you are watching bbc news, the latest headlines for you. you are watching bbc news, the latest headlines for you. the queen will pay tribute to how the people of manchester and london dealt with this year's terror attacks. in her christmas day broadcast she'll say the cities‘ "powerful identities" had shone through in the face of appalling attacks. meghan markle has made her first public appearance with the royal family, as she attended the traditional christmas day service at the church on the queen's sandringham estate in norfolk. pope francis has renewed his call for peace in the middle east. in his traditional christmas address he urged israel and the palestinians to continue to work towards a peaceful two—state solution. euston station in london is open as a shelter today and to serve a christmas dinner to hundreds of homeless people in the capital. volunteers from homelessness charities and network rail will serve the festive meal. now on bbc news, film critic

mark kermode takes a look back at the big releases of the year, sorting the crackers from the turkeys — in review 2017: the year in film. hello and welcome to this review of the year in film. i'm mark kermode and we're here at the cinema museum in south london. over the next half an hour, i'll be looking back at some of the best movies released in uk cinemas in 2017. and what a year it's been. as always, the film year began with the oscar circus which back in february became the scene of one of the most astonishing debacles in awards history as la la land, which had already picked up gongs for best director, best cinematographer,

best music, best original song, best production design, and best actress, for emma stone, was announced as the winner of the best picture award, only for that to be revealed as a mistake. i'm sorry, no, there's been a mistake. moonlight, you guys won best picture. in fact, the award went to moonlight. director barryjenkins‘s minor key masterpiece which also won best adapted screenplay and best supporting actor for mahershala ali. among the night's big hitters, manchester by the sea picked up the award for best original screenplay and best actor for casey affleck. meanwhile, viola davis won the supporting actress award for her role in the fences. an adaptation of august wilson's stage play directed by leading man, denzel washington. i gave 18 years of my life to stand in the same spot as you! as always, some of the most interesting movies competing on oscar night were in the foreign—language film category. my own personal favourite was toni erdmann, a jet black comedy from writer director, maren ade about father—daughter

estrangement boasting a brilliant central performance by sandra huller. in the end, the foreign—language film award went to the salesman, an affecting drama from iranian film director asghar farhadi, who had previously won the award for a separation. this time, in protest against president trump's controversial travel ban, farhadi boycotted the oscar ceremony, explaining that his absence was, "out of respect for the people in my country and those of six other nations who had been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the us." of course, all true film fans understand that cinema is an international medium that knows no boundaries or borders and in 2017, uk cinemagoers were treated to a veritable smorgasbord of delights from all corners of the globe. from israel came in between, the bittersweet debut feature from maysaloun hamoud about three palestinian women living in tel aviv, each fighting their own battle for independence and fulfilment. in the handmaiden, park chan—wook

transferred the story of sarah waters‘s novel fingersmith from victorian england to 1930s korea underjapanese colonial rule, with deliciously twisted results. dutch director paul verhoeven coaxed an oscar—nominated performance from french icon isabelle huppert in elle, a controversial drama about a parisian businesswoman playing cat and mouse with a violent assailant. in by the time it gets dark, thai film maker anocha suwichakornpong used the infamous atrocities of october 1976 as a jumping—off point for a kaleidoscopic meditation on past and present, truth and fiction, cinema and memory. a performance of tremendous wit, vitality and lusty defiance by sonia braga drove brazilian film—maker kleber mendonca filho's aquarius, a portrait of a woman refusing to be bullied out of her seafront apartment by developers.

professor. thank you so much. italian film—maker luca guadagnino scored a critical hit with call me by your name, which many have named their favourite film of the year. in february, hungarian film—maker ildiko enyedi scooped the top prize at the berlin film festival with on body and soul, a brilliantly bizarre tale of two misfits finding dreamy love against the stark backdrop of an abattoir. one of the most uncategorisable films to be released in uk cinemas in 2017 was i am not a witch, a remarkable zambian story from writer—director and british independent film awards winner rungano nyoni. margaret mulubwa stars as the young girl who is accused of being a witch

