What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 12th February 2026

The 15th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA Awards) is an awards ceremony to celebrate the best of Australian films and television screened throughout 2025. The main ceremony occurred on Friday 6th February at the Home of the Arts on Queensland's Gold Coast and was hosted by the Australian Actress, comedian and media personality Celeste Barber.

The primary role of AACTA, as a not-for-profit organisation, is to recognise, encourage, promote and celebrate film and television excellence in Australia, connecting Australian and international audiences with great Australian screen content. The Academy serves as Australia’s most prestigious film and television membership body, bringing together and representing screen professionals from a cross-section of the screen industry in order to further screen excellence in Australia . . . so reads the official website. 

In the feature films category, the winners, grinners and also rans are highlighted briefly below :-

* Best Film - awarded to 'Bring Her Back', beating out 'Kangaroo', 'Lesbian Space Princess', 'The Correspondent', 'The Surfer' and 'The Travellers'.

* Best Indie Film - presented to 'Lesbian Space Princess', beating out 'Carmen & Bolude', 'Fwends', 'It Will Find You', 'Magic Beach' and 'With or Without You'. 

* Best Direction - awarded to Danny and Michael Philippou for 'Bring Her Back', beating out 'Kangaroo', 'Lesbian Space Princess', 'The Correspondent' and 'The Travellers'.

* Best Screenplay - presented to Peter Duncan for 'The Correspondent', beating out 'Bring Her Back', 'Inside', 'Lesbian Space Princess' and 'Together'.

* Best Lead Actor - presented to Richard Roxburgh for 'The Correspondent', beating out Bryan Brown for 'The Travellers', Ryan Corr for 'Kangaroo', Jai Courtney for 'Dangerous Animals', Guy Pearce for 'Inside' and David Wenham for 'Spit'.

* Best Lead Actress - awarded to Sally Hawkins for 'Bring Her Back', beating out Alison Brie for 'Together', Emily Browning for 'One More Shot', Susie Porter for 'The Travellers', Daisy Ridley for 'We Bury the Dead' and Lily Whitley for 'Kangaroo'.

* Best Supporting Actor - awarded to Julian McMahon for 'The Surfer', beating out Damon Herriman for 'Together', Cosmo Jarvis for 'Inside', Julian Maroun for 'The Correspondent', Rahel Romahn for 'The Correspondent' and Jonah Wren Phillips for 'Bring Her Back'. 

* Best Supporting Actress - presented to Deborah Mailman for 'Kangaroo', beating out Marta Dusseldorp for 'With or Without You', Brooke Satchwell for 'Kangaroo', Yael Stone for 'The Correspondent', Sally-Anne Upton for 'Bring Her Back' and Sora Wong for 'Bring Her Back'.

* Best Cinematography - awarded to Aaron McLisky for 'Bring Her Back', beating out 'Beast of War', 'The Correspondent', 'The Surfer' and 'Went Up the Hill'.

* Best Editing - presented to Geoff Lamb for 'Bring Her Back', beating out 'Beast of War', 'The Correspondent', 'The Surfer' and 'Together'.

* Best Original Music Score - presented to Cornel Wilczek for 'Bring Her Back', beating out 'Lesbian Space Princess', 'The Correspondent', 'The Surfer' and 'Together'.

* Best Sound - awarded to Emma Bortignon, Nick Steele, Hamish Keen, Cameron Grant, Lachlan Harris and Pete Smith for 'Bring Her Back', beating out 'The Correspondent', 'Spit', 'Together' and 'Went Up the Hill'.

* Best Production Design - presented to Fiona Donovan for 'The Correspondent', beating out 'Lesbian Space Princess', 'The Surfer', 'Went Up the Hill' and 'Together'.

* Best Costume Design - awarded to Anna Cahill for 'Bring Her Back', beating out 'Beast of War', 'Spit', 'The Correspondent' and 'The Surfer'.

