if you've watched my bbc 4 series secrets of cinema, which is now on iplayer, you'll know that i'm a great fan of pop biopics. from the buddy holly story to good vibrations, the latter of which told the story of legendary belfast record label boss terri hooley. there's more than a touch of hooley�*s maverick genius in creation stories. a new film about alan mcgee who helped launch the careers of bands like primal scream and oasis. he's comin�* in for his white labels. anything you can find in this box. tvps? later! co—written by irvine welsh, produced by danny boyle and starring ewen bremner, you could be forgiven for thinking that this has something of a trainspotting feel. indeed, mcgee comes across as basically a more successful version of spud,

someone whose kamikaze style enthusiasm for class a narcotics leads him not into a gutter in edinburgh, but to a swanky poolside terrace in la. now you've one of the biggest bands in the world, where does it go from here? played in his younger years by leo flanagan, and by bremner as an oddly childlike adult, mcgee's biggest breaks seem to be down to chaotic fate. with his unswerving belief that each new signing will be bigger than u2, he somehow stumbles into a position of immense cultural importance, helping to define the era of britpop and gaining access to the corridors of power under tony blair's new labour where everything starts to unravel. directed by nick moran who previously did a brilliantjob with thejoe meek story, telstar, this is entertaining if inevitably self mythologizing fare. bremner is clearly having a ball in the lead role, but it's the supporting characters who often steal the show. from former skids frontman

richard jobson as alan's overbearing dad, to jason isaacs in a rip—roaring cameo as a coke addled producer. it's a biopic, forrest gump meets boyz n the hood. personally, i could have lived without the somewhat hackneyed staged interviews, and for all its excesses, there's little sense that this gets under the skin of its larger—than—life subject. but, like many of the bands that mcgee champions, this is entertainingly bolshie fare. loud, brash and absolutely full of itself. creation stories is on sky cinema from saturday. it's a book. it's a little more than that. open it. you bought drugs from yourself? i had to beta test it. sticking with substance fuelled lifestyles, silk road retells the story of self—proclaimed dark web pirate ross ulbricht who made a fortune setting up what was effectively amazon for drugs. a site where narcotics

could be bought, sold and even customer rated, all under the anonymity of bitcoin currency. that's 1.2 million a day. likeable love simon star nick robinson plays the real—life entrepreneur, whose libertarian dreams of changing the world lead him into increasingly paranoid isolation, obsessed with money, riven with deadly suspicion. by contrast, jason clarke is the fictional ravaged narc who worms his way into ulbricht�*s confidence, albeit from a distance, determined to bring him down. we get him on conspiracy to commit murder. checkmate. there may be a brilliantly incisive movie to be made about this story, told in a rolling stone article by david kushner, but this isn't it? by david kushner, but this isn't it. instead it's stylishly empty fare, fitting perhaps considering the subject matter. robinson, who was terrific in the underrated coming—of—age pic the kings of summer, makes a very sympathetic lead, although it's worth remembering for all of his talk about giving

people the freedom to make their own choices, ulbricht was essentially a dealer grifting in an industry built not upon freedom but on extortion, greed and murder., the result is a passable if lightweight cyber crime thriller that you can find online — appropriately enough — from monday. at the other end of the dramatic spectrum we have oleg which opened to very positive reviews in the directors�* fortnight at cannes in 2019 and now arrives on mubi, offering a vivid and occasionally horrifying portrait of economic migration. valentin novopolskij is the latvian butcher who travels to belgium in search of work, but finds himself

effectively enslaved by smilingly psychotic polish criminal andrzej. seeming initially to befriend and support oleg, andrzej is soon exploiting and abusing him, refusing to pay him for his work and threatening to kill him or his family if he leaves. inspired by real—life tales of modern slavery that add a gritty veracity to the kafkaesque proceedings, director juris kursietis�* film has an urgent documentary—like quality, interspersed with quasi—religious dreams of drowning that somehow universalize the story. dawid ogrodnik is particularly good as oleg's nemesis. a ball of nervy energy who oozes

danger, switching in an instant from goofiness to gangsterism — a terrifying combination. as for novopolskij, he plays the sacrificial lamb to a tee, his strangely innocent face perfect for the role of someone trapped in hellish surroundings, stripped of their voice and their identity. oleg is available on mubi from tuesday. to hungary now, where this year's entry from the best foreign film oscar was the lengthily entitled preparations to be together for an unknown period of time. it may not have made the academy's shortlist but that's no reason to miss out on this twisty treat from writer director lili horvat. siren wails. natasha stork is martha, a hungarian neurosurgeon living in the us who returns to her homeland after a fleeting

encounter with janos at a conference in newjersey. realising that janos is "what i've been looking for", martha agrees to a rendezvous in budapest, but when she gets there he insists that he has no memory of meeting her. has martha encountered a doppelganger? is janos just pretending not to know her? or has she simply imagined their relationship, carefully conjuring every detail so even i believe it happened? horvat has cited truffaut and kie�*lowski alongside hitchcock as influences, although strangely, the emotional tension of herfilm reminded me at times of the superb french thriller tell no—one.

