BABYLON : Tuesday 24th January 2023.

'BABYLON', which I saw earlier this week at my local multiplex, is an MA15+ Rated American epic period comedy-drama film Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle, whose prior film making credits take in the highly acclaimed and multi-award winning 'Whiplash' in 2014, 'La La Land' in 2016 and 'First Man' in 2018. 'Babylon' saw its World Premier in Los Angeles in mid-December before its US release on 23rd December, and has divided critics with those who generally praised the cinematography, editing, score, and performances, but were divided on its screenplay, direction, graphic content, and runtime. The film cost US$78M to produce and has so far recouped US$31M but received five nominations for the 80th Golden Globe Awards and won one for Best Original Score, and nine nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards winning one for Best Production Design. So far the film has won twenty-nine awards and been nominated a further 138 times (some of which are still pending an outcome from future awards ceremonies). The film has a run time of three hours and nine minutes.

The film opens up in Bel Air, California in 1926 with Mexican immigrant Manuel 'Manny' Torres (Diego Calva) helping to transport an elephant to a debauched, drug-fueled party at a Kinoscope Studios executive's isolated mansion in the Hollywood hills.

Later that evening the party, which by now is in full swing, is gate crashed by Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) and Manny very quickly becomes smitten with the very brash, overtly ambitious self-appointed 'star' from New Jersey. Upon meeting her and snorting a few lines of coke together, Manny states that he wishes to be part of something bigger. Meanwhile, Jane Thornton (Phoebe Tonkin) has overdosed on drugs during a golden shower routine on obese Actor Orville Pickwick (Troy Metcalf) and has the elephant walked through the room full of debauched party goers in order to distract them, while he helps carry the comatose girl out to her car and away to the nearest hospital.

Also at the lavish and out of control party are Chinese-American lesbian cabaret singer and title card writer Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li), and African-American jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo). The flamboyantly-dancing Nellie is spotted and swiftly recruited to replace Jane Thornton in a Kinoscope film having been told that she needs to be on set at 8:00am the next morning. Manny is introduced to and befriends Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), a benevolent yet troubled, several times married film star. Manny drives a drunken Jack home early the next morning. Jack is also due on set that morning and he asks Manny if he has ever been on a film set, to which he responds with 'no'. Jack helps Manny secure general assistant jobs at Kinoscope, which he manages to complete all tasks asked of him with seemingly relative ease and as a result quickly climbs the ladder within the studio system.

Nellie becomes almost an overnight sensation, turning her into the latest 'it girl', and is keenly covered by gossip columnist Elinor St. John (Jean Smart), who also follows Jack's career. As Al Jolson's 'The Jazz Singer' heralded in sound film so replacing silent movies from 1927 onward, Manny skillfully adapts to such technical changes, eventually gaining Directing jobs. Nellie struggles to navigate sound film's demands, and increases her drug use and reckless gambling, tarnishing her reputation despite Manny's seemingly unwavering assistance and persistence.

Nellie, hires her father Robert Roy (Eric Roberts) as her Business Manager. One night at a party together he tells many of the gathered guests of the time he fought a snake and lived to tell the tale. Nellie perks up and publicly asks everyone if they want to see her Dad fight a rattlesnake. Jack shouts out 'Hell yeah!' and so they drive out into the desert until they come across a rattle snake. As Robert siddles up to the snake he passes out in a drunken stupor and so she fights the snake, which bites her neck, and she passes out. Fay kills it by chopping off its head and sucks out the venom and when Nellie comes around a few moments later passionately kisses Fay. While running lines with his new wife Estelle (Katherine Waterstone), Jack is devastated to learn his longtime friend and Producer, George Munn (Lukas Haas), has committed suicide.

Come 1932, and Jack begins to feel that his popularity has waned since the advent of the 'talkies' and following a couple of Box Office failures. However, he still works in low-budget MGM films. Meanwhile, Sidney has secured his own musical film and orchestra, but is offended when Manny requests he use blackface makeup to darken his skin because under the studio lights he almost appears white, and the picture needs to appeal to Southern audiences. After finishing the film, Sidney leaves Kinoscope and goes back to his roots playing small gigs in bars and clubs. As Hollywood becomes less free thinking and free-doing, studio executives tell Manny to fire Fay, the Kinoscope title writer, because of her perceived lesbian affair with Nellie and the fact that movies no longer need title cards. 

