What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 28th February 2019.

Finally, after all the hype, the melodrama, the controversy over a Host, the wranglings over what awards should be televised and those that shouldn't, whether all five best original songs should be performed live or just a proposed two, and the inclusion of a new populist film award, the 91st Academy Awards were held on Sunday evening 24th February 2019 at the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. This years ceremony was the first in three decades, since the 61st Academy Awards in 1989, to be conducted with no Host after the withdrawal of Kevin Hart as the 'chosen one' due to past jokes and adverse comments about certain demographics ten years ago came back to haunt him. Sad but true!

Now the dust has settled on this years Oscar's gig, in case you missed all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood's Night of Nights, here is the list of those winners and grinners who walked away with a golden statue, and those that didn't!

* Best Picture : won by 'GREEN BOOK', beating out 'Black Panther', 'BlacKkKlansman', 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'The Favourite', 'Roma', 'A Star Is Born' and 'Vice'.
* Best Director : won by ALFONSO CUARON for 'ROMA' beating out Spike Lee for 'BlacKkKlansman', Paweł Pawlikowski for 'Cold War', Yorgos Lanthimos for 'The Favourite' and Adam McKay for 'Vice'.

* Best Foreign Language Film : won by 'ROMA' (Mexico), beating out 'Capernaum' (Lebanon), 'Cold War' (Poland), 'Never Look Away' (Germany) and 'Shoplifters' (Japan).
* Best Documentary Feature : won by 'FREE SOLO', beating out 'Hale County This Morning, This Evening', 'Minding the Gap', 'Of Fathers and Sons' and 'RBG'.
* Best Animated Feature : won by 'SPIDER-MAN : INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE', beating out 'Incredibles 2', 'Isle of Dogs', 'Mirai' and 'Ralph Breaks the Internet'.

* Best Actor : won by RAMI MALEK for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in 'BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY', beating out Christian Bale for 'Vice' as Dick Cheney, Bradley Cooper for 'A Star Is Born' as Jackson 'Jack' Maine, Willem Dafoe for 'At Eternity's Gate' as Vincent van Gogh and Viggo Mortensen for 'Green Book' as Frank 'Tony Lip' Vallelonga.

* Best Actress : won by OLIVIA COLMAN for her portrayal of Anne, Queen of Great Britain in 'THE FAVOURITE', beating out Yalitza Aparicio for 'Roma' as Cleodegaria 'Cleo' Gutiérrez, Glenn Close for 'The Wife' as Joan Castleman, Lady Gaga for 'A Star Is Born' as Ally Maine and Melissa McCarthy for 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?' as Lee Israel.
* Best Supporting Actor : won by MAHERSHALA ALI for his portrayal of Dr. Don Shirley in 'GREEN BOOK', beating out Adam Driver for 'BlacKkKlansman' as Philip 'Flip' Zimmerman, Sam Elliott for 'A Star Is Born' as Bobby Maine, Richard E. Grant for 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?' as Jack Hock and Sam Rockwell for 'Vice' as George W. Bush.

* Best Supporting Actress : won by REGINA KING for her portrayal of Sharon Rivers in 'IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK', beating out Amy Adams for 'Vice' as Lynne Cheney, Marina de Tavira for 'Roma' as Sofía, Emma Stone for 'The Favourite' as Abigail Masham and Rachel Weisz for 'The Favourite' as Sarah Churchill.
* Best Original Screenplay : won by 'GREEN BOOK' Co-Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly, beating out 'The Favourite', 'First Reformed', 'Roma' and 'Vice'.

* Best Adapted Screenplay : won by 'BLACKKKLANSMAN' Co-Written for the Screen by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee and based on the book by Ron Stallworth, beating out 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs', 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?', 'If Beale Street Could Talk' and 'A Star Is Born'.
* Best Original Score : won for 'BLACK PANTHER', beating out 'BlacKkKlansman', 'If Beale Street Could Talk', 'Isle of Dogs' and 'Mary Poppins Returns'.



* Best Original Song : won for 'SHALLOW' from 'A STAR IS BORN' by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt, beating out 'All the Stars' from 'Black Panther', 'I'll Fight' from 'RBG', 'The Place Where Lost Things Go' from 'Mary Poppins Returns' and 'When a Cowboy Trades his Spurs for Wings' from 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'.
* Best Cinematography : won by ALFONSO CUARON for 'ROMA', beating out 'Cold War', 'The Favourite', 'Never Look Away' and 'A Star is Born'.

