What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 8th March 2018.

And so Hollywood's night of nights was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the second consecutive year on Sunday evening March 4th from the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. This year marked the 90th Academy Awards ceremony with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honouring the best in film entertainment from 2017 across 24 individual categories. 'The Shape of Water' went into the awards with the most number of nominations at thirteen, followed by 'Dunkirk' with eight, 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' with seven, 'Darkest Hour' and 'Phantom Thread' each with six, 'Blade Runner 2049' and 'Lady Bird' each with five, then 'Call Me By Your Name', 'Get Out', 'Mudbound' and 'Star Wars : The Last Jedi' each with four, and 'I, Tonya' and 'Baby Driver' each with three. In case you were hiding under a rock, here is a summary of the winners and grinners from the main categories, as presented at this years 90th Academy Awards by the glitterati and glamourati of Hollywood's finest talent, all presented without any major upset this year!

* Best Picture : awarded to 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Director : awarded to Guillermo del Toro for 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Foreign Language Film : awarded to 'Fantastic Woman' (Chile).
* Best Animated Feature Film : awarded to 'Coco'.
* Best Documentary Feature Film : awarded to 'Icarus'.
* Best Actor : awarded to Gary Oldman for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in 'Darkest Hour'.
* Best Actress : awarded to Frances McDormand for her portrayal of Mildred Hayes in 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'.
* Best Supporting Actor : awarded to Sam Rockwell for his portrayal of Jason Dixon in 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'.
* Best Supporting Actress : awarded to Allison Janney for her portrayal of LaVona Golden in 'I, Tonya'.
* Best Original Screenplay : awarded to Jordan Peele for 'Get Out'.
* Best Adapted Screenplay : awarded James Ivory for 'Call Me By Your Name'.
* Best Original Score : awarded to Alexandre Desplat for 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Original Song : awarded to Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for 'Remember Me' from 'Coco'.
* Best Cinematography : awarded to Roger Deakins for 'Blade Runner 2049'.
* Best Production Design : awarded to Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin for 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Film Editing : awarded to Lee Smith for 'Dunkirk'.
* Best Costume Design : awarded to Mark Bridges for 'Phantom Thread'.
* Best Visual Effects : awarded to 'Blade Runner 2049'.

This week then we have five new release movies coming to an Odeon near you. We kick start with a post 9/11 Afghanistan War drama about twelve US Special Forces men sent behind enemy lines to work with the local insurgents to bring down the Taliban, it's al-Qaida allies and capture a strategically placed city - no mean feat! We then turn to an acclaimed German film about one woman's quest for the truth, justice and revenge when her husband and son are killed by a terrorist nail bomb. Next up is a biographical film about a weekend sailor who gets into deep water attempting to sail single handedly around the world back in 1968 that resulted in a cheating scandal and his ultimate demise into the watery deep. This is followed up by a family friendly film of a cheerleading champion from the US looking to replicate her success from back home down in South Australia; and we finish up with an animated feature of down on their luck ordinary folk who on a night out of fun and frolics at a monster dress-up party unwittingly get transformed into the actual characters they are portraying by an evil witch working for Count Dracula.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are here warmly invited to share your cinematic thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon experience during the week ahead.

'12 STRONG' (Rated MA15+) - aka '12 Strong : The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers' is an American war drama film from Danish first time Director Nicolai Fuglsig and is based on Doug Stanton's New York Times Bestsellers non-fiction book 'Horse Soldiers' published in 2009. The film was released in the US in mid-January, cost US$35M to make and has so far grossed US$58M and has received mixed or average Reviews thus far. The film tells the story of CIA paramilitary officers, US Special Forces and USAF Combat Controllers, sent to Afghanistan immediately following the September 11 attacks.

In the aftermath of September 11, US Army Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) with Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595 volunteers to lead a US Special Forces team into Afghanistan for an extremely dangerous mission fighting alongside the Northern Alliance leader General Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban) to take down the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies and capture the strategically placed city of Mazar-i-Sharif - the fourth largest city of Afghanistan located in the country's north. Outgunned and outnumbered, Nelson and his forces face overwhelming odds in a fight against a ruthless enemy that shoots first and asks questions last. Also starring Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, William Fichtner and Trevante Rhodes.

