the to clear it from the system. the professor of neuropsychopharmacology at imperial college london. you are watching bbc news. these are the headlines tonight. richard osborne brooks arrested on suspicion of murdering a suspected burglar has been released without charge. sergei skripal the former russian spy is no longer in critical condition and is responding well to treatment. the police commissioner offers reassurance to londoners after a string of murders. an update on the market numbers. here his out —— here is how london and frankfurt ended the day and how the dow and nasdaq are getting on in the us. now bbc news the film review. hello and a warm welcome to the film review on bbc news. to take us through this week's cinema releases is james king. good to see you james, what have you been watching? this week we journey into the dark recesses of martin

freeman's mind in ghost stories. then we travel to 1920s new york in the family drama wonderstruck. and finally we go tojennifer garner's sofa in the much talked about teen movie — love, simon. we've already barely begun and i have a bone to pick with you, doctor mark kermode is away so i thought i would have a little respite about horror films and what have you brought me? it's a peach of a weekend for horror movie fans of horror stories. we will talk about ghost stories in a moment and there's this film we have not got time to talk about, called the quiet place, starring emily blunt, very scary. which is way too scary for me. if you like horror movies this is a great weekend. let's focus on ghost stories, a british horror written and directed by andy nyman and jeremy dyson. andy works with darren brown, jeremy is part of the league of gentlemen team. andy stars in the film

as a psychic investigator a sceptic who believes there is a logical explanation for all supernatural goings—on but he gets handed three cases that he can't crack and they start to make you question his beliefs. one of them features the great paul whitehouse, as a night security guard. if you are afraid of the dark you may want to look away now. here he is. listen, you've got two minutes to get out of this building before i come for you. if that's you... how are you feeling?

i saw the trailer a week ago and even the trailer freaked me out. i thought i can't go and see this. but if you love this kind of thing is it worth seeing? it is clearly made by people who love this kind of thing and know the movies, nods to the hammer horror and a movie called dead of might, they know their history of horror, they know how to twist the knife and make you jump out of your seat and they have fun doing it. it is hokum and theatrical, actually based on a stage play, fun but very scary. what i really liked about it is that it is obviously made on a limited budget, but the locations are just fantastic. very bleak and british from the look. they have this delicious drabness like a crumbling seaside town out of

season. that adds to the atmosphere as well. with those great performances, martin freeman i mentioned, alex lawther has a good role as a troubled teenager, and paul whitehouse. if you expect paul whitehouse to be funny, there are a couple of laughs, but ultimately a very moving performance from him. he is very good at dramatic acting. fascinating, although you don't get the laughsand a todd haynes feature. yes. when we saw this on paper a year ago we would have thought it would be an awards contender, yet in april it is released with very little fanfare and did not feature in any awards. it could have been great and it doesn't quite achieve that. todd haynes directed it, brian selznick wrote it, he made hugo with martin scorsese. good quality names. a couple of storylines, one is set in 1977 about a young deaf boy who runs away

to new york to find his father. and a separate story, they ultimately cross over, but there's a separate story in 1927 new york about a young girl. she falls in love with the city and with the natural history museum. it is interesting that that element is shot in black and white like a silent movie, from the era, a nice artistic touch and quite good at that sense of wonder you have as a child when you go to the city for the first time. you have that awestruck feeling. it captures that. i do think it's pretty clunky in terms of the way it tells its story, a lot of coincidence, too much willing suspension of disbelief for the audience, and too many unanswered questions. it's one of those movies that could have been great and i2 months ago i was expecting this to be an academy award winner. now i think it will be quickly forgotten.

love, simon, will not be forgotten? i hope not. it is a teen movie and stars nick robinson, not the bbc political editor, although he would be great! this is a young american actor who was in a jurassic world. it's a high school movie, many familiar teenage movie traits, the sassy teachers and the wacky friends and the eccentric family, but the twist is that he is coming out. so he's learning to deal with his sexuality and telling his friends and his family. here is a clip. i'mjust like you. for the most part my life is totally normal. my dad was the annoyingly handsome quarterback who married the hot valedictorian. and no, they didn't peak in high school. i have a sister i actually like, not that i would ever tell her that. last year and 200 episodes ago she decided she wanted to be a chef.

and then there's my friends. two of them i have known since the beginning of time, or at least kindergarten. and one of them ijust met a few months ago but i feel i've known her forever we do everything friends do, we drink too much coffee, eat ice cream, watch movies and hang out. so, like i said, i'mjust like you. i have a totally perfectly normal life. except i have one huge ass secret. and that kind of says it all because it looks like classic hollywood, nicely made, everyone is nice looking, they all have big houses and it looks like an easy watch. is this the first time a major film studio has made a film with a gay kid at heart of it? absolutely, a big studio picture.

