captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: good evening, i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: deadly flood waters keep rising, forcing evacuations, boat rescues and cutting-off major roads. we get the latest from missouri. also ahead: how the iraqi ambassador sees the fight against isis, as government forces take back a key city. plus, what shone on the 2015 silver screen. jeff brown talks about the year in movies. >> it's really legacy filmmaking about legacy journalism because it really does mark a return to some fundamental values of narrative filmmaking. >> ifill: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals.

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the flood tide along the mississippi river and major tributaries has finally begun to crest in places today, but for many people, relief arrives too late. towns in whole sections of missouri and illinois are under water, with at least 20 dead and untold millions of dollars in damage, and it's not over yet. the scenes of soaking wet destruction are everywhere across southern missouri: homes flooded, roads washed out. >> this is devastating here. this is five feet higher than the past record and just total devastation. >> ifill: the deluge turned runways into islands at this airport, and stranded small planes. some of the worst damage is

along the surging meramec river, southwest of st. louis. whole neighborhoods are under water in eureka, where firefighters have used boats to rescue nearly 50 people there since tuesday. downstream, the meramec crested today near valley park, at a record 44 feet. the water poured over a wall of sandbags at the town's waste treatment plant, and raw sewage spilled out-- the third such incident in the region this week. the overflowing river has also shut a huge stretch of interstate 44, and a three mile span of interstate 55 was closed early today, triggering back-ups for miles. local engineers said they're working around the clock to restore access. >> what we're waiting on right now is going to be the crest. once that crest occurs sometime today, then we'll know that that's the height it's going to be, the walls are going to hold, and that it will be safe to pump

all the water out of the interstate and open it up to traffic. >> ifill: meanwhile, on the mississippi river, water rose perilously close today to spilling over railroad bridges and elevated roadways in old monroe, northwest of st. louis. and in west alton, homes located between the mississippi and missouri rivers were completely cut off by floodwaters that surrounded them. in illinois, the city of cairo is caught between flooding from the mississippi and ohio rivers. >> we're setting up pumps to do some pumping operations to help us pump some of the water that's in our storm sewer system and help pump it on out. >> ifill: a dozen counties in illinois, and at least that many in missouri, have been declared disaster areas. and the u.s. army corps of engineers is closely watching levees across the two states. water has topped at least nine of the flood barriers so far. we'll hear from people on the ground in the flood zone, right after the news summary.

in the day's other news, new year's eve brought spectacular fireworks in cities around the world, but nothing to rival what happened in dubai. fire broke out in a high-rise luxury hotel there about two hours before midnight. it engulfed at least 20 stories of the 63-story building, and rained flaming debris down on the street. the cause was unknown, but officials said no one was seriously hurt, and the city's new year's fireworks went off as planned, even as the hotel continued to burn. elsewhere, festivities went off without a hitch, including in sydney, australia. more than a million people watched by land and by sea as fireworks displays erupted from the harbor bridge and other landmarks. tonight's celebration in new york's times square is also expected to draw about a million people, watched over by some 6,000 police. security is heavy in other major cities as well, after the terror attacks this year in paris and bangkok.

in brussels, belgium, new year's celebrations were canceled, and crews dismantled an outdoor stage over continuing fears of another attack. and in paris, authorities sought to reassure the public >> ( translated ): everything's being done for the celebrations to go well. but we have to stay extremely vigilant. the threats are still there. there are still risks. the presence of these forces across the country shows that we have to be extremely vigilant, but that vigilance doesn't stop us from celebrating the new year. >> ifill: meanwhile, prosecutors in brussels say police have arrested a tenth suspect in connection with the paris attacks. the year ended with another deadly confrontation in the west bank today. israeli troops shot and killed a palestinian man after he rammed a car into a group of soldiers. just since september, 131 palestinians have been killed in similar incidents, and 21 israelis. in turkey, president recep tayyip erdogan is vowing to give

no quarter to kurdish militants in 2016. government forces launched a new campaign against the kurdistan workers party in july, as a two- year ceasefire fell apart. erdogan insisted today he will not relent. >> ( translated ): our security forces are stripping away terrorists inch by inch, both from the mountains and from the cities, and they will continue doing it. in 2015, the number of terrorists who were neutralized during operations, both inside and outside the country, is 3,100. >> ifill: western allies have urged erdogan's government to concentrate more on islamic state fighters. a fierce storm in the north sea has forced oil companies to evacuate drilling platforms in the north sea. they're worried about a possible collision with a barge that tore loose from its moorings. the storm system is the same one that's brought widespread flooding in britain over the last week. back in this country, three top