and given a stark choice — to accept her supernatural branding and live a tethered life as a sorceress, or to cut her ties with local tradition and be transformed into a goat. part social satire, part surrealfairy tale, this terrifically strange parable addresses magic and misogyny, superstition and social strictures, in a manner which is as indefinable as it is unmissable. although i am not a witch was shot and set in its director's homeland of zambia, rungano nyoni grew up in wales and the film is a british—french co—production. 2017 saw the release of several british—backed feature debuts which prove that home—grown talent continues to flourish. staying for the funeral? of course. my favourite british film of the year was hope dickson leach‘s the levelling, a poetic tale of family division and reconciliation which played out against the postdiluvian backdrop

of flooded somerset. i don't want this to be your fault! not again. having been named a star of tomorrow by screen international way back in 2007, it took hope dickson leach nearly a decade to make herfirst feature, which stars ellie kendrick and david troughton. it was well worth the wait. other screen debuts included lady macbeth, the first feature from theatre director william old royd . transferring its themes from russia to the rugged landscapes of victorian era north east england, the film made a star of florence pugh, who previously shone in carol morley‘s the falling, and she commands the screen in this lusty tale of repression and rebellion. yorkshire provided the arresting setting for god's own country, the feature debut from francis lee won the bifa for best independent film. depicting a tentative relationship to a young local farmer and a migrant romanian worker, god's own country was another low—budget british odyssey

with horizons as broad as the countryside itself. meanwhile, alex barrett's london symphony took cinema back to its silent roots, filming in over 300 locations to present a celebration of diversity and difference with a superb score by james mcwilliam. while gems such as the levelling and london symphony showed what can be achieved with limited resources, other british—based films have more multiplex—friendly appeal. films such as goodbye christopher robin, which gently interwove fact and fantasy as it retraced the creation of a children's classic. boasting some beautiful writing by frank cottrell boyce, this charming film, which could have been called saving mr milne, served as a fitting epitaph for the life and work of prolific producer steve christian who died earlier this year. and then there was breathe, which provoked both laughter and tears as it revisited the story of pioneering polio survivor robin cavendish.

with terrific turns from andrew garfield and claire foy, breathe marked the directorial feature debut for andy serkis, best known as the performance capture maestro who brought iconic characters like gollum and king kong to life. this year, serkis reprised the role of caesar in war for the planet of the apes, the third instalment in the rebooted dystopian fantasy franchise. war for the planet of the apes was just one of a number of fantasy blockbusters which proved that mainstream movies don't have to be drearily done to be popular. in fact, they can be inventive, challenging, funny, subversive, dark, delirious, whatever you want, just as long as it's good. music: "hurt" byjohnny cash. one of this year's most adventurous mainstream offerings was james mangold's logan, an x—men movie unlike any other, apparently made for people who prefer westerns like unforgiven

to standard comic book franchise fare. at the other end of the mood spectrum was pattyjenkins‘ wonder woman, a thrillingly empowering romp starring the indefatigable gal gadot, which proved a box office smash, thereby destroying once and for all those nonsensical myths about superhero movies requiring male heroes. incidentally, the rope—wielding figure of wonder woman also provided the inspiration for angela robinson's stranger than fiction tale of fetishism and female empowerment, professor marston and the wonder women, a real eye opener. for those who like their superheroes to come with a sense of humour, new zealand director taika waititi's thor: ragnarok was a delight. a rollicking adventure which turned out to be funnier than many of the year's alleged comedies. let's do get help. no. come on, you'll love it. i hate it. works every time. it's humiliating. do you have a better plan?

no. we're doing it. we're not doing get help. get help! please, my brother is dying! get help! help him! classic. as for kong: skull island, which featured thor co—star tom hiddleston, hats off to director jordan vogt—roberts, for managing to leave his quirky indie fingerprints all over this $200 million studio behemoth, which boasted the biggest primate you've ever seen on screen. of course, there were some clunkers, most notably the shambolic justice league, which suffered production problems ranging from the departure of the original director to studio uncertainty about how dark or light the finished film should be. in the end, itjust turned out dull. that's not something you could say about dunkirk, christopher nolan's overwhelming epic about the allied retreat from france in 1940. shot in the large imax format and best viewed on the biggest screen possible, preferably in 70mm, nolan's long nurtured labour of love is a stunning achievement which deftlyjuggles three

