hello, and welcome to the film review on bbc news. we've got mark kermode taking us through this week's cinema releases. what have you got in store for us? a very mixed bag, we have men in black: international, which is the fourth instalment in the ongoing sci—fi series, we have the hummingbird project, which is a film about obsession, and a child's eye view of the world in we the animals. you always have a mixed bag, don't you? yeah. men in black, i remember seeing the first one, i didn't think they would make three more. yeah, i think you're not alone in that. i thought the first was great. i remember seeing the first one

and being really surprised by how smart and funny it was. i like barry sonnenfeld. i thought it was smart, funny, i liked the special effects, i thought the story was well told. second one, terrible, third one, not great. now the fourth instalment, which is attempting to kind of breathe new life into it. so we have tessa thompson is molly, who as a child met an alien, nobody believed her, who would believe a child who met an alien, and so she decides she wants to become one of the men in black, she pursues this dream. she finally meets up with emma thompson's agent 0. who does actually allow her tojoin the men in black. they have a discussion about "men in black?" emma thompson says, "yeah, i know, i've had the discussion, they're very attached to the name." she's then teamed up with chris hemsworth in an adventure which involved extraterrestrials and the most powerful weapon ever in the universe and also kumail nanjiani playing this tiny little character, pawny, who is essentially a pawn in a chess set who is looking for a queen. here's a clip. excuse me, what happened here? we had the best party. kanye showed up and dropped like a whole new album. look around, we got

our arses kicked! my queen! i'll never serve another. i must end my own life in the most painful way possible. i don't think that she would want you to, you know... who are you to know what a queen would or wouldn't want? are you a queen? well, i mean, to the extent that all women are, yes. but no, no. i'm not a queen. you know what she is, though, is an agent. is that a title? it is a title. maybe the best way to honour the dead is to go on living. yes. i pledge loyalty eternally to you, agent m. no, no, no, i'm not interested in a subject. too late, it's done, i've pledged the loyalty. i wish you'd said no, no, no before. and if you should die before i, i promise to end my own life... ..in the most painful way possible. now, you didn't laugh during that. no. laughter. that's some of the best stuff in the film. right. did you laugh? no.

i think that that character is the funniest character in the film and i did have a few chuckles during it. the main problem is men in black was really good but you're right, didn't necessarily need all these sequels? it's not terrible, it's just terribly ordinary. there's an awful lot of visual effects going on, there's an awful lot of stuff being thrown at the screen, but it felt very sort of throwaway and very disposable. and it is tempting to say, oh well, it's because f gary grey has come on board to direct it. but actually, you know, sonnenfeld was behind both the previous sequels, neither of them were as good as the first one. so although there are some charming performances, and i do think kumail nanjiani is, you know, from the big sick, and is a really funny writer and performer. i think that's not anything like enough to paste over the cracks. is that the hollywood way? that you just keep making sequels? if they're making money, why not keep making them? there used to be a law that a sequel will take two thirds of what the original took regardless of how good or bad it is, that is no longer the case but if you have name recognition,

your money is safer, even if the film itself is frankly not up to snuff. 0k. not up to snuff. right. the hummingbird project, with jesse eisenberg, is that up to snuff? i think it is. it's a really weird little film. jesse eisenberg, he was so edgy in social network, he plays someone who is a trader, who bullies his cousin into leaving the organisation that they work for, and joining him in digging a trench from kansas to new york, down which he can put a fibre cable that will shave the time of trading from 17 ms to 16 ms. and this apparently will create a tiny opportunity — equivalent to the beating of a hummingbird's wing — that will allow them to get ahead of the game. the funny thing is it sounds terribly unpromising. in fact, it's really gripping. there's a great performance by salma hayek as the boss who doesn't want to let them go. it's got a touch of werner herzog in it. about somebody dedicating themselves to a dream which is mad which involves them burying this pipeline through rivers and mountains, no matter what it is, they have to carry on going through a straight line. on the one hand, it is about family

loyalty, on the other hand, it's about having the vision of having a faster way of doing something but it is about obsession and giving yourself over to an obsession and it can take over your life even to the detriment of your health. i actually thought it was really good. it is called the hummingbird project. you have to seek it out. i actually thought it was really good. we the animals. a coming—of—age drama? yes. three young kids growing up in a sort of dysfunctional household in upstate new york. the father is prone to violence, the mother struggles to get out of bed. so the kids are left very much to fend for themselves. what are like about this is, it felt, on the one hand, very, very naturalistic but it also had a real poetry to it. here's a clip. what if it's pops? telephone rings. hello? mami. how come you didn't

answer when i called you? because you sound so ugly. here, try. yo—yo, what's up? woman! this is your husband talking to you right now. you better act right! what do you want from me? dig at me, mami, talk to me. i've been missing you. i've been missing you real bad. i know, mami, i know. i'm sorry. no, baby, i'm sorry. i think that's got a really lovely natural tone to it and what i really like is on the one hand it has that charming naturalism, but it's also very poetic. for example, you feel every drop of rain, you can feel the mud between their fingers when they're burrowing around in the ground.

