What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 22nd November 2018.

The 'American Film Institute Festival' (AFI Fest) ran this year from November 8th though until 15th and is, according to the official website, an 'annual celebration of international cinema from modern masters and emerging filmmakers. It takes place each Autumn in Hollywood, California, USA, and features nightly red-carpet galas, special screenings, conversations and tributes. AFI Fest remains the first and only festival of its stature that is free to the public, offering the best of current cinema in Hollywood. AFI Fest 2018 is its 32nd edition. Los Angeles' longest running international film festival remains a showcase for the best festival films of the year, and an opportunity for artists to come together with audiences in the heart of the movie capital of the world'.

Films being showcased this year fall into several categories, a sample of which is given below:-
Galas
* 'On the Basis of Sex' was the opening night film. Directed by Mimi Leder and stars Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, Sam Waterston, Jack Reynor and Cailee Spaeny.
* 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs', Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, starring Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, James Franco, Tom Waits, Brendan Gleeson and Zoe Kazan.
* 'Bird Box', Directed by Susanne Bier and starring Sandra Bullock, Jacki Weaver, Trevante Rhodes, Tom Hollander and John Malkovich.
* 'Green Book', Directed by Peter Farrelly and starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali.
* 'Widows' Directed by Steve McQueen and starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Jackie Weaver, Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson, Robert Duvall, Daniel Kaluuya and Jon Bernthal and as Previewed below for release this week in Australia.
* 'Destroyer' Directed by Karyn Kusama and starring Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan and Bradley Whitford.
* 'Mary Queen of Scots' was the closing night film. Directed by Josie Rourke and starring Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, David Tennant and Guy Pearce.

Special Screenings
* 'Amazing Grace', Directed by Sydney Pollock and starring Aretha Franklin.
* 'Everybody Knows', Directed by Asghar Farhadi and starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.
* 'The Favourite', Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult and Joe Alwyn.
* 'I Am The Night' Directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen and India Eisley.
* 'Roma' Directed by Alfonso Cuaron and starring Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira.
* 'Stan & Ollie' Directed by Jon S. Baird and starring John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan.
* 'Under the Silver Lake', Directed by David Robert Mitchell and starring Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace and Grace Van Patten.
* 'Vox Lux' Directed by Brady Corbet and starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Jennifer Ehle.

Midnight
* 'Cam' Directed by Daniel Goldhaber and starring Madeline Brewer.
* 'In Fabric' Directed by Peter Strickland and starring Gwendoline Christie,
* 'Knife+Heart' Directed by Yann Gonzalez and starring Vanessa Paradis.
* 'Piercing' Directed by Nicolas Pesce and starring Mia Wasikowska and Christoper Abbott.

The other categories are World Cinema featuring 28 films, New Auteurs with eighteen films, American Independents with eleven films showcased, Cinema's Legacy with another six and Short Films featuring forty-seven shorts. You can gain more insights from this festival of film at the official website at : https://www.afi.com/afifest/

For this week we have four new release movies coming to your local Odeon. We launch with an updated film version of a British television series of the mid-'80's that sees four recently bereaved wives of four career criminals carry on the legacy that their dead husbands left behind. We then turn to yet another version of that Lincoln Green wearing hero of Sherwood Forest who takes from the rich and gives to the poor in this action fantasy adventure the like of which you have quite probably never seen our titular long bow wielding hero in before. Next up is a court room drama about a British High Court Judge who must decide the fate of a teenage lad who desperately needs life saving surgery which flies in the face of his family's religious beliefs, and, we then wrap up with a timely Christmas oriented offering with a new slant on a classic tale.

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 week ahead.

'WIDOWS' (Rated MA15+) - this American heist drama film is based on the 1983 and 1985 British television series of the same name that was written by Lynda La Plante, and which ran for two series each of six episodes. Now in 2018 that earlier inspiration has been given a makeover some thirty years later and this time is written for the screen by Gillian Flynn, the author of the acclaimed novel and later film 'Gone Girl'. Directed by Steve McQueen whose previous Directorial credits include 'Hunger', 'Shame' and '12 Years a Slave', here he has amassed an ensemble cast for a Production Budget of US$40M and what has so far received widespread Critical praise. The film saw its Premier screening at TIFF back in September, was released in the UK last week, the US and Australia this week, and has so far grossed US$21M.