Elinor and Manny attempt to rejuvenate Nellie's image by giving her elocution and deportment lessons so that she can fit in to Hollywood's high society and re-establish her career, but Nellie pushes back against upper-class snobbery at a party, ultimately vomiting violently on the host, and shaming the two people who gave her a second chance. 

Jack tries to call MGM Studio Producer Irving Thalberg (Max Minghella) but is put off several times by his Secretary, telling him to call back at 1:00pm and then at 4:00pm. After 4:00pm and being told that Thalberg had left for the day, Jack drives over to Thalberg's office to find it empty but he finds a magazine with the cover story by Elinor about his declining popularity and confronts her. She explains that his star may have faded, but he will be forever remembered on celluloid. 

Meanwhile, eccentric gangster James McKay (Tobey Maguire) threatens Nellie's life over her accumulated US$85K gambling debt. Manny initially rejects her pleas for help, but later secures funds from on-set drug pusher and aspiring actor 'The Count' (Rory Scovel), and visits McKay with him to pay off Nellie's debt. McKay begins by pitching three outlandish ideas he has for movies. Manny starts to panic upon learning that the money is fake, made by his own prop-maker. McKay invites the men to an underground gathering space for debauched parties and they go, albeit very reluctantly. When McKay realises the cash is fake, he attempts to kill them, but they narrowly escape in a hail of bullets, killing McKay's henchman Wilson (Ethan Suplee) in the process.

After everything that Nellie has put Manny through, he still asks her to flee with him to Mexico, get married, and start a new life together. She resists, but eventually agrees. However, McKay's associate tracks Manny down as he was gathering up a few possessions, shooting The Count and his roommate dead but sparing Manny's life if Manny leaves Los Angeles straight away and never returns. Meanwhile, oblivious to this, Nellie reneges on her decision and dances away into the night. 

Jack encounters Fay at a hotel party at which she reveals she is leaving for new opportunities in Europe. After saying their farewells, a downhearted Jack returns to his hotel room, picks up his revolver, walks into the bathroom and shoots himself dead. A montage reveals newspaper clippings detailing Nellie being found dead in a hotel room at age 34, and Elinor's death at age 76.

We then fast forward to 1952, and Manny returns to Hollywood, California with his wife and young daughter, having fled to New York City and opened his own radio shop. He shows them the Kinoscope Studios entrance, and visits a nearby cinema alone to see 'Singin' in the Rain', where the film's depiction of the industry's transition from silents to talkies moves him to tears. Then, the last one hundred years or so of big screen entertainment taking in clips from '2001 : A Space Odyssey' to 'Terminator 2' right up to 'Avatar' follows as the focus finally returns to 'Singin' in the Rain' and Manny smiles through his tears.

'Babylon' is way too long for its own good, and Writer Director Damien Chazelle could easily have shown more restraint by slicing off thirty minutes of this three hour+ ode to old Hollywood rather than the self-indulgent nod to early cinema that is sure delight cineastes everywhere nonetheless. That said, the production values on display here are first rate; Pitt, Robbie and Calva shine in their roles; and there are some genuine laugh out loud moments here but it's also easy to see where audiences and critics have been divided in their opinions and why those audiences have decided to vote with their feet rather than their bums on seats. 'Babylon' is brash, bold, hedonistic and all credit to Chazelle for going out on a limb to make this ambitious film but I left the theatre feeling a little 'meh!' about the whole thing and how it's mostly all style over substance.

'Babylon' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 26th January 2023.

The 28th annual Critics' Choice Awards were presented on Sunday 15th January at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, California, honouring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2022. The ceremony was hosted by the American comedian, Actress, Writer, television host, and Producer Chelsea Handler. 

The winners in the film categories are as given below :-

* Best Picture - awarded to 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.

* Best Director - awarded to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.

* Best Actor - presented to Brendan Fraser for 'The Whale'.

* Best Actress - awarded to Cate Blanchett for 'Tar'.

* Best Supporting Actor - presented to Ke Huy Quan for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.

* Best Supporting Actress - presented to Angela Bassett for 'Black Panther : Wakanda Forever'.

* Best Young Actor/Actress - awarded to Gabriel LaBelle for 'The Fabelmans'.

* Best Acting Ensemble - presented to 'Glass Onion : A Knives Out Mystery'.

* Best Original Screenplay - awarded to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.

* Best Adapted Screenplay - presented to Sarah Polley for 'Women Talking'.

* Best Cinematography - presented to Claudio Miranda for 'Top Gun : Maverick'.

* Best Editing - awarded to Paul Rogers for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.

* Best Costume Design - awarded to Ruth E. Carter for 'Black Panther : Wakanda Forever'.

* Best Production Design - presented to Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino for 'Babylon'.

* Best Hair and Make-Up - awarded to 'Elvis'.

* Best Visual Effects - presented to 'Avatar : The Way of Water'.

* Best Score - awarded to Hildur Guonadottir for 'Tar'.

* Best Song - presented for 'Naatu Naatu' from 'RRR'.

* Best Animated Feature - presented to 'Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio'.

* Best Comedy - awarded to 'Glass Onion : A Knives Out Mystery'.

* Best Foreign Language Film - awarded to 'RRR' from India. 

Jeff Bridges was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award, with Janelle Monae who was honoured with the #SeeHer Award.

For the nominees in the aforementioned film categories, plus the TV series winners and also-rans, you can go to the official website at : https://www.criticschoice.com/

Turning the attention back to this weeks four new movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we launch with a critically lauded film set in the international world of Western classical music, centring on one of the greatest living composer-conductors and the very first female director of a major German orchestra. This is followed by a British film about a filmmaker who decides to document her best friend's journey towards an arranged marriage; and then we turn to a Chinese Sci-Fi actioner in which mankind builds enormous engines to propel planet earth to a new solar system as the sun will have burnt itself out in the next one hundred years or so. And closing out the week we have an Aussie doco exploring fifty years of First Nations activism in Australia through the lens of a renowned contemporary Australian Aboriginal artist.

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

'TAR' (Rated M) - this psychological drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Todd Field whose previous two feature film making credits are his 2001 debut with 'In the Bedroom' and his 2006 'Little Children' which between them garnered the Writer/Director three Academy Award nominations, plus a further thirty-three award wins and another 120 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit for his complete body of work so far, including 'Tar'. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival in early September last year and its wide release in the US from the end of October, where it has so far recovered US$7.2M from its production budget of US$35M and has generated universal critical acclaim. 'Tar' has so far won fifty-three awards and another 227 nominations (some of which are still pending a final outcome, including six Oscars and five BAFTA's).

Here then, renowned composer and the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett) is days away from recording live Mahler's Fifth Symphony that will elevate her career even further. However, over the ensuing weeks her life begins to unravel in a singularly modern way and when all elements seem to conspire against her, Lydia's adopted daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic) becomes an integral emotional support for her struggling mother. Also starring Nina Hoss, Noemie Merlant, Sophie Kauer, Mark Strong and Julian Glover. 

'WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT' (Rated M) - is a British romantic comedy drama film that is Directed by the Indian film maker and Actor Shekhar Kapur whose previous Directing credits take in his 1983 debut with 'Masoom', then the likes of 'Bandit Queen' in 1994, 'Elizabeth' in 1998 with Cate Blanchett, 'The Four Feathers' in 2002 with Heath Ledger, and 'Elizabeth : The Golden Age' in 2007 with Cate Blanchett again. This film saw its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in mid-September last year and is scheduled to be released in the UK from late February. For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath's (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe's childhood friend and neighbour Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents' example and opt for an arranged (or 'assisted') marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love. 

'THE WANDERING EARTH 2' (Rated M) - this Chinese Science-Fiction action adventure film is Directed and Co-Written by Frant Gwo, and is a prequel to the 2019's 'The Wandering Earth', which is based on the short story of the same name by Liu Cixin and who also serves as the film's Producer. 'The Wandering Earth' grossed US$701M at the Box Office and was a critical hit as well as a commercial one. Mankind built huge engines on the surface of the Earth to propel the planet to a new solar system as the sun is rapidly burning out. But the road to the universe is perilous. In order to save Earth, young people once again have to step forward to start a race against time for life and death. The film is released the day after Chinese New Year on 23rd January, and stars Andy Lau and Wu Jing.

