this is bbc news. the headlines: the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelensky, has told a joint session of the us congress that the war in ukraine is a fight for the freedom of the world. in his speech he thanked the us for its support, saying it was an investment in the future. earlier, at a white house meeting, joe biden praised the bravery of the ukrainian people. the us president also pledged america's continued support for kyiv. the patriot air defence missile system will form part of a ms billion aid package. the world health organization has said it's concerned over the worsening covid situation in china. the number of cases has

continued to rise, after china reversed its zero—covid policy and stopped most testing and tracing. those are your headlines on bbc news. now on bbc news, talking movies: review of 2022. hello from new york! i'm tom brook and welcome to our talking movies review of 2022, special edition. in today's programme we look back at highlights from the year in cinema. we review many of the major movie events of 2022. we look at the films that nobody thought would become big global hits, as well as the

breakout arthouse offerings. plus my top ten films of the year. without doubt, one of the biggest movie events of 2022 was the arrival ofjames cameron's sci—fi epic avatar: the way of water. it is of course the sequel to his 2009 avatar movie which became the biggest grossing film of all time. i went with some trepidation to see the new picture the other day here in manhattan. i say trepidation because it's more than three hours long. well, i did survive and i was very impressed by the cinema technology. it really is beautiful to watch. but in terms of storytelling, it's a bit thin. avatar had its world premiere in london and it's from there that al malone has more. the world of pandora is back on cinema screens. 13 years afterjames cameron

conquered the box office with his sci—fi blockbuster, the director is reuniting his original cast for the first of four proposed avatar sequels. the first film followed marine jake sully as he takes on an alien or avatar body in order to better integrate with the local na'vi population. through the movie he forms a personal attachment to the group and comes to lead them against the evil human corporation out to mine the moon for profit. the film was notable for its advances in performance capture technology, computer—generated visuals and the fact that it was supposed to usher in a new era in 3d film—making. you knew this would happen? the 3d revelation might not have lasted but it did make a huge amount of money — almost $3 billion. the way of water picks up over a decade later with jake

and his family now facing a new threat and being driven to pandora's water areas in search of sanctuary. cameron has spent the last 13 years mapping out future instalments of the franchise as well as perfecting performance capture technology that can now be used by the actors while they're filming underwater. but will the public be interested in a sequel to a film that was released over a decade ago and has seen its influence wane amid the rise of the superhero movie? that was a very legitimate concern. i didn't feel that instinctively but it was always a possibility. then we dropped our first teaser trailer in may and it had it 148 million views in 2a hours. i'm not worried about it any more. what does worry me is that the market has contracted due to the double punch of streaming and the pandemic. it's coming back, slowly coming back, we're at maybe 80%

of what we were in 2019. and, you know, back when we released the first movie. so can we be profitable in a changed market or are we just the last dinosaur, you know, dying after the comet hit? i couldn't tell you that right now. we'll know in a few weeks, i guess. why do you come to us? ijust want to keep my family safe. i filming for avatar 3 has already been completed and some work has even been done on a fourth film. with a reported budget of $350 million for the way of water, there is big pressure for it to be a success. early reviews for the way of water have praised the visuals but found some of the story and dialogue lacking. cameron is hoping the movie and its theme of family will resonate with cinema audiences.

regardless, it's a relief. we've been sitting on this egg for a long time and getting it out in front of people, you know, the response has been overwhelmingly good so far. i mean, i haven't seen any reviews yet so i'm sure all the nit—picking will start at that point, but emotionally people seem to be pretty emotionally charged by the film and that's enough of an answer for me. the way of water is projected to do well at the box office but it will have to do tremendous business just to break even. james cameron is hoping that big money will mean he gets to release his planned avatar sequels as well as demonstrate that following a difficult few years, large audiences are ready to return and prove that cinema going is alive and well in a post covid world. let's get it done.

