THE SURFER : Tuesday 27th May 2025

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE SURFER' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this Australian and Irish Co-Produced psychological thriller film is Directed by Lorcan Finnegan who made his feature film making debut with 'Without Name' in 2016 and would follow this up with 'Vivarium' in 2019 and 'Nocebo' in 2022. The film premiered in the Midnight Screenings section at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May last year, was released Stateside and here in Australia earlier this month and has garnered generally favourable reviews, and has so far grossed US$2M.

It is the week leading up to Christmas in the small Western Australian beachside town of Luna Bay, and the sun is beating down. We are introduced to the Surfer (Nicolas Cage) and his mid-teenage son (Finn Little) driving down to a car park in a Lexus, with the intention that the father and son go for a surf. The kid is not amused that his dad has taken him out of school for the day, but the dad persists and says that he a surprise in store for his son. They park up, put on their wet suits and grab their surf boards and take the short walk down to the ocean, where dad used to surf when he was much younger and before he relocated to California. The Surfer tells his son that he is intending to repurchase his childhood home for them overlooking that very beach, as it has recently come on the market, and he is in prime position to snap it up. 

However, when the Surfer and his son reach the sand, they are immediately set upon by surfing localists doing their utmost to defend their beach under the matra 'don't live here, don't surf here', and led by Scally (Julian McMahon), who is a self-styled guru determined to protect the beach from outsider non-residents. The Surfer and his son are turned away by Scally and his followers, which mortifies the Kid and makes him want to leave. The Surfer takes the Kid home and returns to the beach.

Desperate to close the deal on the house before the extended Christmas break, the Surfer makes numerous calls in order to secure the needed funds, although is met with resistance from his bank and mortgage lender. During the first day, the Surfer also meets the Bum (Nicholas Cassim), who is living in his broken-down Subaru station wagon parked in a corner of the beachside car park. As the Surfer and the Bum watch Scally and his gang through a pair of binoculars, the Bum tells the Surfer that Scally murdered his son and killed his dog.

Refusing to leave, that night, while the Surfer is in the public toilet block, the locals steal his surfboard and vandalise his car, which results in a physical confrontation. The next morning, the Police (Justin Rosniak) arrive but turn out to be part of Scally's gang and advise the Surfer to leave the beach, which the Surfer is unable to do as the battery in his Lexus is dead, because he spent all of the previous night sleeping in his car with the air conditioning turned on.

Later that day, a kindly photographer (Miranda Tapsell) helps him jump-start his car and takes a photo of him standing next to it. After the photographer leaves, the Surfer's phone battery dies, and because he does not have a charger, it becomes impossible for him to purchase a coffee and food from the nearby beach kiosk, as all of his credit cards were saved to his phone. In order to get a coffee and to charge his phone, so that he can continue securing an additional AU$100K funding for the home, he leaves his father's watch as collateral, and his phone to be charged, with the owner of the kiosk. 

Unable to eat and drink, as Scally's gang had smeared dog turd all over the water fountain, and chained his vicious dog up to the fountain to prevent the Surfer from accessing it. The taps in the public toilet run brown contaminated water, and still refusing to leave, the Surfer begins to lose his sanity. After a confrontation with his real estate agent, who claims not to know who he is, he finds that the kiosk has closed for the day, and he cannot get his phone or his watch back. Additionally, the Policeman who the day before had advised him to leave the beach returns and insists that he move his car, which he tells the Surfer is not in fact a Lexus, which has subsequently been stolen, but rather the broken-down Subaru the Bum had been living in. With nowhere else to go, he takes to living in the Bum's vehicle, taking a sharktooth necklace from the car the Bum had insisted his own son had won in a local surfing competition before he was killed by Scally and his gang.

The photographer returns and shows the Surfer, who by now is driven to the brink of insanity by heat exhaustion and dehydration, a picture of himself she had taken earlier, proving that he is in fact not the Bum and is actually who he originally thought that he was. She offers him a bottle of water which he gulps down needless to say. Enraged and desperate, he goes to the beach, fights and nearly drowns Pitbull (Alexander Bertrand). After struggling to get out of the water, Scally's crew lift the Surfer up onto their shoulders and carry him off, patching him up from the scrapes and bruises he has sustained these past few days, and he wakes in Scally's den to find his phone, his watch and his car keys arranged neatly by his bedside. Scally then reveals to him that the entire experience was a test to ensure that the Surfer was worthy of buying the beachside house he grew up in, and to further ensure that he can be trusted, and as a final test Scally forces the Surfer to torch the Bum's car, which he does. 

