What's new in Odeon's this week : Wednesday 26th December 2018.

As 2018 draws to a close and thoughts turn to a happy, healthy and successful New Year for everyone, it is also that time of year when Awards Season goes into overdrive, well & truly! The first two months of 2019 sees more notable film and television awards than you could possibly poke a stick at, and its a wonder that the movie and TV business functions at all with all the pomp and ceremony, back slapping, acceptance speeches and lavish gala presentations, dinners and glitzy gatherings that the who's who of the industry seem to attend at this time of year. In the meantime, to all my readers, Best Wishes to you all for a very Happy New Year, thanks for your support in 2018, and let's do it all over again in 2019!

So mark up in your diary, the count down to the mother of them all, The Oscar's at the back end of February, and look out for the following awards ceremonies in the meantime :-
* 4th January 2019 - the 8th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards from the Mondrian Hotel, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
* 6th January 2019 - the 76th Golden Globe Awards hosted by Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg from the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California.
* 13th January 2019 - the 24th Critics Choice Awards from the Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, California.
* 19th January 2019 - the 30th Producers Guild of America Awards from the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California.
* 27th January 2019 - the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards hosted by Megan Mullally from the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California.
* 2nd February 2019 - the 71st Directors Guild of America Awards from the Hollywood & Highland Centre, Los Angeles, California.
* 2nd February 2019 - the 46th Annie Awards from the UCLA Royce Hall, Burbank, California.
* 10th February 2018 - the 72nd British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA) from the Royal Albert Hall, London.
* 17th February 2019 - the 71st Writers Guild of America Awards hosted by Chelsea Peretti from the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California.
* 19th February 2019 - the 23rd Satellite Awards from the InterContinental Hotel, Century City, Los Angeles, California.
* 23rd February 2019 - the 34th Independent Spirit Awards hosted by Aubrey Plaza from Santa Monica Beach, California.
* 24th February 2019 - the 91st Academy Awards from the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A host is yet to be confirmed following Kevin Hart's swift departure in early December.

This week there are five new release movies coming to your local Odeon on Boxing Day. Kicking off with the next instalment in the DCEU that sees our amphibious hero go head to head and toe to toe (or should that be tail to tail and fin to fin) against his brother and another mortal enemy for his right to rule over the seven seas and his ancestral home. We then have a change of pace and turn to a love story against the odds set amidst political upheaval in 1950's Poland in this highly acclaimed and much awarded foreign language offering. Attention then turns to a bio-pic of the very recent past concerning the Vice President of the USA and his political manoeuvrings that still resonate to this day. Next up is a mystery comedic film concerning a dynamic English super-sleuthing duo of yesteryear who get caught up in a murderous plot involving Queen Victoria. We then wrap up the week with a CGI animated sequel to a 2012 film that sees our titular hero enter the rabbit hole that is the interweb to fix and on-line game, and almost cause a meltdown in the process.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five 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.

'AQUAMAN' (Rated M) - here comes the much hyped, eagerly awaited and keenly anticipated sixth film in the DC Extended Universe, the third live action film starring 'Aquaman' after 2016's 'Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice' and 2017's 'The Justice League', and the first film in which this title character gets his own feature length outing. Development for an 'Aquaman' film first began way back in 2004 but eventually amounted to nothing until ten years later when a script was commissioned and the following year Aussie James Wan was hired to Direct. The character incidentally first appeared in 'More Fun Comics' in 1941 as a back up feature but later in the '50's and '60's due to his rising popularity became a founding member of 'The Justice League' and in the '90's he was taken a lot more seriously again by those writers depicting his role as the head of Atlantis and King of the Seven Seas. This film saw its London World Premier at the end of November, went on release in China in early December breaking various records, has so far grossed US$489M having been released in the US on 21st December, off the back of a Budget at circa US$180M, and has generated mixed or average Reviews so far. A sequel is already in the early stages of development.

