it was an emotional afternoon at headlingley stadium as leeds rhinos honoured rob burrow — their former player who has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. originally planned as a testimonal forjamie jones—buchanan, the sell—out match against rhinos rivals bradford also helped raise money for burrow and his family, to help pay for all the treatment and care that he will need in the coming years. leeds were comfortably leading when a host of former players joined the action, and their was a huge ovation when burrowjoined the game. fittingly leeds won 34—10. rob burrow, hero of headingley. overthe moon, overwhelmed, humbled, all of them words put into one. absolutely amazing day, and one i will certainly remember. you can't really know what it feels like until you do it. i've been lucky enough to win

some trophies, but that, today, bringing the kids out, was unreal. it was a lovely day. the fans have had my back since day one, when i was 16. they have had my back throughout my career and they were there at the end today. testiment to them. i'm so grateful, it means the world. once again, the england cricket squad has been hit by a sickness bug. captainjoe root is the latest to be stricken with a stomach upset — forcing him to miss training in port elizabeth today ahead of the third test against south africa on thursday. but after england's first win in cape town in 62 years, wicketkeeperjoss buttler thinks it is a perfect platform for them to kick on. i think we've got some momentum from that game, certainly, it was an excellent performance and individually, i think some guys got

some great performances out of it as well. he saw her please the dressing room was through don sibley to score his maiden 100. he will come with loads of confidence to this game and eve ryo ne loads of confidence to this game and everyone rides off the back of ben stokes at the minute. he is superhuman and generate a lot of confidence for everyone else to follow. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. next up on bbc news, it's the film review. hello and a very warm welcome to the film review on bbc news. to take us through this week's cinema releases, mark kermode is back. i can say happy new year.

happy new year! we are in award season, so we have a very good selection of movies because it's all the sort of big contenders. so, coming up this week, we have uncut gems, which a new film by the safdie brothers, starring adam sandler. we have 1917, a war movie directed by sam mendes, constructed in one shot. and seberg, the biopic starring kristin stewart. yeah, quite a variety! there's lots around, as you say. yeah, so let's begin with uncut gems. so, adam sandler is a kind of difficult character to talk about as an actor because i have not liked a lot of his comedies. i love that you are already smiling! but he made a movie called punch—drunk love with paul thomas anderson which i absolutely loved, and i always thought "that's it. if you can make a film like that brilliant, it means you know the difference between a brilliant film and a not—great film." this is him back on form, working with the safdie brothers, who made good time

with robert pattinson, heaven knows what before that. it is the most anxiety—inducing drama i've seen recently. he stars as a new york diamond district sort of bling jeweller whose life is unravelling in spectacularfashion. he's in debt. he thinks he can get out of it by selling the uncut gem — the black opal that he has smuggled into the us. but time is running out on his business, his personal life and his marriage. here's a clip. i'm begging you, just... ..just give me another shot. you know what, howard? say yes. what? i think you are the most annoying person i have ever met. i hate being with you, i hate looking at you and if i had my way, i would never see you again. that's 'cause you're mad. you're mad, and it makes sense. you can punch me if you want. 0h, thanks. hey, i was ready for it. commotion.

i don't even want to touch you. 0h! that's going well, then! the genius of it is that all those things that she says, you know, "you are the most annoying person i have ever met" — that is actually at the centre of the film and yet, you are completely riveted by this character as his life unspools in spectacularfashion. the thing that the safdie brothers do is manage to make a movie that actually has the same kind of dramatic format as abel ferrara's, film bad lieutenant, which is set over a fixed period of time in which everything goes wrong sort of sequentially. you stay with adam sandler‘s character all the way through it as he makes bad decision after bad decision. he is addicted to gambling, he is a liar, he is a cheat, but he believes that there is a way out of this situation — it's always just one step ahead of him. i thought he was absolutely terrific and it reminded me of how much i sat there watching punch—drunk love thinking, "i cannot believe this is the man who has made so many comedies that i've never found funny" because the genius of this is is that what it is it taps into the fact that there is something about adam sandler that is deeply unsettling. there is something about him