Finally able to actually go for a surf, the Surfer, the Kid, Scally, and his gang all return to the beach only to be halted in their tracks by the Bum, who has returned to the beach with a hand gun. The Bum allows most of the gang to leave but insists that Scally, the Surfer, and the Kid stay, because they have become the same locals who had terrorised him initially and had continued to do so. The Surfer, however, is able to convince the Bum to let him and the Kid surf by returning the Bum's sharktooth necklace. As the Surfer and the Kid finally paddle out into the ocean, the Bum executes Scally and then shoots himself in the head.

Whatever you want to say about 'The Surfer' you have to hand it Nicolas Cage for turning out another B-Movie that taps in to his gonzo, bananas and off-beat persona that somehow manages to carry this film along. I struggled with this offering with Director Lorcan Finnegan going intensely close-up on several characters eyes; his frequent darting to various animals as if to showcase the varied wildlife that Australia has to offer from Huntsman spiders, to cicada's, to echidna's, kangaroos, snakes and a wild dog - they're all on display here. And, rather than sweating it out in the heat of mid-Summer, why didn't the Surfer just go to his soon to be ex-wife's house which is clearly close enough as the son rides his bicycle down to the beach for his Dad's final confrontation with the Bum. Because of this the film is repetitive, and there are several plot holes you can drive a truck through, but at its heart it's a film about toxic tribal masculinity, exploitation and one man's decent into (near) lunacy in a beachside car park that so it seems there is no escape from.

'The Surfer' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 29th May 2025.

The 28th Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) this year runs from Friday 30th May through until Sunday 8th June. BFF, a non-profit organisation, is an International, competitive festival. BFF's mission is to provide a public forum in Brooklyn in order to advance public interest in films and the independent production of films. To draw worldwide attention to Brooklyn as a centre for cinema. To encourage the rights of all Brooklyn residents to access and experience the power of independent filmmaking, and to promote artistic excellence and the creative freedom of artists without censure. Award-winning films from the Brooklyn Film Festival have gone on to be nominated and awarded at the British Academy Awards (BAFTAs), the American Academy Awards (Oscars), and the Canadian Screen Award.

This year there are 145 films divided into forty-two film programmes and in six categories - Feature Narrative, Documentary Feature, Short Narrative, Doc Short, Experimental and Animation. In the Feature Narrative section, the Opening Night film presentation is 'This Will Never Work' from the USA and is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Marina Tempelsman and Niccolo Aeed. This film is about a Black family coming together to have an intervention for Amanda's drinking problem. They've hired a therapist named Trevor, written emotional letters, and now they sit and wait for Amanda to arrive. But when she does, Trevor realises that the family hasn't exactly been honest with him. World Premiere screening.

The other films being showcased in the Narrative Feature section are :-

* 'Alice-Heart' - from the USA and is Written and Directed by Mike Macera. Alice-Heart is an aimless college student residing in Philadelphia. She aspires to be a successful writer but drops out of school in her last semester of senior year on a whim. Immediately cut off from her disappointed Filipino mother and dumped by her studious boyfriend, she finds that she has to pay bills on her own for the first time.

* 'The Courageous' - from Switzerland and Directed by Jasmin Gordon. In a small town on the edge of wild country, an eccentric and delinquent mother has had enough of the rules. Crushed by her mistakes and by a society that doesn’t give a damn, or a second chance, to people like her, she’ll do anything to prove to her children, and to herself, that she still is a good person.

* 'Difference & Repetition, 2020' - from the USA, Peru and Argentina and Written, Co-Produced, Directed, Co-Edited and Scored by Mav Block. In March 2020, an Argentine woman flees New York with her Peruvian husband for his family’s empty beach house outside of Lima, whereupon an unplanned pregnancy precipitates the destruction of her marriage. In the present day, she rips the moments of this narrative from their context, and reconstructs her story to reckon with her profound feeling of loneliness and the experience of time in which it has trapped her. World Premiere screening.

* 'Domestic Animals' - from the USA and Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Scored by Juan Pablo Daranas Molina. On the brink of their thirties, five longtime friends reunite for a farewell getaway, but their idyllic retreat turns sour when they lose their beloved dogs in the woods. World Premiere showcasing.

* 'Era' - from Kosovo and Written and Directed by Parta Kelmendi. Set in Kosovo in 1990, and after a series of unfortunate events, Era and her family are forced to move from Pristina to the village of her grandmother. She will need to leave behind her friends, her boyfriend, and her life as she knows it and at the same time comply with the village rules. As she tries to adapt to her new reality the dynamics in her life change, redefining her relationship with her parents, her youth, and her future. World Premiere.

