What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 28th December 2017.

In December, the world bid a fond farewell to number of stars of the stage, television and cinema. In brief, shown below, is my passing tribute to those stars who leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. May you all Rest In Peace, and thanks for the memories.

* Chrsitine Keeler - Born 22nd February 1942, died 4th December 2017, aged 75. Former model and showgirl, Keeler shot to infamy and notoriety in 1963 when at the height of the Cold War, she became sexually involved with married British Government Minister John Profumo, and a Soviet Diplomat. In what would become known as 'The Profumo Affair', Keeler was sentenced to nine months in prison for perjury and was released within five. Her story was documented in the 1989 film 'Scandal' with Joanne Whalley playing Keeler with John Hurt, Ian McKellen playing the disgraced politician Profumo, with Bridget Fonda, Leslie Phillips, Britt Ekland and Directed by Michael Caton-Jones.
* Keith Chegwin - Born 17th January 1957, died 11th December 2017, aged 60. English television presenter; Actor on stage, television and cinema; Disc Jockey and singer, Chegwin rose to fame on UK children's television programmes 'Multi-Coloured SwapShop' from 1976 to 1982; on 'Cheggers Plays Pop' from 1978 to 1986 and 'Saturday SuperStore' during the 1980's. His film credits, albeit fairly minor, included Roman Polanski's 'Macbeth' in 1971, 'The Optimists of Nine Elms' in 1973 alongside Peter Sellers, 'Robin Hood Junior' in 1975, and most recently in 1999's 'Whatever Happened to Harold Smith' with Tom Courtenay, Stephen Fry, Charlie Hunnam, James Cordon, David Thewlis and Lulu and in 2011 he appeared as himself in the comedy horror film 'Kill Keith'. In between time he appeared on episodes of 'Open All Hours', 'The Liver Birds', The Tomorrow People', 'Z-Cars', 'Extras', a celebrity episode of 'The Chase', 'Life's Too Short', 'Pointless Celebrities', 'Celebrity Big Brother' and 'Celebrity Master Chef'. In 2015 he hosted the BAFTA Television and Film industry awards.
* Heather Menzies-Urich - Born 3rd December 1949, died 24th December 2017, aged 68. American model and film and television Actress, she is perhaps best known for her roles as Louisa von Trapp in 1965's 'The Sound of Music' and in all fourteen episodes as Jessica in 'Logan's Run' from 1977 to 1978. She also had appearances on numerous television shows over the years including 'Dragnet', The High Chaparral', 'Bonanza', 'Alias Smith and Jones', 'S.W.A.T.', 'Barnaby Jones', 'The Six Million Dollar Man', ''The Love Boat', 'Vega$', 'T.J.Hooker' and 'Spenser : For Hire'. In between time there were also other less memorable film appearances on the likes of the 1966 'Hawaii' with Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, Richard Harris and Gene Hackman, 1968's 'How Sweet It Is' with James Garner and Debbie Reynolds, 1969's 'Hail, Hero!' with Michael Douglas, 'Outside In', horror Sci-Fi offering 'Sssssss' with Dirk Benedict in 1973, Joe Dante's 'Piranha' in 1978, and 'Endangered Species' in 1978. She was married to Actor Robert Urich from 1975 up until the time of his death in 2002 from the rare cancer synovial sarcoma - a soft tissue cancer affecting the extremities of the arms and legs.

This week, there are just two new films being released in the week ahead joining the seven released earlier in the week on Boxing Day. We kick off with a highly acclaimed documentary from a debut feature length film maker that was ten years in the making and charts the life, the ups and the downs of a struggling Philadelphia African American family. And we close out with a Chinese near future action thriller starring one of Asia's great action heroes doing what he does best.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the two latest release films 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 in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon experience during the week ahead.

