a man who's transformed the club's fortunes. at his press conference today, he said he liked daragh's letter, even though daragh was not on his side. it wasjust nice. it was nice, it was cheeky. i was happy we had time that day. so, i read the letter and i replied. "unfortu nately, on this occasion," he wrote, "i cannot grant your request, not through choice anyway. we have lost games in the past and we will lose games in the future. the problem is, when you're ten years old, you think that things will always be as they are now. but there's one thing i can tell you as 52 years old, it's that this most definitely isn't the case." before i opened it, i thought it might be jurgen klopp, because it had royal mail on the stamp. my mam was like, "no, it's not." and then i open it, and it wasjurgen klopp. but, to daragh's disappointment, liverpool are still on course for premier league glory.

he has probably done more interviews today than mr klopp himself which, like football, shows you how unpredictable things can be. emma vardy, bbc news. now on bbc news it's time for the film review. hello and a very warm welcome to the film review on bbc news. to take us through this week's releases is mark kermode. we have greed, the devil is in the retail. littlejoe, a sci—fi thriller, or is it? is it all in the mind? and like a boss, a comedy.

the devil is in the retail. steve coogan stars as richard "greedy" mccready which is kind of a loathesome british retail mogul who has recently been hauled up in front of a bunch of mps to account for himself. this is fictional. but it will obviously it will ring certain bells for newsletters. he sunning himself on a greek island, building a coliseum at which he is going to lord it over all his toga clad friends at a party which is meant to be some huge roman spectacular including wild animals. however, people are dropping out left, right and centre. they have to turn to not real celebrities but look—alikes. here's a clip. hi, richard! simon cowell, very good. who are you?

and l. who's the guy with the bandanna? is that rod stewart's bitter older brother? who is she? kylie minogue. she needs a name badge. is that george michael? he's amazing. george michael is bleep dead! put the ghost of george michael onto clu b put the ghost of george michael onto club tropicana. the nuts aren't free for him. lots of very cheesy jokes but they did make me laugh. on the one hand this revels in the grotesquely of the millionaire life on the other hand, it's aiming at a wider target which is how is it that all this wealth is produced? that's very important

for his part of the story. sacha baron cohen was earmarked to play the central character and you can imagine him playing it a lot more grotesque. the thing i like about steve coogan‘s portrayal is that he's very good at playing characters who are essentially, utterly kind of creepy and unlovable but playing them in a way which makes their company bearable for the course of the movie. for me, i think steve coogan was pretty good. i think sometimes there is a disparity between the very broad stroke comedy of the film itself and the attempts to deal with more serious subject matter, such as refugees. you could say lots of very serious things about the fashion industry but putting the two together is quite a challenge. he is interested in those issues and it wouldn't be a film without them so i don't think they mesh together perfectly. you wouldn't want the comedy without them because

it was kind of take the heart out of the film, so i enjoyed it but i don't think it's particularly the most savagely insightfulfilm, but it does have something serious at its heart. whether or not it completely manages to make that more dramatic, that's still up for debate but there is a very interesting intertwining of the modern retail story with archetypal greek myth which does tie together well. i enjoyed it. i think more than some critics did. little joe. i don't even know how to begin to describe this but it is curious and fascinating, goodness! i loved it. this is a brilliantly low—key psychological thriller and it is about a plant that has been invented designed to make the owner happy. it produces oxytocin.

you will love this plant like you will love your own child. but the question is, is the plant infecting people and changing them? carrie fox thinks her dog is no longer her dog. emily beecham's character thinks that possibly her son is a stranger to her. but at a certain age he's changing, he's becoming a different person. what i loved about it was there is a way of reading this film which is pretty much all in the mind. our central character is torn between home life and work and there's a suggestion by a psychotherapist that everything she's feeling is projecting guilt because they've even called the plant littlejoe, named after her. each time i saw it it looks different. the second time i thought it was another. it's chilling and icy and beautifully designed. what did you think? i loved it visually.

