EQUALIZER 3 : Tuesday 5th September 2023.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE EQUALIZER 3' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this American action thriller film is Directed and Co-Produced by Antoine Fuqua and is the sequel to 2018's 'Equalizer 2' and the third and final instalment in the 'Equalizer' trilogy. Those first two films, also Directed by Antoine Fuqua grossed US$383M off the back of combined production budgets of US135M, and is loosely based on the TV series which ran for a total of eighty-eight episodes over four seasons from 1985 through until 1989 and starred Edward Woodward as the titular Equalizer, Robert McCall. This film has so far grossed US$75M from a production budget of US$70M since its release last week, and has generated mixed or average reviews. Earlier last month, Antoine Fuqua is reported to have commented that there have been discussions to develop a prequel movie detailing the origins of Robert McCall, and later that while internally talks were had about this being the final film chronologically, he would be interested in returning as Director for a future instalment if Denzel Washington was interested in returning to the role. 

The film opens with a drone shot of a Land Rover driving along country lanes in Sicily surrounded by row upon row of grape vines, until the car pulls up outside a secluded winery. Out steps Lorenzo Vitale (Bruno Bilotta), leaving his young son in the passenger seat, having first retrieved his revolver from the glove box. Vitale is greeted by another man, carrying a semi-automatic weapon who tells him that he was ordered to wait outside. Vitale gingerly makes his way in the through door and down into the depths of the winery stepping over numerous dead bodies along the way, who have all seemingly died very violent deaths. Sitting in the basement is Robert McCall (Denzel Washington, who also Co-Produces here) held captive by two of Vitale's henchmen. McCall gives Vitale nine seconds to consider his options before all hell breaks loose and McCall kills the three surviving henchmen and finishes off a badly injured Vitale with a bullet to the head. McCall then removes a bunch of keys from Vitale's belt to gain access to the winery's vault and recoup money stolen in a cyber-heist (the reason he is there which is revealed later). 

On leaving the winery however, McCall is shot in the back by Vitale's young son. Slumping down on a step after the boy has fled, he considers suicide due to his injury, but instead takes the ferry back to the mainland. Later that night, McCall's car is seen pulled over somewhere on the Amalfi Coast with the lights on, and the drivers door wide open with McCall unconscious from shock. He is found and rescued by Gio Bonucci (Eugenio Mastrandrea), a local Carabiniere, who takes him to Altamonte, a remote coastal Italian town, where he is treated by the local doctor Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone) who removes the .22 calibre bullet, and stitches McCall back up. 

McCall makes a steady albeit slow recovery, having to use a walking cane and initially struggling to use the stairs, but, he is determined to get his previous strength back. He becomes acquainted with the townsfolk, including a waitress named Aminah (Gaia Scodellaro), and becomes fond of the town and its people. He makes an anonymous phone call to CIA Agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning) to tip her off about the winery's role in the illegal drug trade under the guise of day to day business transactions in Sicily. Collins and other CIA operatives including her superior officer Frank Conroy (David Denham) later arrive at the winery and find millions in cash along with bags of Captagon tablets hidden inside hundreds of fake wine bottles within a storeroom, confirming McCall's suspicions. She later tracks down McCall at his local cafe, who is evasive about his identity. She tells him that he is a 'person of interest' in her investigations, to which he replies that he's just an 'interesting person'. 

In the meantime, members of the local Camorra clan harass and kill villagers in an attempt to coerce them out of their housing and take over Altamonte for the purpose of building hotels, resorts and casinos in the coastal town. McCall overhears Marco Quaranta (Andrea Dodero), a high-ranking Camorra member, beat up a local seafood storeowner named Angelo (Daniele Perrone) for payments when he is unable to make his weekly dues. To make an example, the Camorra firebomb Angelo's fish store as the townsfolk attempt to douse the flames and watch on. Bonucci reviews video of the firebombing and places a call in to Italian central Police with an inquiry on the van involved. He is later attacked by the Camorra in his own home while his wife and two young daughters are forced to watch on held at gunpoint. Later, while McCall is having dinner at a local restaurant, Marco and two of his henchmen burst in and demand that Bonucci, who is also dining with his family, set up a boat for them. Overhearing them, McCall requests Marco to move their operations to a someplace else, however, when Marco refuses, McCall kills him and his goons outside in a quiet street.

