Birthday's to share this week : 17th - 23rd September 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Neill Blomkamp does on 17th September - check out my tribute to this Director, Writer and Producer Birthday Boy turning 38, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 17th September

• Baz Luhrmann - Born 1962, turns 55 - Director | Writer | Producer | Songwriter
• Bryan Singer - Born 1965, turns 52 - Producer | Director | Writer | Actor
• Kyle Chandler - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Neill Blomkamp - Born 1979, turns 38 - Director | Writer | Producer  

Monday 18th September

• Tim McInnerny - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor
• Mark Romanek - Born 1959, turns 58 - Director | Writer | Producer
• Don Hany - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actor | Producer
• Jason Sudeikis - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
• Patrick Schwarzenegger - Born 1993, turns 24 - Actor
• Jada Pinkett Smith - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Director  

Tuesday 19th September

• David McCallum - Born 1933, turns 84 - Actor 
• Jeremy Irons - Born 1948, turns 69 - Actor | Producer  
• Paul McGuigan - Born 1963, turns 54 - Director | Producer

Wednesday 20th September

• George R.R. Martin - Born 1948, turns 69 - Writer | Producer
• Gary Cole - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor
• Chad Stahelski - Born 1968, turns 49 - Stuntman | Director | Actor | Producer | Writer
• Jon Bernthal - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actor   
• Sophia Loren - Born 1934, turns 83 - Actress | Singer
• Asia Argento - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actress | Director | Writer  

Thursday 21st September

• Jerry Bruckheimer - Born 1943, turns 74 - Producer 
• Stephen King - Born 1947, turns 70 - Writer | Producer | Actor | Director
• Bill Murray - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer | Director
• Ethan Coen - Born 1957, turns 60 - Writer | Director | Producer | Editor
• Angus Macfadyen - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Writer | Director
• David Wenham - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director  
• Luke Wilson - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director

Friday 22nd September

• John Woo - Born 1946, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Editor
• Nick Cave - Born 1957, turns 60 - Writer | Composer | Singer | Songwriter | Actor
• Scott Baio - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer
• Tom Felton - Born 1987, turns 30 - Actor | Director  

Saturday 23rd September

• Jason Alexander - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer
• Alex Proyas - Born 1963, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer 
• Anthony Mackie - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actor 

Neill Blomkamp was born in Johannesburg, South Africa where he attended the independent and private co-educational Redhill High School located in Morningside, Johannesburg. It was there that he met Sharlto Copley at the age of sixteen. Copley gave Blomkamp the use of computers to pursue his passion and growing talent for animation and design, and in return Blomkamp helped Copley in creating 3D work for proposals on various projects that Copley was working on/interested in. At the age of eighteen, Blomkamp and his family relocated to Vancouver, where he attended the Vancouver Film School.

During the late '90's, Blomkamp began working in the film industry as a 3D animator, gaining work on such Sci-Fi television shows as 'Stargate SG-1', 'First Wave' and 'Mercy Point', and earthquake drama miniseries 'Aftershock : Earthquake in New York'. These led to Blomkamp scoring his first gig as Lead Animator on the Sci-Fi action drama series 'Dark Angel' which ran for 43 episodes over two seasons, and then feature film '3000 Miles to Graceland' with Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell in 2001. He then picked up work at two of Vancouver's noted digital effects studios - 'The Embassy Visual Effects' and 'Rainmaker Digital Effects' both companies working on televisions commercials, in television and on feature films. It was however, his work on his own short films that got him noticed by one Peter Jackson, including the two minute short film 'Tetra Vaal' that was Written, Directed, Produced and Edited by Blomkamp - a mock commercial for a third-world Police robot; 'Alive in Joburg' with a five minute running time that was Written and Directed by him too about extra terrestrials marooned in Johannesburg, and then 'Tempbot' and 'Yellow'. 

