What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 29th April 2021.

The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honoured the best films of 2020 and early 2021. The awards ceremony took place in Los Angeles, at both the Dolby Theatre and Union Station, on 25th April, two months later than originally planned, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema, thereby extending the eligibility period for feature films through to 28th February. The eligibility criteria had already been modified to account for films originally intended to have a cinematic release, but which were ultimately released directly on to streaming platforms. 

The winners, grinners and also rans at this years Oscars ceremony, are as given below :-

Best Picture

* Awarded to 'NOMADLAND' Directed by Chloe Zhao, beating out 'The Father', 'Judas and the Black Messiah', 'Mank', 'Minari', 'Promising Young Woman', 'Sound of Metal' and 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'.

Best Director

* Awarded to 'CHLOE ZHAO' for 'Nomadland', beating out Thomas Vinterberg for 'Another Round', David Fincher for 'Mank', Lee Isaac Chung for 'Minari' and Emerald Fennell for 'Promising Young Woman'.

Best International Feature Film

* Awarded to 'ANOTHER ROUND' Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, beating out 'Better Days', 'Collective', 'The Man Who Sold His Skin' and 'Quo Vadis, Aida?'

Best Animated Feature Film

* Awarded to 'SOUL' Directed by Pete Docter and Dana Murray, beating out 'Onward', 'Over the Moon', 'A Shaun the Sheep Movie : Farmageddon' and 'Wolfwalkers'.

Best Documentary Feature

* Awarded to 'MY OCTOPUS TEACHER' Directed by Pippa Ehrlich, Craig Foster and James Reed, beating out 'Collective', 'Crip Camp', 'The Mole Agent' and 'Time'.

Best Actress 

* Awarded to FRANCES MCDORMAND for 'Nomadland', beating out Viola Davis for 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', Astra Day for 'The United States vs. Billie Holiday', Vanessa Kirby for 'Pieces of a Woman' and Carey Mulligan for 'Promising Young Woman'.

Best Actor

* Awarded to ANTHONY HOPKINS for 'The Father', beating out Riz Ahmed for 'Sound of Metal', Chadwick Boseman for 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', Gary Oldman for 'Mank' and Steven Yuen for 'Minari'.

Best Supporting Actress

* Awarded to YOUN YUH-JUNG for 'Minari', beating out Maria Bakalova for 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm', Glenn Close for 'Hillbilly Elegy', Olivia Colman for 'The Father' and Amanda Seyfried for 'Mank'.

Best Supporting Actor

* Awarded to DANIEL KALUUYA for 'Judas and the Black Messiah' beating out Sacha Baron Cohen for 'The Trial of the Chicago 7', Leslie Odom Jr. for 'One Night in Miami...', Paul Raci for 'Sound of Metal' and Lakeith Stanfield for 'Judas and the Black Messiah'.

Best Original Screenplay

* Awarded to 'PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN' by EMERALD FENNELL, beating out 'Judas and the Black Messiah', 'Minari', 'Sound of Metal' and 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'.

Best Adapted Screenplay

* Awarded to 'THE FATHER' by FLORIAN ZELLER and CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON, beating out 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm', 'Nomadland', 'One Night in Miami...' and 'The White Tiger'.

Best Production Design

* Awarded to 'MANK' for Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale, beating out 'The Father', 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', 'News of the World' and 'Tenet'. 

Best Cinematography

* Awarded to 'MANK' for Erik Messerschmidt, beating out 'Judas and the Black Messiah', 'News of the World', 'Nomadland' and 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'.

Best Editing 

* Awarded to 'SOUND OF METAL' for Mikkel E.G. Nielsen, beating out 'The Father', 'Nomadland', 'Promising Young Woman' and 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'.

Best Sound

* Awarded to 'SOUND OF METAL' for Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Philip Bladh, Carlos Cortes and Michelle Couttolenc, beating out 'Greyhound', 'Mank', 'News of the World' and 'Soul'.

Best Make-Up and Hair Styling

* Awarded to 'MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM' for Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson, beating out 'Emma', 'Hillbilly Elegy', 'Mank' and 'Pinocchio'.

Best Costume Design

* Awarded to 'MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM' for Ann Roth, beating out 'Emma', 'Mank', 'Mulan' and 'Pinocchio'.

Best Visual Effects

* Awarded to 'TENET' for Scott R. Fisher, Andrew Jackson, David Lee and Andrew Lockley, beating out 'Love and Monsters', 'The Midnight Sky', 'Mulan' and 'The One and Only Ivan'.