impressively, horvat manages to keep all the narrative options open for far longer than should be credible. with martha and janos playing an unspoken game of cat and mouse as they follow each other through a city whose distinct districts seem to mirror and map her internal conflicts. part ghost story, part love story, this playfully mysterious film is a joy to watch, with stork drawing us deep with stork drawing us deep into martha's kaleidoscopic world while horvat toys expertly with the tricks of memory and the mind. you can find it on curzon home cinema. this sunday the 21st is world down syndrome day. on thursday, the brilliant british movie my feral heart starring steven brandon had its terrestrial and network premiere on bbc four, and it's now available on iplayer. it's a real indie gem,

of which writer producer duncan paveling significantly said that inspiration came from the similarities and experiences that we all share regardless of needs, adding that this story adding that, this story is about ability, not disability. that's a sentiment that also rings true with amber and me, a beautiful and uplifting documentary about childhood, friendship and education that's available for home viewing from sunday. amber, do you want to taste a bit of the cake now? time for the taste test. focusing on twin sisters amber and olivia, and directed by their dad, ian davies, the film follows the girls as they start school together, embarking on differentjourneys that will see each challenged in different ways. she just finds it a bit trickier. now she doesn't want to go to school as much. it's impossible not to feel deeply involved in the world of these sisters who share a palpable bond that is tested by the classroom environment, but that

also proves unbreakable. dad? are you going to go to school tomorrow? i don't want to. how are you feeling? sad. sad? yeah. the honesty with which the camera catches them both at work and at play is terrific. it's like being in a room with friends and family watching these two young people grow, wishing only the best for their future. it really is a lovely film. for details of how to see it go to amberandmefilm.com. i'll leave you with news that following a lengthy fan fuelled campaign, zack snyder's directors cut zack snyder's director's cut of the 2017 flop justice league has been completed and is now available for home viewing. the original theatrical release was finished byjoss whedon after snyder left due to a family

tragedy and was universally panned by critics, myself included. this new cut, which clocks in at a heaven's gate style four hours, restores the film to snyder's originalvision, producing a substantially different experience that's been enthusiastically embraced by hard—core devotees. life is either one or zero, it's to be or not to be. not both. for me, justice league has problems no amount of re—cutting could solve, from the endless video game cg effects, some of which is still look effects, some of which still look shonky, to the wooden dialogue, flatpack characters, despite an abundance of additional character building, and risibly overburdened plot. i mean, we have to try, don't we? we have to try. but i do understand the desire to see the movie as it was intended, and having spent four hours doing just that i can tell you that this is an improvement on the disastrously disjointed 2017 cut. it may be bloated and turgid,

but at least it's coherently bloated and uniformly turgid. you can judge zack snyder'sjustice league for yourself on sky cinema. that's it for this week. thanks for watching the film review, stay safe and i'll see you next week. you're alan mcgee? as i live and breathe! hello there. today has brought the chance for most of us to see at least a little bit of spring sunshine, but amounts of cloud have varied, barely a cloud in the sky for this weather watcher in county armagh, but a very different sky overhead in cornwall. it was pretty cloudy here at times, but as you can see from our earlier satellite image, even the cloudier parts of south—west england and northern scotland brightened up a little bit. where we have had those sunny skies through the day and we will keep clear skies through the night, well, that is where temperatures are going to drop.

the clearest skies likely across parts of eastern and south—eastern scotland and into northern england, parts of the midlands and wales could see one or two mist patches and temperatures getting very close to freezing, even a degree or so below freezing in one or two places. but where it stays cloudier, most likely towards the south—east and the north—west of the uk, it is not going to be quite as cold. but high pressure will stay in charge during tomorrow. quite a few isobars, though, quite a few white lines you can see towards the north—west of the country, so the winds will be a little bit stronger through the day across parts of northern ireland and scotland and that breeze will feed more cloud in here as well, even the odd spot of rain for western scotland. eastern scotland should see some brightness and certainly we will see some sunny spells across england and wales once any early mist is cleared. still some fairly large areas of cloud around and temperatures around 10—14 , not far off, really, where they have been throughout this weekend. now, as we move out of monday and into tuesday, high pressure will try to hold on, but this frontal system will begin to approach from the west.

this front is going to make quite slow progress, so much of tuesday will be dry in many areas, quite a lot of cloud, some spells of sunshine, but late in the day we will see some rain starting to approach northern ireland and the western side of scotland and the winds will start to pick up here as well. temperatures in a familiar range, really, between 11,12 or even 13 degrees in most places. now, as we move through the middle part of the week, things will turn more unsettled. this first front will slide through during tuesday night and wednesday, some showers pushing in towards the north—west, and then this next frontal system arriving through thursday will usher in for a time some colder air and even some wintry showers and places for the end of the week. so a dry start. it will then turn wetter and windier and a little bit colder for a time later in the week.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 7:00pm. the government warns the european union, that any attempt to block the export of doses of coronavirus vaccine to the uk would be "counterproductive". yesterday saw another record—breaking number of vaccinations in the uk — nearly 900,000 administered — but a warning that facemasks and some social distancing could be with us, for years. meanwhile, wore questions over whether people can plan forforeign holidays. i think it would be premature to do that. it would be potentially risky. we are seeing growing variants. we have done a huge amount of work, the taxpayer, the nhs staff, my constituents who have been in lockdown since september in preston and i don't want us to throw that away.