WEAPONS : Tuesday 12th August 2025

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'WEAPONS' earlier this week, and this American mystery horror film is Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Scored by Zach Cregger, whose prior feature film making output are 'Miss March' in 2009, 'The Civil War on Drugs' in 2011 and the critically and commercially successful horror thriller 'Barbarian' in 2022. The film was released in the US and here in Australia last week, cost US$38M to produce, has so far grossed US$101M and has garnered universal critical acclaim.

The film opens with a young child narrating the story of how seventeen children from Justine Gandy's (Julia Garner) third grade elementary school class all run from their homes in Maybrook, Pennsylvania and disappear into the night at exactly 2:17 AM. Though only one child, Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) from the class didn't vanish, Justine herself counts as one of two people from the classroom who didn't, and so a months long Police investigation begins, but to no avail. It is from this point on, that the story gets interesting as the narrator (Scarlett Sher) says. 

Approaching a month after the disappearance of the children, and following a very heated meeting with the school community with all relevant stakeholders including Justine, Principal Marcus Miller (Benedict Wong), and the local law enforcement, Marcus places Justine on compulsory leave, as the local townsfolk and parents of the missing children suspects her involvement in the children's disappearance. 

Depressed and anxious, she turns to vodka and seeks comfort from her ex-boyfriend, local Police Officer Paul Morgan (Alden Ehrenreich). Meanwhile, Archer Graff (Josh Brolin), a local property developer and the father of one of the missing children Matthew (Luke Speakman), struggles with his sons disappearance and, frustrated by the Police's seemingly ineffective investigation and glacial progress, commences his own. 

Concerned about Alex's well-being, Justine seeks authority from Principal Marcus to visit Alex just to check up on him, as a friendly familiar face that he might confide in. Marcus flatly denies her request and tells her to keep well away. However, she follows him home and observes that all of the windows of the house are covered in newspaper. Banging on the door and making her presence known, she creeps around the back of the house, and through a small opening between the sheets of newspaper, sees Alex's parents sitting completely motionless on the couch. She tells Marcus and insists he perform a wellness check. 

Later that night Justine and Archer have separate dreams about the missing children and a strange woman with clown-like make-up. Justine revisits Alex's house to stake it out, but as night time comes falls asleep in her car. Alex’s mother (Callie Schuttera), walking in a stilted manner and carrying a large pair of scissors, exits the house and enters the car through an open back door and cuts off a lock of Justine's hair, and then disappears back inside the house.

James (Austin Abrams), a local homeless drug addict who supports himself by pawning stolen items, breaks into Alex's house in the pouring rain seeking shelter, thinking it is abandoned, where he finds Alex's parents sat on the couch and the missing children in the basement, all in a catatonic state. After spotting a poster for the missing children promising a US$50K cash reward at his local pawn shop, he goes to the Police station to report his findings. However, Paul, who threatened James following an earlier altercation, in which the Police Officer pricked his finger on the needle of a syringe concealed in James's pocket fearing AIDS, hepatitis or some other nefarious virus, spots and chases him. James runs into the woods, where he becomes disoriented and sees the woman from Justine and Archer's nightmares. Paul catches James, who in attempt to gain favour with Paul says he knows where the missing children are located and offers to split the US$50K reward with him. Paul drives to Alex's house to investigate, leaving James handcuffed in the patrol car. Hours later undercover of darkness, Paul returns to the car and drags James into the house kicking and screaming.

Marcus is visited at school by a mysterious heavily made up woman wearing gaudy clothes - Alex's eccentric aunt, Gladys (Amy Madigan), who claims to be the family's caretaker after Alex's parents have fallen ill. Marcus insists he must meet with Alex's parents. The next day, being a Saturday, Gladys appears at Marcus and his husband Terry's (Clayton Farris) home claiming she missed the bus and had to walk all the way to their home and that she is distressed, exhausted and needs to talk to Marcus. She performs a ritual with a stick from a potted tree that she carries around with her, and a lock of hair she cut from Terry's head, and with a small bell hypnotises Marcus into violently killing Terry by head butting him multiple times until his skull caves in. 

She then orders Marcus to kill Justine. Marcus attacks Justine at a petrol station, interrupting an argument between her and Archer, who does what he can to defend Justine. She narrowly escapes in her car, with Marcus frantically running after her. Archer giving chase in his pick-up truck sees Marcus being fatally struck by a car travelling at speed through an intersection killing him outright with his brains spilled out all over the road. That night, Justine and Archer reconcile their differences after coming to the conclusion that the children were running toward Alex's house.