In 2007 Blomkamp was slated to Direct his first feature length film - an adaptation of the popular video game series 'Halo' after he had Directed three short live action films in 2007 set in the 'Halo' universe and known as 'Landfall'. Funding for the 'Halo' feature fell through and the project was cancelled, but with Producer Peter Jackson on board and a relationship being nurtured, attention was turned to Blomkamp's feature film debut, the Sci-Fi thriller 'District 9' based on his earlier short film 'Alive in Joburg' which Peter Jackson Co-Produced. The film was released in 2009 and starred Sharlto Copley in his first lead role as Wikus van de Merwe. The film was universally acclaimed, recovered US$211M from its US$30M budget outlay, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, one Golden Globe, and seven BAFTA's amongst its total haul of thirty award wins and  another 114 nominations.

2013 saw the release of Written, Directed and Co-Produced Sci-Fi offering 'Elysium' set in an overpopulated and pollution ravaged Earth of 2154 where most of the world populace live in poverty while the rich and powerful live on a luxurious man-made space habitat within Earth's orbit. Starring Matt Damon in the lead role supported by Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Diego Luna, and William Fichtner, the film cost US$115M to make and recouped US$286M and received generally positive press, albeit not nearly on the same scale as for 'District 9'. It picked up one award win and ten nominations.

This was followed up by 'Chappie' released in 2015, based on his own earlier short film 'Tetra Vaal'. This film too was again Written, Directed and Co-Produced by Blomkamp, and starred Sharlto Copley as the artificially intelligent law enforcement robot, affectionally named 'Chappie' by the mob of gangsters who capture him and train him, together with Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, and Yolandi Visser and Watkin Tudor Jones both of South African counter-culture rap-wave band 'Die Antwoord'. The film cost US$49M to bring to the big screen and raked in US$102M and received mixed to average Reviews.

Back in 2015 Blomkamp announced that he was working on a treatment for an 'Alien' sequel with Sigourney Weaver set to reprise her role as Ellen Ripley. He later went on to confirm that announcement and that furthermore he was planning more than one sequel to the successful franchise. However, the project was shelved later that year when Ridley Scott began shooting 'Alien : Covenant'. Earlier this year the title of the film was said to be 'Alien : Awakening', although Ridley Scott subsequently stated that Blomkamp's film had been officially canned, although the Production Studio may have different ideas yet. The follow up feature to 'Alien : Covenant' is said to be titled 'Alien : Awakening' which is set to go into production for a 2019 release, and Directed once again by Ridley Scott.

Earlier this year, Blomkamp created his own film production company, Oats Studios, with the aim of producing a series of 'experimental' short films to be released via 'Steam' and free streaming on YouTube, with the intention of testing interest and audience acceptance of a given theme, before expanding these notions into full blown feature films. The first such film is a 22 minute offering Co-Written and Directed by Blomkamp and starring Sigourney Weaver, titled 'Rakka' about a dystopian future where an unknown group of aliens have colonised Earth and humans struggle to fight back.

The 27 minute 'Firebase' is a horror Sci-Fi short film also Co-Written and Directed by Blomkamp set during the Vietnam War where both sides face a new kind of terror threat that neither side could have imagined or were prepared for. This was in turn followed up by the four minute 'God : Serengeti' starring Sharlto Copley; and the four episode comedy mini-series 'Cooking with Bill' set as 1980's cooking equipment infomercials in which the cooking demonstrations by the two regular guest presenters go horribly and horrifically wrong.

'Zygote' followed as a 23 minute Sci-Fi horror film starring Dakota Fanning as one of two lone survivors stranded in an Arctic mine who are forced to fight for their lives as they are hunted by a new kind of terror threat. Also Co-Written and Directed by Blomkamp. 'Lima' came next of which details are very scant, and it is believed to be the final experimental short film in 'Volume 1' by Oats Studios.

This brings us up to date in terms of so far published creative output. All up Blomkamp has seventeen credits as Director to his name, fifteen as Writer, eight for his animation and visual effects works, and five as Producer. He has twelve award wins and a further 35 nominations under his belt so far including 'District 9' Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Best Screenplay, and a Primetime Emmy nod for 'Dark Angel'. Blomkamp is married to Canadian Screenwriter Terri Tatchell with whom she worked with her husband on the scripts for 'District 9' and 'Chappie'. They have one child together.

