What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 10th December 2020.

The fifth International Film Festival and Awards Macao, China (IFFAM) recently ended its run this year, from 3rd through 8th December. This years festival was seen entirely online, as IFFAM Artistic Director Mike Goodridge commented 'The unprecedented challenges of 2020 may mean that we can’t play IFFAM’s programme in theatres and we can’t welcome any international guests to Macao, but that will not stop us delivering this superb selection of thirty-one films to audiences in Macao and Hong Kong on our dedicated online platform'. Films were screened and streamed with introductions from Directors and were available for upto 48 hours after rental. 

The International Competition section for first and second time Directors, takes in eleven feature films. These are :-

* 'Back To The Wharf' from China and Directed by Xiaofeng Li,
* 'Black Light' from Korea and Directed by Bae Jong-dae,
* 'The Cloud In Her Room' from China and Directed by Xinyuan Zheng Lu,
* 'Falling' from the USA, Canada and Denmark and Directed by Viggo Mortensen,
* 'Love Poem' from China and Directed by Xiaozhen Wang,

* 'Servants' from the Czech Republic and Directed by Ivan Ostrochovsky,
* 'Short' from Denmark and Directed by Frederik Louis Hviid and Anders Olholm,
* 'Spring Blossom' from France and Directed by Suzanne Lindon,
* 'Sweat' from Poland and Directed by Magnus von Horn,
* 'Tragic Jungle' from Mexico and Directed by Yulene Olaizola,
* 'Limbo' from the UK and Directed by Ben Sharrock.

Other sections include the World Panorama strand, featuring Thomas Vinterberg’s 'Another Round', Kelly Reichardt’s 'First Cow', Venice hits 'Quo Vadis, Aida?' from Jasmila Zbanic, 'Sun Children' from Majid Majidi and 'A Balance' by Yujiro Harumoto, which won the New Currents section at Busan.

The Special Presentations section included the Chinese blockbuster 'My People My Homeland', French animated film 'Calamity' Directed by Remi Chaye, Japanese comedy 'Tonkatsu DJ Agetaro' Directed by Ken Ninomiya, documentary '76 Days' about the struggles of frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, and short film 'A Dream Of A Lifetime' about Alex Fong’s challenge to swim 45km around Hong Kong in aid of the ‘A Drop of Life’ charity.

For more information on this years 5th annual IFFAM, you can visit the official website at : https://www.iffamacao.com

This week, we have five latest release new feature films to tease you out to your local air conditioned Odeon on a hot and humid Australian Summer evening. We kick off with the second big screen adaptation of a much loved children's book from 1983 that sees a young lad cross paths with the leader of the world's witches and her nefarious vast coven of likeminded evil doers. Next up we have an Aussie Western set in the closing years of the 19th Century that sees a man on the run team up with a cameleer in Western Australia needing to get somewhere quick to melt down two stolen gold bars. We then turn to a Sci-Fi drama concerning an apocalyptic event, a returning crew of astronauts and possibly the last man on Earth as he struggles to make contact to prevent them from landing back home. This is followed up by a romantic drama about a teenager diagnosed with a mental illness who finds love in his last year at High School, and how that girl shows him how not to be defined by his diagnosis. And we close out the week with a superhero offering about a superhero who has lost his superpowers when travelling through a dimension to land on our little blue planet, and how he befriends a teenager to take down a crime lord.  

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 or 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.

'THE WITCHES' (Rated M) - this dark fantasy comedy film is Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written for the screen by Robert Zemeckis, whose previous film making outings take in the likes of 'Back to the Future : Parts I, II and III', 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit', 'Forrest Gump', 'Contact', 'Cast Away', 'The Polar Express', 'Beowulf', 'Flight', 'Allied' and 'Welcome to Marwen' most recently. This film is the second big screen treatment of the 1983 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, following the 1990 film Directed by Nicolas Roeg with Anjelica Huston in the title role. Released in the US on HBO Max in late October, the film saw its limited international cinematic release from the end of October, having so far taken US$17M at the Box Office and garnered generally mixed or average Reviews. 