'YOU CAN GO NOW' (Rated M) - this Australian documentary film is Co-Written and Directed by Larissa Behrendt whose prior documentary film making credits include her debut 'Innocence Betrayed' in 2013, then 'After the Apology' in 2017, 'Arraatika : Rise Up!' in 2021 and 'Warriors in the Field' in 2022. Richard Bell is a prolific and provocative First Nations visual artist whose activism has helped shape modern Australia’s understanding of our indigenous past. Here we meet the 'Two Richards' - Richie, a troublemaker of the art establishment who challenges its innate whiteness, and Richard, whose childhood was spent living in a tin shed before his politics were shaped on the streets of Redfern, an inner-city suburb of Sydney. His at times controversial and creative outputs provide a lens through which to consider the last fifty years of First Nations activism in Australia and its links to global protest movements, as well as a way through which to better understand a man and his art. 

With four 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-

OPERATION FORTUNE : RUSE DE GUERRE - Tuesday 17th January 2023.

'OPERATION FORTUNE : RUSE DE GUERRE' which I saw earlier this week is an M Rated American spy action comedy film Co-Written and Directed by Guy Ritchie whose previous film making credits take in the likes of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', 'Snatch', 'Sherlock Holmes', 'Sherlock Holmes : Game of Shadows', 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.', 'Aladdin', 'The Gentlemen' and 'Wrath of Man' in 2021. It was originally slated for release at the end of January last year and then mid-March 2022. In mid-February 2022, the film was pulled from the release schedule without comment by the studio. Reports indicate the film was pulled from release, not due to the COVID-19 pandemic as before, but because it featured gangsters of Ukrainian nationality as the main antagonist's henchmen. The film's Producers thought it would be of bad taste, in light of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian War, for the movie to present 'Ukrainian baddies'. The film has garnered mixed or average Reviews and so far has grossed US$11.0M in Box Office receipts since its international release on 4th January and in Australia from the 12th January. 

The film opens up with a seemingly well executed raid on a secret tech lab, where the perpetrators of said raid steal a device that is dubbed 'The Handle'. It is determined that the device must have importance since its price tag on the black market is US$10B. It turns out that the nefarious perpetrators of the raid were the Ukrainian mob. The British government, under the auspices of Norman Knighton (Eddie Marsan) recruits Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) to locate and retrieve, by almost any means possible, The Handle before it falls in to the hands of billionaire arms dealer Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant) who in turn would then sell it to the highest bidder. Jasmine recruits his go to man and super spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham, who also Co-Produces here, and collaborates with Ritchie for the fifth time) as well as the very tech savvy Sarah Fidel (Aubrey Plaza), the very handy sharp shooter JJ Davies (Bugzy Malone) and various others. 

And so the team travels to Madrid, seeking the courier intended to transport the hard drive containing the data from The Handle. Their search is scuppered by former colleague of Fortune, Mike (Peter Ferdinando) who has gone out on his own, hired a crack team and who also seems to have been hired to retrieve The Handle. Fortune and JJ manage to prevent Mike's team from getting to the courier and take him away, but he suffers a heart attack and dies before telling them the entire code. However, Sarah manages to copy the hard drive's contents before Mike catches up with them and steals it.

Sarah learns that Simmonds plans to host a charity gala aboard his lavish yacht in Cannes. The team decides to infiltrate the yacht by blackmailing Simmonds' all time favourite movie star, Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett) into helping them. While Simmonds is distracted by Danny, Fortune deals with another of Mike's men masquerading as a waiter, and Sarah is tasked with getting close to Simmonds' phone so JJ can clone it, so allowing the team to track the arms dealer. Simmonds encourages Danny to spend the weekend at his Turkish villa in Antalya, so that he can gain inspiration for his next movie role which Danny describes as being a mysterious self made billionaire type, to which Simmonds replies that he's just described him! Fortune stealthily breaks into the Ukrainian mafia house to hack their computers, disguising it as a robbery by stealing cash and jewellery. The British government meanwhile calls Nathan to warn him that The Handle is an advanced artificial intelligence that can be programmed to defeat any security system in the world. Learning from the computer information that the exchange for The Handle will take place in Antalya, the team travels to Turkey, and take up Simmonds offer to stay at his villa.

