And Glen Lyon rode out the moment as well towards bald holding a 779 Carnegie would book that Asians closed was a broken then LOT A there between Boko roundabout and a Meet $38.00 back at the moment. Because a broken down caught East by at Junction $22.00 for the M $74.00 and ferries come might tell me that the cold untidy service of passenger only B.B.C. Radio Scotland travel Scotland's weather name for essential in East in Scotland with Bryant a sunny spouse across the west cloud thickening bring some patchy reading B.B.C. Radio Scotland nice. Hello and welcome to Thursday's edition of the afternoon show with me gran stalks coming up today it's film review day and another big week of big movies and big names called Kidman Clint Eastwood Christian Bale each star and destroyer the mule and Feist respectively over the next hour we'll find out what our critics Wendy Lloyd and Nigel Floyd made of them and up to 3 author Douglas Kennedy chants about his new book international collaboration Buffalo blood featuring after the show regular Dino wings joins us for chaps and tunes out of their Celtic Connections gig which will launch their new album and Fleur East fresh from our I'm a Celebrity jungle exploits will be telling us what she's got planned for 21000 You're listening to the afternoon show with Grant stalked on B.B.C. Radio Scotland. And us just mention this week's movie reviews freelance critics Nigel Floyd and Wendy Lloyd are standing by poised to give us the very best chat Welcome to both. Of them by the end of before we get to you for your 1st suggestions of the day and we should let everybody know about this week's topical to today's topical June we're looking forward to celebrating all things Barnes tomorrow so what after your suggestions of songs a boat or by rules is given that one of Byrne's most famous poems my love is like a red red rose and here are some ideas to get you thinking. Well some just just some suggestions from the team in the office poison Every Rose Has Its Thorn before that story Rosa she bangs the drums where the wild roses grow cave in Guns N Roses Sweet Child of Mine and Edith P.I.A.F. And lovey own Rose also famously covered by grease Jones of course and send us your request will play one just before the news at 4 o'clock 4 o'clock you can take 895 tweet at B.B.C. R S afternoons or stick a message on our Facebook page Nigel Wendy everybody let you know what topical tune subject was today what do you think in one joke I think Elvis Costello good year for the roses. Almost blew album which went a little bit country and the people who had followed him from the early days of less than 0 and the punk era of the a little bit distressed by that but I love the singing on that I defer to all matters musical to my esteemed colleague Wendy here he described his singing on that song is fragile what you think it. Absolutely Spurs Oh yeah absolutely and I was one of my my picks as well some of the frontally figures on the else when do you go in for and asking if the a little little bit obscure perhaps gem Club Band had an album out in 2014 and they had a wonderful track on that called in roses and I thought I'd go to that rather than I could have picked any number of guns and raise in one show you probably get quite a few that say let's go jam club to me Jam Club for you and look you know as I can't go for Elvis Costello either I'm good for some classic eighty's cheese yes let's take you right back I can just see both dance around handbags to liquid gold and the night the wine in the room I love that it's own I'm sure you've grown out of this yet that they loaded on you know these little credibility 0 I don't think I've ever had any music credible to say for you on that but of course it is your choice to listener get in touch and they will find a witch to me finish the show with before 4 o'clock or read of some suggestions as we get through the program write to I'm going to pick up today by reviewing a big film that's gone at 8 Oscar nominations vice tells epic story about how the beautiful the Washington side to Dick Cheney quietly became the most powerful man in the world as vice president to George W. Bush reshaping the country and the globe in ways that we still feel today a stunning Christian Bale in the Adams Steve Correll and sound Rockwell and written and directed by Adam McKay who won an Oscar for the screenplay for The Big Short It comes with a pretty impressive pedigree so what did Nigel and Wendy think of it before we asked them here's a moment from the from the film where at lunch Cheney played by Christian Bale gets George W. Bush Sam Rockwell to give him exactly what he wants I want you to be my V.P. . You solution the problem. Sealed a large company. I have been the secretary of defense. I have been the chief of staff of the vice presidency is mostly a. Symbolic job right that I can see how that when me yet. And in passing to. Either his presence here this is also defined by the president. We were to come to a. Different understanding. Go or. A mission. To make decisions based on. People I said that are very different very different. From me. In that regard. Maybe I can. Oversee and bureaucracy. The military energy. Foreign policy. That sounds good Christian Bale and Sam Rockwell in a clip from Vice critics and audiences of finding this hard to box this film possibly because of their director signature style doable fans of this biopic comedy drama political thriller when he was a fit for you well I suppose that is the point isn't it doesn't come for T.V. To fit into one it is a bio pic in essence because it's the story of Dick Cheney but yeah Adam McKay is showing once again after the big short that he doesn't fit his filmmaking into a box in fact he's kind of shouting from the rooftops the things he wants