intertwining time periods, one week, one day, one hour, as it traces the story from land, sea and sky. and beneath it all is hans zimmer‘s devastating score, a rising chord of anxiety which tears the audience's nerves to shreds. whoa, whoa, whoa! there were thrills of a very different kind in edgar wright's baby driver, a pedal to the metal cocktail of music and movement which is best described as an american in paris meets the french connection. developing an idea that he had first explored in a 2003 music video for mint royale's blue song, wright's roller—coaster ride cast ansel elgort as a getaway driver who lives his life to the rhythm of a personal playlist. the result is a blast. kathryn bigelow cranked up the tension in detroit, a powerful reconstruction of a shocking incident that took

place amid five days of rioting during the summer of 1967. british actorsjohn boyega and will poulter headed an ensemble cast ably led by hurt locker director bigelow, who became the first woman to win the oscar for best director back in 2010. for those in search of laughter, the year's most unlikely romcom proved to be the perfect tonic. what is happening, what are you doing? i'm changing under this blanket. i've seen everything. remember? we were just having sex. yeah, but you were in the throes of passion then. based on the real—life experiences of co—writer and star kumail nanjiani, the big sick was while you were sleeping for the wide awake generation, a touching tale of cross—cultural entanglement between a pakistani born man and an american woman wrestling with the conflicting ties of unexpected love and arranged marriage. meanwhile, armando iannucci turned history into grim farce in the death of stalin. the star—studded cast sinking their teeth into this

brutal black comedy. one of the best things about being a movie critic is you get to see films about which you know nothing in advance. take, for example, secret superstar, a laughter and tears bollywood treat, which combines hannah montana style teen fantasy with a strong social realist message about domestic abuse, divorce law, gender selective pregnancy termination, and more. i went in unprepared and was completely won over by the charismatic energy of zaira wasim and her scene—stealing co—star and producer aamir khan. and on the subject of children finding beauty in tough surroundings, one of the best films of 2017 was the florida project, described by director sean baker as a modern day our gang. these are the rooms we're not supposed to go in. but let's go anyway! set in the rundown shadows of disneyworld, the florida project had heart and show to spare, thanks in no small part to a brilliantly natural performance by rising star brooklynn kimberly prince.

i've failed as a mother! mom, you're a disgrace. 2017 also turned up to be a great year for animation, cementing my belief that we are currently living through a golden age in which hand drawn and computer graphics live side by side with stop motion, rotoscoping and even oil painting. hey new kid, what did you do to land in here? so, are you the boss? guess you catch on pretty quick. and that's how you talk to girls. among the animated wonders which dazzled uk cinema audiences this year were my life as a courgette, a heartbreaking yet joyful swiss—french tale of abused kids finding kinship in a care home, and the red turtle, an ambitious east—west venture produced by japan's studio ghibli and directed by london—based animator michael dudok du wit at studios in france and belgium. a wordless gem about a man stranded on a desert island, this sublime film harks back to the universality of silent cinema, creating something of beauty

which can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, forever. 2017 also saw the release of loving vincent, billed as the world's first fully painted feature in which 125 animators working in greece and poland created 65,000 frames based on live action footage to create an astonishing collision of real life and artistic invention. blimey. do something. put the pen down, or we'll hypnotise you! and from the sublime to the ridiculous, let's hear it for captain underpants: the first epic movie, a film so fabulously funny that i saw it twice in the same week and wanted to go back again. tra—laa—laa! on the subject of seeing things a second time, it's worth pointing out that

alongside all the original material that played in uk cinemas this year, 2017 also saw its fair share of sequels, remakes and reissues. back in january, director danny boyle reunited us with the original cast of trainspotting in t2, which caught up with renton, simon, spud and begby, upon whom age and regret had taken its toll. considering how important trainspotting was to a certain generation of filmgoers, it was a huge relief that the sequel didn't trample all over our dreams and turned out to be a touching and inspiring movie in its own right. the same was true of blade runner 2049, denis villeneuve's eagerly—anticipated sequel to ridley scott's epochal original. there is an order to things. that's what we do here. we keep order. despite brilliant reviews, blade runner 2049 didn't quite prove the runaway box office hit that its distributors had hoped for. no matter, for my money, it's a masterpiece. true to the spirit of the original