At some point in the very dim and distant past, the city of Atlantis was once home to the most advanced civilisation on Earth. Now submerged beneath the ocean, Atlantis is an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm (Patrick Wilson). With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to unite the seven underwater kingdoms by force if necessary, and then declare war on the surface world out of the belief that humanity is responsible for polluting the seas (seems like a reasonable enough belief to me!!) Standing in his way is Aquaman (Jason Mamoa), Orm's half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko (Willem Dafoe), Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the oceans deep. Also starring Dolph Lundgren, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, Graham McTavish, Temuera Morrison and Julie Andrews lends her voice talents.

'COLD WAR' (Rated M) - here we have a highly acclaimed Polish foreign language film that is Directed and Co-Written by Pawel Pawlikowski, and said to be loosely inspired by the lives of the Director's parents during the Cold War years of the 1950's in Poland. So far the film has won 15 awards and been nominated for a further 24 including being screened in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Pawlikowski took out the award for Best Director. It has also been selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards to be held in late February 2019. For its brief running time of just 85 minutes, the film is set against a backdrop of the Cold War years in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, depicting an impossible love story in impossible times between a musical director Wiktor Warski (Tomasz Kot) who discovers a young singer Zuzanna Lichon (Joanna Kulig), and follows their subsequent love story over the years. The film was made for under US$5M, has so far grossed US11M and has received widespread Critical acclaim.

'VICE' (Rated M) - this American biographical comedy offering is helmed by Director, Producer, Screenwriter and Actor Adam McKay and has already created a certain amount of buzz around the awards circuit having so far picked up five award wins, six nominations and a further 26 nods of yet to be announced awards including six Golden Globe nominations to be awarded in early January 2019. The story here starts with Governor George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) of Texas who chooses Dick Cheney (Christian Bale), the CEO of Halliburton Co., to be his Republican running mate in the 2000 American Presidential election. Cheney's impressive resume takes in time as White House Chief of Staff, House Minority Whip and Defence Secretary, and as such is no stranger to the political arena. When Bush wins by a narrow margin, Cheney begins to use his newfound power to help reshape the country . . .  and the world in ways which still resonate to this day. Also starring Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, Tyler Perry as Colin Powell, Bill Pullman as Nelson Rockefeller, Bill Camp as Gerald Ford with Jesse Plemmons, Amy Adams, Alison Pill, Eddie Marsan, Shea Whigham and LisaGay Hamilton. The film cost US$60M to produce, and is released in the US this week too.

'HOLMES AND WATSON' (Rated M) - here we have another take on that famed 19th Century British sleuth pairing created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. This time, this American mystery comedy offering is Directed and Written for the screen by Etan Cohen and stars Will Ferrell as Holmes and John C. Reilly as Watson. Costing US$42M to make, the film is released in the US on 25th December, and the story here surrounds our intrepid Super Sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his trusted sidekick Dr. Watson as they investigate a murder at Buckingham Palace. They quickly learn that the clock is counting down on four days in which they have to crack the case, before Queen Victoria herself becomes the next victim of criminal mastermind James Moriarty (Ralph Fiennes). Also starring Rob Brydon, Hugh Laurie, Rebecca Hall, Kelly Macdonald, Pam Ferris and Lauren Lapkus.

'RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET' (Rated PG) - in 2012 Walt Disney released 'Wreck it Ralph' - a computer animated comedy film that went onto receive 33 award wins and another 42 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit, as well as collecting a US$471M Box Office haul off the back of a US$165M budget outlay. Now in late 2018 we have the sequel as Directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston who also Co-Wrote the story. Starring much of the voice cast reprising their roles plus new voice talent this time around, the film here centers around video game bad guy Ralph (John C. Reilly) and fellow misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) who must risk it all by traveling into the World Wide Web in search of a replacement part to save Vanellope's video game, 'Sugar Rush'. Finding themselves way in over their heads, Ralph and Vanellope rely on the citizens of the internet (aka 'the netizens') to help navigate their way, including an entrepreneur named Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), who is the head algorithm and the heart and soul of trend-making site BuzzzTube. Also starring the voice work of Gal Gadot, Alan Tudyk, Alfred Molina, Ed O'Neill, Jane Lynch, Hamish Blake and numerous others, this film also cost US$175M to Produce and has so far taken US$308M and has received generally positive Critical acclaim.

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 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-