'QUEST' (Rated M) - this debut documentary from feature film debut Director Jonathan Olshefski had its World Premier screening at The Sundance Film Festival back in January this year, and has spent the last year on the film festival circuit picking up eleven award wins and a further ten nominations on its journey. The film now arrives in limited release in select Australian cinemas having received much Critical praise up to now. Condensed down into ninety minutes of running time from over 300 hours of filmed footage, here the Director delivers a documentary that is charged with love, emotion, hope, challenges, set backs amidst the backdrop of a changing US political landscape.

Filmed over the course of nearly ten years, here Olshefski charts the lives of the African American Rainey family in a largely poverty stricken and struggling Philadelphia neighbourhood at the onset of the Obama administration. Here parents Christopher 'Quest' Rainey and his wife Christine'a 'Ma Quest' Rainey raise their young family while charting a course through the poverty, strife and daily challenges that inhabit their local community. At the same time, Quest and his wife develop a makeshift home music studio in their basement for the local hip hop talent, where all comers are welcome to the creative space and it is regarded as a safe place, away from the trials and tribulations that have a hold on their neighbourhood.

'BLEEDING STEEL' (Rated MA15+) - Directed and Written by Leo Zhang, this Chinese Sci-Fi thriller is set partially in Sydney, Australia in 2020 and features Jackie Chan in the lead role as hardened Special Forces agent Lin Dong. When Dong is thrust into a fight to protect a young woman from a sinister gang of criminal underworld types, while at the same time feeling a connection to the woman as though they have met before in a former life, he unleashes a cat and mouse game all surrounding an immortality serum invented by a bioengineering expert being hunted down by a mutant warrior and his henchwoman. Being a Jackie Chan film you can count on epic stunts, close quarter hand to hand combat, car chases, explosions, gunplay, leaping off tall buildings, and all captured in glorious slo-mo, with the usual tongue in cheek humour that is sure to please your average fifteen year old lad. With an Australian cast that includes Callan Mulvey, Tess Haubrich, Damien Garvey and Kim Gyngell this film is shown is selected cinemas only and was released in China just before Christmas.

With two new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, joining the seven released on Boxing Day, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephiles afterwards here at Odeon Online, and meanwhile, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 5th January 2017.

The coming of age genre has been around for many decades and still endures to this day, as evidenced by the release this week of 'The Edge of Seventeen' as Previewed below. Often seen as a launchpad for young aspiring often teenage acting talent (think James Dean, Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, Matthew Broderick, Jonah Hill, John Cusack, James Spader, Matt Damon, Tom Cruise, Molly Ringwood, Winona Ryder et al), the coming of age film fuelled by love, sex, heartbreak, insecurity, anxiety, violence and all the rites of passage associated with the lurch into adulthood, has found a lasting place in our hearts and minds, and still draws a crowd at the Box Office. I've listed a handful of some of my personal favourites from over the years, that you might like to revisit, and of course there are a whole lot more besides :-
* 'Rebel Without a Cause' (1955) - James Dean
* 'The Graduate' (1967) - Dustin Hoffman
* 'American Graffiti' (1973) - Harrison Ford
* 'Carrie' (1976) - Sissy Spacek
* 'Sixteen Candles' (1984) - Molly Ringwald
* 'The Breakfast Club' (1985) - Emilio Estevez
* 'The Goonies' (1985) - Josh Brolin
* 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986) - Matthew Broderick
* 'Pretty In Pink' (1986) - James Spader
* 'Stand By Me' (1986) - Keifer Sutherland
* 'Dead Poet's Society' (1989) - Ethan Hawke
* 'Dazed and Confused' (1993) - Matthew McConaughey
* 'American Pie' (1999) - Jason Biggs
* 'Donnie Darko' (2001) - Jake Gyllenhaal
* 'Superbad' (2007) - Jonah Hill
* 'Boyhood' (2014) - Ellar Coltrane
* 'The Hunt for the Wilderpeople' (2016) - Julian Dennison

This week, there are three new release movies to catch at your local independent cinema or multiplex.  Kicking off with a Directorial debut with a coming of age story of a girl ill at ease with her image, her  life, her friends and all the teenage angst we have seen before but dealt with in a more mature, respectful and meaningful way than many similar genre films of this type. We next go to a documentary offering about the power of music and the force this can have in bringing people together across cultural divides, geographical borders and provide hope and inspiration for our future. We then wrap up with a Chinese action comedy featuring a very well known action star in this war time romp about a rag tag band of freedom fighters going up against the might of the Japanese army.

