What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 2nd February 2017.

Moving right along with the film and television awards season this year, Sunday evening 29th January saw the announcements of the 23rd annual edition of the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Held at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California during a two-hour ceremony, Awards in six film and nine television categories were given. Unlike other awards shows like the Oscars and Golden Globes, this one does not have a host, which helps it move along more swiftly. From the world of film the winners and grinners were :

* Outstanding performance by a Male Actor in a Lead Role : Denzel Washington for 'FENCES' (released in Australia on 9th February)
* Outstanding performance by an Female Actor in a Lead Role : Emma Stone for 'LA LA LAND'
* Outstanding performance by an Male Actor in a Support Role : Mahershala Ali for 'MOONLIGHT'
* Outstanding performance by a Female Actor in a Support Role : Viola Davis for 'FENCES' (released in Australia on 9th February)
* Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture : 'HIDDEN FIGURES' (released in Australia on 16th February)
* Outstanding action performance by a cast in a motion picture : 'HACKSAW RIDGE'
* The Lifetime Achievement Award : Lily Tomlin.

This week there are just three new filmic offerings coming your way that start off with a critically acclaimed film of grief, loss and suffering as old wounds are re-opened in this small coastal community. We then turn to a real life and very recent terror attack staged during a community event and the aftermath as the antagonists were brought to account and that affected community came together again, stronger, united and more resilient than ever. We then wrap up with an '80's era tale of geologists, gold and greed as a down on his luck prospector hits pay dirt in the jungles of Borneo and has to fend off the power brokers in the jungles of Wall Street.

As is generally the way, when you have sat through your movie of choice in the week ahead, you are cordially invited to leave your own summary of your movie going observations, thoughts and opinions by posting your relevant, pertinent and brief Comment below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your film, wherever you might be.

'MANCHESTER BY THE SEA' (Rated MA15+) - Written and Directed by Kenneth Lonergan, Co-Produced by Matt Damon and Starring Casey Affleck in an award winning turn, this feature costing just US$8.5M to make has gained universal acclaim, brought in over US$43M since its World Premier at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016 and subsequent tour around the festival circuit before its release Stateside at the end of November last year. The film has been nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and three Best Actor nods for its three lead players (Affleck, Williams and Hedges), plus six BAFTA's nominations. Casey Affleck won the Best Actor Golden Globe for his lead performance, and it has accumulated a further 93 wins and 194 nominations, with the Oscar and BAFTA winners & grinners yet to be announced of course. Manchester-by-the-Sea is a real place by the way, located in Cape Ann, Essex County, Massachusetts with a population of just over five thousand and just 40kms northeast of Boston.

In a career defining performance the film centres around Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) who works as a janitor in an apartment block in Boston. He's quiet, reserved, goes about his business by day and picks fights in bars by night. One day he receives a phone call from a family friend advising that brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) has suffered a heart attack. Before Lee can get to the hospital, Joe dies. Lee then travels to his home town of Manchester-by-the Sea to give the news of Joe's passing to his sixteen year old son Patrick (Lucas Hedges). In returning to Manchester however, Lee must face the memories of an even greater loss that threaten to re-open even greater wounds of a personal tragedy that he thought were behind him, and in so doing might just tip him over the edge forever. Michelle Williams also stars as Randi - Lee's former now re-married wife. Masterfully Directed, gracefully acted this is a film of sadness, loss, grief, self-loathing and suffering and how it impacts everyday folk in a small seaside community.

'PATRIOTS DAY' (Rated M) - this film is another real life dramatic thriller Co-Written for the screen and Directed by Peter Berg who also brought us last years 'Deepwater Horizon' which also starred, like this offering, his go to actor for playing the ordinary everyman caught up in extraordinary circumstances - Mark Wahlberg. Based on the book 'Boston Strong' by Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge this tells the story of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. Costing US$45M to make the film has so far recovered US$32M since its US release at Christmas time. April 2013, and during the annual Boston Marathon two bombs are detonated in the crowd of onlookers causing widespread chaos and panic. In the aftermath of the attack Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg), Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman) and FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon) join forces with survivors, other investigators and those first on the scene for the manhunt to bring the perpetrators to justice before they strike again. Also starring J.K.Simmons as Police Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese, and Michelle Monaghan as Carol Saunders. The film has garnered generally positive Reviews.

'GOLD' (Rated M) - Directed and Co-Written by Stephen Gaghan, Co-Produced and starring Matthew McConaughey, and a strong supporting cast, this film had a limited release in the US on  December 30th before its wider release this week. Set in the 1980's, down on his luck and desperate prospector Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) teams up with geologist Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez) to search for a hidden seam of gold deep within the Indonesian jungle of Borneo. They eventually hit gold, and the biggest strike of the decade that seems easy work compared to keeping hold of their new found wealth when the Wall Street power brokers begin to circle wanting a piece of the action. Also starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach, Craig T. Nelson and Rachel Taylor. McConaughey for his role transformed himself once again with a pot belly, balding comb over and crooked teeth - a sight to behold . . . let's hope it's not 'Fool's Gold'!

With three big pictures to tempt you out on a hot Summer day or night sometime in the week ahead, together with those still doing the rounds and out on general release as Reviewed and Previewed between these humble pages in previous weeks, you really don't need any excuse! Get amongst it at your local multiplex, and I'll see you sometime, somewhere in the coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-