yes? do you have your card? estella dreams of being a fashion designer, following in the footsteps of emma thompson's splendidly imperious baroness, the true villain of the piece, to whom she becomes both dogged assistant and deadly rival. you look vaguely familiar. i look stunning. playing out on the streets of �*70s london, cruella boasts winning turns from joel fry and paul walter hauser, the latter of whom charms despite having apparently studied at the dick van dyke school of "cor blimey, mary poppins!" cockney accents. 0h, we need that! as for stone, she's fine in the lead, but thompson steals the show at every turn. the film may be called cruella, but it's the baroness who holds our attention. just as it's thompson rather than stone who channels the electrifying screen energy of glenn close. you can find cruella

in cinemas and on disney+ with premier access now. on the subject of electrifying screen energy, ben whishaw really makes the sparks fly in surge. what is that? joseph, what are you doing? mate? what is it? scott... well, you need that, put that there. mate, what you doing? joseph? zip this up. come on. emre, it really doesn't matter. he plastoseph, a young man on the verge of a breakdown who finds himself in the throes of an increasingly reckless manic episode. having torched hisjob in airport security, lonelyjoseph goes to visit his parents where broiling family tensions merely fuel his anxieties. you swallow so loudly, joseph. one run—in with a cash machine later, and joseph goes

completely off the rails, with first—time feature director, aneil karia, compelling us into his frenetic world with real visceral urgency. don't go out there! there's a touch of a panic attack quality of the safdie brothers�* good time in the chaotic bank job thatjoseph pulls, earning whishaw a sundance prize and rave reviews from critics. plaudits too to cinematographer stuart bentley whose cameras chase joseph through streets and houses as he lurches through a string of misadventures, constantly on the move, raw nerves on display. wait, wait! wooooo! surge is in cinemas and on digital platforms now. the japanese anime demon slayer: mugen train, which follows a popular manga series and tv show, is already a record—breaking hit. outperforming the likes of spirited away to becomejapan�*s highest grossing movie, scoring big at both the domestic and international box office.

like the korean zombie drama, train to busan, or bong joon—ho�*s sci—fi drama snowpiercer from the french graphic novel, most of demon slayer's action plays out on the titular eternal train, where our heroes engage in battles in the real world and in the world of dreams. what follows is like an anime version of inception, with interlocking realities forming the separate pieces of a much larger puzzle. far deeper, and deeper still, into your dream. rated 15 for scenes of strong fantasy violence, which include a recurrent motif in which a character must kill themselves by cutting their own throat in order to awake from a dream, this is full—blooded fair, this is full—blooded fare, filling the screen with impressively monstrous battles and some genuinely disturbing imagery. those unfamiliar with the source material may take a while to get up to speed, but once this train starts rolling,

the sheer pace of the action keeps everyone on board. it's in cinemas now in both dubbed and subtitled versions. altogether less rewarding is earwig and the witch, a digital animation co—production between studio ghibli who made classics like spirited away, howl's moving castle and ponyo, and the japanese broadcasting corporation nhk. ah, haha! her name is erica wig. she's been living with us since she was just an infant. 0h... mandrake, what say you? what about her? she should do. based on the novel by diana wynnejones and directed by goro miyazaki, son of ghibli's founding father, hayao miyazaki, earwig and the witch follows the adventures of a young girl from a children's home who is adopted against her wishes by a mysterious couple. i'm a witch. great!

it turns out they're enchanters, and earwig, renamed erica, who has magic in her blood, is keen to learn, but bella yaga only wants her to work. hang on, you actually talk?! of course i do, just not very often. it sounds like fun, and richard e grant lends entertainingly grim gravitas to the english language dub. but having first aired onjapanese tv at the end of last year, this theatrical release is distinctive only for being ghibli's first major disappointment, remarkable for being quite so unremarkable. and the rest is up to you, 0k? the story is surprisingly flat, the animation sub pixar, and the overall tone, breathless without ever being magical. it's a shame not least because goro miyazaki's previous films, the underrated tales from earthsea and the more critically acclaimed from up on poppy hill, both showed great promise and invention, qualities sadly lacking from this lacklustre affair. well, i know a lot more i

than you do about spells. it's not bad as such, it's just not very good, certainly less than you'd expect from a director and studio of this calibre. earwig and the witch is in cinemas now. american film—maker kelly reichardt�*s intimate explorations of the history and landscape of oregon range from the modern drama old joy to the frontier western meek�*s cutoff. her latest movie first cow, which made number three in sight and sounds best of 2020 poll, is set in 1820s oregon, where two men, cookie and king lu, set out to make their fortune selling delicious cakes. i taste london in this cake.