As always when you have sat through any of these, or those others still out on general release and doing the rounds as Reviewed and Previewed previously between these Blog pages, you are hereby cordially invited to share your constructive, relevant and pertinent thoughts and observations by leaving  a Comment below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and meanwhile, enjoy your movie.

'THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN' (Rated M) - Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, this coming of age dramedy story Premiered at the TIFF in mid-September and was released in the US in mid-November. Costing US$9M to make, it has so far taken US$15M at the Box Office and has garnered much critical applause for its sharp script and the performance of its lead Actress, Hailee Steinfeld. It has also picked up four award wins and another thirteen nominations, including a 2017 Golden Globe nod for Hailee Steinfeld.

Life's tough and often unfair, and even tougher if you're a teenage girl and nobody understands you, and you have just one parent because your loving Dad died a few years back and your only true friend in the world has started dating your brother and now you feel all alone in the world with no one to talk to and you think you're socially inept. Oh woe! The teenager in question is just seventeen Nadine Franklin (played by twenty year old Hailee Steinfeld), who lives with mother Mona (Kyra Sedgwick), and older brother Darian (Blake Jenner), who gets it on with Nadine's only friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson), angering Nadine. These events and more, lead Nadine to tell her history teacher Mr. Bruner (Woody Harrelson) that she is going to kill herself, and through flashback we see the events unfold that bring us to this conversation in the classroom. Despite her feelings of being hard done by, unloved, disliked, awkward and all the usual touchstones of being a teenager, this film deals with them in a mature respectful adult way without relying on all the usual genre cliches, and for this reason this a film and a Director to watch.

'THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS' (Rated M) - The website that accompanies the release of the documentary film states that over the past 16 years, an extraordinary group of musicians has come together to celebrate the universal power of music. Named from the ancient trade route linking Asia, Africa and Europe, The Silk Road Ensemble, an international collective created by acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, exemplifies music’s ability to blur geographical boundaries, blend disparate cultures and inspire hope for both artists and audiences. The film follows an ever-changing lineup of performers drawn from the ensemble’s more than fifty instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they gather in locations across the world, exploring the ways that art has the power to preserve traditions and shape cultural evolution. Blending performance footage, personal interviews and archival film, Director Morgan Neville and Producer Caitrin Rogers focus on the journeys of a small group of Silk Road Ensemble mainstays from across the globe to create an intensely personal chronicle of passion, talent and sacrifice. Through these moving individual stories, the filmmakers paint a vivid portrait of a bold musical experiment and a global search for the ties that bind. This enlightening film about the force of music across cultural divides has been generally well received and has picked up three award wins and three nominations so far, having been released in the US in mid-2016.

'RAILROAD TIGERS' (Rated M) - this Chinese action comedy film stars Jackie Chan in the lead role, is Directed by Ding Sheng, cost US$50M to make and has since made US$76M following its release just before Christmas in its native China and in other territories subsequently. Set in 1941 and Japan is expanding its occupation into neighbouring Southeast Asia using a growing network of railway tracks as important military transportation routes. This is where Ma Yuan (Jackie Chan) comes in as the leader of a rag tag bunch of freedom fighters struggling against the oppressive military regime. Using his extensive knowledge and experience of the railway network Yuan and his crew ambush a train of Japanese soldiers and important food supplies to feed the hungry and starving Chinese. The unlikely heroes come to be known by the locals as The Railroad Tigers, but when the military send in reinforcements to thwart the saboteurs, Yuan must wage his most daring mission yet, by blowing up a strategic bridge that might just cripple the war effort, but it makes the military more determined to dispense with The Railroad Tigers once and for all. Cue all manner of creative stuntwork and improvised weaponry courtesy of Mr. Chan.