a year ago, steven spielberg was busy promoting west side story, a film set in this new york neighbourhood in the 1950s. this year he has made his mark with a very different picture called the fabelmans which i really love. you get the impression after watching this movie that you really know stephen spielberg. movies are dreams... train horn sounds ..that you never forget. the fabelmans is much more intimate than steven spielberg's best known movies like indiana jones orjurassic park or even last year's west side story. it is the story of his family life as he grew up, and the role that movies played in his formative years. he made the film with the encouragement of screenwriter tony kushner, with whom he's

collaborated before. i have always found ways of putting my personal life in everything i've done. there are pieces of me in everything i have really directed, but this was a very focused, intentional story of coming—of—age. i've never made a coming—of—age story before and i've never told one so close to my own experiences and so close to my own heart. only the names were changed to protect the innocent! you can'tjust love something, you also have to take care of it. it's more important than your hobby. i can you stop calling it a hobby? the fabelmans is really helped by its strong performances. michelle williams�* brilliant playing a version of spielberg's mother who had affections for a man other than her husband. and canadian—american actor gabriel labelle is also strong playing spielberg in his teenage years. it's a portrait of a family where there is a lot of love but where relationships are farfrom simple. it feels like an honest depiction of what went on in spielberg's family

where not everyone comes out looking great. do you always have to be the centre of attention? stop shouting at her! there has been nothingl but disrespect from you. i'm your mother! families are complicated. i don't know any family that is not complicated and our complications are probably not as unusual as someone else�*s, so i think this is a big universal reflection i think of everybody everywhere with siblings, with parents, with problems at school, with a passion, a hobby, something that becomes a career, so i think there's a lot of universal truths in the story we're telling. the fabelmans is very moving. it will probably feature prominently in the oscar nominations. but sadly, like many other very good prestige pictures this year, it has been struggling to find an audience in cinemas. movie—goers will come out

the big event movies, but not so much for smaller arthouse pictures. what was your favourite part? and cut! beautiful. that was good. among the actors who made quite an impact in end of the year films was britain's emma corrin who is perhaps best known for playing princes diana in the crown. and now in lady chatterley�*s lover. in 2022, more and more award shows became gender neutral. this development is supported by emma corrin, who identifies as non—binary. and as you might imagine, the actor is also a big fan of the dh lawrence novel on which the lady chatterley�*s lover film is based. emma jones tells us more. confusing sex with love! it's nothing like that! yes, it is. lady chatterley�*s lover has always provoked discussion. the book was banned and classed as obscene as late as the 1960s because of its sexual content. in 2022, the crown's emma

corrin plays connie, an aristocratic, unhappy wife who finds fulfilment with her husband's gamekeeper, oliver mellors, played byjack o'connell. times may have changed since the book's publication, but corrin finds much in the narrative that is relevant now. it speaks very much to the times we live in today. obviously things have progressed but i also think the society we live in is very fragile and the rights of women's bodies are very fragile, and i think it's a celebration of autonomy. not like any man i've ever met before. you're not like any other woman. - corrin�*s performance has been highly rated by critics. the actor has said they are non—binary, meaning they have a gender identity that doesn't fit into the male—female binary and they use they and them pronouns. they also said to the bbc

they would support categories in award ceremonies becoming gender neutral. this love is all—consuming. theirs is a powerful new voice. in 2022 they have become a sought—after actor, starring with another much talked about young celebrity harry styles in british drama my policeman. styles stars as a young officer in 1950s england, forced to hide his sexuality. lady chatterley. sorry, i don't mean to intrude. do you want to come in? the england of the lady chatterley era, just after the first world war, is equally as repressive. but lady chatterley finds freedom, and that was the attraction for corrin taking the part. the first time we met, they shared with me that they felt a very strong connection with the material — especially the scene them dancing naked under the rain — and they said, "this is one of the most iconic moment "of freedom that i have ever read and i want to do it —

"i want to explore that feeling of liberating freedom". is that right? yeah, yeah — that's completely right. and why was that? i think itjustjumped out of me because it terrified me and enticed me in equal measure. i don't think i had ever seen anything like it on screen and was excited to make that happen. it's amazing, isn't it? how someone can get so into your blood. physical intimacy is an essential part of this narrative, but actors have become more outspoken about whether they felt comfortable filming sex scenes or not. you will only be the second man i have ever had sex with. oh, god. emma thompson in her recent film good luck to you, leo grande, about the sexual awakening of a woman, praised the idea of using intimacy co—ordinators on film sets. this production also worked with one. joely richardson, who played lady chatterley in a 1993 bbc miniseries, and in this production played sir clifford chatterley�*s nurse, thinks film sets have changed