* 'Foul Evil Deeds' - from the UK and Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Richard Hunter. A dark comedy showcasing the wide variety of evil behaviour human beings are capable of.

* 'I See The Demon' - from the USA and Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Jacob Lees Johnson. After seeing a strange object floating in the sky, Lucy comes home to a surprise birthday party with all of her favourite people. She’s overjoyed, but when asked about her day, she realises she can’t remember anything about it. Her loved ones assure her it’s nothing to worry about, but as more unsettling things occur that only she seems to notice, they keep telling her to relax... enjoy the party... there’s nothing to worry about... we’ll take care of you...

* 'Intruders' - from France and Written and Directed by Reza Serkanian. Some foreign minors take refuge on the farm of a caring lady. They are looking for a home but get involved in the story of a broken family. The situation escalates when the lady mysteriously disappears. A family investigation suspects the young migrants, who are hiding something out of fear and ignorance of their rights. During a traditional initiation ceremony, secrets come to light.

* 'Mouse' - from the USA and Directed and starring by Kenny Riches. Between stealing bicycles and breaking into cars, Denny’s only social outlet is spending time with his mother who loves reading correspondence from their Japanese family overseas. Denny’s loneliness pushes him to sign up for a penpal service from a classified-ad. He begins writing letters to a woman named Tess, whom he develops feelings for, but lies to about his nonexistent wealth and success. Unbeknownst to Denny, the penpal service is a scheme Tess and her real-life boyfriend, Maury, run to take advantage of the lonely. Tess and Maury find themselves in financial trouble of their own and decide to travel to Denny to take him for all he’s worth. World Premiere.

* 'The Rabbit Hole' - from the USA and Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Edited by Sam Jonas. Isaac, a neurotic tree-hugger, builds a god-like supercomputer in order to save the natural world. But, when the machine comes to life and his existence begins to crumble, Isaac is forced to choose between destiny and the person he loves most. World Premiere.

* 'The Snare' - from the USA and Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Merlin Camozzi. Eighteen year old Dani lives on the edge of lower-middle class America - working fast food, caring for her younger brother, and ignoring letters from her incarcerated father. Her one shot at escape is a scholarship to a state school. But when she’s caught with a few MDMA tabs bought from twenty year old Marty - a small-time dealer to whom she feels deeply drawn, the future she’s worked for begins to collapse. The Police offer her a deal - help them catch someone bigger, and they’ll forget the drugs. Dani agrees, keeping the deal secret from everyone, including Marty. 

* 'Stationed at Home' - from the USA and Written and Directed by Daniel V. Masciari. On a clear and frigid Christmas Eve in 1998, in a small, forgotten city, a solitary taxi driver on the graveyard shift breathlessly awaits the sight of the International Space Station. As the hours count down, a parade of offbeat misfits derail his plans, propelling the story to its exhilarating climax. US Premiere.

* 'Violent Butterflies' - from Mexico and Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Adolfo Davila. A graffiti artist and the singer of a punk band, meet in an atmosphere of profound social crisis and discontent. Their idealist and revolutionary minds seek a world of justice and they are willing to fight for it. Music and street art, unite them and serve as their weapons. Naive and innocent, they are unaware of the power of impunity and injustice until they fall victims to Police brutality. US Premiere screening.

* 'White Flash' - from the Netherlands and Co-Written and Directed by Laura Hermanides. This is the story of Aagje, Toon and their forty-two year old son Rick, who suffers from psychotic episodes, depression and severe headaches. We follow their journey in the last six weeks leading up to the death of Rick. A journey proving that letting someone so close to us go, is the most extreme expression of love. US Premiere.

For the full synopsis of the other films featured in all sections of this years Brooklyn Film Festival, plus a whole lot of other good stuff, you can go to the official website at : https://www.brooklynfilmfestival.org/

This week there are just three new movie offerings to tempt you out to your local Odeon, starting off with a story of one of the richest men in Europe, his family and the family business which he bequeaths to his only daughter which soon attracts the unwanted attention of assassins and terrorists alike. This is followed by an Aussie horror film in which a brother and sister witness a terrifying ritual at the secluded home of their new foster mother; before closing out the week with a French romantic drama film in which a local rebellious teenager falls for his schoolmate but gang violence leads him down a darker destructive path.

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.

'THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME' (Rated M) - is a US and German Co-Produced espionage black comedy film Produced, Written and Directed by Wes Anderson from a story he conceived with Roman Coppola. Anderson's previous feature film credits take in the likes of his debut in 1996 with 'Bottle Rocket', and which he would follow up with other offerings including 'The Royal Tenenbaums' in 2001, 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou' in 2004, 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' in 2009, 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' in 2014, 'Isle of Dogs' in 2018, 'The French Dispatch' in 2021, and 'Asteroid City' in 2023. This film Premiered in the main competition at this years Cannes Film Festival in mid-May and is released in the USA and here in Australia this week.

Wealthy businessman and derring-do multi-millionaire Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) who has survived six plane crashes and fathered nine sons, appoints his only daughter, a nun, Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton) as sole heir to his estate. With tutor Bjorn Lund (Michael Cera), they embark on a quest to secure the future of Korda’s business ventures, and as Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins. Also starring a cast of notable A-listers including Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Rupert Friend, Richard Ayoade, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Hope Davis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham and Charlotte Gainsbourg. 

'BRING HER BACK' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian horror film is Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou and Co-Written by Danny Philippou, whose debut feature film was the critically acclaimed and commercially successful 'Talk to Me' in 2023. The brothers are known together online as RackaRacka, and are Australian twin filmmakers, YouTubers, and stunt performers, and are known for their horror comedy YouTube videos. Here then, following the death of their father, a brother Andy (Billy Barratt) and sister Catherine (Mischa Heywood) are introduced to their new sibling Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) by their foster mother Laura (Sally Hawkins), only to learn that she has a terrifying secret at their new secluded home. This film is released Stateside too this week. 

'BEATING HEARTS' (Rated MA15+) - is a French and Belgian Co-Produced romantic drama film that is Co-Written and Directed by the French Actor and occasional film maker Gilles Lellouche, and is based on the 1997 novel 'Jackie Loves Johnser OK?' by Irishman Neville Thompson. Here, seventeen year old Clotaire (Malik Frikah) falls for his schoolmate the fifteen year old Jackie (Mallory Wanecque), charmed by her fearless spirit and sharp wit. As first love blossoms between the two, and they grow into adults (Francois Civil as the 27 year old Clotaire, and Adele Exarchopoulos as the 25 year old Jackie) gang violence entices him into a darker path and destroys everything when he is charged with a crime he didn't commit. The film had its World Premiere in main competition at the Cannes Film Festival in late May 2024, where it received mostly negative reviews from critics. It was released in cinemas in mid-October last year in its native France and only now is it released here in Australia having so far grossed US$36M from a production budget of US$40M.

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-

MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING : Tuesday 20th May 2025.

I saw the heavily promoted, much hyped and highly anticipated M Rated 'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING' earlier this week, and this American spy action film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. This film serves as a direct sequel to 2023's 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' and is the eighth and possibly the final film in the 'M:I' franchise. McQuarrie's previous feature film Directing output takes in his debut in 2000 with 'The Way of the Gun', which he would follow up with 'Jack Reacher' in 2012, 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation' in 2015, 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' in 2018 and 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' in 2023. The first seven films in this hugely popular and successful franchise grossed a total of US$4.14B at the global Box Office from combined production budgets of US$1.5B, with this eighth instalment costing somewhere in between US$300 and 400M, making it one of the most expensive films ever made. The film had its World Premiere screening in Tokyo on 5th May, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on 14th May and it set for a worldwide release from this week onward although a handful of territories (including Australia) saw its release brought forward to 17th of May.  

Picking up two months after the events of 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, who also Co-Produces here) in the opening scene places a VHS tape into his recorder and its plays back a message from the US President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) who urges him to come out of hiding and to hand over the two piece cruciform key which he still has in his possession. Once played the tape self destructs within five seconds. And so the trusty band of IMF Agents reassemble and with Ethan and Grace (Hayley Atwell) they go after Gabriel (Esai Morales) who is looking to take control of the 'Entity A.I.' and to bring the world to heel. However, Gabriel captures Ethan and Grace and coerces Ethan into retrieving the core module, revealed to be the 'Rabbit's Foot' (reference 'M:I:III'), from the sunken Russian submarine Sevastopol for him, which would give him control over the Entity's source code. Ethan and Grace escape with the assistance of IMF agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and new recruits Paris (Pom Klementieff) and Theo Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis). Following a foot chase in a system of disused tunnels adjacent to London's Underground train lines, in which Gabriel successfully evades Ethan, the team uncover a device that Gabriel used to communicate with the Entity, which shows Ethan a vision of a coming nuclear apocalypse. Ethan realises the Entity needs access to a secure digital bunker located in remote South Africa to ensure its survival.

Ethan sends his team, under the leadership of Benji Dunn, to retrieve the Sevastopol's coordinates, while he rejoins Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) to disarm a nuclear device Gabriel planted in London. Luther tells Ethan that he developed a malware for the Entity called the Poison Pill, but that Gabriel had stolen it the night before while Luther was sleeping. Sacrificing himself, Luther stays behind in a vain attempt to stop the bomb, giving Ethan just enough time to escape the bomb's blast. 