While Simmonds shows Danny his private car collection, Fortune and JJ follow Simmonds' right hand man Ben Harris (Max Beesley) with Fortune giving chase on foot while JJ helps to track the man from his vehicle. After a chase through the side streets and alleyways, Harris attacks Fortune, who by accident is killed when he falls over a protective railing at the top of a tall lookout tower. Fortune stands in for Harris at the exchange (as the Ukrainians would be unfamiliar with what Harris looks like) with Sarah using a computer programme to disguise Fortunes's voice to that of Harris's in order to fool Simmonds, so that he can relay a sixteen digit access code to activate The Handle. 

The exchange goes south when Fortune is recognised by one of the Ukrainian guards who was at the house the night Fortune broke in. Danny and Sarah escape Simmonds' villa before Simmonds learns what they have been doing. Meanwhile, Mike arrives, attacks, and kills everyone except Fortune and steals The Handle. JJ saves Fortune by taking out Mike's henchmen from afar, and the two take a helicopter to go to the aid of Danny and Sarah.

Nathan informs the team that Mike was not hired by any government and that he has gone rogue, and that a third party contracted him to steal The Handle. Lacking knowledge about the buyer, Fortune suggests talking to Simmonds. In spite of the problems the team caused him, Simmonds is willing to help, telling them that the buyers were a pair of billionaire bio-tech moguls, Arnold and Trent, whose intended use of The Handle is to create a worldwide financial collapse, while becoming richer through their ownership of large quantities of gold, which would become the world's only stable economic asset. 

And so Simmonds and Danny go to confront Arnold, Trent, and Mike in Arnold and Trent's HQ. Fortune successfully infiltrates the place by taking out numerous goons with support from Sarah and JJ. After Simmonds and Danny have said their piece and made their own demands, they leave. Mike tells his men to kill Arnold and Trent, starting a shoot-out. Fortune arrives after the carnage and manages to retrieve The Handle, but is then attacked by Mike, who is beaten about the head several times with the case containing The Handle, killing him stone dead. 

Fortune, Sarah and JJ follow Nathan to Doha, where they are offered another job, only for them to decide to take a holiday. Nathan demands that Fortune return the cash and jewels from the robbery at the Ukrainian villa, but reveals that he's used the proceeds to finance Danny's latest movie project in which he plays a fictionalised version of Greg Simmonds.

'Operation Fortune : Ruse de Guerre' is formulaic and predictable fare for sure, but nonetheless entertaining enough. The cast led by 'The Stath' who once again is in full ass-kicking, gun-toting, quips at the ready mode falls effortlessly into his usual tough guy persona, ably supported by those other British screen acting veterans Grant, Elwes and Marsan who all looked as though they were having a good time in making this film, as did the token American contingent of Hartnett and Plaza. For Writer and Director Ritchie, he has certainly found his calling with this type of action comedic offering and it appears, for now at least, that he doesn't want to deviate away from it. He delivers the action set pieces well enough, the humorous one-liners raised a smile and the occasional chuckle, but the story line is just a little too far fetched to keep it grounded or relatable. It's an enjoyable romp, not up there with his best, but for an early year start to big screen entertainment where you can switch off and just go with the flow, you could do worse.

'Operation Fortune : Ruse de Guerre' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

TAR : Monday 16th January 2023.

I saw the M rated 'TAR' at Sydney's Open Air Cinema at Mrs. Macquarie's Point overlooking the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the city skyline, on Monday evening this week, ten days ahead of its Australian release on 26th January. This psychological drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Todd Field whose previous two feature film making credits are his 2001 debut with 'In the Bedroom' and his 2006 'Little Children' which between them garnered the Writer/Director three Academy Award nominations, plus a further thirty award wins and another 108 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit for his complete body of work so far, including 'Tar'. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival in early September last year and its wide release in the US from the end of October, where it has so far recovered US$6.5M from its production budget of US$35M and has generated universal critical acclaim. 'Tar' has so far won fifty-six awards and another 200 nominations (some of which are still pending a final outcome).