It is subsequently revealed that Gladys is in fact a dying witch posing as Alex's aunt, who can subdue people and weaponise them against others, using personal items from her subjects and a lock of hair from any target of her choice. After entrancing his parents, Gladys ordered Alex to keep her secret and threatened to murder his parents if he disobeyed her, saying that she can turn them against each other, and even make them eat one another if she so chooses. Gladys instructed Alex to gather one item from each of his classmates, and a desperate Alex complied after she promised she would leave once recovered. Using the personalised name tags Alex stole from his classmates' individual storage boxes, Gladys cast a spell on the children, drawing them to Alex's house at 2:17 AM and keeping them in the basement in order to feed off their life-force and extend her own longevity.

After maintaining a kerb side vigil outside Alex's house to see if there are any movements or developments Paul appears at the front door and motions for them to enter. Upon entering to investigate, Justine and Archer are attacked by Paul and James, both now hypnotised. James relentlessly attacks Archer, and Paul has Justine pinned up against a kitchen cupboard with both his hands around her neck. Justine is able to wrest Paul's gun and first shoots him through the throat and then cleanly through the temple killing him outright. James by now has the upper hand over Archer, as Justin appears from behind and unloads a single bullet straight into the back of James head. Searching for Matthew in the basement, Archer encounters Gladys, who enchants him into attacking Justine. 

Chased by his parents, Alex enters Gladys' room and copies her spell using hair from Gladys' wig. The possessed children suddenly chase Gladys out of the house and through the neighbourhood, smashing through windows, doors, fences and upending furniture as they go until they catch, dismember, and decapitate her, breaking the curse and snapping all of her living victims out of their trance. Justine searches through the house for Alex finding him cradling his parents in his arms and Archer follows the trail of destruction left by the rampaging children until he comes to a house, and in the front garden are the children looking down on the blood stained grass and what remains of Gladys. Archer reunites with a seemingly catatonic Matthew. 

The narrator explains that Alex moved out of town to live with a kinder aunt after his parents were institutionalised. The children were all reunited with their parents, though only some have started to speak again.

With 'Weapons' Writer and Director Zach Cregger  has crafted a taught and tight horror offering that proves that he is no one trick pony after the critical and commercial success of 'Barbarian', and at the same time has delivered us one of the best original and inventive films of the genre this year. The film masterfully blends dark humour, with a few jump scares, psychological horror, mystery and a chilling and interesting premise that will keep you fully engaged for its 128 minute running time. And the performances by the principle cast are all top notch, but particularly from Garner, Brolin and young Cary Christopher who all bring a sense of angst and immediacy to their roles. Told in perhaps for the genre, a non-linear fashion, this film sets the standard by which others will be judged, and if you have to see one horror movie this year, make it this one.

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

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

COCAINE BEAR : Tuesday 28th February 2023.

I saw the M Rated 'COCAINE BEAR' earlier this week, and this American dark comedy action film is Co-Produced and Directed by the American Actress, Producer, Writer and Director Elizabeth Banks in her third feature film making effort following 2015's 'Pitch Perfect 2' and 2019's 'Charlie's Angels'. Released in the US and Australia last week, the film has so far grossed US$34M from a production budget of US$35M and has garnered mixed or average Reviews. 

This film is inspired by real events that occurred in December 1985, and opens up with Andrew C. Thornton II (Matthew Rhys) hauling duffel bags filled with cocaine from his light aircraft. As he is preparing himself to parachute out of the aircraft carrying a duffel bag loaded with coke, he inadvertently knocks himself out on the door frame, falls out of said aeroplane and lands in a crumpled heap, very dead, in Knoxville, Tennessee. The body of Thornton is recognised by Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jnr.) a local Detective who deduces that the drug stash he was carrying is from a Syd White, operating out of St. Louis. In the meantime, somewhere in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia, an American Black Bear consumes some of the cocaine and as a consequence becomes very aggressive and sets upon two hikers, Elsa (Hannah Hoekstra) and her partner Olaf (Kristofer Hivju), killing Elsa. 

Middle schooler Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince) lives with her mum, Sari (Keri Russell), a nurse. Dee Dee bunks of school with her best friend Henry (Christian Convery) to paint a picture of the falls in the forest. On the trail to the falls, the pair finds a lost brick of cocaine, and try eating some before they are attacked by the bear. 

Sari goes into the forest to search for the kids with Park Ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) and Peter (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), a wildlife activist. The three find Henry half way up a tree clinging on for dear life, hiding from the bear. The bear attacks, first of all homing in on Henry, while Peter stumbles through a pile of cocaine, and slashing Liz on the butt cheek in the process. Attracted to a cocaine-coated Peter, who has now also climbed a nearby tree, the bear clambers up and kills him, ignoring Henry. While the bear dispenses with Peter, Henry climbs down and he and Sari flee deeper into the forest, and Liz sends for help.

In St. Louis, Syd (Ray Liotta in one of his final film appearances before his untimely death in May 2022, aged 67) sends his fixer Daveed (O'Shea Jackson) to recover the remaining cocaine. Daveed travels to Georgia with Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), Syd's son, who is depressed following the death of his wife and has abandoned his son. They arrive in Georgia, as does Bob. At the forest station, Daveed gets into a brawl with the Duchamps gang, three delinquents who cause trouble in the forest, overpowering them easily. One of the members, Stache (Aaron Holliday), takes Daveed and Eddie to recover some of the cocaine he stashed in a gazebo. 

Liz arrives back at the station, pursued by the bear. Liz accidentally shoots one of the Duchamps in the head killing him outright before the bear slaughters the other. Paramedics Beth (Kahyun Kim) and Tom (Scott Seiss) arrive and collect Liz who has been further slashed to the shoulder after a brief skirmish with the bear. They leave with Liz in an ambulance, but the bear pursues and jumps into the back of the vehicle, which ultimately results in the death of all three.

Sari and Henry discover that Dee Dee has left them a trail of paint and clothing, with which they are able to track her. Daveed and Eddie arrive at the gazebo with Stache, but find Bob there stranded on the roof with a duffel bag stashed full of cocaine. The bear appears but Bob distracts it with the bag of coke which it swallows whole. Bob is suddenly fatally shot by Syd, who reveals that he is under a huge amount of pressure by his superiors to retrieve the cocaine. 

Sari and Henry come across Olaf mourning over the loss of Elsa. He leads them to Dee Dee’s hiding place in a cave containing the bears two cubs, revealing that the bear is a mother. Olaf leaves and is killed by the bear returning to her cave. Syd, Eddie, and Daveed also find the cave, which leads out to a ledge behind the falls. The bear returns to the cave. Sari, Henry, and Dee Dee jump into the water below to safety, followed by Eddie and Daveed - who have chosen to quit the drug business together - and they all survive. However, Syd refuses to leave the duffel bag of cocaine found in the cave. He shoots and wounds the bear but is unsuccessful in killing it and is shortly thereafter disemboweled by the bear and her cubs.

With 'Cocaine Bear' what you're gonna get is exactly what's written on the side of the tin - a bear stoned on cocaine, just like those other aptly named movies 'Snakes on a Plane' and 'Sharknado' for instance. Director Elizabeth Banks takes a lot of liberties with this story inspired by real events - sure an American black bear did consume a duffel bag full of cocaine dropped from a light aeroplane somewhere over north Georgia in late 1985 but that's where the similarities end. The real 'Cocaine Bear' did not go on a murderous rampage and no one got killed as a result, and the bear wound up dead three months later, found beside dozens of opened containers of cocaine. All of that said, this film is entertaining enough with the emphasis more on comedy than on horror, although there is plenty of blood and gore to satisfy the gore hounds amongst us, but the plot is silly and contrived despite the A-list cast doing the best they can with what they've been given and the lean 95 minute run time just about ensures this film does not outstay its welcome. 

'Cocaine Bear' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SOLO : A STAR WARS STORY - Tuesday 29th May 2018.

'SOLO : A STAR WARS STORY' which I saw earlier this week is described as a 'Space Western' and is the second film in the Star Wars standalone anthology series which follows on the heels of 'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' released in 2016 and is set prior to the events in 'A New Hope'. That first standalone instalment was Directed by Gareth Edwards and took in excess of US$1B at the global Box Office off the back of a US$200M Budget outlay. This film Premiered in Los Angeles on 10th May, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival on 15th May and saw its US release last week too. Filming began in January 2017 under the Directing leadership of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and after almost five months of principle photography the pair were fired from the set due to creative differences. They were replaced by Ron Howard who completed the last four weeks or so of principle photography and about another five weeks of reshoots. Lord and Miller are credited as Executive Producers. Made for a reported US$250M, early Reviews have indicated generally positive press, but a fairly lacklustre Box Office take so far of US$198M.

