now it's time for the film review with mark kermode and jane hill. warm welcome to the film review. to ta ke warm welcome to the film review. to take us through this week's release ises mark kermode. what have you been watching this week? very exciting week. we have the post starring tom hanks and meryl streep. coco the new animation from pixar. and the commuter the new liam neeson action vehicle. the post is about journalism. i can't wait. i'm excited. did you like it?|j journalism. i can't wait. i'm excited. did you like it? i did. i really did. this is a stephen spielberg movie. it's a thriller about the revelations of the pentagon papers, a report that said

successive us administrations had misled the country about the vietnam war. it's largely set in 1971. tom hanks is ben bradley, the editor of the washington post. he's eager for a scoop. meryl streep plays the publisher of the post. the post is going to the stock exchange. the finances are precarious. when the white house slaps an injunction on the new york times, after they publish some of the pentagon papers, ben bradley wants to publish. but meryl streep says, hang on, there are reasons why meryl streep says, hang on, there are reasons why we meryl streep says, hang on, there are reasons why we can't do this, not least of all that it might actually endanger the paper. here's actually endanger the paper. here's a clip. do you have the papers? not yet. 0h, a clip. do you have the papers? not yet. oh, gosh. 0h, a clip. do you have the papers? not yet. oh, gosh. oh, gosh, because you know, the position that would put me in. you know, we have language in the prospeck tuesday. in. you know, we have language in the prospeck tuesdaylj i know what

is at stake. you know the only couple i knew that both kennedy and lbj wanted to socialise with was you and your husband and you owned the damn paper. that's just and your husband and you owned the damn paper. that'sjust the way things worked, politicians and the press they trusted each other, so they could go to the same dinner party and drink cocktails and tell jokes, while there was a war waging in vietnam. i don't know what we're talking about. i'm not protecting him? no you have his secretary, the man who commissioned this study. i'm not protecting any of them. i'm protecting the paper. the thing i like about the film is it has a number of interesting stories. the one is of kay graham finding her voice. at the beginning she's surrounded by men in boardrooms in which she doesn't really speak. she's slightly like a fish out of water. during the course of this, she has to step up to the mark and decide what's the right thing to do. second thing is, it runs almost like a prequel to all the president's men. the end of this film runs right into the beginning of all the

president's men. i was really affected by that the 70s when it first came out. i loved it. there's great period detail. there are sequences in the printing presses of the washington post in which we're looking at the hot metal machinery, the old machines. i really love all that stuff. wonderful. on a third level, most importantly, it's a really co m e level, most importantly, it's a really come ten prince harry story. yes —— contemporary story, yes it's set in 197 yes —— contemporary story, yes it's set in197 #1, yes —— contemporary story, yes it's set in 197 #1, the acting is fantastic. the whole cast is great. this is a contemporary story about, in this case, a corrupt president in the white house attempting to stop the white house attempting to stop the press from expressing the right of free speech. you look at that and you look at what's happening today in the world in which the press are under attack, in which there's this stuff about fakes in. recently the so “— stuff about fakes in. recently the so —— fake news. it is like a call to arm for the independent press, a free press to speak truth to power. it's interesting that what spielberg has done is to take a period piece and tell the story straight, it's

not twisted in any way at all, and tell it in a way that makes it seem urgently contemporary, in terms of gender politics, in terms of its newspaper politics, in terms of the way that it talks about the necessity for a free speech and good reporting, good factual reporting to keep a check on authorities. i've seen the film twice now. i would happily go back and see it a third time. you don't need to be interested injournalism or in the issues you've just raised to like it asa issues you've just raised to like it as a film? i think that helps. i certainly know some people who aren't interested in those things and are interested in that bit of history, why go and see it? it is a personal drama about those two characters. but it leads you very much by the hand. it does assume from the beginning, you might not know this stuff. it gives you a primer, it starts you in a battlefield and it leads you and tells you all you need to know. i would encourage anyone to go and see it. it's a film that is timely, though it is a period piece. i think you don't have to be specifically interested in that war or the

