is it all in the mind? and like a boss, 3 comedy that needs to be a lot funnier than it actually is. the devil is in the retail. good tagline. it's a great tagline. 50 steve coogan stars as sir richard ‘greedy‘ mccready who is kind of a loathsome british retail mogul who has recently been hauled up in front of a bunch of mps to account for himself. this is a fictional tale. fictional, yes. but it will obviously it will ring certain bells for news viewers. he's sunning himself on a greek island, building a coliseum at which he is going to lord over all his toga—clad friends at a party which is meant to be some kind of huge roman spectacular, including wild animals. however, people are dropping out left, right, and centre, so they're having to turn to not real celebrities, but look—alikes. here's a clip:

hi, richard. simon cowell, he's very good. who are you? adele. of course you are. who's the guy with the bandanna? he's rod stewart. looks like rod stewart's bitter older brother? who's she? kylie. kylie minogue?! she will have to wear a name badge. is that george michael? he's amazing. apparently he can sing as well. george michael is bleep dead. i think the agencyjust sent anyone they had on the books. they should have put the ghost of george michael. ourdrinks are not our drinks are not free for him at. you laughed all the way through that. lots of very cheesy jokes, but they did make me laugh. so steve coogan, who i'm a big fan of, directed by michael winterbottom. they have worked together before and done some very interesting films.

of the millionaire yachting life. on the other hand, it's aiming at a wider target, which is how is it that all this wealth is produced? who are the workers that are being exploited in orderfor this who are the workers that are being exploited in order for this to who are the workers that are being exploited in orderfor this to be like this? that's very important for his part of the story. originally, i think, sacha baron cohen was earmarked to play the central character, and you can imagine him playing it a lot more grotesquely. 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 actually makes their company bearable for the course of the movie. so for me, i think steve coogan was pretty good. i think sometimes there's a disparity between the very broad—strokes comedy of the film itself and the attempt to deal with more serious subject matter, such as refugees, such as worker exploitation. i was wondering how that would work, because you could say lots of very serious things about the fashion industry, but putting the two together is quite a challenge. but crucially, michael winterbottom, that's the kind of thing he does. because he is interested in those issues, and it wouldn't be

a michael winterbottom film without them, so i don't think they mesh together perfectly. you wouldn't want the comedy without them, because it would kind of take the heart out of the film. so i enjoyed it while i was watching it. i don't think it's particularly savagely insightful film, but it's a fun watch — 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, although there is a very interesting intertwining of the modern retail story with kind of archetypal greek myth, which does tie together well as the drama moves on. i enjoyed it, i think more than some critics did. 0k. little joe. i don't even know how to begin to describe this, but it is curious and fascinating — goodness. so, i loved it. this is a brilliantly low—key, sci—fi, psychological thriller, and it is about a plant that has been invented by emily beecham, designed to make the owner happy.

it produces oxytocin in the owner. it produces oxytocin in the owner — which is the mother hormone. you will love this plant like you will love your own child. but the question is, is the plant infecting people around it? is it changing them to its own ends? carrie fox thinks her dog is no longer her dog, which is obviously very body snatchers. my dog is no longer my dog. emily beecham's character thinks that possibly her son is a stranger to her. but of course he is. he's 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 her psychotherapist, that everything she's feeling is projected guilt because they've even called the plant littlejoe, named after her. she says let's call it littlejoe. i've seen it a couple of times now. each time i saw it, it looks different.

the first time, i thought it was once side of the story. the second time, i thought it was another. it's chilling and icy and beautifully designed. what did you think? visually, i loved it. all those wide shots, some of it here, of the plants, the banks of the plants cultivated, i thought it was brilliant. i went into it quite nervous. it's well documented that i'm a bit of a chicken. were you going in thinking it was like a horror—inflicted thing? i thought there would be a little bit of horror. i was a little nervous, but i wouldn't describe it as horror. and it gets, it sort of burrows into your brain and you're not sure what's going on. but in a good way. it's a chiller. 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. and the colour design as well. every use of green and yellow and red is all very particularly put together. i thought it was great. i think it is a bit of a hard sell.

i think it's not for everybody, but i thought it was really terrific. yes, i would agree with that. i have not seen today's third choice. no. i wouldn't argue that you should rush to see it. this is a comedy. with tiffany haddish and rose byrne. it's about lifelong friends who have started a cosmetic company. kind of running it as a cottage industry. the setup is that, essentially, in comes this beauty mogul who says i am going to invest in a company because i thinks the company is fabulous. but she has to sign a contract saying she gets control of the company if they fall out. that's the setup. here's a clip: i need you to be fierce to yourself so you can inspire the ugly people to buy themselves into gorgeousness! listen to the word — fierced. what is it saying to you? i hear fear, then "st". i hear that too. fierced! now whisper it.

