directed by paul ws anderson and starring christopher lambert, wasn't bad. not great, but not terrible either. the same could not be said of the sequel annihilation, a flop which effectively killed the live—action franchise. first learned about this seven years ago on a mission in brazil to capture a wanted fugitive. now, more than two decades later, we have a new mortal kombat movie, produced by saw and insidious co—creatorjames wan and co—written by greg russo, a devotee of the games who promised to stay true to the existing mythology and to give fellow fans a faithful screen adaptation. get over here! now, that's all well and good, but the film still needs to work for audiences unfamiliar with the games, so we get lewis tan as new character cole young, a cage fighter with a mysterious birthmark who finds himself drawn into a world that conveniently has to be explained to him en route.

throughout history, different cultures all over the world reference a great tournament. enterjessica mcnamee�*s sonya blade, who spends a lot of time doing an impression of basil exposition from the austin powers movies, ensuring that no one gets confused, although if truth be told, i did get confused a bit. kano wins! also along for the ride isjosh lawson's impressively obnoxious kano, a loudmouthed australian, as opposed to all those quiet australians, who accompanies cole and sonya to an otherworldly tournament encountering laser eyes, freezing stares, robotic arms, killer lizards, on—demand fireballs and lethal frisbee hats. really. while previous mortal kombat films have felt rather toothless, this reboot is an impressively blood—splattered affair, packed with much enjoyably squishy violence and moments of utterly

gratuitous gore that left me feeling nostalgic for the good old days of the video nasties. gamers will doubtless argue over the presence of some favourite characters and the absence of others, but with a sequel in the pipeline, this hasn't finished the franchise. there's still time for any absentees to get a look in. on the downside, this reboot is lumbered with some clunky dialogue and uninspiring performances, with lawson too often saving the day as the only really charismatic character on screen. but considering the depressing history of console—to—screen transitions, this is, to misquote the game, definitely not a fatality. it's available to rent now from all major streaming platforms. now, last week, movie fans endured the horrors of christopher walken�*s ear—scraping irish accent in the baloney—filled romcom wild mountain thyme. there are more americans at large in the emerald isle in end of sentence, an offbeat drama from icelandic director elfar adalsteins.

so, what is this anyway? like, a little father—and—son fishing trip? kind of skipped over all the things that started with father—son. his bail. sorry, can you repeat that? couldn't hear you. oh, i said unless you count posting bail. . john hawkes and logan lerman play estranged father and son frank and sean fogle, the latter of whose mother dies while he's serving a stretch in prison. unhappily reunited with his dad upon release, sean reluctantly agrees to accompany frank to ireland following a deathbed request from his mum, who was clearly a screenwriter in her spare time and knew how to spot an off—the—peg, last—wish road movie set—up. initially, things are tetchy and hostile, but after meeting up with sarah bolger�*sjewel — yes, she really is called jewel — the frostiness seems to thaw and formulaic movie bonding ensues, albeit temporarily.

you wanted clark kent for a father. had clark kent, wanted superman. there's little in end of sentence, that played at the edinburgh film festival way back in 2019, that seasoned moviegoers won't have seen before, although hawkes does a fine job of quietly portraying the loss and pathos of frank, a man whose son despises him for what he perceives as his weakness and frailty of character. # i kissed my love by the factory wall. ..# but while this largely sidesteps the blarney romance of wild mountain thyme, i'd still love to see a movie which didn't imagine every pub in ireland has a welcoming band just waiting to burst into a rendition of dirty old town, joined on vocals by a sultry local beauty while everyone sinks pints and sings along. note to film—makers — it's an island, not a theme park. you can find end of sentence

on digital download from monday. altogether more surprising is cowboys, the new film from writer—director anna kerrigan. joe likes cowboy hats. so what, she just wants to be like you. and you encourage it, troy. no, no, no, no. she said that she is a boy. oh, god! that she feels like she's in the wrong body, like she's like an alien living in someone else's body. like that body snatchers movie. like the body snatchers movie? troy, what are you talking about? steve zahn and jillian bell star as the separated parents ofjoe, played by upcoming trans actor sasha knight. joe is being raised as a girl but identifies as a boy, something which baffles and distresses bell's sally, who thinks zahn�*s troy has been putting ideas into their child's head. meanwhile, troy, who has a bipolar condition, decides to takejoe across the wild lands of montana to canada, creating a new life for both of them.

with a supporting cast that includes the great ann dowd, whose forthcoming film mass is already shaping up as one of my favourite films of the year, cowboys is a low—key treat, a film of great sensitivity and tact, but also a genuinely engaging drama packed with humour and heartbreak, offering real humanist insight into its characters' strengths and foibles. you understood what we were doing! what was the plan? you were supposed to protect me! crucially, although it deals with some hot—button issues, cowboys never feels preachy or polemical. on the contrary, it's an open and honest drama that's designed to be enjoyed by the widest possible audience, finding strength and positivity in the prospect of taking people as they are, with genuinely moving results. it's available on curzon home cinema and digital download now. from america to greece with apples, the strangely satirical and unexpectedly melancholy debut feature from director

and co—writer christos nikou, which was his country's entry for best international feature oscar at the 93rd academy awards. set amid an epidemic of amnesia, aris servetalis cuts a lonely figure as a man who finds himself unable to remember his name, his occupation or his home address. so, he's placed in a bizarre recovery programme designed to create new memories and a new identity. to do this, he receives taped instructions for mundane tasks like riding a bike, diving into a swimming pool or going to a fancy dress party — tasks that require photographic proof of completion, with the pictures duly posted into an album of memories.