aides to republican presidential candidate ben carson resigned today. the campaign manager, deputy manager and communications director said they're stepping down immediately. they cited frustrations with outside advisors. carson was, for a time, the g.o.p. front-runner, but his poll numbers have since fallen. wall street ended the year on a downer. the dow jones industrial average lost nearly 180 points to close at 17,425. the nasdaq fell 58 points. and the s&p 500 dropped 19. for the year, the dow was down 2%, and the s&p was down a fraction of one percent, but the nasdaq gained more than 5.5%. and, the largest container ship ever to visit the u.s., entered san francisco bay today, and it was a tight fit. the "benjamin franklin" passed under the gold gate bridge with just 20 feet to spare. the mega-ship is roughly a

quarter-mile long and holds 18,000 shipping containers. still to come on the newshour this new year's eve: missouri officials respond to widespread floods. the iraqi ambassador's take on the fight against isis. what a marshmallow test tells us about self-control, and much more. >> ifill: we start tonight with a closer look at the flooding in missouri. for that i am joined by cindy erickson, c.e.o. of the american red cross of eastern missouri, which serves the city of st. louis and 62 surrounding counties, an area of more than four million people. and, scott barthelmuss, a firefighter and emergency medical technician in eureka, a town on the meramac river that is essentially cut off by flood waters.

is scott, i'd like to start with you. we're talking to you by skype nearby. assess the situation for us tonight in eureka. >> things are starting to look for positive. the refer crested yesterday. water was originally very slows to recede but now is rapidly falling. we have working with the local chamber of commerce, city officials and other partners, we're in doing damage assessments. i know about 30 minutes ago or so that we had con i thin contia group of people walking through businesses to see where they stood, as well as some of the homes above 109 so that we can give the damage assessment process well underway and then, from there, begin the recovery efforts. >> ifill: so you talk about the recovery efforts which are now about to start. let's talk about the rescue

efforts. how extensive were they? what was involved? >> starting really over the weekend where we had a lot of flash flooding because of the torrential and historic rains we experienced here in the area, we did a large number of vehicle rescues earlier on and the weekend and earlier part of the week. as river rose, we began to get people who were either stranded or had stayed in their properties and areas that either they were there to protect them or they didn't think they would flood. we did well over 50 rescues. rescued well over 100 people as well as some animals from some of those homes if the course of the past couple of days. i have to give great credit to our line function person, our firefighter paramedic center online, ambulance companies,

they have been working nonstop over the weekend to save people's lives and help protect property and the like in what's been truly an heroic effort. >> ifill: tonight roads are essentially cut off to entrance and access to eureka? >> many of the highways are still cut off. we're starting to see some of ththe roadways open up, a portin of 109 opens up south of eureka to give us access to a large subdivision down there, some 300 homes that were cut off. so i hope it won't be long hopefully before we get the interstate open. modot will hopefully get it hospital there have been two roadways out on the west end of the district in the past couple of days and they're not designed

to handle the traffic that they have been. >> ifill: right. modot being the mo department of transportation. >> yes, i'm sorry. >> ifill: that's okay. cindy erickson, assess what the situation is now in the entire region. >> the american red cross, first of all, our hearts just go out to the families who lost everything this holiday season. this red cross, we've got a in your opinion of shelters that we opened up throughout missouri as well as illinois providing residents with a safe, warm place to stay. we're providing them with comfort kits and meals and we've got a game area for kids. a lot of times, when you're in a disaster situation, you're evacuating very quickly, you forget some of the essential things that you need. the red cross was there and we had a family the other night that came in, an older couple, a gentleman actually didn't have his dialysis for that day so the

red cross nurse was able to get him through the life-sustaining treatment he needed. >> ifill: what is the biggest challenge? people literally driven from their homes, needed health services or bewildered about what happens next? >> it's a little about all of that because, unlike flooding, it's very different. so we have tornadoes, the tornado comes in, it hits and you know what the disaster is. in flooding, it's so different because you're waiting for the water to recede. families, a lot of stress because they're waiting to get back into their homes. they can't yet because it's not safe. or their homes possibly could be flooded because they're in a floodplain area. so a lot of stress. the red cross, our priority, providing the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing and adds the next step, starting to recovery. and the quicker we can get people into recovery and start