The film opens up with 49 year-old celebrity virtuoso Lydia Tar (Cate Blanchett who also Co-Produces here) who is a multi award winning composer, only one of fifteen people to win the coveted EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) Awards and the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, being interviewed by Adam Gopnik (Adam Gopnik) at The New Yorker Festival. During the course of the interview she promotes a number of upcoming new projects, including her pending live recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony and her new autobiographical book 'Tar on Tar'. Lydia relies heavily on Francesca Lentini (Noemie Merlant) her Personal Assistant and former lover to manage her affairs, and Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss), her concertmaster violinist and wife. Later, Lydia has lunch with Eliot Kaplan (Mark Strong) an investment banker and conductor who with Lydia co-founded the Accordion Foundation to support and nurture aspiring female conductors. Amongst other things they discuss the interview, her technique, replacing Lydia's assistant conductor Sebastian Brix (Allan Corduner), and filling a vacant cello position in Berlin.

Lydia guest lectures a small graduate masterclass at the Juilliard School. She mocks the black indigenous person of colour and pangender student Max (Zethphan Smith-Gneist) for not taking interest in white composers like J. S. Bach, encouraging students to look past superficial differences and focus on the music itself. Max angrily storms out of the class. Before returning to Berlin, Lydia receives a package delivered to her at her hotel of a first edition of Vita Sackville-West's 1923 novel 'Challenge' from Krista Taylor (Sylvia Flote), a former Accordion fellow. 

Before a blind audition for the cello position, Lydia comes across young Russian hopeful Olga Metkina (Sophie Kauer) in the female toilets. Lydia is attracted to Olga and subsequently treats her favourably over others, including granting her a coveted soloist position in the companion piece to Mahler's Fifth, Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. As Lydia intensively prepares for the recording, her relationships with Francesca and Sharon grows increasingly strained, as both can see her attraction to Olga. 

After increasingly frequent and desperate e-mails to Francesca, Krista commits suicide, and Lydia instructs Francesca to delete any and all text and e-mail correspondence from or about Krista and retains a lawyer, as Krista's parents plan to sue. Lydia informs Sebastian of his imminent replacement. He is naturally incensed, indicates that the orchestra is aware of her favouritism, and speculates that Francesca will be his replacement. Unperturbed by the accusations, Lydia remarks that she intends to replace Sebastian with a different candidate. Without advising Lydia, Francesca suddenly and without warning resigns upon learning that she will not be promoted. 

One day after rehearsing Olga's solo, Lydia drives her home, but Olga inadvertently leaves a small teddy bear behind in the car. Lydia calls after her but she does not hear so she follows her into an abandoned, dilapidated apartment building. Spooked by a dog in the basement, Lydia runs out of the building trips and injures herself on a set os stone steps that she was hurriedly climbing. She gets home where Sharon treats her facial wounds and lies to her wife and the orchestra the next day, claiming the injuries were from an assault by an unknown male assailant. 

An edited, out-of-context video of Lydia's earlier Juilliard class in which she admonishes Max goes viral, and an article with accusations against her appears in the New York Post. Lydia, accompanied by Olga, returns to New York to attend a deposition for Krista's lawsuit and to promote her book, where she is met by placard wielding angry protestors. During the deposition, it is implied that Francesca has shared damning e-mails with the plaintiffs. The Kaplan Foundation cuts its ties with Lydia. Olga declines Lydia's dinner invitation, saying that she is jet lagged and is going to sleep, but instead sneaks out dressed up to the nines for a night out on the town. 

Back in Berlin, Lydia is removed as conductor. Furious over the allegations, but more so at Lydia's lack of communication, Sharon bars Lydia from seeing their adopted six year old daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). Lydia retreats to her old studio and gradually becomes increasingly depressed. At the live recording of Mahler's Fifth Symphony she physically punches and kicks her replacement, before being restrained by two burly security guards and the sounds of disbelief coming from the packed concert hall. Lydia is told to lay low by her management company, and so she returns to her working-class childhood home on Staten Island, where it is revealed that her birth name is Linda Tarr by her brother Tony who chastises her for turning her back on her roots.

