but also because black and white enables you to do infinite shades of grey in terms of the political turmoil. i also think it's important to acknowledge that there is a lot of terence davis in this — particularly in the fact that when he — the kid goes to the cinema and the cinema is suddenly in colour, chitty chitty bang bang is suddenly in colour, and that thing about the rapture of going to the cinema when you're young is something that, really, terence davis kind of pioneered and i think that branagh has taken a leaf out of his book. i think this is a very charming, engaging — to some extent slightly schmaltzy, but, hey — i think it hits that sweet spot between the film that pleases the critics and the film that absolutely pleases the crowds. i think it's got a really strong shot at being — i told you this before — i think it's the best picture contender. i mean, i — it would not surprise me at all if this walked off with the top prize at the oscars because it's kind of got that written all over it. it's made with real love and heart, and yeah, there are a couple of things that are a little bit hokey about it and it's slightly sentimentalised, but it's a childhood view — it's a memoir about childhood. it's fiction, but it's clearly inspired by real life, and as you said, from watching that clip, if that clip didn't sell you the movie, nothing well, frankly. yes! it sounds — it sounds delightful. and it's funny because british people, ithink, think of kenneth branagh still as a classical stage actor, but actually, he has directed a lot of films, and this is a... 0h, he's a — he's a very accomplished film—maker. i will still fly the flag for frankenstein, which is much derided, and i think that is a very, very underrated film. 50, second film this week. total change of gear. nightmare alley — new film by guillermo del toro who, obviously, shape of water, but this actually dates back to when he was making cronos, which was like a vampire movie. and this is based on a novel from the �*a05 that was first filmed in 1947 — a kind of a film noir. story is bradley cooper is a natural born con man. he's running away from his past. he takes up with a carnival. he learns the tricks of mentalism — like a coded way in which you can do an act that makes you look like a mind reader. first half of the film takes place in a carnival, the second half takes place in the city, where he develops an act as the great stanton — the great mind reader. and then, his path crosses with cate blanchett, who is a psychoanalyst, and he's kind of offered the opportunity to sell his soul, which hejumps at. what i love about this is — well, three things. firstly, i love guillermo del toro�*s films anyway, because he's a properfilm—maker. he make films that — they — he create worlds. you know, the world is artificial, but it's also got its feet on the ground. the whole thing is completely immersive. second thing is, yes, this is a neo noir but it's — it owes a lot to horror, it owes a lot to tod browning's freaks from the 1930s. it's a real sort of cinematic treat. and the other thing is it has the darkest ending of any film in recent memory, and i love the fact that it doesn't bottle out. i love the fact that it's — the story has got an arc to it and it goes from here to the — and the place that it's going to is inevitable and it does not look away from it. it's real cinema, it's transportive. i thought it was great. i know you're not a horrorfan, so i'm going to say to you it's a film noir, it's a neo noir, it's not a horrorfilm, 0k? i am intrigued, most definitely. i think you'll like it. i — i sort of enjoyed the shape of water, which won the oscar, didn't it? yeah, absolutely. but in a slightly odd way, perhaps without understanding it, but i — but i enjoyed it. it's, you know... visually, it was extraordinary, and i'm getting the sense that this is, too. shape of water is a creature from the black lagoon meets splash. this is nightmare alley, as re—envisioned as a horrorfilm, but it's not a horror film. 0k! 0k. i get it, i get it! ajournalforjordan. ajournalforjordan — again, this couldn't be more different. directed by denzel washington, true story about first sergeant charles monroe king who, while he was in iraq, kept a diary for his son of home truths and life lessons. chante adams and michael bjordan are the journalist and soldier who are the parents tojordan. here's a clip. ah, there we go! little head. ispy... and... . . heartbeat. dana, thank you. i love you. i love you, too. you guys want to know the sex? both: yes! chuckles. it's a boy. i knew it! yes, it's a boy! ah, what's up, little fella? how you doin'? it's papa! chuckles. i knew it was a boy, i knew it! so, here's the thing — i mean, it feels, to some extent, like a tv movie. on the good side, it is good to see a film in which male heroism is portrayed as being caring and being sensitive and teaching lessons about respecting yourself, respecting your heritage, respecting women particularly, and its messages are all very positive. it does, however, feel — it's a little bit kind of ordinary. it has a strange time structure, flashing backwards and forwards, which i kind of thought complicated rather than compressed the narrative. and it's — it's not a brilliantly made film but it is a film whose heart is in the right place and i do confess, as i get older, you know, you see a film in which — which is so clearly — look, these are good messages, these are strong messages, these are the kinds of things that people — i can imagine somebody, in the right frame of mind, somebody really taking it to heart. i thought it was ok. it is more of a tv movie than a film. 0k. but its heart in the right place. 