on seats and cash in the tills. well, my son has a dual british and american nationality, and i hope it doesn't decide to go to university in america because it is double the price over there. thank you they much. we have run out of time. thank you very much. don't forget, you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it's all there for you, seven days a week, at bbc.co.uk/papers. and if you miss the programme any evening you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. thank you tojo phillips and nigel nelson. now on bbc news, it's time for the film review. hello and welcome to the film review on bbc news, and taking us through this week's releases is jason sullivan. what have you got for us? this week, ben, we go

to beirut in 1982. it's mad men in the middle east, wherejohn hamm tries to negotiate the release of a hostage in the negotiator. and there's a big goldfish, an angry one coming up. there it is, jason statham getting his teeth into the meg, and a prehistoric shark is on the loose. can he save us from it? and we take a rare cinematic trip to paraguay for a film called the heiresses. it's about late flowering freedom found amongst older women. so let's start with the negotiator. this has been billed as sort of bond or bourne meets mad men, in beirut. that's right, bourne is a particularly good example, because it's written by tony gilroy, the scriptwriter who wrote the first four bourne films and directed one of them himself. so he's very good on the shady operations of the cia and the negotiations that happen, and mad men, because donald draper, one of the great tv characters

of our time, was played byjohn hamm, who left the television after that series to go to the movies, and i don't think he's ever quite had a part that matches don draper — there are very few around — until now. he plays mason skiles. it's not as good a name as don draper, i'll give you that. but he is enjoying the high life in 1970s beirut, when a terrorist incident ruins his life and family. ten years later, he's a washed—up alcoholic settling small trade disputes in notown, america and propping up the local bar, which is when he gets a strange tap on the shoulder and the cia, in shady form, try to recruit him again. $6,500 and a first class ticket. i wouldn't go back to beirut if it was the last place on earth. flight leaves at 8:45pm tonight. well, it sounds like you've got about six hours to find somebody else. i was told that is not an option. look, i have no idea what's happening here.

it would be a lot easier for both of us if i did. but, er... i was told to tell you that... time is extremely tight and the agency would be deeply grateful for your cooperation. it's a serious request, they know that. tell them i don't have a passport. they put one in there with the ticket. so what do you make of it, jason? well, off he goes to beirut and he's given a handler called sandy, a local cia operative, played by rosamund pike, with a succession of cold stares, which helps him through the rubble of beirut. this film is really good on the atmosphere of the crumbling town that beirut has become, because it's been seized from all sides, druze militia on one side, muslims, christians, thejewish negotiations with the israelis. we don't know who's got the hostage — is it the plo, is it the various militias? it was an extraordinary time in the middle east. i don't know if you were out there as a news correspondent... i was sent to beirut

actually in the ‘80s. john mccarthy had just been kidnapped. it was just a terrifying time. so hostage—taking was all the rage, in a way, terry waite and john mccarthy, and that's the era we are in here, especially with the americans trying to horse trade. they wanted the release of another terrorist. it becomes a moral maze as well as a kind of bond scenario. the tension is great. it's a real game of poker, which is what mason skiles is really good at, and that's whatjohn hamm excels at. he's got this sort of sweaty, intense desperation. one thing that's refreshing about the film is it's a lot of adults talking a lot. the action is not as much as it would be in a bourne, although that's there, but a lot of it is about the negotiations and the quick talking and shady characters. you never know who to trust or not. there is always going to be a switcheroo and a double—cross at the end. it's available in cinemas and on download as well today,

and it's called beirut in some territories. if you are looking for the negotiator, sometimes it's called beirut. that's a bit confusing! there you go. let's move on to the meg, which is definitely called just the meg, about a prehistoric shark. it sounds like a watery version ofjurassic park. yeah, i thought it might be like a dance inspired by meg ryan in katz‘s deli doing that fake orgasm, but it's not. it's just jason statham taking on a prehistoric shark, which has been awoken from the sea bed by a billionaire sea explorer. jason, who plays a deep sea rescuer, obviously, goes down in his submersible to try and save people stranded at the bottom, but they awake this shark. something huge is out there, they say. yes, it is. there's this huge shark, like jaws after a lot of fish food. he's got bigger and bigger. almost too big — you can't really see the monster that well. it's almost not as scary as it should be, but there are moments

where it leaves teeth marks on the glass, and that is a scary fish! that doesn't deter statham, who dives in. he was a former diver, actually, in his previous career, before he became an action hero. so the watery stuff he's really good at, diving off boats, taking on the shark with his captain ahab moment. look, it's a silly, popcorn, summer blockbuster movie, and it does deliver on all of those. interestingly, although it's about a prehistoric monster, it's probably the future of blockbusters, with a lot of chinese characters in it, because that's the burgeoning market. and it's set in some chinese resort, a swishy chinese resort where there are a lot of people in the water and they need to get out pretty quick before the shark comes. but statham will be there to save them, don't worry, and if you are worried, as seems to be contractually obliged, in alljason statham films, he does get his top off at some point. it's up to you to decide if that's anything to do with it. all right. thank you very much for that. and then we've got the heiresses, which is a spanish drama. even more unusual than that,

it's a paraguayan drama. i'm not sure i've ever seen a film from paraguay. we've had a great latin american new wave of films from chile at the moment, argentina and brazil over the last 15 years. this is the first from paraguay and, if this is anything to go by, i hope there's a lot more to come. it's called the heiresses, and it's a really extraordinary story about two women who live in a crumbling mansion in the capital of paraguay. that's a good question — what's the capital of paraguay? er... it's asuncion. of course, i did know that. it was on the tip of my tongue. ecuador? no. so in asuncion, and i've never really seen it in the cinema before, but it's obviously a capital that is riven by inequality,