to get back to that normal life, that's when healing really starts the to take place. >> ifill: let me ask you and scott barthelmass as well, starting with you, cindy erickson, how does this compare to other disasters in terms of magnitude in this region? >> you know what, this has just been incredible. many have compared it to the '93 flood and, for the american red cross, it certainly is a huge disaster because it's not just in one area, it's in multiple areas. so the red cross, i mean, we plan for disasters 365 days a year, 24-7, over 9% of our workforce are volunteers, and, so, we are able to deploy at a moment's notice. so to be able to stand up, numerous, a dozen shelters within a couple of days is pretty remarkable of the community and the community's resilience. >> ifill: scott barthelmass, how does it compare for a small town on a big river? >> you know, our district covers 82 square miles, and we actually

serve multiple communities, eureka being the main city and the center of our district. and there is flooding in 1982, substantial flooding in 2008. but we have not seen devastation like this before, and i think, as the cruxes alluded and others, the flood event will come to an end, the recovery effort will last for weeks and maybe for some people years to get their businesses back up to where they were and their homes and the like. i'm going to have to leave you because i have other things that are pending, but we appreciate you covering this story and, again, hats off to the community as they stood up to this and firefighters on the line. >> ifill: cindy erickson, scott barthelmass, thank you very much.

>> ifill: this week saw iraqi military forces, backed by u.s. airpower, retake a key city from isis. could this be a turning point? and does it present a model going forward for the campaign against the militants in iraq? chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner looks for answers. >> warner: for many civilians in ramadi, the worst seems finally over. families said to have spent months as human shields for islamic state fighters are emerging. their children fed, their wounds bandaged, their elderly cared for. they have harrowing tales to tell of their captors, and praise for their iraqi army liberators. >> ( translated ): death is all we saw. bloody people came upon us, people that don't know the meaning of humanity. god bless the soldiers who came and rescued us from this place, from the beasts. >> warner: isis militants seized ramadi in may, a late capstone

to their 2014 sweep through iraq that captured more than a third of the country. the iraqi military, backed by u.s. air strikes and allied shiite and sunni militias, had already scored their first major victory, in march. they retook the city of tikrit, 100 miles north of baghdad. in june, they drove isis out of the oil-rich city of baiji. then, last month, kurdish fighters in the north retook the town of sinjar. but the push for ramadi took seven months. and though the city center fell on monday, soldiers are still removing bombs from the rubble- filled city and searching for up to 700 militants who are believed to be hiding in the area. still, baghdad's ambassador to washington, lukman faily, told us yesterday, it's a milestone. >> retaking ramadi is symbolic, as you were just talking about, and at the same time, strategic. symbolic in the sense that we're telling the world the iraqi army is retaking initiative and that isis will be kicked out of iraq once and for all.

>> warner: how long will it take them to clear the city enough so that the tens of thousands who fled, the civilians, will feel comfortable returning? >> it will not be an overnight work, because the booby traps issue. we have learned a great deal in tikrit when we cleansed it, that it took a few weeks just to make sure that some of the places are -- booby traps they have used are tremendous, using car bombs as well. that's another issue. we are dealing with enemy who doesn't have any rule of engagement. >> warner: just the same, prime minister haider al-abadi visiting ramadi this week, vowed to set his sights on a far larger prize in the quest to drive isis, known as daesh in arabic, out of iraq. >> ( translated ): we will raise this flag and purge this land from the last member of the we tell the people of nineveh, the people of mosul, that we are

coming to liberate you from daesh, and isis will be defeated and flee as they were defeated in ramadi. >> warner: mosul, 250 miles north of baghdad, had a population of two million before isis took it; five times the size of ramadi and the largest city in the militants' control. do you think the approach that you used combined your forces with a lot of american air power. is that enough of a model to then retake mosul, which the president has said is the goal? >> popular mobilization forces, we had local tribes participate in it. in ramadi, we focused on the local tribes, our counterterrorism forces and the strong cooperation of the allied forces, in relation to the supremacy of the air. we need to carry on with such a model in retaking mosul, however we also have the kurdish partners of ours, the peshmerga. we have the tribes, we have the local as well as the government and as well as anybody who would like to contribute, including the allied, in the retaking or liberating of mosul. that's a bigger project. that's a much bigger project. >> warner: a different take comes from jim jeffrey, u.s. ambassador to iraq from 2010 to 2012.