Neill Blomkamp - known for his seamless amalgamation of natural and photo-realistic computer generated imagery; often threads his own social commentary through the stories he depicts in his films; often works with Sharlto Copley; often shoots his films in his native Johannesburg; and while Sci-Fi is his first love he says that he could easily turn his hand to horror or military conflict. All of that said, based on your maverick style to date, your success, and your imaginative creative approach to story telling, we'll await your next offering with interest and keen anticipation. In the meantime, Happy Birthday to you Neill, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 23rd - 29th April 2017

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Dev Patel does on 23rd April - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 27, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 23rd April

• Lee Majors - Born 1939, turns 78 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Michael Moore - Born 1954, turns 63 - Producer | Director | Writer
• John Hannah - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• John Cena - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actor | WWE Wrestler
• Dev Patel - Born 1990, turns 27 - Actor | Producer  
• Judy Davis - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actress

Monday 24th April

• Shirley MacLaine - Born 1934, turns 83 - Actress | Singer | Producer | Writer | Director
• Barbra Streisand - Born 1942, turns 75 - Actress | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Richard Donner - Born 1930, turns 87 - Director | Producer | Actor | Writer
• Dijon Hounsou - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Director  

Tuesday 25th April

• Al Pacino - Born 1940, turns 77 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Hank Azaria - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Talia Shire - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Renee Zellweger - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer  

Wednesday 26th April

• Joan Chen - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actress | Producer | Director | Writer
• Jet Li - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Kevin James - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Channing Tatum - Born 1980, turns 37 - Actor | Producer | Singer  

Thursday 27th April

• Kevin McNally - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer  

Friday 28th April

• Ann-Margret - Born 1941, turns 76 - Actress | Singer
• Bridget Moynahan - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actress 
• Penelope Cruz - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer
• Jessica Alba - Born 1981, turns 36 - Actress  

Saturday 29th April

• Michelle Pfeiffer - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Uma Thurman - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Phillip Noyce - Born 1950, turns 67 - Director | Producer | Writer | Cinematographer | Actor
• Daniel Day-Lewis - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor
• Jerry Seinfeld - Born 1954, turns 53 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer

Dev Patel was born in the north-west London borough of Harrow to mother Anita, a care worker and father Raj an IT consultant. His parents are of Indian Hindu descent, both born in Nairobi and emigrated to England separately in their teenage years, first meeting in London. Dev attended Longfields Middle School and there he experienced his first acting role in a school production of 'Twelfth Night'. From there he attended the state secondary Whitmore High School in Harrow and graduated with top marks in his Drama General Certificate of Secondary Education. He then completed the Advanced Subsidiary Level qualification in Drama in 2007, whilst working on his acting debut for the television teen drama series 'Skins' in which he starred as Anwar Kharral, a British Pakistani Muslim teenager in the first two seasons. At this point Patel had no professional acting experience, and gained the role because his mother saw a casting advertisement in the newspaper and took him along to audition. The show ran for seven seasons and was critically acclaimed, picking up seven award wins and thirty other nominations.

On the strength of his performance in 'Skins' he was cast after five auditions in his big screen debut in 2008 in the role of Jamal Malik, the main character in Danny Boyle's highly acclaimed 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Made for US$15M the film grossed US$378M and the film picked up eight Academy Award wins including Best Picture and Best Director from its total haul of 151 award wins and 120 further nominations. The film well and truly put Patel on the map after only his first big screen outing, with numerous award wins and nominations coming forth too for his performance.

This was followed up in 2010 by M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Last Airbender' in the role of Zuko, based on the animated television series 'Avatar : The Last Airbender'. The film garnered generally negative press and Patel was nominated for a Razzie Award, even though critically his performance was seen as one of the films redeeming features. Made for US$150M the film grossed US$320M and despite the adverse Reviews was a commercial success.