* Best Casting - presented to Nikki Barrett for 'Bring Her Back', beating out 'Inside', 'Kangaroo', 'The Correspondent' and 'The Surfer'.

In addition, the AACTA Longford Lyell Award (named after the prolific Australian film Director, Writer, Producer, and Actor during the silent era. Raymond Longford was a major Director of the silent film era of the Australian cinema. He formed a production team with Lottie Lyell), was presented to Bruce Beresford - the Australian film Director, opera Director, Screenwriter, and Producer. The AACTA Trailblazer Award was presented to the Australian Actress Sarah Snook.

For the details of other television awards presented, the additional awards and the audience choice awards, plus a whole lot of other good stuff, you can go the official website at : http://www.aacta.org

This week we have four new cinematic releases coming your way, kicking off with a romantic drama set in the mid-19th Century on the Yorkshire moors that explores the intense and turbulent relationship between two star crossed lovers. Next up we have a crime thriller in which a Los Angeles detective pursues an elusive thief who teams up with an insurance broker for one last heist. Then we turn to a Sci-Fi actioner which follows the final recruits of a gruelling special ops boot camp who encounter a deadly force from beyond this world; before closing out the week with a horror offering about a misfit group of unwitting high school students who stumble upon a cursed object, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new films 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 coming week.

'WUTHERING HEIGHTS' (Rated M) - is a UK and US Co-Produced romantic drama film written for the screen, Co-Produced and Directed by Emerald Fennell, and is loosely based on Emily Bronte's 1847 novel of the same name. Emerald Fennell has previously helmed her breakout feature film debut 'Promising Young Woman' in 2020 and 'Saltburn' in 2023. She also has numerous big and small screen acting roles and TV series writing credits to her name, accumulating numerous awards and accolades along the way, mostly for her her two previous feature films. This film saw its Premiere screening in Los Angeles on 28th January, and is released here in Australia, the UK and the USA this week - on the eve of Valentine's Day. It cost US$80M to produce. 

Here then, in this passionate and tumultuous love story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire dales, the film explores the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) and Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie, who also Co-Produces here), a woman from a wealthy family in 19th-century England. Also starring Charlotte Mellington as young Catherine, Owen Cooper as young Heathcliff, Hong Chau, Martin Clunes, Alison Oliver, Shazad Latif and Ewan Mitchell.

'CRIME 101' (Rated M) - this UK and US Co-Produced crime thriller film is Written for the screen and Directed by Bart Layton whose previous film credits take in the 2012 documentary 'The Imposter' and 2018's 'American Animals'. This film is based on the 2020 novella of the same name written by Don Winslow. Here, a notorious jewel thief named Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth, who also Co-Produces here) heists along the 101 freeway (a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the USA) have left Police baffled. When he sets his sights on the ultimate score, his plans intersect with those of insurance broker Sharon Colvin (Halle Berry). A detective named Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo) believes he has cracked Mike's pattern and is determined to bring him down before the next job. Also starring Barry Keoghan, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Tate Donovan and Monica Barbaro. The film premiered in London at the back end of last month, and is released here in Australia and the US this week. 

'WAR MACHINE' (Rated MA15+) - is an Australian and US Co-Produced Sci-Fi action thriller that is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Patrick Hughes whose previous feature films efforts take in his debut with 'Red Hill' in 2010, which he would follow up with 'The Expendables 3' in 2014, 'The Hitman's Bodyguard' in 2017, 'The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard' in 2021 and 'The Man from Toronto' in 2022. Here, on one last gruelling mission during Army Ranger training, this elite team's cross-country exercise led by combat engineer (Alan Ritchson) must lead his unit in a fight against a giant otherworldly killing machine. Also starring Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney and Esai Morales. Released this week in Australia before streaming on Netflix from 6th March onward.

