Im nothing if not persistent the death of stalin, there couldnt be a more starry cast for sure. An extraordinary cast. This is Armando Iannuccis latest project, we know him from the thick of it and veep. Now taking his political scalpel to russia. 1953, stalin collapses in the kremlin and is found in what is referred to as a pool of indignity. Immediately, his cronies gather round, played by Simon Russell beale, steve buscemi, paul whitehouse. Take a look at a clip. The head is the heaviest part. All right, ready . Three, two. One . Lift . Jesus. God whoa to me. This way. Yeah, all right. Are you wearing pyjamas . Can we just stop twittering like fishwives at the market and concentrate on. Whoa, whoa open the door back up, back up, back. No, that way get back to the kitchen now move now, now hes heavier than i thought hed be. He thinks stalins too heavy. No, its a compliment gold is heavy. Well, youd know, youve looted enough of it, you flimsy little pirate get back in the dining room stop using his feet now, were both chuckling along. Because it is very funny, and there is a great sense of farce about it, adapted from a series of french graphic novels, but it manages that extraordinary trick of being on the one hand funny but also horrifying. The dialogue is ripe with laugh out loud one liners soviet planes dont crash what plane crash . Only comrades and old friends can shout at each other like this. But in the background is the spectre of torture and murder and worse, and i think that what iannucci manages to do is keep that darkness omnipresent. So all the time this is playing out with a brilliant cast, really funny, nobody doing a cod russian accent, as you heard, everybody doing sort of a melange of accents. But you do get a sense that it is all unfolding against a background of genuine terror. At the beginning, Paddy Considine is broadcasting an orchestra recital, stalin rings up and says, it sounds lovely, i want a recording, and they have to keep the orchestra behind to do it again, because they were not recording it. It gives you this sense that nobody can put a foot wrong because something terrible will happen. So everyone is terrified of saying the wrong thing, everyone except forjason isaacs, playing the red army hero zukhov, speaking in this broad yorkshire accent, very brash character, taking no nonsense from anybody. On the one hand, it is historically interesting, it is also very funny, but a very dark, and i think it needs to be, because if it wasnt, you would feel very uneasy about dealing with this particular part of history. I am curious about that, such a dark period, executions, famine, and yet i only saw the trailer at the cinema earlier this week and the trailer, to me, made it look quite a silly film. I thought, how can you make such a silly film about a dark period of history . I am wondering if the trailer is not representative of what you get. You have hit the nail on the head, the trailer is slightly misleading, and i understand why, you want to say this is a broad comedy, and there are a lot of laughs in the trailer. The film itself is a lot darker, a lot more horror underpinning it. There is a character played by Michael Palin who spends his entire time tying himself up in knots to make sure that he is following the right line, what would stalin have wanted, what would the party have wanted . It reminded me of his character in Terry Gilliams brazil, which was also funny and horrifying at the same time, and i thought these two things were tonally rather similar. The tag line is, a comedy of terrors, and the terror is not in the trailer, but it is in the film. Ok, Armando Iannucci can do no wrong in my book. And he hasnt done any here. Your second choice of the week. So secret superstar, which i loved. Laughter and tears, hindi treat, which combines the teen fantasy of Hannah Montana with a Strong Social realist message dealing with domestic abuse, divorce law, gender selective pregnancy termination and more. A young girl dreams of taking part in a talent competition, but her father is abusive, he beats her mother, so her mother gets a laptop and says, why dont you put your songs on youtube . She has to hide behind a burkha to cover her face. Next thing, she becomes an internet sensation, this secret superstar, but she still has to deal with the stuff that is going on at home, the mistreatment of her mother, she wants her parents to get divorced, and it manages brilliantly, on the one hand, fantastic tunes and performances. Aamir khan was wonderful, this slimy talent showjudge who, during the course of the movie, discovers there is more to life than self serving success. I laughed, i cried, i absolutely loved it, i thought it was a really wonderfully well told story, a real girl power story, absolutely about the relationship between mother and daughter, about triumphing over, you know, insurmountable odds. It has you punching the air at all the right moments, laugh out loud moments of comedy in it and the tunes were. I just loved it, its called secret superstar, and i thought it was a real treat. Good recommendation your third choice. Happy death day. It has done very well at the us box office. It has, it is a satirical horror movie, a College Student wakes up in the dorm, she doesnt know how she got there. Its her birthday, people are organising secret parties, and things could not get worse until somebody wearing a baby mask chases her with a knife, and she wakes up in the same dormitory and has to live the same day over and over. Its groundhog slay look, i know this isnt going to make any sense, but ive already lived through this day. Twice. Tree, i. No, no, believe me, i know it sounds totally crazy, but this is happening to me, i swear to god. Tree, im sure it feels like youre. Ok, ok, you made me a cupcake for my birthday, right . Youre about to give it to me, and then later on tonight theres a surprise party. Who told you . Was it becky . No, nobody told me, thats what i mean, dont you see . I know what is going to happen before it happens lori. Lori, somebodys going to kill me tonight. Because its self aware, people say, its groundhog day meets scream, but you can look further back, as