Best Original Score

* Awarded to 'SOUL' for Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste, beating out 'Da 5 Bloods', 'Mank', 'Minari' and 'News of the World'.

Best Original Song

* Awarded to 'FIGHT FOR YOU' from 'Judas and the Black Messiah' with Music by D'Mile and H.E.R. and lyrics by H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas, beating out 'Hear My Voice' from 'The Trial of the Chicago 7', 'Husavik' from 'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga', 'Io sì (Seen)' from 'The Life Ahead' and 'Speak Now' from 'One Night in Miami...'.

For the full run down on this years 93rd Academy Awards, you can go to the official website at : https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2021

Turning attention back to this weeks four latest release new films coming to an Odeon near you in the week ahead, we kick off with an action thriller centering around a cold and mysterious character working at a cash truck business responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around LA each week. This is followed by a story of a local hunter who brings a grieving lawyer back from the brink of death after she retreats to the harsh wilderness of the Rockies. Next up a psychotic oil matriarch leaves the whole industry exposed when she attempts to outfight a bullish farmer whose water has been poisoned, and we close out the week with a highly acclaimed film about a skilled cook travelling west who joins a group of fur trappers in Oregon, though he only finds true connection with a Chinese immigrant also seeking his fortune. 

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 or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'WRATH OF MAN' (Rated MA15+) - this American action thriller offering is Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Guy Ritchie and is based on the 2004 French film 'Cash Truck' Directed by Nicolas Boukhrief. The lead star of this film is Jason Statham, with whom Ritchie has worked on three previous occasions - 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', 'Snatch' and 'Revolver' with a fifth collaboration currently in the works on spy thriller 'Five Eyes'. Originally slated for a mid-January release but postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic, this is now released in Australia one week ahead of its US cinema release and not until 23rd July in the UK.

Mysterious and wild-eyed, a new security guard Harry 'H' (Jason Statham) begins work for a cash truck operator responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around Los Angeles each week, and who surprises his co-workers when he unleashes precision skills during a heist. The crew is left wondering who he is and where he came from. Soon, the marksman's ultimate motive becomes clear as he takes dramatic and irrevocable steps to hunt down the people behind the murder of his son. Also starring Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Josh Hartnett, Eddie Marsan, Scott Eastwood, Post Mallone, Andy Garcia and Rob Delaney. 

'LAND' (Rated M) - is an American drama film Directed by the Actress Robin Wright in her Directorial debut, and saw its World Premier screening at this years Sundance Film Festival at the end of January. It went on release in the US in mid-February, has so far made US$3M at the Box Office and has generated largely positive critical acclaim. After experiencing an unspeakable tragedy, middle aged woman Edee Mathis (Robin Wright), finds herself unable to stay connected to the world she once knew and in the face of that uncertainty, retreats to the magnificent, but unforgiving, Wyoming wilderness. Surviving hardship, a near-death experience in which local hunter Miguel (Demian Bichir) brings her back from the brink of death, and a surprise friendship, she must become comfortable living again. Also starring Kim Dickens.

'THE DEVIL HAS A NAME' (Rated M) - this American dark comedy film is a fictionalised drama of real life events surrounding California's Central Valley water contamination wars. Directed, Co-Produced and also starring Edward James Olmos who has 123 screen acting credits to his name, seven as Director, and sixteen as Producer as well as a raft of award wins and nominations throughout his career. The film Premiered at the August 2019 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, and was then released in the US in selected cinemas, through video on demand, and on digital platforms in mid-October 2020. An ambitious oil executive Gigi Cutler (Kate Bosworth) leaves the whole industry exposed when she tries to outwit a recently widowed farmer, Fred Stern (David Strathairn) whose land has been poisoned. Also starring Alfred Molina, Martin Sheen, Haley Joel Osment, Katie Aselton, Pablo Schreiber and Michael Hogan. 

'FIRST COW' (Rated PG) - is an American drama film Directed by Kelly Reichardt, from a screenplay by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond based on Raymond's 2004 novel 'The Half Life'. Reichardt's previous film making credits take in her debut in 1994 with 'River of Grass' and then 'Wendy and Lucy' in 2008, 'Night Moves' in 2013 and 'Certain Women' in 2016. The film had its World Premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in late August 2019, was theatrically released in the US in early March 2020, and subsequently released through VOD in July 2020 to acclaim from critics. Here, two travellers, Otis 'Cookie' Figowitz (John Magaro) a quiet chef, and King-Lu (Orion Lee) a Chinese immigrant, are on the run from a band of vengeful hunters in the 1820's Northwest. They dream of striking it rich, but their tenuous plan to make their fortune on the frontier comes to rely on the secret use of a landowner's, Chief Factor (Toby Jones) prized dairy cow. 'First Cow' has so far collected twenty-two award wins and another 139 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit, and on a budget of just US$2M has so far recouped US$101K. Also starring Ewen Bremner, Scott Shepherd, Gary Farmer and Renee Auberjonois (in one of his final film roles).

