SOLO : A STAR WARS STORY - Tuesday 29th May 2018.

'SOLO : A STAR WARS STORY' which I saw earlier this week is described as a 'Space Western' and is the second film in the Star Wars standalone anthology series which follows on the heels of 'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' released in 2016 and is set prior to the events in 'A New Hope'. That first standalone instalment was Directed by Gareth Edwards and took in excess of US$1B at the global Box Office off the back of a US$200M Budget outlay. This film Premiered in Los Angeles on 10th May, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival on 15th May and saw its US release last week too. Filming began in January 2017 under the Directing leadership of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and after almost five months of principle photography the pair were fired from the set due to creative differences. They were replaced by Ron Howard who completed the last four weeks or so of principle photography and about another five weeks of reshoots. Lord and Miller are credited as Executive Producers. Made for a reported US$250M, early Reviews have indicated generally positive press, but a fairly lacklustre Box Office take so far of US$198M.

This film, as the name implies, centres on a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) whom we first encounter on the heavy industry planet Corellia, where he and his girlfriend Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) are being chased down by a bunch of underworld criminal types. Using his expert driving skills, Han and passenger Qi'ra manage to evade those in hot pursuit, and wanting to get off that Godforsaken planet they bribe an Imperial Officer at the airport with a small but extremely powerful and very valuable sample of Coaxium - a hyperspace fuel. Passing through screening having accepted the bribe, the two are momentarily separated causing Qi'ra to be captured on the wrong side of the departure terminal while Han has secured safe passage outta Dodge on the other. As Qi'ra is carted off, Han vows to return for her. He quickly signs up as a flight cadet in the Imperial Navy. The recruiting officer asks him which family is he from, to which Han replies he has no family, he's alone. The officer takes a few brief seconds and calls him 'solo'! From this early introduction and piecing together the approximate timeline, it is safe to assume that this film is set somewhere between 15 and 20 years before the events of 'A New Hope'.

Fast forward three years and Han is serving as an lowly canon fodder infantryman during a battle on Mimban where he happens upon a small but well organised group of criminals masquerading as Imperial Soldiers, led by one Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his wife Val (Thandie Newton). Han was discharged from the Imperial Navy flight school for gross insubordination in then intervening years. Han tries to wrangle his way into Beckett's gang but instead winds up getting arrested and thrown into a muddy pit to meet his fate at the hands of a marauding beast, who turns out to be a Wookie, named Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Fortunately Han is able to speak limited Wookie and is able to communicate with the woolly beast, persuading him to join forces to effect their escape. This they do, as Beckett is about to take off, but comes back for the pair of escapees recognising that extra hands on deck won't go amiss. Beckett's plan is to steal a huge consignment of coaxiam from the planet Vandor.

On snow covered mountain terrain on Vandor, a high altitude speeding monorail train carrying its cargo of coaxium comes into sight with Beckett's hijacked ship hovering above. Beckett, Solo and Chewbacca jump down onto the roof of the speeding train in an attempt to attach grappling hooks which are connected by wires to the above ship, with a view to uncoupling the carriage carrying the precious cargo, and winching the sole carriage away, job done! Not so easy however, as a gang of pirates known as the Cloud Riders led by Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman) have plans to take the haul of hyperspace fuel for themselves. What follows is an impressive action set piece that ultimately sees the cargo plunge into a mountain side destroying said mountain in the process by reducing it to mere rubble, with the Cloud Riders and Beckett's ship escaping in opposite directions high above.

Back on the ground Beckett reveals that the coaxium was being stolen for Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) - a high ranking crime lord associated with the Crimson Dawn Syndicate, and who has history with Beckett. Thinking on his feet for fear of death for loosing the shipment, Beckett wants to go it alone to explain himself to Vos, but is convinced otherwise by Solo. Accompanied by Chewbacca, the three travel to Vos's vast ship.

Upon entering, Vos is entertaining a cacophony of  high ranking officials and criminal types from all walks of life. Han finds Qi'ra who in the three years since they last saw each other, has become Vos's top ranking lieutenant. With Vos none too pleased about the loss of his shipment and ready to kill all three of them, Han suggests a risky plan to steal unrefined coaxium from the mines on the planet Kessel. Vos approves albeit somewhat reluctantly, but sees that their outlandish plan might just work. He insists that Qi'ra accompany the team on their mission, and warns them not to come back empty handed, or attempt to cheat him out of the coaxium consignment.

Qi'ra leads them to Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), a smooth talking and debonair smuggler of some repute and a pilot who she hopes will lend them his ship to take the crew to Kessel. Han challenges Lando to a game of sabacc, betting on Lando's ship. Unbeknown to Han, Lando cheats to win the game, but agrees to join the mission in exchange for a 25% share of the profits. The team boards his ship, the Millennium Falcon, and heads for Kessel.

Upon reaching Kessel and infiltrating the mine disguised as high ranking officials, Lando's droid co-pilot L3-37 (voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) instigates a slave revolt, so creating a diversion to allow Han and Chewbacca to steal a consignment of coaxium. On exiting the mine and before reboarding the Millennium Falcon a firefight breaks out between the heavily armed guards of the mine, the escaped workforce and the crew. Lando sustains a shoulder injury and L3 is severely damaged during the escape. 

With the coaxium stowed away aboard the Falcon, Han must navigate the ship along the dangerous and previous uncharted 'Maelstrom' in an attempt to evade an Imperial blockade located at the only point of exit/entry. Narrowly escaping the clutches of what can only be described as a giant space octopus the size of a small planet, and being dragged into a fire & brimstone black hole, the Falcon uses light speed and a small drop of coaxium injected into its fuel line to give it the oomph to get the Hell outta there. Badly damaged, the Falcon lands on the planet Savareen, where the coaxium is to be processed before handing it over to Vos. 

On Savareen, the crew are ambushed by Enfys Nest and her gang of Cloud Riders. During their frosty reception Lando flies off in the Falcon leaving the remaining crew grounded. Enfys reasons with Han that she and her crew are not pirates, but rather rebels trying to prevent the syndicates and the Empire from gaining power. Han understands their cause and tries to trick Vos with the now processed coaxium, but Beckett has already alerted him to the double cross. Vos sends his guards to kill Enfys, but the Cloud Riders turn the tables killing them instead, so leaving Vos without any defence. Having anticipated Vos' double crossing strategy, Han tries to take the coaxium, only for Beckett to escape with it taking Chewbacca hostage in the process. Han, Qi'ra and Vos battle it out with Qi'ra ultimately killing Vos. She sends Han after Beckett. Now alone, she contacts Vos's superior, Maul (Ray Park, and voiced by Sam Witwer), to inform him of the mission's failure and claim Vos's position within the Crimson Dawn Syndicate. Maul, orders her menacingly post haste to join him by his side, wielding his double sided lightsaber.

Han outruns Beckett and kills him. He and Chewbacca turn the coaxium over to Enfys and she offers Han a chance to join the rebellion against the Empire, which he declines. Upon leaving she gives him one vial of coaxium which should easily be enough to buy his own ship. Han and Chewbacca locate Lando and challenge him to another game of sabacc, once again betting on the Millennium Falcon. Han wins, having rumbled that Lando was a cheat and pick pocketed the card Lando was keeping up his sleeve in order to win. He and Chewbacca leave for Tatooine aboard their new ship, where Han has heard that a gangster is putting together a crew for a heist.  

I would have to say that compared to 'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' that was the first hugely successful and well regarded stand alone film in the spin-off series that 'Solo' left me feeling a little disappointed and short changed. The casting is solid enough and for me Alden Ehrenreich delivers a convincing enough turn as the younger Han Solo, bearing in mind he has huge shoes to fill as quite possibly the most recognised and iconic movie character of all time. The visuals, action sequences and production values are also well rendered, but there is little new to see here in the story that we hadn't picked up before in Harrison Ford's earlier outings in the previous films. In this respect the film plays it safe taking us down a largely familiar path with an origin story that is a join the dots offering made good by fast paced action and relatable characters. But you can hardly blame Ron Howard for these shortcomings - after all he inherited to a very large extent the film we see today. There are nods that tie 'Solo' into the greater Star Wars universe - Solo and Chewie heading to Tatooine, and of course Qi'ra being inducted into the way of Maul (who made his first appearance in 'Star Wars : Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace', but these are fleeting nods thats serve nothing more than window dressing, at this stage, but then perhaps Disney has more in mind with future instalments. The film also features Jon Favreau voicing Rio Durant, Linda Hunt voices Lady Proxima and Anthony Daniels cameo's as Tak. 

For me this film merits three claps of the clapperboard, from a possible five. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 24th May 2018.

The 71st Cannes Film Festival which opened on 8th May drew to a close on Saturday evening 19th May. This year, Cate Blanchett acted as the Jury President for those twenty-one feature films competing for the prestigious Palme d'Or. The opening film was by Iranian Director and Screenwriter Asghar Farhadi with his Spanish language psychological thriller 'Everybody Know's' starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, with the closing film, and screening out of competition, was Terry Gilliam's lifetime in gestation on again off again passion project 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' starring Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver.

The prestigious Palme d'Or was awarded out of twenty-one films in competition to 'Shoplifters' - a Japanese family drama edited, written, and Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Set in Tokyo, this film centres on a family who rely on shoplifting as they cope with a life of poverty, whilst unofficially adopting a seemingly abused homeless girl with the Police beginning a search for the missing child. Beating out the competition in this category were the likes of 'Burning' from South Korea and starring Steven Yuen; 'BlacKkKlansman' from the USA, Directed by Spike Lee and starring Adam Driver, Topher Grace and Harry Belafonte, which took out the second most coveted award - the Grand Prix; 'Everybody Knows' as aforementioned; 'Under the Silver Lake' from the USA and starring Andrew Garfield, Topher Grace, and Riley Keough; and 'The Image Book' a French/Swiss Co-Production Directed by Jean-Luc Godard which won the Special Palme d'Or. Judges for this award also included Ava DuVernay, Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, Denis Villeneuve and Andrey Zvyagintsev.

In the Un Certain Regard category this year, in which eighteen films were showcased and overseen by Jury President Benicio del Toro, the Un Certain Regard Award was bestowed upon Swedish drama film 'Border' Directed and written for the screen by Ali Abbasi. This film staved off competition from the likes of 'Angel Face' from France starring Marion Cotillard; 'Donbass' from the Ukraine and the opening film in this selected category; 'The Dead and the Others' from Portugal and Directed by Joao Salaviza and Renee Nader Messora which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize; 'Rafiki' from Kenya; 'Girl' from Belgium; 'Long Day's Journey into Night' from China; 'Manto' from India; and 'Die, Monster, Die' from Argentina.

For more, you can go to : www.festival-cannes.com

This week we have just two new release movies coming to your local Odeon, and they couldn't be more polar opposite if they tried! First up is the second stand alone film in a massive movie franchise spanning now forty years about a young up & coming space cowboy from a galaxy far far away who many of us have grown up with - and this is his origin story. We then have a change of pace and coming back down to Earth, to rural England in the late '50's and one woman's dream of opening her own country book store which is thwarted by many of the local residents who have very different ideas.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the two 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 here cordially invited 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 meanwhile, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'SOLO : A STAR WARS STORY' (Rated MA15+) - described as a 'Space Western' this second film in the Star Wars standalone anthology series follows on the heels of 'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' released in 2016 and is set prior to the events in 'A New Hope'. That first standalone instalment was Directed by Gareth Edwards and took in excess of US$1B at the global Box Office off the back of a US$200M Budget outlay. This film Premiered in Los Angeles on 10th May, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival on 15th May and gets its US release this week too. Filming began in January 2017 under the Directing leadership of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and after almost five months of principle photography were fired from the set due to creative differences. They were replaced by Ron Howard who completed the last four weeks or so of principle photography and about another five weeks of reshoots. Lord and Miller are credited as Executive Producers. Made for a reported US$250M, early Reviews have indicated generally positive press.

This film, as the name implies, centres on a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and his adventures with his Wookie partner, best friend and first mate aboard the Millennium Falcon, Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Also starring Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, a smuggler on the rise and whom Solo meets with for the first time; Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett, a criminal and mentor to Solo; Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra, a long time childhood friend of Solo's; with Paul Bettany as crime lord Dryden Vos, and Thandie Newton as Val. Jon Favreau voices Rio Durant, Linda Hunt voices Lady Proxima and Anthony Daniels cameo's as Tak.

'THE BOOKSHOP' (Rated PG) - this British, German and Spanish Co-Production is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Penelope Fitzgerald and is helmed and Written for the Screen by Spanish Film Director Isabel Coixet. The film Premiered at the Valladolid International Film Festival in Valladolid, Spain in late October last year, has received generally positive Reviews picking up twelve Award wins and a further 32 nominations from around the film festival circuit and so far grossing US$3.5M in Box Office receipts. Set in the English coastal town of Hardborough, in Suffolk in 1959, Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) a middle aged widow, decides to open a book shop in 'The Old House', a rather dilapidated damp abandoned old residence that's said to be haunted by numerous ghosts. After much local opposition and many sacrifices, she eventually opens the doors on her bookshop which goes well for the first year and then sales begins to wane. Edmund Brandish (Bill Nighy), a local, is Florence's best customer and meanwhile Violet Gamart (Patricia Clarkson) also wants The Old House in which to set up an Arts Centre. What ensues is a political minefield spearheaded by Gamart's nephew, an MP, that Florence must navigate through if she is to preserve her beloved book shop, or succumb to local pressures that may leave her little choice but to move on.

With just two new release films out 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-

Birthday's to share this week : 23rd-29th October 2016

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Emilia Clarke does on 23rd October - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 30, 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 October

• Emilia Clarke - Born 1986, turns 30 - Actress
• Alex Gibney - Born 1953, turns 63 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Ang Lee - Born 1954, turns 62 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Sam Raimi - Born 1959, turns 57 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Ryan Reynolds - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor | Producer  

Monday 24th October

• F. Murray Abraham - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor
• Martin Campbell - Born 1943, turns 73 - Director | Producer
• Kevin Kline - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actor | Singer  

Tuesday 25th October

• Adam Goldberg - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Editor
• Gale Anne Hurd - Born 1955, turns 61 - Producer | Writer  

Wednesday 26th October

• Jaclyn Smith - Born 1945, turns 71 - Actress
• Rosemarie DeWitt - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actress
• Dylan McDermott - Born 1961, turns 55 - Actor
• Cary Elwes - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Writer 
• Seth MacFarlane - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer | Songwriter | Animator
• Jon Heder - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actor | Producer  

Thursday 27th October

• John Cleese - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer | Director
• Ivan Reitman - Born 1946, turns 70 - Producer | Director | Writer
• Roberto Benigni - Born 1952, turns 64 - Director | Writer | Actor | Singer 

Friday 28th October

• Dennis Franz - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actor | Writer
• Kevin MacDonald - Born 1967, turns 49 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Joaquin Phoenix - Born 1974, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Julia Roberts - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actress | Producer  

Saturday 29th October

• Kate Jackson - Born 1948, turns 68 - Actress | Producer
• Winona Ryder - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actress | Producer
• Robert Hardy - Born 1925, turns 91 - Actor
• Richard Dreyfuss - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Rufus Sewell - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor
• Ben Foster - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actor | Producer   

Emilia Isabelle Euphemia Rose Clarke was born in London, England where she grew up in Berkshire with her business woman mother, theatre sound engineer father and her brother. The young Emilia's interest in Acting were first sparked at age just three when her mother took her along to a theatre production of the musical 'Show Boat' which her father has worked on. She was educated at the independent Roman Catholic Rye St. Antony Girls School in Headington, Oxford, and then the co-deucational independent boarding St. Edward's School in Oxford. From there she attended the Drama Centre London, affiliated to the University of the Arts, London who's other notable alumni include Michael Fassbender, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Tom Hardy, Paul Bettany, Russell Brand and her 'Game of Thrones' Co-Star Gwendoline Christie. She graduated in 2009.

Whilst at St. Edward's Clarke appeared in two school plays, ten whilst at the Drama Centre London, and the Los Angeles Company of Angels production of 'Sense'. She gained her first small screen role on an episode of the BBC's 'Doctors' in 2009, and followed this up with the made for television movie for the SyFy Channel 'Triassic Attack' in 2010.

Her big screen debut came in 2012 in 'Spike Island' about the English alternative rock band 'The Stone Roses' gig on Spike Island, Cheshire, England in May 1990 and a group of friends who attempt, in the lead up to that gig, to get to the concert venue without transport, and to gain entry without tickets. This was followed up that same year with the twelve minute short film 'Shackled'.

2013 saw the black comedy crime caper film 'Dom Hemingway' as Written and Directed by Richard Shepard and starring Jude Law in the title role with Richard E. Grant and Damian Bichir. 'Terminator : Genisys' came next in 2015 with Clarke playing Sarah Connor to Jason Clarke as John Connor, Jai Courtney as Kyle Reece and Arnold Schwarzenegger as a re-programmed T-800 Terminator. Despite the film grossing over US$440M off its US$155M budget, a further instalment has been put on hold indefinitely, and Clarke has stated earlier this year that she would not be returning to the franchise.