pentagon papers or journalism interested in that war or the pentagon papers orjournalism to find it a gripping drama and the performances are great. fantastic. animated film is your second choice. and a really good film. coco is the new film from pitch ark. set in the mexican day of the dead fess —— pixar. set in the mexican day of the dead. music is banned. because his great grandfather chose music over family. so no more music. on the manical day of the dead, fate takes a hand in the land of the dead. i thought this was terrifically entertaining and also very, very touching fayre. on one hand lovely animation, slapstick sequences and everything you expect from pixar. more importantly, great songs, great music, but it's dealing with some very difficult subjects. it's dealing with dementia. it's dealing with memory. it's dealing with death and life. it's dealing with loss. it's dealing with the way that people live on as long as they live on in our memory and also, the way

that songs and music will linger in our minds sometimes, if anybody‘s had any experience of people with dementia, music somehow cuts through all of that. there are moments that will make you weeb, moments to —— weep, moments to make you laugh. it will make you cheer. if you like this film, i think you will do, there's another film from a few yea rs there's another film from a few years ago, called book of life which was overlooked. this does owe a thematic debt to it. if you see it cinema do it but go and get book of life. the commuter, the premise of the story is quite gripping. does it deliver? it's a film with an interesting set up. so liam neeson is an ex—cop now working as an insurance salesman. beginning of the film he loses hisjob. he needs money to pay for his kids tuition. suddenly there's someone on the

train who says i want you to find somebody for me. i can't tell you who they are or what they look like, but if you do it there's a reward. here's a clip. someone on this train does not belong. all you have to do is find them. that's it. this person is find them. that's it. this person is carrying a bag. you don't know what it looks like. but inside that bag is something they have stolen. this person goes by the name of prin, it's not a real name. they will be on this train until cold spring. you find them, you find the bag, that $100,000 is yours. don't leave the train before finding the bag. don't tell anyone about this offer. wait a minute. simple. i thought this was hypothetical. there's just thought this was hypothetical. there'sjust one thought this was hypothetical. there's just one little thought this was hypothetical. there'sjust one little thing, shouldn't be too hard for an ex—cop. wait, how did you know? oh, this is me. you're being serious, right? you

have until next stop to decide. what kind of person are you? so an intriguing set up. they're strangers on the train. there will be a reward if you find this person. the thing about these thrillers, set up the rules. the first is the rules have to make sense and have you to obey the rules. what happens is this film has an interesting premise. 20 minutes in, it goes none of this makes sense and we don't care. it throes the rules —— throws the rules out of the window. it gets back into liam neeson walking around the train punching people. the most frustrating thing is when you see that trailer, see that clip and you think, that's intriguing, why? what's going on. literally 20 minutes in, the film goes, "i don't care. i don't think these rules add up care. i don't think these rules add up to anything." the whole scenario doesn't make sense. shall we have him punch somebody? then the first punch. 0k him punch somebody? then the first punch. okfine, it's him punch somebody? then the first punch. 0k fine, it's taken the train. it's that film that you've seen all those times before, except

this time it happens to be on a train. every now and then, it refers back to that set up. all it reminds you is you go, yeah that was really interesting. what happened to that really interesting idea that you threw out the window? yeah, ok. fine. moving swift live on. yes. clearly not a patch on the film of the week, three bidboards, which i have thought about it every single day since i saw it. that's interesting in itself. brilliant performance by francis, a strong chance of winning the best actress oscar. she's great. martin mcdonagh, wrote and directed it, has done a terrific film. it's a tragic comedy thatis terrific film. it's a tragic comedy that is both cometic and genuinely tragic. i know the film is divisive. i know some people take against it and really don't get on with it at all. but i laughed in the bits that are funny. but i also cried because it deals with tragedy. it deals with loss. it's really well filmed. there are moments in it that are almost

