What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 4th February 2021.

The National Board of Review announced its 2020 award winners in New York on 26th January. Since 1909 the National Board of Review has dedicated its focus on the support of cinema as both a form of art and entertainment. Each year, a select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals, educators and students of a variety of ages and backgrounds will watch over 250 films and participate in uplifting conversations with Directors, Actors, Producers and Writers before announcing their nominations for the best work of the year. Since first recognising year end movie making achievements in 1929 the National Board of Review has heralded a vast array of outstanding studio, independent, documentary, foreign language and animated films. The 2020 awards continue the National Board of Review's long established tradition going back 112 years to recognise excellence in the film making craft. This year a total 281 films were viewed by that select group, with the voting ballots being tabulated by an independent certified public accounting firm. The organisation also works to foster commentary on all aspects of film production by underwriting educational film programs and seminars for film students.

The full list of 2020 National Board of Review winners is as shown below :-

* Best Film - awarded to 'DA 5 BLOODS',
* Best Director - awarded to Spike Lee for 'DA 5 BLOODS',
* Best Actor - awarded to Riz Ahmed for 'SOUND OF METAL',
* Best Actress - awarded to Carey Mulligan for 'PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN',
* Best Supporting Actor - awarded to Paul Raci for 'SOUND OF METAL',
* Best Supporting Actress - awarded to Youn Yuh-jung for 'MINARI',

* Best Adapted Screenplay - awarded to Paul Greengrass and Luke Davies for 'NEWS OF THE WORLD',
* Best Original Screenplay - awarded to Lee Isaac Chung for 'MINARI',
* Breakthrough Performance - awarded to Sidney Flanigan for 'NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS',
* Best Directorial Debut - awarded to Channing Godfrey Peoples for 'MISS JUNETEENTH',
* Best Animated Feature - awarded to 'SOUL',
* Best Foreign Language Film - awarded to 'LA LLORONA',

* Best Documentary - awarded to 'TIME',
* NBR Icon Award - presented to Chadwick Boseman (posthumously),
* NBR Freedom of Expression Award - presented to 'ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI',
* NBR Spotlight Award - presented to Radha Blank for Writing, Directing, Producing and starring in 'THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION'
* Best Ensemble - awarded to 'DA 5 BLOODS',
* Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - awarded to Joshua James Richards for 'NOMADLAND'.

Top Ten Films (in alphabetical order) :-
* 'First Cow', 'The Forty-Year-Old Version', 'Judas and the Black Messiah', 'The Midnight Sky', 'Minari', 'News of the World', 'Nomadland', 'Promising Young Woman', 'Soul' and 'Sound of Metal'.

Top Five Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order) :-
* 'Apples', 'Collective', 'Dear Comrades', 'The Mole Agent' and 'Night of the Kings'.

Top Five Documentary Films (in alphabetical order) :- 
* 'All In : The Fight for Democracy', 'Boys State', 'Dick Johnson is Dead', 'Miss Americana' and 'The Truffle Hunters'.

Top Ten Independent Films (in alphabetical order) :- 
* 'The Climb', 'Driveways', 'Farewell Amor', 'Miss Juneteenth', 'The Nest', 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always', 'The Outpost', 'Relic', 'Saint Frances' and 'Wolfwalkers'.

For the complete Review of this years NBR Awards and a whole lot more, you can visit the official website at : https://nationalboardofreview.org/

This week then we have four latest release new movies coming to your local Odeon. And we kick off with a psychological drama about an entrepreneur and his family who relocate from America to a rural English country manor in the 1980's only to see their tight knit family unit unravel as secrets emerge. Next up we have an American drama film that sees conflicts arise in an Irish family when the patriarch threatens to hand over their farm to an American nephew instead of his own son. We then turn to a Danish film about three women of near retirement age who all find themselves single for various reasons and decide to escape to Italy for a week long cooking course and rediscover themselves in the process; and closing out the weeks new releases we have a Japanese animated feature about an English orphaned girl who grew up not knowing that she is the daughter of a witch. 