Next up was an eight minute short film 'Commuter', also starring Charles Dance and Pamela Anderson, and filmed entirely on a Nokia E8 smart phone in HD to promote the launch of the phone in the UK. This gave way to 2012's 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' Directed by John Madden and with a cast that included Bill Nighy, Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Ronald Pickup. Patel starred as Sonny Kapoor the young man who has designs on owning and managing his own retirement hotel in India. The film cost US$10M to make and grossed US$137M at the worldwide Box Office and it picked up four award wins and another 22 nominations. Patel and the ensemble cast would reprise their roles in the follow up film in 2015 also Directed by John Madden and adding David Strathairn and Richard Gere into the mix. 'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' was again made for US$10M and grossed US$86M at the Box Office.

Between these two 'Exotic Marigold Hotel' films there was the Stephen Elliott Written and Directed 'About Cherry' in 2012 with James Franco and Heather Graham about the San Francisco porn industry, and then 'The Road Within' in 2014 also starring Zoe Kravitz, Robert Patrick and Kyra Sedgwick, about the young teenage inmates in a behavioural facility to cure the main characters of various ailments ranging from Tourette Syndrome, to OCD to eating disorders, how they escape and take a road trip as a consequence. 

This was followed up by the HBO Produced 'The Newsroom' television series which ran over three seasons from 2012 through to 2014 and 25 episodes. Patel starred as Neal Sampat in all 25 episodes alongside Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston, Emily Mortimer and Olivia Munn amongst others. The show was well regarded and picked up nine award wins and another 32 nominations. 2015 saw Neill Blomkamp's near future, Johannesburg set 'Chappie' also starring  Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, and Sharlto Copley as the mechanical Police droid 'Chappie' and Patel as its designer and engineer Deon Wilson.

2015 also saw 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' - the biographical drama telling the story of the pioneer Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan as portrayed by Patel and his friendship with his mentor at Cambridge University during WWI, Professor G.H.Hardy as played by Jeremy Irons. The film also starred Toby Jones, Kevin McNally, Stephen Fry and Jeremy Northam and received positive Reviews.

'Lion' came next in 2016 and is still to be found playing in some cinemas. Directed by Garth Davis and telling the true story of five year old Saroo who gets separated from his beloved brother in Khandwa, India and is inadvertently transported 1,500kms to Calcutta. After several adventures, later he is adopted by a Tasmanian couple played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham and grows into young adulthood, attending Hospitality Training College in Melbourne having lost all contact and connections with his family and his native homeland. This is his story of how the grown Saroo Brierly retraces his roots to relocate his family back in India using Google Earth. The film was made for US$12M and has so far grossed US$135M and has been critically acclaimed having been nominated for six Academy Awards including Patels first nod as Best Supporting Actor, four Golden Globes including Patels nod as Best Supporting Actor too, five BAFTA's including the win for Patel as Best Supporting Actor, two SAG nominations including Best Supporting Male Actor and five AACTA's including the win again for Patel for Best Supporting Actor. The film picked up 31 award wins and another 75 nominations. 

Next up for Patel is 'Hotel Mumbai' currently in post-production for a release later this year. Directed by Anthony Maras and Co-starring Armie Hammer and Jason Isaacs this films tells the true story of the victims and survivors of the devastating attacks on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India in 2008. 

All up Patel has seventeen Acting credits to his name and one as Producer on the upcoming 'Hotel Mumbai'. He has so far accumulated seventeen award wins for 'Lion', 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'The Road Within' and a further 32 nominations. Patel was in a long term relationship with his 'Slumdog Millionaire' Co-Star Freida Pinto from 2009 through until 2014.

Dev Patel - Taekwondo champion having achieved a bronze medal at the 2004 Action International Martial Arts Association World Championships in Dublin; has already achieved much in just nine years of screen time and without any professional acting tuition; is a grounded Londoner who knows his strengths and weaknesses, and keeps it real as evidenced by his accolades garnered so far. Happy Birthday to you Dev, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

CHAPPIE : Sunday 15th March 2015

It seems that critics and audiences are divided by Writer/Director Neill Blomkamp's latest Sci-Fi offering - 'CHAPPIE' which I saw over the weekend. Unlike Bloomkamp's second feature film 'Elysium' with Matt Damon and his now regular actor stablemate Sharlto Copley which was set in a mid-22nd Century dystopian Los Angeles, this film takes us back to a very near future Johannesburg which is where too his first feature 'District 9' was set. As the opening scenes unfold I was reminded of the 'Robocop' franchise, but Bloomkamp set up the premise very well with a raw grittiness of the South African city gripped by gangland violence, armed robbery, killings and societal decay. The droid police force are already established, albeit only recently in 2016 and very successful at what they do, but there is nothing shiny, bright and gleaming about these automated law enforcers - they are battered, dented, battle worn machines that are relentless in their task but occasionally break when overcome by RPG's, or renegade truck drivers. For me, the 'Robocop' connection ended there, and it was on with the story!

We are quickly introduced to weapons company 'Tetravaal' and it's MD Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver) who have about 100 titanium plated police droids out on the streets of Johannesburg on active duty and bringing down the crime rate by the day. After a successful bust on a gangland hideaway in the opening scenes in which we are introduced to Ninja and Yolandi Visser (playing themselves of South African rap-rave outfit 'Die Antwoord') and gangster king-pin Hippo (Brandon Auret), 'Tetravaal' receive an order for another 100 police droids which draws attention from the worlds media and causes the company's stock value to skyrocket. All is good for the company and the inventor of the droids - engineer Deon Wilson (Dev Patel), who is also working on an artificial intelligence upgrade of the droids that could potentially give them thought, emotions, feelings and understanding.

Working within the same company but on another droid project is Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) who has developed a bigger badder bolder one droid army killing machine that is capable of much more wide spread death & destruction all in the name of national security and peace on the streets! Moore's machine though is controlled by a human and dependant on a human unlike Wilson's, and because of this the latter has taken all the funding while the former has to contend with budget cuts and sitting in the shadow of his successful colleague. Moore is an ex-soldier slab of beef cake who shoots first and asks questions later and just wants to blow shit up and get rich in teh process, and so there is an intense rivalry between the two, which will overflow into dire circumstances for them both ultimately.

When Wilson succeeds in developing his A.I. upgrade he implants this in Droid 22 which has been badly injured in the line of law enforcement and is due to be decommissioned beyond the state of repair. Before this can happen though Wilson is kidnapped by Ninja and Yolandi who have seven days in which to pay Hippo 20M Rand for a drug bust gone horribly wrong. When he awakes in some city fringe derelict warehouse building he is threatened with his life by Ninja and Yolandi if he doesn't 'switch off' the army of droids patrolling the streets, so that they can engineer a heist with a 600M Rand pay day, pay off Hippo and ride off into the sunset . . . if only it were that easy!

With the broken Droid 22 in the back of his company van, Wilson agrees to reassemble the droid and reprogramme it with his A.I. system that he has developed, so that the droid can assist with the heist. The droids incidentally, cannot be switched off - they have a rechargeable battery and can live forever almost, but this droids battery was fused to its body casing when an RPG was fired into its chest causing it too fuse together and therefore not be removable or rechargeable. This droid has a rapidly diminishing shelf-life!

In rebooting the droid and reassembling it, the droid is reborn and so has to learn to adapt to its surroundings, communicate and assimilate with those around it . . . like a baby does. Yolandi calls it a 'happy chappy' when they are first introduced because it is naive, cautious and unknowing, and so 'Chappie' (Sharlto Copley) comes into being. Chappie learns very quickly however, and learns too the ways of its gangster captives, and when Wilson is allowed to go but returns later on to teach Chappie the way of the world - for better purposes he hopes!