This film, as the name implies, centres on a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) whom we first encounter on the heavy industry planet Corellia, where he and his girlfriend Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) are being chased down by a bunch of underworld criminal types. Using his expert driving skills, Han and passenger Qi'ra manage to evade those in hot pursuit, and wanting to get off that Godforsaken planet they bribe an Imperial Officer at the airport with a small but extremely powerful and very valuable sample of Coaxium - a hyperspace fuel. Passing through screening having accepted the bribe, the two are momentarily separated causing Qi'ra to be captured on the wrong side of the departure terminal while Han has secured safe passage outta Dodge on the other. As Qi'ra is carted off, Han vows to return for her. He quickly signs up as a flight cadet in the Imperial Navy. The recruiting officer asks him which family is he from, to which Han replies he has no family, he's alone. The officer takes a few brief seconds and calls him 'solo'! From this early introduction and piecing together the approximate timeline, it is safe to assume that this film is set somewhere between 15 and 20 years before the events of 'A New Hope'.

Fast forward three years and Han is serving as an lowly canon fodder infantryman during a battle on Mimban where he happens upon a small but well organised group of criminals masquerading as Imperial Soldiers, led by one Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his wife Val (Thandie Newton). Han was discharged from the Imperial Navy flight school for gross insubordination in then intervening years. Han tries to wrangle his way into Beckett's gang but instead winds up getting arrested and thrown into a muddy pit to meet his fate at the hands of a marauding beast, who turns out to be a Wookie, named Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Fortunately Han is able to speak limited Wookie and is able to communicate with the woolly beast, persuading him to join forces to effect their escape. This they do, as Beckett is about to take off, but comes back for the pair of escapees recognising that extra hands on deck won't go amiss. Beckett's plan is to steal a huge consignment of coaxiam from the planet Vandor.

On snow covered mountain terrain on Vandor, a high altitude speeding monorail train carrying its cargo of coaxium comes into sight with Beckett's hijacked ship hovering above. Beckett, Solo and Chewbacca jump down onto the roof of the speeding train in an attempt to attach grappling hooks which are connected by wires to the above ship, with a view to uncoupling the carriage carrying the precious cargo, and winching the sole carriage away, job done! Not so easy however, as a gang of pirates known as the Cloud Riders led by Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman) have plans to take the haul of hyperspace fuel for themselves. What follows is an impressive action set piece that ultimately sees the cargo plunge into a mountain side destroying said mountain in the process by reducing it to mere rubble, with the Cloud Riders and Beckett's ship escaping in opposite directions high above.

Back on the ground Beckett reveals that the coaxium was being stolen for Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) - a high ranking crime lord associated with the Crimson Dawn Syndicate, and who has history with Beckett. Thinking on his feet for fear of death for loosing the shipment, Beckett wants to go it alone to explain himself to Vos, but is convinced otherwise by Solo. Accompanied by Chewbacca, the three travel to Vos's vast ship.

Upon entering, Vos is entertaining a cacophony of  high ranking officials and criminal types from all walks of life. Han finds Qi'ra who in the three years since they last saw each other, has become Vos's top ranking lieutenant. With Vos none too pleased about the loss of his shipment and ready to kill all three of them, Han suggests a risky plan to steal unrefined coaxium from the mines on the planet Kessel. Vos approves albeit somewhat reluctantly, but sees that their outlandish plan might just work. He insists that Qi'ra accompany the team on their mission, and warns them not to come back empty handed, or attempt to cheat him out of the coaxium consignment.

Qi'ra leads them to Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), a smooth talking and debonair smuggler of some repute and a pilot who she hopes will lend them his ship to take the crew to Kessel. Han challenges Lando to a game of sabacc, betting on Lando's ship. Unbeknown to Han, Lando cheats to win the game, but agrees to join the mission in exchange for a 25% share of the profits. The team boards his ship, the Millennium Falcon, and heads for Kessel.

Upon reaching Kessel and infiltrating the mine disguised as high ranking officials, Lando's droid co-pilot L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) instigates a slave revolt, so creating a diversion to allow Han and Chewbacca to steal a consignment of coaxium. On exiting the mine and before reboarding the Millennium Falcon a firefight breaks out between the heavily armed guards of the mine, the escaped workforce and the crew. Lando sustains a shoulder injury and L3 is severely damaged during the escape. 

With the coaxium stowed away aboard the Falcon, Han must navigate the ship along the dangerous and previous uncharted 'Maelstrom' in an attempt to evade an Imperial blockade located at the only point of exit/entry. Narrowly escaping the clutches of what can only be described as a giant space octopus the size of a small planet, and being dragged into a fire & brimstone black hole, the Falcon uses light speed and a small drop of coaxium injected into its fuel line to give it the oomph to get the Hell outta there. Badly damaged, the Falcon lands on the planet Savareen, where the coaxium is to be processed before handing it over to Vos. 

On Savareen, the crew are ambushed by Enfys Nest and her gang of Cloud Riders. During their frosty reception Lando flies off in the Falcon leaving the remaining crew grounded. Enfys reasons with Han that she and her crew are not pirates, but rather rebels trying to prevent the syndicates and the Empire from gaining power. Han understands their cause and tries to trick Vos with the now processed coaxium, but Beckett has already alerted him to the double cross. Vos sends his guards to kill Enfys, but the Cloud Riders turn the tables killing them instead, so leaving Vos without any defence. Having anticipated Vos' double crossing strategy, Han tries to take the coaxium, only for Beckett to escape with it taking Chewbacca hostage in the process. Han, Qi'ra and Vos battle it out with Qi'ra ultimately killing Vos. She sends Han after Beckett. Now alone, she contacts Vos's superior, Maul (Ray Park, and voiced by Sam Witwer), to inform him of the mission's failure and claim Vos's position within the Crimson Dawn Syndicate. Maul, orders her menacingly post haste to join him by his side, wielding his double sided lightsaber.

Han outruns Beckett and kills him. He and Chewbacca turn the coaxium over to Enfys and she offers Han a chance to join the rebellion against the Empire, which he declines. Upon leaving she gives him one vial of coaxium which should easily be enough to buy his own ship. Han and Chewbacca locate Lando and challenge him to another game of sabacc, once again betting on the Millennium Falcon. Han wins, having rumbled that Lando was a cheat and pick pocketed the card Lando was keeping up his sleeve in order to win. He and Chewbacca leave for Tatooine aboard their new ship, where Han has heard that a gangster is putting together a crew for a heist.  

I would have to say that compared to 'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' that was the first hugely successful and well regarded stand alone film in the spin-off series that 'Solo' left me feeling a little disappointed and short changed. The casting is solid enough and for me Alden Ehrenreich delivers a convincing enough turn as the younger Han Solo, bearing in mind he has huge shoes to fill as quite possibly the most recognised and iconic movie character of all time. The visuals, action sequences and production values are also well rendered, but there is little new to see here in the story that we hadn't picked up before in Harrison Ford's earlier outings in the previous films. In this respect the film plays it safe taking us down a largely familiar path with an origin story that is a join the dots offering made good by fast paced action and relatable characters. But you can hardly blame Ron Howard for these shortcomings - after all he inherited to a very large extent the film we see today. There are nods that tie 'Solo' into the greater Star Wars universe - Solo and Chewie heading to Tatooine, and of course Qi'ra being inducted into the way of Maul (who made his first appearance in 'Star Wars : Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace', but these are fleeting nods thats serve nothing more than window dressing, at this stage, but then perhaps Disney has more in mind with future instalments. The film also features Jon Favreau voicing Rio Durant, Linda Hunt voices Lady Proxima and Anthony Daniels cameo's as Tak. 

For me this film merits three claps of the clapperboard, from a possible five. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 24th May 2018.

The 71st Cannes Film Festival which opened on 8th May drew to a close on Saturday evening 19th May. This year, Cate Blanchett acted as the Jury President for those twenty-one feature films competing for the prestigious Palme d'Or. The opening film was by Iranian Director and Screenwriter Asghar Farhadi with his Spanish language psychological thriller 'Everybody Know's' starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, with the closing film, and screening out of competition, was Terry Gilliam's lifetime in gestation on again off again passion project 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' starring Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver.