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 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 NEST' (Rated MA15+) - this psychological thriller offering is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by the Canadian Sean Durkin, in only his second film making outing following the acclaimed 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' in 2011. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2020, went on release in the US in mid-September, has garnered generally favourable Reviews, has so far grossed US$902K and has picked up four award wins and another twelve nominations from around the awards and festival circuit.

Here Rory O'Hara (Jude Law), an ambitious entrepreneur and former commodities broker, persuades his American wife, Allison (Carrie Coon), and their children Benjamin (Charlie Shotwell) and Samantha (Oona Roche) to leave the comforts of suburban America and return to his native England during the 1980's. Sensing opportunity, Rory rejoins his former firm and leases a centuries-old country manor in rural Surrey, with grounds for Allison’s horses and plans to build a stable. But soon the promise of a lucrative new beginning starts to unravel as the family buckles beneath an unaffordable lifestyle and increasing isolation. As they head towards an inevitable implosion, the couple have to face the unwelcome truths lying beneath the surface of their marriage.

'WILD MOUNTAIN THYME' (Rated PG) - is an American drama film Written and Directed by John Patrick Stanley and based on his own play 'Outside Mullingar' which ran on Broadway in 2014. This is Stanley's third feature film as Director after 'Joe Versus the Volcano' in 1990 and 'Doubt' in 2008 although he has been busy with screenwriting duties on the likes of 'Moonstruck' in 1987, 'The January Man' in 1989, 'Alive' in 1993 and 'Congo' in 1995 as well as scriptwriting and Directing a number of off-Broadway theatre productions. And so set in Ireland, the headstrong farmer Rosemary Muldoon (Emily Blunt) has her heart set on winning her neighbour Anthony Reilly’s love. The problem is Anthony (Jamie Dornan) seems to have inherited a family curse, and remains oblivious to his beautiful admirer. Stung by his father Tony Reilly (Christopher Walken) plans to sell the family farm to his American nephew Adam Kelly (Jon Hamm), Anthony is jolted into pursuing his dreams. Also starring Dearbhla Molloy and Danielle Ryan, the film saw its US release in mid-December, has so far grossed US$214K off the back of a US$5.5M production budget and has generated mostly mixed or average Reviews. 

'THE FOOD CLUB' (Rated M) - this Danish comedy drama offering is Directed by Barbara Topsoe-Rothenborg and tells the story of three life long girlfriends from elementary school, all very different women, but with one thing in common. Now as they find themselves in the autumn of their lives they all feel how ruthless old age can be. Marie (Kirsten Olesen) has been abandoned by her husband Henrik (Ptere Hesse Overgaard) on Christmas Eve, and her entire identity as part of a happy family falls away. Berling (Stina Ekblad) is the eternal 'bachelorette' who outwardly denies her age and lives the sweet life, but in the backdrop she is affected by a complicated relationship with her daughter. Vanja (Kirsten Lehfeldt), on the other hand, lives in the memories of her late husband and has difficulty moving on. The three women travel to Italy together to attend a food course in Puglia, and here they each have the chance to reinvent themselves. But only when they are able to face reality, will they be able to change. The film was released in its native Denmark at the back end of October last year. 

'EARWIG AND THE WITCH' (Rated PG) - this Japanese  computer-animated film is Directed by Goro Miyazaki, and is based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones. It is the first full 3D CG animated film by the hugely successful Studio Ghibli. In 1990's England, Earwig (voiced in the English version by Taylor Paige Henderson), a ten-year-old orphan girl who grew up without knowing that she is a witch's daughter. Earwig is in turn taken from the orphanage by a strange duo who bring her to her new spooky home filled with mystery and magic. Also featuring the voices of Vanessa Marshall, Richard E. Grant, Dan Stevens and Kacey Musgraves. The film was released in Japan on 30th December 2020 following its Premier screening at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon Metropolis in mid-October, and sees its USA, Canadian and New Zealand release this week too.

With four 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-