Ethan surrenders to President Sloane, who urges cooperation due to the Entity's escalating control over global nuclear systems, with all but four of the world's nuclear armed countries still in control of their nuclear arsenals - Russia, China, the UK and the USA, with the other five having lost control to the Entity already. With only four days before it launches global strikes, Ethan convinces Sloane to let him act independently to locate the Sevastopol, against CIA Director Eugene Kittridge's (Henry Czerny) objections, and that of others including Serling Bernstein (Holt McCallany) the Secretary of Defence; General Sidney (Nick Offerman) the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs; Walters (Janet McTeer) the Secretary of State; Richards (Charles Parnell) the Director of National Intelligence; Angstrom (Mark Gatiss) Head of the National Security Agency; and Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham) a US Intelligence Agent. 

Ethan's team travel to St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea, home to a Cold War–era sonar station that detected the Sevastopol's sinking. They locate former CIA analyst William Donloe (Rolf Saxon) (reference 'Mission : Impossible'), who was exiled to the island decades earlier after a covert break-in at CIA headquarters, courtesy of one Ethan Hunt. Donloe reveals he memorised the Sevastopol's coordinates after recognising the sonar signature. As Grace, Benji, Theo and Donloe’s wife Tapeesa (Lucy Tulugarjuk), hold off an occupying unit of Russian special forces in a firefight, Donloe transmits the coordinates by Morse Code to Ethan, who by now has joined the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush in the North Pacific Ocean to dive to the Sevastopol wreck. 

Ethan takes a deep dive inside a specially designed suit used by the dive-master into the icy cold waters of the Bering Sea. After overcoming several obstacles inside the stricken Russian submarine, he retrieves the Podkova module containing the Entity's original source code, but accidentally triggers the wreck to slide down the continental ice shelf. Narrowly escaping through an empty torpedo tube but having to exit from his dive suit, Ethan suffers from decompression sickness and drowns during the ascent to the surface, but is rescued and revived by Grace and Tapeesa using a makeshift decompression chamber. Reunited with his IMF team, Ethan outlines his plan to use the Poison Pill to upload and isolate the Entity on a one of a kind five dimensional physical drive created by Luther before he died, and so trapping it from the outside world. 

Ethan suspects Gabriel is already waiting at the South African bunker with the Poison Pill, aiming to seize control of the Entity by forcing Ethan to surrender the Podkova module. The team arrives at the bunker in South Africa only to find it abandoned except for Gabriel and his henchmen. He reveals another nuclear device with a twenty-minute countdown, demanding the module. Ethan agrees, but the handover is interrupted by Kittridge, who wants the US to control the Entity. 

The bomb is activated in the ensuing gunfight in which Benji sustains a bullet wound to his stomach. Gabriel flees the scene, knowing that Ethan will pursue him. Paris performs emergency surgery on a critically injured Benji as he falls in and out of consciousness, while guiding Grace to reboot the bunker systems to trap the Entity. Donloe buys the team enough time for everyone to escape safely before the bomb detonates.

Ethan chases Gabriel in a biplane and climbs onto Gabriel’s plane mid-air. Gabriel fails to shake him off despite numerous attempts to do so, and jumps with a parachute while the plane is flying upside down, but is killed after hitting the plane’s rudder head first. Ethan finds a second parachute, escapes with the Poison Pill, and connects it up with the Podkova module mid-descent, so allowing Grace to finish the upload. 

Kittridge and Briggs find Ethan and land their helicopter close by to collect him. Kittridge is frustrated when Ethan hands over the destroyed module of the Sevastopol while Briggs, who is revealed to be James Phelps Jnr., the son of Ethan's original team leader Jim Phelps (Jon Voight - reference 'Mission : Impossible') and makes peace with him. The IMF team reunites in London's Trafalgar Square at night time, where Grace gives Ethan the Entity, now safely isolated on Luther's 5D drive, and after acknowledging each other from a careful distance, the team fade into the crowd and go their separate ways.