to tell us and he's positioned himself now with big show and now this is very a sort of you know very different kind of filmmaker making arguably some very necessary filmmaking right now you obviously want to talk a lot about where America is at the moment in recent American history and this is very much a case of that and it's very hard of course to you know make an impact and tell history in a different way and to be heard and with all the noise of the media what have you been. This film not a big story it's clever it's confident it's dark and it's wildly entertaining as well so it means that you know his films hopefully because one anticipates what he wants to do he'll get them seen and heard beyond the kind of obvious Democrat demographic so this is you know everything that I wanted to it to be and more having been a huge fan of The Big Short and you know Christian Bale's transformation is you know astounding and it's not just because obviously he ate a lot of pie that's what he said he had today and plus prosthetics and it's the inner transformation of becoming this person and being out to really take his only journey with him that isn't. It's just not one dimensional on any level and I think anybody making bio picks needs to be kind of you know I thinking again because sometimes they can just be a little one note this most definitely is not that he does look incredible doesn't really Oscar worthy the whole performance I think so yeah Nigel story from a young Dick Cheney right through to George W. Bush's years how interesting a life does he have in terms of what resonance is today and will be over interested in a British audience as well as American is going to be tricky I think for U.K. Audiences because it is a little bit more remote both historically and politically from a from a U.K. Audience but I do think that once you get involved in it the storytelling is so clear that I think it's easy to follow the line of argument and the argument politically is that not since the days of Richard Nixon has there been a man whose determination is basically to circumvent and undermine the entire constitutional process of the United States and use it basically to his advantage so when we heard the clip there any says to George Bush or Judy and you know I could take on these things like I could help you out with that you know energy and stuff he doesn't mention the fact that he's got very close connections with a company called how labor who he's worked for in the meantime. And him because you know he can sort of move in the direction of shall we say he doesn't mention the fact that he has lots of interesting sort of illegal conversations with people trying to work out how we can make the vice president's job not just a bit of centrist thing but actually something that will allow him to do Doc and devilish deeds behind the scenes and I thought that that element of it that kind of conspiracy element of it was truly truly frightening and it sounds fascinating as we were going to hear from the director of the film that I'm seeing out of Mkhize a Scotsman who is a little bit to be. I think he likes to be called a McKay we're going to hear from him in discussion with a producer Serena feel she chatted so many this week and started by asking him why he wanted to make this film it way I think it's the times we live in it's very confusing times and and I started hearing people talking about how Donald Trump kind of makes you miss George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and I just thought that was about the craziest thing I ever heard we sort of don't talk about Dick Cheney anymore and started researching him and was really astounded to find out as much as I knew about him there was so much I didn't know and the effect he had on history the history of America how the Republican revolution that was the tide that rose into power how about how much that's changed our country and I just love those kinds of stories the guy in the shadows who doesn't want the spotlight and trying to put him in the spotlight I read all the great books by you know Ron Suskind Jane Mayer Bart Gellman we hired our own journalist to interview people and by the end I do feel like I know every nook and cranny of the band's life and why is power and how we chase and use a theme that is so interesting T. It seems like in the United States we stopped talking about the effects of power at a certain point I don't hear it brought up much I think it's such an important greedy and everything that's going on around the world. That high that physiological high of being in the White House and knowing that your every little movement can affect the entire world and I think that's something that and we've seen this in sociological experiments like the Stanford Prison Experiment that it is something that changes people physically and it's something you crave more and more and as I dug into the life of Dick Cheney I didn't find a very clear ideology I found someone who was really a power player a game's been and talking of physical changes I mean there are some amazing transformations by your cast members into these famous figures tell us about the process of working with teams to help the act has transformed themselves this is why I always viewed this movie as a mystery as I said Dick Cheney lived in the shadows definitely did not want to movie made about him so I knew were played Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney who really kind of one in the same they they sort of had to be detectives with me and there's no one that goes deeper than Christian Bale and Amy Adams the 2 of them just go to levels you can imagine and so it's really fun working with them they found strange clips and interviews and listen to dialogue over and over again and they're both really