What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 14th March 2019.

With awards season now done for the 2018 cinematic year, there is one (forgettable) awards ceremony that celebrates everything that is bad about the movies and that takes place one day before the more revered Academy Awards. The 39th Golden Raspberry Awards (aka 'The Razzies') were held in Los Angeles on 23rd February and the awards themselves are in the form of a 'golf ball-sized raspberry' perched atop a Super 8mm film reel, all spray painted gold, and awarded for failure in cinematic achievement. The first Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony was held on March 31, 1981, to honour the worst in film of the 1980 film season.

This years winners, or losers, depending on which way you want to look at it, are given below :-

* Worst Picture : 'HOLMES & WATSON', beating out 'Gotti', 'The Happytime Murders', 'Robin Hood' and 'Winchester'.
* Worst Director : ETAN COHEN for 'Holmes & Watson', beating out Kevin Connolly for 'Gotti', James Foley for 'Fifty Shades Freed', Brian Henson for 'The Happytime Murders' and The Spierig Brothers for 'Winchester'.
* Worst Actor : DONALD TRUMP for 'Death of a Nation' and 'Fahrenheit 11/9'.
* Worst Actress : MELISSA McCARTHY for 'The Happytime Murders' and 'Life of the Party'.
* Worst Supporting Actor : JOHN C. REILLY for 'Holmes & Watson'.
* Worst Supporting Actress : KELLYANNE CONWAY for 'Fahrenheit 11/9'.
* Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel : 'HOLMES & WATSON', beating out 'Death of a Nation', 'Death Wish', 'The Meg' and 'Robin Hood'.
* Worst Screenplay : NIALL LEONARD for 'Fifty Shades Freed' based on the novel by E. L. James.
* The Razzie Redeemer Award : MELISSA McCARTHY for 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?'  This award is presented to a past Razzie Award nominee or winner who had subsequently 'become a respected artist' and come back from critical and/or commercial failure.

You can get a whole lot more at the official website : http://www.razzies.com

This week there are just two new movies gracing our Odeon screens. We kick off with a true story of a terrorist attack on a luxury Indian hotel just ten years ago that sees the brave hotel staff battle against all odds to save their guests and thwart their oppressors. And then we have a change of pace as we turn to England and one mans hope of finding his long lost son who walked out many years ago over an argument about a game of Scrabble.

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

'HOTEL MUMBAI' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian, Indian and American Co-Produced thriller is Directed, Co-Produced, Written and Edited by Aussie Anthony Maras in his feature length film debut. The film saw its World Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year, was screened at the Adelaide Film Festival in October and goes on release first here in Australia this week and the US at the end of this month. Based o the 2009 Documentary 'Surviving Mumbai' by Victoria Midwinter Pitt, the film is of the 2008 Mumbai attacks where a group of terrorist attacks occurred in November 2008, when ten members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorist organisation based in Pakistan, carried out a series of twelve coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. At least 174 people died, including nine terrorists, and more than three hundred were wounded. This film centres around the attack in particular on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

As a wave of devastating terror attacks throughout Mumbai catapult the bustling Indian city of some thirteen million inhabitants into chaos, in the heart of the city’s tourist district, Islamic terrorists lay siege to the iconic Taj Palace Hotel, whose guests and staff become trapped in a heroic, four day long battle for survival. The cast here takes in Dev Patel as Sikh concierge Arjun, Russian businessman Vasili’s (Jason Isaacs), the wealthy Zahra (Nazanin Boniadi) who checks into one of the hotel’s opulent suites with her American spouse David (Armie Hammer), newborn baby and Australian nanny Sally (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) in tow, supported by the Hotel's staff who are unwavering in their belief that the 'Guest is God' there is Head Chef Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and as the Hotel Manager (Vipin Sharma). And finally there are the four terrorist antagonists (Amandeep Singh, Suhail Nayyar, Yash Trivedi, Gaurav Paswala), who roam the hotel lobby and hallways armed to the teeth, taking out guests and employees with no remorse, and setting off a series of explosions that ultimately set fire to the hotel. A gripping true story well crafted and faithfully recreated that combines real archival footage with the Directors vision.

'SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER' (Rated PG) - here English occasional Director, Producer and Screenwriter Carl Hunter brings us this mystery comedy drama that centres around Alan (Bill Nighy) who was a bespoke Merseyside tailor now retired, with moves almost as sharp as his custom made suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a game of Scrabble all to do with the word 'Zo' being admissible as a bona fide word in the English language. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his youngest son Peter (Sam Riley) who always considered himself to be second best, and solve the mystery of an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so he can finally move on and reunite his family. Also starring Alice Lowe, Jenny Agutter, Tim McInnerny and Alexi Sayle. The film has met with a largely positive response from Critics.

With just two new release movies 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-