What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 9th August 2018.

With 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' which was released just last week rapidly raking in the Box Office dollars across the world and having been hailed as the best in the series so far, and some even going so far to rate the film as one of the best action movies of all time, I thought this an appropriate time to review the franchise to date. So, in case you're not up to speed with the previous five instalments, here is a quick synopsis, ahead of this weeks Previews, which as usual are given further below :

* 'Mission : Impossible' - released 1996, Directed by Brian de Palma, Produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Kristin Scott Thomas and Vanessa Redgrave. Production Budget costs US$80M, Worldwide Box Office take US$458M. Ethan Hunt is framed for the murder of his fellow IMF agents during a Prague Embassy mission gone wrong and falsely accused of selling government secrets to a mysterious international criminal known only as 'Max'.



* 'Mission : Impossible II' - released 2000, Directed by John Woo, Produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Dougray Scott, Dominic Purcell, Thandie Newton, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Roxburgh and Anthony Hopkins. Production Budget costs US$125M, Worldwide Box Office take US$547M. Ethan Hunt sends international thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall undercover to stop rogue IMF agent, and Nyah's former lover, Sean Ambrose from stealing a deadly virus to start a pandemic and sell the antidote to the highest bidder.

* 'Mission : Impossible III' - released 2006, Directed by J.J. Abrams, Produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup, Aaron Paul, Maggie Q, Laurence Fishburn, Eddie Marsan and Michelle Monaghan. Production Budget costs US$150M, Worldwide Box Office take US$398M. Ethan Hunt, retired from being an IMF team leader and engaged to be married, assembles a team to face the elusive arms and information broker Owen Davian who intends to sell a mysterious dangerous object known as 'The Rabbit's Foot'.

* 'Mission : Impossible - Ghost Protocol' - released 2011, Directed by Brad Bird, Produced by Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk, and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist, Tom Wilkinson and Lea Seydoux. Production Budget costs US$145M, Worldwide Box Office take US$695M. Ethan Hunt and the entire IMF are blamed for the bombing of the Kremlin while investigating an individual known only as 'Cobalt'. He and three other agents are left to stop him from starting a global nuclear war.



* 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation' - released 2015, Directed and Written by Christopher McQuarrie, Produced by Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger, and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Sean Harris, Tom Hollander, Rebecca Fergusson and Alec Baldwin. Production Budget costs US$150M, Worldwide Box Office take US$683M. Ethan Hunt comes under threat from the 'Syndicate', a near-mythical organisation of rogue agents who kill to order. Faced with the IMF's disbandment, Hunt assembles his team for their mission to prove the Syndicate's existence and bring the organisation down by any means necessary.

* 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' - released 2018, Directed and Written by Christopher McQuarrie, Produced by Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, Jake Myers and J.J. Abrams and starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris, Rebecca Fergusson, Alec Baldwin, Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby and Michelle Monaghan. Production Budget costs US$178M, Worldwide Box Office take so far US$334M. When an IMF mission ends badly, the world is faced with dire consequences. As Ethan Hunt takes it upon himself to deliver on his original briefing, the CIA begins to question his loyalty and his motives.

This week we have four new feature films coming to your local Odeon that kick off with a remake of a blaxploitation crime drama film from the early '70's probably best known for its soundtrack back then, but which has been dusted off and given the 21st Century treatment for a whole new audience. We then turn to an action comedy about two hapless girlfriends who somehow get caught up in an international conspiracy and get chased half way around the world dodging bullets, nasty criminal types and corrupt cops in their attempt to save the world from a fate worse than this film. Next up is a British period piece of one young couple who have a less than satisfying wedding night which ultimately has lifelong lasting repercussions on them both; and we then wind up with a sequel to a found footage horror film about a laptop, a group of friends, and things that go bump in the night with terrifying consequences for them all.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies 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 most welcome to share your movie going 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 outing during the coming week.

'SUPERFLY' (Rated MA15+) - here we have a remake of the 1972 Blaxploitation action crime drama film of the same name, this time Directed by Director X (aka Julien Christian Lutz). This Canadian film and music video Director has been shooting music videos since 1998, but this is only his third outing helming a feature film since 'Across the Line' in 2015 and 'Centre Stage : On Pointe' in 2016. Released in the US in mid-June, the film cost US$16M to make, has so far grossed US$21M and has garnered generally mixed or average Reviews.

Cocaine kingpin Youngblood Priest (Trevor Jackson) comes to the realisation that it's time to exit the game after surviving a violent attack from a crazed rival. Hoping for one last score, so that he can retire to the good life, Priest and his partner travel down Mexico way to arrange a deal. The career criminal now finds himself trying to out run and out smart the local cartel, a pair of corrupt Police officers, a betrayed supplier and all them pesky double-crossing no-good criminal types who want his piece of the action that threaten his road to peace and freedom. The film also stars Jason Mitchell, Michael Kenneth Williams, Lex Scott Davis, Jacob Ming-Trent and Jennifer Morrison.

'THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME' (Rated MA15+) - channeling the great Mike Meyers (aka one Austin Powers), here we have an all girl line up in this riff on that action comedy offering as Directed and Co-Written by Susanna Fogel in only her second feature film outing after 2014's 'Life Partners'. The film stars Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon as Audrey and Morgan respectively as two thirty-something best friends living the quiet life in LA. The pair of besties find themselves caught up in no uncertain terms in a major international conspiracy when Audrey's ex-boyfriend unexpectedly re-emerges in her life chased down by a team of deadly assassins hot on his tail, while it emerges that he actually works for the CIA as an Agent. The dynamic duo suddenly spring into action and chase half way across Europe trying to evade those pesky assassin types and a charming British Agent all the while trying to save the world. Also starring Justin Theroux, Gillian Anderson and Paul Reiser. Sound like a laugh a minute!

'ON CHESIL BEACH' (Rated M) - this British drama film is helmed by first time Director of a feature length film Dominic Cooke, and was adapted for the screen by the author of the 2007 book of the same name Ian McEwan. The film received its World Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year and was released both in the UK and the USA in mid-May, has received generally favourable Reviews and has so far taken US$2.5M at the Box Office. Set in 1962, the film tells the story of newlyweds Edward (Billy Howle) and Florence (Saoirse Ronan), both in their early 20's and also both virgins. They spend their honeymoon preoccupied and terrified by the prospect of consummating their marriage, which as a disastrous first attempt at sex and their differing reactions to that initial failed experience has lasting lifelong impacts for them both. Also starring Emily Watson and Anne-Marie Duff.

'UNFRIENDED : DARK WEB' (Rated MA15+) - this 'found footage' horror offering is Written and Directed by Stephen Succo in his first feature length Directorial outing, despite the fact that he has Written and Produced such horror films as 'The Grudge', 'The Grudge 2', 'Texas Chainsaw 3D', 'The Possession' and 'Beyond the Reach'. This film is a stand-alone follow-up to 2014's like minded found footage supernatural horror 'Unfriended' which off a Budget of US$1M grossed US$64M at the Box Office. Here, a young man jumps online to play a game with five of his good friends on a laptop he came by in lost property that has remained unclaimed for some months. He shows them a mysterious folder that he came across while checking out his new device that plays disturbing videos of people who appear to be in danger accessed via the Dark Web. While viewing some of the disturbing scenes from that folder, the group receive an anonymous message that tells them they will all die if they disconnect, or call the Police. Their planned night of fun rapidly turns deadly as each user becomes the target of something sinister, while the others watch helplessly in terror. The film Premiered at SXSW back in March, cost US$1M and since its release in the US on the 20th July, has so far taken US$9M, and has received mixed or average Reviews.

With four 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 cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-