really smart so I would have like 34 hour conversations with Christian Bale where we would talk about Cheney's motives and and look at little passages from obscure interviews that if you really the the answers to who these people are in their performances as much as it's in the story or the scenes really really breathtaking what they both did you mentioned the Dick Cheney didn't want to me he made a vow to you have to get any kind of commission can you basically make a movie about him if you want see I think everyone knows that if you approach Dick Cheney and said I want to do a biography of he's going to say get lost and what it also does is it opens up the movie to legal action because then he can say hey they approach me. I'm now part of it so there was never any question Cheney's did not want this story to be told they didn't want to rehash the the torture years they don't want to rehash the invasion of Iraq all those details there's no way they would have agreed obviously the focus is on Dick Cheney and his stories so how did you make sure that this film appealed to people across the board regardless of the political affiliations we just tried really hard to be fair and accurate certainly have friends who are Republicans and I've told them I said I don't know why you would have a problem with this movie it actually shows you winning you know the regen revolution you sort of take over America the Republican ideology becomes the dominant ideology and sure enough I've heard stories of some Republican seeing the movie and yes certainly they have issues with it but feeling like yeah that's what we did now I'll be honest that scares the crap out of me a little bit but I think we did do a decent job of just showing what happened obviously there stylistic flourishes in the movie that aside you mention just Deila of them as a filmmaker has a real exuberance to it and you break the 4th will you use bits of documentary Committee John flashbacks and you play with the role of the new data I mean where does this mixture of style and influences in your storytelling come from which you say I felt like with this movie I didn't want it to be a traditional bio pic I wanted the movie to keep the audience slightly unsettled and surprised the whole time kind of like Dick Cheney's story and a lot like the world we live in right now so it was nice towards the end of editing the movie when we would show it to people they would struggle with the idea of is it a drama Is it a comedy what John is it in and that's to me mirrors exactly the times that we're living in right now is so yeah that that style was did was definitely intentional and then sometimes we use that style to take what would maybe just be a bunch of close up shots of papers describing legal theory. He is and you can pump them with a little bit more life you can have Alfred Molina come into a scene as a waiter and read it like a menu it does it brings that energy to the movie fascinating stuff out of the car director and writer of vice talking to a producer Serino field when you talk to a Christian Bale's performance in this and also in this book about Amy Adams and this is well she pleases wife Lynne Cheney perhaps don't know so much about her story how does that come across well that it's quite clear from the off that you know she's the woman behind a man and we you know we meet Dick Cheney at the point at which he's a drunken dropout from Yale and they've been dating and she very much put seconds on the table and says Right you got to sort this out and I expect this of you and she has very high expectations of dating and and what do you know he achieves that but I mean it's been pointed out in things that I've read that you know from the get go Lynn you know really fancied us out in the corridors of power but recognized in the era that that was going to happen for a woman she was going to get what she wanted and the only way to get it specifically her way was to you know basically in some ways you could say be the puppet to Cheney who was then the puppet and 2 other members of government so they were very much a team and you had McKay there say they were one in the same which I think is a very telling point but her performance is super because obviously you know you have always had this classic thing of the supporting wife or a whatever well they said really takes supporting wife role to a new level and Amy Adams really does she really is the Lady Macbeth of the pace and I'm quite astounded she hasn't had an Oscar nomination I really am I mean you know the category is packed as usual with phenomenal performances it's kind of surprising that because she's not yet got herself an Oscar and I would've thought this was a strong opportunity for her and once you also had. Kate see the real life that Cheney clearly didn't want to film made about him so they didn't ask him and also believe that they hired a team of journalists. Before making the film do you think this this movie serves as a piece of journalism as well as a drama I think it does yeah I mean he obviously you know spends months and months and months researching this stuff and trying to get it into some sort of shape because as you're following the story line it's easy it is easy to follow you know and he said difficult thing to do because Cheney is not an interesting man you know he's got this very bland exterior he's got this very mourner tone voice he's kind of can Tiley lacking in charisma So for example there's one moment where he has a heart problem or recurrent heart problem he takes a turn for the worse he goes into hospital he's told the school to have at least 2 weeks bedrest and as a result of that his wife Lynne has to step up and go to the stump for him and you see her you know giving a speech to some very very disinterested