'WHISTLE' (Rated MA15+) - this Canadian and Irish Co-Produced horror film is Directed by Corin Hardy in only his third feature film outing following 'The Hallow' in 2015 and 'The Nun' in 2018. Here, a group of high school misfits inadvertently come across an ancient Aztec death whistle. Blowing it summons their future deaths to hunt them down. As the body count increases, they investigate the artifact's history in hopes of halting the sequence of events they have set into motion. Starring Dafne Keen, Sophie Nelisse, Sky Yang and Nick Frost. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest in late September last year, was released Stateside last week, this week here in Australia, the UK and Ireland and early reviews have been largely positive.

With four new release movie offerings 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 at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SALTBURN : Tuesday 21st November 2023

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'SALTBURN' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this psychological thriller drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Emerald Fennell in her second feature film outing following the highly acclaimed 'Promising Young Woman' in 2020 which reaped 116 award wins and another 193 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. This film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Telluride Film Festival in late August and was released in the US, the UK and here in Australia last week having so far generated mostly favourable reviews and grossed US$1.7M at the Box Office. 

The films open up in 2006 with a collar, tie and blazer wearing Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) walking across the quad at Oxford University and into his ground floor dormitory as a first year freshman. He is looked upon with some disdain by many of the other jeans and T-shirt wearing students, some of which mildly abuse his attire. On his first night over dinner in the packed refectory he struggles to find a place to sit, and ends up opposite another equally displaced student Michael Gavey (Ewan Mitchell) who introduces himself as another 'Nigel Nofriends'. Oliver observes Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), a charming, handsome, popular and clearly very well off student, who is attending Oxford with his American cousin, Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe), and who happens to be attending the same college. 

One day just before the summer break of 2007 Oliver lends Felix his bicycle so Felix can attend a class to which he is already running ten minutes late, as Felix's own bicycle has a punctured wheel. Felix is extremely grateful. As a result of this gesture, the two become fast friends and is invited into Felix's and Farleigh's inner circle of friends, which sees Oliver turn his back on Michael. Oliver becomes increasingly obsessed with Felix. Oliver tells Felix he is an only child with an alcoholic mother and a drug dependent father, and grew up in Prescot, near Liverpool. One day he announces that his father has suddenly died. Oliver's story garners Felix's sympathy, and so he invites Oliver to spend the summer with him and Farleigh at Saltburn, his wealthy family's sprawling estate in the country. Oliver accepts, albeit reluctantly at first.

Oliver arrives at Saltburn where he is greeted by the Butler of the house, Duncan (Paul Rhys), and after a whistle stop tour of the household Felix introduces him to his father, Sir James (Richard E. Grant), his mother, Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), and his sister, Venetia (Alison Oliver). Also at Saltburn is 'Poor Dear' Pamela (Carey Mulligan), Elspeth's friend, whom the family believes has now outstayed her welcome and actively encourage her to leave when she reveals that she has rented a new flat. Despite the family's initial eccentricities and over indulgent living standards, Oliver clearly relishes his time at Saltburn. Oliver begins lying to curry favour with the family so they can grow even more fond of him, firstly implying to Elspeth that Pamela made up her bizarre, tragic stories for the attention it brought her. Later in the summer, the family learns that Pamela has died, though Elspeth in nonplussed by the news.

Late one evening Oliver secretly watches Felix masterbating while taking a bath in their shared bathroom to which their bedrooms both adjoin. After Felix has brushed his teeth and bid his friend goodnight, Oliver drinks the last of the draining water from the bathtub and licks the plughole clean. Another night, he sees Venetia outside his bedroom window wearing a see through night gown. He performs oral sex on Venetia despite it being her time of the month to which Oliver retorts that its just as well he's a vampire. Farleigh observes this from his bedroom window overlooking the gardens. Farleigh tells Felix who is upset with Oliver, since a former friend of Felix's had also slept with Venetia last summer. Oliver convinces him that Farleigh was lying and that he was only comforting the moody Venetia, who he claims is interested in him. Later, Oliver overhears an argument between Felix and Farleigh over the latter milking Sir James' for financial support for his university studies. On another occasion during a party with a karaoke machine, Farleigh retaliates by tricking Oliver into performing the Pet Shop Boys song 'Rent' (whose lyrics mirror Oliver's current situation at Saltburn) to everyone. Later that night, Oliver threatens Farleigh and initiates a sexual encounter. The next morning, Farleigh is asked to leave Saltburn when he is said to have attempted to sell rare ceramic antique plates from Sir James' collection to Sotheby's. 