feel it inside you — fierced! glass shattering. jarring, unexpected, exhilarating. that's fierced. can you be fierced? yes, yes, we can certainly try. i don't want her as my boss. but what a great performance though. that's salma hayek doing the kind of over the top thing. three really great performances, and the setup is really interesting, so 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 like as inventive or clever or intimate or intriguing or interesting as it could be. you've essentially got the first act, which is here's the setup, they're friends, she kind of wants to split them apart, because that's what she does. and then you think — this is going where,

and that got all cranked up. and it's a real shame because i did think, for the first five or ten minutes, ok, yup, it's going somewhere. and then, oh, no, it's just that other film. it's a real shame because there are 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 disappointing. and best out therefore is still... it's still... this is the last week i'm going to say this. parasite is still in cinemas, it is still drawing audiences, and again, how brilliant that a foreign—language film won the oscar for best picture. i know that some high—ranking politicians think that's a bad thing, that we should all be watching gone with the wind. but actually, some of us are watching parasite — a fantastic forward—looking, challenging, forward—looking,

intelligent, strange movie by bong joon—ho. i can't wait to see it again, i can't wait to see the black and white version. this to me is what cinema is about. i just loved the movie. you liked it. i liked it a lot. it's hugely 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. and i like that in a film. 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 i think it has a similar quality to it. that you don't know whether to laugh or be creeped out by certain things. i love films in which there is an ambiguity at the heart of it, which is what i love about parasite and what i love about littlejoe as well. yes, you are just not quite sure. but yes, it's terrific. what's on dvd this week? honeyland, about a subject i know very little about — it's wild bee—keeping. it begins as a straightforward documentary as bee—keeping, but then it becomes so much else. it becomes is a story of mothers and daughters and neighbours and changing worlds and how a way

of life is 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 to the other. and again, 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 where you absolutely didn't expect, and that's what honeyland did for me. it's hard going in places, i won't live. -- lie. it is. there are elements i loved about it. i love the big sweeping planes and some of it was really tough. i don't think that is a bad thing, exactly. no, absolutely. challenging cinema is what makes cinema important, although some people just want gone with the wind. excellent. obviously you will be doing that this week. yes. see you next time. thanks very much for being with us. enjoy your cinema—going, whatever you choose to see. see you soon, bye—bye.

hello. the weather could cause us some few issues over the next few days. the flooding problems haven't gone away really. rivers have receded in a number of places, we still have 109 flood warnings in force and early this evening, we had a severe flood warning put back on a stretch of the river severn in shrewsbury were expecting the water levels here to get close to or perhaps even beat the current record which stands at 5.25 metres. the next time watermark is free monday afternoon and perhaps into the early hours of tuesday morning. it is want to watch. everything that could cause some issues is snow. not eve ryo ne cause some issues is snow. not everyone is going to see this. but some are well. overnight tonight, we re some are well. overnight tonight, were seen as damages some are well. overnight tonight, were seen as damages following pretty quickly across northern parts of the country. notice, it is pretty mild in the south—west, notice of

any snow here. it is mild because it is turning wet and windy. this band of heavy rain is going to be pushing it across wales and the midlands, bumping into that cold later on into the night on be more than likely that it the night on be more than likely thatitis the night on be more than likely that it is no. initially, but high ground of northern england and scotla nd ground of northern england and scotland but it could also get down to lower levels for a time. we could see some disruption, perhaps some of the worst conditions working to scotla nd the worst conditions working to scotland just in time for the morning rush hour to work. things could be quite rotten across the far north of england and maybe five to ten centimetres of snow across the island and less slow down but still enough to cause problems. this band of rain sweeping through, could bring another a0 or 50 millimetres of rain to the hills of wales which sets the scene for further flooding later on in the week. even as the rain clears, showers follow and it will be a windy day everywhere. the winds making it feel quite raw in scotla nd winds making it feel quite raw in scotland in particular. tuesday and wednesday, high pressure to the south—west, low pressure to the north—east and that's why we've got these north—westerly winds feeding in. those with we bringing plenty of showers was might well start off

with a drier start to the day across central and eastern part of the uk, bit of sunshine for the showers get going. in the afternoon, they become more widespread as a prop waxing from the west and some showers heavy with wonder and how mixed in. also the prospect of more snow across some of the higher hills. wednesday again, north—westerly winds continue to push the showers in. the showers most frequent in northern ireland, north and west scotland and through the irish b. the isle of man commented north wales. part of cheshire, merseyside, greater manchester and the north—west midlands will see frequent showers for both morning and afternoon and with the winds, it is going to feel pretty chilly for the next few days as well. that is your latest weather. a very good night.

i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. the headlines: south korea's president has put the country on the highest possible alert as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus surges past 600. india prepares for donald trump's visit by building a wall along the route of his motorcade. but can narendra modi and the us president break down trade barriers? indian officials have hinted that they could be an announcement on defence, but the trade deal president trump wa nts the trade deal president trump wants so badly looks unlikely. i'm lewis vaughan jones in london. also in the programme: idlib in syria is under ferocious attack by forces loyal to president assad. we have a special report.