Here, as with the previous three instalments, Director and Producers McQuarrie and Cruise have delivered us an action spectacular that doesn't let up on the practical thrills and spills, and death defying stunt work that this franchise is probably best known for. Cruise's commitment to his craft is on full display here once again as he pushes the boundaries of his stunt work all in the name of giving his audience a realistic experience to savour. The production values are top notch, but then for a budget of between US$300 and 400M that is to be expected, and the supporting cast are all on point. The plot however, left me feeling a little meh!, and how one man alone could save all of humanity from nuclear annihilation left me feeling just a tad incredulous. That said, 'Mission : Impossible - The Final Reckoning' is a fitting end, or so we are led to believe, to this multi-billion dollar taking franchise that has plenty of nods to those prior seven instalments, and leaves the door open for further offerings, should we choose to accept it, and whether Tom Cruise is up for another impossible mission to save 'those we hold close, and those we'll never meet'! At a running time of just ten minutes shy of three hours, this film will not leave you wanting. See it on the biggest screen you can.

'Mission : Impossible - The Final Reckoning' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 22nd May 2025

This years 65th Krakow Film Festival takes place between 25th May and 1st June in the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Krakow Film Festival is one of the oldest events in the world dedicated to documentary, animated and short feature films. Its core consists of three competitions of equal rank - documentary film competition, short film competition and national competition. During the eight festival days, the viewers have a chance to watch about 250 films from Poland and from around the world. The festival is accompanied by exhibitions, concerts, open-air shows and meetings with artists. Every year, the festival is visited by approximately 900 Polish and international guests - Directors, Producers, festival programmers and numerous Krakow audiences. Since its beginnings, the Krakow Film Festival has been a platform for exploring the world through film. Their mission is to bring audiences closer to important issues, discover new talents and boldly present artistic cinema . . . so reads the official website.

In the International Documentary Competition, the newest documentary films from all around the world are presented. The winner of the Golden Horn Award is eligible to enter Oscar selection, and is awarded a cash prize of PLN30K (Polish Zloty worth approx. US$8K)

Those titles are :-

* 'Child of Dust' - from Poland, Vietnam, Sweden, Czech Republic and Qatar and Directed by Weronika Mliczewska.

* 'Do Painters Die Elsewhere' - from Poland and Directed by Michał Pietrak.

* 'Pet Farm' - from Norway and Directed by Finn Walther and Martin Walther.
* 'Tooth and Nail' - from Romania and Directed by Mihai Dragolea and Radu Mocanu.
* 'Shadowland' - from Finland and Directed by Otso Tiainen.
* 'Lovers in the Sky' - from Argentina, Germany, the USA and Directed by Fermin de la Serna.
* 'New Beginnings' - from Belgium and Directed by Vivianne Perelmuter and Isabelle Ingold.

* 'The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy' - from Norway, the UK, Ireland and Germany and Directed by Havard Bustnes.
* 'The Propagandist' - from the Netherlands and Directed by Luuk Bouwman.
* 'Sanatorium' - from Ireland, the Ukraine and Directed by Gar O’Rourke.
* 'Silver' - from Poland, Finland and Norway and Directed by Natalia Koniarz.
* 'Tata' - from Romania and Directed by Lina Vdovii and Radu Ciorniciuc.
* 'The Big Chief' - from Poland, France and the Netherlands and Directed by Tomasz Wolski.

For the other awards presented in the Documentary Competition plus the details of the Short Film Competition, the National Competition, plus the Non-Statutory Awards and a bunch of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://www.krakowfilmfestival.pl/en/65th-kff/

This week then, we have five new cinematic releases coming to a big screen Odeon near you, kicking off with the highly anticipated and heavily promoted eighth instalment in this spy action franchise that sees our titular hero and the IMF team race against time to find the Entity, a rogue artificial intelligence that can destroy mankind. This is followed by an American psychological thriller in which a young mother with a brain disorder struggles to perceive time, and so she takes a risky job from a mysterious woman to support her family, unaware of the dark consequences that await. Next up is a Canadian film set in a surreal interzone between Tehran in Iran and Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada where the lives of eccentric characters intertwine. Then we turn to a French English language comedy drama about three generations of women from the same family who are thrown together under tragic circumstances and must learn to live together on a small rural chicken farm; before closing out the week with a live action animated remake of a 2002 animated Disney film in which a lonely Hawaiian girl befriends a runaway alien, helping to mend her fragmented family.

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 week ahead.

'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING' (Rated M) - is an American spy action film Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. This film serves as a direct sequel to 2023's 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' and is the eighth and possibly the final film in the 'M:I' franchise. McQuarrie's previous feature film Directing output takes in his debut in 2000 with 'The Way of the Gun', which he would follow up with 'Jack Reacher' in 2012, 'Mission : Impossible - Rouge Nation' in 2015, 'Mission : Impossible -Fallout' in 2018 and 'Mission : Impossible : Dead Reckoning Part One' in 2023. The first seven films in this hugely popular and successful franchise grossed a total of US$4.14B at the global Box Office from combined production budgets of US$1.5B, with this eighth instalment costing somewhere between US$300 and 400M, making it one of the most expensive films ever made. 