Sometime later, Lydia finds work conducting in the Philippines. Seeking a massage to ease her jet lag, she asks the concierge at the low-end hotel she is staying in for a recommendation. She is sent to a high-end brothel, where she is directed to select an escort from the 'fishbowl' where numerous young women are seated in a chamber orchestra-like formation, all with their eyes lowered towards the floor. One woman with the number five pinned to her chest stares into Lydia's eyes, her position the same as Olga's. Lydia rushes outside to vomit on the side of the street. With her new orchestra, Lydia conducts the score for the video game series 'Monster Hunter' before an audience of avid cosplayers. 

'Tar' is a very well made film and worthy of all the accolades bestowed up on it. Here Director, Writer and Producer Todd Field has crafted a film that takes us from the very pinnacle of Lydia's career when it appears she can do no wrong to the very depth's of her career when she is cast asunder and to all intents and purposes, cancelled! Cate Blanchett's performance is outstanding and rivetingly nuanced as she goes from the very highs of her conducting and musical scoring expertise to the depth's of despair having lost almost everything and starting over in the Philippines, all alone in the world. The energy, emotion and complexity with which she imbues her character, not to mention the 10% or so of her dialogue delivered in German, is exemplary and puts Blanchett firmly on a trajectory for Oscar glory later this year, having already won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards for Best Actress earlier this month. My only criticism of the film is that at a two-and-a-half hour+ run time it does drag its heels in places and becomes just a tad repetitive. This film won't be for everyone, but for those more mature audience members looking for a break from the horror, action and Superhero fare offered up by studio's these days, you can't go far wrong with 'Tar'. 

'Tar' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 19th January 2023.

The 23rd annual American Film Institute (AFI) Awards were presented on Friday 13th January at the Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills, LA over the course of an exclusive invitation only luncheon held for 250 select attendees from the world of American film and television. Presented by the American Film Institute to recognise the Top 10 films and television programmes of the year, these awards, unlike other accolades about the cinema and TV art form, acknowledge the film and television productions deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year's most significant achievements in the art of the moving image in American cinema. Media that does not fit the AFI's conventional eligibility criteria for the main categories, such as non-American productions as well as other types of media, are given recognition through the AFI Special Award. The American Film Institute is an American nonprofit film organisation that educates filmmakers and honours the heritage of the motion picture arts in the US.

Those ten award winners in the film category are as follows :-

* 'Avatar : The Way of Water' - Directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis.

* 'Elvis' - Directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

* 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' - Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert and starring Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu. 

* 'Nope' - Directed by Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yuen, Michael Wincott and Brandon Perea.

* 'She Said' - Directed by Maria Schrader and starring Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher and Tom Pelphrey. 

* 'The Fabelmans' - Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch.

* 'The Woman King' - Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, Thuso Mbedu, John Boyega and Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

* 'Top Gun : Maverick' - Directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connolly, Val Kilmer and Jon Hamm.

* 'Tar' - Directed by Todd Field and starring Cate Blanchett, Noemie Merlant, Nina Hoss and Mark Strong.

* 'Women Talking' - Directed by Sarah Polley and starring Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Ben Whishaw.

With the AFI Special Award being presented to 'The Banshees of Inisherin' as Directed by Martin McDonagh and starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.

For the ten winners of the television category, plus a whole lot more good stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://www.afi.com

Turning the attention then back to this weeks four new movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we launch with a story of how decadence, depravity, and outrageous excess lead to the rise and fall of a number of ambitious dreamers in 1920's Hollywood. Then we have a UK doco that charts the true story of how in 1993, a boy named Brandon Lee enrols at the Bearsden Academy Secondary School in Glasgow, Scotland, and over time, it is revealed that Brandon Lee is not who he claims to be. Next up is a Spanish offering about two sisters who set up a bakery on the island of Mallorca together, that they inherited from a benefactor that they didn't know. And, closing out the week is a Russian family animated film about a grumpy bear who must bring a cute grizzly cub to America by flying on an airship with his friends, avoiding snowy disasters and an evil vulture along the way.

