What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 26th May 2022.

The fourth Cheltenham International Film Festival, held in the town of Cheltenham, in the county of Gloucestershire, England, launched only in 2019 and made an instant impact, with the Opening Night film that year being 'Sometimes Always Never' with Bill Nighy. 2020 saw 'Lost Transmissions' with Simon Pegg as the festival opener and last year, 2021, it was 'The Father' with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. This years festival runs from Monday 23rd May through until Friday 3rd June, with 'The Good Boss' starring Javier Bardem being selected to open this festival. The Closing Night film is 'Both Sides of the Blade' with Juliette Binoche.

There are eight films in Official Competition, those being :-

* 'You Resemble Me' - from the US, France and Egypt, this drama film is Directed, Co-Written, Co-Produced and stars Dina Amer in her Directorial debut. When two young sisters are torn apart, the eldest loses her identity and transforms into someone new in the name of belonging and resistance.

* 'Queen of Glory' - this US film is Directed, Written and stars Nana Mensah in her film making debut and she has already collected seven award wins and another eight nominations from around the awards and festival circuit for her efforts with this feature comedy. Here, Ghanaian-American Sarah is all set to abandon her Ivy League doctoral programme to follow her married lover across the country.

* 'Jump, Darling' - is a Canadian film, Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Phil Connell in his feature film making debut with the film winning ten awards and a further three nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. The film tells the story of a rookie drag queen, reeling from a break-up, who escapes to the country, where he finds his grandmother in steep decline yet desperate to avoid the local nursing home.

* 'As in Heaven' - from Denmark, this drama film is Directed, written for the screen and Co-Produced by Tea Lindeburg in her first feature as Director and this film has so far picked up three award wins and another three nominations from around the festival circuit. Set on a farm in the late 1800's an intense waiting begins when a mother goes into a complicated labour, and her 14-year-old daughter must prepare herself for a night that may change her life forever.

* 'Miracle' - is a Romanian Czech Republic and Latvian drama co-production that is Directed, Written, Co-Produced and Edited by Bogdan George Apetri in his third feature film making effort, with this film so far collecting two award wins and another four nominations from across the festivals circuit. Here, a young nun sneaks out of her monastery to attend an urgent matter but never makes it back and a Police Detective's investigation into her fate, uncovers clues and revelations that lead not only to the truth but a miracle too.

* 'Hit the Road' - this Iranian drama film is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Panah Panahai in her first Writer, Director, Producer effort for which she has already gained critical acclaim by winning eight awards and a further ten nominations from around the festivals circuit. The film follows a chaotic, tender family on a road trip across a rugged landscape and fussing over the sick dog and getting on each others' nerves. Only the mysterious older brother is quiet.

* 'Girl Picture' - from Finland this romance film is Directed by Alli Haapasalo in her third feature film making outing, for which she has so far won one award and been nominated another four times at the Berlin, Cleveland and Sundance Film Festivals. Here, three girls are at the cusp of womanhood and trying to draw their own contours. In three consecutive Fridays, two of them experience the earth moving effects of falling in love, while the third goes on a quest to find something she's never experienced before, pleasure.

* 'Olga' - this French, Swiss and Ukrainian sports drama film is Directed and Written by Elie Grappe in his first feature film offering, for which he has won critical acclaim by winning, thus far, eight awards and a further eleven nominations from around the festivals circuit. While in exile in Switzerland, a fifteen-year-old Ukrainian gymnast prepares for the European Gymnastics Championships when the Maidan Uprising protests, demonstrations and social unrest begin in Kyiv in November 2013. 

For more information on the 2022 Cheltenham International Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://www.cheltfilm.com/

Turning back to this week then, we have five new films to tease you out to your local Odeon on a cool near Winter's evening, launching with a much delayed and highly anticipated sequel to a 1986 blockbuster that sees one of the Navy's top aviators, who after more than thirty years of service is right where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, until one day he is tasked with training a bunch of graduates for a potentially deadly mission. This is followed by a horror offering from Finland about a young gymnast, who tries desperately to please her demanding mother, discovers a strange egg, which she hides and keeps warm, until it hatches, and when it does what emerges shocks them all. Next up with have French crime drama set in 1950's Paris, where a young girl dressed in an evening gown is found dead in a square, with the Chief Inspector attempting to identify her and investigate what happened to the victim. Then we have an Aussie doco about an Opera Singer who thought he knew his grandfather Bill, until an unearthed film reel suggests he might have been the first ever Aboriginal filmmaker. And we close out the weeks new releases with an American animated film based on a popular animated TV series that sees a ruptured water main create an enormous sinkhole right in front of this guys fast food restaurant blocking the entrance indefinitely and ruining his plans for a successful summer, until the kids try to solve the mystery that might just help save the family business.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films 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.

