* Cameron Boyce - born May 28th 1999, and died July 6th 2019, aged 20. Boyce was an American Actor who made his big screen debut in 2008's feature film 'Mirrors' alongside Keifer Sutherland, and followed this up that same year with 'Eagle Eye' with Shia LaBeouf. Then came 'Grown Ups' in 2010 with Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade and Rob Schneider and his reprisal of the role as Adam Sandler's son in 'Grown Ups 2' in 2013. His final film role before his untimely death was in the yet to be released thriller 'Runt' in which Boyce had top billing. His small screen appearances launched in 2008 with a recurring role on 'General Hospital : Night Shift', a main role on 'Jessie' from 2011 through 2015, and as Cruella de Vil's son Carlos in the made for TV movies 'Descendants' in 2015, 'Descendants 2' in 2017, and the yet to be aired 'Descendants 3' in 2019. In the meantime there was also 'Bunk'd' a spin off from 'Jessie', then 'Code Black' and his voice work on two animated 'Spider-Man' series and the also yet to be aired new series 'Mrs. Fletcher' and 'Paradise City'. All up Boyce had 35 Acting credits to his name, and had one award win and two nominations under this belt. Over the course of his short life Boyce was involved in several charities including the 'Thirst Project' to bring clean water to underdeveloped countries; 'United Way' to end homelessness, 'It's On Us' to raise awareness of, and fight against, sexual assault on college campuses for both men and women; and 'Wielding Peace' a campaign to help fight against gun violence by showing celebrities and survivors 'wielding' a new kind of weapon — one of unity.
* Rip Torn - born Elmore Rual Torn Jnr. on February 6th 1931 and died July 9th 2019, aged 88, Torn was American Actor of the stage, television and film. After moving to Hollywood, Torn made his film debut in the 1956 film 'Baby Doll' with Karl Malden and Eli Wallach. Torn then studied at the Actors Studio in New York under Lee Strasberg, becoming a prolific stage actor, and while there he introduced his cousin Sissy Spacek to the entertainment business, and helped her enrol in the Actors Studio. All up Torn had 192 Acting credits to his name from the world of movies and television series, the most notable of which were 1959's 'Pork Chop Hill' with Gregory Peck, 1962's 'Sweet Bird of Youth' with Paul Newman, 1965's 'The Cincinnati Kid' with Steve McQueen, 1978's 'Coma' with Michael Douglas, 1979's 'The Seduction of Joe Tynan' with Meryl Streep, 1982's 'Airplane 2 ; The Sequel' with Lloyd Bridges, 1983's 'Cross Creek' with Mary Steenburgen for which Torn received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, 1984's 'City Heat' with Clint Eastwood, 1995's 'How to Make an American Quilt' with Winona Ryder, 1997's 'Men In Black' and a role he would reprise in 2002's 'Men In Black II', 1999's 'The Insider' with Russell Crowe, 2000's 'Wonder Boys' with Michael Douglas, 2004's 'Dodgeball : A True Underdog Story' with Ben Stiller and 2006's 'Marie Antoinette' with Kirsten Dunst amongst many others. His television career also included the likes of his small screen debut in 1957 in a single episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' and then 'Dr. Kildare', 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.', 'Rawhide', 'Bonanza', on 89 episodes of 'The Larry Sanders Show' between 1992 and 1998 for which he was nominated for six Emmy Awards, winning in 1996, on 44 episodes as the Narrator on 'Ghost Stories' from 1997 through 1998, four episodes on 'Will & Grace' and seven episodes on '30 Rock'. Torn also appeared in ten Broadway stage productions from 1959 onwards, and a further seven Off-Broadway shows and Directed four. Torn was married three times and each time to an Actress - Ann Wedgeworth, Geraldine Page and Amy Wright with whom he had a combined six children. Not with out clashes with the law, Torn was arrested, released on bail for US$100K and subsequently pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment, criminal trespass, criminal mischief and possession of a firearm, and was given a two-and-a-half-year suspended jail sentence, and three years probation in late 2010 for breaking into a Litchfield Bancorp branch office where he maintained a residence. In 1994 Torn successfully sued Actor Dennis Hopper for a total US$950K for defamation citing that Hopper had claimed that Torn pulled a knife on him during pre-production of the film 'Easy Rider' when the court ruling determined that the opposite was in fact true. After that incident Torn was replaced with Jack Nicholson in his breakout role.
