mark kermode — rounding up the best new movies available in cinemas and in the home. last week, william friedkin, director of the exorcist, considered by many to be the scariest movie ever made, tweeted "a quiet place 2 is a classic horror film". adding simply that "cinema is back". that's quite an endorsement and, i'm happy to report, one that i broadly share. run.

after a nail—biting prologue that plays out on day one of the alien invasion, a quiet place part ii picks up where the previous film left off, with emily blunt, millicent simmonds and noahjupe as the survivorfamily with a newborn baby trying to make their way in a world where any sound can be deadly. this time they'rejoined by cillian murphy's emmett, an old friend who's lost everything and does not see any point in trying to reach others... at least initially. most people had finally given up hope. the original a quiet place film, written by bryan woods and scott beck, took around $340 million, not bad for a movie that cost only 17 million to make. no wonder the studio were desperate for a sequel. but having originally rejected the idea, directorjohn krasinski changed his mind after writing a script based around millicent simmonds�*s character. the daughter whose deafness makes are ideally placed to survive in a world of silence.

a rising star who had a break—out role in todd haynes�*s wonderstruck, simmonds is terrific in this surprisingly effective sequel, leading the fight against the aliens, holding the key to their weak spot. meanwhile, blunt and jupe are left holding the baby, literally. taking cover in a deserted factory as the monsters who hunt by sound continue to stalk the planet. i still have vivid memories of seeing a quiet place in a packed cinema when it first opened in 2018, and watching the movie silence a potentially noisy audience, leaving everyone holding their breath. that's a very hard act to follow, but writer—director krasinski and his superb production team do a genuinely impressive job of maintaining and building upon the tension of the original. it's ok. we're 0k, we're 0k. that's dad, dad, dad, dad! where, where, where? from the opening with its elegantly choreographed tracking shots

and popcorn jump scares, to a finale that deftly intercuts disparate showdowns, this is excellently executed crowd—pleasing cinema, tailor—made to be enjoyed on the big screen. a quiet place part ii is in cinemas now and i recommend you go and see it. just remember to turn off your mobile phone. from the nail—biting to the heart—wrenching with land, the directorial debut from robin wright — whose on—screen career has ranged from starring roles in the princess bride and forrest gump to becoming one of tv�*s highest—paid actresses as claire underwood in house of cards. edee, how are you feeling right now? what are you feeling? that it's really difficult to be around people. because they just want me to be better. in land, she plays a city woman who retreats to a lonely cabin in the mountains of wyoming in the wake of a personal tragedy.

she wants to be away from people, but is unable to survive alone in the wild until demian bichir�*s fellow traveller conveniently arrives out of nowhere, agreed to teach of the tricks of the trade whilst respecting her privacy and allowing her to continue her solo voyage of personal discovery. which is handy! why are you helping me? you were in my path. # hey little girl is your daddy home... dripping with earnest intentions and full of photogenic wilderness vistas, land is a clearly heartfelt but frankly rather boring and cliched portrait of grief. played out on a big canvas, perhaps, but still strangely small in terms of invention, wit and artistry. wright, who is usually a terrific actor, plays most of the scenes with an expression pitched somewhere between winsome despair and trapped wind. as if willing the audience to care

about her character without giving them much reason to do so. i'm here because i choose to be. there are clear echoes of into the wild, filmed back in 2007 by wright's former partner sean penn. although land has little of the narrative grit which underwrote that real life story of retreat from civilisation. instead, it settles for an altogether cheesier portrait of the survivalist life — spiced up by the occasional appearance of a grizzly bear and a recurring gag about �*80s pop hits — but other than that, offering not much to write home about. still, the views are nice. you can enjoy them in cinemas now. ever since donnie darko became the first cult hit of the 21st century, there have been plenty of movies that have attempted to replicate its smart cinema mix of teen angst, time travel and psychotherapeutic fantasia. from the butterfly effect, which was dubbed �*donnie darko

for stupid people', to s darko, the sequel that nobody wanted and everyone disowned, these films have tended to disappoint. so it was with a degree of trepidation that i approached flashback — a darkoesque oddity that played the sitges fantasy horror festival last year under its original title, the education of fredrick fitzell. 0k, can either of you guys honestly tell me you ever remember seeing cindy after that night? we gotta go back. we gotta go back, we got to try to remember what happened to her that night. maze runner star dylan o'brien is fred, a troubled young man whose boring corporate life unravels when the meeting with an old school friend leads him back into the past. i do remember cindy williams. she just vanished. maika monroe, who made such an impact in the 2014 chiller it follows, is cindy, the girl who disappeared

some years ago after a night on the mysterious new drug mercury. i don't take it to be like them. as fred struggles to remember what happened that night, so his ordered adult life is overtaken by life is overtaken by the half—remembered dreams of youth and high school — of the lives he could have lived and it may indeed be living. fred. written and directed by christopher macbride, flashback lifts a central riff from the matrix, brushes shoulders with the recent time travel drug movie synchronic, which was shot around the same time, and owes passing debts to everything from rianjohnson�*s brick to richard kelly's cult classic. yet despite being derivative, it's also better than you'd expect with macbride pulling off some impressive visual coups, while o'brien does a convincing job of portraying a man caught in a quarter—life crisis, drawn back constantly into the past. i'm not even here right now!

