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tv   The Film Review  BBC News  July 17, 2022 11:45pm-12:00am BST

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have this crash, and now we have this post—covid, russia, ukraine sort of hybrid _ post—covid, russia, ukraine sort of hybrid crisis — post—covid, russia, ukraine sort of hybrid crisis. and people are facing decisions _ hybrid crisis. and people are facing decisions about their lifestyle and ~~ — decisions about their lifestyle and... . ~' decisions about their lifestyle and... . ~ . ., decisions about their lifestyle and... . . decisions about their lifestyle and... . ~ . .,, and... thank you, nice to see you both. and... thank you, nice to see you both- it's — and... thank you, nice to see you both. it's been _ and... thank you, nice to see you both. it's been fun. _ and... thank you, nice to see you both. it's been fun. adam, - and... thank you, nice to see you both. it's been fun. adam, thank| and... thank you, nice to see you . both. it's been fun. adam, thank you very much forjoining us. that's it for the papers tonight. the papers will be back again tomorrow evening with author and journalist rachel shabi and former pensions minister baroness ros altmann. dojoin us then if you can, but for now, goodnight. buy a paper tomorrow, won't you?
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hello and welcome to the film review on bbc news. to take us through this week's cinema releases is mark kermode. and, mark, you're going to start with something that's quite nostalgic for some of us? well, we have an interesting batch this week. so, we've got something for everyone. we've got the railway children return, which is the sequel to the much—loved classic. we have the good boss, which was spain's entry for the best international feature oscar. and we have the grey man, which is the new film by the russo brothers. but let's start with railway children return. a couple of weeks ago, lioneljeffries' original railway children was back in cinemas just for the sunday, and what a lovely timeless film it is. i think it was number 66 in the bfi's list of best british films of all time. this is a sequel set during world war ii. evacuees are sent from cities to countryside, where they're taken in by sheridan smith, who is the daughter ofjenny agutter�*s bobby,
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who is now the grandmother. amazing. the kids have adventures, which include chancing upon a young african—american soldier, who they find hiding on the railway. here's a clip. 0ne...two...three! screaming. stay back! i said stay back! you all kids? i are you german? no, i'm american. | look, i'm a soldier on your side. | i'm with the army up at the base. so, why are you here? a little injury. shall we call the army? no! _ no, look, i'm fine. it's bleeding. - i told you i'm fine. - i'm a soldier, believe me. i've been through much worse than a cut leg. i so, thank you all for your concerns, but you kids can be on your way. i so! — you won't see me again! why don't you want us to call the army? they could help you.
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look, i'm really not supposed to be telling you this, - but i'm on a mission. a secret army mission, and i can't talk about it but i need to carry on. i so i need you to tell. no—one, understand? no-one! — there are enemy spies everywhere. there's something really charming about that. "are you german?" so, they're — in the first film, if you remember, they take in one of the paper chase runners who's hurt his foot and bobby develops a friendship, and that's part of the plot. in this, the kids, once again, come to the rescue. there is a whole bunch of shenanigans that involve stopping a train with homemade signs. so, there's a lot of callbacks to the original that, this time, the plot touches upon things like racism and the suffragettes, and so it's kind, you know, it's got a more modern sensibility to it with all those callbacks to the original. here's the thing — it's very, very hard to follow a film as well loved as lioneljeffries' original railway children. what this does, however, is it seems to be made by people who love the original for all the right reasons and do care about honouring