he says ramadi is a significant victory, but not a guarantee of future success. to what degree did the way ramadi was retaken, which was using the iraqi army trained by the u.s., backed by a lot of us bombing, offer a model for taking the much larger city of mosul? >> it offers a model with several exceptions. first of all, in anbar province in ramadi, we had a lot of sunni police, sunni members of the military. and sunni arab tribes fighting along with us. that is not going ot be the case up in mosul to the same degree. mosul is bigger. isis will fight harder for it. the u.s. is going to have to put a lot more ground forces and a lot more fire power in order to take that down in any time in the near future. >> warner: do you think it'll actually take american quote "boots on the ground" that is combat boots on the ground or trainers and advisors on the ground? >> i think it'll take both trainers and advisors with the units who are going into combat that they've trained.

and at least some american, what we call "maneuver battalions", to prime the pump and get other people to encourage to take the same risks that our troops are taking. >> warner: president obama has said the 3,500 u.s. forces in iraq will train and advise iraqi troops, but have no direct combat role. and in baghdad, u.s. army colonel steve warren said this week that u.s. air power has been key to the iraqi victories so far. what's more, prime minister abadi has said he does not want u.s. combat troops on the ground. again, ambassador faily: >> we don't think we need that. we think might be easier for us to say yes at this moment but it will be cost more. there's a cost: political, regional and domestic for us. and we're very wary about that and we're very clear on the nuances of it. >> warner: reclaiming the whole of iraq also hinges on whether the country's shiite-dominated government can bring together its rival ethnic groups: the

majority shiites, the sunnis, the kurds and minorities like the turkmen, and the christians. to that point, barham salih, iraq's kurdish former deputy prime minister, tweeted this tuesday: "ramadi serious defeat to daesh, staging for liberating mosul; all reversible without fundamental settlement to iraq's failing political system." jim jeffrey says it's critical that iraq's shiite-led government heed that warning. so if you could say one thing to prime minster abadi about what he needs to do if he can take this success and multiply it, what would it be? >> isis will not disappear, iraq will not remain united, if you cannot find a way to reach out to the sunni arabs and the kurds. >> warner: and if he doesn't take that advice? >> this is gonna be a long difficult struggle. at the end of the day, we face the specter of a sunni shia cataclysm in the entire region if we get this wrong. it's that serious at this point. >> warner: for his part,

ambassador faily insists his government has gotten the message. >> we are already decentralizing in a lot of issues we've already learned from salahadi and from we will carry on doing that model. that's a workable model for us. but at the same time we need to be clear. everybody has to pull their weights. >> warner: faily also argues that abadi, facing a parliament with many uncompromising shiite figures, has a political tightrope to walk. >> he's doing his best. he's doing his best, he's pulling all the strings he can. he has a sense of urgency in addressing this reform and others as well. you have to bear in mind, in the i think others need to understand that and i think they need to be fair in of what they are asking the prime minister to do. >> warner: in the meantime, there are other battlefield tests ahead, like retaking fallujah, which lies between ramadi and baghdad. >> ifill: stay with us, coming up on the newshour:

the best movies of 2015. plus, aretha franklin's stunning performance at the kennedy center proves why the queen of soul says she'll never retire. but first, what kids can tell us about temptation and self- restraint. exactly one year ago, we began bringing you making sense stories every thursday. we kicked off 2015 with economics correspondent paul solman exploring how to fulfill your new year's resolutions. tonight, we thought it made sense to take another look. >> i really want to learn how to knit. >> stay better organized. i'm going to create a schedule. >> try to combat procrastination and really try to focus a little more. >> save more money. >> actually going to work harder. that's - that's pretty much it. >> and how are you going to do that? >> ooh. umm. >> reporter: so new year's resolutions, people make them, and just about as often, they break them. why? >> because they're formulated in a way that is a general good

intention, but it's not a plan. >> reporter: if there is a man with a plan for leading us not into temptation, it's psychologist walter mischel, author of "the marshmallow test: mastering self-control" and, by mastering it, working harder, saving more, key factors in economic success. the book is based on half-a- century of research by mischel and others that began with a simple experiment, now among the most famous and replicated in the history of psychology. >> there's a marshmallow. you can either wait and i will bring you back another one, so you can have two, or you can eat it now. >> reporter: mischel ran this self-control experiment on some 650 preschoolers at stanford university in the late '60s and early '70s. most gobbled up the puffy confection, but one-third abstained long enough to get another. >> you get two. >> reporter: and delaying gratification at even the earliest ages has been shown to