'Me Before You' came earlier this year alongside Sam Claflin, which whilst earning a worldwide gross of US$207M from its US#20M budget and therefore a commercial success, received average critical acclaim only, although the performances of its two leads were generally praised. Clarke played alongside her 'Game of Thrones' Co-Star Charles Dance.

In the meantime and perhaps most significantly, Clarke has appeared in all six seasons so far broadcast of the hugely popular and much lauded 'Game of Thrones' television series for HBO. Playing the character of Daenerys Targaryen (aka 'Stormborn', 'The Mother of Dragons' and 'Khaleesi') - she is one of the shows most popular characters, and is set to return for season seven. She has won several awards and been nominated multiple times for her role in the cult series. Added to the demands of filming ten episodes per season for now six full televised seasons  on 'Game of Thrones', Clarke has appeared in single episodes of 'Futurama' and 'Robot Chicken', and starred in a Broadway production of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' in the role of Holly Golightly made famous by Audrey Hepburn in the classic 1961 film.

Next up is 'Above Suspicion' for Director Phillip Noyce with Jack Huston, Johnny Knoxville, and Thora Birch currently in post-production and due in 2017; 'Voice from the Stone' with Marton Csokas also due in 2017; the comedy 'Set It Up' due next year too, and in development for Director Oliver Hirschbiegel is WWI drama 'The Guns of August' with Charles Dance and Helena Bonham Carter also attached. All up Clarke has fifteen Acting credits to her name, she has four award wins so far and a further 22 nominations including three Prime Time Emmy nods for 'Game of Thrones' in 2013, 2015 and 2016 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Emilia Clarke - skilled at singing (ballads, blues, jazz and cabaret); athletic (rowing, swimming, running, tennis, skiing and sailing); has been ranked highly on numerous 'Top Lists' in the last five years including the #1 'Sexiest Woman Alive', 'Most Desirable Woman' and 'Most Beautiful Face', and for all her short time in the big and small screen acting business has left her mark that continues to keep her in demand, in the spotlight and her star shining brightly. Happy 30th Birthday to you Emilia, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

TERMINATOR : GENISYS : Saturday 4th July 2015.

In 1984 a young film maker made a movie that was to find its way into our popular culture and cinema sub-consciousness. His name was James Cameron, and in releasing 'The Terminator' he also established the career of an immigrant Austrian bodybuilder determined to make his name and his fortune in the Hollywood movie business - his name was Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the intervening years there have been three further sequels - 'T2 : Judgement Day' in 1991 with Cameron helming again, 'T3 : Rise of the Machines' in 2003, 'T4 : Salvation' in 2009 and the most lacklustre of the franchise, and now we have a return to form with Arnie back playing our titular cyborg hero Directed by Alan Taylor on a US$170M budget. Those first four films were made for a combined US$509M and returned collectively US$1.4B, and so last night with high expectations I saw the highly anticipated eagerly awaited 'TERMINATOR : GENISYS', and this fifth instalment in the franchise does not disappoint.

So far and for the most part the critics have been less than kind to 'T5', but for me this is very a respectable offering which owes much to the writing by scribes Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier who have woven the altered future premise tightly into the mythology of the past, and in particular the storyline set by Cameron in the first two films. The production values and the effects are solid and right on the money with what Cameron established back in 1991, the Direction is tight and well handled with a sense of urgency throughout, the cast create believable characters that you can relate to, and there are some real laugh out loud moments too that Arnie mostly delivers. What 'T3' and 'T4' lacked, this film more than makes up for. Taking us right back to 1984 by weaving the original story arc of the first two signature films into a changed past and so altering the future should have been what 'T3' was all about in 2003, but at least now we have a reboot that makes sense in the context of those first two earlier films and allows the franchise to go off in a whole new direction.

And so to the film itself. The film opens in a war torn 2029 Los Angeles and the leader of the human resistance against the machines John Connor (Jason Clarke) is pitching his final assault on Skynet to bring down the machines and save all humanity. We learn that in 1997 when Skynet became self aware it launched a global attack which wiped out three billion humans leaving the machines to dominate the planet. Before Skynet is taken down, it sends a T-800 back to 1984 to take out Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) thus preventing John Connor from being born and thwarting any future human resistance effort against Skynet. Kyle Reece (Jai Courtney) is John's trusted and loyal right hand man and he volunteers to travel back to 1984 to stop the T-800 from harming Sarah Connor, and so he steps into the Skynet time machine and is delivered back to 1984. Here the melding of that original film with this one  is very well done, right down to the younger Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800, and from this perspective it does help knowing the original source material.