nikou describes apples as an allegorical comedy—drama born out of a personal bereavement and exploring the subject of whether we are all, in the end, simply the sum of all of those things we don't forget. there's an echo of eternal sunshine of the spotless mind in the premise, although i was also reminded of the hungarian drama preparations to be together for an unknown period of time, which similarly explored the mysteries of memory. as with his greek weird wave compatriots yorgos lanthimos and athina rachel tsangari, nikou balances profundity with absurdism, along with a hilarious potted synopsis of james cameron's titanic that's worth the ticket price alone. apples is on curzon home cinema now and then in cinemas when they reopen. i'll leave you with news of charlatan, a biographical drama from polish director agnieszka holland, whose impressive

cv includes such oscar—nominated hits as europa europa and in darkness, but who's perhaps best known to english—speaking audiences for her brilliant �*90s adaptation of the secret garden. in charlatan, holland revisits the young story of a young jan mikolasek, the faith healer and herbalist who diagnosed and treated patients using plant—based remedies, but who ran afoul of the czech authorities. having tended to nazis and communists alike, mikolasek has earned a tidy sum, but following the death of his key

political protector, becomes a target of the regime, accused of poisoning party stalwarts. real—life father and son ivan and josef trojan, who respectively play the older and younger mikolasek, breathe convincing life into this somewhat unfathomable character, aided by a strong turn from juraj loj as the herbalist�*s assistant and speculative lover frantisek palko. yet for all the dramatic intrigue of its source story, charlatan feels oddly episodic, like a tv movie whose broken—back structure never quite brings together its disparate elements. it's available on curzon home cinema and bfi player and through virtual cinema screenings. that's it for this week. thanks for watching the film review. stay safe, and i'll see you next week.

who's that? it's nobody. hello. on sunday, the uk recorded its highest temperatures since the end of march, 22.5 celsius in suffolk. now, nothing that high in the week ahead. temperatures will be close to average for the time of year, and for monday, it is a mix of sunshine and showers. in fact, that pretty much covers it for much of the week ahead, because for much of the week ahead, low pressure will be close by the uk, the source of these showers, and at least for monday, some brisk winds as well, especially in england and wales. and after a cloudy, breezy, showery night, well, this is where temperatures are to start the day. no frost out there. in fact, some spots just around 10—12 degrees celsius. we're not expecting any frost in the week ahead. there mayjust be a bit of rain skirting parts of eastern england to begin with. that moves off and may well towards the northern isles

of scotland later in the day. some of that could be heavy and thundery. whereas elsewhere, it's sunshine, these showers moving west to east, some heavy and thundery, a risk of hail. and it will be quite blustery, particularly in england and wales. these are average wind speeds. there'll be higher gusts around 40—45 mph or so. and temperatures generally in the range of around 13—17 degrees celsius. now, quite a bit of sunshine to end the day across east anglia and south east england as many of the showers will fade away. as ever, some places will avoid the shower. you may get one, just a brief wet moment in an otherwise dry day. and england and wales will be mainly dry on monday night, but a batch of showers will move out of northern ireland and into parts of scotland. and these are tuesday morning's temperatures. again no frost out there. low pressure still very much close by as we go into tuesday, and from that, we're going to see some further showers. now, maybe notjust popping up, but tending to move through in a zone that will travel from south—west to north—east during the day. and a weather front close to north west scotland will bring cloud and some outbreak of rain. some places may well miss the showers as the system moves its way in.

similar sorts of temperatures on tuesday. and for wednesday and thursday, sunshine and showers. it's not going to be as breezy. and then by friday, it becomes mainly dry with a fair amount of cloud out there. and with the air coming down from the north—east, it will turn a bit cooler, but not particularly cold, mind you. so, that's how the week is shaping up. it is sunshine, showers — some of those are going to be quite heavy — and not as cold as it was last week, and mainly frost—free. i don't know whether we're done with frost at the moment, but it's certainly not around this week.

this is bbc news. i'm geeta guru—murthy with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a third night of tension injerusalem, as unrest simmers over the possible eviction of palestinian families. funerals take place in afghanistan for more than 60 people — mainly young girls — killed in a militant attack outside a school. britain's opposition labour party reshuffles its top team. leader keir starmer acts after his party's disappointing election results. a potential disqualification at the kentucky derby, after the winning horse in america's most prestigious race fails a drugs test. his trainer denies foul play. i got the biggest gut punch in racing for something that i didn't do.