* Freddie Jones - born Frederick Charles Jones on September 12th 1927 and died July 9th 2019, aged 91. Jones was an English Actor of stage, television, radio and cinema in a career that launched on the small screen in 1960 right up until 2018 with 218 film and television Acting credits under his belt. His many big screen roles included the likes of 1967's 'Far from the Madding Crowd' with Julie Christie, 1970's 'The Man Who Haunted Himself' with Roger Moore, 1971's 'Kidnapped' with Michael Caine, 1972's 'Antony and Cleopatra' with Charlton Heston, 1974's 'Juggernaut' with Richard Harris, 1979's 'Zulu Dawn' with Peter O'Toole, 1980's 'The Elephant Man' with John Hurt, 1982's 'Firefox' with Clint Eastwood, 1984's 'Firestarter' with Drew Barrymore, 1984's 'Dune' with Kyle MacLachlan, 1990's 'Wild At Heart' with Nicolas Cage, 2002's 'The Count of Monte Cristo' with Guy Pearce, 2004's 'Ladies in Lavender' with Judi Dench and 2005's 'The Libertine' with Johnny Depp. His small screen appearances of which there are many included over the years appearances on 'Z Cars', 'The Avengers', mini-series 'The Caesars' for which he won the award for the 'World's Best Television Actor of the Year' at the 1969 Monte-Carlo Television Festival, 'The Saint', 'Jason King', 'The Protectors', 'Space : 1999', on twenty episodes of 'The Ghosts of Motley Hall', 'The Duchess of Duke Street', 'Van der Valk', 'Pennies from Heaven', on four episodes 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole' and on six episodes of 'The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole', 'Inspector Morse, 'Lovejoy', 'Heartbeat', 'The Bill' and on 776 episodes of the long running ITV Soap Opera 'Emmerdale' from 2005 though until 2018. Jones married Actress Jennifer Heslewood in 1965 with whom he had three sons, including Actor Toby Jones.
* Richard Carter - born December 11th 1953 and died July 13th 2019, aged 65. Carter was an Australian Actor who had 71 credits to his name, first appearing in 1983's 'Hostage' in an uncredited role. Later that same year he appeared in 'Undercover' and then two episodes of soap opera 'Sons and Daughters'. From there his film credits included 1985's 'Rebel' with Matt Dillon, 1989's 'The Punisher' with Dolph Lundgren, 1994's 'Muriel's Wedding' with Toni Collette, 1996's 'Idiot Box' with Ben Mendelsohn, 1999's 'Two Hands' with Heath Ledger, 2000's 'Bootmen' with Sam Worthington, 2001's 'The Man Who Sued God' with Billy Connolly, 2002's 'Rabbit-Proof Fence' with Kenneth Branagh, 2003's 'Gettin' Square' with Sam Worthington, 2011's animated 'Happy Feet Two' to which he lent his voice talents together with an ensemble cast, 2013's 'The Great Gatsby' with Leonardo DiCaprio and 2015's 'Mad Max : Fury Road' with Tom Hardy. His small screen appearances over the years included eight episodes on soap opera 'A Country Practice', 21 episodes on drama series 'Rafferty's Blues', mini-series 'Bangkok Hilton', 'The Flying Doctors', 'Fallen Angels', 'Wildside', 'The Bill', 'Blue Heelers', 44 episodes on 'White Collar Blue', and five episodes on each of 'East West 101' and 'Rake'.
* Rutger Hauer - born January 23rd 1944, and died July 19th 2019, aged 75. Hauer was a Dutch Actor, occasional Director, Producer and Writer who had 173 Acting credits to his name and who during his career spanning six decades had won 14 awards and been nominated for a further five, including one Golden Globe win and a nod. He made his small screen debut in the title role of the Dutch historical action adventure series 'Floris' in 1969 which ran for thirteen episodes, and then a further nineteen episodes in the follow up series in 1975 'Floris von Rosamund'. From there his first big screen role came with the 1973 Paul Verhoeven Directed film 'The Sensualist'. Within two years more European and American productions came beckoning with 1975's 'The Wilby Conspiracy' with Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier, and then again with Paul Verhoeven in 1977's 'Soldier of Orange'. 'Nighthawks' followed in 1981 with Sylvester Stallone, and then Ridley Scott's classic 'Blade Runner' in which Hauer played the iconic role of self aware android Replicant Roy Batty. 'The Osterman Weekend' followed and then the likes of 'Ladyhawke', 'Flesh + Blood' for Paul Verhoeven once again, 'The Hitcher', 'Wanted : Dead or Alive', 'Escape from Sobibor' for which Hauer won the Golden Globe, 'Blind Fury' for Phillip Noyce, 'Past Midnight', 'Beyond Justice', 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'Nostradamus', 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', 'Sin City', 'Batman Begins', 'Hobo with a Shotgun', 'The Rite', 'The Heineken Kidnapping', 'Spoon', '24 Hours to Live', 'The Broken Key', 'Corbin Nash', 'The Sisters Brothers', 'The Sonata' and currently in Post-Production are 'Viy 2', 'Emperor', 'Break' and recently wrapped filming 'Tonight at Noon'. In addition there were also one off television series appearances plus multiple recurring roles on 'Porters', 'Channel Zero', 'Mata Hari', 'Galavant', 'True Blood' and 'The 10th Kingdom'. Hauer was also an environmentalist. He supported the 'Sea Shepherd Conservation Society' and was a member of its board of advisors and he also established an AIDS awareness organisation called the 'Rutger Hauer Starfish Association'. In 2007, he published his autobiography, 'All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants, and Blade Runners'. He was made a knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2013.