all those wide shots. the plants, the banks of the plants cultivated, i thought it was brilliant. i went into it quite nervous. where you going in thinking it was like a horror inflicted thing? i thought there would be a little bit of horror. but i wouldn't describe it as horror. it sort of burrows into your brain and you're not sure what's going on but in good way! i really, really like it. you genuinely come out of it questioning. was something happening, wasn't it happening, was it all in my mind? i think it's really well played. i think the cast did great. every use of green and yellow and red is all very particularly put together. i thought it was great. i think it's not for everybody but i thought it was really terrific. i would agree with that. i have not seen the third choice. i wouldn't argue that you should rush to see it. this is a comedy. it's about lifelong friends who have

started a cosmetic company. the set up is essentially, in comes this beauty mogul who says she's going to invest in a company because she thinks the company is fabulous, but she has to sign a contract saying she gets control of the company if they fall out. i need you to inspire the ugly people to buy themselves into gorgeousness! what is it saying to you? i hear fear. i do to. fierced! feel it inside you! fierced!

unexpected. exhilarating. that's fierced. can you be fierced? we can certainly try. i don't want her as my boss! what a great performance though. three very great performances. why is it that the laughs stop about ten minutes in? this is a perfect example of the script being the problem. the script is nothing as inventive or clever or intimate or intriguing or interesting as it could be. you've essentially got the first act, here's the set up, they're friends, she wants to split them apart because that's what she does. and this is going where, and that got all cranked up and it's a real shame because i did think for the first five orten minutes, 0k, yup, it's going somewhere. and then it's like, nope.

it's just that other film. it's a real shame because there are a few things more disheartening than watching really great screen talent get wasted. i think this is a perfect example of that. it's a shame. very disappointed. parasite. it is still drawing audiences and again, how brilliant. a foreign language film won the oscar for best picture. i know that some high—ranking politicians that think that's a bad thing, that we should all be watching gone with the wind, but actually some of us are watching an challenging, strange movie by bong joon—ho. i can't wait to see it again. this to me is what cinema is about. i liked it a lot. it's usually intelligent. sometimes unexpectedly funny.

every time i laugh, i thought i didn't think i would be laughing at all in this film and it takes you through a lot of different emotions. the genius is sometimes you're laughing and recoiling at the same time because it is, and funny enough, i think this is a connection to littlejoe because it has a similar quality to it. i love films in which there is an ambiguity at the heart of it, which is why i love parasite. but yes, it's terrific. what's on dvd this week? honeyland, it's wild beekeeping. it begins as a straightforward documentary as beekeeping, but then it becomes so much else, it becomes is a story of mothers and daughters and a way of life that's starting to disappear. it does all of this in a way that's

almost imperceptible, that you almost don't notice it's shifting from one tone from it the other. this is one of these films that i knew nothing about going in other than the title, and one of the greatjoys of cinema is it can take you somewhere you absolutely didn't expect. this is what honeyland did for me. i love the big sweeping planes and some of it was really tough. no, absolutely! challenging cinema is what makes cinema important, although some peoplejust want gone with the wind. are excellent, obviously you'll be doing that for the next week. see you next time. enjoy your cinema going. see you soon, bye—bye.

good evening. after heavy rain and flooding of the last week you might well be hoping for dry weather through the weekend. unfortunately that's not what we're going to get. there will be some rain at times, rain pushing southwards and eastwards tonight across england and wales. the northern ireland and scotla nd wales. the northern ireland and scotland we'll see clear spells but showers, the show is turning wintry across high ground in scotland on what will be quite a windy night. it's a mild night in the south but an increasingly chilly one across the north. as we go into tomorrow, some cloud and rain plaguing the south of england and channel islands at times. across wales, northern england, sunny spells and some showery outbreaks of rain. sunshine and showers for northern ireland and scotla nd and showers for northern ireland and scotland but the showers in scotland falling at a mild night in the south but an increasingly chilly one across the north. as we go into tomorrow, some cloud and rain plaguing the south of england and channel islands at times. across wales, northern england, sunny spells and some showery outbreaks of rain. sunshine and showers for northern ireland and scotland but the showers in scotland falling as slow red snow over relatively low levels. over the highest ground blizzard conditions are likely with brisk winds. on sunday, they could

be heavy rain. it should brighten up as the day wears on.

this is bbc world news today. i'm ben bland. our top stories... the world health organization warns that the window of opportunity to stop the spread of coronavirus is narrowing fast. we still have a chance to contain it. but while doing that we have to prepare at the same time for any eventualities because this outbreak could go any direction. us intelligence agencies believe russia is meddling in this year's presidential election to help donald trump win again. a week of reduced violence begins in afghanistan, after an agreement between american and taliban negotiators. dearjurgen klopp i am ten years