for the better. we are more aware of what needs to be put in place with love scenes, that everyone has to be protected. they tend to be more choreographed. in the old days, it was like "ok, get on with it". but life is what we make of it. this version does also focus on the men in lady chatterley�*s life — the ptsd oliver mellors is suffering after the first world war that causes him to isolate himself, the class bitterness between gamekeeper and landowner, and sir clifford chatterley�*s own mental health problems after a wartime injury that leads him to rebuff his wife. but this is emma corrin�*s film as constance chatterley and as such, their comments on acting categories becoming gender neutral could have a lot of currency, given that award season is already under way. for me, one of the more pleasant surprises at the movies in 2022 was the indian film rrr. it's a story of the

relationship between two heroes in i920s india, when the british were in charge. it's sheer movie escapism and it has been put together extremely well. rrr is a big movie, an epic action drama — the most expensive indian movie ever made. not from bollywood, but tollywood. it's a telugu language film. it's gaining accolades by the minute. essentially, it is a story of friendship — friendship between two giant heroes, you know? but what we did was, like, we kept the emotions as grounded, as very human. their strengths might be superhuman. but there is a beautiful friendship that is developing between them. rrr has become a global phenomenon. it's become a hit across india, injapan, the us,

as well as elsewhere. it's incredibly unusual for a telugu language film to break through in the us — it's never really happened before. most people don't really know what the language is, unfortunately, in this country, so unless they have some relationship to the culture and as a result of that — as with parasite and some other international quote unquote foreign language film crossovers — people aren't thinking about the language it is in, they are thinking about the experience of the movie itself and they don't even remember that there were subtitles when they come out of it and that's really what the ultimate goal should be. there's something about rrr that's appealing to people that goes beyond the parameters of south asian cinema and allows it to just feel like universal escapism and also, i think a lot of audiences are starved of good escapism because we have so many marvel movies, we have so many star wars movies, and that sort of storytelling has started

to feel kind of redundant. financially, the movie has been a big winner. it's brought in more than $175 million worldwide, setting several box office records for an indian film. during the covid lockdowns, covid pandemics, when everything was shut down, i think people started looking at stories from other cultures. they were exposed to more cultures, more different ways of storytelling. now, for a period of i—i.5 years, when the cinemas were shut down, people got exposed to the other cultures, story, story narratives and everything. i think that also helped a lot. by the time that cinemas opened again and people started coming to the theatres, their horizons broadened much wider than before. i think that also is a reason why people are appreciating rrr now.

rrr even stands a chance of getting oscar nominations, especially after winning a best director award from a top american film critics group. it's all potentially very good news for indian cinema, which is often overlooked by the academy awards. every december, i get deliveries here in my new york apartment of many, many boxes — like these — which come from the big hollywood studios and some smaller production companies, full of what i would call promotionaljunk, designed to influence me as a member of a critics group to vote for a particular movie orfavour a particular movie. but this year, i got more boxes than ever and i want to show you what is in some of them. oh, this is for argentina 1985. it's got a nice bottle

of wine but, ooh, wow — there's some food in there. it is quite good because you get a dvd — i mean, not a lot of people have dvd players any more... you get a screenplay. the other thing about all this is it's very wasteful packaging. sometimes, there is nice chocolate. ok, this is puss in boots — why would i want anything to do with puss in boots? these books, i mean, they're beautifully produced. it must cost a fortune to put them together but basically, it is all soft promotional material and i find that kind of a wee bit off—putting. well, i am, of course, a totally incorruptible human being — anybody who knows me will tell you that — so getting all these things like this is not, or did not, have any impact at all on me making up my list of the top ten films of the year. at number10, rrr, the indian action epic for the joy it brings to all who watch it.