but sharp enough to forge its own brave new world. and then there was paddington 2, a sequel which looked like it couldn't possibly live up to the promise of its predecessor, and then did. marmalade sandwiches all round. ow! on the remake front, sofia coppola won a best director award at the cannes film festival in may for the beguiled, her take on a tale previously told by don siegel in a twisted 70s classic about a wounded civil war soldier taken in by a cloistered group of women. injune, a new adaptation of daphne du maurier‘s my cousin rachel arrived in uk cinemas, with rachel weiss stepping nimbly into shoes which had really been filled by olivia de havilland. and in november, agatha christie's murder on the orient express which had been filmed several times before, most notably in 1974, pulled into cinemas with a glamorous cast led by actor director kenneth brannagh, and his extraordinary performing moustache. for me, one of the real

treats of 2017 was seeing william friedkin‘s gruelling masterpiece sorcerer back on screens in a glorious 4k restoration, heralding its long overdue reassessment as a masterpiece, a full 40 years after it first bombed in cinemas. one of the reasons sorcerer, itself a remake of wages of fear, flopped back in 1977 was that the fact it opened back—to—back with star wars, the film that ate the box office alive. four decades later, that intergalactic franchise is still ruling the galaxy, with episode viii, the lastjedi opening in the run—up to christmas, and once again driving sorcerer off our screens. huh! alongside the french connection, sorcerer director william friedkin is best known for the exorcist, the most successful horrorfilm of all time. 2017 was a very good year

for horror, with andres muschietti's adaptation of stephen king's it laying claim to the title of horror‘s biggest box office haul, albeit unadjusted for inflation. no! hiya, georgie! what a nice boat. it was a lot of fun, but the really ground—breaking work was being done on the edges of horror in films which slipped subtly across genres. one of the best films of 2017 wasjordan peele's get out, a sharp socio—political chiller which scratched away at the suface of so—called post—racial america, to find poisonous secrets lurking behind the liberal smiles. so are you guys coming up from the city? yeah, we're just heading up for the weekend. can i see your license please? he wasn't driving. i didn't ask who was driving, i asked to see his id. bizarrely, when it came to the golden globes, get out was placed into the best musical

or comedy category. although when asked to define the film himself, peele said pointedly, "it's a documentary". black swan director darren aronfsky toyed with horror films in his cinematic and powerful mother!, which found jennifer lawrence cast out of a latter—day eden into an increasingly overcrowded hell. other arthouse offerings such as olivier assayas‘s personal shopper, david lowry‘s a ghost story and yorgos lanthimos's the killing of a sacred deer twisted supernatural tropes to their own psychological end. while trey edward shults‘s creepy it comes at night got under the skin of modern american paranoia with its clever inversion of home invasion riffs. here in the uk, a heavily pregnant alice lowe wrote, directed and starred in prevenge, a uniquely weird antenatal shocker which brought together murder, madness and maternity in a fever dream of fear and farce. i would swap her to have him back. she can't hear you. she can, she's very articulate.

but for me, the best horror film, indeed the best film of the year was raw, the flesh gripping, french—belgian feature debut from writer—directorjulia ducournau. using cannibalism to tell its story of growing pains and sibling rivalry, raw is a astonishingly assured work from a unique film—maker whose vision is etched into every frame, straddling humour, heartbreak and horror with ease. there was horror of a very different kind in city of ghosts, one of the most striking documentaries of 2017 which looked at the online activists and citizen journalists in raqqa, who risked everything to let the world know what was really happening when their homeland was taken over by isis. this year also saw the uk release of i am not your negro, raoul peck‘s unique film about james baldwin, nominated in the best documentary category in the oscars in february before opening here in april. despite the theatrical success of films like fahrenheit 911, many people still view documentaries

as being more at home on television than in cinemas. 2017 was a year in which the boundaries between big and small screens became increasingly blurred. indeed, in their end of year round—up at the cinema magazine sight and sound named the tv series twin peaks: the return as the second best film of the year. meanwhile, netflix and amazon found their logos being booed at the cannes film festival after french cinemas complained that films intended for the home viewing market should not be allowed to compete in a film festival unless they have a proper theatrical release. it's a fair point, but who, other than netflix, would have allowed the korean director bong joon—ho to make a movie as wonderfully weird as the creature feature ija, which competed for the palm d'or? of course, the really big controversy for which 2017 will be remembered are the stories of sexual abuse and harassment which multiplied in the wake of the harvey weinstein scandal. as the silence surrounding harassment within the industry was finally broken, hollywood found