With Oliver's birthday approaching Elspeth and Sir James plan a fancy dress party for two hundred or so guests to celebrate. On the morning of his birthday Felix surprises Oliver with a road trip. Upon nearing their destination Oliver panics when Felix tells him that they are going to see his mother in Prescot in an attempt to mend their fractured relationship. However, it is revealed that Oliver's family lives in the upper-middle-class suburbs, his father is alive and very well, both his parents are kind and not substance abusers, and he is not an only child and in fact has two sisters. Felix is mortified by Oliver's deception, telling him to leave after the party that evening, while Oliver states that he only lied so Felix would be his friend. That evening, the party commences at Saltburn with numerous guests in attendance, including Farleigh, who threatens Oliver. Inside Saltburn's maze, Oliver attempts to reconcile with Felix, but Felix outright rejects him. The next morning, Felix is found dead in the maze.

Oliver and the Catton family mourn Felix's death, but Elspeth and Sir James try to put a brave face on the matter. Sir James cuts Farleigh off from his financial support, saying that he will not inform the Police but that is the last thing he will do for him, and forces him to leave Saltburn for good when Oliver suggests that Farleigh doing lines of coke at the party last night contributed to Felix's death. After Felix's funeral, Oliver privately breaks down as he strips down and penetrates Felix's newly dug gravesite in the driving rain. When Elspeth demands Oliver stay at Saltburn, Venetia later confronts him when Oliver barges in on her while she is taking a bath. It dawns on her that he has successfully latched himself onto her family and that Felix's death was a result. Venetia is found dead the following morning having apparently slashed her wrists in the bathtub, leaving Elspeth and Sir James in further despair. Fearing that Elspeth is growing too attached to him and becoming suspicious of his insistence on staying, Sir James opens his cheque book and asks Oliver how much does he want to leave Saltburn. Oliver responds that he can't leave Elspeth while she needs him most, but Sir James is insistent, and Oliver leaves having agreed a price. 

A number of years later and Oliver reads about the recent death of Sir James in the newspaper. Sometime shortly afterwards and Oliver is sat in a cafe typing away at his laptop when Elspeth walks in to buy a takeaway coffee. They are both surprised to see each other and Elspeth comments to Oliver how grown up he is and how pleasing it is to see him again. Oliver gives his condolences to Elspeth over the passing of her husband to which she responds that he never really recovered following the death of Felix and Venetia. She urges him to return with her her to Saltburn. 

Soon afterwards and Elspeth becomes fatally ill. On her deathbed, looking very proud of himself, Oliver reveals that he was responsible for all the tragic events that have fallen upon Saltburn having orchestrated his initial meeting with Felix, Oliver then murdered him by poisoning the bottle of Champagne that he drank from that night in the maze. He also subtly manipulated Venetia into killing herself by placing razor blades on the side of her bath, and sent the email that resulted in Farleigh's fast exit from Saltburn. Finally, he planned his encounter with Elspeth in the cafe, with flashbacks revealing that she subsequently left all of her financial assets to Oliver, including ownership of Saltburn. Oliver then kills Elspeth by forcefully removing her life support tube. Having now taken over the Saltburn estate and the Catton fortune and seemingly dismissed the Butler, maids and footmen, Oliver dances naked around the house to 'Murder on the Dancefloor' by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. 