that is kind of, you know, worrying and anxiety—ridden, and this really, really captures that. i think the safdie brothers are really extraordinary film—makers. their film—making is experiential. at the end of this movie, you will have to lie down. you know, it kind of felt like a claustrophobic panic attack — and i say that in a good way. in a good way! chuckles. but it's absolutely not for everyone. it's not the kind of thing where you say "it's friday night. let's go and relax. let's go watch uncut gems." because you will come out of this like, you know, you're digging your nails into the palms of your hand. but i think that it should be nominated in all the awards. i think he should be up for best actor. it is a really terrific cinematic experience. wow. but it is, as i said, it is like having a panic attack for two hours. i am slightly stressed just listening to that! i am really sorry. that's. .. so, 1917. i'm going to see that this weekend. yes. so, am i infora treat? you are. i mean, again, experiential cinema. so sam mendes, world war one picture.

the story is very, very simple. at the beginning, the two lance corporals are told that what they have to do is to take a message across enemy lines to a distant troop to say there's an attack that is going to happen and you need to call off the attack. that is basically the plot. the camera then follows them in what appears to be real—time, because it appears to play out in a single shot. it doesn't — it's actually a number of shots, you know, sequentially put together, but it gives you the impression that you're just watching the action unfold absolutely before you without edit. it is brilliantly constructed and choreographed, fantastically shot by roger deakins. it has at its heart a central performance by george mackay, who i have talked about on this show before. i said he is a real — i think he is a real talent and he is perfectly cast at the centre of this movie because his face has this mixture of innocence but also world—weariness. we really get a sense through watching him that he is somebody who has been made old before his time. as a theatrical experience, there are three moments, at least, in which ijumped almost out of my chair. and yet, the real — i think the real strength of the film is it makes you care about the characters. 0bviously what you're seeing

here is edited footage, but bear in mind when you see the film in the cinema, those edits are not in there — the camera appears to be following them as they go on this mission against all the odds, and we discover the landscape as they discover it. yes! it is very, very immersive, terrific soundtrack, and i think you'll — i think you'll find it — i mean, enjoyable is not quite the right word... sure. but it's huge... ..but i think you'll find it very, very powerful. yeah, absorbing and, yeah, definitely one to see. seberg. yes. so, kristen stewart — huge fan of kristin stewart. both her and robert pattinson, who starred together in the twilight movies. remember all that, years ago, when critics were sniffy about those movies? well, look how wrong they turned out to be. so here, she plastean seberg, who's a famous actress, was in nouvelle vague a bout de souffle, and then came back to hollywood and became investigated by and spied upon by the fbi in a covert operation to discredit her because of her affiliation, because of her support for the black panthers and her affiliation with hakim jamal. and in the clip we see here,

together — it's two of them together reading a script she has been given which is both referring to the script and to stuff which is happening in their personal life. here's a clip. you don't know me, mr rumson. but there's not a woman on this earth who will make you a better wife. you ought to. i paid enough for you. i may be paid for, but i'm not your property. you grab me unwanted like that again and i'll shoot you down like a dog. where'd you get that? a woman has her secrets. now put that down or neither of us will have much of a wedding night. two great performances. actually, there's another great performance in the film by jack 0'connell who plays the fbi agent who is sent in to basically spy on and discredit her, who starts to wrestle with his own conscience. the film is interesting.

