What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 18th December 2025

The National Board of Review announced its full line up of award honourees on Wednesday 3rd December for a gala presentation ceremony due to take place in New York City on Tuesday 13th January 2026. Founded in 1909, each year the NBR and its select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals and academics view over 250 feature films and take part in enlightening conversations with Directors, Actors, Producers and Screenwriters before announcing their choices for the best work of the year. 

This years winners and grinners are as given below :

* Best Film - 'One Battle After Another'.

* Best Director - Paul Thomas Anderson for 'One Battle After Another'.

* Best Actor - Leonardo DiCaprio for 'One Battle After Another'.

* Best Actress - Rose Byrne for 'If I Had Legs I'd Kick You'.

* Best Supporting Actor - Benicio Del Toro for 'One Battle After Another'.

* Best Supporting Actress - Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for 'Sentimental Value'.

* Breakthrough Performance - Chase Infiniti for 'One Battle After Another'.

* Best Directorial Breakthrough - Eva Victor for 'Sorry, Baby'.

* Best Original Screenplay - Ryan Coogler for 'Sinners'.

* Best Adapted Screenplay - Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar for 'Train Dreams'.

* NBR Freedom of Expression Award - 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk'.

* Best Animated Feature - 'Arco'.

* Best International Film - 'It Was Just An Accident'.

* Best Documentary - 'Cover Up'.

* Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography - Autumn Durald Arkapaw for 'Sinners'.

* Outstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry - 'Mission : Impossible - The Final Reckoning'.

For the Top 10 films, the Top 5 international films, the Top 5 documentaries and the Top 10 independent films being recognised, plus a whole lot of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://www.nationalboardof review.org/award-years/2025/

Turning the attention then back on this weeks three new release movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, we kick off with an epic Sci-Fi action adventure film that is the third in the series which sees Jake and Neytiri's family grappling with grief after Neteyam's death, encountering a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges. This is followed by the story of two young men during World War I who set out to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen. And closing out the week we have an animated biblical musical drama film that charts the journey from his mother's songs to his clash with Goliath, this young lad's story from humble shepherd to anointed king tests the limits of faith, courage, and love-culminating in a battle for the soul of a kingdom.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the three latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'AVATAR : FIRE AND ASH' (Rated M) - this American epic Sci-Fi film is Co-Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by James Cameron, and is the sequel to 2022's 'Avatar: The Way of Water' and the third instalment in the Avatar film series, which began with 'Avatar' in 2009, with those first two films grossing a total US$5.267B off the back of a combined production budget of US$587M. James Cameron made his feature film debut with 'Piranha II : The Spawning' in in 1982 which he would follow up with 'Terminator' in 1984, 'Aliens' in 1986, 'The Abyss' in 1989, 'Terminator 2 : Judgement Day' in 1992, 'True Lies' in 1994, and 'Titanic' 1997 before embarking on this monolithic film franchise.

A year after settling in with the Metkayina clan, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri's (Zoe Saldana) family grapples with grief after Neteyam's death. They encounter a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe, the Mangkwan clan, also called the Ash People, led by the fiery tribe leader, Varang (Oona Chaplin), who has allied with Jake's enemy, Quaritch (Stephen Lang), as the conflict on Pandora escalates to devastating consequences. Also starring Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement and David Thewlis. The film is released in the US this week too, with two additional sequels, 'Avatar 4' and 'Avatar 5', are in various stages of production and are scheduled to be released in 2029 and 2031, respectively. This instalment has the longest runtime of the series so far at three hours and seventeen minutes. 

'THE HISTORY OF SOUND' (Rated M) - is a period romantic drama film that is Co-Produced and Directed by Oliver Hermanus who made his feature film making debut with 'Shirley Adams' in 2009 which he would follow up with 'Beauty' in 2011, 'The Endless River' in 2015, 'Moffie' in 2019 and 'Living' in 2022. This film is based on the two short stories written by Ben Shattuck 'The History of Sound' and 'Origin Stories', with Shattuck also writing the Screenplay for this film. The film begins in 1917 and follows two young men - Lionel Worthing (Paul Mescal) and David White (Josh O'Connor), in the shadows of WWI who are determined to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen. As they begin to log the events, the pair fall in love. The film saw its World Premiere showcasing in the Palme D'Or competition at this years Cannes Film Festival in late May, before being released in the US in mid-September having so far grossed US$1M and garnering generally positive critical reviews.

'DAVID' (Rated PG) - this animated biblical musical drama film features the character of David from the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament, and is Written and Directed by Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham. It is a follow-up to the five-part TV miniseries 'Young David' (there voiced by Brandon Engman, who reprises his voice role here), which tells the story of a young Israelite shepherd, poet and warrior (voiced by Phil Wickham) who is predestined to become the new King of Israel and embarks on a journey from beyond the shadow of an evil Philistine giant Goliath (Kamran Nikhad) to prove to his people that true power lies not in Saul's kingship (Adam Michael Gold) but in faith and freedom. The film is released Stateside too this week.

With three new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-