What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 8th April 2021.

The 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, honouring the best achievements in film and television performances for the year 2020, were presented on 4th April at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was broadcast live airing for one hour rather than the usual two. The nominees were announced by Lily Collins and Daveed Diggs on 4th February. The shortened one-hour show was pre-recorded. The winners were informed of their wins a few days before the telecast and the acceptance speeches were also pre-taped. These changes were a COVID-era decision in order to protect the guild's nominees and presenters.

And so the winners, grinners and the also rans from this years SAG Awards in the motion picture category are as given below :-

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

* Presented posthumously to CHADWICK BOSEMAN for 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', beating out Riz Ahmed for 'Sound of Metal', Anthony Hopkins for 'The Father', Gary Oldman for 'Mank' and Steven Yeun for 'Minari'.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

* Presented to VIOLA DAVIS for 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', beating out Amy Adams for 'Hillbilly Elegy', Vanessa Kirby for 'Pieces of a Woman', Frances McDormand for 'Nomadland' and Carey Mulligan for 'Promising Young Woman'.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

* Presented to DANIEL KALUUYA for 'Judas and the Black Messiah', beating out Sacha Baron Cohen for 'The Trial of the Chicago 7', Chadwick Boseman for 'Da 5 Bloods', Jared Leto for 'The Little Things' and Leslie Odom Jnr. for 'One Night in Miami'.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

* Presented to YOUN YUH-JUNG for 'Minari', beating out Maria Bakalova for 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm', Glenn Close for 'Hillbilly Elegy', Olivia Colman for 'The Father' and Helena Zengel for 'News of the World'.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

* Presented to the Cast of 'THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7' - Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance, Alex Sharp, and Jeremy Strong, beating out 'Da 5 Bloods', 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', 'Minari' and 'One Night in Miami'. 

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

* Presented to 'WONDER WOMAN 1984', beating out 'Da 5 Bloods', 'Mulan', 'News of the World' and 'The Trial of the Chacago 7'.

For the complete list of this years SAG Awards winners and nominees, including those from the world of television, you can visit the official website at : https://www.sagawards.org 

And so turning attention to this weeks five latest release new films coming to an Odeon near you, we kick off with a Sci-Fi offering about a crew of astronauts who embark on a multi-generational mission to land on a distant habitable planet 86 years away that ultimately descends into paranoia and madness, not knowing what is real and what is not. Next up we have a young environmentalist who wakes, kidnapped and trapped in the elevator of a super high-rise building at the mercy of her tormentors. This is followed by a comedy action horror offering concerning a quiet drifter who is tricked into cleaning up an abandoned family entertainment centre haunted by eight murderous animatronic characters. Then there is a Chinese drama comedy film about a man who must attempt to clear his name after a theatre puts on a play that accuses him of committing a murder thirty years previously. And we close out the week with a French adventure comedy film about a teacher who embarks on a long journey with a donkey to find her secret lover in the countryside.

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 week ahead.

'VOYAGERS' (Rated MA15+) - is an American Sci-Fi drama Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Neil Burger whose prior film making credits take in 2002's 'Interview with the Assassin', 2006's 'The Illusionist', 2011's 'Limitless', 2014's 'Divergent' and 2017's remake of the acclaimed French film 'The Intouchables' with 'The Upside'. Originally slated for a release at the end of November 2020, the film was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is released this week.

With the future of the human race in danger, a group of young men and women, born and bred for enhanced intelligence and to suppress emotional impulses, embark on an expedition to colonise a distant planet that will take eighty-six years to reach. But when they uncover disturbing secrets about the mission, they defy their training and begin to explore their most primitive impulses. As life on the ship descends into chaos, they're consumed by fear, lust, and the hunger for power not knowing if the real threat they face is what's outside the ship or who they're becoming inside it. Starring Colin Farrell, Fionn Whitehead, Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp and Isaac Hempstead Wright.

'ASCENDANT' (Rated MA15+) - here this mystery Sci-Fi drama is Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Anthony Furlong in his feature film debut and following from his last offering, the short film 'Emergence' in 2009. The film tells the story of young environmentalist Aria Wolf (Charlotte Best) who finds herself kidnapped and held hostage in a high-speed elevator in a 120-floor skyscraper in Shanghai. Aria holds a secret that makes her a valuable asset to many. However, she has no memory of her past, who her captors are or what they want from her. While being pushed to her physical and psychological limits, she begins to discover that what has been hidden within her for so long is what will ultimately be her salvation. Also starring Jonny Pasvolsky, Susan Prior, Andrew Jack and Lily Stewart.

'WILLY'S WONDERLAND' (Rated MA15+) - is an American action comedy horror offering Directed by Kevin Lewis in his first film making outing since 2007's 'The Third Nail' with Chloe Grace Moretz, Charles S. Dutton, John Savage and Sean Young. A quiet drifter, known only as the Janitor (Nicolas Cage), is tricked into a janitorial job at the now condemned Willy's Wonderland. He has one night to clean up the place, but the seemingly mundane tasks suddenly become an all-out fight for survival against wave after wave of eight demonic animatronic mascots, those being Willy Weasel, Arty Alligator, Cammy Chameleon, Ozzie Ostrich, Tito Turtle, Knighty Knight, Gus Gorilla, and Siren Sara and who are all revealed to be alive, aggressive and baying for blood. Fists fly, kicks land, titans clash and only one side will make it out alive. Also starring Emily Tosta, Beth Grant and Ric Reitz, the film has garnered generally positive Reviews and has so far grossed US$420K off the back of a US$5M production budget since its release in the US in mid-February.

'THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER' (Rated M) - this Chinese comedy drama film is Directed and also stars Chen Jianbin. Here a homicide case from thirty years ago was adapted into a stage play by the municipal theatre troupe. As the person involved in the murder, the renewed attention on the case disrupts Ma Fuli's (Chen Jianbin) life. Ma Fuli is pulled in all directions while trying to sort things out with stage play Director Hu Kunding (Da Peng), looking for a lawyer to clear his name and attempting to reconcile the tense relationship between his wife Jin Cailing (Zhou Xun) and daughter Jin Duoduo (Leah Dou). 

'ANTOINETTE IN THE CEVENNES' (Rated M) - this French adventure romantic comedy is Directed by Caroline Vignal in only her second film making offering since 'Girlfriends' in 2000, although she has written two made for television movies in the meantime. This film is based on the 1879 book 'Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes' by Robert Louis Stevenson. Antoinette Lapouge (Laure Calamy), a school teacher, is looking forward to her long planned summer holidays with her secret lover Vladimir Loubier (Benjamin Lavernhe), the father of one of her pupils. When learning that Vladimir cannot come because his wife Eleonore (Olivia Cote) organised a surprise trekking holiday in the Cevennes National Park with their daughter and a donkey to carry their load, Antoinette decides to follow their track, by herself, with Patrick, a protective donkey. Laure Calamy won the Cesar Award for Best Actress recently and the film took out another seven nominations. The film was released in France in mid-September last year and has so far grossed US$6.5M, and has garnered generally positive Reviews. 

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 coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-