some heavy with hail and thunder, particularly towards the west and north. and while some will reach across to eastern areas, it may well be there'll be quite a few showers here around at least during the afternoon for the midlands, east anglia and south east englund. temperatures are fairly close to average for the time of year. it will feel a bit warmer than it has done over the past week if you're in some of that sunshine. there will still be these heavy downpours around, but very noticeably overnight it's not going to be as cold. it will be largely frost—free in the week ahead.
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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. at least 30 people have been killed — many of them schoolgirls — in a militant attack in the afghan capital, kabul. more than 50 palestinians have been injured in clashes with israeli forces injerusalem. it follows similar unrest on friday, when 200 people needed medical treatment. sadiq khan wins a second term as london mayor, in a result much closer than predicted. europe's leaders resist calls by india's prime minister to waive patents for vaccines, despite the country's worsening covid crisis. and bits of a chinese rocket launched last week are expected to plunge back to earth in the next few hours, but should we be worried?
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