the week. hello this is bbc news with me, lukwesa burak. the headlines: britain's foreign secretary liz truss will become the uk's lead negotiator with the european union on the northern ireland protocol following the resignation of lord frost. the netherlands goes into a tough new lockdown over christmas amid concerns over the omicron variant. the uk health secretary refuses to rule out tighter covid restrictions before christmas in response to the rapid spread of the omicron variant. he says it is time to be cautious about social interactions. votes are being tallied in hong kong, in an election where candidates could only stand if they proved their loyalty to the chinese communist party. coming up in a moment on bbc news, it's sportsday. but first, here's the film review with jane hill and mark kermode. hello and a very warm welcome to the film review on bbc news. to take us through this week's cinema releases is mark kermode. hi, mark. what have you been watching? very mixed bag. we have spider—man: no way home. we have the lost daughter, the directorial debut from maggie gyllenhaal. with olivia colman. and the tender bar, with ben affleck and directed by george clooney. spider—man, is it good? laughter. pause! yes. yes, but? this picks up straight after the previous film. the identity of spider—man is revealed as peter parker, and suddenly the whole world knows who he is and they're ready to turn against him. here's a clip. that's right, folks — spider—man is, in fact, peter parker! are you spider—man's girlfriend? whoa, whoa, whoa! please don't touch her. all clamouring. you murdered mysterio? you helped to murder mysterio? all this time, people looked up to him and called him a hero. well, i call him public enemy number one! i don't want to do this ever again! mj, i'm so sorry, but i can't see anything with your hand in my... i'm sorry, i'm sorry! dude! he gasps. so, as a result of his identity being revealed, his world starts to fall apart, as do the worlds of those closest to him. he goes to doctor strange. to say, is there anything we can do? at the beginning of it, please don't give away any plot spoilers. so i won't. what i'll say is this — the movie essentially picks up the battle from into the spider verse. i thought it was absolutely terrific. that idea of different realities colliding. and it builds upon that legacy, and i saw it in a packed screening, and it was full of fans. at an imax. there were six separate occasions in which the fans burst into whoops and cheers and applause. there is no questions, it was really playing well. as far as the fans are concerned. part of it was like going to see a band who rather than playing their new album, play the greatest hits. right. interspersed with new songs. i don't mean that necessarily as a bad thing. the other thing is without giving away any spoilers, there is a big comparison between this and a very famous 1970s doctor who. and that's not a bad thing. so do i. i think it manages to be self—referenctial, funny and witty and have a kind of sense of, let's do call back to all the things that you love, but in a way that is inventive. there is a section in which i was smiling all the way through, thinking this is really working. pretty much in the middle. this is really fun. it's for me slightly too long, but when we get into the end, it doesn'tjust descend into that thing about, let's have loads of people just randomly hitting each other. so i think it's actually pretty good, and as far as the fans are concerned, it hits all the right notes. i literally sat there with the audience, and there were six separate occasions in which they burst into cheers. that is what this movie should be doing. as someone who is married to... this will be a must see. i guess i really mean, is it fun? yes. it is fun. the central section is particularly good fun. ok, well, i shall be watching that. i know! i'm interested in the second choice. yes. this is maggie gyllenhaal�*s directorial debut. she is a comparative literature teacher on holiday in greece. she sees dakota johnson as a young mother who suddenly disappears on a beach. there's a moment of panic, where is the child? but what happens is she looks back into her own past and look at decisions that she made in a former life when she's played byjesse robbins. two actors playing the same character in very different ways. she said she didn't want the people to believe they were the same person. they were two sides of the same person. when she read the novella, she felt it was saying things about being a woman, being a mother, being a professional that had not been set out loud before. and she loved the idea of making it into a conversation. i think there's an awful lot of films of francoise ozon, the idea that there is a surface, but beneath the surface, there are secrets waiting to be revealed. there's a real sense of dread in it. i know a couple of people who've seen it who saw, as far as i can tell, a completely different film to me. they read it in a completely different way. interesting! great performance by olivia coleman, really well directed by maggie gyllenhaal, who not only is a great writer and actor and director, but can also play the theramin! one of the most complicated instruments. i think this is really fascinating. i think it's terrific. it's into the enemas now and it's on netflix from the 31st of december. i think everyone will bring their own film to the film. really intrigued. i want to know what you think about it. but i think you'll like it. i love maggie gyllenhaal as an actress so i'm interested and what she does behind the camera. she's great. the tender bar. directed by george clooney from a pulitzer prizewinner. i wasn't familiar with his work. tells the story of him growing up with a mum who says he do anything. you can go to somewhere like yale, and he has an absent father, just a voice on the radio. because he is a dj. but instead, he has uncle charlie, played by ben affleck, who deals... he's a barman who dishes out life information in a very likeable way. here's a clip. ok, two rules. i'm