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-