Three films to tempt you out to your local multiplex to catch these latest release films, or any of those others still out on general release. Share your thoughts when you have done so, and in the meantime, I'll see you sometime in the week ahead at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 13th October 2016.

Dan Brown is an American author of thriller adventure fiction, who has sold over 200 million books and had his works translated into 52 languages. His first book was released in 1998 - 'Digital Fortress' a stand alone novel about government surveillance of electronically stored information on the private lives of citizens, and the possible civil liberties and ethical implications of using such technology. This stand alone novel was followed up in 2001 by 'Deception Point' another stand alone story of a meteorite found within the Arctic Circle that may provide proof of extraterrestrial life, and attempts by the antagonists to prevent the evidence against it from becoming public. In 2000 Brown first introduced us to the character of Robert Langdon - a Harvard Professor of Symbology and Religious Iconology in 'Angels & Demons' which was subsequently made into a film in 2009, interestingly after the second novel in the Robert Langdon series 'The Da Vinci Code' which as a book was released in 2003 and as a film in 2006. Brown penned 'The Lost Symbol' next and that book was published in 2009 but was overlooked for the Hollywood treatment in skipping to 'Inferno' - the fourth novel in the Robert Langdon series, which is released this week and Previewed as below. So far all three instalments have been Directed by Ron Howard, with Tom Hanks in the lead role as Robert Langdon. A fifth book in the series is due for release in September 2017 titled 'Origin'. Brown's Robert Langdon books have been international best sellers, and the first two films in the series have grossed over US$1.2B.

This week then we have five new movies coming to your local Odeon, kicking off with the third big screen adaptation from a series of books by an acclaimed author featuring an acclaimed character portrayed by an acclaimed Actor at the hands of an acclaimed Director involving ancient mysteries, curious symbols, a game of cat and mouse, and a life or death situation confronting half the planet. This is followed up by a true crime telling of a late 90's heist that is just too far fetched to be believed - but it really happened, perhaps with a little comedic poetic licence thrown in for good measure here. We then turn attention to an Asian action adventure featuring an unlikely buddy pairing brought together to thwart an evil foe and rescue a maiden in distress, before returning home to our own Aussie backyard and another true crime telling of a pre-meditated partially publicised murder that went ahead when those that could have prevented it . . . chose not to! We then wrap up with a Spanish foreign language film from another acclaimed Director, about a mothers quest to reconnect with her estranged daughter.

When you have sat through your film of choice this week, feel free to drop us a line or two here at Odeon Online, by leaving your own critique in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your movie experience.

'INFERNO' (Rated M) - Dan Brown, the author upon which this film is based, has so far had two other Robert Langdon adaptations committed to the big screen - 'The Da Vinci Code' in 2006 which made US$758M from its US$125M budget outlay, and 'Angels and Demons' in 2009 which returned US$486M from its US$150M budget. 'Inferno' is the third movie outing for Harvard Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon as reprised once again by Tom Hanks and with Director Ron Howard at the helm. David Koepp wrote the screenplay.

This time we see Langdon waking up in a hospital in Italy with no recollection of how he got there or where he is. He also has no explanation for the origin of a macabre object found stashed away in his belongings. Eventually he teams up with young doctor, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) whom Langdon hopes will help him recover his lost memory, but when a threat against his life eventuates the two are propelled into breakneck chase across Florence. Armed with the just a few meagre clues pointing to Dante's 14th Century epic dark masterpiece 'Inferno', Langdon and Brooks race against time to solve the puzzle which may or may not help them save the world from they threat of a virus capable of wiping out half the global population - as planted by transhumanist scientist Betrand Zorbrist (Ben Foster). Also starring Omar Sy and Irrfan Khan.