0k. and your best out this week is still... licorice pizza. and you still don't like it? well, i don't love it! i don't love it. i cannot tell you how many frank exchanges i have had in the newsroom in the last week about licorice pizza. yeah... and there's a divide out there. oh, it's very... there's a real divide. it has proved surprisingly divisive — much more so than i thought it was going to — but, hey, you know, in a way, that's what cinema is meant to do. it is meant to divide opinion. and i still love the two central performances, and we're looking at them now. alana haim isjust great. i mean, and she — you know, neither of them have starred in a movie before and, i don't know, it feels natural and funny and — i mean, idid — i — i just found it enchanting. i know people who absolutely loathe it! so, it's, you know, it is kind of interesting the way it's dividing audiences but, you know, it's a paul thomas anderson film and like punch drunk love, his films are not for everyone. and i'm intrigued by your choice of dvd this week. yeah — well, this is streaming. i don't know it, but i'm interested. so, not dvd — streaming. streaming, streaming. ok, so but it is also in cinemas, but mainly streaming. so mass, which is on sky cinema — but is also in some cinemas. this is a forehander about two sets of parents meeting in a room in a church in the wake of the tragedy that has engulfed them and they are having the meeting in order to attempt to find some kind of reconciliation. and it's jason isaacs, martha plimpton, reed birney, ann dowd — really, really great actors. fran krantz is the writer—director — debut feature. i thought it was astonishingly good. i saw it a year ago when it played at sundance, which was the virtual festival, and it's kind of now got lost in all the awards. but it's an ensemble cast like you've never seen before, um... and i looked at it and wondered whether it had started life as a play, actually, because a couple of the american actors are real, classic stage actors — martha plimpton among them. yeah, yeah — i mean, great performances — no, it didn't. and weirdly, enough, it is actually very cinematic when you consider that it is a film about four people in a room, talking. the other thing to say is the subject matter that it's dealing with may be very, very dark and very, very difficult but it is a — it is not a film about despair, it is a film about hope, and that makes it quite a hard film to sell because it is dealing with some very, very dark subject matter — school shootings and, you know, tragedies like that — but the performances are brilliant — i mean, absolutely brilliant — and i saw it, knowing nothing about it other than a friend of mine had said "jason isaacs is in the best film i've seen in ages" and it's — i would really hope if you get a chance to see it in a cinema, go and see it in a cinema. otherwise, it is on sky cinema. but however you see it, see it, because it is one of the most powerful films i've seen in a good many years. and it's funny how something can get lost, actually, maybe in that covid way, things have been so different and... it has been such a strange time for cinema and, you know, stuff opening on the small screen rather than the big screen and then simultaneously. and also, around awards season — as you can telljust in this one show — we've had nightmare alley, we've had belfast, all of these things suddenly backing up whereas last week, it was a very different — was a very different picture. so i think during awards season, things do get lost in the shuffle. please, don't miss out on mass. 0k. it is so worth your time. i'd love to know what you think of it. i'm looking forward to that, despite — yeah, really looking forward to that, streaming and cinemas. thank you very much, mark. thank you. it's a cracking week. thank you. see you next time and enjoy your cinema—going, whatever you choose to see. see you very soon. bye— bye. hello. it has been a very dry january so far weather—wise, with most parts of the uk only having seen around half of the rainfall they'd normally have expected by this point in the month. this area of high pressure has kept things dry for most of us during this weekend, but it has also trapped a lot of cloud underneath it. this is the earlier satellite picture. you can see the extent of the cloud, only limited bright or sunny spells, but where we do stick with that cloud as we head through this evening and tonight, it will at least hold the temperatures up. if there are clear spells, say, through parts of wales, the midlands, up into northern england, northern ireland, southern scotland, temperatures could drop away maybe low enough for a touch of frost in a few places, and there could be some fog patches around as well. by the end of the night, we see a band of rain starting to push into the far north of scotland, but this will be quite a week affair, this weather system, and it won't make much progress southwards as we go through the day tomorrow. for most of us tomorrow, it is another largely dry but rather cloudy day. best chance of sunshine through parts of north wales, the north midlands, northern england, northern ireland, southern and eastern scotland, and may be late in the day across the far southeast of england. stuck under the cloud through parts of the midlands, maybe only 4 or 5 degrees. a bit milderfurther north — 9 or 10 for parts of scotland. now, that weather front will tend to get the life squeezed out of it through monday night into tuesday as our area of high pressure builds back into the picture. so, really, we're back to square one on tuesday — lots of dry weather, but lots of cloud. there could be some fog patches around as well. this westerly flow will feed some spots of light rain and drizzle into some western parts of scotland. temperatures at 4 degrees for birmingham, maybe 8 or 9 in parts of western scotland. now, as we head through tuesday night into wednesday, we will see another weather system approaching, and this one is likely to have a bit more life about it. so, the potentialfor some heavier rain, but really only affecting parts of scotland. some of that perhaps into northern ireland and the far north of england, but further south, it is largely dry. still quite a lot of cloud, some spells of sunshine, but temperatures a little higher by this stage. it will feel milder — 9—11 degrees in many places. and we will see some milder weather as we head towards the end of the week, a little bit of sunshine around on thursday, more cloud on friday, and it stays dry for most of us. this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a former ukrainian mp linked by britain to an alleged russian plot to take control of ukraine says his country needs new political leaders. ukraine's ambassador to britain urges allies to stand with them. that's our message to all international parties — if you'd like to help us, if you can find the nerve and the spine to help us, we are there. we are fighting anyways. the world health organization's european director says it's plausible that the region is moving towards a "kind of pandemic endgame". a former british conservative party government minister nusrat ghani says she was sacked from herjob because of her muslim faith. the government chief whip says the claims are false. the taliban meet civil society groups and women's rights activists in norway, in an attempt to access to billions