far back as happy birthday to me, even as far back as the twilight zone. Its a simple idea, and an idea we have seen before, more than once, but it plays it well. Its got a tongue in cheek tone, not scary, i mean, there are chiller moments in it, as someone who see many slasher movies, i wasnt scared, but it dealt with the ideas well. Its made with real enthusiasm and real wit, and its not surprising that it has proved a crowd pleaser. Its a proper popcorn movie, a friday night entertainment. I know youre not a horror movie fan, but i think you would enjoy it, you would appreciate the way it is put together, the fact that its tongue in cheek but well done. Give it a go when you do your christmas review of the year, i want you to add up how many times you have said, i think you will enjoy this horror film, jane its not really horror, its a satirical slasher. I hear you. So, best out . Still blade runner. Two and three quarters hours, have you seen it yet . No, because its nearly three hours two and three quarters, crucially not the same. You love blade runner, right . I will try and see it. Its wonderful, visually astonishing, Denis Villeneuve has done a terrificjob, it takes its time because it needs to, because it is dealing with big, serious issues. If youre a Science Fiction fan, and i know you are not a huge fan, it is a world building film, big ideas, not afraid of those ideas, and, frankly, when was the last time you saw a sequel to a really good film that didnt make you think, i wish they hadnt done it . Thats true. They understand the film, the original writer for blade runner, hampton fancher, adapted from Philip K Dicks do androids dream of electric sheep . , he was the key writer, and you can tell its about something. I think youll love it, i genuinely think youll like it. It is at least on my list, to be fair. Dvd, for anyone who wants to stay in . Gifted, a sweet film about a single parent raising a gifted young child, he wants her to have an ordinary life, but her pushy grandmother has got other ideas. It owes certain debt to a film byjodie foster called little man tate, which i liked. I went into this thinking that this was cheese on toast, but i really liked it, really well played, just the right amount of sentimentality, and there was something a little bit more astringent in there as well, terrific performances, and its a real heart warmer. Mostly, when people say that movies are heart warming, they dont mean that, theyjust mean they are cheesy, but this won me over, and no one was more surprised than i, i thought i would hate it, but i really liked it. Plenty to go and see this week, mark, thank you. A quick reminder before we go that youll find more film news and reviews from across the bbc online at bbc. Co. Uk markkermode. And you can find all our previous programmes on the iplayer. Thats it for this week, though. Goodbye. Good evening. Of course, taking centre stage has been storm brian. Bringing strong winds. The centre has been working across Northern England out into the north sea, where it will die as we go on through sunday. Thejia ren or showers around, but the wins took centre stage earlier today. Gusts around the coast of wales in South West England a good 70 miles an hour. Some rain. But not windy in lan. Gusts around a0 to 50 miles an hour. Those wind values will continue tonight. Windy inland. Across the north west of england north wales, and through the pennines, could get gusts up to 60. Plenty of rain or showers around as well. More across western areas. Temperatures 9 ii well. More across western areas. Temperatures 9 11 degrees. Sunday morning, that is where brian is. This storm will become less strong. Rain stretching across north west england, getting blown across the midlands and into east anglia. The rain clears out by the afternoon, and there will be a mixture of sunshine and showers. The majority of showers will be in the west. Fewer further east. A cooler, fresher day, with north westerly winds. Temperatures ii ia celsius. On monday, temperatures will rise, because we are seeing south westerly winds come back in. Cloud around and fog patches in eels. Could be heavy rain in northern scotland, but through the afternoon, where scotla nd through the afternoon, where scotland and Northern Ireland turning brighter, with sunshine coming toa turning brighter, with sunshine coming to a monday afternoon. Temperatures of 16 or 17 degrees in the south, a sign of things to come. The exact position of this area of cloud is uncertain, but there should be sunshine in the south east. Temperatures could be as high as 80 degrees on tuesday afternoon. After that . As a get to thursday, we are getting warm airfor this that . As a get to thursday, we are getting warm air for this time of year, coming from north africa, across iberia, and washing up on our shores. What you know . Temperatures on thursday could get to 22 degrees. These are the average temperatures you would see injuly, the height of summer. You would see injuly, the height of summer. It is pretty unusual to get them this late in october, but they are coming our them this late in october, but they are coming oui way them this late in october, but they are coming our way through southern pa rt are coming our way through southern part of england on thursday. Rain around before that warmer weather wafting our way. And that is your weather. This is bbc world news, im samantha simmonds. Our top stories catalonias leader says he will not accept madrids plan to curb the regions powers. As thousands take to the streets of barcelona, Carles Puigdemont makes a passionate appeal for the defence of catalonias rights. We do what we do because we believe ina we do what we do because we believe in a democratic and peaceful europe. After growing international criticism, the World Health Organisation rethinks its decision to make Zimbabwes President , robert mugabe, a goodwill ambassador. As afghanistan buries victims of a mosque attack on friday, another car bomb kills 15 Army Personnel in kabul. Also coming up donald trump has announced he plans to release thousands of classified documents relating to the assassination ofjohn f kennedy in 1963