people who suddenly realize that she has a will and who actually got some charisma and she pushes him over the line and gets him to the point where he needs to be to get elected at that point in his career so it's quite a tricky thing that Christian Bale has got to do he's got to get inside Cheney skin which he's done with all this prosthetic stuff and so on and so forth but we shouldn't get too distracted by the idea that he's also got inside this very devious mind this mind which is hidden behind this very very bland and very misleading exterior because playing a fall to him and adding a bit of comedy to things is Steve Correll who plays Donald Rumsfeld now Dahmus Donald Rumsfeld was an operator himself and a very very dodgy politician to boot and he was effectively a mentor to Dick Cheney in the early years and of course what you see here from Steve Carell is what we've learned over the last 9 or 10 years he's not only truly gifted comedian but he's also a brilliant brilliant actor and the idea of trying to make Donald Rumsfeld this incredibly sleazy and dodgy and amoral man up. Unpleasant there's a bit where Dick Cheney says to him What do we believe in and and he just lost Steve Carell just loft so he lost any loss and he lost the need to leave the room and he shuts the door and he's still laughing because the idea that you would believe in anything is clearly not something that enters into his kind of mental vocabulary and similarly with the carrot to Dick Cheney he doesn't really believe in anything except perhaps family and maybe we need to talk about a lot of it well we I would love to we have more to do we could but unfortunately time has actually bought a dozen as we've already got a lot men over there so quickly guys a final verdict on vice is it worth all the fuss when to absolutely I intend to go and see it in a prep OPIC screening this weekend because I really think it's worth a 2nd viewing so I definitely a 1st for everyone on the Nigel Have you seen this twice I have seen it twice I have to say that the 1st time I saw it I absent the things I loved I really loved and the things that irritated me slightly irritated me slightly the 2nd time everything I loved I loved more and the things that irritated me which we can't go into here irritated me slightly more but that said I mean for anyone who enjoyed The Big Short I think this is going to be a film that they will enjoy great stuff OK vices are to Morris to get 50 more film reviews from Nigel and Wendy in just a moment right now let's go for a final play over single of the week from a new international this is next Republican. What a brilliantly bizarre single of the week for this week and next a politician and a new international and Janice will be back of course on Monday and she'll have a new choice for you editing too and for an afternoon sure on B.B.C. Radio Scotland B.B.C. Radio Scotland young today is no musician 20. The last time it was an imbalance he . Has been a really great year been afforded a lover to tease and perhaps maybe even have a way that's he will follow in her footsteps. Join me push me going to the city halls in Glasgow to fund B.B.C. Radio Scotland's young traditional musician 2019 part of Celtic Connections Sunday from 5 on 92 to 95 F.M. B.B.C. Radio Scotland OK Next up for a view today is the mule sees Clint Eastwood once more as both actor and director paired with narcos and Granter in a writer Nick shank and the film takes another dip into the murky underworld of drug cartels operating and making big money under the noses of American law enforcement Eastwood plays a 90 year old horticulturist and war veteran called Errol story despite noble intentions is a failure in his family and professional life but after a drug cartel discovers law enforcement don't take much notice of a wizened old man Earl takes on an unexpected side job to earn cash here's a moment from the film pulled over at the side of the road Earl has to explain the contents of his car boots to an inquisitive police officer and his very alert sniffer dog yelp search. Oh after her you know help. No no no I'm fine thank you but I got their. Ticket and I deliver M.P. Can survive nice and serious Yeah they can and she makes it worth the gamble I've ever tasted I feel sorry for her husband but you know if you're sort of become. A tense moment there from Clint Eastwood's new film The mule or the mule it's Eastwood 2nd film release in the past 12 months was the 1st time he's been both in front of and behind the camera since the grunts are you know in 2008 Nigel a welcome return for you yes and no I mean I love grand Serino And I kind of wish that that had been his last role in front of the glamour was that of the plan though I thought that was that was going oh yeah at the time he did say that but of course Nick Schenk who wrote the screenplay for that spec actually and then sort of put it forward knowing that it was a role that Clint would enjoy as similarly done the same thing here because he has written this clearly with clean in mind and then Clint is stepped up in the 88 year old man as both director and actor and I think that the fact that it fits him like a glove is both its sort of its biggest strength in a way and also its greatest weakness because it is if you are a long time fan of Clint which I am you know you love this kind of C'mon John Lee persona that he's developed in late 2 years he's got this kind of easygoing charm he's got this politically incorrect lingo that sort of marks him out as a man out time is a very much a kind of you take me or leave me kind of a guy and all of that's very present and correct but I think the problem is that it's all a bit too familiar here and that the pacing is a little bit slack it's all a bit obvious there are some terrible terrible