BRIGHTBURN : Tuesday 28th May 2019.

I saw 'BRIGHTBURN' this week, and here we have something new and seemingly fresh - a superhero horror film as Directed by David Yarovesky, Written by Mark and Brian Gunn (cousin and brother of James Gunn respectively) and Co-Produced by James Gunn. Costing US$7M to bring to the big screen, has so far taken US$19M since its release in the US last week too, and has so far garnered generally mixed or average Reviews.




The film opens up in 2006 and we are introduced to Tori and Kyle Breyer (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman respectively) who after a difficult struggle with fertility, have their dreams of parenthood come unexpectedly true with the arrival of a mysterious baby boy who crash lands on Earth somewhere in the vicinity of Brightburn, small-town Kansas, from another world it appears. Upon finding the infant, in the woods behind their farm, the couple decide to keep their discovery a secret and adopt the child as their own, calling him Brandon.

Fast forward twelve years and now approaching his teenage years Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn) hears strange voices inside his head late one night. Over the next few days Brandon comes to the realisation that he has some very special powers, including a high degree of invulnerability to any pain or injury. This is evidenced when Kyle asks Brandon to mow the grass out in the paddock. Frustrated with getting the motor started on the mower, Brandon yanks so hard on the starter cable that he sends the mower flying skyward about one hundred meters into the distance. It lands in an upturned state with the rotor blades exposed and still running. Brandon saunters up to the mower, and promptly sticks his hand into the rapidly rotating blade, which brings the mower to an abrupt halt with the blade buckled beyond repair, and nary a scratch to young Brandon's hand.

Later that night, Brandon sleepwalks to the barn, and is seen trying frantically to open a chained and bolted trapdoor in the floor which contains the wreckage of the alien spacecraft that brought him to Earth. Tori was awakened by a red glowing light emanating from the barn and went to investigate. She sees Brandon crouched down at the trapdoor and wakes him, at which he is startled and doesn't know what he is doing there.

Over the ensuing days Brandon become more distant from his parents, more disobedient and more disrespectful of them. One morning over breakfast, Brandon is distracted by other thoughts and begins chewing on his fork, mangling it. Kyle witnesses this, and begins to suspect that something is not quite right with his son. That night Brandon visits the bedroom of fellow classmate Caitlyn (Emmie Hunter) and stares at her from behind the curtains until she notices him. She screams out, and when her mother enters the room he is gone. The next evening, when Kyle is securing the barn for the night, he hears a commotion from the adjacent chicken coup. Going to investigate he comes across Brandon glaring menacingly at said chooks. Later that night Kyle is woken by the sound of the chickens giving it all they've got. By the time he reaches the coup, all the chickens have been slaughtered. Tori claims it was the work of a wolf, but Kyle is more convinced it was the work of Brandon.

The next day at school, during a trust fall exercise Brandon is placed in the centre of the ring with his fellow classmates all tasked with catching him as he falls backwards. When Brandon is passed in the direction of Caitlyn she allows him to fall by stepping aside as she did not want to touch him after their previous episode. Brandon bangs his head on the ground but is unhurt. Caitlyn is tasked by the teacher to help Brandon get up. Reluctantly she stretches out a hand, which Brandon grabs and promptly crushes so breaking her hand. In a meeting of the parents in the Principal's Office, Brandon who has risen to the ranks of star pupil at the school, is suspended for two days by the Principal, and orders him to meet with his aunt Merilee McNichol (Meredith Hagner), the school Counsellor, afterwards.

A few nights later Tori finds her son levitating above the open glowing bright red trapdoor containing the hidden spaceship, repeating the words 'take the world' in an alien language that he hears inside his head again. Her interruption results in him falling and cutting his hand against a jagged piece of the spaceship - the first time in his life he has ever been injured or bled. Tori returns Brandon to the farmhouse and tends to his injury and then reveals the truth to him about his arrival on Earth. Despite her explanation and placing a positive spin on those events and his upbringing, Brandon leaves in a rage, claiming that they lied to him all these years.

Brandon visits Caitlyn once again at her house, who tells him that her mother has forbidden her from talking to him. Furious, a masked Brandon murders Caitlyn’s mother in the town’s diner where she works. During the first of the counselling sessions at the school, Merilee becomes concerned about Brandon's lack of remorse about his injuries to Caitlyn, and tells Brandon that she is required to report his progress to the local Police. 