It is 1968, and a young orphaned boy (Jahzir Kadeem Bruno) goes to live with his loving grandma (Octavia Spencer) in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, headed up by the Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway), she wisely whisks him away to a seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world's Grand High Witch has gathered her fellow cronies from across the world to carry out her undercover nefarious plans. Also starring Stanley Tucci, Kristen Chenoweth and the voice of Chris Rock as the narrator. It should be noted that this film adaptation takes place in Alabama during the 1960's, instead of the novel's 1980's England and Norway, and the boy protagonist is African-American, instead of Norwegian-British like the boy in the original novel and previous iterations.

'THE FURNACE' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian drama film is Directed and Written by Roderick MacKay in his feature filmmaking debut following two short films - 2011's 'Trigger' and 2014's 'Factory 293'. Set in 1897 Western Australia, to escape a harsh existence and return home, a young Afghan cameleer Hanif (Ahmed Malek) and his Indian mentor Jundah (Kauskih Das) join forces with a mysterious bushman Mal (David Wenham) on the run with two 400oz Crown-marked gold bars. Together the unlikely pair must outwit a zealous police officer, Sergeant Shaw (Jay Ryan) and his troopers in a race to reach a secret furnace - the one place where they can safely reset the bars to remove the mark of the Crown. Also starring Erik Thomson, Baykali Ganambarr and Samson Coulter. The film has generated mostly positive critical acclaim so far.  

'THE MIDNIGHT SKY' (Rated M) - here this Science Fiction fantasy drama film is Directed, Co-Produced and stars George Clooney whose previous Directorial outings include 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind' in 2002 and his debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck' in 2005, 'The Ides of March' in 2011, 'The Monuments Men' in 2014 and 'Suburbicon' in 2017 most recently. Based on the 2016 novel 'Good Morning, Midnight' by Lily Brooks-Dalton, the film is due fro release on streaming service Netflix from 23td December onward and now gets a limited theatrical release ahead of that date. Here, following an incident of apocalyptic proportions, a lonely scientist, Augustine Lofthouse (George Clooney) based on an Arctic station races against the clock to prevent Sully (Felicity Jones) and her fellow astronauts aboard the NASA space ship 'Aether' from returning home back to Earth, which is now a very different place from when they took off on their mission due to a mysterious global catastrophe. Also starring Kyle Chandler, David Oyelowo, Sophie Rundle, Ethan Peck and Demian Bechir, and Caoilinn Springall as the child Iris.

'WORDS ON BATHROOM WALLS' (Rated M) - this American romantic drama film is Directed and Co-Produced by Thor Freudenthal whose previous film making credits are 'Hotel for Dogs' in 2009, 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' in 2010, and 'Percy Jackson : Sea of Monsters' in 2014. Based on the novel of the same name by Julia Walton, this film saw its US release towards the back end of August, has so far recouped US$3M off the back of its US$9.5M budget outlay and has garnered generally favourable Reviews. Here, diagnosed with a mental illness during his senior year of high school, Adam Petrazelli (Charlie Plummer) a witty, introspective teen struggles to keep it a secret while falling in love with a brilliant classmate Maya Arnez (Taylor Russell) who inspires him to open his heart and not be defined by his condition. Also starring Andy Garcia, Molly Parker, Walton Goggins, Beth Grant and AnnaSophia Robb. 

'ARCHENEMY' (Rated MA15+) - Directed and Written by Adam Egypt Mortimer whose prior film making outings take in 2015's 'Some Kind of Hate' and 2019's 'Daniel Isn't Real' here brings us this independent superhero mystery thriller offering, that is released Stateside this week too. Here, a teenager who goes by the moniker Hamster (Skylan Brooks) meets a mysterious man named Max Fist (Joe Manganiello, who also Co-Produces here together with Elijah Wood), who claims he lost his superpowers after arriving from another dimension. Together, they take to the streets to wipe out a vicious crime boss known as The Manager (Glenn Howerton) and his local drug syndicate. Also starring Luis Kelly-Duarte and Paul Scheer.

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-