As the T-800 (Brett Azar as the body double to the younger Schwarzenegger Terminator) makes his presence felt in a recreation of the scene from the original film, he is greeted by the 'Guardian' Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in older form who announces he has been waiting for this moment. This sets up the altered timeline as Sarah Connor takes out the newly arrived Terminator with some heavy machine killing artillery, as the two Terminators pummel each other. We learn subsequently that the 'Guardian' was sent back to 1973 when Sarah Connor was just nine years of age and has been protecting her ever since knowing that this day would come.

Elsewhere in town the time travelling Kyle Reece falls to 1984 as he did in the first film too, but is soon chased down by a T-1000 (Lee Byung-hun) masquerading as a patrol police officer, as he reprises the shapeshifting liquified Terminator first seen as Robert Patrick in 'T2'. As Reece and the T-1000 go head to head across town with a rising body count, a truck driven by Sarah crashes through a department store rescuing Reece leaving the T-1000 in hot pursuit. In the truck Reece is introduced to the 'Guardian' Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) but is unknowing at this point that the past has been changed and it is now not what he was expecting at all, which changes his mission again completely. Sarah explains briefly that the Guardian arrived when she was just nine years old and he has been protecting her, and training her (like a father figure which is why she also refers to the Guardian as 'Pops') ever since for the events that are now unfolding. Reece comments that the Guardian Terminator looks old, with the response coming back that human tissue ages as it does on him even though inside he is mechanical . . . he is 'old, but not obsolete' the Guardian Terminator concludes.

With the T-1000 still giving chase Sarah, Reece and the Guardian lead him to a sewer where a further fight ensues with a resurrected T-800 rebooted by the T-1000, but the two are successfully dispensed with - the latter disintegrated in a rain shower of acid. As the three collect their thoughts and recover from the last altercation the Guardian reveals he has built, in the intervening years, a time displacement machine similar to that of Skynet's but using 1984 technology. With it, Sarah plans to travel to 1997 to prevent 'Judgement Day'. However, Reece is convinced that she (and he) should travel instead to 2017 because he has had recurring visions of a future altered state in which he was born after 1997 and living a care free life in a world not yet destroyed and overrun by the dominant machines. As Sarah & Reece prepare to travel forward in time to 2017 the Guardian announces he will be waiting for them, prepared and at the ready, in San Francisco in 2017, where Skynet and Cyberdyne Systems Corporation is headquartered.

Arriving at their future destination Sarah and Reece learn that 'Genisys' is a single global operating system owned and operated by Cyberdyne using Skynet technology. Genisys is soon to go live on line interconnecting every piece of technology and hence everyone around the world. What they don't count on though is the re-emergence of John Connor in 2017 who after some re-introductions, puzzlement and lots of questions is in fact revealed to be a T-3000 nanomachine hybrid that is out to prevent the three from destroying Cyderdyne and Skynet at any cost, and is almost incapable of being destroyed.

The final set piece as Sarah, Reece, the Guardian and the T-3000 all clash in the headquarters of Cyberdyne as the three seek to set bombs to take down the five towers that will bring Skynet on line very soon. The T-3000 can be thwarted however, by any magnetic field and so the two Terminators (old and new) battle it out - with the T-3000 being disintegrated into Skynet's incomplete yet partially active and highly magnetic time displacement device, and the by now dismembered Guardian T-800 thrown into a bath of mimetic polyalloy liquid. As the place explodes simultaneously taking down the five Cyberdyne towers and Skynet, so 'Genisys' is shut down and Sarah & Reece escape to an underground bunker, safe, but locked in and with a diminishing oxygen supply. Needless to say they get out, and I wish I could say they all live happily ever after . . . but, you'll just have to watch out for the upcoming sequels!

Once the credits start to roll though stay in your seat and wait for the closing mid-credits sequence that sets up the next instalment. Suffice to say, and as you would expect, not everything about 'Genisys' was destroyed in the blast setting up the sequel due for release in May 2017 with another to follow in June 2018. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed up too for one more instalment. After it's first three days of release the film has so far made US$54M. Certainly worth the price of you ticket, and see it on the big screen - better than most critics give it credit for, and judging by the packed movie theatre I sat in last night it certainly has an audience.