the director has a background in theatre and i think it occasionally seems a little bit theatrical, a little bit stagey, but it is a really, really interesting story about this horrible counter—surveillance operation, you know, spying on somebody, lying about them, trying to discredit them because of their political beliefs. and at the centre of it is a very, very edgy, nervy, kind of electrifying performance by kristin stewart, who captures that quality that makes, you know — firstly, why it was that this person became a star, but also captures the vulnerability that they experience as they become paranoid about everyone‘s watching them, everyone‘s spying on them — and the truth is, they are. so although i think the film itself is slightly flawed, i think the performances are really good and i think the story itself still bears retelling — and as i said, once again, great to see kristin stewart taking on a role that is challenging and difficult and different to — you know, it's almost as like both her and pattinson have gone out of their way to pursue projects that are admirable and artistically based, and good for them! yes.

and best out this week... 0h! ..you have selected this week little women. yeah, it came out on boxing day and i just love it. have you seen it yet? yes. did you like it? i did not love it as much as i thought i was going to. 0h,jane! what did you not like? sorry. i thought it got better, but i thought the first hour could do with some subbing and it was slow and dark and then, suddenly it sort of burst into light. 0k. i'm taken aback... i'm afraid. i love saoirse ronan. i thought she was terrific. she's great. you didn't think — because greta gerwig, who wrote and directed it, who i thought did a brilliantjob — i thought she would've been nominated recently as best director for it. i — did you not get it — i felt sucked into the world, i believed in the house and the environment and the landscape and the characters and the way in which she has reordered the time frame of the source so that we start further on and we come back. yes...

i don't know. oh, dear! no, no, it's... i feel i'm letting the side down. no, no — not... i didn't dislike it. 0k. i felt — it's two and a quarter hours. i felt it would have benefited from being two, for example. i could have had it three. i could have had four. i could've had a miniseries. i just loved it. i loved it. but there we go — diversity of opinion is a wonderful thing! thejoy of film. yes! 0k. i didn't love it, i didn't hate it. no, 0k. but they're not putting that on the poster. no. dvd. dvd, what's out? yes. just very briefly, the by the grace of god, which is a true—life drama directed by francois ozon about a real—life case of a group of men who got together to take action against a priest who had molested them in younger life. what's interesting about it is because the subject matter is so factually based, it is almost as if ozon, who is a kind of, you know, famous auteur, he has put aside any style and has just made the film as straightforwardly and as simply and as, you know, a matter of factly as possible because the story itself is very strong, very powerful, very controversial and it's almost

like the film—maker's saying "i do not need to embellish this at all. this is how it plays out." and i thought actually, it was a very smart move because i thought it — the matter—of—fact quality made it all the more powerful. mmm. all right. mark, thank you very much. you have to see little women again! you have to see it again! i'm very busy watching sam mendes‘ latest this weekend. thank you very much, mark. see you next time and enjoy your cinema—going, whatever you choose to go and see. bye— bye! good evening, potentially disruptive weather on the cards over the next couple of days. storm brendan arriving from the atlantic, so things are set to turn windy, and there will be some heavy rain at times on monday and tuesday, particularly in the south. we have largely quiet and clear conditions out there at the moment, but some showers moving west to east across england and wales, drierfor scotla nd england and wales, drierfor scotland and northern ireland with the clearing skies tonight and a chilly night. a touch of frost likely, especially across the northern half of the british isles. to start off monday morning, most places dry and settled, but they

wind already picking up in the west, all down to this approaching storm system, storm brendan. isobars on the map, indicating strong wind developing through the day. they went picking up across the west of england, wales and scotland and for northern ireland as well, heavy rain working in from the west. joyous for longest in the east, but windy wherever you are, gusts up to 80 mph in the north west.

the headlines on bbc news... hundreds of anti—british demonstrators protest outside the embassy in tehran. here, the government calls yesterday's detention of the ambassador "a flagrant violation of international law". completely unacceptable. i think you are right, a breach certainly of the vienna convention and a whole range of things. urgent talks between the queen and prince harry and meghan will be held tomorrow over the royal couple's future. 8,000 people are ordered from their homes and manila international airport puts all flights on hold after steam and ash erupt from a volcano in the philippines. in australia the terrible toll of the bushfires