correlate powerfully or else equal with prosperity later in life. mischel found that the successful self-deniers had a pretty simple strategy. >> which is, they transform an impossibly difficult situation into a relatively easy one by distracting themselves, by turning around. >> reporter: by putting the marshmallow farther away. >> or i can do it by exploring my nasal cavities or my ear canals and toying with the product. the fancy word for it now is executive control. i'm able to use my prefrontal cortex, my cool brain, not my hot emotional system. i am able to use my cool brain in order to have strategies that allow me to make this miserable, effortful waiting effortless and easy. >> reporter: or not so effortless and easy. >> 10 minutes. 10 minutes. 10 minutes. 10 minutes. 10 minutes.

oh, 10 minutes. >> i think some people find it much easier to exert control than others. but no matter whether one is reasonably good at this overall or easily bad at this overall, it can be enormously improved. >> reporter: so how do exert executive control as an adult, facing vices more inviting than marshmallows when childish distractions may no longer work? so if i have a new year's resolution to drink a little less than i do, what do i do? >> what you need is a plan that says, at the end of the day, 5:00 pm is the time that i am likely to have a drink. >> reporter: right. >> ok? i have to have a substitute activity at that time, so there will be an alternative and it will be very, very practiced. i mean, to give you an example from my own experience, a

chocolate mousse is generally irresistible for me. >> reporter: his self-control strategy? >> i will order the fruit salad. and that's a specific rehearsed plan, so before the guy can tempt me with the mousse, i'm already ordering the fruit salad. >> reporter: and just to be safe: >> the idea that the chocolate mousse before it was brought out of the restaurant kitchen may have had a cockroach having a little breakfast on it first. >> reporter: behavioral economist dean karlan has pioneered a different approach. >> i go to a fancy restaurant with some friends, i know that after i have had my wine, the dessert menu comes, i will order the dessert, even if i swear i wasn't going to up front. so i will turn to my friend and i will say "if - fine, yes, let's get the wine. but if i eat dessert, then i owe you $100." >> reporter: karlan first became involved with such so-called commitment contracts in grad school, researching them, even making one with a friend who, like karlan, wanted to lose weight and keep it off.

>> the contract was for $10,000. so the point was to make it for a lot of money, enough that it would be really, really painful to write that check. >> reporter: how much did you lose? >> i lost 48 pounds. >> reporter: growing out of that experience, karlan co-founded a web site called stickk, in part for its distinctly non-carrot- like approach to helping people reach their goals. >> if you put monetary stakes up, then you can have it so that your money goes to, say, a friend who is going to hold you accountable. or one of the more popular options is the anti-charity. now the money goes to something that you hate. the n.r.a. foundation is one of the most popular causes that people don't like and choose on this site. >> reporter: the national rifle association. >> the national rifle association. we also have super pacs both left and right, and those are very popular because they kind of capture all the issues all in one bundle. keep in mind that there would have to be some reporting of the failure. >> reporter: then the money goes to some truly odious cause? i mean odious to me. >> odious to you. that's the key part. and the other part that also is very popular and very effective

for a lot of people is not the monetary part, but is the public aspect of it. >> reporter: so you would have to admit that you failed? >> on facebook or twitter? >> reporter: but why do our resolutions so often fail? because humans like you and me and walter mischel, both of us former smokers, temporally discount, valuing immediate rewards much more than those in the future. >> so, if it's not now, it's essentially never, because the future, for example, the cancer that i could get if i kept smoking, is probabilistic. it's distant. we don't know for sure. and so it might as well not be there, unless i do something that makes the faraway consequence immediate and vivid. >> reporter: hence the graphic warnings on canadian cigarettes. a similar image 50 years ago got mischel, a three-packs-a-day addict, to quit practically cold turkey. >> that's a man with metastasized lung cancer and

those little green x-marks are for where the radiation goes. that was the beginning of my ending my smoking, because the image of me on a gurney with little green x-marks is very, very vivid. and it makes the distant probabilistic consequence something that is immediate and now, and changes the cigarette from a huge temptation to a small dose of poison. >> reporter: in the end, then... >> the most powerful way to have control is by transforming what the stimulus means. >> reporter: but, of course, everything follows for making that resolution in the first place. >> it starts the conversation about trying to change something. >> you have to really want to, because you are taking that delayed goal, to live longer, to live healthier, to have retirement funds when you need them, rather than to not have them. it is what we want and how we