Later that evening Brandon appears at Merilee's home unannounced to intimidate her into not reporting her concerns to the Police. A short time later, her husband Noah (Matt Jones) returns home after shooting some pool and enjoying a few beers at the local bar with Kyle and other friends. Noah finds Brandon hiding in their closet and furiously attempts to return him to his parents. Brandon attacks Noah in the driveway of their home, but escapes in his car. Its not long however, before Brandon catches up with the fleeing vehicle and kill Noah by wrecking his car - levitating it, turning it upside down and dropping it from a significant height with him inside. 

Tori and Kyle learn of Noah's death the next morning and are alarmed when Brandon does not emotionally react to the news of the death of his favourite uncle. Kyle attempts to explain to Tori that Brandon must've killed Noah, but she won't have any of it, so leading to a rift in their relationship. To make amends, Kyle plans a hunting trip with Brandon the following weekend under the guise of repairing his relationship with his son. While in a secluded woodland area, Kyle shoots Brandon in the back of the head only to have the bullet bounce off, unharming Brandon. Heartbroken and distraught, Brandon overpowers his father and using his laser vision burns through Kyle's eyes and straight out of the back of his head, dead!

Meanwhile, Tori is visited by the local Sheriff, Deputy Deever (Gregory Alan Williams) who shows her photographs of a symbol found at both the diner and Noah's accident scene - Brandon's signature mark. After sending the Sheriff away without a warrant, Tori searches through Brandon's room and finds his notebook, which contains drawings depicting graphic acts of violence and the various murders in addition to his repeated scribblings of his now familiar signature mark. Finally coming to terms with the full extent of Brandon’s involvement in the recent deaths, Tori frantically attempts to call her husband only for Brandon to answer his phone and inform her that her husband is dead.

Brandon returns home and begins destroying the house around Tori. She manages to find some temporary refuge to call the Police. Upon the Sheriff's arrival Brandon is seen to be levitating above the house. He sweeps in and brutally murders the Sheriff and then another responding officer. Escaping through a bedroom window, and landing awkwardly, and limping Tori makes it to the barn where the spaceship is located. Having remembered that it cut him, Tori arms herself with a sharp piece of the spaceship that she breaks off to use as a makeshift dagger.

Brandon finds Tori in the barn, who tries to settle him down. Tori assures Brandon that she still loves him no matter what, and that she has every confidence that there still remains good inside him. Once they embrace, Tori tries to stab him from behind with the makeshift dagger but fails. Enraged by her betrayal, Brandon holds onto Tori and flies her high above the clouds and then lets her fall to her to her death as a plane approaches him. Brandon crashes that plane into the Breyer farm, killing everyone onboard.

In the aftermath, news reports about the deaths of Brandon's parents and his other victims are attributed to the crash. Brandon is seen eating a cookie from the back of an ambulance, with his trademark signature inscribed on the planes fuselage in blood. Final reports show Brandon, nicknamed 'Brightburn' in the media, creating havoc, destroying buildings, setting forests ablaze, killing numerous people and leaving his signature on the landscape - seemingly afraid of no-one and nothing - because after all, he's only a young lad!

Basically 'Brightburn' is an alternative twist on 'Superman' with our red caped mild mannered Superhero out to save the world and do good by all of humankind is replaced by a similarly red caped evil inclined Superhero out to destroy the world and bring all of humankind to its knees. They both crash landed somewhere near small town America from some far away solar system, on a farm, were raised by good well meaning gentle folk, and from a young age came to the realisation that they were both special and possessed super powers - bullet proof, super human strength, stamina, speed, the ability to fly, laser vision, and an invincibility to anything man made. One chose to do good with his powers and the other pure evil. It's an interesting premise, that I was pleasantly surprised by given the average Reviews read prior. The film doesn't stop short on the gory aspects of Brandon's extreme acts of violence towards his victims, and at a lean 91 minutes running time the film moves along a good pace. The supporting characters are however, one dimensional, and in Brightburn it seems no-one is intelligent enough to spot a no-good early teen wreaking murder and mayhem most foul in the local community - not the Counsellor, nor the Sheriff, and not even his parents until it costs them their lives.  That said, it's good to see an alternative Superhero offering in this day and age of Superhero overload, and view the crowded genre from the other side of the tracks. You don't need to watch this on the big screen and can easily wait for the BluRay, download or your streaming service to catch it from the comfort of your own couch or mobile device. If successful the Producers have hinted at a sequel already, which was partially set up in a mid-credits sequence starring Michael Rooker as The Big T, an online TV channel conspiracy theorist and broadcaster.

'Brightburn' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 23rd May 2019.

As reported last week, the 72nd Cannes Film Festival is now in full swing until 25th May. As well as those twenty-one films in main competition for the prestigious 'Palme d'Or' award, the 'Un Certain Regard' section sees a further eighteen films compete for the 'Prix Un Certain Regard' which was introduced to the section to recognise young talent and to encourage innovative and daring works by presenting one of the films with a grant to aid its distribution in France. The name literally translated means 'a certain glance' but is understood by French speakers to mean 'from another point of view'. Here it means films with various types of visions and styles, which tell their stories in nontraditional ways. This section presents 'original and different' works which seek international recognition. The 'Camera d'Or' ('Golden Camera') is an award of the Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes' selections and is awarded during the Festival's Closing Ceremony by an independent jury. The rules define first film as 'the first feature film for theatrical screening (whatever the format; fiction, documentary or animation) of sixty minutes or more in length, by a Director who has not made another film of sixty minutes or more in length and released theatrically.

Of those films competing for the Camera d'Or, below you'll find a quick summary of the main contenders :-

* 'A Brother's Love' - here this Canadian drama comedy offering is Directed and Written by Monia Chokri about Sophia (Anne Elisabeth Bosse), an immature university graduate student who is forced to reassess her life when her brother Karim (Patrick Hivon), with whom she has always had a very close and codependent relationship, falls in love with her gynecologist Éloise (Évelyne Brochu).

* 'Les Miserables' - this is a French drama film Directed and Co-Written by Ladj Ly about the 2005 Paris riots and stars Damien Bonnard.

* 'Bull' - this American drama film is Directed and Written by Annie Silverstein and stars Vicky Kadian, Yolonda Ross and Rob Morgan.

* 'Homeward' - this is a Ukrainian drama offering Written and Directed by Nariman Aliev.

* 'Particles' - this French/Swiss Co-Produced drama film is Directed and Written by Blaise Harrison and stars Thomas Daloz, Salvatore Ferro and Leo Couilfort.

* 'Port Authority' - this is an American drama film Directed and Written by Danielle Lessovitz

* 'The Bare Necessity' - this French drama film is Written and Directed by Erwan Le Duc and stars Fanny Ardant, Maud Wyler and Swann Arlaud.

* 'The Climb' - is an American comedy film Directed and Written by Michael Covino

* 'Sick, Sick, Sick' - this Brazillian/French and Dutch Co-Produced drama offering is Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Alice Furtado and stars Digao Ribeiro, Juan Paiva and Lourenco Mutarelli.

* 'Song Without a Name' - here this Peruvian and Swiss Co-Produced drama film is Co-Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Melina Leon and stars Lidia Quipse, Lucio Rojas and Maykol Hernández.

* 'Summer of Changsha' - this Chinese crime drama film is Written and Directed by Zu Feng.

You can get the full low down on these films, plus the many more screening both in and out of competition, and all the latest news and views at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival by visiting the official website at : https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/

Putting the focus back to this weeks latest release films coming to your local Odeon, we have four new offerings to tempt the ardent cinema goer. We launch into the week with a live action remake of a critically and commercially successful Disney animated feature from 27 years ago that sees a street urchin offered a chance to make something of his life courtesy of a magic lamp, a genie and three wishes. We then have a change of pace completely with a superhero horror offering that sees the gift of a perfect baby boy turn on its head when that young lad reaches puberty and things begin to go south very quickly for those around him. Next up we have an acclaimed foreign language offering about a pair of previously wealthy women, who by virtue of inheritance, have fallen on tough times for the first time in their thirty years together. Resorting to driving well to do ladies around town to make ends meet, one of the women makes a new connection that breathes fresh and invigorating life into the old girl. We then close the week with a documentary offering a look at an ideal future twenty years hence that is well within humanities grasp to effect lasting and meaningful change based on the technologies available today, for the benefit of the next generation and those that come after it, our planet and our collective future.  

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four 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 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.