The Naples' head of Police is threatened and tortured by Marco's brother and head of the local clan Vincent (Andrea Scarduzio) to find who killed him. Vincent has Collins' car rigged with a bomb, but she narrowly escapes with non-life threatening injuries after McCall warns her. Vincent later threatens to shoot Bonucci in front of the entire town if McCall doesn’t reveal himself. McCall does, but before Vincent can kill him, the gathered townsfolk begin to record the unwinding scenario on their mobile phones, causing Vincent and the rest of the Camorra clan to flee, as Police sirens are heard approaching. Later that night, McCall stealthily infiltrates Vincent's heavily guarded home and one by one executes his henchmen leaving Vincent to last but not before he has seen the extent of the carnage that McCall has bestowed upon his home. He binds Vincent to a pillar with wire around his neck and his hands and forcible feeds him a handful of the Captagon tablets. When Vincent comes around already foaming at the mouth McCall undoes his bindings and tells him he has six minutes to live before the overdose kills him. Vincent stumbles to his legs and drags himself out of his home and into the streets before finally falling on his back and succumbing to the very drugs he peddles. 

McCall later visits Collins in hospital with a back pack containing US$366,400 in cash that he had previously retrieved from the winery, saying that it is for an elderly couple living in Boston who had their life's pension fund hacked at the touch of a button, leaving them with nothing. Later Collins, visits that couple and delivers the back pack containing the cash. Back in Langley, Virginia, Collins receives a promotion for her role in ending the Altamonte drug trade. With the Quaranta brothers dead, McCall celebrates with the locals after their team wins a football game. 

With 'The Equalizer 3' Director and Co-Producer Antoine Fuqua has delivered another offering in this franchise that follows a similar well trodden formula to its two predecessors, but this time switches the setting from Boston, Massachusetts to the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy. Apart from that one glaring factor, very little has changed from the previous two offerings, except that Washington has grown older, wiser and still has the ability to dispense with them bad dudes with violent aplomb in all manner of brutal ways, and, turn on the charm and the emotion when its warranted. The mid-section of the film labours a little while McCall hobbles about with the aid of a walking cane and gradually recuperates while under the watchful eye of Fanning's Collins, but is book ended by two scenes of graphic violence that show off McCall's very particular set of skills that he uses to unflinching effect to dispense with them pesky baddies. And in the closing scene all is good in the world, as Collins gets the promotion, and McCall is embraced by the locals in his new Italian home on the south coast. A fitting end to a fairly predictable run of the mill third instalment that is rescued by Washington's gravitas.

'The Equalizer 3' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ONCE UPON A TIME IN . . . HOLLYWOOD : Tuesday 20th August 2019

'ONCE UPON A TIME IN . . . HOLLYWOOD' which I saw this week is rated MA15+ and finally arrives amidst much fanfare and pre-release hype. This is the long awaited eagerly anticipated ninth film by Director, Writer and Co-Producer Quentin Tarantino who I'm sure needs no further introduction. This comedy drama film saw its world Premier screening at the Cannes Film Festival back in late May where it was in competition for the prestigious Palme d'Or, saw its general release in the US on 26th July and last week in Australia and the UK. On a production budget of about US$90M the film has so far grossed US$184M and has garnered largely positive Reviews. The film stars an ensemble cast that takes in Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Luke Perry, Al Pacino, Bruce Dern, Dakota Fanning, Emile Hirsch, Timothy Olyphant, Damian Lewis, Damon Herriman, Scoot McNairy, Rummer Willis, Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell, Michael Madsen, James Remar and Quentin himself lending his voice.

It is February 1969, in Los Angeles, at the hey day of hippie Hollywood where everything is changing, including the film industry's Golden Age. As the former TV star of a popular '50's Western series called 'Bounty Law' Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double and best friend Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognise anymore and are struggling to find any meaningful work that will restore Dalton's star status. In a pre-arranged meeting in a bar with Casting Agent Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino), Dalton is told in no uncertain terms by Schwarz that although he is a big fan, his Hollywood career is soon to be washed up and he should consider working in Italy on Spaghetti Westerns for which Schwarz has connections with whom he is happy to leverage. Dalton initially scoffs at the notion, believing that Spaghetti Westerns are the very bottom of the food chain.

Booth has worked with Dalton for nine or so years and is a war veteran who lives in a trailer with his well trained and attentive Pit Bull dog, Brandy, drives Dalton around town, housesits while he is away, fixes up things around his house and relies on him for work due to inside industry rumours that Booth killed his wife. Dalton has a crisis of confidence over hearing this news from Schwarz, and arriving back home, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her new husband Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) pull up in the driveway besides Dalton's house on Cielo Drive, and drive into their rented home right next door to Dalton's. This boosts Dalton's confidence once again, as he is hopeful with Polanski as his new neighbour, that he can wrangle his way into his good books and land a starring role in one of his upcoming movies.