The prestigious Palme d'Or was awarded out of twenty-one films in competition to 'Shoplifters' - a Japanese family drama edited, written, and Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Set in Tokyo, this film centres on a family who rely on shoplifting as they cope with a life of poverty, whilst unofficially adopting a seemingly abused homeless girl with the Police beginning a search for the missing child. Beating out the competition in this category were the likes of 'Burning' from South Korea and starring Steven Yuen; 'BlacKkKlansman' from the USA, Directed by Spike Lee and starring Adam Driver, Topher Grace and Harry Belafonte, which took out the second most coveted award - the Grand Prix; 'Everybody Knows' as aforementioned; 'Under the Silver Lake' from the USA and starring Andrew Garfield, Topher Grace, and Riley Keough; and 'The Image Book' a French/Swiss Co-Production Directed by Jean-Luc Godard which won the Special Palme d'Or. Judges for this award also included Ava DuVernay, Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, Denis Villeneuve and Andrey Zvyagintsev.

In the Un Certain Regard category this year, in which eighteen films were showcased and overseen by Jury President Benicio del Toro, the Un Certain Regard Award was bestowed upon Swedish drama film 'Border' Directed and written for the screen by Ali Abbasi. This film staved off competition from the likes of 'Angel Face' from France starring Marion Cotillard; 'Donbass' from the Ukraine and the opening film in this selected category; 'The Dead and the Others' from Portugal and Directed by Joao Salaviza and Renee Nader Messora which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize; 'Rafiki' from Kenya; 'Girl' from Belgium; 'Long Day's Journey into Night' from China; 'Manto' from India; and 'Die, Monster, Die' from Argentina.

For more, you can go to : www.festival-cannes.com

This week we have just two new release movies coming to your local Odeon, and they couldn't be more polar opposite if they tried! First up is the second stand alone film in a massive movie franchise spanning now forty years about a young up & coming space cowboy from a galaxy far far away who many of us have grown up with - and this is his origin story. We then have a change of pace and coming back down to Earth, to rural England in the late '50's and one woman's dream of opening her own country book store which is thwarted by many of the local residents who have very different ideas.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the two latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online. You are here cordially invited 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 meanwhile, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'SOLO : A STAR WARS STORY' (Rated MA15+) - described as a 'Space Western' this second film in the Star Wars standalone anthology series follows on the heels of 'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' released in 2016 and is set prior to the events in 'A New Hope'. That first standalone instalment was Directed by Gareth Edwards and took in excess of US$1B at the global Box Office off the back of a US$200M Budget outlay. This film Premiered in Los Angeles on 10th May, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival on 15th May and gets its US release this week too. Filming began in January 2017 under the Directing leadership of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and after almost five months of principle photography were fired from the set due to creative differences. They were replaced by Ron Howard who completed the last four weeks or so of principle photography and about another five weeks of reshoots. Lord and Miller are credited as Executive Producers. Made for a reported US$250M, early Reviews have indicated generally positive press.

This film, as the name implies, centres on a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and his adventures with his Wookie partner, best friend and first mate aboard the Millennium Falcon, Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Also starring Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, a smuggler on the rise and whom Solo meets with for the first time; Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett, a criminal and mentor to Solo; Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra, a long time childhood friend of Solo's; with Paul Bettany as crime lord Dryden Vos, and Thandie Newton as Val. Jon Favreau voices Rio Durant, Linda Hunt voices Lady Proxima and Anthony Daniels cameo's as Tak.

'THE BOOKSHOP' (Rated PG) - this British, German and Spanish Co-Production is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Penelope Fitzgerald and is helmed and Written for the Screen by Spanish Film Director Isabel Coixet. The film Premiered at the Valladolid International Film Festival in Valladolid, Spain in late October last year, has received generally positive Reviews picking up twelve Award wins and a further 32 nominations from around the film festival circuit and so far grossing US$3.5M in Box Office receipts. Set in the English coastal town of Hardborough, in Suffolk in 1959, Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) a middle aged widow, decides to open a book shop in 'The Old House', a rather dilapidated damp abandoned old residence that's said to be haunted by numerous ghosts. After much local opposition and many sacrifices, she eventually opens the doors on her bookshop which goes well for the first year and then sales begins to wane. Edmund Brandish (Bill Nighy), a local, is Florence's best customer and meanwhile Violet Gamart (Patricia Clarkson) also wants The Old House in which to set up an Arts Centre. What ensues is a political minefield spearheaded by Gamart's nephew, an MP, that Florence must navigate through if she is to preserve her beloved book shop, or succumb to local pressures that may leave her little choice but to move on.

With just two new release films out 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 in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-