'ALADDIN' (Rated PG) - in 1992 Disney released a feature length animated 'Aladdin' film starring Robin Williams as our titular genie from the magic lantern, which was in turn based on the Arabic folktale of the same name from the 'One Thousand and One Nights' which dates back to the early 18th Century. That film was made for US$28M, grossed US$504M at the global Box Office, was hailed a critical success and spawned various derived works and other material inspired by the film, including two direct-to-video sequels, 1994's 'The Return of Jafar' and 1996's 'Aladdin and the King of Thieves', an animated television series of the same name, and a Broadway production. The film picked up 32 award wins and 22 other nominations including two Academy Awards wins, three Golden Globe wins and five Grammy wins. Fast forward to 2016 and Guy Ritchie (yes he of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', 'Snatch', 'Revolver', two successful 'Sherlock Holmes' films and 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' fame amongst others) was announced to Direct a live action remake of the Disney classic of the same name.

And so here we are, opening in cinemas around the world this week, Aladdin (Mena Massoud), a young street urchin who's only friend is his kleptomaniac pet monkey Abu (voiced by Frank Welker), falls in love with Jasmine (Naomi Scott), the Princess of Agrabah who is set to marry a Prince by her Sultan father (Navid Negahban). When he and Abu find a magic lamp containing a Genie (Will Smith channelling the late great Robin Williams), however, they must protect it from the wicked Grand Vizier, Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) and his loyal parrot Iago (voiced by Alan Tudyk), who both want to rule Agrabah with the Genie’s wishes and powers most awesome.

'BRIGHTBURN' (Rated MA15+) - here we have something new and seemingly fresh - a superhero horror film as Directed by David Yarovesky, Written by Mark and Brian Gunn and Co-Produced by James Gunn. Costing US$7M to bring to the big screen, the film tells the story of Tori (Elizabeth Banks) who after a difficult struggle with fertility, has her dreams of motherhood come unexpectedly true with the arrival of a mysterious baby boy who crash lands on Earth somewhere in the vicinity of  small-town Kansas form another world it appears. Young Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn) appears to be everything Tori and her husband Kyle (David Denman) ever wanted, he's bright, talented and curious about the world. But as Brandon nears puberty, a powerful darkness seems to manifest within him, and Tori becomes consumed by terrible doubts about her son. Once Brandon begins to act on his twisted urges, those closest to him find themselves in grave danger, as the miracle child transforms into a vicious predator. The film is released in the US this week too.

'THE HEIRESSES' (Rated M) - this Paraguayan drama film is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Marcelo Martinessi and saw its Premier screening at the Berlin International Film Festival back in February 2018 where it was in main competition for the Golden Bear, and it was also selected as the Paraguayan entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at this years 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. The film has however, accumulated a total of 34 award wins and 35 other nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit and has garnered generally positive Reviews. Only now does it go on limited release in Australia. Here, Chela (Ana Brun) and Chiquita (Margarita Irun) are both descended from wealthy families in Asunción, Paraguay and have been together for more than thirty years. Recently however, their financial situation has declined leaving them no option but to sell off their inherited possessions. But when their debts result in Chiquita being imprisoned on fraud charges, Chela is forced to face a new harsh reality. Driving for the first time in years, she starts to provide a local taxi service to a group of well off elderly ladies. As Chela settles into her new life, she encounters the much younger Angy (Ana Ivanova), forging a fresh and invigorating new connection. Chela finally begins to break out of her shell and engage with the world, embarking on her own personal, intimate revolution.

'2040' (Rated G) - here Australian Actor, Writer, Producer and Director Damon Gameau delivers us this climate change documentary with a difference. This award winning Director for his debut feature length 2014 doco 'That Sugar Film', drills down on the best minds from around the world to focus on climate, economics, technology, civil society, agriculture and sustainability. '2040' maps out a pathway for change that can lead us to a more ecologically sustainable and equitable future. Motivated by his four year-old daughter who will turn 25 in 2040 and a concern for the planet she will inherit, Damon Gameau ventures out on a global journey to meet the proactive innovators and change agents at the forefront of delivering the best solutions already available to us today to improve the health of our planet and societies tomorrow, rather than the politicians who simply take a reactive approach to the matter by throwing seemingly vast sums of cash at the issue without any clear strategy. Described as an aspirational film full of hope about the possibility to make changes that will shift the course for humanity and the planet. This is the narrative the next generation needs to see, to aspire to, and to believe is possible.

With four new release movies 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-