Later that evening Tate and Polanski join a lavish party at the Playboy Mansion with many of Hollywood's A-listers. There they join Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch) a Hollywood hair-stylist and former boyfriend of Sharon Tate's, and Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis) who in voice over tells of the love triangle that exists between Sebring, Tate and Polanski. Meanwhile back home Dalton drinks himself into a stupor while rehearsing his lines for a shoot the next day. Booth picks up Dalton early the next morning and drops him off at the studio. Not needing his services for the remainder of the day Dalton asks Booth to fix the television aerial on his roof which blew over the night before in a storm. 

From on top of the roof while repairing the TV antenna Booth has memories of a sparring match he had on the set of 'The Green Hornet' with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) after Lee, in front of the entire crew, was boasting that his hands were insured as lethal weapons and no man could beat him in a bout. Booth needless to say, proves him wrong but their fight is interrupted by stunt coordinator Randy (Kurt Russell) and his wife Janet (Zoe Bell) who is also a stunt coordinator who publicly chastises Booth for being a wife murderer. 

Also from on top of Dalton's roof, Booth sees Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) who drops by the home of Polanski and Tate looking for record producer Terry Melcher, who used to live there but has subsequently moved elsewhere, and is turned away by Sebring. With his work done, Booth is driving Dalton's car when he sees an attractive young hitchhiker named 'Pussycat' (Margaret Qualley) who is a member of the Manson Family, although Booth doesn't know it yet. She is seeking a ride out to the Spahn Movie Ranch out in Chatsworth, California. Picking her up, and agreeing to drive out to the ranch for old times sake, Booth explains that he is a stunt double and back in the day they shot several episodes of 'Bounty Law' there. 

Upon arriving at the ranch, Booth enquires about old man George Spahn, the owner of the ranch and whether he is still around. Pussycat tries to persuade Booth to stay, but he quickly becomes  suspicious of the large number of hippies seemingly squatting on the property, and suspects they are taking advantage of George. Booth insists on checking up on Spahn in his old ramshackle homestead and despite Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme's (Dakota Fanning) objections the now eighty year old and blind Spahn (Bruce Dern) is dismissive of Booth's concerns and orders to leave him alone having been woken up from his afternoon nap. 

Meanwhile, Sharon Tate has been out for an afternoon stroll, when she comes across a movie theatre showing her latest release 'The Wrecking Crew' with Dean Martin starring as Matt Helm. She makes her self known to the box office attendant and is granted complimentary access to the theatre to watch herself up on the big screen. The audience reaction to her scenes is positive, which makes the young Actress very happy. 

Dalton scores the role of a villain in the pilot episode of a new Western themed series called 'Lancer', where waiting for the cameras to roll he strikes up a conversation with his eight-year-old co-star, Trudi (Julia Butters). During one of his scenes with James Stacy (Timothy Olyphant playing Johnny Madrid Lancer), a hungover Dalton struggles with his lines. During a break in filming while Dalton collects his thoughts and after beating himself up in his trailer, Dalton returns to the set and gives a stirring powerful performance that impresses the shows Director, Sam Wanamaker (Nicholas Hammond), and Trudi, boosting Dalton's confidence once more.

Upon returning home from the days shoot, Booth and Dalton settle in to watch Dalton's guest appearance on an episode of 'The F.B.I.' over a couple of beers. The phone rings later on and Schwarz books Dalton to star as the lead in Sergio Corbucci's next Italian shot Western, 'Nebraska Jim'. Dalton takes Booth with him for a six-month shooting period in Europe, during which time he appears in two additional Westerns - 'Kill Me Now Ringo, Said The Gringo' and 'Red Blood, Red Skin' plus a European spy comedy - 'Operazione Dyn-O-Mite!', and ends up marrying Italian Actress Francesca Capucci (Lorenza Izza).

Upon their return home to Los Angeles, Dalton informs Booth he can no longer afford his services given his lavish life style while on location in Italy and now that he has a wife to support too. So after nine years together they agree to go their separate ways. They go out for drinks to mark the occasion and later return to Dalton's home, where Booth smokes an acid-laced cigarette given to him previously by Pussycat, while taking Brandy out for a walk. Meanwhile, Charles 'Tex' Watson (Austin Butler), Susan 'Sadie' Atkins (Mikey Madison), Linda 'Flower Child' Kasabian (Maya Hawke), and Patricia 'Katie' Krenwinkel (Madsen Beaty) pull up outside, in their smoke billowing and blowing Ford Galaxie, in preparation to murder everyone in Tate's house. Dalton hears the racket from the car, comes out, and angrily orders them to leave with a jug of freshly prepared Margahrita mix in his hand. They reverse out, and park up just down the street and out of view but Atkins hatches a plan to return and kill Dalton instead.