transcendent. they're are moments in it that are almost transcendent. they‘ re about life transcendent. they're about life and death. there are moments in which the chaucerian ear for be sconity rings through. did you love it —— obscenity rings through. did you love it? i did. i think obscenity rings through. did you love it? i did. ithink the obscenity rings through. did you love it? i did. i think the script was terrific. it's really stayed with me in a positive way. don't ta ke with me in a positive way. don't take someone who doesn't like swearing. that goes without saying. yeah quite. that's the only caveat. but it's a very, very striking film. dvd? i'm not a witch, that's in the outstanding debut category. surreal tale of a young girl who's given a choice to accept life as a witch or get turned into a goat. it is written and directed brilliantly. i thought it was a remarkable feature, something which yes, it's funny, yes it's satirical. but it's about misogyny and about magic. it's one of those films again, sometimes you're watching it, you don't know whether to laugh or cry, you end up doing both. it's worth checking out.

thank you. excellent. thank you very much mark, a really intriguing week and many more weeks like that to come because we're building up to awards season, of course. plenty of that to come. you will find all the film news and reviews from across the bbc on the website. you can find all our previous programmes on the iplayer as well. it's a cracking week, enjoy your cinema going. thanks for being with us, bye—bye. s the latest live weather update. the snow showers have made difficult travelling across western and southern scotland today. we've seen heavy snow showers. snow piling up quickly. really difficult m77, m74. they are slowly easing. not as frequent or heavy now as we go deeper into the night. just pushing back towards western coastal parts of scotland. some northern ireland, northern england, they‘ re

of scotland. some northern ireland, northern england, they're going to gradually fade as well. stays icy on untreated surfaces, a widespread frost. another area of wet weather coming in from the south—west later in the night. a lot of uncertainty about how far north this is going to get. but at least southern parts of northern ireland will see some of that cloudy, damp weather, a bit of rain, drierand that cloudy, damp weather, a bit of rain, drier and brighter further north. look how few showers in scotland. just rain, sleet, hail towards the west coast. more in the way of sunshine for saturday into much of scotland, far north of england. into this area of cloud, rain, sleet, wet, snow, mainly to hills. wales, higher midlands, southern pennines as well. maybe in the chilterns. the far south—west should start to come out of that, cornwall and devon and brighten into the afternoon, whereas notice how this area of cloud, rain, sleet, wet snow doesn't really move very much once it's in. far north of england into scotland holding onto sunny spells, bright too into the north of northern ireland. look how mild it

gets into the far south—west, but elsewhere, it's a cold, quite a raw day to come. milder air is trying to come in. another weather system that tries to bring it in sunday. this has got problems associated with it. because as it feeds this wet weather into cold air, some of us seeing more snow for a time on sunday, particularly into scotland and northern england. bear that in mind if you're travelling, especially on higher routes, because here it comes. a lot of this will be of rain, into the colder airfor a time some sleet and snow, some quite heavy rain through southern parts of the uk. the winds pick up again. nothing too bad with that. cold air hanging on for longest towards the north—east of the uk, south—west turning milder. it is the mild air that's eventually going to win out going into next week and quite a thaw developing if you've got snow on the ground. that mild air will see temperatures jump into double figures for many of us by the time we get to tuesday. big change in that respect. met office weather warnings are online for snow and ice

over the weekend. details on our website. a warm welcome to bbc world news today. i'm celia hatton. our top stories... the clock is ticking no deal yet and just hours to go. democrats were called to the white house by president trump. we shall have a good number of disagreements. the discussions will continue. both sides appeared to be readying themselves for the blame game. we'll look at what it might mean for the usa. america switches its military focus to fighting terror to competing with other great powers. we face growing threats. scientists ta ke we face growing threats. scientists take a major step towards the biggest goals in medicine. a universal test for cancer.