With four new release films 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 coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BLADE RUNNER 2049 : Tuesday 10th October 2017

'BLADE RUNNER 2049' which I caught earlier in the week in 3D, is released 35 years after the original neo-noir Sci-Fi film 'Blade Runner' as Directed by Ridley Scott which upon release polarised critical opinion and took lacklustre Box Office takings of just US$34M from its US$28M production budget. Here then, and finally, we have the long awaited, eagerly anticipated, much hyped sequel, set thirty years after that first film. The intervening years have been kind to the original movie, now elevated to cult status with many Critics hailing the film as one of the best all time Science Fiction movies, also bringing to prominence the work of Philip K. Dick upon whose book 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' the film is loosely based. Starring Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, Daryl Hannah and M. Emmet Walsh, the film was nominated for two Academy Awards, one Golden Globe, won three BAFTA's and was nominated for a further five amongst its total haul of eleven wins and eighteen nominations. Set in a dystopian Los Angeles in 2019, 'Blade Runner' depicts a future in which bioengineered androids known as 'Replicants' are manufactured by a powerful company to work on off-world colonies. When a renegade group of Replicants led by Roy Batty escape back to Earth in an attempt to prolong their lives, burnt-out LA cop Rick Deckard reluctantly agrees to one last assignment to hunt them down and 'retire' them.

And so this film, which has been in development for approaching twenty years with Ridley Scott on again off again and various storylines coming and going, has finally landed with Director Denis Villeneuve at the helm, Roger Deakins on Cinematographer duty and Harrison Ford reprising his role as Rick Deckard all for a production budget of somewhere in the vicinity of US$175M. Released in the US and Australia last week, the film has so far taken US$93M at the Box Office and early Reviews of the film have met with widespread universal acclaim, with many Critics gushing about the production values, cinematography, CGI, music score, and performances of the principal cast.

Set in a dystopian Los Angeles of 2049, thirty years following the events of the original film, bioengineered humans called 'Replicants' have now been integrated into Earth's general population. Working for the LAPD, K (Ryan Gosling) a more up to date model who is programmed to obey orders and works as a Blade Runner, whose purpose is to hunt down older rogue Replicants and 'retire' them from service.

As the film opens we see K descending in his vehicle on what appears to be a farm where he 'retires' Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista) the farmer breeding synthetic protein maggots on a large scale. There, buried under a large dead tree, he discovers a military strong box which is taken back to LAPD for analysis. Inside there are human remains - carefully preserved bones and hair. Forensics reveal that the remains are of a female Replicant who died from complications from what appears to be an emergency Caesarian Section operation. Further examination reveals a tiny serial number engraved on a bone, revealing this to be definite Replicant remains. K is perplexed as pregnancy amongst Replicants was always believed to be impossible. Later, K returns to the farm for further examination. At the base of the tree he uncovers an engraving of a date which seems to correspond with a date in his own childhood memory about a hand engraved wooden horse which he hid in a redundant incinerator in the orphanage in which he was raised. Before leaving the farm, he torches it, destroying all evidence from those that might come afterwards.

Meanwhile K is ordered to destroy all evidence in relation to this case before word gets out, by his commanding officer Lieutenant Joshi (Robin Wright). She holds the belief that knowledge of Replicants being able to reproduce is dangerous to the new world order and could potentially incite war. K does not necessarily subscribe to this point of view, but he goes along with it. He visits the Headquarters of Replicant manufacturer Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) and is introduced to his Replicant Assistant Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) who helps him identify the body as Rachael, an experimental older model Replicant, but history is scant given the thirty years or so that have lapsed. There is a brief recorded transcript of a former Blade Runner Rick Deckard and Rachael, from which K deduces there was some romantic interest. Wallace who wants Rachels remains for his own analysis, orders Luv to steal the remains from LAPD and follow K as he goes in search of the child, from which he can then engineer Replicant reproduction for the expansion of his off-world operations beyond the nine worlds he currently inhabits.