Kasabian, under the guise of having to return to the car to retrieve her knife which she had left behind, deserts the group and drives off. The remaining three carry on with Atkins' plan. They break into Dalton's house and confront Booth, who recognises them from the Spahn Ranch. While Booth is held at gunpoint by Watkins who proclaims 'I'm the Devil, and I came to do the Devil's business', he orders Brandy to attack and the dog instantly obeys his master and pounces into action ferociously biting Watkins in the crotch, then the arm, the hand, the leg and the face before returning to his crotch leaving Watkins in a bloody heap on the floor, at which point Booth shoots him dead. Booth then orders Brandy to attack Atkins who was already disabled by a can of dog food thrown squarely in her face, and is now being dragged around the floor writhing with a mad Pit Bull biting away liberally. Krenwinkel meanwhile was punched to the ground by Booth has got up and lunged at him sticking a knife deep into his thigh. Momentarily both are stunned, but Booth quickly regains himself and despite the knife protruding from his upper leg, repeatedly smashes her face against a telephone, glass picture frames, a wall, a coffee table and the cement surround of the open fireplace killing her. Atkins, who has now gone completely nuts and with gun in hand, crashes through a plate glass window by the pool, alarming Dalton, who was listening to music on headphones while floating on a lilo in the swimming pool, and completely oblivious to the ensuing mayhem inside his own house. By now Atkins has got up completely covered in blood from head to toe and with shards of glass sticking out of her face and fallen into the swimming pool where she is writhing about randomly discharging her gun. Dalton retrieves a flamethrower he had kept from his starring role in 'The 14 Fists of McClusky' film shoot, and promptly incinerates her to a blackened crisp.

The injured Booth is taken to the hospital by paramedics. After seeing Booth off outside, Sebring engages Dalton in conversation at the gateway to the drive of their house about what went down earlier that evening and Tate, over the intercom, invites Dalton up to her house for drinks with her houseguests, Sebring, Abigail Folger (Samantha Robinson) and Wojciech Frykowski (Costa Ronin) while husband Roman was delayed returning from London.

Anyone who is a fan of Quentin Tarantino will find a lot to like in his homage to the film making industry of yesteryear that is 'Once Upon a Time in . . . Hollywood'. Here he indulges his own upbringing, influences and touchstones with a film that meticulously recreates the Golden Age of Hollywood in every minute detail from the cars, to the costumes, the dialogue, the buildings, the furnishings, the neon, the poster art and so much more all underpinned by a strong cast, especially the never before seen pairing of DiCaprio and Pitt who both shine in their respective roles as do many of the strong big name supporting cast. A carefully interwoven story that goes behind the scenes of late 1960's film and television production together with one of the industries most shocking murder stories told with an alternative twist that when it comes does so like a steam roller in what is best described as brutally violent, yet visually stunning and outrageously funny. This may not be Tarantino's best work as it does meander in parts and the Charles Manson and Sharon Tate characters are a little undercooked, but nonetheless it does demonstrate that Tarantino is still at the top of his game, that he is supremely confident in his movie making prowess and that he knows how to craft a fine independent story that resonates with the movie going public and Critics alike. If Tarantino does hang up his hat after his tenth picture then that will surely represent a sad day in Hollywood, but at least he will have left behind a lasting legacy of great filmed entertainment, and this one is certainly up there. Brandy, Cliff Booth's Pit Bull incidentally, won the Palm Dog Award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

'Once Upon a Time in  . . . Hollywood' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 11th September 2014.

Spring is here, the deluge that has waterlogged Sydney for the last three weeks is fast becoming a fading memory, the days are growing longer, the temperatures are rising, and, there are four new films to tempt, tease and tantalise those tastebuds to ensure you venture out and experience big screen entertainment at its best at your local multiplex, or independent movie theatre. For the week ahead we have another all singing' all dancin' body poppin' foot tappin' so ya think y'can dance competition type offering that is a another sequel to a long list of films bearing the same pre-fix that you may have seen before (if you like this kinda thing!). Then we have the next generation of world saviours that started life 20 years ago as an animated series before finding live action stardom amidst the teen set before fading into obscurity - only to get the big studio treatment once again and spring back into life when you least expect it! Next up is a future Sci-Fi outing featuring some big names and a different world; and to close a tree hugging' greenies outing to prove a point . . . explosively!