  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 2nd July 2015.

It's July, and we've reached the mid-point in the year already and what a first six months we've had cinematically! With big budget epic fare, small independent offerings, some great foreign language films, action, adventure, tragedy, comedy blockbusters, sleeper hits and those that have flown under the radar. What will the next six months bring - well, you'll just have to get out there to you local cinema.  But, rest assured, it all starts here, and it does so with a bang with an action adventure hero who once muttered those immortal lines 'I'll be back!' . . . and he is - here, this week!

First up we have one of the most highly anticipated, eagerly awaited films of the year that is a welcome return of a cyborg hero in this fifth instalment of a hugely successful franchise that also spawned a TV Series - you know what I'm talkin' about! Then, we have a doco about a famed British songstress who departed this mortal coil way too early, and finally a short film assured to gain cult status as it pays homage to the martial arts comedy police action films of the 80's.

With three offerings out & about at your local movie theatre this coming week paired up with the solid offerings still out on general release, you once again have plenty to choose from, so get out amongst it and go see a movie! When you have, drop your friends and like minded readers a line or two in the Comments box immediately below this, or any other Post and share your thoughts on your filmic experience. Enjoy your movie!

TERMINATOR : GENISYS (Rated M) - in 1984 a young film maker made a movie that was to find its way into our popular culture and cinema sub-conscious. His name was James Cameron, and in releasing 'The Terminator' he also established the career of an immigrant Austrian bodybuilder determined to make his name and his fortune in the Hollywood movie business - his name was Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the intervening years there have three further sequels - 'T2 : Judgement Day' in 1991 with Cameron helming again, 'T3 : Rise of the Machines' in 2003, 'T4 : Salvation' in 2009 and the most lacklustre of the franchise, and now we have a return to form with Arnie back playing our titular cyborg hero Directed by Alan Taylor on a US$170M budget. Those first four films were made for a combined US$509M and returned collectively US$1.4B.

And so to this latest iteration. This films owes more to the first two films than is does the latter two. Here John Connor (Jason Clarke) is leading the human resistance against Skynet, and sends back Kyle Reece (Jai Courtney) to 1984 to safeguard his mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from a Terminator killer hunting her down. Unexpected events create an altered timelines and when Reece arrives back in 1984 he is met by a skilled confident combat ready Sarah Connor supported by a Terminator Guardian - a reprogrammed T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Hot on the heels however, are dangerous new enemies and unexpected allies as the timeline darts between 1984, to 1997 (the eve of Judgement Day), to 2017 with a T-1000, a T-3000 and a T-5000 all emerging to thwart Sarah, Kyle and the Guardian Terminator while Reece seeks to reset the future, and prevent the Genisys application from going live on-line with potentially disastrous implications for humankind. J.K. Simmons also stars. Watch it on the big screen methinks!

AMY (MA15+) - In 2010 British film maker Asif Kapadia bought us the excellent Documentary film charting the on and off track life of F1 racing great Ayrton Senna with the highly acclaimed 'Senna'. Now in 2015 his subject matter is once again the tragically short life of a another famed personality - this time from the world of music - Amy Winehouse. Featuring previously unseen footage, previously unheard tracks that the singer had recorded before her death on 23rd July 2011 from alcohol poisoning, and the content taken from over 100 interviews that Kapadia had with close family and friends, this films charts the singers early life, her influences, her relationships, the media attention, and her drug & alcohol addiction that led to her untimely death. If 'Senna' is anything to go by, this is likely to be compelling viewing.

KUNG FURY (Rated M) - Directed, Written and Starring David Sandberg this is a 31 minute crowd funded Swedish Produced English language film that pays homage to the martial arts police action movies of the 80's. Set in 1985, Kung Fury is the meanest, baddest, toughest martial arts cop in the Miami Police Force, and he is sent back in time to thwart the worst killer of all time - Kung Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, and end the Nazi grip on a war torn Europe. Full of camped up slapstick martial arts green screen silliness, this is likely to become a cult classic before you know it!

That's it then for the week ahead - two time travelling kick-ass movies both at complete opposite ends of the movie spectrum, and a doco sure to provide an intimate look inside the mind and life of a talented young artist plucked from us too soon. Whatever you choose to view in the week ahead, enjoy your film.

See you at the Odeon soon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-