What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 24th January 2019.

As awards season ramps up, the 24th annual 'Critics Choice Awards' were held on Sunday 13th January 2019 at the Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica Airport, California. Honouring the finest achievement in 2018 film making, the ceremony was Hosted by American Actor and Singer Taye Diggs. And so the Critics have spoken, voiced their opinion, and selected their picks of the top films that graced our screens in 2018. Here, are the list of the main winners and grinners that took out the awards.

* Best Picture : won by 'ROMA' beating out 'Black Panther', 'BlacKkKlansman', 'The Favourite', 'First Man', 'Green Book', 'If Beale Street Could Talk', 'Mary Poppins Returns', 'A Star Is Born' and 'Vice'.
* Best Foreign Language Film : won by 'ROMA' beating out 'Burning' (South Korea), 'Capernaum' (Lebanon), 'Cold War' (Poland), and 'Shoplifters' (Japan).
* Best Action Movie : won by 'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT', beating out 'Avengers : Infinity War', 'Black Panther', 'Deadpool 2', 'Ready Player One' and 'Widows'.
* Best SciFi or Horror Movie : won by 'A QUIET PLACE', beating out 'Annihilation', 'Halloween', 'Hereditary' and 'Suspiria'.
* Best Comedy : won by 'CRAZY RICH ASAINS' beating out 'Deadpool 2', 'The Death of Stalin', 'The Favourite', 'Game Night' and 'Sorry to Bother You'.
* Best Animated Feature : won by 'SPIDER-MAN : INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE', beating out 'The Grinch', 'Incredibles 2', 'Isle of Dogs', 'Mirai' and 'Ralph Breaks the Internet'.
* Best Director : won by Alfonso Cuaron for 'ROMA' beating out Damien Chazelle for 'First Man', Bradley Cooper for 'A Star Is Born', Peter Farrelly for 'Green Book', Yorgos Lanthimos for 'The Favourite', Spike Lee for 'BlacKkKlansman' and Adam McKay for 'Vice'.
* Best Actor : won by Christian Bale for 'VICE' beating out Bradley Cooper for 'A Star Is Born', Willem Dafoe for 'At Eternity's Gate', Ryan Gosling for 'First Man', Ethan Hawke for 'First Reformed', Rami Malek for 'Bohemian Rhapsody', and Viggo Mortensen for 'Green Book'. 
* Best Actress : won by Glenn Close for 'THE WIFE', and Lady Gaga for 'A STAR IS BORN' in a tie, beating out Yalitza Aparicio for 'Roma', Emily Blunt for 'Mary Poppins Returns', Toni Collette for 'Hereditary', Olivia Colman for 'The Favourite' and Melissa McCarthy for 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?'

* Best Supporting Actor : won by Mahershala Ali for 'GREEN BOOK', beating out Timothée Chalamet for 'Beautiful Boy', Adam Driver for 'BlacKkKlansman', Sam Elliott for 'A Star Is Born', Richard E. Grant for 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?' and Michael B. Jordan for 'Black Panther'.

* Best Supporting Actress : won by Regina King for 'IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK', beating out Amy Adams for 'Vice', Claire Foy for 'First Man', Nicole Kidman for 'Boy Erased', Emma Stone for 'The Favourite' and Rachel Weisz for 'The Favourite'.

* Best Actor in a Comedy : won by Christian Bale for 'VICE', beating out Jason Bateman for 'Game Night', Viggo Mortensen for 'Green Book', John C. Reilly for 'Stan & Ollie', Ryan Reynolds for 'Deadpool 2' and Lakeith Stanfield for 'Sorry to Bother You'.

* Best Actress in a Comedy : won by Olivia Colman for 'THE FAVOURITE', beating out Emily Blunt for 'Mary Poppins Returns', Elsie Fisher for 'Eighth Grade', Rachel McAdams for 'Game Night', Charlize Theron for 'Tully' and Constance Wu for 'Crazy Rich Asians'.

* Best Original Screenplay : won by Paul Schrader for 'FIRST REFORMED',

* Best Adapted Screenplay : won by Barry Jenkins for 'IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK'.

* Best Cinematography : won by Alfonso Cuaron for 'ROMA'.

* Best Visual Effects : won by 'BLACK PANTHER' beating out 'Avengers : Infinity War', 'First Man', 'Mary Poppins Returns', 'Mission : Impossible – Fallout' and 'Ready Player One'.