the musical moments were the best, so vibrant and alive compared to standard escapist moviemaking. at number nine, good luck to you, leo grande, in which emma thompson plays an older woman seeking sexual adventure with a younger man. if nothing else, it proves that emma thompson really is a brilliant actor. so, what does her heartbeat sound like? in eighth place, avatar: the way of water. why? because it is such an impressive feat by james cameron in harnessing technology to create a magical world. at number seven, the fabelmans, steven spielberg's semi—autobiographical story about how he developed a passion for moviemaking and the complexities of his family life. his most grown—up film to date and possibly one of his best. we're from the new york times. i believe you used to work for harvey weinstein? just ahead of the fabelmans, the movie she said, the story of two new york times journalists who wrote a report on the sexual abuse allegations against harvey weinstein that helped spawn the #metoo movement. a great film paying tribute

to the journalistic process. at numberfive, empire of light — a film from sam mendes that dealt with racism and love of movies but, to me, it was a compassionate portrait of an unpredictable woman, played brilliantly by olivia colman, struggling with mental illness. in fourth place, the belgian film close from film—maker lukas dhont — a disconcerting story of the close friendship between two teenage boys tragically torn apart. photography is like a flash of euphoria. at number three all the beauty and the bloodshed, from laura poitras, focusing on activist photographer nan goldin and her efforts to hold a wealthy family very creatively brought together by poitras. in the number two position, aftersun — an experimentalfilm.

at times it captures the beautiful relationship between a father and daughter on holiday in turkey with a great from actor paul mescal from new york—based scottish based film—maker charlotte wells. and the talking movies number one film of 2022 is tar, a character study of a fascinating but troubled female conductor with a lust for power, played very convincingly by cate blanchett. time is the essential piece of interpretation. an intelligent film, written and directed by todd field. he brings us a story for our times — one that deals with corporate power relations and cancel culture. well, that brings our special talking movies review of 2022 to a close. we hope you enjoyed the programme. please remember, you can always reach us online

at bbc.com/talkingmovies, and you can find us on twitter. so, from me, tom brook and the rest of the talking movies team here in new york and london, it's goodbye as we leave you with a song from one of my favourite films of the year, rrr.

hello there. the next few days are looking fairly unsettled through the run—up to christmas. we'll keep low pressure nearby. so, i think large parts of the country will see rain at times, a bit of sunshine here and there, and it will be mild in the south, but it'll start to turn colder across northern areas. you can see this conveyor system of low pressure pushing up from the southwest, bringing in bands of rain followed by sunshine and showers. and our air mass coming in from the southwest off the atlantic will always be warmer, certainly across the south of the country. colder air, though, will start to tuck in across the north as we move through the next few days. for thursday, looks like it will be colder across northern scotland — breezy with a few showers, but quite a bit of sunshine for scotland, northern ireland, far north of england. england and wales, though, rather cloudy, misty, murky with some patchy rain and drizzle, some heavier rain into the southwest later in the day. here, it will be mild, quite breezy. further north, though, a chillier feel to things, but at least we'll have the sunshine to compensate. as we move through thursday night, it stays blustery, further showers across the north, these wintry over the hills.

further south, it'll be quieter — mixture of clear spells, some cloud, but then some heavier rain and stronger winds will start to push into the southwest later on, along with some milder air. but a chillier night to come across the northern half of the country. so, for friday, a chilly start, some sunshine across northern areas, a few wintry showers over the hills of scotland, then this band of rain starts to push northwards across england and wales. some of this rain could be quite heavy and persistent for a while as it pushes its way northwards. doesn't reach scotland until we move through friday night. however, there'll be a big temperature contrast — some brighter weather in the south with a few showers, very mild, staying quite chilly despite the sunshine across the north. then, as we move into christmas eve, that weather front pushes northwards, some snow on the hill as it does so. then, for christmas eve, christmas day, we're in a run of milder southwesterly winds, sunshine and showers. but then, later on christmas day into boxing day, we start to see some colder air work its way southwards across the country from the northwest, and with the winds coming in from the northwest, this is likely to see most of the snow showers on christmas day across the north and

the west of scotland. one or two wintry showers getting into irish sea coasts as well. you can see the trend — it turns colder for all areas as we move through the christmas period, but i think it'll be short—lived, as it will start to turn milder once again in the run—up to new year's eve. don't forget, you can check out the bbc weather app for where you are or where you're going. take care.

welcome to bbc news. i'm monika plaha. our top stories: ukraine's president zelensky tells a joint meeting of the us congress in washington that his nation's struggle for freedom is for the future of the whole world. we don't have to know everyone�*s wish, as we know that all of us, millions of ukrainians, wish the same. victory. only victory. applause at the white house, president biden announces almost $2 billion worth of further military aid for ukraine, including patriot missile defence systems. meanwhile, in moscow, president putin tells the military there is no limit to the funds available for the russian offensive.