Picking up two months after the events of 'Mission : Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, who also Co-Produces here)  continues his mission to stop Gabriel (Esai Morales) from obtaining the AI programme known as 'the Entity'. Also starring Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Holt McCallany, Nick Offerman, Shea Whigham and Hannah Waddingham. The film had its World Premiere screening in Tokyo on 5th May and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on 14th May and it set for a worldwide release from this week onward although a handful of territories (including Australia) saw its release brought forward to 17th of May.  

'GAZER' (Rated M) - this American psychological mystery thriller film is Co-Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Ryan J. Sloan in his feature film Directorial debut. Here, Frankie Rhodes (Ariella Mastroianni, who also Co-Wrote and Co-Produces here), a young single mother with dyschronometria (is a condition in which an individual cannot accurately estimate the amount of time that has passed), while also causing sudden blackouts. And so Frankie relies on self-recorded cassette tapes to help her navigate the world around her. Desperate to make ends meet while she fights for custody of her young daughter, she accepts a risky but high-paying job from a mysterious woman, which draws her into a world of paranoid conspiracies that threatens to swallow her whole. The film saw its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in late May 2024, was released in the US in early April this year, has garnered generally positive critical reviews and has so far grossed just US$36K.

'UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE' (Rated G) - is a Canadian absurdist comedy-drama film, Co-Written and Directed by Matthew Rankin in only his second feature film offering following 2019's 'The Twentieth Century' although he has been making short films since 2005. The film is set in an alternate reality in which Persian, rather than English, is the dominant language of Canada, although it remains in coexistence with French. Set 'somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg', the film blends the initially unrelated, but gradually converging, stories of Negin (Rojina Esmaeili) and Nazgol (Saba Vahedyousefi), who find money frozen in ice and try to claim it; Massoud (Pirouz Nemati), a tour guide in Winnipeg who is leading a confused and disoriented tour group; and Matthew (Rankin), who quits his unfulfilling job with the government of Quebec and travels home to Winnipeg to visit his mother. The film had its World Premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May last year, has generated universal critical acclaim, was released Stateside in mid-February this year and has so far grossed US$234K from a production budget of less than US$3.5M.

'FUNNY BIRDS' (Rated M) - this French, Belgian and UK Co-Produced English language comedy drama film is Co-Written and Co-Directed by Marco La Via and Hanna Ladoul in only their second joint feature film outing following 2018's 'We the Coyotes'. Here, Charlie (Morgan Saylor), a twenty year old student returns to the family farm in Virginia to help her ailing mother. They have a different view of life: Charlie studies finance while Laura (Andrea Riseborough) runs a chicken farm in Virginia. After a long absence, Solange (Catherine Deneuve), Laura’s mother, Charlie’s grandmother, also arrives at the farm. She’s French, feminist and eccentric. Solange left America while her daughter was still a child and they never saw each other again. Will these three women, whom nothing seems to bring together, manage to live together?

'LILO & STITCH' (Rated PG) - is an American science fiction comedy-drama film Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, and is a live-action animated remake of Disney's 2002 animated film 'Lilo & Stitch'. A lonely six-year-old native Hawaiian human girl named Lilo Pelekai (Maia Kealoha) adopts a blue koala-like illegal alien genetic experiment known as Experiment 626, named Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders) to mend her fractured family, unaware that Stitch is genetically engineered to be a force of destruction, and is being pursued by aliens and social workers, while Lilo teaches Stitch the idea of family. Also starring Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, Hannah Waddingham, Tia Carrera, and Jason Scott Lee. The film is released Stateside this week too, and cost US$100M to produce.

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 coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THUNDERBOLTS* : Tuesday 13th May 2025

I saw the PG Rated 'THUNDERBOLTS*' earlier this week, and this American Superhero film is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and serves as the final instalment in Phase Five of the MCU. This film is Directed by Jake Schreier who made his Directorial debut with 'Robot & Frank' in 2012 and would follow this up with 'Paper Towns' in 2015. Since then he has helmed numerous TV series including multiple episodes of  'Lodge 49', 'Kidding', 'Brand New Cherry Flavour' and 'Beef' as well as music videos for the likes of Benny Blanco, Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Kendrick Lamar. This film saw its World Premiere screening in London on 22nd April and was released in all major markets from 1st May. The film has generated positive critical reviews, and has so far grossed US$280M from a production budget of US$180M. 