The story here surrounds a Police shootout that leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Those men were Harry Rawlins (Liam Neeson), Carlos Perelli (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), Florek Gunner (Jon Bernthal) and Bash O'Reilly (Garret Dillahunt). Their widows Veronica Rawlins (Viola Davis), Linda Perelli (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice Gunner (Elizabeth Debicki) and Belle O'Reilly (Cynthia Erivo) have nothing in common except a debt left behind by their now dead husbands criminal activities. Hoping to forge a future on their own terms, Veronica joins forces with the other three women to pull off a heist that her husband was planning, to clear their debt and retire happy and content on the monies left over. Also starring Colin Farrell, Jackie Weaver, Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall and Lukas Haas.

'ROBIN HOOD' (Rated M) - there have been many iterations of the legend of Robin Hood at both the cinema and on the television over the last century or more with more recent outings including 2010's 'Robin Hood' Directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, 1993's 'Robin Hood : Men in Tights' Directed by Mel Brooks and starring Cary Elwes, 1991's 'Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves' Directed by Kevin Reynolds and starring Kevin Costner, also in 1991 'Robin Hood' Directed by John Irvin and starring Patrick Bergin and 1976's 'Robin and Marian'  Directed by Richard Lester and starring Sean Connery. Now in 2018 we have a reimagining of that fabled folk hero of the English twelfth century in this action adventure offering tinged with just a hint of fantasy, and Directed by Otto Bathurst who has worked mostly in British television thus far Directing episodes of 'Black Mirror', 'Peaky Blinders', 'Teachers' and 'Hustle' amongst others over the years. Here we find Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton) a war-hardened Crusader and his Moorish commander known affectionately as Little John (Jamie Foxx) mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown with thrills, spills, action, adventure, mayhem, of course a touch of romance and stylised close quarter combat along the way. Also starring Tim Minchin as Friar Tuck, Jamie Dornan as Will Scarlet, Paul Anderson as Guy of Gisborne, Eve Hewson as Maid Marian and Ben Mendelsohn as the Sheriff of Nottingham. The film has received less that favourable Press to date.

'THE CHILDREN ACT' (Rated M) - this English drama film is Directed by British film, television, theatre and opera Director Richard Eyre and is written for the screen by Ian McEwan based on his own 2014 novel of the same name. The film saw its World Premier screening at TIFF way back in  September 2017, went on general release in the UK in late August, in the United States in mid-September and now gets a go in Australia this week. The film has garnered generally positive Reviews and has so far grossed US$12M. Here, working through a marital crisis with her husband Jack (Stanley Tucci), a High Court Judge Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) must determine if she should order a life-saving blood transfusion for a seventeen year old lad Adam Henry (Fionn Whitehead) with leukaemia, despite his parents Kevin and Naomi Henry (Ben Chaplin and Eileen Walsh respectively) refusal to accept medical treatment on the grounds that they are devout Jehovah's Witnesses, and any such treatment goes against their biblical beliefs.

'THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS' (Rated PG) - this American fantasy adventure film is Directed by Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston and is a reworking of E. T. A. Hoffmann's short story 'The Nutcracker and the Mouse King' and Marius Petipa's 'The Nutcracker'. The story here tells of young Clara Stahlbaum (Mackenzie Foy) who is given an egg shaped box as a Christmas present from her father Mr. Stahlbaum (Matthew Macfadyen). But Clara needs a magical, one-of-a-kind key to unlock a box that contains a priceless gift. A golden thread leads her to the coveted key, but it soon disappears into a strange and mysterious parallel world. In that world, she meets a soldier named Captain Phillip Hoffman (Jayden Fowora-Knight), a group of mice and the royalty who preside over three realms. Clara and Phillip must now venture into a fourth realm to retrieve the key and restore harmony and peace to the unstable land. Also starring Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger, Keira Knightley at the Sugar Plum Fairy and the ruler over the Land of Sweets; Richard E. Grant as Shiver, the ruler over the Land of Snowflakes; Eugenio Derbez as Hawthorne, the ruler over the Land of Flowers and Morgan Freeman. The film cost in the region of US$120M to make, was released in the US earlier this month, has so far taken US$118M and has generated largely unfavourable press to date.

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-