What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 16th January 2020

The 9th AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) International Awards were held in Los Angeles, California at the Mondrian Hotel on Friday 3rd January 2020. These awards honour the best achievements in film excellence, regardless of geography, across seven categories, namely, Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Actor, Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and pay tribute to our international screen peers and celebrate fellow Australians working in screen internationally. The Awards are determined by AACTA’s International Chapter who vote across the seven categories. The AACTA International Chapter is made up of 190 Australian screen professionals with distinguished international credentials.

This years winners and grinners of the seven aforementioned awards were :

* AACTA International Award for Best Film
Presented to BONG JOON HO for 'PARASITE', beating out 'The Irishman', 'Joker', 'The King' and 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood'.
* AACTA International Award for Best Direction
Presented to QUENTIN TARANTINO for 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood', beating out Martin Scorsese for 'The Irishman', Todd Phillips for 'Joker', Sam Mendes for '1917' and Bong Joon Ho for 'Parasite'.
* AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay
Presented to TAIKA WAITITI for 'Jojo Rabbit', beating out 'The Irishman', 'Joker', 'Parasite' and 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood'.
* AACTA International Award for Best Lead Actor
Presented to ADAM DRIVER for 'Marriage Story', beating out Christian Bale for 'Ford V. Ferrari', Robert De Niro for 'The Irishman', Joaquin Phoenix for 'Joker' and Antonio Banderas for 'Pain and Glory'.
* AACTA International Award for Best Lead Actress
Presented to SAOIRSE RONAN for 'Little Women', beating out Awkwafina for 'The Farewell', Renee Zellweger for 'Judy', Charlize Theron for 'Bombshell' and Scarlett Johansson for 'Marriage Story'.
* AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actor
Presented to BRAD PITT for 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood', beating out John Lithgow for 'Bombshell', Al Pacino for 'The Irishman', Joe Pesci for 'The Irishman' and Song Kang-Ho for 'Parasite'.
* AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actress
Presented to MARGOT ROBBIE for 'Bombshell', beating out Nicole Kidman for 'Bombshell', Margot Robbie for 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood', Toni Collette for 'Knives Out' and Florence Pugh for 'Little Women'.

You can get the inside word on both these International AACTA Awards and the homespun awards that were presented on 4th December 2019 in Sydney and as covered in an earlier edition to this Blog site, by visiting the official website at : https://www.aacta.org

Turning back to the week ahead, and the five latest release new movies coming to your local Odeon, we have the third instalment in a buddy cop action comedy franchise that has been absent from our screens for seventeen years now, but gets dusted off, polished up and given a make over that sees our two titular heroes face off against a bad dude all guns blazing, tyres screeching and high octane action aplenty. Then we turn to a tale of a certain doctor who has an uncanny knack of being able to converse with animals and his adventures to a mythical island to find a cure for an ailing queen. Next up is a true story of a sexual harassment case in the very recent past involving two renowned female news anchors and the head of a prominent television news channel. This is followed by a biographical doco exploring the achievements of a former leader of the old Soviet Union, before closing out the week with an Australian story of a young lads love of go-karting and his bid for the national title.

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.

'BAD BOYS FOR LIFE' (Rated MA15+) - here we see the third instalment in the 'Bad Boys' buddy cop action comedy franchise that first launched in 1995 with 'Bad Boys' Directed by Michael Bay, then 'Bad Boys II' in 2003 also Directed by Michael Bay, which between them brought in a global Box Office take of US$415M off the back of a combined US$149M production budget. This film is Directed by the Belgian pairing of Adil El Arbi and Billall Fallah who are also on board to Direct the currently in development 'Beverly Hills Cop 4' with a returning Eddie Murphy.  All three films in this franchise have been Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer with Don Simpson Co-Producing the first outing and Will Smith this latest offering. All three films have paired up the two buddy cops in question, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

And so, the formerly inseparable duo of Inspector Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) and Detective Lieutenant Michael 'Mike' Lowery (Will Smith) is falling apart at the seams. An aging Burnett has become a Police Inspector while Lowery, suffering a midlife crisis, is assigned to head up 'AMMO', a 'young guns' group of millennial cops with whom he has absolutely nothing in common. Both of them reunite once again when a fierce cartel mob boss, whose brother they defeated years earlier, makes a retaliation effort on Mike just as both he and Marcus are about to officially retire from the Police Force. Also starring Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Charles Melton, Paola Nunez, Joe Pantoliano and DJ Khaled. You can expect car chases, explosions, lots of gun play, close quarter hand to hand combat, more explosions, scantily clad girls and a thumping soundtrack - everything that should appeal to your average sixteen year old male moviegoer. Enjoy the ride!

'DOLITTLE' (Rated PG) - is an American fantasy adventure film based on the the character of Doctor Dolittle created by Hugh Lofting, and chiefly in his 1922 book 'The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle' - the second book in a series of fifteen published between 1920 and 1952. This film is Directed and written for the screen by Stephen Gaghan who previously Directed 'Abandon' in 2002, 'Syriana' in 2005 and 'Gold' in 2016. Following his wife’s death seven years ago, the eccentric John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jnr.), the famed doctor and veterinarian of Victorian England, hermits himself away behind the high walls of Dolittle Manor with only his menagerie of animals for friendship. However, when Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley) falls seriously ill, a reluctant Dolittle is forced to set sail on an epic adventure to a mythical island in search of a cure, in the process rediscovering his wit and bravery as he crosses old adversaries, encounters wondrous creatures and comes across new worlds. Also starring Harry Collett, Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen and Jim Broadbent in live action roles, and lending their voice talents to a myriad of talking animals is the ensemble cast of Emma Thompson, Rami Malek, John Cena, Tom Holland, Octavia Spencer, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, Marion Cottillard, Carmen Ejogo and Frances de la Tour. The film is released Stateside this week too, and cost US$175M to bring to the big screen. There have been several big screen adaptations of this beloved character over the years, most notably in 1967's 'Doctor Dolittle' starring Rex Harrison, and in 1998 'Dr. Dolittle' and it's 2001 sequel 'Dr. Dolittle 2' both starring Eddie Murphy.

'BOMBSHELL' (Rated M) - this American biographical drama film is Directed by Jay Roach whose previous Directorial credits take in 'Blown Away', the three 'Austin Powers' instalments, 'Mystery, Alaska', 'Meet the Parents', 'Meet the Fockers', 'Dinner for Schmucks', 'The Campaign' and 'Trumbo' more recently. Here, the film centres upon the female Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), and journalist and television commentator Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) in Manhattan and their sexual harassment allegations on 6th July 2016 against the founder of Fox News Roger Ailes (John Lithgow). Also starring Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Mark Duplass, Malcolm McDowell, Kate McKinnon and Connie Britton. The film was released in the US in mid-December, has received generally positive Reviews, and has so far grossed US$30M from its US$32M production budget. Roger Ailes died on 18th May 2017 after being fired in July 2016 for engaging in multiple sexual harassment cases with 23 known victims and becoming an adviser to the Donald Trump Presidential campaign, where he assisted with debate preparation.

'MEETING GORBACHEV' (Rated G) - this 2018 biographical documentary film is Directed by the German Actor, Film and Opera Director, Screenwriter and Author Werner Herzog and the British documentary film-maker Andre Singer about the life of Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union. The film features three interviews between Herzog and Gorbachev, conducted over the span of six months, discussing his many achievements including the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country. It saw its World Premiere screening at the Telluride Film Festival in early September 2018 and then its further showing at TIFF ten days later. Only now does it get a limited release in Australia, having garnered generally average Reviews and a Box Office haul so far of just US$252K.

'GO!' (Rated PG) - this Australian sports and coming of age story is Directed by Owen Trevor in first feature film outing having Directed various short films and 26 episodes of televisions famed 'Top Gear' from 2008 through 2012. This teen focused story is set in world of go-karting and follows Jack (William Lodder), a fourteen year old lad who moves with his mother (Frances O’Connor) to a small town in Western Australia. Jack, despite not having his driver’s licence, has a tendency to take his mother’s car and spin doughnuts in nearby vacant carparks. Then one day when he’s invited to a birthday party at the local go kart track, he discovers his appetite for speed and his new found calling in life. His natural talent is noticed by Patrick (Richard Roxburgh), the owner of the track and a former racer. But Patrick has to teach Jack to control his recklessness if the teen has any chance of winning the national championships, and defeating arrogant rival Dean (Cooper Van Grootel).

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-