As the story unfolds we follow Chappie as his world expands and he learns very quickly with his new found intelligence. This is taken full advantage of by his captors who set him up as Gangster #1 and want to use him to pull of their daring heist. He calls Yolandi 'Mommy' and Ninja 'Daddy' because that's what he's been taught and Wilson is 'Maker', and he has loyalties to all three for very differing reasons and motivations. Yes, Chappie can now think for itself.

As we move along there are struggles at 'Tetravaal' between Wilson and Moore, the heist looms closer, Chappie is torn between Maker and Mommy & Daddy, and Moore engineers events to get his moment in the sun which hardly ends well for anyone. The closing however, presents an interesting premise about consciousness and the ultimate power of artificial intelligence. Whilst there are nods to 'Robocop', 'Terminator 2' and even 'Bicentennial Man' I enjoyed this film for its hard edged grittiness, the moral heart at the core of this story, and a new & different take on the subject matter which we have seen done before. Ninja & Yolandi are colourful low life gangster crims, and at times there are nods aplenty to their band 'Die Antwoord' including Ninja's heavily tattooed body and the logos they spray on Chappie.

This is certainly better that 'Elysium' and up there with 'District 9' and worth a look - not essential viewing on the big screen, but why wouldn't you for $20 to see Sharlto Copley doing his mo-cap robotic stuff to great effect, Jackman sporting a wicked mullet and Patel as the scientist engineer just wanting to make the world a better place. Good fun!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 12th March 2015.

Having moved to South Australia recently and taking up residency in Adelaide, and full time work, I have suddenly become more appreciative of the time that I hitherto had available to dedicate to your favourite movie Blog . . . Odeon Online. Now I find myself gainfully employed in this great city and scratching around finding time to write my Blog Posts and provide you with the filmic feedback you have become accustomed to. Undeterred by this minor set back, I carry on regardless in the hope that I can do justice to your insatiable appetite for all things from moviedom!

And so to this weeks new release movies coming to a theatre near you from this Thursday. First up an already much touted, much lauded 70's American stoner pot-infused beach side whodunit with an all star cast and an acclaimed maverick Director at the helm; then another future offering from an increasingly rising star Director creating unique dystopian experiences that have surprised and delighted audiences for their creativity and unique story lines; onto a real life mid-80's kidnapping involving a Beer Baron and a bunch of hapless miscreants who win the biggest ransom monies ever paid; and then we close out with two comedies made on either side of the pond that are likely to find an audience and divide them at the same time!

With this synopsis done, and your film choice(s) made for the week ahead, when you have seen your chosen movie, drop us a line or two at Odeon Online in the Comments section following this or any Post and share your thoughts and opinions with our ever expanding readership. Enjoy your film!

INHERENT VICE (Rated MA15+) - based on the book of the same name by Thomas Pynchon, this is the latest offering from Director, Producer and Screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson lining up a strong cast to deliver this 70's stoner story of pot-addled Private Detective Larry 'Doc' Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) who in his drug infused stupor takes on three cases at once that all intertwine but seemingly go nowhere. Destined to collide, confuse and cajole you into thinking that this should all makes sense when it probably doesn't, Larry is on the case of his ex-girlfriends real estate developer boyfriend Mickey Wolfmann (Eric Roberts) whose wife is manufacturing a plot to have him committed to a mental institution.

Subsequently, Doc meets up with a member of the 'Black Guerrilla Family' who hires him to find a guy he met in jail, and who owes him money and just happens to be the bodyguard of Mickey Wolfmann! Next up Doc is hired by the wife of Coy Harlingen (Owen Wilson) who is missing and whom she believes is dead, but this is really not the case as we later discover. A drug smuggling boat appears on the scene that has links back to the mental institution that Wolfmann gets admitted to by his estranged wife, and the last time that boat sailed Doc's ex-girlfriend was aboard! If all this sounds confusing there are further plot twists and turns to throw you off the scent involving Detective Christian F. 'Bigfoot' Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) who works for the LAPD and Doc's Attorney Sauncho Smilax (Benicio del Toro), a stash of heroin, police paid killings for cash, baseball bat collections and more smoke & mirrors than you could shine a torch at! Sounds like it could be mind-bending fun . . . if you can get your head around it!

