What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 11th July 2019.

The 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ran this year from Friday 28th June through to Saturday 6th July. Founded in 1946 and described on the official website as being 'the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and the most prestigious such festival in Central and Eastern Europe, it is one of the oldest A-list film festivals (i.e., non-specialized festivals with a competition for feature-length fiction films, and designated as such in 1956), a category it shares with the festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastian, Moscow, Montreal, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Among filmmakers, buyers, distributors, sales agents, and journalists, KVIFF is considered the most important event in all of Central and Eastern Europe. Every year, the festival presents some 200 films from around the world, and regularly hosts famous and important filmmakers. The Karlovy Vary festival is intended for both film professionals and the general public, and offers visitors a carefully designed programme, excellent facilities and a broad range of other services'. 
The festival typically caters to :
* 300 international Directors, filmmakers, and Actors personally presenting their latest films,
* 150 selected feature films seen by audiences every year,
* 14 festival venues,
* 70 films shown as world, international or European premieres,
* 800 attending distributors, sales agents, producers, and festival programmers,
* 700 attending journalists, primarily from Central and Eastern Europe,
* 11,000 audience members with
* 120,000 tickets sold.

Each year, the festival presents a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema to a leading personality of world cinema, whereby the festival recognises Actors or Directors or Producers for their inspiring work in the field of international cinema. Notable past recipients of the award include Robert Redford, Robert de Niro, Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, John Malkovich, Harvey Keitel, Morgan Freeman, Judi Dench, Susan Sarandon, John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Willem Dafoe and Directors including William Friedkin, Milos Forman, Stephen Frears, Roman Polanski, Oliver Stone, Franco Zeffirelli and Charlie Kaufman. This years festival opened with Actress Julianne Moore accepting the Crystal Globe for her outstanding contribution to world cinema, and closed with Patricia Clarkson also being honoured with the same award. Warmest congrats Julianne and Patricia.

With the closing awards ceremony held on Saturday 6th July, the winners and grinners of this years KVIFF were :-
Grand Prix : Crystal Globe
* 'The Father' - Directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, 'The Father' was selected by the grand jury as the winning film in main competition at this years festival and a such the proud recipient of the The Crystal Globe and $25,000 prize money. This Bulgarian and Greek Co-Production tells the story of a middle-aged man (Ivan Barnev) attempting to stop his widowed father (Ivan Savov) coming off the rails in this bittersweet father/son odd couple road trip comedy.

Special Jury Prize

* 'Lara' - awarded to Jan-Ole Gerster’s German drama, the film’s star Corinna Harfouch also won Best Actress for her role as a jealous mother who struggles to cope on the day of her 60th birthday with the prospect of her son’s success as an acclaimed pianist.

Best Actor and Best Actress Awards

* Best Actor awarded to Milan Ondrik for the Slovak Republic, Czech Republic Co-Production of 'Let There Be Light' and Best Actress awarded to Corinna Harfouch for 'Lara'.

Best Director Award

* Awarded to Tim Mielants for his Belgian produced dark comedy 'Patrick' set in a naturist camp in the mid-'80's.

Special Jury Mention

* 'The August Virgin' from Spain by Director Jonas Trueba and from Chile and Argentina Antonia Giesen for 'The Man of the Future'.

For the full line up of awards winners and more insights from the recently closed KVIFF, you can visit the official website at : www.kviff.com

This week coming to your local Odeon, we have four new release movies to tempt you out on a cool Winter's evening, starting with a high school coming of age comedy that sees two best girl friends decide to make up for lost time and missed opportunities by partying hard and recklessly on their last day at school, and determined not to be out done by their graduating peers. We then have all the ingredients for a B-Grade horror classic that sees a father and daughter trapped in small town Florida during the height of a hurricane with a family of very hungry alligators on the prowl as the floodwaters steadily rise. Next up is unlikely buddy LAPD story that sees a hardened cop team up with an unsuspecting Uber driver as they chase down a terrorist, and we then close out the week with a doco about the life and times of the first man on the moon - his journey in the lead up to that historical event, and in the aftermath when he came home.

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.

'BOOKSMART' (Rated MA15+) - is a coming of age comedy film from Actress, Producer and first time Director Olivia Wilde. Seeing its World Premier screening at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March this year, the film went on general release in the US towards the end of May, has so far made US$22M off the back of its US$6M production budget and has been widely acclaimed by Critics and audiences alike.

Amy Antsler (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly Davidson (Beanie Feldstein) are two high school seniors who have been best friends since childhood but considered aloof by their peer group. On the eve of their high school graduation, Molly confronts some of her peers after overhearing them talking about her in the toilet block. She tells them about how she got into a good school, but they reveal that despite partying hard over the last few years they too were able to secure good colleges places. Molly angrily tells Amy everything and says that they should have enjoyed their time in high school by working less and playing more. Determined not to be short changed by their graduating peers, this sets in motion a chain of events that sees these two besties finally breaking the rules with which the pair have lived by for the last four years and also party hard on their last day of classes. Also starring Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis.

'CRAWL' (Rated MA15+) - here this American disaster horror offering is Directed by Frenchman Alexandre Aja whose previous filmmaking credits include the 2006 remake of 'The Hills Have Eyes', 2008's 'Mirrors', 2010's 'Piranha 3D' and 2013's 'Horns'. This film has all the makings of a B-Grade horror film for sure - raging storm & tempest, giant man eating beasts, a trapped family and no rescue in sight. When an unrelenting Category 5 hurricane hits her Florida town, young Haley Keller (Kaya Scodelario) ignores the local authority evacuation orders and instead decides to search for her missing father, Dave (Barry Pepper). After finding him gravely injured in their family home down in the basement, the two of them become trapped by the rapidly encroaching floodwaters. With the storm strengthening, Haley and Dave discover an even greater threat than the rising water level in the shape of a relentless attack from a pack of gigantic predatory and very hungry alligators. Although the film is set in Florida, filming took place in Belgrade, Serbia and cost US$17M to bring to the big screen.

'STUBER' (Rated MA15+) - this American action comedy film is Directed by Canadian Michael Dowse whose prior offerings take in 2004's 'It's All Gone Pete Tong', 2011's 'Take Me Home Tonight' and 'Goon' and 2013's 'The F Word'. The film saw its World Premier screening at 'South by Southwest' in early March this year before its general release in the US and Australia this week. The story here unfolds when a mild-mannered Uber driver named Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) picks up Vic (Dave Bautista), a grizzled LAPD detective who is hot on the trail of a sadistic, bloodthirsty terrorist Oka Teijo (Iko Uwais). Stu soon finds himself thrust into a harrowing ordeal where he has to keep his wits, avoid danger, and work with his passenger while maintaining his high customer service rating. Also starring Mira Sorvino, Karen Gillan, Jimmy Tatro and Natalie Morales.

'ARMSTRONG' (Rated CTC) - to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's historic first steps on the Moon, 'Armstrong' is a dramatic and emotional documentary that features never-before-seen family home-movie footage, along with still and moving images that chronicle Neil Armstrong’s incredible life. With the support of the Armstrong family, including his two sons Rick and Mark, the film details his near-death experiences as a fighter pilot in Korea, his test pilot days, the drama and excitement of the Gemini 8 and Apollo 11 missions, and the challenges that followed his extraordinary fame. Narrated by Harrison Ford and Directed by David Fairhead whose previous film making credits include the documentaries 'Mission Control : The Unsung Heroes of Apollo' and 'Spitfire'.

With four 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-