What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 17th December 2020.

The 33rd annual European Film Awards were held on Saturday 12th December in a virtual event having been originally scheduled to have been held in Reykjavik, Iceland, but instead was hosted from the European Film Academy home base in Berlin, Germany, because of the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The 150 minute ceremony, streamed from Berlin’s Futurium Museum, was hosted by European Film Awards Director Marion Doring and EFA President Wim Wenders, who both step down from their roles at the end of the year having held them since 1996. They shared hosting duties with EFA Chairman Mike Downey and Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, who it was recently announced takes over from Wim Wenders as President  come the end of this year. The event saw the four EFA Executives attend in person as in excess of forty Actors and Directors were beamed onto giant screens from their current place of residence. 

The winners of this years awards were as follows :-

* European Film - awarded to 'ANOTHER ROUND', Directed by Thomas Vinterberg and from Denmark, The Netherlands and Sweden.

* European Comedy - awarded to 'THE BIG HIT', Directed by Emmanuel Courcol and from France.

* European Discovery : Prix Fipresci - awarded to 'SOLE', Directed by Carlo Sironi and from Italy and Poland.

* European Documentary - awarded to 'COLLECTIVE', Directed by Alexander Nanau and from Romania and Luxembourg.

* European Animated Feature Film - awarded to 'JOSEP', Directed by Aurel and from France, Belgium and Spain.

* European Director - awarded to Thomas Vinterberg for 'ANOTHER ROUND'.

* European Actress - awarded to Paula Beer for 'UNDINE' from Germany and France.

* European Actor - awarded to Mads Mikkelsen for 'ANOTHER ROUND'.

* European Screenwriter - awarded to Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm for 'ANOTHER ROUND'.

* European Cinematography - awarded to Matteo Cocco for 'HIDDEN AWAY' from Italy.

* European Costume Design - awarded to Ursula Patzak for 'HIDDEN AWAY'.

* European Make-Up and Hair - awarded to Yolanda Pina, Felix Terrero and Nacho Diaz for 'THE ENDLESS TRENCH' from Spain and France.

* European Production Design - awarded to Cristina Casali for 'THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD' from the UK and USA.

* European Editing - awarded to Maria Fantastica Valmori for 'ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH' from Italy. 

* European Original Score - awarded to Dascha Dauenhauer for 'BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ' from Germany and The Netherlands.

* European Sound - awarded to Yolande Decarsin and Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen for 'LITTLE GIRL' from France.

* European Visual Effects - awarded to Inaki Madariaga for 'THE PLATFORM' from Spain.

* European Award for Innovative Storytelling - awarded to Mark Cousins for 'WOMEN MAKE FILM : A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA' from the UK.

* European University Film Award - awarded to 'SAUDI RUNAWAY', Directed by Susanne Regina Meures, and from Switzerland.

For more insights from the 33rd annual European Film Awards you can visit the official website at : https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/

This week then we have just three latest new release films coming to your local Odeon, and we launch with a romantic action offering about a super Artificial Intelligent computer who choses an average woman to determine the outcome of the fate of the world. Next up we have a thriller set in the Great Depression era about a seductive bank robber and a teenage bounty hunter who must decide whether to turn her in for a substantial cash reward, or go on the lam with her. And we wrap up the week with a documentary about a renowned Irish poet, singer and songwriter who combined the profound vitality of punk rock into his music during the 1980's and 1990's. 

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

'SUPERINTELLIGENCE' (Rated PG) - this American romantic action comedy film if Directed, Co-Produced and stars Ben Falcone who has fifty-one screen acting credits to his name, ten as Producer, six as Writer and six as Director, with the latter film making credits including 'Tammy', 'The Boss', 'Life of the Party' and the currently in post-production 'Thunder Force' - all of which have starred his wife, Melissa McCarthy. Originally slated for a late December 2019 release, the film was released on HBO Max at the end of November this year having taken US$1.6M at the Box Office, and generating mixed or average Reviews so far.

Here, Carol Peters (Melissa McCarthy), is a former corporate executive. She has her earnest yet very average life turned inside out when she is selected for observation by the world's first superintelligence – an artificial intelligence that must decide to enslave, save or destroy all of human life, and so it becomes Carol's fate to prove that humanity is worth saving. Also starring Bobby Cannavale, Brian Tyree Henry, Sam Richardson, Ben Falcone and James Cordon as the voice of the superintelligence. 

'DREAMLAND' (Rated MA15+) - Directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte in only his second feature filmmaking outing following 2016's 'As You Are', this American thriller offering saw its world Premier screening at the Tribeca Film Festival way back in April 2019 and went on a limited cinematic release Stateside in mid-November this year followed by a VoD release three days later. The film has so far taken US$12K at the Box Office and has garnered mixed or average Reviews. Here a teenage bounty hunter Eugene Evans (Finn Cole) is torn between helping or capturing a seductive fugitive bank robber Allison Wells (Margot Robbie) hiding in his small town during the Great Depression. At stake is a US$10K reward for the capture of Wells which would serve the Evans clan well in preventing the banks foreclosure of the family farm, but he must decide which path to tread. Also starring Travis Fimmel, Garrett Hedlund and Kerry Condon. 

'CROCK OF GOLD : A FEW ROUNDS WITH SHANE MACGOWAN' (Rated MA15+) - this documentary film is Written and Directed by Julien Temple whose previous feature film credits include 1980's 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle' with the Sex Pistols, 'Running Out of Luck' in 1985 with Mick Jagger, 'Absolute Beginners' in 1986 with David Bowie, 'Earth Girls Are Easy' in 1988, 'Bullet' in 1996, 'The Filth and the Fury' in 2000 about the Sex Pistols, 'Glastonbury' in 2006 about the 30th anniversary of Britain's best known music festival, 'The Eternity Man' in 2008, with 'Sexual Healing' currently in post-production about the latter years of singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye. And so here Julien Temple takes a deep dive into the life and times of Shane MacGowan, the tortured vocalist best known as the lead singer and songwriter of 'The Pogues', who famously combined traditional Irish music with the visceral energy of punk rock. Features unseen archival footage from the band and MacGowan's family,  animation from legendary illustrator Ralph Steadman and interviews from the likes of U2 frontman Bono, Nick Cave, Bobby Gillespie, Gerry Adams and Co-Producer of this film Johnny Depp. 

With three 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-