plunking lines which you just think that's an forgive Clint make a bit of an effort here really so yes I mean there are a lot of easy pleasures but there are also some things where you just think this is sort of a bit too dawdling perhaps and the story sees are all trained. The cops on the gangsters When did you can if you if you managed to think out of a moral problem the premise the films you yeah I mean it's very easy you've got this film come out and you've also had Redford doing his you know I suppose it's one song the old man and man and a gun and you know both of them take a little bit of an issue with the whole you know he has these affectionate stories of privilege da white man getting involved in crime there's no actually a victim for A and then so despite this you know these films are told in a sort of light hearted style and yet it just feels a little bit it just kind of doesn't fit with the 21st century for me and I have a bit of a problem with that I mean I didn't like Gran Torino I remember seeing that back in 2008 and thinking I really don't need to see a grumpy old man on the screen a grumpy away cyst on the screen in a sense you know it's Nigel says you know he's got the politically incorrect lingo like always a grumpy already 60 it's like it's a very deep it depends what your perspective is and and for me it's kind of it's. It's already been time for Clint to step down really in sort of this capacity and it's really interesting there was a scene in this film you know bearing in mind the catching ground tearing of the scene designers say you know I don't know what it was supposed to be there for but it seemed to only be there to reveal that you know Clint's character is an old man who's totally oblivious to racial equality and it was like you know we knew he was this kind of old dude and it didn't seem to help things along it just seemed to kind of add if you had any issues with his current Tippett Yeah I mean for me you know it's a film about you know Clint playing this same flawed bloke who's been a flawed man always life he's just woken up to the fact he's flawed and the Seems to be under the impression that you know there's always this family who will at some point you know be awaiting his redemption and. Yeah it just didn't bring anything to me that I felt told a different version of that story and it felt you know highly dated. In doing so really and what about the rest of the cast as there's a raft the names are big names alongside. The police ex-wife Laurence Fishburne police detective Bradley Cooper as Cat Cat most game hunting deer in the gangs because it's the cast well used amongst all this knowledge and I wish I could say they were but to be honest I mean this is sort of subplot obviously there have to be some cops and the cops are played by you know the people you've just mentioned there but their roles are terribly underwritten and in fact the whole subplot doesn't really have any energy or sort of suspense to it I mean it's just sort of burbles along in the background and you sort of realize that at some point yes they're probably going to catch up with him but as Wendy said not too concerned one while the other I do think what is more interesting is the idea and this both kind of operates in the fiction and in real life as it were is the idea of Clint the man as opposed to Clint the screen icon atoning for his past sins as a father and I think it's quite clear here that the fact that he's cast his own daughter Alison as a character in the film who is the most resentful and the most angry about the way that he is Nicholas to the family over the years is signaling the fact that Eastwood is kind of telling you that he himself is sorry about this stuff and also the relationship with these ex-wife Mary who's played by Diane least who is sadly a bit wasted in a role that just requires her to be look a bit feeble and bit angry most of the time and then this is all a granddaughter Ginny who's played by tell you so far me and she has a slightly different attitude she slightly more removed a call from the hurt and the pain and the neglect because basically all the characters did in these early days was grow flowers I mean it's Clint growing flowers which is something new and has been said it was a multicultural but in addition to that he spent his entire time travelling around the various states of the U.S. Entering the. Flower competitions and lavishing more attention on the whole to cultural aspects of his life than on the familiar ones so I think there's something there it's a little bit sentimental in the middle and it's very very sentimental towards the end and I think some people will part company with it when the something you kind of touched on the American politics full of he debate immigration and crime is the mule part of that conversation is engage with those a lot of my life issues are the sort of absolutely no I'm not think this is my problem with that is it really it just sort of just it just plays tokenistic Lee with that the characters and those who are immigrants and the people who are part of the crew who were loading him up to do it's drug runs whatever but it's this is it the film isn't remotely situated in modern day America or it's this kind of film that's just made in one of these is made in the land of Hollywood and ignoring the you know the contemporary world and therefore Yes it's it it's a less a film full of that and I think what Nigel was saying about the kind of idea of Clint attending for his sins and that aspect of the story you know maybe that would have you know that could have been a fantastic story but it did require the other characters to be more significant and in fact the most you know touching scenes for me between Bradley Cooper playing detective Bates and Clint's character