* Russi Taylor - born May 4th 1944, and died July 26th 2019, aged 75. Taylor was an American voice Actress who voiced numerous animated characters throughout her career spanning four decades. Her career took off as the original voice of 'Strawberry Shortcake' in six episodes of the 1980 television show of the same name - a role she would reprise a further five times over the next four years. She also voiced Huey, Dewey and Louie and Webby Vanderquack in the television series 'Duck Tales' from 1987, as well a numerous characters on 'The Simpsons' from 1989 right through until the time of her death. Perhaps her most famed role however, was that of Minnie Mouse who she voiced for over thirty years from 1986 in television productions, direct to video films, and video games. Her film credits took in 'The Private Eyes' in 1980, 'My Little Pony : The Movie' in 1986, 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' in 1988, 'Duck Tales : The Movie' and 'The Rescuers Down Under' both in 1990, 'Babe' in 1995, 'Babe : Pig in the City' in 1998, 'Fantasia 2000' in 1999 and 'The Simpsons Movie' in 2007. All up Taylor had 196 Acting credits to her name, plus two award wins and a further sixteen nominations including a PrimeTime Emmy nod, two Annie Award nods and two Daytime Emmy nods. Taylor was married to Wayne Allwine, the third voice of Mickey Mouse, from 1991 until his death in May 2009. They were both named 'Disney Legends' in 2008.This week then we have five new release movies to tempt you out on a cool mid-winter's evening and coming to an Odeon near you. We kick start those with a high octane all guns blazing peddle to the metal muscle bound actioner that is a spin-off from a hugely successful franchise that sees our two protagonists who share an intense dislike and distrust of each other having to join forces to thwart a genetically enhanced terrorist with superhuman like strength and stamina. We then have a change of pace when a group of homeless folk stage a non-violent protest in a public library that gets out of control. Next up is a French offering about a middle aged and bitter divorcee who invents an alternative persona on social media touting herself with a new identity and as someone half her age with potentially dire consequences for both her identities. A famed Prince of Denmark work by Shakespeare told from the opposite side of the fence as his love must learn to navigate the corridors of power in very much a mans world comes next before closing out the week with a doco charting six Antipodean hikers taking the famed 800kms Camino Trail and their voyage of self-discovery.
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 coming week.
'FAST & FURIOUS : HOBBS & SHAW' (Rated M) - here we have the first spin-off movie from that hugely popular and successful 'Fast & Furious' franchise that launched in 2001 and has so far spawned eight films, with two more in the works set for release in 2020 and 2021, and a further female centred spin-off sometime thereafter. The franchise has also extended to short films, a television series, live shows, soundtrack albums and theme park attractions, and the first eight films in the series have grossed collectively US$5,135B at the global Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$1,010B. 'Hobbs & Shaw' is Directed by David Leitch (who previously took an uncredited Directing role on 'John Wick' with Chad Stahelski, plus 'Atomic Blonde' and 'Deadpool 2') and is Co-Produced by the films two lead Actors - Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. The film cost US$200M to bring to the big screen, saw its World Premier screening in Hollywood in mid-July and goes on general release here in Australia on 1st August and the US on 2nd.