so there's the wealthy area, where this is set, and it's about class privilege, but it's also about a female couple who live in a house they've clearly inherited, but they are coming up on hard times. one of them might be sent to prison for tax evasion, so they are selling off the family silver. ok, it looks pretty atmospheric. it is. the atmosphere is really good, the cinematography, the kind ok, it looks pretty atmospheric. it is. the atmosphere is really good, the cinematography, the kind of crumbling nature of this area, but also the faces that we get. one of the women that we see there is chela. when her partner gets sent to jail, that prison is very evocative. it's a chaotic space with poorer people. she ends up sort of ferrying richer women around, because they don't trust local taxi drivers in paraguay. in most of south america, a risk of kidnap is a major thing. there's a lot of it about this week in the movies. she becomes a sort of local taxi driverfor the rich, the ladies who lunch in this area of asuncion, and she suddenly discovers a freedom when she gets behind the wheel of a car, a late—flowering romance with another woman called angie, who she finds rather sensual and striking, played by ana ivanova.

the woman, chela, won the best actress at the berlin film festival earlier this year for her performance. it's her first screen performance ever. that's how rare cinema is in paraguay. she's been a stage actress all her life and this is her first ever screen appearance. you'd never know. she's brilliant. i hope there is more from paraguay. it's a very tender, atmospheric and suggestible film. it is very slight and you have to read between the lines, a lot of glances and looks, but i thought it was excellent and a really impressive debut. probably the film of the week. 0k. jason, best out at the moment? the best film out at the moment, i know there is mamma mia and mission impossible, but if you are looking for a sort of small british success, there is a film called apostasy, which is out at the moment. again, a rare glimpse into a society i'd never seen on camera before. it's jehovah's witnesses. the writer and director of this, dan kokotajlo, was a jehovah's witness growing up and he's sort of now showing what it's like in there. if you've ever wondered what it's like — and it's notjust

the jehovah's witnesses, it's any religion, any sect where the intensity, children are growing up and splitting from the mother and questioning things... you rarely see a british film that's actually about religion or about faith, and that's what this is. i thought it was brilliant. fantastic performances from molly wright and siobhan finneran, who plays the mother. a brilliant glance into a bit of british society which, you think you've seen it all, you haven't. and a quick look at the best dvd. a big change of pace here! i'm going for peter rabbit, which is out. not anything immediately to do with beatrix potter, which i always found a bit twee, be honest. this is james corden voicing beatrix potter's fluffy—tailed hero, and i think he does it rather well. i think it's funny. it got terrible reviews when it came out, including from me, and i've since seen it with my kids and i think it's really funny. they love it, it's got a lot of energy, and it's kind

of anarchic and funny, and very well done in many places, with lots of characters for the animals. it's a very funny film, and i'm sorry i gave it a bad review in the first place. i'm retracting that and saying it's good. jason, you've changed your mind. thank very much indeed, jason. that is it for this week. thank you for watching the film review. bye— bye. hello. it stays changeable over the next few days and if you have had sunshine today like here in north yorkshire, you are likely to see rain over the next 12— 2a hours. conversely, where we have rat —— where we have had rain today, tomorrow you should see a bit more in the way of sunshine. it is still really quite a messy picture because we have low pressure to the west of the uk. tonight, outbreaks of rain will continue working northwards and eastwards. not much rain getting to the far south—east. the far north of

scotla nd the far south—east. the far north of scotland will also be seen clear skies. temperatures up —— down to seven. he is the low pressure to the west of the uk. fronts working eastwards through sunday, bringing further outbreaks of rain. there will be holes in it and it will be patchy through the morning. outbreaks of rain continuing pushing its woods to england and wales. brighter skies with some showers following on. —— pushing its way. the rain will be slow moving across central and northern parts of scotland. spells of sunshine coming through as the rain cleared eastwards. breezy for the western isles of scotland in south—west england. elsewhere, a gentle to moderate breeze and where we get the sunshine tomorrow, it could get up to 22 celsius. a cooler feel through the central belt —— central belt

northwards of scotland. outbreaks of rain. for england and wales, even though the rain will slowly clear away, some potentially heavy and thundery showers developing through the afternoon and they will continue to push eastwards. the rain continues northwards through scotla nd continues northwards through scotland and low pressure still with us on scotland and low pressure still with us on monday. this time the front is the east of the uk so from monday morning, anywhere from eastern scotla nd morning, anywhere from eastern scotland down into east anglia and some thundery showers perhaps to start monday morning. some spells of sunshine with some fair amount of cloud for scotland but brighter spells for northern ireland. tebbutt is on monday, back up to 23 or 2a celsius central, southeast and maybe parts of east anglia as well. that is the theme through tuesday and wednesday. cooler and cloudy for northern ireland and scotland and a bit warmerfor northern ireland and scotland and a bit warmer for england and wales. bye bye.

this is bbc news, i'm ben bland. our top stories: chemical giant monsanto insists its products are safe after a court orders it to payout nearly $300 million to a man who claims its weedkiller caused his cancer. turkey's president erdogan accuses the united states of trying to bring his country to its knees and warns that he'll look for new allies. an airport ground worker dies after stealing and crashing an empty passenger plane in seattle. and we meet the scientists behind a new type of mosquito net that could save thousands from malaria. hello, and welcome to bbc news.