'IN THE FADE' (Rated MA15+) - Written, Co-Produced and Directed by German Fatih Akin, this film has won ten awards and fourteen nominations including the Golden Globe win for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language and two satellite Award wins for Best International Film and Best Actress for its lead, Diane Kruger. The film was also in competition at last years Cannes Film Festival for the Palme d'Or, with Diane Kruger taking out the Best Actress Award.  Here Katja Sekerci (Diane Kruger) is married to a Kurdish man Nuri (Numan Acar). They live with their five years old son in Hamburg. One day, returning to her husband's office in the evening to collect him and their son, she is greeted by a Police cordon advising her that a man and a child have been killed in a vicious nail bomb attack. The Police close in and arrest two Neo-Nazi suspects with an international network on the grounds of seemingly watertight evidence. Pushed to the edge of despair over their deaths, Katja sees no reason to carry on, until she has a moment of clarity and decides instead that she wants justice, and revenge. The film has received generally positive press since its initial release in Germany back in November last year.

'THE MERCY' (Rated M) - is a British biographical drama film from Director James Marsh who previous Directorial credits include the documentaries 'Man on Wire', 'Project Nim' and feature drama films 'Shadow Dancer' and 'The Theory of Everything'. Here he tells the true story of the disastrous attempt by weekend sailor Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth) to complete the Sunday Times Golden Globe single handed round the world yacht race in 1968. Crowhurst had entered the race in the hope of winning a cash prize from The Sunday Times to aid his failing business. Instead, the amateur sailor encountered challenges early in his voyage, and secretly abandoned the race while reporting false positions, in an attempt to appear to complete a circumnavigation without actually circling the world, all the while remaining in the Atlantic Ocean. Evidence found after his disappearance suggests that this attempt ended in mental breakdown, possible insanity and suicide in mid-1969 somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Also starring Rachel Weisz as Clare Crowhurst, David Thewlis and Ken Scott.

'GOING FOR GOLD' (Rated G) - Written, Produced and Directed by South Australia's Clay Glen, and filmed in around that State's capital city Adelaide, here the film maker takes us into the world of family friendly competitive cheerleading. His two previous outings 'Raising the Bar' and 'Second Chance' centred around the world of gymnastics, and like 'Going for Gold' were aimed squarely at the family and children's markets. The film here follows the story of seventeen year old Emma (Kelli Berglund) a champion cheerleader who's father is a widowed US Air Force Officer. When father and daughter relocate themselves from the USA to South Australia, Emma starts at high school and soon discovers a small but emerging competitive cheerleading culture, and so sets about recruiting a mixed bunch of cheerleading wannabes in an attempt to win the State title.

'MONSTER FAMILY' (Rated PG) - aka 'Happy Family' is a British and German CG animated horror comedy Co-Production, that was released in Germany back in August last year, the USA in early February and the UK last week. Directed and Produced by Holger Tappe the film is based on the children's book 'Happy Family' by German novelist and writer David Safier. The story here is about the Wishbone family, who have not had much luck in their lives. The Mum and Dad of the family, Emma (Emily Watson) and Frank (Nick Frost) plan a fun night out to a monster costume party for the family in order for them to reconnect and lift their spirits. However, things backfire when an evil witch working for Count Dracula (Jason Isaacs) is ordered to turn Emma into a Vampire (the character she is portraying to the Monster Costume Party) and inadvertently turns the whole family into their costumed monsters too. Frank into Frankenstein, daughter Fay (Jessica Brown Findlay) into a Mummy and son Max (Ethan Rouse) into a Werewolf. What follows in a chase across town leading them eventually to London in an attempt to reverse the curse. Also starring Celia Imrie and Catherine Tate.

With five new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephiles afterwards here at Odeon Online, and meanwhile, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-