What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 16th June 2022

The Tribeca Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday 8th June and runs through until Sunday 19th June. This years Opening Night Film is 'Halftime' - the American Netflix original documentary Directed by Amanda Micheli and charts the career of the singer, actress, dancer and businesswoman Jennifer Lopez, with a heavy focus on her performance at the Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show in 2019. The Closing Night film is 'Loudmouth' Written and Directed by Josh Alexander that documents the winding road that is American civil rights activist, Baptist Minister, talk show host and politician Al Sharpton's life story. This festival has 110 feature films from 150 filmmakers across forty countries, including eighty-eight World Premier screenings and forty-three shorts in competition from twenty-five countries. Tribeca Enterprises is a multi-platform storytelling company, founded in 2003 by the American Actor, Director and Producer Robert De Niro; the American film Producer Jane Rosenthal and the American real estate investor and philanthropist Craig Hatkoff. It provides artists with unique platforms to expand the audience for their work and broadens consumer access to experience storytelling, independent film, and media. 

Tribeca's US Narrative Competition showcases extraordinary World Premieres that will vie for the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, and the Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Performance. Those in competition are :-

* 'Allswell' from the US and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Ben Snyder. World Premiere.

* 'The Drop' from the US and Mexico and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Sarah Adina Smith. World Premiere.

* 'Four Samosas' from the US and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Ravi Kapoor. World Premiere.

* 'God's Time' from the US and Written and Directed by Daniel Antebi. World Premiere.

* 'Good Girl Jane' from the US and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Sarah Elizabeth Mintz. World Premiere.

* 'The Integrity of Joseph Chambers' from the US and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Robert Machoian. World Premiere.

* 'Next Exit' from the US and Directed and Written by Mali Elfman. World Premiere.

* 'Three Headed Beast' from the US and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Fernando Andres. World Premiere.

* 'Wes Schlagenhauf Is Dying' from the US and Co-Written, Directed, Co-Produced and starring Parker Seaman. World Premiere. 

* 'The Year Between' from the US and Written and Directed by Alex Heller. World Premiere. 

The New-York based Festival breaks its geographical boundaries with the International Narrative Competition, welcoming filmmakers from abroad to join a global platform for contemporary world cinema. These films will compete for Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Performance. Those in competition are :-

* 'Blaze' from Australia and Written and Directed by Del Kathryn Barton. World Premier.

* 'January' from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Written and Directed by Viesturs Kairiss. World Premiere.

* 'Karaoke' from Israel and Written and Directed by Moshe Rosenthal. World Premiere.

* 'A Matter Of Trust' from Denmark and Written and Directed by Anette K. Olesen. World Premiere. 

* 'My Love Affair with Marriage' from the US, Latvia and Luxembourg and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Signe Baumane. World Premiere.

* 'Pink Moon' from Italy, Netherlands and Slovenia and Directed by Floor van der Meulen. World Premiere. 

* 'Two Sisters and a Husband' from India and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Shlok Sharma. World Premiere.

* 'The Visitor' from Bolivia and Uruguay and Written and Directed by Martin Boulocq. World Premier.

* 'We Might As Well Be Dead' from Germany ad Romania and Written and Directed by Natalia Sinelnikova. International Premier.

* 'Woman on the Roof' from Poland, France and Sweden and Written and Directed by Anna Jadowska. World Premier.

For the other films in competition, the other strands playing at this years Tribeca Film Festival, plus all the details on how you can be entertained during the festival, you can visit the official website at : https://www.tribecafilm.com/festival

Turning the attention then back to this weeks three new movies coming to an Odeon near you, we kick off with a horror drama about a young woman who goes on a solo holiday to the English countryside following the death of her ex-husband, only to be confronted by various men who all share one thing in common. This is followed by a French film about a middle aged woman who is a sous-chef wanting to open her own restaurant, but when financial difficulties set in she accepts a job at a shelter for young migrants, which at first she hates, then her passion for cuisine starts to change children's lives. And closing out the week we have an American animated Sci-Fi action adventure film that is an origin story of a much loved test pilot and astronaut from four 'Toy Story' films. 

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

'MEN' (Rated MA15+) - is a folk horror film Written and Directed by Alex Garland whose previous two feature film making credits are 'Ex Machina' in 2014 and 'Annihilation' in 2018, although he has also written the screenplays for Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later' and 'Sunshine', plus 'Never Let Me Go' and 'Dredd' as well as the two aforementioned films Directed by him, with 'The Beach' and 'The Tesseract' movies based on novels written by Garland. This film was released in the UK in late May and in the US in early June, and this week is released in Australia having so far grossed US$8M and garnered generally favourable critical reviews.

Following a personal tragedy, Harper (Jessie Buckley) retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, to the small village of Colston, hoping to find a place to heal. However, someone or something from the surrounding woods appears to be stalking her. What begins as simmering dread soon becomes a fully formed nightmare, inhabited by her darkest memories and fears. Also starring Rory Kinnear as Geoffrey and the various other 'men' that Harper encounters throughout the village, Paapa Essiedu, Gayle Rankin and Sonoya Mizuno. 

'THE KITCHEN BRIGADE' (Rated M) - this French comedy offering is Co-Written and Directed by Louis-Julien Petit whose prior Directorial efforts include 'Discount', 'Carole Matthieu' and 'Invisibles'. Here then, Cathy Marie (Audrey Lamy) is a forty-year-old headstrong sous-chef wanting to open a gastronomic restaurant. But of course nothing here goes according to her grand plan. With financial difficulties, Cathy accepts a job at a shelter for young migrants run by Lorenzo (Francois Cluzet). At first she hates the job then her passion for cuisine starts to change children's lives, while at the same time the children have a thing or two to teach Cathy. 

'LIGHTYEAR' (Rated PG) - is an American computer-animated science fiction action-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It is a spin-off of the 'Toy Story' film series, serving as an origin story for the fictional test pilot/astronaut character, Buzz Lightyear, who featured in the main films as a toy/action figure. It is Co-Written and Directed by Angus MacLane in his feature film making debut, although he did Co-Direct 2016's 'Finding Dory'. The film tells the story of young astronaut Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans), who, after being marooned on a hostile planet some 4.2 million light years from Earth with his commander and crew, tries to find a way back home through space and time. To make matters worse, Emperor Zurg (James Brolin) arrives with an imposing army of ruthless robots and an agenda that poses a threat to the universe's safety. Also starring the voices of Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, Peter Sohn and Isiah Whitlock Jnr. The film is released in the US and here in Australia this week.

With three 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 coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-