some of its most bankable players publicly named and shamed. when kevin spacey became the subject of abuse allegations, the producers of ridley scott's all the money in the world enlisted christopher plummer to reshoot all of spacey‘s scenes at short notice. meanwhile, campaigning groups such as raising films, which was set up by the levelling director hope dickson leach, have called for industry wide reform to protect those working within film production from exploitation and abuse. so what of the future? hopefully, the scandals of today will prove the wake—up calls of tomorrow and bring about real change within the industry. watch this space. in the meantime, there are plenty of great movies to look forward to in 2018. strong contenders currently being tipped for prizes at the forthcoming oscars include martin mcdonagh‘s three billboards outside ebbing, missouri, starring frances mcdormand, stephen spielberg's the post, featuring meryl streep and tom hanks, and greta gerwig's

directorial debut lady bird, all of which open here in january and february. personally, the films i'm mostly looking forward to in the coming months are dark river from the selfish giant director clio barnard, lynne ramsay's you were never really here which proved a prize—winning hit at cannes in may, and guillermo del toro's the shape of water, starring the wonderful sally hawkins. the great thing about movies is that you never know what's going to be a hit. take tommy wiseau's 2003 catastrophe the room, widely regarded to be one of the worst films ever made, but which became a midnight movie cult favourite and has now spawned a star—studded making—of drama which has turned wiseau into the stuff of legend. as screenwriter william goldman famously observed, in hollywood no one knows anything, and reversals of fortune are always possible. i'll leave you with a clip from the disaster artist. enjoy the movies. let's do the alley scene! this set of the alleyway looks exactly like the real alleyway out there.

that's right, that's what we do in a hollywood movie, right? well, why don't we just shoot it in the real alleyway? because it's a real hollywood movie. yeah, sounds good. 0k. the weather is turning colder an this evening we could get a little bit of snow, in fact some of the rain is starting to turn to snow across the northern part of scotland round the highlands. but, i say snow falling, it is mostly across the hill, so is really is the highlands and the southern uplands tonight. you can see where that snow is developing. elsewhere across the country, a weather front will be be sweeping through this evening, rattling our window, the winds will pick up for a time in the swept. winds could be gusting up to 60mph. by

winds could be gusting up to 60mph. by the end of the night temperatures will be hover round three or four degrees in the south. one to two in scotla nd degrees in the south. one to two in scotland and icy patches are forecast as well. so take it steady if you are travelling on boxing day morning. boxing day itself is going to bea morning. boxing day itself is going to be a bright day across the uk, with shower, some of them will be wintry, you can see the snow on highlands. the weather will down hill in the south—west. it is not looking pretty into somerset s much of the west country, southern wales an central southern england the weather should turn damp in the middle of the afternoon. further north it is brighter. here are the wintry showers across the northern end of the highlands there. then through tomorrow evening, watch what happens with this system. the temperatures will drop away rapidly across much of england and wales, we coll get snow, maybe in the peak district. to the

south of that across the uk it is going to be mostly wet, and eventually into wednesday, the low pressure pulls away towards the east and the floodgates for that colder airfrom the north is opened, so wednesday is forecast to start off chilly, there will be frost round, maybe before this weather system clears away, there could be sleetiness round but overall a fine day apart from that far eastern corner, you can see rain there, and cold. temperatures three to five degrees. thursday is looking bright. but as we head to the weekend o and the new year period it is looking a lot more unsettled with a risk of gales. have a merry christmas. this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at 3pm: the queen is about to pay tribute to how the people of manchester and london dealt with this year's terror attacks, in her christmas day broadcast. meghan markle has made her first public appearance with the royal family in sandringham for a christmas service. in his christmas blessing, pope francis calls for a negotiated

solution to end the conflict between israel and the palestinians. translation: on this festive day, let us ask the lord for peace forjerusalem and for all the holy land. euston station is open as a shelter today to serve christmas dinner to hundreds of homeless people in the capital. also: christmas away from home for british armed forces personnel, including in afghanistan and iraq. the bbc is at one military base in iraq, as troops reflect on christmas away from their loved ones.