this 2 scenes where they chat and you just get the impression from the king of Bradley Cooper face who of course worked with Clint on American Sniper but didn't get to act with him and you just get this impression from the 2 key scenes between them that that's really a moment of reverence from Cooper to Clint and it's actually I was quite surprised that I did find the scenes you know a little bit moving and you know emotionally significant but they would be like little away sees in the middle of something that was just really a little bit pointless. A little on the poster. And I think we will know that they were actually not nice. Clinton supporter but there is as soon as an act of. Overseas legacy what was a director in this I believe is directing approach was to work very quietly not to give actors a chance to repair sort of the scenes does that come across in the final film it does I mean we're you know we've become very used to the idea of of Eastwood as a sort of acolyte of Don Siegel who directed several of his best films in the early years and it basically is a no frills directing style it's very minimal The acting is not that extravagant acting that people like to see sometimes he just likes to get people to be as natural as they can be and when that works it works and there are because you know quite a few just nice little scenes where they're in roadside diners that are in some sort of anonymous motel room in the middle of nowhere or they're in some sort of seedy motel or one of those kind of gas little hotel rooms got absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever but he brings something to it because the people relate to him in a way that sort of quite naturalistic but there is a limit to that I think and the pacing is one of the things I think people are going to have a problem with if anyone remembers the David Lynch film with a similarly elderly Richard Farnsworth in where he gets on these kind of agricultural tractor and drives across country to be reconciled with these He's brother who doesn't seem so some years that was a very atypical film for David Lynch but it has something of the same kind of moseying quality you know it just sort of joke and down the road and everything's a little bit sort of too slow and a little bit too labored I mean the problem I think with this film in a way is that if this Easy's lost screen parents he could have done a lot worse because it does play to many of the strengths on the other hand he could have done a lot better in the sense that he could have been stretched and pushed out sullied his comfort zone to do something more interesting could have done a lot worse could have done a lot better more course with. Just just one quick. Up on this one is it worth giving up your Friday night for to go see the mule Wendy I have to say in. Nigel if you're a. Fan you'll probably want to add it to the collection but to be honest if you waited for the D.V.D. It would not. Stuff measure Wendy thank you as you say that to most of your 15 as to going for a final review of the hour we're going to talk about almost unrecognizable Nicole Kidman in destroyer but 1st let's have a feed you know tonight's key sessions with Brody Hart here on B.B.C. Radio Scotland at 9 o'clock Alice met him featuring showcasing a D.B. Album meant I had a European to. Lash out. At The. Lash out from at tonight's key sessions your B.B.C. Radio Scotland 9 pm hosted as ever by Roddy Hunt talking about music choices just got a quick text you've got a great single week this week in the afternoon show from an oldish guy who walked. Into wants to buy them it sounds like a single McKenzie sword some love there for next reports and or single the week from a new international right finally we move on to our final film for review today and it's the grittiest of no Arthel are starting Nicole Kidman as we rarely see her destroyer starts in the present day where after a decade of heavy drinking washed up undercover police detective Ed Bell played by Kidman finds a body on the side of the road although fellow cops can ID the body air and recognize it straight away and knows it means a counter from a dark past is about to resurface What follows is a trip down the worst sort of memory lane as Ed and seeks to balance all over engines with protecting or off the reels daughter is part of the trailer. As you can. Find 17. He. Calls it you know why do you know why do you. Hold. Your own store. Placing a razor under cover grown up next to a guy. Yes except the coach says. OK cannot. You chose to play and Robert. In your last. Taster of the trailer from destroyer starring Nicole Kidman critics when you Lloyd Floyd are still with me to let us know their thoughts as you just heard there the phone the feel the film grit grit more grit but beyond that at the heart of it is Kidman performance Wendy what do you think do you invest in this character absolutely I mean it's interesting you know there's been that the big sort of push on the film and a lot of talk has been this is business real depart Shifa Kidman but I would argue that really you know the choice of film and T.V. Roles in recent times has been increasingly diverse and interesting so it's not that surprising she's really kind of shown that she's interested in being an actor and not just being a movie star and I think this obviously kind of highlights that which is why I'm absolutely astounded there have been 0 award nods for this film anywhere no BAFTA snow Golden Globes and now no Oscars they came out this week it's a complete mystery to me and it doesn't be a film that's polarising people. But as far as I'm concerned you know she plays this role masterfully and you know she is as you mentioned you know she's a mess and but what's really kind of gives the debts to the character and