not all of the ideas land, but this indie spirited oddity isn't afraid to take a few risks, and frankly, it's all the better for it. flashback is on digital platforms now. from fantasy to reality, with gunda, an extraordinary documentary about farmyard animals focusing on the titular sow. squealing grunting over the course of the film, we see gunda suckling and raising a batch of young piglets, watching them grow, all without the aid of explanatory captions or narration, or emotive music to tell us how to feel. there's nothing anthropomorphic or sentimental about the film which includes footage of gunda standing on one of her brood, oblivious to its squeals. yet it's impossible to watch these

creatures without becoming acutely aware of their consciousness, and thus inevitably questioning what we know will happen to them. russian director viktor kossakovsky, who became a vegetarian after befriending a pig as a child that was then served up as pork cutlets, says he wanted to make a film about animals as living, feeling beings in their own right, a task he says was doubly difficult when dealing with farm livestock rather than dolphins, elephants or pandas. yet gunda, on which joaquin phoenix gets an executive producer credit, makes for a remarkably powerful experience presented in strikingly intimate monochrome images that caused there will be blood director paul thomas anderson to hail it as "pure cinema stripped to its essential elements". m00! when you've watched the film, which contains one of the most memorable final shots i've ever seen, you'll know exactly what he means. gunda is in cinemas now.

i'll leave you with news of after love, the tale of cross—cultural secrets and lies that went down a storm at last year's london film festival. did you convert when you married? yes. how do you feel about wearing it? how do i feel? i don't. i've worn it longer than i haven't. it must have been hard to take all that on. back then, i did something for my husband that no—one else could. joanna scanlan stars as mary, a white english muslim who converted many years ago to marry ahmed with whom she lives near the dover cliffs. ahmed's work takes him back and forth across the channel to calais, but when he dies suddenly mary discovers that her husband had another hidden life in france, a revelation that causes her to question her own life choices and her place in the world. i'm confused.

you are here for the cleaning? written and directed by aleem khan, making his feature debut, after love is a moving and engaging drama in which everyone appears to be playing a role, maintaining a public facade that keeps their true selves hidden. as the often silent lead, scanlan is superb, saying more with her expressive eyes and words ever could. allowing us to watch mary discovering herself even as the world crumbles around her. built around carefully framed images with mirrored motifs highlighting the theme of duality, this film is a low—key piece with a hefty emotional punch, aided by an atmospheric score from chris roe that perfectly accompanies the gradual revelations. after love is in cinemas now. that's it for this week,

thanks for watching the film review, stay safe and shh. hello. the weather on sunday is going to be a little hit and miss, particularly across england. you're likely to have a lot more cloud around than on saturday, and there will be a few showers around too. but across scotland and northern ireland i think it's a case of sunshine right from the word go. on the satellite picture you can notice this little lump of cloud drifting out of the south—west. it is a weak weather front. it is actuallyjoining a big area of low pressure to the north, which will actually bring some showers to parts of wales and england from morning onwards. so this is what it looks like through the early hours. this is the rain affecting parts of devon, dorset,

into wales and the midlands with the odd, stray shower in the north of scotland, but generally, it is a clear night. in scotland, northern ireland, probably the lake district as well. but many of us in england and wales will be waking up to overcast skies, and it could actually stay like that through the afternoon as well, but i think the biggest chance of catching some heavier showers further south into the midlands, but also around wales and east anglia, the best of the weather on sunday, northern ireland, scotland, the lake district should be fine, too, but modest highs, 16—18. in the south, despite the cloud and the showers, the cloud and the showers, we'll still manage 21 or so in london. there is the clock, 8pm, still some showers around in the evening across parts of england and wales. so, not a completely dry day, but, with a bit of luck, you will have prolonged sunny spells rather than heavy showers. now, monday also likely to be some showers around, particularly across northern

and eastern areas of the uk, so the best of the weather, although a little hazy at times, out towards the west, i think, but decent enough temperatures, around 22 in london, 20 in liverpool. we should probably nudge up to around 20 in glasgow as well for monday. and then, the rest of the week, tuesday, wednesday and thursday will see the jet stream pushing low pressures and weather fronts mostly between scotland and iceland, but there is just the chance that some of these weather systems will clip the very far north—west of the uk. in the south, we will be closer to the high pressure, so basically, the further south you are, the better the weather will be in the week ahead.

this is bbc news — i'm james reynolds with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. g7 finance ministers agree a deal that could shake up the international tax system. the post—pandemic world must be fairer, especially with regard to international taxation. ajudge in america overturns california's ban on assault weapons — saying it violates the us constitution. the us, eu and uk hit out at nigeria over its ban on twitter, saying freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. booing and chanting. and an unfriendly farewell — a chorus of boos for the first

cruise ship to leave venice post—pandemic. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk