In July, the world bid a fond farewell to a number of stars of the silver screen and the small screen. In brief, shown below, is my passing tribute to those stars who leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, and in particular the world of film and television. May you all Rest In Peace, and thanks for the memories . . . .
Mike Walling, Kevin Rafferty, Mary Twala, Bettina Gilois, Nick Cordero, Ennio Morricone, Naya Rivera, Johnny Beattie, Kelly Preston, Maurice Roeves, Galyn Gorg, Phyllis Somerville, John Saxon, Olivia de Havilland and
Alan Parker.
* Mike Walling - born 8th July 1950, died 2nd July 2020, aged 69. Walling was an English Actor, Writer and Comedian who first came to prominence in the 1970's talent show
'New Faces'. Working as a school teacher at the time, upon winning he immediately quit that job and began his career in comedy. His first small screen role was in 1980 on four episodes of
'Just Liz' and over the course of the following four decades he accumulated thirty-three screen acting credits and ten as Writer. His big screen roles took in the likes of 1983's
'The Pirates of Penzance', 1984's
'Scandalous', 2003's
'Chaos and Cadavers', 2010's
'Made in Romania' and 2017's
'Strays' being his final screen role. In the meantime there were TV series including six episodes on
'Bootle Saddles', six on
'Alfonso Bonzo', six on
'Billy Webb's Amazing Story', then thirty-eight on
'Brush Strokes', thirty-five on
'Harry's Mad', five on
'The Smoking Room', ten on
'Coronation Street', six on
'My Family' and two on
'Citizen Khan' in 2014. He also wrote multiple episodes of
'Not with a Bang', 'Birds of a Feather', 'The Brittas Empire' and
'A Prince Among Men'.
* Kevin Rafferty - born 1948, died 2nd July 2020, aged 72. Rafferty was an American documentary filmmaker, Producer, Cinematographer and Editor who notched up eight Producer credits, seven as Cinematographer, six as Director and four as Editor. His career took off in 1982 with perhaps his best known work on the cult classic doco
'The Atomic Cafe' which has subsequently received praise as one of the best Cold War movies of all time. He followed this up with
'Blood in the Face' in 1991(about Neo-Nazism and its proponents in the USA),
'Feed' in 1992 (about the 1992 New Hampshire Primaries),
'The Last Cigarette' in 1999 (about the 1994 Health and Environment Sub-Committee of the US Congress who held a hearing on tobacco products and health),
'Who Wants to Be President' in 2000 (about the 2000 New Hampshire Primaries), and his final film outing
'Harvard Beats Yale 29-29' in 2008 (about the 1968 football game played by two undefeated teams from Harvard and Yale). He Produced all of the films he Directed, was Cinematographer on four of them and Edited three. Rafferty was a nephew of US former First Lady Barbara Bush, and a cousin of former US President George W. Bush. In 2016 his film
'The Atomic Cafe' was selected for inclusion in the US National Film Registry.
* Mary Twala - born 14th September 1939, died 4th July 2020, aged 80. Twala was a South African Actress who accumulated forty-three screen acting credits to her name during a career which launched in 1975 with an uncredited bit-part in a South African film. Her next screen outing came in 1984 in
'Stoney : The One and Only' and in the years that followed she starred in the likes of
'Sarafina!' in 1992 with Whoppi Goldberg,
'Friends' in 1993 with Kerry Fox,
'Ghost Son' in 2007 with Pete Postlethwaite,
'Hopeville' in 2010 for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Award at the African Movie Academy Awards, 2013's
'Mandela : Long Walk to Freedom' with Idris Elba,
'Hector and the Search for Happiness' in 2014 with Simon Pegg,
'The Dark Tower' in 2017 with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, with 2019's
'This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection' being her final cinematic release with
'Comatose' recently completed but still awaiting a theatrical release date. In the meantime she appeared in numerous South African TV series as well as
'The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency', 'Wild at Heart', 'Strike Back', 'Wallander' and
'Roots' in 2016.
* Bettina Gilois - born 9th July 1961, died 5th July 2020, aged 58. Gilois was a German American Screenwriter and author who first appeared on the scene as an uncredited writer on the biographical feature film
'The Hurricane' in 1999 with Denzel Washington playing Rubin 'The Hurricane' Carter, and then in 2001 as an uncredited writer on TV miniseries
'The Mists of Avalon'. Her first credited screenwriting gig came with
'Glory Road' which she co-wrote with Christopher Cleveland and she followed this up in 2015 with
'Bessie' co-writing with Cleveland again and telling the story of blues singer Bessie Smith played by Queen Latifah. Gilois and her co-writers won an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Writing of a Television Movie, a Black Reel Awards of 2016 nomination and two Image Award nods for their work. 2015 also saw her pen the screenplay with Cleveland once more for
'McFarland USA' about a 1987 Central Valley, California high school cross-country team coached in the film by Kevin Costner, who along with multiple challenges, leads his Hispanic runners to a state title. The film won the Cesar Chavez Award and the Truly Moving Pictures Award in 2015. In 2017 she wrote
'The Lost Wife of Robert Durst' a made for TV movie, and currently in production are a TV series for ABC
'Muscle Shoals', a Lifetime TV movie
'Mahalia' and a Netflix film
'A Million Miles Away' on all three of which Gilois is credited as Writer, and
'Johnny' which was recently announced but had yet to go into production.
* Nick Cordero - born Nicholas Eduardo Alberto Cordero on 17th September 1978, died 5th July 2020, aged 41. Cordero was a Canadian Actor of stage, screen and television who accumulated six theatre acting credits, six film credits and four TV credits throughout his career which kick started in 2005 in the TV series
'Queer as Folk'. From there he appeared in the short film
'Apartments at 254' in 2007 and then feature film
'Don Juan' in the lead role in 2011, followed by
'A Stand Up Guy', 'Going n Style', 'Inside Game' and
'Mob Town' most recently in 2019. His TV series roles took in
'Lilyhammer', then three episodes on
'Blue Bloods' and two on
'Law & Order : SVU'. Cordero's stage acting debut came with the title role in the off-Broadway production of
'The Toxic Avenger' in 2009. He also appeared in
'Rock of Ages' on Broadway in 2012 and on tour. He went on to appear on Broadway in 2014 in the musical
'Bullets Over Broadway' for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. He won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical and a Theatre World Award for the role. After this, he appeared in
'Brooklynite', 'Waitress' and
'A Bronx Tale' from 2016 through 2018 for which he was nominated for an Outstanding Actor in a Musical Award at the 2017 Drama Desk Awards. Cordero died from complications as a result of contracting COVID-19.
* Ennio Morricone - born 10th November 1928, died 6th July 2020, aged 91. Morricone was an Italian composer, orchestrator and conductor. In a career spanning six decades he composed over five hundred scores for cinema and television, as well as over one hundred classical works. His score to 1966 spaghetti Western Directed by Sergio Leone
'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' is considered one of the most influential soundtracks in history, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009. Morricone's impressive filmography includes
'A Fistful of Dollars', 'For a Few Dollars More', 'Two Mules for Sister Sara', 'Cinema Paradiso', 'The Battle of Algiers', '1900', 'Exorcist II : The Heretic', 'Holocaust 2000', 'Days of Heaven', several major French movies, in particular the comedy trilogy
'La Cage aux Folles I, II, III' and
'Le Professionnel', as well as
'The Thing', 'Once Upon a Time in the West', 'Once Upon a Time in America', 'The Mission', 'The Untouchables', 'Casualties of War', 'Frantic', 'Hamlet', 'State of Grace', 'Mission to Mars', 'Bugsy', 'Disclosure', 'In the Line of Fire', 'Bulworth', 'Ripley's Game', 'The Best Offer' and
'The Hateful Eight'. In 2007, he received the Academy Honorary Award '
for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music'. He was nominated for a further six Oscars, and in 2016, received his only competitive Academy Award for his score to Quentin Tarantino's film
'The Hateful Eight', at the time becoming the oldest person ever to win a competitive Oscar. His other achievements include three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatello Awards, eleven Nastro d'Argento Awards, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award and the Polar Music Prize in 2010 amongst his total haul of 83 award wins and a further 91 nominations.
* Naya Rivera - born 12th January 1987, died 8th July 2020, aged 33. Rivera was an American Actress of film and television, a singer and model who accumulated twenty-five screen acting credits to her name, along with eight award wins and another nine nominations. She began her her career as a child actor and model appearing in a number of national television commercials before landing her first small screen role at the age of four on fifteen episodes of
'The Royal Family' between 1991 and 1992. Over the years that followed she had largely one off appearances in the likes of
'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air', 'Family Matters', 'Baywatch', 'Even Stevens', 'Soul Food' and then eleven episodes on
'The Bernie Mac Show', 'CSI : Miami', and then her best known role as Santana Lopez on 113 episodes of
'Glee' from 2009 through to 2015. Following this she also appeared on four episodes of
'Devious Maids' and twenty episodes most recently on
'Step Up : High Water'. In the meantime there were roles in a handful of movies -
'The Master of Disguise' in 2002,
'Frankenhood' in 2009,
'At the Devil's Door' in 2014 and
'Mad Families' in 2017. During her career, Rivera appeared on the covers of several magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Maxim, Rolling Stone, FHM and The Hollywood Reporter, and in May 2012 she made FHM's 100 Sexiest Women list, coming in at number 39 and she also made the Maxim Hot 100 list in 2012 for the third year in a row coming in at number 27.
* Johnny Beattie - born John Gerard Beattie on 9th November 1926, died 9th July 2020, aged 93. Beattie was a Scottish film and television Actor and stand-up comedian. In a career spanning six decades he first went into the world of stand-up comedy in the mid-1950's and by 1964 had landed his own comedy sketch show '
Johnny Beattie's Saturday Night Show' which ran until 1970. In 1974 he appeared in all four episodes of Scottish Television's
'A Grand Tour' alongside Billy Connelly, Stanley Baxter and Mark McManus. In 1977 he appeared in the short-lived TV series
'Welcome to the Ceilidh' and the following year made several appearances in Rikki Fulton's comedy sketch show
'Scotch & Wry' which aired from 1978 through to 1992 over 24 episodes and twelve New Years Eve specials. Between 1981 and 1984 he was the gameshow host on on
'Now You See It'. In 1990 he starred in a single episode of
'The Chief', then
'Rab C. Nesbitt', in the feature film
'The Big Man' alongside Liam Neeson, Billy Connelly, and Joanne Whalley and then a single episode of
'Taggart'. Then between 2002 and 2018 he starred as the same character in ten intermittent episodes of
'River City'. Beattie was the Honorary President of the Scottish Music Hall Society and in 2007 was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in HRH the Queen New Years Honours List.
* Kelly Preston - born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith on 13th October 1962, died 12th July 2020, aged 57. Preston was an American Actress of film and television and was the wife of John Travolta - they were married in 1991. Her career which launched in 1980 took in 72 screen acting credits, with her first appearance on a single episode of
'Hawaii Five-0'. Her first big screen role came with 1983's
'10 to Midnight' with Charles Bronson, then John Carpenter's
'Christine' that same year followed by the likes of
'Mischief', 'SpaceCamp', '52 Pick-Up' with Roy Scheider,
'Twins' with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito,
'The Experts' with her future husband John Travolta,
'From Dusk Till Dawn' with George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino,
'Jerry Maguire' with Tom Cruise,
'Addicted to Love', 'Nothing to Lose', 'Holy Man' with Eddie Murphy,
'Jack Frost', 'For Love of the Game' with Kevin Costner,
'Battlefield Earth' with John Travolta again,
'What a Girl Wants', 'The Cat in the Hat', 'Eulogy', 'Return to Sender', 'Death Sentence' with Kevin Bacon,
'Old Dogs' with John Travolta and Robin Williams,
'Casino Jack' with Kevin Spacey,
'Gotti' alongside John Travolta once more in 2018 and
'Off the Rails' with Judi Dench currently in post-production. In the intervening years there were small screen appearances on
'Quincy M.E.', 'CHiPs', on twelve episodes of
'Love and Honor', 'Blue Thunder', on four episodes of
'Fat Actress', on four episodes of
'Medium', and on three of
'CSI : Cyber'. Both Preston and Travolta were and are devout Scientologists.
* Galyn Gorg - born 15th July 1964, died 14th July 2020, aged 55. Gorg (pronounced George) was an American Actress, dancer and occasional Producer who amassed fifty-six screen acting credits which launched with a background dancer bit-part in ZZ Top's music video for their 1983 hit
'Sharp Dressed Man'. From here she appeared in a single episode of
'Fame' in 1984 and that same year she secured her first feature film role in
'Strangers in Paradise'. She went onto have roles in
'America 3000', 'The Malibu Bikini Shop', 'Living the Blues', 'The Wrong Guys', 'Dance Academy', 'RoboCop 2', Kathryn Bigelow's
'Point Break' in 1991,
'Storyville', 'The Wrong Friend' in 2018 and '
Teller's Camp' currently in post-production for a 2021 release. In the meantime, there were roles on television series including
'The A-Team', 'Twin Peaks', on twenty-two episodes of
'M.A.N.T.I.S.', 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air', 'Xena : Warrior Princess', 'Star Trek : Voyager', 'Stargate SG-1', 'CSI : Miami', 'Lost', 'Parks and Recreation', 'Colony', and
'How to Get Away with Murder' amongst others.
* Maurice Roeves - both John Maurice Roeves on 19th March 1937, died 15th July 2020, aged 83. Roeves was a British Actor of film and television who notched up 124 screen acting credits to his name in a career that began with a single episode in 1966 on
'Dr. Finlay's Casebook'. His first big screen outing came later that same year with
'The Fighting Prince of Donegal' and then
'Ulysses' a year later. His feature film roles that follows included Sir Richard Attenborough's
'Oh! What a Lovely War' in 1969, then
'When Eight Bells Toll', 'Young Winston' for Sir Richard Attenborough again,
'The Eagle Has Landed' for Director John Sturges in 1976,
'Victory' for John Huston in 1981,
'Who Dares Wins', 'Hidden Agenda' for Ken Loach in 1990,
'The Last of the Mohicans' for Michael Mann in 1992,
'Judge Dredd' in 1995,
'Beautiful Creatures', 'Hallam Foe', 'The Damned United', 'Brighton Rock' in 2010 for Rowan Joffe, and
'Macbeth' in 2015 being his film feature film appearance. In the intervening years there were numerous roles on TV series taking in six episodes on
'Scobie in September', and then four episodes on
'The Scobie Man', 'The Sweeney', 'Crown Court', on thirteen episodes on
'Danger UXB', 'Magnum P.I.', 1984's
'Doctor Who', 'Remington Steele', on eight episodes of
'Days of Our Lives', 'Spender', 'Rumpole of the Bailey', 'Baywatch', 'Cheers', 'Star Trek : The Next Generation', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'EastEnders', 'The Bill', 'Holby City', 'Casualty', and TV mini-series
'The Nest' from earlier this year being his final screen role.
* Phyllis Somerville - born 12th December 1943, died 16th July 2020, aged 76. Somerville was an American Actress of stage, film and television who amassed seventy-nine screen acting credits throughout her career which began with a role in the 1981 Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli film
'Arthur'. Her next screen role came ten years later on two episodes of
'Law & Order', followed by further big screen outings on the likes of
'Leap of Faith' with Steve Martin,
'Montana' with Stanley Tucci,
'The Imposters' Directed, Written and starring Stanley Tucci,
'Above Freezing' with J.K. Simmons,
'Curtain Call' with Michael Caine,
'Bringing Out the Dead' for Martin Scorsese,
'Swimfan' for John Polson,
'Little Children' with Kate Winslet,
'Lucky You' for Curtis Hanson, David Fincher's
'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', 'Surviving Family', 'Stoker' with Nicole Kidman,
'The Double' with Jesse Eisenberg,
'Our Souls at Night' with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and
'Poms' last year with Diane Keaton. In the meantime there were single and multiple episodes on TV series taking in
'NYPD Blue', 'Sex and the City', 'The Sopranos', 'Law & Order : SVU', 'Law & Order : Criminal Intent', 'Life on Mars', 'CSI : Miami', 'House of Cards', on nineteen episodes of
'The Big C', 'Elementary', 'The Blacklist', 'Blue Bloods', 'Daredevil', 'The Good Wife', on thirteen episodes of
'Outsiders', and on four episodes of new TV series
'Mare of Easttown' still filming for a 2021 release. Somerville garnered four award nominations and two wins during her screen career.
* John Saxon - born Carmine Orrico on 5th August 1936, died 25th July 2020, aged 83. Saxon was an Italian American Actor and martial artist of film and television who amassed 198 screen acting credits throughout his long and varied career which spanned seven decades launching with two uncredited roles in feature films in 1954 -
'It Should Happen To You' and
'A Star Is Born'. From here he never looked back, appearing in such films as
'Running Wild' (his first credited movie role in 1955), then
'Rock, Pretty Baby' in 1956 and its follow up
'Summer Love' in 1957, '
The Unforgiven' in 1960 for John Huston,
'The Cardinal' for Otto Preminger in 1963,
'Joe Kidd' in 1972 for John Sturges,
'Enter the Dragon' with Bruce Lee in 1973,
'Raid on Entebbe' in 1976 for Irwin Kershner,
'Fast Company' for David Cronenberg in 1979,
'The Electric Horseman' in 1979 for Sydney Pollack,
'A Nightmare on Elm Street' in 1984 for Wes Craven and then
'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 : Dream Warriors' in 1987,
'Beverly Hills Cop 3' in 1994 for John Landis,
'Wes Craven's New Nightmare' in 1994 for Wes Craven,
'From Dusk Till Dawn' in 1996 for Robert Rodriguez and
'The Extra' in 2017 being his final screen role before
'After the Thunderstorm' which was still filming at the time of his death and was slated for a December 2021 release. In the meantime, there were appearances on such TV shows including
'Dr. Kildare', 'Bonanza', 'Ironside', 'The Virginian', on 29 episodes of
'The Bold Ones : The New Doctors', 'Kung Fu', 'The Streets of San Francisco', 'Gunsmoke', 'The Six Million Dollar Man' and
'The Bionic Woman', 'Starsky and Hutch', 'Wonder Woman', 'Hawaii Five-0', 'Vega$', 'Magnum, P.I.', on six episodes of
'Fantasy Island', on six episodes of
'Dynasty', 'The A-Team', on thirty-two episodes of
'Falcon Crest', 'Murder, She Wrote' and
'Melrose Place' amongst many others. Saxon was the recipient of seven award wins and two other nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. He was a black belt in karate and spoke Italian fluently to the extent that he worked on numerous Italian film productions from the 1960's onwards.
* Olivia de Havilland - born 1st July 1916, died 25th July 2020, aged 104. de Havilland was a British American Actress of film, television and theatre and was the last major surviving star from the Golden Age of Hollywood Cinema and the oldest living Academy Award winner up until the time of her death. Throughout her career she notched up sixty-one screen acting credits which began with a lead role in
'Alibi Ike' in 1935 and she quickly followed this up with
'The Irish in Us' and
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' that same year both with James Cagney and also that year saw the first of her many screen collaborations with Errol Flynn in
'Captain Blood'. Her other starring roles with Errol Flynn took in '
The Charge of the Light Brigade' in 1936,
'The Adventures of Robin Hood' and
'Four's a Crowd' in 1938,
'Dodge City' and
'The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex' in 1939,
'Santa Fe Trail' in 1940, and '
They Died with Their Boots On' in 1941. She also appeared in
'Raffles' with David Niven in 1939,
'Gone with the Wind' also in 1939 opposite Clark Gable,
'The Strawberry Blonde' with James Cagney again 1941,
'Hold Back the Dawn' also in 1941 with Charles Boyer,
'The Male Animal' in 1942 with Henry Fonda,
'To Each His Own' in 1946,
'The Snake Pit' in 1948,
'The Heiress' in 1949 with Montgomery Clift,
'My Cousin Rachel' in 1952 with Richard Burton,
'Not as a Stranger' in 1955 with Robert Mitchum, '
The Proud Rebel' in 1958 with Alan Ladd,
'Lady in a Cage' in 1964 with James Caan,
'Pope Joan' in 1972 with Franco Nero,
'Airport '77' in 1977 with Jack Lemmon,
'The Swarm' in 1978 with Michael Caine,
'The Fifth Musketeer' in 1979 with Beau Bridges and
'The Woman He Loved' in 1988 with Anthony Andrews was her final screen role in this made for television movie. She also appeared in a small number of TV series including
'Roots : The Next Generations' in 1979,
'The Love Boat', 'North and South : Book II' and
'Anastasia : The Mystery of Anna' both in 1986. All up de Havilland won seventeen awards and a further seven nominations including two Academy Award wins for
'The Heiress' and
'To Each His Own' plus three other Oscar nods for
'The Snake Pit', 'Hold Back the Dawn' and
'Gone with the Wind'. She also picked up two Golden Globes and one nomination and a Primetime Emmy Award nod amongst her total haul. She and her sister, Joan Fontaine (1917 -2013) remain the only siblings to have won major acting Academy Awards and the only sisters to have won any Academy Awards. In 2008 de Havilland was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush, and in 2017 she was awarded the Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
* Alan Parker - born 14th February 1944, died 31st July 2020, aged 76. Parker was an English, Director, Producer, Writer and occasional Actor who clocked up twenty-five Directing credits, ten as Writer, seven as Producer and five as Actor throughout his career which began in 1971 with his original story and screenplay for the film
'Melody'. From here he Directed and Wrote his first short films in 1974 -
'Footsteps' and
'Our Cissy' before his first feature film in 1976
'Bugsy Malone' with a young Jodie Foster and Scott Baio. He followed this up with several other acclaimed features including 1978's
'Midnight Express' with Brad Davis, John Hurt and Randy Quaid,
'Fame' in 1980 with Irene Cara,
'Shoot the Moon' in 1982 with Albert Finney and Diane Keaton,
'Pink Floyd : The Wall' with Bob Geldof that same year,
'Birdy', 'Angel Heart' in 1987 with Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro,
'Mississippi Burning' in 1988 with Willem Dafoe, Gene Hackman and Frances McDormand,
'Come See the Paradise', 'The Commitments', 'The Road to Wellville' with Anthony Hopkins, Bridget Fonda and Matthew Broderick,
'Evita' in 1996 with Madonna, Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Banderas,
'Angela's Ashes' in 1999 with Robert Carlyle and Emily Watson, and
'The Life of David Gale' in 2003 with Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney being his last filmmaking outing. He did Executive Produce the 2016 film
'Dad's Army'. All up Parker won twenty-two awards and a further thirty-one nominations including two Academy Award nods for Best Direction on
'Midnight Express' and
'Mississippi Burning', plus three Golden Globs nods for his Directing work on the two aforementioned films and
'Evita' and five BAFTA wins and another four nominations amongst others. Parker was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to the British film industry in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List and awarded a Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2002 Queen's New Years Honours List. He was a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain and lectured at a number of film schools. In 2013 he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the highest honour the British Film Academy can bestow upon a filmmaker. Parker donated his personal archive to the British Film Institute's National Archive in 2015.
Fifteen deaths reported this month from the film and television community at large, and that community is just a little bit poorer as a result. As some governments the world over are easing up on their COVID-19 restrictions, others are enforcing further stages of lockdowns because of a second wave in cases, remember the basic principles still being advocated - maintain a safe distance, hand hygiene and wear a mask if you are unable to maintain a safe distance especially - together we can all beat this thing. Stay safe and remain healthy.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
'MORBIUS' - this American superhero film is Directed by Daniel Espinosa, the Swedish film maker whose earlier credits take in 'Safe House', 'Child 44' and 'Life' in 2017. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name this will be the second instalment in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters after 2018's 'Venom'. Here Jared Leto stars as Michael Morbius with Matt Smith, Jared Harris, Tyrese Gibson and Adria Arjona with Michael Keaton too. Initially scheduled for a 31st July 2020 release, this has now been delayed until 19th March 2021.
'LAST NIGHT IN SOHO' - is a psychological thriller film Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Edgar Wright whose previous Directorial credits include 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Hot Fuzz', 'The World's End', 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World' and 'Baby Driver' in 2017. Here Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomas Harcourt McKenzie, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp star in this film which was originally slated for a 25th September 2020 release, but has since been pushed back until 23rd April 2021.
'SPIRAL : FROM THE BOOK OF SAW' - here we have the ninth film in the 'Saw' horror franchise that is this time Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman whose previous film making outings mostly in the horror genre include 'Saw II', Saw III', 'Saw IV', 'Mother's Day', '11-11-11', 'The Barrens' and 'Abattoir'. Here Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella and Marisol Nichols star in this follow on to the earlier films but with a fresh perspective. Originally intended for a 23rd October 2020 release this was then moved forward to a 15th May 2020 release date, and this has now been rescheduled to 20th May 2021. 
'VENOM : LET THERE BE CARNAGE' - is the sequel to 2018's 'Venom' which grossed US$856M off the back of a US$110M production budget making this follow up instalment inevitable. This time Andy Serkis Directs and this will be the third film in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters following on from 'Morbius'. Here Tom Hardy reprises his role as Eddie Brock/Venom with Woody Harrelson starring as the antagonist Cletus Kasady/Carnage with Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott and Stephen Graham. Originally intended for a 2nd October 2020 release date this was subsequently pushed back to 25th June 2021.
'PENINSULA' (Rated MA15+) - this South Korean post zombie apocalyptic action horror film is the standalone sequel to 2016's 'Train to Busan' as is Directed by Yeon Sang-ho who also Directed that first instalment. This film was selected to be shown at this years Cannes Film Festival which was subsequently cancelled for reasons of COVID-19. And so the film was released in its native South Korea in mid-July, goes on limited release in Australia this week and in the US next week. The film cost US$16M to make and has so far grossed US$29M with US$27M of that haul coming from its local audience. It is also the first time since mid-March that the total global Box Office for a new film release has achieved over US$1M.
'FORCE OF NATURE' (Rated MA15+) - is an American action film Directed by Michael Polish whose previous Directing credits include 'The Astronaut Farmer' in 2006 with Billy Bob Thornton, 'The Smell of Success' in 2009 with Thornton again, 'Amnesiac' in 2014 with Kate Bosworth, '90 Minutes in Heaven' in 2015 with Bosworth again and 'Nona' in 2017 with Bosworth once more. And here he teams up with Bosworth again for the latest hurricane heist set drama. And so here policeman Cardillo (Emille Hirsch) and a former cop suffering declining health Ray Barrett (Mel Gibson) married to Troy Barrett (Kate Bosworth) battle a gang of thieves led by John the Baptist (David Zayas) as they search for US$55M inside an evacuated building during a hurricane. This film seems to have divided Critics who have largely bestowed negative Press on the film, and audiences who have seemingly praised it. The film was released at the end of June on digital, DVD and Blu-Ray, gets a theatrical release in Australia this week, cost US$23M to produce and so far grossed US$150K.
'MADE IN ITALY' (Rated M) - this comedy film is Directed and Written by the English Actor James D'Arcy in his feature film making debut. Darcy has notched up nearly eighty film and television acting credits to his name in a career spanning twenty-five years. Here Robert (Liam Neeson) is estranged from his adult son Jack (Micheal Richardson), but they reunite to travel to Tuscany, Italy in order to sell the house they inherited from Robert's late wife. When they arrive they discover a run down largely dilapidated villa, that they must first set about restoring before they can even think about selling. As the renovations don't go quite according to plan, the father and son soon find themselves at odds with one another. Robert's obvious lack of DIY experience leads him to seek advice and assistance from some of the more colourful locals including the no nonsense Kate (Lindsay Duncan), an ex-pat who earns a living selling villas who also quickly captures his eye. For Jack, the state of the house seems to echo his search for memories of happier times with his mother. He soon falls for Natalia (Valeria Bilello), a vivacious young Italian chef, who restores both body and soul with culinary delights from her local trattoria, but her jealous and angry ex-husband may come between them. As Robert and Jack gradually restore the villa to its former glory, so too do they begin to heal their relationship.
'LA BELLE EPOQUE' (Rated M) - is a 2019 French romantic comedy drama film Directed and Written by Nicolas Bedos in only his second feature film making outing, although he has acted and written in various films and TV series over the years. The film first Premiered out of competition at the May 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was then released in its native France in early November last year to generally favourable Reviews. Here, Victor Drumond (Daniel Auteuil) is a man in his sixties whose forty or so year marriage to Marianne (Fanny Ardant) is on the rocks. When Victor meets Antoine (Guillaume Canet), the owner of a company which allows people to perform a version of 'time travel' by visiting a stage where the company acts out a staged historical reenactment, he takes the opportunity to revisit the moment when he first met Marianne on 16th May 1974 at a cafe in Lyon called 'La Belle Epoque', in the hope of reigniting his love for her. Also starring Doria Tillier and Michael Cohen.