K visits the orphanage in old Los Angeles where the child is thought to have been raised. There he meets Mister Cotton (Lennie James) who presides over hordes of young orphaned kids whom he sets to work stripping down electrical appliances for spare parts and salvage to sell. There his childhood memory comes rushing back, and searching the incinerator he finds his carefully wrapped up wooden horse, implying that his memory is in fact real, whereas all along he had believed these to be implants. While searching through the birth records for that year (2021) with his holographic female companion Joi (Ana de Armas) he comes across an anomaly in that twins were born that day with identical DNA except for the sex chromosome, but only the boy is listed as being still alive.

K seeks out Dr. Ana Stelline (Carla Juri) a prominent memory designer who advises him that it is illegal to programme Replicants with real human memories, leading K to deduce that he is in fact Rachel's son. K has the wooden horse analysed by Doc Badger (Barkhad Abdi) who finds traces of radiation that lead him to the apocalyptic landscape of old Los Angeles.

There he locates Deckard living the lonely life in an abandoned casino with nothing but books, Whisky and a loyal dog (real or otherwise) to occupy his time. Deckard tells K that he was forced to muddle up the birth records and was forced to leave a pregnant Rachel with the Replicant Freedom Movement to protect both her and their unborn child.

Luv arrives with several henchmen, having tracked K with a homing device planted in his pocket, and having previously killed Lieutenant Joshi. They intend to take Deckard hostage, who has being lying very low for the past thirty years, in the belief that he will lead them to his child to allow Wallace to engineer reproductive Replicants. Deckard and K put up a fight but are no match for the high tech fire power of Luv and her men.

They cart off Deckard, leaving K for dead only for him to be rescued by the Replicant Freedom Movement who take him to their safe house and nurse him back to some semblance of health and strength. Their leader Freysa (Hiam Abbass) tells K that Deckard's child is a girl, shattering K's hopes that he was their child. From this news K surmises that Ana Stelline must be Deckard's daughter given her abilities with implanting the memory into him. Freysa's instructions to K are to prevent Wallace from getting even remotely close to discovering the secrets of Replicant reproduction, by all and any means possible, even if it means taking out Deckard!

Deckard comes around in Wallace's plush HQ surroundings and refuses to co-operate with him, even when prompted to do so by a Replicant duplication of Rachael, which he dismisses because of her eye colour not being of her original green. Luv transports Deckard to one of Wallace's off world colony's to be interrogated and tortured for information that will lead Wallace to his child's whereabouts, even though Deckard really has no clue. K intercepts their fleet of three vehicles bringing down two security vehicles in a blaze of fire and smoke and forcing Luv's vehicle to crash land at the base of a dam, about to release a torrent water supply. Deckard is shackled to his seat while K and Luv fight it out in the rapidly rising waters. Ultimately K overcomes Luv and kills her, allowing Deckard and K to swim to safety. K says that he will report that Deckard drowned in the vehicle so safeguarding him from Wallace and other no good Replicants. K accompanies Deckard to Stelline's laboratory offices to meet his daughter. As Deckard gingerly enters and sees his daughter for the first time, a badly injured K waits outside reclining on the steps in the falling snow looking up.

I liked 'Blade Runner 2049' a lot! The film retains the all the touchstones that made the 1982 film such a classic, and expands upon them without diluting any of what has gone before. It both compliments the earlier film, and stands alone in its own right, and as a companion piece it has the continuity that melds the two films together from the giant neon advertising billboards promoting now defunct organisations 'Atari' and 'PanAm'; through to the Origami paper folding of Gaff (Edward James Olmos who reprises his role very briefly); through to recollections of Rachael. The film is visually stunning down to the smallest details, and the CGI enhances the already solidly smart storyline with visions of a dystopian neon lit, hologram filled future Los Angeles (where it now snows); an apocalyptic garbage dump wasteland that is San Diego; and all the future world gadgets, gizmo's, tech and Sci-Fi notions that you can imagine. A worthy sequel that Villeneuve has made worth waiting for, that will quickly become the cult classic that its predecessor has long since done so, with gritty and convincing performances from its cast, and top notch production values throughout. At a running time of over two and half hours, the film does not outstay its welcome, although it must be said that 'Blade Runner : The Final Cut' has a running time of under two hours.  Earlier this month Villeneuve reportedly said that a third film may be made if '2049' proved a success, and Ford commented that he would be happy to reprise his role if the script added up. Watch this space!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-