think about what we want that controls and regulates what we're able to do. >> reporter: paul solman, reporting for the pbs newshour, from, hopefully, the land of self-control. >> ifill: seen any good movies lately? for our end of the year review we've asked a couple of film critics to ponder that. jeffrey brown has our look. >> brown: and for our quick walk through the year in films we're joined by film critics ann hornaday of "the washington post" and mark sargent of pacivica radio. welcome to both of you. not your top ten, not your top five. pick one to start, either best or favorite. ann, you chose "spotlight." >> i did. >> brown: why? full disclosure, it happens

to my boss but even if i didn't know one of the people portrayed in the film, i would have chosen it. this is the story of the "boston globe" investigation into sexual abuse within the catholic church they did in 2001 and 2002 and a dramatization of the process. it's an exquisite piece of shoe leather journalism, filmmaking about shoe leather journalism, old fashioned. what i've said in the past is it's really legacy filmmaking about legacy journalism because it returns to some solid, fundamental values of filmmaking. >> brown: we have a short clip. let's take a look. >> that's why i had the reaction. i knew there were others. >> i think that's the bigger story. >> the numbers clearly indicate there were senior clergy involved. >> that's all they do, indicate. you're telling me if we start

with 50 pedophile priests in boston -- >> we're getting into the same cat fight you got into on porter which made a lot of noise but changed things not one bit. we need to focus on the institution, not the individual priests. practice and policy. show me the church manipulated the system so these guys wouldn't have to face charges. show me they put those same priests back intoparishes time and time again. show me this was systemic, that it came from the top-down. >> brown: a lot of wonderful actors. understated film. >> it was superb exercise of restraint on every level written by tom mccarthy who is a tremendous filmmaker. he never put too much spin on the ball. there are no kind of billboard scenes telling the audience how to feel. it's very slow going. very scrupulously restrained ensemble piece.

that's the other reason why i love it, it's a true ensemble piece where you see these fantastic actors subsuming their own ego and desire for the spotlight and working like a real team. >> brown: mark ruffalo you chose a sci-fi film. "ex-machina." tell us about it. >> i love genre films and this does what best science fiction does which is it says something about the human experience. this is a film about an inventer that creates essentially an a.i. in the form of a female robot. domhnall gleeson is in it. it's a study in what it is to be human and where we draw the line. it's fantastic performances. not a lot of people saw it as well, i don't think. >> brown: let's take a quick look at that.

>> what happens to me and my family. is it bad? >> i don't know. do you think i might be switched off because i don't function as well as i'm supposed to? >> i don't know. in answer to your conversation it's not up to me. >> why is it up to anyone? do you have people who test you and might switch you off? >> no. then why do i? >> brown: so what is it to be human, right? who's the human and who's the robot? >> definitely. one of the things i loved about it was it's a morality play, it deals with objectification of women and the internet and things where we don't even realize we're giving out information about ourselves. it's probably one of the most thoughtful pieces i've seen this year. >> brown: the next category for both of you was best of great performance.

ann, you picked saoirse ronan in "brooklyn." >> yes. >> brown: this is her as a young irish woman falling for a tough italian kid. >> i'm italian. or my parents are, anyway. >> are you doing something italian tonight? >> yeah, we're going to behave like italians. >> what does that mean? i don't know. hands. >> too many of them? could seem that way. listen... i want everything out in the open. i came to the irish dance because i really like irish girls. >> and i was the only one who would dance with you? >> it wasn't -- oh, you danced with others.

>> brown: you see something like that, is it a new actor, breakout performance? what draws you to that? >> it's definitely a breakout performance with her. i've seen her before. she was in the movie "atonement" and i think that was probably the first time she came to my attention and i have been a fan ever since but this is truly a transcendent performance for her, a young iran woman coming to america. similar to "spotlight," it's a little restrained, it's a little old fashioned, it's a little edgy, not an ounce of cynicism in it but also not an ounce of cheap sentiment in it either. the way she holds the camera and audience's attention as a young woman transforming before our eyes from this young country girl to a woman of the city and an american and a woman of the future, it's all in her face. it's an extraordinary physical

performance. >> brown: you are doing quieter films. >> maybe it's because i'm getting old. >> brown: mark, you chose tom hardy in two great films. >> actually, three this year. >> brown: tell me. i know "legend" and "the revenue." >> and also mad max which was a great film this year. >> brown: we have a little clip from "legend" where he's playing both of the famous criminal twins the kray brothers. (arguing) >> unbelievable! i've got this, it's fine. he's got this. a big boy. we're talking about living. we're talking about being gangsters, right? which is what we are, so you can (bleep). >> one of these case, kray, your life will swallow you whole. >> brown: mark, tell us about tom hardy, why do you like him? >> tom hardy is really coming into his own. he's got an lot of roles.

