Kate Winslet’s directorial debut is a full-on family affair – both on and off screen.

This sweet and weepy Christmas Netflix movie is written by her 21-year-old son Joe Anders – her only child with her second ex-husband, theatre and filmmaker Sam Mendes (Skyfall, American Beauty).

Anders tapped out Goodbye June while he was still a film school student, and Winslet was ‘so proud’ that she vowed to bring his screenwriting project to life – producing, starring and then deciding to direct it too with a top-draw cast. Lucky Joe.

The story of four siblings who gather around their dying mother (Helen Mirren) at Christmas is a hugely personal one. Kate’s mother died from ovarian cancer in 2017, an event which Winslet recently told Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast ‘still feels like yesterday.’ Trigger warning: if you’ve ever done a stint at a hospital bedside, this one is going to get you welling up.

Sentimental but not too schmaltzy, the setting is authentically non-glam. The Holiday, this is not. One December morning, June (Mirren) shuffles off to make the tea and topples to the floor. She’s whisked off to hospital – which is very recognisably NHS with its faded corridors and blue blankets – and the prognosis is not good. 

After a three-year battle with cancer, June will be lucky to make it to Christmas. 

With her husband (Timothy Spall) permanently nursing a beer, alongside a pint of denial, it’s up to their only son, the anxious Connor (Johnny Flynn), to rally his warring older siblings. 

There’s high-achieving Julia (Winslet), who barely speaks to angry, estranged Molly (Andrea Riseborough), plus all their assorted children and Molly’s annoying husband (Stephen Merchant). While the kooky, self-absorbed eldest, Helen (Toni Collette), who has suddenly announced she’s pregnant, flies in from foreign climes. 

Can June somehow restore harmony to her dysfunctional brood before it’s too late?

Winslet reportedly encouraged Joe to put together a fantasy cast for his screenplay. Then she presumably raided her contacts list. The result is a dazzling line-up of actors’ actors. And if the script does betray itself as a first feature, this cast could sell snow to the Inuits.

Each one gets their ‘moment’ in this bulging, character-driven ensemble. Collette is lumped with the broadest character of the bunch, as the crystal-waving, chakra-obsessed Helen, but even she finds nuance. Winslet and Riseborough are magnificent. Flynn looks like he could conceivably be a lost Winslet sibling himself, and there won’t be a dry eye in the house when Spall croons Georgia On My Mind to his beloved.

And if there’s a danger of June turning too saintly as death draws near, she still manages the occasional outspoken one-liner, like ‘honestly I wish I’d been a bit more of a s**t’. This is Helen Mirren, after all. 

Winslet has recently spoken out against the fillers, tweakments, Ozempic and Botox that so many women are now resorting to in a bid for timeless perfection. In Goodbye June, she’s notably cast actresses who, like herself, are ageing naturally on screen a la Clare Danes in streaming series hit The Beast In Me, which shouldn’t be something worth commenting on, but is. Let’s hope not for much longer. 

It’s a much-needed ‘keep it real’ touch amid all the twinkly fairy lights, fake snow and cute kiddies that you also get in any self-respecting Christmas Netflix movie. There’s even an angelic nurse, called, err, Angel (Fisayo Akinade). 

If, on paper, it’s yet another ‘chaotic family reunite for the holidays due to ailing parent’ scenario, the whole shebang never feels tired. Perhaps that’s down to the enthusiastic, gung-ho energy of Winslet’s filmmaking. 

Embracing the fact that she and Joe are both first-time filmmakers, she also gave others a shot. The department heads included a first-time costume and production designer, as well as a first-time composer – seemingly none of them are actually related to her.

Heartfelt rather than visionary, this Crimbo drama is unlikely to get the Mare of Easttown actress quitting her day job. Tonally, it could’ve done with a bit more darkness. But, honestly, do we really want that at this time of year?

Just about bittersweet enough, it’s still one to warm your chestnuts.

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Tyler Robinson, the man suspected of shooting and killing right-wing influencer, smirked as he appeared in court while his mum broke down in tears.

The 22-year-old, from Utah, is on trial for aggravated murder after dad-of-two Kirk was shot dead in front of a crowd of students at Utah Valley University.

Kirk, 33, was on campus to debate students as part of his tour around colleges, when footage shows blood suddenly coming out of his neck.

When he was shot, he was discussing mass shootings.

After a significant police hunt Robinson was arrested a few days later after being brought in by his dad, and prosecutors are now seeking the death penalty.

He appeared in court yesterday with his hands and feet restrained, while wearing a suit.

As he walked in he smiled at his family members sat inside the court room, but his mum began tearing up.

The family, along with others watching the trial, were ordered to leave the room by the judge.

Robinson’s mum could later be seen sobbing in the hallway, according to NewsNation’s Brian Entin.

Robinson’s attorneys have already asked for cameras to be banned in the court room, but Kirk’s widow Erica said there needs to be ‘full transparency’.

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Britain is ‘on a war footing’ as a bloodbath is knocking on Europe’s door, the UK’s armed forces minister has said.

The Army minister, Al Carns, said the country is close to a conflict and that the ‘shadow of war was at Europe’s door.’

His warning comes after Nato’s general secretary, Mark Rutte, urged all member countries, including Britain, to boost their defence efforts to counter Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

The Nato leader said the alliance is ‘Russia’s next target,’ but he fears ‘too many are quietly complacent.’

He used the opportunity to tell the 32 Nato member states to increase defence spending and weapons production to prevent a war on scale ‘our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.’

Speaking at the launch of a new Military Intelligence Services organisation, Carns said: ‘The shadow of war is knocking on Europe’s door and that war could be bigger and bloodier than what we have experienced in recent times.

‘If you look at the UK casualties taken in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, that amounts to about a week in the war in Ukraine. If you are asking is Britain is on a war footing then you are on the money.

‘We should remember that collectively the UK and its allies overmatch Russia significantly. While Ukraine has inflicted more than a million casualties on the largest armed forces in the world.’

While US-led peace efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war are ongoing, leaders have cautioned against relying on America too much.

Donald Trump added to the strained relationship between the US and European countries after accusing leaders of holding ‘unrealistic expectations’ for the war in Ukraine.

Despite the tensions, Trump has fully agreed to stay in Nato and honour its Article 5 collective defence clause.

Carns accused Britain of ‘outsourcing our lethality to others’ in the past ‘wars of choice,’ including to the US.

Echoing the Nato leader’s words, he urged the UK to ‘increase our lethality.’

He warned that the UK has seen a 50% surge in Russian threats and aggression in the last year, saying the incidents are ‘in the hundreds,’ although the exact figure is classified.

What is the UK’s new Military Intelligence Services?

The Ministry of Defence announced an overhaul of all defence intelligence organisations today after more threats to the UK posed by ‘hostile states and terrorists.’

It brings every defence intelligence unit and organisation under one roof like intelligence units from the Royal Navy, Army, the RA and the UK Space Command.

The move is designed to speed up information gathering, analysis and sharing across the Armed Forces following escalating threats like cyber attakcs, satellite and shipping disruption, and the spread of disinformation, the MoD said.

Defence Secretary, John Healy, said: ‘As threats increase, we are making defence intelligence smarter.

‘This Government is delivering the recommendations in the Strategic Defence Review, putting Britain at the leading edge of military innovation. For intelligence, this means cutting-edge technology, clearer structures and faster data flows. This gives us sharper insights into what our adversaries might do next, so we protect our forces, safeguard critical infrastructure, and deter changing threats.’

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