there are moments in which it goes to animation because the central character, the youngest character draws and these animations kind of come to life. and it deals with some very difficult subject matter, it deals with kids coming to terms with their own sexuality, it deals with a violent relationship between their parents and trying to find their own way in the world. and it's tempting to say it's like that kind of movie terrence malick made before he went off the boil or the kind of thing david gordon green did when he was making films like terrence malick before terrence malick went off the boil, but actually, i think the thing it's closest to is the florida project. you know, that child's eye view of the world. the world is harsh and the world is tough, but actually it's being looked at through a child's eyes and it has a real poetic edge to it. it is a feature debut and i thought it was very, very fine and effective piece of work. and the acting in that clip looked extraordinary. you literally thought you were just eavesdropping on those three kids having a completely normal, you know, charming and really tender conversation about something

which is very difficult which is that their parents are having difficulties. i really liked it. good. best out? dirty god. so this is directed by sacha polak and it stars vicky knight. an vicky knight has never been in a feature film before, never acted before, and she is astonishing. she plays somebody who is the survivor of an acid attack and she's trying to redefine her life. she is absolutely brilliant. i mean, honestly, seeing this performance you think she'd been in theatre all her life or before a camera all her life. it's a really natural but very, very complicated performance, and i think she's an absolute star in the making. the film itself is really good, again it deals with difficult subject matter in a way which is subtle and effective. she is an absolute star, i thought her performance was extraordinary — vicky knight, a name to watch for the future. right. my best out, for what it's worth, is rocket man. 0h, rocket man. it was fabulous. i know you loved it. i loved it. yeah, i absolutely loved it.

and we both want to see it again, don't we? yeah, and as you said yourself, you come out of the cinema and you want to go straight back in again and watch it because it is so good. absolutely. highly recommended. if anyone who hasn't seen it. and best dvd? if beale street could talk, which is — it kind of got overlooked, partly, it was up for some awards, but it didn't get the attention it deserved. i think barryjenkins is a brilliant director. and i loved this. and what i loved most about it is it's a film about social justice and imprisonment, and a lot of very difficult stuff, but it is at heart a love story. with another wonderful score by nicholas britell. and if people didn't see it in cinemas, and many people didn't, it didn't find the audience it should have done, get it on dvd or blu—ray, it's really fabulous. and barryjenkins did moonlight. yeah, here did. moonlight, it is astonishing that film did as well as it did, because it came out of nowhere, it was a little independent movie thatjust won over the hearts of everyone who saw it. we've got used to the fact that it was a huge hit, it started as a really, really small movie thatjust found its audience — and deservedly so. it's actually great that that can still happen in today's hollywood. it renews your faith in films when something like that

can be discovered. because obviously there's a blockbuster market out there. and it's great, i think, that rocket man's done as well as well as it has as well. because rocket man is a film which takes risks, more than bohemian rhapsody did, but it still managed to find an absolutely mainstream audience. so, yeah, we're in a pretty good period at the moment. people say cinema isn't as good as it used to be. barry norman said every year there are the same number of comparatively good and bad films itjust depends which one you look for. and we have a mixed bag every week, we have good and bad for you. and it is up to you to decide which are good and which are bad. anyway, mark, thank you very much indeed. thank you. that is it for this week. thank you so much for watching. but is it bye from both of us. hello. another day where we have seen some torrential rain across parts

of the uk, exacerbating the flooding in places we have seen earlier in the week. this was burton upon trent and staffordshire on saturday afternoon. at the same time, blue skies and sunshine in anglesey. it's this mix we will keep as we go into sunday, this slow—moving area of low pressure still to the west of the uk. another frontal system working north and eastwards. this will generate showers through the morning initially of across scotland, northern ireland, the western side of england, but those showers still working across a large swathe of the uk. where we see them they will be heavy, thundery, slow—moving, merging to give a longer spell of rain. and some gusty winds in any of the showers. this is an idea of average wind strength. the gusts will be higher. through the afternoon, showers starting across southern and central england. more sunshine here. 20—21 celsius the top temperature. just the mid teens where we have the frequent showers. the showers continue through sunday

evening into scotland. heavy and thundery. some longer spells of rain. further south and east things turn drier. some clear spells. temperatures holding up to between 10 and 13 celsius. let's look at the bigger picture as we start the new week. an area of low pressure to the north—west of the uk. a cold front across wales and northern england will be generating some showery rain through monday morning. that will tend to ease off through the day. meanwhile, some very heavy showers across scotland and northern ireland. likely to see frequent thunder and lightning. to the south of east of our cold front, spells of sunshine and a slice of sunshine in between the showers and the spells of rain. we have got the sunshine, 20—21 celsius. we have frequent heavy showers, 14—15. looking ahead to tuesday, a brief ridge of high pressure to anything stray across england, wales, northern ireland. the area of low pressure to the south—west could bring some

heavy rain into southern counties of england through tuesday afternoon. ahead of it, dry, warm, some sunshine, heavy showers for the far north and west and also northern ireland. in the sunshine, below 20 celsius, mid—teens in the showers.

leading buyers this is bbc news i'm samantha simmonds. campaigners in hong kong promise to continue — after a week of mass protests forces the government to suspend a bill allowing extraditions to mainland china. saudi arabia blames iran for the attacks on two tankers in the gulf and says it's prepared to defend its interests. in iran, the british—iranian mother jailed for spying begins a new hunger strike in protest at her imprisonment. and holy mass in hard hats — a roman catholic service is held at notre dame cathedral in paris for the first time since the fire