we have had alligators in films like, i believe, lake placid? as i mentioned, the film tries to do for alligators in films what was done injaws for sharks. alligator, eaten alive. i think technically lake placid was a giant crocodile. alexandre aja is the director. the story is a swimmer from the university of florida goes back home and she finds out herfather is in his house in a hurricane zone and she cannot get in touch with him and she goes to the house to go and check that he is all right. when she gets there, everything is flooded and wouldn't you know it, there are huge alligators in the water. here is a clip. come on! siren blares. watch out!

whimpering. that's no ordinary flood, is it? no, but you can see the jaws—iness to it, or elements of it. there's another one called bait, putting sharks in a supermarket. this basically does what it says on the tin. this film cost around $13 million, has already taken $65 million. it's a perfectly efficient, exploitive b—movie creature feature in which it works partly because it has decent performances and you like the characters. the father—daughter relationship works well and because partly there are no surprises, but that includes there is no surprising mistakes. sometimes you can see the edge of production in the film a little bit, but it is done well.

the director alexandre aja knows how to put this stuff together. there are a few laugh—out—loud funny lines in it, like, "we are not going to be out—smarted by these pea—brained reptiles!" which reminds me of a line from snakes on a plane, but it does exactly what it sets out to do. it is a straightforward, unpretentious monster rampage movie. and it understands the parameters of what it can do, it is all set at the house, there is a basement, it does all the set up you can do and it does it all in a kind of snappy efficiency. snappy, good. it will not win pulitzer prizes or oscars, but it does exactly what it sets out to do. i looked at the cast list earlier and suspected that not all the people on the list survive, without wanting to spoil the ending. i would not spoil anything. pedro almodovar, you mentioned a moment ago, and pain and glory. i thought this was terrific. i am a huge fan. this is a very personal semi—autobiography... a filmmaker played by antonio banderas, racked with pain, both physical and metaphysical.

he is at a moment of stasis in his life. there is a revival of a film he made 30 years ago with an actor he has not spoken to for 30 years, which forces them to get back together again. and whilst the present—day plot is moving forward, he is cast back to memories of his childhood, memories of his mother washing clothes in a stream, memories of the time they lived in a cave dwelling. memories of first going to the cinema and seeing movies projected against whitewashed walls. so the whole film sort of ebbs and flows with the tide. it's beautifully done, it's very, very personal. there is a great performance by penelope cruz as the younger embodiment of the character's mother. antonio banderas, i've never seen be quite so vulnerable. his face is this kind of mask of melancholia and regret and yet the childhood reminiscences are so vivid, so vibrant, these two things are living side by side.

on the one hand, the ecstasy of his childhood memories. funnily enough, they are very different film—makers. there is a comparison here between the work of pedro almodovar and terrence davis. terrence with his memories of the cinema and his mother singing. clearly a very personal movie. not strictly autobiographical. there are hints? there are hints of it. what he has done is he has taken the real story and fictionalised it and just taken elements. but there are some things you can see are absolutely personal, particularly the portrayal of the figure of his mother. but i thought it was terrific and i think antonio banderas should be up for an oscar nomination for his central performance. that's definitely a commendation. ok, onto angel has fallen. where are you with the series? it was only earlier when somebody said the trilogy of the has fallen. olympus has fallen, which was the not—good version of white house down. i hated london has fallen,

in which there's a line, "most of london's known landmarks have been destroyed." well, what about the unknown landmarks? in this, gerard butler is back and he is framed for an attack on the president's life. here's a clip. what is that? are they bats? distant ringing. ringing approaches. high-pitched buzzing. they're drones, they're drones! on radio: art! come with me, sir! get him under the ballistic hard cover, keep him down. i'm on my way! all yelling. delta team engage, engage! they scream.

i didn't think that would end well. here's the thing. i know this sounds like damning with faint praise. but i think this is the best of the has fallen series. for a number of reasons, because firstly again in much of the way of crawl, it understands its sensibility. gerard butler was brilliant recently in vanishing, he has gotjust the right register here. a great performance by danny huston, who is chewing absolutely the scenery. halfway through, nick nolte turns up as gerard butler's dad. and he is doing that nick nolte thing where, "i am a vietnam veteran living off the grid," and i really enjoyed it. i didn't expect i was going to at all because i hated london has fallen. i went into this thinking are we getting more of the same? and i notice from the basic critical reviews that it has not been well received. but in the screening i was in, the minute nick nolte turned up, it became about the father and son

thing, people started laughing, enjoying it and that laughter continued right the way through the end credits. actually, of all the has fallen ones, this is the best. that is slightly damning with faint praise. no, i saw a lot of praise for nick nolte. he is great. he has almost become a caricature of nick nolte, there are whole lines of dialogue that are... mumbles incoherently. and gerard butler says, "you always say that!" right, moving on from your nick nolte impersonations. let's talk about the best one out at the moment. blinded by the light. are you a bruce springsteen fan? iam. i'm not. i have nothing against him. this is based on a memoir of the scriptwriter. and it's a story about a young man who connects with the music of bruce springsteen despite the fact that his life has nothing to do with bruce springsteen's life. it's directed by gurinder chadha, who made bend it like beckham. it bursts into song like sunshine on leith did.