'Saltburn' is a slow-burn thriller about those born with not one but two silver spoons firmly planted in their mouths, and those hangers-on who aspire to such dizzy heights and those even fewer who make it - by fair means or in this case by foul. Writer and Director Emerald Fennell has here delivered us a film of modern day British aristocracy that is conflicted by the out-of-touch staid and overly quirky mannerisms of the parents versus the next generation keen to mark its place in the world, and on that note Richard E. Grant, Rosamund Pike, Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan are all expertly cast in their roles of old school versus new school. The very black and often bleak humour is rendered with a deft touch that if you blink you'll surly miss some of the zingers that come hurtling by. Barry Keoghan gives a fearless performance in every respect from the mild mannered unassuming student we first meet at Oxford University to the cold calculating murderer we see at the end who relishes in his ill gotten gains - one for the ages for sure. 

'Saltburn' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN : Tuesday 16th February 2021.

I finally got around to seeing 'PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN' this week following its release in Australia on 7th January. This MA15+ Rated American thriller offering is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Emerald Fennell in her feature film making debut. The film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2020 and went on general release Stateside on 25th December 2020 having so far taken approaching US$9M at the Box Office and garnered positive Reviews. It was named one of the ten best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review, with Carey Mulligan also winning Best Actress, and has received fifty-three award wins so far plus a further 114 nominations including four nods at the upcoming 78th Golden Globe Awards on 1st March, including Best Motion Picture, Drama.

The opening scene of the film sees three male colleagues in a bar late one evening all ridiculing a female colleague. One of the men, Jerry (Adam Brody) notices what's look to be a very drunk young and particularly attractive woman sat all alone. Egged on by his colleagues he siddles up to the woman playing the concerned and caring gentlemen who offers to share a cab home with her to ensure she arrives safely. On the journey he suggests a stop off at his place which is close by for a nightcap. She complies with his wishes and once home and after said nightcap, the woman says she needs to lie down. Jerry seizes the opportunity to get her onto his bed and starts groping, kissing and removing her underwear. At this, the woman sits bolt upright and asks what the hell he thinks he's doing, now as sober as a judge. Jerry is somewhat surprised to say the least at the woman's sudden sobriety, and starts to backtrack as the woman gives him a very stern dressing down.  

It turns out that the woman in question is thirty year old Cassandra 'Cassie' Thomas (Carey Mulligan) who lives with her parents Susan and Stanley (Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown respectively). They have breakfast together every morning and Cassie's mother especially berates her for not having a boyfriend, having no friends, for still living at home, and for having a near non-existent social life. Cassie responds saying that's just the way she likes it. Cassie works at a coffee shop owned by Gail (Laverne Cox), and there one day comes in Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham) whom nine years previously she was in medical school with. Ryan is now a paediatric surgeon, while Cassie who was the brains of their class is working in a dead end coffee shop! Ryan asks Cassie out, but she initially refuses his advances. 

A few nights later and Cassie is with Neil (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), once again pretending to be very drunk in his apartment. Neil snorts a couple of lines of coke and encourages Cassie to do the same, but she blows instead of snorts. Neil comes on all sympathetic and caring about Cassie's inebriated state and starts to grope and kiss her and puts his hand up her dress. At which point, Cassie reverts back to her completely sober state and asks what he thought he was doing. Neil is taken aback and starts to be fearful of the repercussions that Cassie might bestow up on him, and is left defenceless as she pins him against the wall and reads him the riot act. 

The next days Ryan is back in the coffee shop and again asks her out on a dinner date - this time Cassie responds in the affirmative. On their first date Ryan mentions that their former classmate Alexander 'Al' Monroe (Chris Lowell) is getting married soon. Now it comes out that at medical school Cassie was very close friends with a Nina Fisher who was raped by Al Monroe nine years ago. As a result, both the school and the legal system failed Nina and as a consequence both Nina and Cassie dropped out of medical school despite being Grade A students, and subsequently Nina committed suicide. 

Hearing the news of Al's forthcoming wedding, Cassie begins plotting her revenge on those she considers responsible for the rape and death of her best friend. She first invites an old friend from medical school, Madison McPhee (Alison Brie), who didn't believe Nina's accusations, to lunch at an upmarket restaurant and gets her drunk on Champagne and red wine, then has a man she hired take Madison to her hotel room. After the incident, Cassie ignores all of her many calls. 

