What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 23rd March 2023.

South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organised jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, USA. It began in 1987 and has continued to grow in both scope and size every year. The SXSW Film Festival runs for nine days, which this year ran from Friday 10th March until Sunday 19th March, simultaneously with the SXSW Film Conference, and celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent both behind and in front of the camera.

This years Opening Night film was 'Dungeon's & Dragons : Honour Among Thieves' Written and Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, with the World Premier showcasing of 'Air' Directed by Ben Affleck chosen as the Closing Night film.

Of the two feature film award categories held - Narrative Feature Competition, which showcases eight World Premieres, eight unique ways to celebrate the art of storytelling; and Documentary Feature Competition screening eight World Premieres with eight real world stories that demonstrate innovation, energy and bold voices, the winners and also rans, are as follows :-

* Narrative Feature Competition, winner : 'Raging Grace' Written and Directed by Paris Zarcilla in this UK produced horror film. This film beat out seven other international features, all of which had their World Premiers at SXSW, these being : 'I Used To Be Funny', from Canada and Written and Directed by Ally Pankiw; 'Late Bloomers' from the US and Directed by Lisa Steen; 'Mustache' from the US and Pakistan and Written and Directed by Imran J. Khan; 'Parachute' from the US and Co-Written and Directed by Brittany Snow; 'Pure O' from the US and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Dillon Tucker; 'Scrambled' from the US and Written and Directed by Leah McKendrick; and 'Story Ave' Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Aristotle Torres.

* Special Jury Award for Performance, presented to Courtney Eaton for her role as Riley in the US drama romance feature film 'Parachute' Co-Written and Directed by Brittany Snow. 

* Special Jury Award for Cinematography, awarded to Eric Branco for 'Story Ave', this US drama film Co-Written and Directed by Aristotle Torres.

* Documentary Feature Competition, winner : 'Angel Applicant' from the US and Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Ken August Meyer. This film beat out seven other documentaries, all again having seen their World Premier screenings at this years SXSW. Those other films were : 'Another Body' from the US and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Sophie Compton; 'Geoff McFetridge : Drawing a Life' from the US and Co-Written, Produced and Directed by Dan Covert; 'Join or Die' from the US and Written, Produced and Directed by Rebecca Davis and Pete Davis; 'Pay or Die' from the US and Directed and Produced by Rachael Dyer and Scott Ruderman; 'Queendom' from France and the US and Co-Produced and Directed by Agniia Galdanova; 'Riders of the Storm' from Austria and Produced and Directed by Jason Motlagh and Mark Oltmans; and 'You Were My First Boyfriend' from the US and Written and Directed by Cecilia Aldarondo and Sarah Enid Hagey.

* Special Jury Award for Innovation in Storytelling, presented to 'Another Body' from the US and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Sophie Compton. 

For the other feature and short film sections, including details of 'Headliners', 'Narrative Spotlight', 'Documentary Spotlight', 'Midnighters' and 'Visions' plus the other award recipients and a whole heap of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://www.sxsw.com/festivals/film/

This week we have just three new cinematic offerings coming to a big screen Odeon near you, kicking off with the fourth instalment in this fast paced action thriller franchise that sees this legendary and almost indestructible hit man taking his fight against the High Table to earn his freedom as he seeks out the most powerful players across the global underworld. This is followed by a fantasy offering in which a young intern starts work at a mysterious London firm with unconventional employers, including a CEO who wants to disrupt the ancient magical world with modern corporate practices. And closing out the week we have an Aussie romantic drama set during the summer of 1999, when an 18-year-old amateur ballroom dancer has an unexpected and intense 24-hour romance with a friend's older brother.

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 coming week.

'JOHN WICK : CHAPTER 4' (Rated MA15+) - here we have the continuing saga in the 'John Wick' franchise that is once again Directed and Co-Produced by Chad Stahelski following his earlier successes with the 2014 debut in the series 'John Wick', then 2017's 'John Wick : Chapter 2' and 2019's 'John Wick : Chapter 3 - Parabellum'. Those first three films grossed globally a total US$587M off the back of combined production budgets of US$145M. Originally set for worldwide cinematic release on 21st May 2021, 'John Wick 4' was delayed first due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then Keanu Reeves's commitments with 2021's 'The Matrix Resurrections'. This film saw its World Premier in London on 6th March and is scheduled for a worldwide release from this week. 'John Wick Chapter 5' is already in development with a release date yet to be confirmed.

In this instalment, John Wick (Keanu Reeves who also Executive Produces here) uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, and with the price on his head ever rising, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and in the underworld that turn old friends into new foes, from New York to Paris to Japan and Berlin. Also starring Ian McShane, Lance Riddick, Laurence Fishburne, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Hiroyuki Sanada, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown and Natalia Tena.

'THE PORTABLE DOOR' (Rated PG) - is an Australian family friendly fantasy film Directed by Jeffrey Walker in only his third feature film outing following 'Dance Academy : The Movie' in 2017, and 'Ali's Wedding' also in 2017, although he has Directed numerous TV series to date including multiple episodes of 'Neighbours', 'Rake', 'Difficult People', 'Modern Family' and 'Young Rock' most recently. This film is adapted from 'The Portable Door', the first book in Tom Holt’s J.W. Wells & Co. series. Here then, Paul Carpenter (Patrick Gibson) and Sophie Pettingel (Sophie Wilde), are lowly, put-upon interns who begin working at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co., and become increasingly aware that their employers are anything but conventional. Charismatic villains Humphrey Wells (Christoph Waltz), the CEO of the company, and middle manager Dennis Tanner (Sam Neill) are disrupting the world of magic by bringing modern corporate strategy to ancient magical practices, and Paul and Sophie discover the true agenda of the vast corporation. The film is released in Australia from this week on Stan and in the UK on Sky Cinema and the US on MGM+ from 7th April. Also starring Miranda Otto, Rachel House, Jessica De Gouw and Damon Herriman.

'OF AN AGE' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian romantic drama film is Written and Directed by Goran Stolevski in only his second feature film after 'You Won't Be Alone' in 2022. Set during the Summer of 1999, seventeen year old Nikola 'Kol' Denic (Elias Anton), a Serbian born Australian amateur ballroom dancer enters a brief 24 hour intense romance with Adam Donegal (Thom Green), the brother of his ballroom dance partner Ebony Donegal (Hattie Hook). This film saw its World Premier screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival in early August last year, was released in the US in early February and is now released this week in Australia having garnered generally favourable reviews and collected US$557K at the Box Office. 

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 week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-