The film opens with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) sitting with her feet dangling over the edge of a tall skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She stands and promptly launches herself off the top, parachuting down about half the length of the tower before gliding inwards and stepping gently off about fifteen stories from the bottom. Once inside, she sets about destroying a laboratory on behalf of CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to cover up her involvement with the O.X.E. Group's 'Sentry' superhuman experimentation project. 

As de Fontaine faces imminent impeachment for her work with O.X.E. Group, she separately sends Yelena, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) to a secret O.X.E. facility buried a mile underground atop a remote mountain, under the pretense of killing a thief. In the ensuing confrontation, Ava kills Taskmaster and a mysterious man named Bob (Lewis Pullman) is released from a suspended animation pod in the room. 

After coming to the realisation that they were sent by de Fontaine to be incinerated along with any evidence of her misconduct, they put their differences aside and work together to escape from the deadly trap. De Fontaine learns from her Assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) that the group has survived, including Bob, who was presumed dead during the Sentry trials. When she arrives at the site, the team have made it to the surface, and so Bob creates a diversion by drawing fire from de Fontaine's small but heavily tooled up army, allowing Yelena, Walker, and Ava to escape, only to sustain no injuries despite being shot at close range multiple times. Bob then uncontrollably ascends high into the air before passing out and crash-landing back at the compound, where he is captured and helicoptered back to the former Avengers Tower in Manhattan, which is mid-way through a serious make over and is now renamed the 'Watchtower'. 

De Fontaine intends to introduce Bob to the press as a super-powered protector akin to the Avengers, hoping the PR stunt will avert her impeachment. Meanwhile, Alexei Shostakov aka Red Guardian (David Harbour), who had overheard details of de Fontaine's plot while working as a freelance chauffeur, rescues Yelena, Walker, and Ava. Referencing Yelena's childhood soccer team, Shostakov refers to the group as the 'Thunderbolts'. 

De Fontaine's agents chase after the Thunderbolts before they are ultimately caught and tied up by Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), whose intention it is to have them testify at de Fontaine's impeachment hearing. Learning that Bob was a subject of one of de Fontaine's top-secret experiments, Barnes joins the group to head to New York to infiltrate the Watchtower. The Thunderbolts discover that de Fontaine has convinced Bob to join her side as a new superhero she plans to pitch to the media as a replacement for the Avengers called the Sentry. 

After easily overpowering the team and forcing them to retreat, Sentry develops a god-like delusion of superiority, turning on de Fontaine. However, Mel, incapacitates him with a failsafe kill switch. This triggers the emergence of the Void, Bob's destructive alter ego and the embodiment of his depression and insecurities created as a result of the procedure and his fractured psyche, who begins engulfing New York City in supernatural darkness, trapping its citizens in pocket dimensions based on their worst memories and fears.

Yelena realises that the only way to stop the Void is from within, and so she enters the darkness to reach Bob's consciousness. There, she faces her haunted past as a Black Widow and finds Bob hiding in a recreation of his childhood bedroom, where his father abused him. The other Thunderbolts join them, and together they travel back through various 'rooms' ultimately to the memory of Bob's initial experimentation in Malaysia, where he volunteered for the procedure, hoping to improve himself after becoming an aimless drug addict. The Thunderbolts confront the Void, but are quickly overpowered. As the struggle threatens to fully consume Bob, the team intervenes, affirming their belief in him. Their solidarity empowers Bob to regain control, overcoming the Void as light and normality return to the city.

With the threat now past, the Thunderbolts are all set to apprehend de Fontaine. However, she manipulates public perception by staging a press conference in which she introduces them to the public as the 'New Avengers'. The Thunderbolts go along with this, but Yelena threatens de Fontaine if she betrays them again. Remain in your seat for a mid-credits sequence which really is something and nothing, and for the end credits sequence which gives a nod to 'The Fantastic Four : First Steps' the upcoming 37th entry in the MCU and the start of Phase Six, and set for release at the end of July this year.

I was pleasantly surprised by 'Thunderbolts*' with its rag tag bunch of ne'er do wells that are all damaged, traumatised and emotionally scarred in some way that makes them vulnerable and more relatable than some of the other characters we have seen in more recent MCU offerings. It was also somewhat reassuring to see an MCU film grounded in the present day NYC rather than going off on some tangent and taking us deep into the multiverse as has been the want lately, or at least so it seems. Florence Pugh holds the team together and hers is the standout performance in what Director Jake Schreier has pulled together as a coherent, concise and controlled entry into the MCU, while setting up Phase Six of the MCU. The action sequences are well realised and don't overstay their welcome, and there is enough emotional heft and well delivered humour here to make this a well balanced film. 

'Thunderbolts*' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-