Picking up where 'The Fate of the Furious' left off, Diplomatic Security Service federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and former SAS operative turned mercenary Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), two men who share an intense dislike for one another, are forced to team up to stop a new threat emerging in the shape of Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), a cyber-genetically enhanced international terrorist who gains control of an insidious bio-threat that could alter humanity forever and in the process bests a brilliant and fearless rogue MI6 agent Hattie Shaw (Vanessa Kirby), who just happens to be Deckard Shaw’s sister, so leaving Hobbs and Shaw to form their own team to save the human race and the world. Also starring Helen Mirren as Queenie Shaw (Deckard's and Hattie's mother), Cliff Curtis, Eddie Marsan and Roman Reigns.
'THE PUBLIC' (Rated M) - this American drama offering is Directed, Written, Co-Produced and also stars Emilio Estevez which saw its World Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year before going on general release in the US in early April. The film has so far taken US$575K at the Box Office and has generated largely positive Reviews. After learning that emergency shelters are at full capacity when a brutal Midwestern cold front makes its way to Cincinnati, a large group of homeless library patrons led by Jackson (Michael Kenneth Williams) refuse to leave the downtown public library at closing time. What begins as a nonviolent sit-in and occupy style act of civil disobedience by a bunch of ragtag randoms quickly escalates into a standoff with local riot police, led by a no-nonsense crisis negotiator Detective Bill Rumstead (Alec Baldwin) and a savvy district attorney Josh Davis (Christian Slater) with lofty political ambitions, all as two librarians Stuart and Myra (Emilio Estevez and Jena Malone respectively) are caught in the middle. Also starring Taylor Schilling, Jeffrey Wright and Gabrielle Union.
'WHO YOU THINK I AM' (Rated MA15+) - Directed by Safy Nebbou, this French foreign language film is a dramatic thriller that saw its World Premier screening at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year and has garnered largely positive Press. Juliette Binoche here plays Claire Millaud, a fifty year old university lecturer and mother of two teenage boys, who is contending with the approach of middle age and remains stung by the betrayal of her ex-husband Gilles (Charles Berling), who is building a new life with a new partner. Claire also has a new lover, the handsome Ludovic Dalaux (Guillaume Gouix), but is under no illusions as to his fidelity. Out of a mix of petulance and curiosity, she impulsively creates a fake Facebook profile in which to keep an eye on him - she’s ‘Clara’, a 24 year old vivacious blond. Ludo doesn’t take the bait, but his close friend Alex Chelly (Francois Civil) does, and their online connection soon becomes flirtatious. Titillated by the opportunity of being young once more, Claire’s deceptions lead both of her identities into increasingly dangerous territory!
'OPHELIA' (Rated M) - this British and American Co-Produced romantic drama offering centres around the character of the same name from William Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet', following the story of Hamlet but from Ophelia's point of view. Directed by Australian Claire McCarthy and based on the novel by Lisa Klein this film saw its World Premier showing at the Sundance Film Festival back in January this year, went on limited release in the US at the end of June and has garnered generally mixed or average Reviews thus far. As a rebellious and motherless child, Ophelia (Daisy Ridley) is taken into Elsinore Castle by Queen Gertrude of Denmark (Naomi Watts) as one of her most highly regarded ladies-in-waiting. Fairly soon, Ophelia ignites the attraction of the young Prince Hamlet of Denmark (George MacKay). A passionate romance builds between the two in secret as the kingdom is on the brink of war amidst its own political intrigue and turmoil. When Hamlet’s father is murdered and the Prince’s wits begin to unravel into an insatiable quest for vengeance, Ophelia must navigate the corridors of power in Denmark. Also starring Clive Owen, Tom Felton and Devon Terrell.
'CAMINO SKIES' (Rated PG) - it seems that most Australians and New Zealanders walk the 800km Camino Trail the ‘French way’, which begins in the French Basque town of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port and finishes in the Spanish town of Santiago de Compostella where pilgrims receive their final stamp and certificates marking the 29 major towns they have passed along the way. This documentary Co-Directed and Co-Produced by Fergus Grady and Noel Smyth takes six experienced and inexperienced antipodean pilgrims aged between 50 and 80, on a journey back to the Camino in order to gain insight into what drives them to come back again and again for this spiritual pilgrimage. From Perth to Christchurch, it brings together the most passionate group of ANZAC Camino pilgrims ever assembled and observes their likeminded personalities working together to achieve the same goal. As the pilgrims set off from Perth, Brisbane, Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch we learn their individual stories and how they learn to live with heartbreak, grief, physical constraints and see the effect the month long journey has on their families. This is a film of ordinary people completing an extraordinary trek and the profound impact it has upon each and every one of them.With five 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-
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