It really is film festival season with the 45th
'Telluride Film Festival' having run from August 31st through until September 3rd, the 43rd
'Toronto International Film Festival' as reported last week running from September 6th until 16th, and the 75th
'Venice International Film Festival' running concurrently from August 29th through to September 8th.
With a quick run down of this years 75th Venice International Film Festival, Mexican Director, Producer and Screenwriter Guillermo del Toro was named as the President of the Jury, with
'First Man', Directed and Co-Produced by Damien Chazelle, being chosen to open the festival. Joining del Toro on the Jury panel this year, amongst others, were Naomi Watts, Christoph Waltz and Taika Waititi.
Of the twenty-one films in competition, among them were
'22 July' Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Paul Greengrass;
'At Eternity's Gate' Directed and Co-Written by Julian Schnabel and with Willem Dafoe, Mads Mikkelsen, Oscar Isaac and Rupert Friend;
'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Joel and Ethan Coen with Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco, Liam Neeson, Tom Waits, Tyne Daly and Brendan Gleeson;
'The Favourite' Directed and Co-Produced by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Olivia Coleman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Nicholas Hoult;
'First Man' Directed and Co-Produced by Damien Chazelle and with Ryan Gosling, Jason Clarke and Claire Foy;
'The Mountain' Directed and Written by Rick Alverson with Jeff Goldblum and Tye Sheridan;
'The Nightingale' Directed and Written by Jennifer Kent and starring Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin and Ewen Leslie;
'Non-Fiction' Directed and Written by Olivier Assayas with Guillaume Canet and Juliette Binoche;
'Peterloo' Directed and Written by Mike Leigh with Alastair Mackenzie and Rory Kinnear;
'Roma' Directed, Written, Co-Produced, Photographed and Co-Edited by Alfonso Cuaron;
'The Sisters Brothers' as Directed and Co-Written by Jacques Audiard and starring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rutger Hauer;
'Suspira' Directed and Co-Produced by Luca Guadagnino with Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth and Chloe Grace Moretz; and
'Vox Lux' Directed and Written by Brady Corbet and starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle and Willem Dafoe. The competition winner taking out the prestigious Golden Lion Award was
'Roma'.
The other winners and grinners in official competition were : Grand Jury Prize going to
'The Favourite'; the Silver Lion awarded to
'The Sisters Brothers'; the Volpi Cup for Best Actress to Olivia Colman for
'The Favourite'; the Volpi Cup for Best Actor to Willem Dafoe for
'At Eternity's Gate'; the Best Screenplay Award to
'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'; and the Special Jury Prize was bestowed upon
'The Nightingale'. Something for everyone almost it seems.
The Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement was awarded to David Cronenberg and Vanessa Redgrave. There were also plenty of other award winners and lots more films that are too numerous to mention here. For a greater insight, you can go to the website at : labiennale.org/en/cinema
Turning attention to this week, we have six new movies coming to your local Odeon. We launch the week with a blood drenched revenge action horror film set in the backwoods of the Californian mountains in the mid-'80's that sees this often maligned Actor of questionable film choices and output at the top of his game, and giving his total crazed commitment to dispensing with the adversaries that have done him wrong in the most gruesome manner possible. For a change of pace and a change of decade we go back to the '50's and a fantasy offering about an orphan, his Uncle, his neighbour and a mystery time piece located somewhere within the walls of a rambling old house. We then stick in the '50's with an Aussie film about a group of women working in an upmarket Sydney department store and the impact that a young girl who joins the team has upon them all. Next up is the third instalment in an English spy spoof franchise that draws its inspiration form James Bond and Mr. Bean in equal measure. Then we turn to an Aussie documentary about a Sydney man trying to track down his absent father for more than twenty years while he engages in certain paranormal activities the result of which he uncovers a whole lot more than he could have imagined. And we wrap up the week with an animated feature turning the legend of Bigfoot on its head.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six 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.
'MANDY' (Rated MA15+) - here we have a bloody revenge action horror offering that was Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, was shown at Cannes in May, was released in the US last week and has received widespread Critical acclaim so far, most notably for its principle lead, Nicolas Cage, and the production values that easily stand beside its Hollywood counterparts. Directed, Co-Written for the Screen and based on an original story by Italian/Canadian Panos Cosmatos whose previous Directing credit is 2010's
'Beyond The Black Rainbow', the film cost somewhere in the region of US$6M.
Set somewhere in the unforgiving wilderness of the Shadow Mountains in Eastern California in 1983, Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) has fallen head over heels for the deceptively charming Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough). However, the life he has made for himself in a log cabin in the tranquillity of the woods, comes suddenly and horrifically crashing down around him, when a vile band of ravaging cultists and supernatural like creatures desecrate his idyllic home with a swift and vicious fury at the hand of Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache). A broken man, Red now exists with one sole purpose in life - to hunt down those maniacal villains and exact swift bloody violent vengeance on them all.
'THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS' (Rated PG) - it's hard to imagine Eli Roth Directing this mainstream fantasy offering based on the 1973 juvenile novel of the same name by John Bellairs, given this Writer, Producer, Actor and Director's leaning towards the horror genre with such titles as
'Cabin Fever', 'Hostel', 'Hostel : Part II', 'Grindhouse', 'The Green Inferno' and
'Knock Knock' firmly established in his Directing portfolio. That said, here he is, with the story of ten year old recently orphaned Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) who goes to live with his well intentioned but Warlock nonetheless, Uncle Jonathan Barnavelt (Jack Black) in a creaky old house in 1953 in New Zebedee, Michigan, that emits a mysterious ticktocking noise from somewhere within its walls. When Lewis inadvertently wakes the dead, the town's sleepy facade magically springs to life with a secret world of Witches and Warlocks and its up to Lewis, Jonathan and their neighbour Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett) - who is secretly a good Witch, to save the day and quite possibly the world too in the process. The film is released Stateside also this week.
'LADIES IN BLACK' (Rated PG) - this Australian comedy drama is adapted from the best selling 1993 book of the same name by Australian author Madeleine St. John who passed away in 2006 at the age of 64. Directed and adapted for the screen by Aussie Bruce Beresford whose previous film making credits include
'The Adventures of Barry McKenzie', 'Breaker Morant', 'Puberty Blues', 'Tender Mercies', 'Her Alibi', 'Driving Miss Daisy', 'Paradise Road' and
'Mao's Last Dancer' amongst a whole swathe of others. Here, the scene is set in the Summer of 1959, with the advent of European settlers and the rise of women’s liberation about to change the face of Australia forever. A shy schoolgirl Lisa Miles (Angourie Rice) takes a Summer school holiday job at the prestigious Sydney department store, Goode’s. There she meets the 'ladies in black', who will have a marked impact upon her life. Beguiled and influenced by Magda Szombatheli (Julia Ormond), the vivacious manager of the high-fashion floor, and befriended by fellow sales ladies Patty Williams (Alison McGirr) and Fay Baines (Rachael Taylor), Lisa is introduced to a world of possibilities. As Lisa grows from a bookish schoolgirl to a glamorous and positive young woman, she herself becomes a catalyst for a cultural change in everyone’s lives. Also starring Shane Jacobson and Susie Porter as Lisa's parents, Ryan Corr, Noni Hazelhurst and Vincent Perez.
'JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN' (Rated PG) - this is the the third outing for our titular anti-hero and MI7 Secret Agent Johnny English as portrayed once more by Rowan Atkinson. The bumbling British spy who is the antithesis of James Bond, first burst onto our screens in 2003 in the self titled
'Johnny English' and then again in 2011 in
'Johnny English Reborn' and here he is up to his usual inept undercover antics again in 2018. The two former films each grossed US$160M off the back of a combined budget outlay of US$85M. And so this British action spy comedy spoof is Directed by David Kerr and kicks off when a cyber attack reveals the identity of all active undercover agents in Britain, leaving Johnny English as the Secret Service’s last and only hope. Coaxed out of retirement, English delves head long into action with his sole purpose being to find the mastermind hacker. As a man with few skills and out dated methods, Johnny English must learn to accept and overcome the challenges of modern technology in order to accomplish his mission. Also starring Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko, Emma Thompson as the Prime Minister and Jake Lacey, the film is not released in the UK until early October and in the US in late October.
'GHOSTHUNTER' (Rated M) - here a physically imposing Western Sydney Security Guard with a facial scar, and part-time Ghosthunter Jason King, has spent the last twenty of or so years searching for his absent father. This documentary feature film is Written and Directed by Ben Lawrence and was made for just shy of AU$1M, and Premiered at the Sydney Film Festival earlier this year, where it took out the Documentary Foundation Australia Award. This real life drama of Jason King, as the survivor of childhood trauma and violence, is compelled to uncover the truth behind his father’s longtime absence, to reconcile his fractured memories and reclaim what he can of his lost childhood years. This search for the truth, however, ignites a Police manhunt and ultimately brings him into close contact with a dark legacy and its numerous victims. Described as a truly unique documentary that navigates otherworldly mysteries alongside very real trauma and abuse, this is an Aussie Doco like no other.
'SMALLFOOT' (Rated PG) - is an American CGI animated feature film from Warner Animation that is Directed and Written for the Screen by Karey Kirkpatrick and based on
'Yeti Tracks' by the Spanish Animator and Screenwriter Sergio Pablos. The story here twists the legend of 'Bigfoot' on its head, by following a group of Yeti who stumble across a real live human being with each species believing the other was just a myth. Featuring an all star voice cast that includes Channing Tatum as Migo - a yeti scientist out to prove the existence of the Smallfoot; James Cordon as Percy Patterson - a former television personality trying to regain his rightful place in front of the spotlight; and Zendaya, Common, Danny DeVito, LeBron James, Jimmy Tatro and Gina Rodriguez all as members of the yeti clan. The film is released in the US next week.
With six 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 week ahead at your local Odeon.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