their wares are loved by all, including the pompous chief factor, magnificently played by tobyjones, from whose cow, the first in the area, they have been stealing milk. how long can they continue their enterprise before getting found out? it seems dangerous. so is anything worth doing. freely adapted from the novel the half life by reichardt�*s regular screenwriterjohn raymond, first cow opens with a quote from william blake — "the bird, a nest, the spider, a web, man, friendship." you all right? there is indeed something rare and beautiful in the low—key depiction of cookie and king lu's alliance. a friendship between two men from different backgrounds, both outcast in their own way, quietly finding common purpose. no way for a poor man to stop. yet this terrific film is also about wider issues — the american dream, the birth of the international marketplace and the interplay between

commerce and comradeship. special mention is due to cinematographer christopher blauvelt, who once again eschews the widescreen vistas that have come to typify america on screen, finding piercing beauty and more personalframings in which human features become part of the landscape, characters passing through the half—light of history. first cow is in uk cinemas now and will be available to stream exclusively on mubi from earlyjuly. screen legend michael caine once said that he signed up forjaws 4 because, along with paying for his new house, the film gave him a lovely holiday in the bahamas. the same might be said of frankie, an american—french drama set in and around the beautiful portuguese town of sintra, where the ensemble cast spend a lot of time wafting about photogenically. isabelle huppert stars as the titular actress, who has only a few months to live and has gathered her extended family around her in this picturesque idyll.

good morning! there's people in the hotel, you know. that's ok. i'm very photogenic. joining her in this corner of paradise are brendan gleeson, greg kinnear, marisa tomei and jeremie renier, — fine actors all and willing to do their bit in the cause of serious, heartfelt drama about matters of life and death. she's in a hurry. so you know. and if that means spending a few weeks on the portuguese riviera, well, so be it. it's a hard job, but somebody�*s got to do it. directed and co—written by ira sachs, who made the terrific romantic drama love is strange, frankie may address some thorny issues, but the entire movie, which premiered at cannes two years ago, smacks of lovey indulgence. you come up with these crazy scenarios in your head. you think you can manipulate everything, don't you? not once did i believe that these

characters were anything other than actors finding themselves in splendid surroundings, stopping every now and then to film an emotional yet weirdly perfunctory scene before going back to enjoying the local beauty. i'm sure they all had a marvellous time, i only wish i could say the same. frankie is in cinemas now. that's it for this week. thanks for watching the film review. stay safe, and i'll see you next week. you're hired. this address, 5am. don't be late. give it...give it! hello. the cold and wet weather we have endured for most of this may, we can put that to one side now. the weather has cheered up. we have high pressure in charge and that's been delivering some lovely may sunshine for a nice change.

it's been pretty warm, as well, temperatures have climbed to 23 in liverpool, 22 in aboyne and aberdeenshire in north—east scotland. inverbervie is also in aberdeenshire, here, it was only eight celsius. why the difference across the north—east of scotland? well, it came down to sun or cloud. in the sunshine it was warm, but where we had this cloud, trapped underneath our area of high pressure, coming onshore, it kept things cool and dull and misty. scenes like these were repeated not just across parts of eastern england but across parts of eastern scotland, as well. overnight tonight, some of that low cloud and mist and fog will reform across eastern and then central parts of england late in the night, and eastern scotland, turning murky with some of those patches of fog and murk pushing through to the central belt, as well. it won't be desperately cold, temperatures about 7—10, and tomorrow, which is a bank holiday monday, the weather is looking fine. mist and fog to start the day burning back to the coast, then more in the way of sunshine and with a change in the wind

direction, less of that fog loitering across eastern areas of scotland, and most of eastern england. the exception probably parts of aberdeenshire and also shetland, where it could be quite murky and cool. otherwise in the sunshine, warm, 2a celsius the top temperature, and more of the same as we head intojune. so on tuesday, mist and fog clearing, lots of dry weather and sunshine, becoming very warm as well. temperatures peaking at 25 in liverpool and london, 23 in cardiff and glasgow, and 19 in belfast. heading to the middle part of the week and beyond, an area of low pressure is going to move our way from the south. this will bring a change to the weather, it will bring some thundery showers across, initially into southern and western areas. they will start to arrive on wednesday. still, most of the uk having another fine and sunny day, and if anything, it's going to be even hotter. temperatures 22 in glasgow, peaking at around 26 in london and the south—east, easily the hottest day of the year. so the next few days are looking fine, lots of warm sunshine to go around,

then we see some thunderstorms breaking out from mid week, and temperatures will begin to ease later in the week, as well.

this is bbc news. the headlines at seven: ministers say they'll proceed with caution in deciding whether to end all covid restrictions in england next month. but there's confidence accelerating the vaccine roll out will keep government plans on track. we hope to be able to protect with two doses all the i—9s, all the over 50s, before the 21st ofjune. israeli opposition parties are inching towards forming a government that would bring an end to benjamin netanyahu's 12 years in power. borisjohnson ties the knot in a secretly—planned wedding to carrie symonds, at westminster cathedral. the newly—elected leader of the democratic unionist party accuses the eu of using northern ireland as a "plaything" to punish the uk for brexit.