the story really flashbacks is that she elicits Reg sort of resignation rates of speed prop him in resignation. Rather than simply. See from those people around you know so you really get the sense this is this is been going on a long time this really is a long drawn out diabolically traumatic history for her she's drowning in this guilt and the film is a sequence of lots of different flashbacks and which I know some people have had a bit of a problem with and it is interesting when you watch the film 2nd time because the time Diet line really does play with you quite a lot but I think you know Director Karen has some wonderfully with this and it's really incredibly evocative it's dark it's cinematography is is beautiful and yet bleak in Los Angeles and the music the soundtrack really I found you know fascinating because it's really a very to really shifts between classical strings and electronic can uses grunge guitar you know really drives the kind of feel of the phone from start to finish so there's a lot going on here but Central is Kidman performance is Kidman is character I think it's fantastic each her own and this really is you know it's a procedural that is not just procedural and Nigel's as Wendy is just said there are a lot going on in this film it's roughly split into the present in flashbacks to events before that leave you piecing it together piece the story together we lost a bit of it one of these films really concentrate on I think you do have to pay attention yeah I mean it demands a little bit of you but then I like to have things demanded to be spoon fed these kind of you know easy plots where it's all very obvious what's going on in 10 minutes when you go oh right that guy did it thanks very much. It's very clever in the way that it withholds crucial pieces of information from you by eking out these flashback scenes to piece together whatever it was this traumatic event that happened in the past we can hint a little bit about that was what that was because she and her partner both her sort of emotional partner and her partner as a cop back in the day it was I think it was 17 years before so this has been a long. Yes went deep undercover infiltrated this armed robbery gang run by a very very creepy guy called Silas played by a guy from Yorkshire actually called Tony Keppel who gives a fantastic performance as a man who is like a psychotic character very very dangerous and unhinged and very unpredictable and you realize that whatever it is that has caused Erin to go on the slide is related to whatever it was that went badly wrong back in the day and I like the way that that sort of reinforced your sense of yes she's here now but she wasn't always this person something happened to her and when you're looking at her now you know the the the physical transformation is extraordinary the way that she's got this kind of sun ravaged face she's got these red rimmed doggies he's got this foot dragging war this really really kind of horse whispering voice that she's you know she's just it's like she is literally coming to the end of everything and the only thing that's motivating or is the idea is some kind of vengeance so we can't be too specific about that if in a way I think the film most resembles films from the 1970 S. Which for me is the the great era of Hollywood cinema so things like city limits because or even William freakin French Connection or more particularly a film that people don't know quite so well a film called to live and die in L.A. Which is really in for you can feel where Similarly the lead character becomes absolutely obsessed with tracking down one person and settling the old scores and I thought that that really played but if people are not used to that kind of pacing and that kind of seventy's grunge then they're going to find it difficult when you saw the comments of the about the film is is this is the story is by the book is that everyone does it matter here and I think I don't think that's fair at all and I'm intrigued that something to say that because the not least because the character of the central cop character and the kind of screwed up cop character is a woman and she's a mother that in itself. Means that you know and they didn't just kind of like transplant the man to women which is as happened often you often have the female cop in these things will be a single woman and she's never had a decent relationship in her life this is somebody who has loved and lost and she has a daughter and that's a key part of the story ongoing and and a key issue for Aaron to result with everything else that's going on so you know the complexity of that means that it isn't remotely by the book and as I said I mean I I'm kind of don't get some of the issue with it I mean one wonders I don't know you know award season if you look at the spread of film certainly that have been given you know that celebrates we know it at this time of year and they haven't been Doc films they've been diverse and they've been quite you know interesting there's been a lot of humor and lightness and maybe that's where we're at the moment and you know some people just just don't want to be taken to the doctor knows that is watching this film but. It's an it's so good and it's such a I think a fine piece of cinema it's a real shame because it is a massive role for Kidman it's a massive role therefore for a leading Hollywood actress and it's directed by women and I think it's a fantastic job and hopefully it will become a sleeper classic I would be I would be surprised if it doesn't to be honest because it's very good when his films that were or we copped to and years to come you'll get your I'll be staying I told you I will believe that we had this is clearly a huge draw a fantastic role for Nicole Kidman but what about the your song