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the spirit of it. i don't think this is a classic, but what it is is it's a piece of family entertainment of the sort that we don't really have at the moment. i mean, nowadays, if you want the family to go and see a film, it's pretty much cgi, animation, that kind of thing, big blockbuster american productions. this feels like an old—fashioned form of entertainment that i'm kind of nostalgic for. i mean, yes, some of it's a bit creaky, yes, some of it doesn't quite come together quite as well as it could. as i said, it's not the classic that the original is, but it's made with heart and soul. the young performers are really terrific. its heart is definitely in the right place and i was just watching it, thinking, "if you were trying to get the whole family to go "to the cinema, the kids would enjoy it and the older people like me "would watch it, going, "i love the railway children!” you know, i love everything about the railway children. so, it's kind of charming, and weirdly sort of out of place with modern cinema in a way which is hard to resist. you'd have to be pretty grumpy to take against it. it looks sort of quaint — quaintand charming,
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and a slightly enid blyton feel to it, almost. but quaint, not as a criticism, you know. it does have a modern sensibility, but it's an old—fashioned movie. then, the originalfilm was an old—fashioned movie. that was what made it so interesting. so, very different — the good boss, which was spain's entry for best international feature for the 94th oscars. it was nominated for a record—breaking 20 goya awards. its wins included best film and best actor forjavier bardem, who i think is the main reason to see it. he is the slimy boss of a provincial business that makes industrial scales. he says his workers are his family. he treats them all like his family. the company is up for a business excellence award, and so what he needs is for the company to look good. however, his right—hand man is having marital crisis and his work is falling apart. one of the employees has been sacked and has now set up a protest camp outside the factory with banners demanding justice. meanwhile, javier bardem's character is doing what he appears to have done before, which is behaving
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in a very predatory manner towards a young intern. so, it's described by the director as a tragi—comic tale of a worn—out labour ecosystem, and that is pretty much what it is. i mean, it's a corporate satire. it takes pretty kind of familiar pops at corporate capitalism. the whole fact that they make scales is a metaphor that is very heavily overworked. i mean, the scales of justice being tipped — they kind of tramp that into the ground a little bit. but bardem is great because he has that thing about smiling, patrician, "trust me," when underneath, you know, he has the morals of a snake, and i think he plays that really well. so, it is worth it for his performance. he's got an extraordinary face, hasn't he? just so watchable. expressive! with one expression, he can look nice, and yet deeply threatening. he has a very, very expressive face. the grey man. yes. so, new movie by the russo brothers, who made things like infinity war, you know, great big productions. this is adapted from an espionage
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novel series, which i haven't read. ryan gosling is a convict who is recruited by the cia who tell him that they want him to join an elite force, which will operate in the grey area, hence the grey man. he becomes �*six�* — as he says at one point, 007 was taken. he's sent on missions to terminate bad guys. the mission that we meet him on — the guy might not be that bad, and he ends up in possession of a computer drive and at odds with his increasingly sinister superiors. here's a clip. six. you want to explain whatever that was? gunjammed. it doesn't qualify. as an explanation. maybe on a secure line. i need a status report. insecure line. did the target say anything to you? well, he was dead, so...you know...no. what about pocket litter — - did you get anything off his body? six, did he have anything _
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on his person that you now have that you'd like to give to me? who was he? a bad guy. last chance, six. understood. - now, that is a surprisingly low—key interlude in a movie, which for most of its running time, is big guns, bigger guns, rocket launchers, exploding helicopters, a fight in and out of a plane, an insane chase sequence that destroys most of a picturesque city, and just everything turned up to ii. it's a netflix production, it'll be on netflix in a week's time, but it's in the cinema for a week — i think it's their most expensive production. it's kind of... if what you want is to have your brain pummelled for two hours, this will do thejob. ana de armas, who of course was in no time to die, is shaping up as a great action star. chris evans is the nemesis.