 * Best Song : won for 'Shallow' from 'A STAR IS BORN'.

This week there are just three new release movies coming to your local Odeon. The first is an already highly acclaimed semi-biographical comedy drama offering recounting a road trip back in 1962 involving an Italian decent driver and his Client - a world class Jamaican decent jazz pianist as they tour America's deep south with all the prejudices, and cultural and racial intolerances that existed back in the day, and how this unlikely pairing forged a bond because of it. We then turn to a true story of an octogenarian drug courier who began transporting across US state lines for a Mexican drug cartel in order to make ends meet at home, and he got away with it - for a while. And we wrap up the week with a doco about a record breaking free climb ascent of a Yosemite Park sheer rock face that is not for those suffering from vertigo.

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

'GREEN BOOK' (Rated M) - this highly acclaimed comedy drama offering is Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written for the screen by Peter Farrelly. The film had its World Premiere showing at the Toronto International Film Festival in September last year, where it won the People's Choice Award, and was released in the US in mid-November. It has received positive Reviews and was selected by the National Board of Review as the best film of 2018, as well as one of the Top 10 by the American Film Institute, and, has so far won 43 awards and a further 83 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit, including five Oscar nods and four BAFTA nods. For some historical context, the film is named after 'The Negro Motorist Green Book', that was published from 1936 through to 1966 and was a guidebook for African-American road trippers written by Victor Hugo Green, to help them find motels and restaurants that would accept them in an age when in America's deep south especially, open and often legally prescribed discrimination against non-whites was widespread. The film has garnered generally positive Reviews and has grossed US$46M from its US$23M production budget so far.

Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) is a world-class Jamaican-American jazz pianist and composer, who is about to embark on an eight week concert tour in America's Deep South in 1962, with a plan to return home by Christmas Eve. In need of a driver and protection, Shirley recruits Frank 'Tony Lip' Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), a tough-talking bouncer from an Italian-American neighbourhood in the Bronx. Despite their cultural and racial differences, the two men soon develop an unexpected bond while confronting racism and danger in an era of segregation. The film was also scripted by Vallelonga's son, Nick Vallelonga, based on interviews with his father and Shirley, as well as letters his father wrote to his mother during the period of that 1962 tour. Also starring Linda Cardellini.

'THE MULE' (Rated M) - Clint Eastwood here Directs, Co-Produces and stars in this American crime drama film based on the New York Times article 'The Sinaloa Cartel's 90-Year-Old Drug Mule' written by Sam Dolnick. That article tells the true story of Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran in his twilight years who became a drug courier for the Sinaloa Cartel. The film was released in the US in mid-December, cost US$50M to make, has so far grossed US$102M and has garnered generally mixed or average Reviews. That said, broke, alone and facing foreclosure on his business, 90-year-old WWII veteran and world renowned horticulturist Earl Stone (Clint Eastwood playing the real Leo Sharp) takes a job as a drug courier for the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel running cocaine through Illinois. His immediate success (for he faces little suspicion due to his age, race, spotless criminal history and strict adherence to the rules of the road) leads to easy money and increasingly larger shipments that soon draws the attention of hard-hitting DEA agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper). When Earl's past mistakes start to weigh heavily on his conscience, he must decide whether to right those wrongs before law enforcement and the Cartel henchmen catch up to him. Also starring Michael Pena, Andy Garcia, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Weist, Alison Eastwood and Taissa Farmiga.

'FREE SOLO' (Rated M) - this highly acclaimed multi-award winning American National Geographic documentary film is Directed and Co-Produced by Documentarian Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and professional climber, mountaineer, skier, Director and photographer Jimmy Chin who also stars and was also one of three Cinematographers on this film. 'Free Solo' saw it Premier screening at the Telluride Film Festival back in late August, went on a limited release in the US in late September and has so far taken US$15M at the Box Office. The film profiles 31 year old American rock climber Alex Honnold, on his quest to perform a free solo climb of El Capitan in June 2017. Free Solo climbing is a form of free climbing and solo climbing where the climber (or free soloist) performs alone and without using any ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, relying entirely on his or her ability instead. El Capitan is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is about 3,000 feet from base to summit along its tallest face. Alex Honnold was the first free solo ascent on El Capitan on June 3, 2017 in a time of three hours and 56 minutes - this is his story of that climb.

With three 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-