When you get our there this week to your local movie theatre and sit there in awe of the silver screen, drop me a line afterwards and share your experience with my other Reader, by adding a comment at the end of this article, and let us know what you thought of this weeks latest release . . . or any of those others still doing the rounds and Previewed/Reviewed in previous weeks. Thanks!

NIGHT MOVES (Rated M) - This is the story of three young radical new-age sensitive environmentalists who up to now have done their bit to save the world by being eco-friendly, going green, and connecting with their inner organic selves by working in agricultural communities, and hugging the occasional tree. All that is about to change when they realise that these efforts ain't gonna change much in the world, and so they need to take the law into their own hands and make a bouncing bold brash statement to make people sit up and take notice! And so our intrepid gang of three comprising Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Fanning) and Harmon (Peter Sarsgard) hatch a plan to blow up a hydro-electric dam. The explosive expertise comes via Harmon who conveniently is an ex-Marine and an explosives guru so they have a motive, they have the nouse, and now all they need to do is secure the explosives and a means of getting to said dam - via a small but nimble little motor cruiser called 'Night Moves'.

The central set-piece sees the dam duly destroyed and you would think therefore that the job was done - mission accomplished! But what follows is the unravelling of the three as they become consumed by guilt, regret, remorse, and the ramifications of their actions upon themselves potentially, and the more far reaching community. Directed by Kelly Reichardt this is touted as suspenseful, gripping and intelligent film-making underpinned by a solid storyline that should resonate with us all for the wider message it contains.

THE GIVER (Rated M) - there is a solid cast in this future dystopian (or is it Utopian?) Sci-Fi story Directed by Philip Noyce and based on the 1993 Lois Lowry book of the same name. It is a future Earth where there is no war, no hunger, no pain and suffering, no racism or conflict and everyone in society has a purpose. And so too Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) at age 12 is selected to be the community 'Receiver of Memories' and undertakes a training programme to do so from 'The Giver' (Jeff Bridges) which involves him learning of all the pain, suffering, hardship, war, sadness that endured on the 'old' Earth and their former 'real' World. In doing so Jonas comes to realise that his World is in fact fake, manufactured and far from ideal with much that has been kept from them in an attempt to create a level of 'sameness' across all lives - this includes the removal of colour, music, and love and with everything controlled by 'The Elders' who are revered and looked upon positively by society. So Jonas is confronted with choices to make about his own life and that of his future, and in doing so will put himself and those others close to him at risk as he searches for freedom and answers. Also starring Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Taylor Swift and Alexander Skarsgard, this is the first of four books in this series which might just see this potential film franchise going the way of 'Divergent', 'The Hunger Games', 'Twilight' and 'Potter' - wait and see - it's up to you - the movie going, ticket buying audience!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Rated M) - once again New York City in under attack - this time from an unsavoury mob called 'The Foot Clan' and the city folk seem powerless or prepared to do anything to stand in their unscrupulous way! The future therefore looks uncertain and bleak, although help is at hand from the least likely of places! Lurking in the sewers beneath the city's streets are four masked saviours who have grown in the past 15 years since being tested on in laboratories and fed mutagens to develop their emotional, physical and mental strength to the point where, just in time, they are ready to save their fair city from all manner of doom and peril. Enter Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, and Splinter their trusted Master . . . aka, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Discovered by intrepid Reporter April O'Neill (Megan Fox) and committed to remaining silent about their identity, their origin and their hideaway she is ably supported by roving cameraman and love interest Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett) who with The Turtles must now foil a plan by The Foot Clan and their leader 'The Shredder' to spread a deadly virus across their fair city. Starring also William Fichtner, Whoopi Goldberg and the voice of Johnny Knoxville this is gonna be everything you would expect it to be brought up to date with the latest eye-popping CGI for a whole new audience!

STEP UP : ALL IN (Rated PG) - here we go again - another instalment in this long running well-past-its-use-by-date dance franchise that just regurgitates what has been seen and done already in this franchise, and others handed down through motion picture history dating back to 'Fame', 'Flashdance' and 'Footloose' methinks! This time the dance action takes place in Las Vegas, involves competing crews, a dance-off competition with a big pay-off at the end, and the prospect of a dance career, fame and possible fortune. Along the way their will doubtless be obstacles to be overcome, relationships tested, highly choreographed montages, and mindless dialogue that is expected to move whatever loose plot there is, along!

Four new offerings then that couldn't be more different, which together with all the other solid cinema content out there right now will give you plenty of choice. When you have seen your movie of choice this week (or two or three!) be your own critic and let us know what you thought via this - your favourite online movie Blog! Enjoy the experience!

Movies - see at least one this week!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-