so it's almost like a musical. i thought it was charming. you can pick holes in it if you want to, but i thought it was really charming and it moved me and made me laugh, it made me cry. i just love the idea that music is universal. somebody on the other side of the atlantic living a completely different life from you can write songs that mean so much to you in this particular in the world you live in. and even if you are not a bruce springsteen fan... nothing against him. i only know of born to run. let's talk about the best dvd. wild rose, which is this lovely film about a glaswegian single mum who is a country western singer and dreams of going to nashville. titanic central performance byjesse buckley. she's recorded a country album, she's fantastic. it has its feet on the ground, but its head in the stars. again, it understands how music can transport

you from one place to another. gritty and realistic, but also romantic in its romantic view of the world. the idea that you can dream large and such a great central performance. i thought it was really good. her singing voice is outstanding. yeah, she can really sing, and i did an onstage interview with her and i asked if she would mind singing a song and she did and i said, "fine, you are the real deal!" she can make it, but she can also act. i thought it was a really lovely film. good stuff. thank you, mark. that's it for this week, though. thanks for watching. goodbye. some contrasting with their fortunes across the country. was not sunny

everywhere. wales and the west and also parts of southwest england and areas of cloud in coastal areas from time to time. that cloud is associated with a weak cold front working into these western areas whereas most of the uk had clear, blue sunny skies. what a glorious day it was in the highlands of scotland. over recent days if you have been watching him talked about the complexity and uncertainty of the complexity and uncertainty of the jet stream pattern for monday. here it is. to cut off in low pressure and because he formed it to the west of the uk, the weather will stay harderfor longer the west of the uk, the weather will stay harder for longer and eastern parts. at the same time, this brings thunderstorms to portugal and amber weather warnings already in force for those in the cut off low approaching the southwest will ultimately also bring some fun to read and amber weather warnings already in force for those in the cut off low approaching the southwest will ultimately also bring some thunder he weather are waving as he will see patchy clouds and in scotla nd as he will see patchy clouds and in scotland a weak cold front moving in with the patches of cloud and at

significantly lower temperatures. the hottest air across eastern england with highs around 33 or 34. into tuesday, we start to see some changes with the atlantic bringing a front into western parts we will see a change in the weather certainly for northern ireland and ahead of that still a lot of dry weather with spells of sunshine and still the highest temperatures into the 30s across eastern england but that cut off low i showed you a moment or two ago is going to be moving in through tuesday night. that will be responsible for kicking off these thunder he showers it will then drive their way northwards and the thunderstorms themselves will have variable amounts of rain and some perhaps not so much but quite a lot of lightning with no storms. so for some, tuesday night could turn out to be quite spectacular. for the middle part of the week, it is murky and the storms worth their weight northwards and that allows this atla ntic northwards and that allows this atlantic front to move him two more areas of the uk so temperatures decreasing is that bad of rain works in an coolerair decreasing is that bad of rain works in an cooler air into eastern england so even though there will be

sunshine, temperatures on it wednesday will be into the mid—20s as opposed to the low 30s. for the end of the week, look at the jet strea m end of the week, look at the jet stream pattern we will start to see a strengthening jet pushing areas of rain into the northwest of the uk. so on thursday, with some wet and windy weather for northwestern areas of the country, the south and east still largely dry and bright but noticing temperatures on thursday coming down significantly with highs around 22 for example in london. friday, another area of low pressure bringing another bout of rain and this one again targeting north and west of the uk so it's the north or west of the uk so it's the north or west of the uk so it's the north or west of scotland that will have the widest of the weather and a bit more in the way sunshine for the south with pressure rising. temperatures actually started to warm up again with highs in 224 around the london area and then into next weekend, thisjet area and then into next weekend, this jet stream pattern looks like a certificate trough to the northwest of the uk and again that will develop an area of low pressure so initially, that is going to bring a

zone of strong winds with outbreaks of ran across the north and west of the country and as it rain pushes south and east can the front weekends so not too much in the way of ran across the southeast but some spells of sunshine and the sunshine should feel warm with the highest temperatures across the southeast of the country. that is your latest weather.

this is bbc news. i'm chris rogers. the headlines at eight. ahead of his meeting with the eu council president at the g7 summit, borisjohnson says leaving the eu with a brexit deal is "touch and go". he's also met president trump and acknowledged that a trade deal with the united states could take time. cut away, cut away for four. batting brilliance from ben stokes leads england to a nailbiting victory over australia — and keeps the ashes series alive. we were like, "oh my god, it's not going to happen, it can't happen." and then it happened and we were like... i think everyone was just in shock. 40,000 troops begin a major operation to fight fires in the amazon. it's the hottest august bank holiday weekend on record —