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

'BABYLON' (Rated MA15+) - is an American epic period comedy-drama film Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle, whose prior film making credits take in the highly acclaimed and multi-award winning 'Whiplash' in 2014, 'La La Land' in 2016 and 'First Man' in 2018. 'Babylon' saw its World Premier in Los Angeles in mid-December before its US release on 23rd December, and has divided critics with those who generally praised the cinematography, editing, score, and performances, but were split on its screenplay, direction, graphic content, and runtime. The film cost about US$80M to produce and has so far recouped just US$15M but received five nominations for the 80th Golden Globe Awards and won one for Best Original Score, and nine nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards winning one for Best Production Design. The film has a run time of three hours and nine minutes.

The film follows the rise and fall of multiple characters during Hollywood's transition from silent films to talkies during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in the late 1920's, including Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) - a popular silent film star known for his flamboyant parties; Manny Torres (Diego Calva) - a Mexican-American film assistant who aspires to have a larger role within the film industry; Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) - an aspiring actress and Manny's love interest; Elinor St. John (Jean Smart) - a sensationalist journalist; Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li) - a Chinese-American cabaret singer who also writes intertitles for films; and Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) - a jazz trumpet player with Max Minghella, Lukas Haas, Tobey Maguire, Flea, Eric Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Katherine Waterstone and Phoebe Tonkin. 

'MY OLD SCHOOL' (Rated M) - this UK documentary film is Directed, Written and Co-Edited by Jono McLeod in his feature film making debut. The film saw its virtual World Premier screening at the January 2022 Sundance Film Festival, was released in the US in late July last year, and only now is it released here in Australia. It tells the story of how in 1995, it was discovered that 'Brandon Lee', who had a year earlier enrolled as a fifth-year student at Bearsden Academy secondary school in Bearsden, Glasgow, Scotland, had actually been a thirty-year-old former student, Brian MacKinnon, posing as a seventeen-year-old. The story attracted widespread and sensational news coverage at the time. McLeod, the film's Director, was one of MacKinnon's peers at Bearsden Academy. The story of MacKinnon's time at Bearsden and his unmasking are told through a combination of present-day interviews with MacKinnon's classmates and teachers, cartoon recreations, and archival footage. MacKinnon agreed to be interviewed for the film, but did not wish to appear on camera, so Actor Alan Cumming appears as an avatar for MacKinnon, lip syncing to the audio of his interviews. The film has so far grossed US$280K and has generated largely positive press.

'LEMON AND POPPY SEED CAKE' (Rated M) - is a 2021 Spanish-Luxembourg film Directed and Co-Written by Benito Zambrano, based on the novel of the same name by Cristina Campos. The film saw its World Premier showcasing at the Valladolid Film Festival in Spain in late October 2021 before its release in Spain in mid-November 2021, and only now does it get a limited release in Australia. In the small town of Valldemosa located on the Spanish island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean, Anna (Eva Martin) and her sister Marina (Elia Galera), who were separated when they were teenagers, meet again to sell a bakery they've inherited from a mysterious woman they know nothing about. The two sisters have led very different lives. Anna has barely left the island and is unhappily married to a man she no longer loves. Marina travels the world working as a doctor for an NGO. As the sisters try to uncover the secrets hidden behind their enigmatic benefactor and her property, they are forced to confront old family disputes and make up for lost time.

'BIG TRIP 2 : SPECIAL DELIVERY' (Rated PG) - is a Russian and Hungarian Co-Produced animated family adventure comedy film Directed by Natalya Nilova and Vasiliy Rovenskiy. After a big trip, Mic Mic the bear (voiced by Daniel Medvedev) just wants to relax. Unfortunately, another stork mishap means he must care for an adorable baby grizzly – and bring it all the way to America! As Mic Mic and his zany friends travel by airship, devious vulture Billy tries to sabotage the mission. Can the brave crew survive a lightning storm, crash-landing, ice flood, snowy avalanche – and Billy’s traps – to bring the cute cub to America, and keep the forest there free from evil’s rule? 

With four 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-