'TOP GUN : MAVERICK' (Rated M) - is finally here, after its originally scheduled release date of mid-July 2019 was pushed back to allow for the production team to work on the elaborate action flight sequences, and was reset for late June 2020. It was then moved to Christmas 2020 because of the COVID-19 outbreak and then delayed again to early July 2021due to scheduling conflicts and the ongoing escalation of the global pandemic. It was further pushed back to a mid-November 2021 release before its final delay to this week for a global release, following its World Premier at CinemaCon in late April and a screening at the Cannes Film Festival last week in an Official Selection Screening, where it received a five-minute standing ovation. This film is the sequel to the 1986 film 'Top Gun' and is Directed by Joseph Kosinski whose previous film making credits are 'Tron : Legacy', 'Oblivion' and 'Only the Brave' with the upcoming 'Spiderhead' due for a release on Netflix from mid-June. This film cost US$152M to produce and has garnered widespread critical acclaim, with many saying that it is better than Tony Scott's original. 

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise, who also Co-Produces here) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would see him grounded. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialised high stakes mission Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: 'Rooster', the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka 'Goose'. Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it. Also starring Val Kilmer reprising his role as Admiral Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky, with Jennifer Connolly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis and Danny Ramirez. 

'HATCHING' (Rated MA15+) - this body horror film from Finland is Directed by Hannah Bergholm in her feature film debut, and it saw its World Premier screening at this years Sundance Film Festival at the end of January. The film centres on Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), a young gymnast desperate to please her mother (Sophia Heikkila), a woman obsessed with presenting the image of a perfect family to the world through her popular blog. One day, Tinja finds a wounded bird in the woods and she brings its mysterious egg home with her. She nestles the egg in the warmth of her bed and gently nurtures it until it hatches. She names the creature that emerges Alli, and cares for it as it becomes her closest friend and a living nightmare and it grows into a doppelgänger that acts upon Tinja's repressed emotions and a twisted reality that her Mum refuses to see. The film has garnered critical acclaim, and has so far recouped US$476K from a budget of US$4.2M 

'MAIGRET' (Rated M) - this French and Belgian Co-Produced crime drama film is Directed and Co-Written for the screen by Patrice Leconte whose previous film credits include the multi-award winning and nominated 'Monsieur Hire' in 1989, 'Ridicule' in 1996, 'Girl on the Bridge' in 1999, 'The Man on the Train' in 2002 and 'A Promise' in 2013. This film is an adaptation of the novel 'Maigret et la jeune morte' by Georges Simenon, published in 1954 and featuring the Police Detective Jules Maigret. Set in the 1950's, the body of young woman is found dead in a square on Place Vintimille The victim is dressed in an evening gown and possesses no identifying documents. The Commissionaire of Police Jules Maigret (Gerard Depardieu) and his men are in charge of the investigation and seek to uncover the young woman's identity, and what happened to her. The day before, she rented her dress from a neighbourhood shop. The film has so far taken US$4.5M off the back of a production budget of US$6.35M, and has garnered generally positive Reviews so far since its release in its native France at the end of February. 

'ABLAZE' (Rated PG) - is an Australian documentary film Co-Written and Co-Directed by Alec Morgan and Tiriki Onus. Here the opera singer, playwright, educator and film maker Tiriki Onus finds a seventy year old silent film locked inside a vault that he believes was made by his grandfather, Aboriginal leader and film maker Bill Onus. As Tiriki travels across Australia and pieces together clues to the film’s origins, he discovers more about Bill, his fight for Aboriginal rights and the price he paid for speaking out, while changing the course of history. Bill and his supporters brilliantly orchestrated their campaign for equality through performance, entertainment, film and sheer audacity, and, they were able to outsmart far mightier forces seeking to destroy Indigenous cultures, languages, and communities.

'THE BOB'S BURGERS MOVIE' (Rated PG) - this American animated musical comedy film is based on the animated television series 'Bob's Burgers' created by Loren Bouchard, who Co-Wrote, Co-Produced, and Directed in his feature film Directorial debut along with Bernard Derriman. Initially scheduled for a cinema release back in mid-July 2020, it was pulled for a whole host of reasons including the impacts of COVID-19 and then rescheduled and pulled back several times thereafter, before this week in the US and Australia was finally cast in stone. Here then a ruptured water main creates a sinkhole right in front of Bob's Burgers, blocking the entrance and ruining the Belchers' plans for a successful summer. While Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) struggle to keep the business afloat, the kids try to solve a mystery that could save their family's restaurant. Also starring the voices of Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Larry Murphy, Kristen Schaal, Zach Galifianakis, and Kevin Kline who reprise their characters voices from the original TV series.

With five new release movie offerings 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 at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-