and song will catch you mention 20 careful with the rest of your Tony Keppel really tore up I thought I had forgotten who he was and I had to look him up and realize oh my god that's the other guy I saw in the in the Shane Meadows film back in the day I mean a long long time ago I did I have to say that unlike Wendy I did find the kind of the some of the subplots in not quite as convincing I thought had that the main character's relationship with her ex-husband Mary who really wasn't given much to do didn't really work and then of course there is this whole thing about this rebellious 16 year old daughter Shelby who's got this dodgy boyfriend that Nicole Kidman and character is trying to frighten off or encouraged to go away in various manners I didn't find that that was integrated quite as well as I would have liked and it tended to sort of arrest the momentum of the film a bit but I think the main body of the film and all of the poor performances throughout actually are really good given that some of them are you know sketched in a little more likely than others and also there are some lovely surprises in the script I mean there's there's a lovely moment which we can't give away or was it just a sort of a sleight of hand where she's doing a routine bit of surveillance and she's following somebody that she needs to follow She's following the money in fact and people get into a white van and they're sort of driving along acutely along and you think Oh we know we're going with this and then suddenly something happens and you're in a. Different situation and I thought that those moments of sort of really clever thriller plotting added to this kind of relentless nihilistic obsessive quality thing and gave it a sort of a chance also for caring for someone to show her chops with 2 very good set piece scenes and she really really did deliver on both of those sounds like a film that Steve's with you after you've you've been to see it when you would you agree would you recommend absolutely 100 percent yeah go see Nigel most definitely one of my favorites of the year so far great stuff great OK nice Wendy destroyer is it smallest of a good 15 before we let you go and head off into the sunset some for the recommendations as we like to ask more Nigel a story OK Westworld. You know there is a 3 disc Blu ray version of Westfield now where Westfield came out it was basically let's be honest Mad Max at sea so it's a post-apocalyptic syphon action movie Futureworld the polar ice caps have melted everybody's living on these cobbled together or at holes they call them you know made up of sort of scrap metal and bits of all boat Kevin Costner is the hero but he's the kind of loner who only looks after himself crosses palls with the impossibly beautiful Jeanne Tripplehorn and her adopted daughter and Nola who may or may not have a tattoo on her back which says this is the way to draw a land and it also has Dennis Hopper complete with eyepatch as a pirate it's a little bit daft but if you want to find out what went on because there are many many scenes many many tales I should say about how the was a troubled production how Costner ended up throwing the the director Kevin Reynolds out of the editing room in order to get the 2 hour version that was released at the theater and in this case you got 3 different versions of varying lengths with different bits you can make your own mind up finally So that's Water World War 2 when they were with you he said WEST Well you have order so well that's right I was going west west not. You know we're going sideways over the way our way yes absolutely at something completely the other end of the spectrum for me is the film Love Sonja it's actually inspired by true vents and it's a story involving basically Indian sex trafficking it's easy actually as you would imagine quite hard to watch at times but it's a nice frame porn film and it's very humanizing of these victims and I think that's what I feel sort of took away from it and most of all so it's the story of this is this girl's Sonja she's in rural India as many of the victims are and she ends up in Mumbai actually because her sister was sold by her father into the sex trade she didn't really understand that ends up in Mumbai pulled into it I mean really reveals the horrors and the incredible lengths that this trade goes to to ship women all over the world it's kind of it's quite horrifying but it's in lightning and it's humanizing as well at the same time so it's something that really kind of I don't know any involves you in and put you into a story of something that you know you tend to just read about in the papers so it's it's not an easy watch but it's an important watch and it's very well done and stands free to famous of course for Slumdog Millionaire great stuff to do contrasts the love Sonja and water world Nigel Wendy fabulous So we started the show thanks very much for the from the pleasure thank you much thanks I know the 2nd hour of the show would be hearing about a newly formed band of Billy performers called Buffalo blood ahead of their appearance of kill to connections to morrow so it's accepted news Gilead out with On Digital Radio $92.00 to $95.00 and each one will be dealing with B.B.C. Brady a skull. B.B.C. News at 3 o'clock I'm all of a Jones the former 1st Minister Alex Salmond has appeared in court in Edinburgh after his arrest it is not yet known what charge Mr Stone faces police had been investigating following a Scottish government inquiry into complaints of sexual harassment which he denies speaking outside court Mr Salman again strongly denied any allegations against him know that these proceedings criminal proceedings are live it is even more important to respect the court and therefore the only thing I can say is that I refute Absolutely.