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we know he's bad because, a, he has a very bad moustache and, b, he doesn't wear socks, so we know immediately that he's very, very bad. laughter. the set pieces are... i mean, all the way through, the camera never sits still. it's always flying around and zooming hither and yon, even if two people are talking, the camera's zooming around. so, it's a lot of visual flash. not much substance, but i kind of think you probably don't go and see the grey man for substance. what you go and see it for is big action set pieces, and it is fighty—fighty, shouty—shouty, smashy, runny, crashy, boom pretty much all the way through. laughter. i mean, there was a point in it when i thought i'm quite tired because, you know, it's like it just doesn't let up, and the fight and chase sequences, they start and then they go on, and then they go on, and then they go on a little bit more. so, understatement is not in it. how do you feel about this kind of... is this... does this look like it's your kind of film? it doesn't look restful to me. no, 0k. well, it's...| mean, i thought it was kind of funny. it's very surface, it's very empty. you kind of forget it
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fairly quickly, but... got to see it in the cinema, do you think, on a big screen, if it's such a big film? well, here's the thing — i did see it in a cinema, and while i was watching it, i was thinking this is working cos it's really loud and it's really big and it is boom, crashy, smashy. that said, a lot of people nowadays have sound systems connected to their televisions at home that are pretty decent, but i thought, you know, i think i probably had the best experience of it, which was seeing it in a lovely screening room, which was nice and bright, nice and loud, made no sense whatsoever, you know, but did thejob, did what it said on the tin. right. can't argue with that. those three are coming out now? yeah, they're out today. best out already? have you've seen elvis? i haven't seen elvis. ok, do yourself a favour. take my word for it. now, i know that some other critics... there is a difference of opinion here. we shall name no names. that's fine. there's difference of opinions — very simple — i'm right and they're wrong. elvis is a masterpiece. it is, as far as i'm concerned, the best film that's come out this year.
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baz luhrmann does... are you an elvis fan? yes, how can you not be? well, there are some who aren't. i think that the more you like elvis, the more you will like the film. i think it tells the story in a way which is really inventive, really visually splendid. i think the central performances are great. it's all about his relationship with colonel tom parker, but also his relationship with fame and with his adoring public. i've been an elvis fan since as far back as i can remember, and i went into this so trepidatious, thinking, "oh, they're going to get everything wrong, they're going to miss stuff out." and by the end of it, i was in tears. i just thought it was... really, very moving. i think it's absolutely brilliant. so, don't listen to anyone else. it's a masterpiece and you need to go and see it, and you need to go and see it in a cinema with a big sound system. don't sit on the fence, will you? no. best dvd? yeah, so drive my car — this is a japanese drama that was the best international feature sensation at the oscars. this features my favourite soundtrack of the year by eiko ishibashi, and when i saw this in the cinema — it's the best part of three hours long — when i saw it in the cinema, i did
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think, wow, that's a challenge. three hours is tough. when you're at home, three hours watching something on dvd, i mean, nowadays, people binge watch entire box sets, so that's perfectly fine. and the soundtrack really, really brought me back to it, so if you haven't seen it, do go and see it. it is great. and actually, i think, weirdly, it may be — it may be designed to be watched at home. excellent. mark... but go see elvis! i will see elvis! i'll try to see them all. everyone must see elvis! ok, we've heard you. ok, sorry. mark, as always, thank you so much. thank you! sorry, he's saying! that is it for this week, though. thank you very much for watching. bye—bye. a national emergency has been declared and we reach the peak of our extraordinary heatwave monday and tuesday. this is dangerous weather — a red extreme heat warning issued by the met office, covering parts of england. we also have amber warnings for england, wales and parts of southern and eastern scotland.
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these are the temperatures at the end of the night. take advantage of this cool air, let it into your house if you're up really early in the morning, and then close windows, doors and curtains. it's really effective at keeping the worst of the heat of the day outside. temperatures extreme, dangerous — mid—to—high 30s, low 40s across england and wales. this is going to cause problems for people's health and problems for infrastructure as well. by night, it's horrendous. monday night, ten o'clock, temperatures still widely into the 30s, and we've got more of this dangerous heat to come on tuesday as well, where temperatures could hit about 41 degrees in the hottest areas. this is very dangerous weather.
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welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: a report into the mass shooting at a school in texas in may finds systemic failures in the law enforcement response to the tragedy. wildfires triggered by extreme heat burn across southern europe. the high temperatures claim more than a thousand lives. the five tory mps hoping to replace the prime minister borisjohnson have gone head to head in their second tv debate. if he wished to serve, who here would be happy to have boris johnson in their cabinet? please raise your hands. not a single hand raised — we'll take a look at what
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this says about the leadership race so far.

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