never going to let you win, ever. if you beat me, you'll know you beat me, fair and square, but i never let you win and i'll always tell you the truth. i saw you in the yard playing sports. you're not very good, and probably not going to get a whole lot better, so might be wise for you — in order to avoid tears and disappointment and, above all, delusion — to find some other activities that you like. you know, like... what do you like to do the most? i like to read. i also like to read. i'm good at sports, too. i really liked... he's a really likeable character. i was reminded of hillbilly elegy... which i really didn't like! what's interesting is... a similar story. from a difficult childhood and progress to a celebrated writer. hillbilly elegy was like a bunch of caricatures and sanctimonious quality. and it really annoyed me. this was like, ok, i like these people. i like ben affleck�*s performance, and it felt, in that very george clooney way, it felt solid and reliable and good—hearted and coming from a good place. i confess that there's an awful lot of goodwill towards george clooney because i think he's a decent, solid film—maker, but i thought this was warm and funny and not earth shattering. you can pretty much plot it out from the beginning. but there are some really lovely intimately—observed details, particularly when uncle charlie is just explaining to the young boy how the world works. you kind of think, if i was in a bar with that guy, i would never leave the bar. i would just stay there listening to him. and your best out this week? and you saw it, lamb. tell me you love it. you are right, it's not a horror film. it's not. i take it all back. i did sit and watch it with a knot in my stomach. thinking, "something bad is going to happen, something bad is going to happen". it is bonkers. it is absolutely bonkers. it's completely bonkers, and i was surprised i enjoyed some bits of it, given that it is nuts. but beautiful. there is a moment and it when you go, "what?!" there's a moment in which one of the characters goes, "what's going on? " you think that's what the audience is thinking. some of it is deliberately funny. i'm sorry, i can't quite get my head round the fact that i'm watching this couple, raising a lamb, but raising the lamb as a child, and then you start to see the lamb the way they see the lamb. it's also about grief and separation and parenting anxieties, and bits of it are funny. it's definitely about grief and i spent a lot of the film thinking, "is the lambjust in their imagination?" exactly. and you get to the end and you think that'sjust nuts, it's bonkers. i love the answer, he says, what is this, what is this? and he says, "happiness". i won't give any plot spoilers. there is something much later, where there was something that happens and i thought, ok, that's too far. i could deal with the lamb. i could take this much nonsense but now you have stepped over it. and you have to see the film to know what we're talking about. do see it. it would look beautiful on a big screen. i'm so glad you saw it. i'm still not quite sure. i'm bemused, but interested. good. bemused but interested is a very good review rather than going, "yeah, it was all right bemused and interested." and a first time film—maker. really, really well done. very quickly. being the ricardos, this drama about lucille ball being accused of being a communist. a story i did not know anything about before, and i actually thought it was interesting. some of the reviews have been a bit sniffy, but it's in cinemas now. it will be available over the christmas season. i think most people will watch on video. it's about a television programme and a television star, so it kind of makes sense and i think its primary audience will be on television. but i kind of enjoyed it. i was confused by how sniffy some of the reviews were. and i think it's going to be a perfect thing to watch over christmas. yeah. interesting enough, interesting tale. and i knew nothing about the story. i did not know anything about this story at all. it turns out that most of it is factually true. some of it is invented, but most of it is true. there's plenty... unlike lamb! my goodness! lovely. i meant to say, happy christmas. happy christmas. we will meet again injanuary. have a lovely christmas. enjoy your cinema watching over the festive season. thanks very much for being with us, bye—bye. that's it for this week, though. thanks for watching. goodbye. hello and welcome to sportsday. celtic celebrateas they win a 20th scottish league cup trophy a thriller at tottenham, as spurs hold 10 man liverpool to a 2—2 draw in a game full of incident and drama. and it was notjoe root�*s day — as the england captain falls in the final over in adelaide and faces a second ashes defeat. hello and welcome to sportsday. where celtic are celebrating a first trophy under their new manager ange postecoglu. they came from behind to beat hibs 2—1 in the scottish league cup final at hampden park this afternoon. theirjapanese striker, kyogo furuhashi, returned from injury to score both goals, to extend celtic�*s unbeaten record at hampden to 18 games. adam wild reports. it has been some time since scottish football had a full house for a cup final. the noise at hampden suggested those there were making the most of it. on the field, well, perhaps a little less so. in the first half, chances were few and fleeting. the occasion deserved more. after the break, it arrived, the game flashing into life, paul hanlon heading hibs in front, with a determination matched only by his jubilation. it was a lead that lasted a little over a minute. furuhashi finally taking a celtic chance, the control perfect, the finish unstoppable. if that was impressive, his second was quite exquisite, only one touch need this time, and celtic in front for the first time. they would hang on, if onlyjust head burning and going agonisingly close. this was celtic�*s day, scenes that had... —— scenes that had been a long time coming. —— scenes that had been a long time coming. it could well prove to be a pivotal day