Next, Cassie targets Elizabeth Walker (Connie Britton), the medical school dean who dismissed Nina's case due to lack of evidence. Cassie pretends to be a makeup artist for a band called 'Wet Dream' that Walker's teenage daughter Amber (Francisca Estevez) loves and tricks the teenager into getting into her car. Later, Cassie meets Walker under the pretense of resuming her education and questions her about the events that led to Nina's dropout and death. When Walker explains away her actions, Cassie tells her she dropped Amber off at a dorm room with a bunch of drunk male students, and not to worry!! After a fearful Walker apologises for her inaction, Cassie reveals Amber is safe at a local diner. 

Next up Cassie pays a visit to Jordan Green (Alfred Molina), Al's lawyer who harassed Nina into dropping her charges. When Green expresses remorse for his actions, having suffered a mental breakdown over his guilt and now on a forced sabbatical from his law firm, Cassie forgives him. After visiting Nina's mother (Molly Shannon), who urges her to move on, Cassie abandons the rest of her plans for revenge. And so Cassie's relationship with Ryan goes from strength to strength, so much so that the pair find themselves falling in love with each other. 

One day when returning home, Cassie finds Madison waiting outside her house, still distraught and desperate to know what happened after their lunch having woken up in a hotel room with a strange man with whom she has no memory. Cassie reassures her that nothing happened. In response, Madison gives Cassie an old phone containing a video of Nina's rape before telling her to never make contact with her again. As she watches the video, Cassie is shocked to see Ryan among the onlookers. She confronts him at the hospital where he works and threatens to release the video unless he tells her where Al's bachelor party is being held. Ryan tells her and begs for forgiveness, but Cassie refuses and turns her back on him.

Cassie arrives at Al's bachelor party as a stripper in a nurses uniform, plying Al's friends with spiked alcohol to knock them all out and takes Al upstairs to be alone. She handcuffs him to the bed which he willingly volunteers to, and then reveals her true identity to him. However, as she tries to carve Nina's name into Al's stomach, he breaks free from one pair of cuffs, overpowers her and suffocates Cassie under a pillow. 

The next morning, Al's friend Joe (Max Greenfield) comes up to the room, discovers a sobbing Al and the lifeless body of Cassie still under the pillow, consoles him and helps him burn Cassie's body to destroy any evidence. A couple of days later Cassie's parents file a missing person report, and the Police begin an investigation. A Detective questions Ryan at the hospital, but Ryan does not reveal where Cassie was going and states that they split up five days ago and suggests she was mentally unwell and possibly suicidal.

During Al's wedding reception in the grounds of the house where the bachelor party was held, it is revealed that Cassie had sent Jordan Green the phone with the video of Nina's rape, along with information on where she was headed and who would be responsible if she went missing. The Police begin to arrive immediately after the wedding ceremony, and with Police tracker dogs uncover the burnt remains of Cassie's body. At the reception in front of all the gathered guests, the Police arrest Al and cart him away handcuffed, while Joe flees the scene and Ryan receives several scheduled texts from Cassie, explaining that this is not the end, until it is. She signs off in her name and a ; )

This is a thought provoking, of the moment, pitch black revenge thriller comedy that starts of light but culminates in a real sucker punch by the time the end credits roll, that will leave an impression firmly planted in your brain long after you have left the theatre. For her debut movie making outing, Director and Writer Emerald Fennell has here delivered a bold, audacious, never boring and highly relevant film underpinned by perhaps a career best performance from Carey Mulligan playing completely against type, and she absolutely nails it. The rest of the principle cast are alas undercooked in the often fleeting scenes they are in, but carried along on Mulligan's coat tails which should propel her into the Best Actress nominations at this years upcoming Oscars. 

'Promising Young Woman' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-