we first saw him in inception and he kind of stole the picture away from leonardo dicaprio. he plays both the kray brothers, one a soft-spoken gentlemen, the other is a brutal killer, one straight, the other homosexual, and he really creates two very separate characters, you completely believe there are two people in the room, and his accent, a lot of times we almost can't understand because we have such a thick accent coming from the part of england he did, but i have to say, his performance is memplezzizing and he's almost a force of nature, i think, tom hardy, and he's going to be winning an oscar sometime soon. >> brown: one more category. mike, i'll let you start there are one. this is sort of the underappreciated or the film you would love to tell people about that they should see that they might have missed. >> again, these are my tastes, so i can't say it's one of my favorite films, but i don't know

if it's the best. it's one of my favorite. it's called "age of adaline," about a woman who is accidentally given the ability to not age. it's also got a great supportive performance from harrison ford who i think really sells it, and this is a really well-done film. a film that could have fallen apart many times but for me kept an internal logic. i cared about the characters. the performances was great and i was never a blake lively fan to begin with but i thought this was a really good film. >> brown: ann, what's your underappreciated film of the year? >> my underappreciated film is "love and mercy," a beautiful film about brian wilson. >> brown: and the beach boys. instead. where "spotlight" is storytelling, this is almost straightforward. john cusack plays him as an

older than and paul dano as a younger and the two chapters toggle back and forth and elizabeth banks delivers a stunning performance as the woman who would become wilson's wife melinda. it's a beautifully-filmed and one of the best films made of the creative process. >> brown: more to come in 2016. looking forward to that? >> always do. >> brown: thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> ifill: you can find more of the newshour's year of film coverage, including our look at "spotlight," and jeff's conversation with spike lee. that's at pbs.org/newshour. >> ifill: aretha franklin stunned the black tie crowd at the 38th annual kennedy center honors, with her tribute to honoree carole king. her rendition of the songwriter's big hit, "you make me feel like a natural woman,"

which aired on cbs tuesday night, moved the president to tears, and sent the queen of soul trending on social media. ♪ looking out on the morning rain ♪ ♪ i used to feel so uninspired ♪ and i knew i had to face another day ♪ ♪ oh, it made me feel so tired ♪ before the day i met you ♪ life was so unkind ♪ you're the key to my peace of mind ♪ ♪ you make me feel... you make me feel...♪ you make me feel like a natural

woman ♪ ♪ when my show was in the lost and found ♪ ♪ you came along to claim it ♪ i didn't know just what was wrong with me ♪ ♪ until his kiss helped me name it ♪ ♪ now i'm no longer doubtful ♪ of what i'm living for ♪ if i make you happy, i don't need to do more ♪ ♪ you make me feel ♪ you make me feel ♪ you make me feel like a natural woman ♪

>> ifill: last month, i sat down with miss franklin after she was honored at the national portrait gallery here in washington. we talked about her remarkable career, and what she plans to do next. here's a second look at that conversation. >> ifill: it was an evening to honor legends-- from designers to heroes from the world of sport and the military. but it was the queen of soul who got the red carpet crowd to their feet. ♪ mid-concert, detroit's own aretha franklin added another prestigious honor to her extensive collection. the national portrait gallery's first "portrait of america" award. franklin's likeness hangs at the washington museum. >> we were ladies, and gentlemen, and we weren't

overnight stars. it was gradual. and for me, i just try to keep my head out of the clouds, keep my feet on the ground. ♪ ♪ >> ifill: the 73-year-old franklin has been honored for her jazz, rock, pop, classical and gospel singing and is the first female-- and just the fourth artist overall-- to place 100 career titles on billboard's hot r&b /hip hop songs chart. ♪ franklin is no stranger to washington, performing at tree lightings, inaugurations and white house concerts. in 2005, she received the