it's desperately trying to be as mainstream and as normal in inverted commas as possible. that is a bold thing. that's something i really liked about it. i would say, the downside is, it is occasionallyjust too normal! a little bit more edge would not have gone amiss. occasionally it is a little predictable. i love high school movies and teen movies, you know the traits and they are all in there. and they feel at this stage a little overfamiliar. what gets it by is the charm. it is an incredibly charming movie. the lead character, the music is great as well, a guy called jack antonov who is a big writer — producer, works with taylor swift. a lot going for it that papers are the crux. —— papers over the cracks. it's a little predictable, it is a little too mainstream for me that there is that charm and ultimately, like you said, we can't deny that this is breaking new ground. interesting in america, 7

and screening of this and giving away free tickets because there is this desire for it to be as seen by as many people as possible, and being released here at easter to a mainstream teen audience, they are really going for it with this. and it has worked in the states, it is a big hit. a lot of positives. and best out this week, wes anderson. isle of dogs. visually amazing. he's so creative. visually amazing. he's so creative. visually it was extraordinary. but i thought where it worked best was the interplay between the dogs and humans. that was great, but the story ultimately was a bit feeble i thought. sometimes his stories do get a little overcomplicated and i would say it is similar with isle of dogs. i loved that stop motion animation. it is very clever. so it's this weird mix of japanese

animation and the clangers. quite unusual to watch. but i think it works, i love eccentricity and its humour, very deadpan, dark humour. if you don't like wes anderson movies because it is more of the same, this won't win you over. he makes very arch films and this is very arch. but i think, for me, because of that bond between humans and dogs that it is all about, it has more of a heart than other films which is why i liked it —— more than his other films. file under quirky. a quick thought on dvd? the lastjedi, episode eight of star wars, came out at christmas in the cinema, many people say it is the greatest one ever, i think it's too early to say that but it is a very good star wars movie. for me it gets going about halfway in, it takes time to hit its stride but some strong performances, i loved the antagonist, and sadly the last performance from carrie

fisher as princess leia. to end on a positive note look at the bloopers and outtakes on the disc because it is sad to watch her in the movie but she was full of humour and life and there are some great moments from her in as extras in the disc. james, thank you very much. and that's just about it for this week. plenty to reflect on, enjoy your cinema going this weekend, see you next week, bye bye. thursday was not quite so sunny across the uk as per expectations. in fact some rain around and the skies were very hazy. a picture from earlier on in london. despite that temperature still managed to get up to 17 celsius in saintjames park

making it the warmest day of the year so far. you can see how claudia has been across a number of areas. all of this cloud across england was quite thin, upper—level cloud. the rain barrier clouds were earlier in the day across western areas where you have a clash between a mild and slightly cooler air. the wind is still coming in from the south. we have mild air sitting on top of us, the warmest of the weather across europe into the 20s. the weather for two nights wind. a little rain expected, early hours of southwestern parts of england into wales as well. the north west of scotla nd wales as well. the north west of scotland also, but for the majority of the uk is going to be dry tonight and temperatures around about five, 6 degrees. through saturday you see the winds still coming in from the south but they are dragging in a fair bit of clout and there is some rain in the forecast as well. not an ideal david because there is rain around particularly in the morning —— notan around particularly in the morning —— not an ideal day. should clear around bristol and moved to wales into merseyside across yorkshire and into merseyside across yorkshire and into new castle, but it looks as

though most of the afternoon across much of scotland the weather will be dry, maybe one or two showers in the north but glasgow, edinburgh around 13 degrees, aberdeen 1a, not bad at all. belfast also 1a celsius and you have that rain from new castle, middlesbrough down into manchester and drying out second half of the afternoon across the southwestern areas. still 16 celsius in london. apart from the blog of rain would you be sleeping this part of the country here it is actually not that bad —— sweeping. many of us will have bright, dry weather. on sunday the weather front still across, the weather at this stage still coming in from the south so we have these southerly winds and again on sunday that thinking is there'll be quite a lot of cloud across the uk. probably another spell of rain moving across almost the same area from the south, through the midland into yorkshire and again relatively mild, 15 degrees in london around 13 degrees in edinburgh and a quick look at the weather early next week. not an awful lot changes. still unclear bit

of cloud and rain from time to time. -- still of cloud and rain from time to time. —— still a of cloud and rain from time to time. —— stillafair of cloud and rain from time to time. —— still a fair bit of cloud. this is bbc world news today. our top stories: the former russian spy at the centre of the poisoning scandal is getting better according to doctors. he is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly, and there's no log ina improving rapidly, and there's no log in a critical condition. —— he is no longer. days before mark zuckerberg .. m ,, , facebook announces new measures to counter fake news. brazil's top court rejects former president lula's plea to remain free while he appeals against a corruption conviction. a deadline to turn himself in has now passed. and in sport, can pep guardiola's manchester city win the english premiership in style by beating manchester city?