CHAPPIE (Rated MA15+) - Neill Blomkamp is back Directing his own story that he made into a short film back in 2004 - 'Tetra Vaal' and hot on the heels of 'District 9' in 2009 and then 'Elysium' in 2013, both starring his acting stablemate Sharlto Copley who takes the lead role here as 'Chappie'. Set in the not too distant future and again in Johannesburg, crime is managed on the streets by a mechanical police force (you can be forgiven for thinking 'Robocop' here!). As the people begin to rebel against robotic law enforcement, one such droid (Chappie) is stolen and reprogrammed with the ability to think for itself, and have feelings and emotions. This is done by Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) who has to go against the company producing the robots in the first place and a rival inventor Vincent Moore (Hugh Jackman) who has developed an inferior product dependant on human operation, unlike Chappie. As Chappie learns and adopts more and more human traits so the opposition against it/him grows to the point where despite his law enforcement success there are those who see him/it as a threat to humanity and are determined to ensure that Chappie is both the first, and last, of its kind. Containing many of the Blomkamp trademarks we have come to expect, this latest offering looks like it could be a lot of fun, combining action, a future vision and heart.

KIDNAPPING MR. HEINEKEN (Rated M) - back in November 1983, Dutch Beer Baron, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the global beer brewing giant Heineken International, Alfred 'Freddy' Heineken (Anthony Hopkins) was kidnapped and held for ransom. In a plot that was in the making for over two years the perpetrators of this crime Cor Van Hout (Jim Sturgees), Willem Holleeder (Sam Worthington), Jan Bollard (Ryan Kwanten), Martin Erkamps (Thomas Cocquerel)  and Frans Meijer (Mark van Eeuwen) successfully pulled off the kidnapping crime of the century that resulted in the payment of the biggest ransom ever paid (16 million Euros). For a number of years the childhood mates got away with their crime spreading themselves far and wide, but were eventually captured and punished for their crimes with prison sentences. This films tells that story starring some big names and Directed by Daniel Alfredson, but if it is enough to maintain your attention and give you enough of a thrill given the subject matter only you can decide.

MANNY LEWIS (Rated M) - Aussie comic Carl Barron stars here as famous fictional stand-up comedian Manny Lewis who has confidence, respect and success at the hands of millions of loyal fans for whom he can perform every night as part of his comedic routine. But can he connect on a personal and emotional level with one single woman? Meeting Maria (Leeanna Walsman) with whom he is first introduced to over an adult chat line and then coincidentally face to face in a cafe over a latte, neither of them are aware of their previous telephone 'introduction', as in time their relationship begins to blossom. When Manny discovers Maria's 'other life', he is at the same time invited to break into the potentially lucrative American market, and so must decide which path to take that will allow him to move on and be truly happy!

TOP 5 (Rated MA15+) - Chris Rock here Writes, Directs and Stars at Andre Allen - a hugely successful stand up comedian with a successful trilogy of comedy films behind him in which he stars as an action talking bear hero. His reality TV Star fiancee tries to persuade him that they should broadcast their upcoming wedding on  her TV show, and at the same time he has to be spend a day with reporter Chelsea Brown (Rosario Dawson) who is interested in Allen's move into serious film making despite the opposition from his legions of fans that he should return to stand-up and his action bear comedy film franchise. From what I have seen this is a series of comedy sketches loosely knitted together to form some sort of story that passes off for a film of rediscovery, awakening and realisation   with as much cursing, abuse, disrespect and non-PC one liners that you are likely to expect from Chris Rock! I'm sure it will find an audience!

That's it for this week then - five films to tease you out on an early Autumn evening in Adelaide, Sydney or wherever you may happen to reside in close proximity to a movie theatre. Enjoy the experience, share your views and keep watching!

Movies - see one this week . . . at least!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-