nation's highest civilian honor: the presidential medal of freedom. this latest honor guarantees that her image will live alongside her soundtrack. national portrait gallery director kim sajet says franklin was a natural choice: >> the portrait of aretha is a gateway. i get a sense of her singing, a big hair moment and she's singing but also her name is spelled in capitol letters "aretha" and she's one of the only few people in this country who we know exactly by her first name, who we are talking about. she's a lesson for all of us. being smart and tenacious and having a dogged determinedness about herself which i think many of us can admire. >> ifill: after her performance at the gallery, i sat down with franklin-- who is seen worldwide as the diva, the queen, the consummate entertainer.

how do you see yourself? >> the lady next door. >> ifill: but nobody thinks of you that way, none of your fans, none of the people in that room tonight, they think of you as much more than that. >> well, no, they don't see me in that setting, right. >> ifill: yeah, so then how do you handle the weight of the diva-ness of this all? because i mean there's a little bit of that in you, you have a lot of flare. >> i love to sing, it's just a natural thing for me. >> ifill: and in the span of a six-decade music career, there was never anything else she wanted to do. so is part of you, you know, always going to be reverend c. l. franklin's daughter? >> absolutely, absolutely. >> ifill: i'm a preacher's kid, too, so... but i don't sing quite like you. >> oh, well, we don't all sing. >> ifill: we have other gifts. >> yes, you have other gifts. >> ifill: i want to ask you about that, because one of the things that comes up with people who are immensely successful about what they choose, is what brought about the success, who urged you, or who didn't stop you.

>> well, my mentor was clara ward, of the famous ward gospel singers of philadelphia, and my dad was my coach, he coached me, and just my natural love for music is what drove me. >> ifill: do you keep watch of the young people who are huge out there, and think that person was the young me? >> when i see choirs, the junior choir. >> ifill: but in each and every one of those cases, and tonight, too, you devoted a lot of it to gospel, which i think surprised some of the audiences. do you do that routinely, did >> no, i just, i was listening to some of the cds earlier today, and i wasn't happy with my opening song, it just wasn't what i wanted it to be, and then up popped "i came to lift him up", and i said that's it, that's it, that's what i want to sing. ♪ ♪

>> ifill: exactly. >> it's sunday, and what could be better, this is the lord's day. >> ifill: i see you do that when it's not sunday. >> mm-hm. >> ifill: and i wonder if part of you feels-- >> yeah, you don't have to have any special day. >> ifill: one recent capstone to her career: an invitation to perform for pope francis when he visited philadelphia. she jumped at the chance. >> it was wonderful, a very, very gracious man, very gracious man. >> ifill: and did you get that what you were bringing to this? >> i think that he did, yes, he was all about "the word," bottom line. ♪ ♪ >> ifill: when did you cross the line from gospel to pop? >> i didn't cross the line, gospel goes with me, wherever i go gospel is a constant with me. >> ifill: so when-- >> so i just broadened my musical horizons. >> ifill: so when people hear you sing pink cadillac, there's gospel in that? >> no, no, that's secular. >> ifill: that's secular. >> that is secular, yes.

♪ >> ifill: i asked her if technology-- including auto-tuning and other digital enhancement-- has changed the music industry's definition of success. >> my generation, we came along, we had to really know our craft, and my dad helped me do that long before i left home. people really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you. and just don't let that go to your head, whatever it is they give you. it's a lot more difficult now because you've a lot more hart artists now particularly hip-hop, singers, rappers, the competition is extremely high so

you really have got to have something going on. >> reporter: franklin still has a lot going on including upcoming projects with old friends, artists she's gone but not recorded with for decades. >> have you recorded with smokey? >> no, and i are going to do some things together. i've got a lot of fabulous recording ideas. >> are you going to retire? i'm not ever going to retire. that wouldn't be good for someone just to go somewhere, sit down and do nothing, please. >> ifill: ms. franklin, thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you.

>> ifill: on the newshour online, the copyright for adolf hitler's autobiography "mein kampf" just expired, and for the first time in seventy years, the book will be legally printed in the dictator's home country of germany. what's the value of printing a book so despised? we asked an expert from the u.s. holocaust memorial museum, who said critical commentary can help people understand its legacy of hatred. read more on that, on our home page, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and michael gerson. and here's wishing you a happy and fruitful new year from judy and me, and all of us here at the pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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