'MASTERMINDS' (Rated M) - based on the real life North Carolina Loomis Fargo Robbery that occurred in 1997 netting a haul of US$17.3M for its band of misfits (the second largest cash robbery in US history at that time), this crime comedy caper film is Directed by Jared Hess and features a strong cast for its US$25M budget. Here David Scott Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) is a truck driver for armoured security company Loomis Fargo. Ghantt is stuck in a dead beat job, driving around other peoples hard earned cash for living. He strikes up a relationship with co-worker Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) who persuades him that there is more to life that driving an armoured truck and to think about the possibilities of what lies inside the truck. Pretty soon, a harebrained scheme is devised with the aid of Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson), and lo and behold Ghantt pulls off the heist of a lifetime with over US$17M to show for it. Handing over his stash of cash to his accomplices who have turned the tables on him, Ghantt is double crossed while his former no-good partners in crime go on a wild spending spree leaving a trail of evidence for the authorities to follow. Evading the authorities and the intentions of hit man Mike McKinney (Jason Sudeikis), Ghantt now needs to turn the tide against those he once trusted. Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones also star so reuniting three of this years 'Ghostbusters' ensemble.

'SKIPTRACE' (Rated M) - this Hong Kong/Chinese/American Co-Production is Directed by Renny Harlin who knows how to create an action movie (think 'Die Hard 2', 'The Long Kiss Goodnight', 'Driven', 'Cliffhanger' and 'Deep Blue Sea') and here he teams up legendary Jackie Chan as Hong Kong Detective Bennie Chan who has been on the hunt for notorious underworld mobster Matador, believed to be Victor Wong (Winston Chao) for over ten years now since killing his young partner. When his partners daughter Samantha (Fan Bingbing) lands herself in hot water with Wong's syndicate, Chan must seek out American gambling con-man Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville) who aside from gambling his way through China's casinos, was witness to a murder in Wong's Macau casino. What follows in a web of intrigue and a race across various countries that sees the pair travel from Russia, to Mongolia, to the Gobi Desert and back to Hong Kong with both the Russian and Chinese mob on their tails. The film opened big in China and has since taken a haul of US$134M.

'JOE CINQUE'S CONSOLATION' (Rated M) - this film adaptation of the non-fiction book by Australian author Helen Garner was published in 2004 and tells the story of her presence at the trials of Australian National University student Anu Singh (Maggie Naouri), and her friend and fellow student Madhavi Rao (Sacha Joseph), who plotted to kill her engineer boyfriend Joe Cinque (Jerome Meyer) by lacing his coffee with Rohypnol and administering a lethal dose of heroine. Singh believed that Cinque had made her ill in the first place so she plots her revenge, which as time passes becomes more macabre and more public. The murder occurred in October 1997 at a dinner party at which some of the guests were aware of the plan to murder Cinque, but chose to do nothing about it, or to forewarn the victim. Directed by Sotiris Dounoukos, this true crime film will leave you asking questions and debating the subject matter long after the credits have rolled.

'JULIETA' (Rated MA15+) - marking Pedro Almodovar's 20th Directed feature film, 'Julieta' is a Spanish production also Produced and Written for the screen by Almodovar based on three short stories from the book 'Runaway' by Alice Munro published in 2004. This film is Spain's entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2017 Academy Awards, and was in competition for the Palme D'Or at this years Cannes Film Festival. Telling the story of Julieta (Adriana Ugarte as the younger, and Emma Suarez as the older) ) who is about to relocate herself from Madrid to Portugal, she runs into Bea (Michelle Jenner) unexpectedly - the childhood friend of her daughter Anita. Bea tells her that her estranged daughter is living in Switzerland and has three children. With this news she decides not to leave Madrid with her boyfriend Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti) but to rent another apartment in the block in which she raised Anita and commit to writing a ledger that explains the events that led to their separation and estrangement, in the hope that Anita will re-establish contact.

Five films this week to satisfy most tastes if you like action adventure, action comedy, true crime, foreign language and family drama then there is something to quench your film going thirst. When you have sat through your movie of choice in the week ahead, drop us a line here at Odeon Online by sharing your thoughts with your like minded cinephiles. In the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-.