* Best Visual Effects : won by 'FIRST MAN' beating out 'Avengers : Infinity War', 'Christopher Robin', 'Ready Player One' and 'Solo : A Star Wars Story'.
* And in the remaining categories, 'BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY' won Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing; 'BLACK PANTHER' won for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design; and 'VICE' won for Best Make Up and Hair Styling.

You can catch all the highlights, the reports, the stories and the clips, at the official website at : oscar.go.com

This week then there are four latest release films coming to your local Odeon. Kicking off with a bunch of old codgers with a plan to commit an audacious cash & jewellery heist over the Easter long weekend, their plan is successful until their infighting afterwards leads to distrust and their ultimate demise. We then have a horror drama that plays out with a young good Samaritan returning a seemingly lost handbag to its older rightful owner, leading to an instant bond between the two but all is not as it seems as the older lady here starts to reveal a sinister pre-meditated agenda. Next we turn to a true story of a displaced man's best friend and that canine friend trekking over four hundred miles and several adventures later to get back to its rightful owner; and we then close out the week with a psychological thriller of a Police Emergency Call Centre operative taking a call from a distraught female with a cryptic clue that she has been abducted by her ex-husband, and so begins this real time taughtly woven game of cat & mouse.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release 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. 

'KING OF THIEVES' (Rated M) - Directed by Brit James Marsh whose previous film making credits include 'Man On Wire', 'Project Nim', 'The Theory of Everything', 'The Mercy' most recently and now this true life British crime drama. The film tells the story of the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Burglary that took place over the Easter long weekend back in 2015. To give some context, this was an underground safe deposit facility in London's Hatton Garden area which is a commercial precinct in the Holborn district of the London Borough of Camden, close to the City of London's boundary. It takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who established a mansion in the area. Hatton Garden is famous as London's jewellery quarter and the centre of the UK diamond trade. This speciality established itself in the early 19th Century, to the point where today there are nearly 300 businesses in the jewellery industry and over 55 shops, representing the largest cluster of jewellery retailers in the UK.

A famous thief in his younger days, 77 year old widower Brian Reader (Michael Caine) pulls together a band of misfit criminals to plot an unprecedented burglary at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit. The thieves, all in their 60's and 70's except for one, use their old-school thieving skills to plan the heist over the Easter long weekend. Posing as gas repairmen, they enter the deposit, neutralise the alarms, and proceed to drill a hole into the wall of the safe. Two days later, they manage to escape with allegedly over £200M worth of stolen jewels and money, although court reports later on reduce that sum down to £14M, which was described as the 'largest burglary in English legal history'. Nonetheless, when the Police arrive on the scene and the investigation begins, the cracks between the misfit gang members begin to emerge as they argue over how to share the spoils with brutal greed and then a fierce distrust of each other begins to set in. Also starring Ray Winstone, Tom Courtney, Jim Broadbent, Michael Gambon, Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Cox. The film was released in the UK back in September 2018, and has garnered mixed Reviews.

'GRETA' (Rated MA15+) - this horror drama offering is Directed and Co-Written by Neil Jordan whose previous big screen credits over a long and distinguished career take in 'The Company of Wolves', 'Mona Lisa', 'We're No Angels', 'The Crying Game', 'Interview with the Vampire', 'Michael Collins', 'The End of the Affair' and 'The Brave One' amongst others. The film saw its World Premier screening at last years TIFF in early September, and only now does it get a release in Australia, and in the US this week too. Here Frances McCullen (Chloe Grace Moretz) finds a handbag on the New York subway and dutifully returns it to Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher who loves tea and classical music. Having recently lost her mother, the young Frances grows closer to the kindly widow. Within no time, the the two become firm friends, but Greta's maternal charms begin to dissolve and grow increasingly disturbing as Frances discovers that nothing in Greta's life is quite what it seems and she must now end the rapidly changing relationship before things spiral out of control. Also starring Maika Monroe, Stephen Rea and Colm Feore.

'A DOG'S WAY HOME' (Rated PG) - here Actor, Writer and Director Charles Martin Smith brings us this family adventure story based on the true story as recounted in the book of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron. The film was released in the USA in early January and has so far grossed US$69M off the back of its US$18M production budget and has generated mixed or average Reviews. As a puppy, Bella (voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard) finds her way into the arms of Lucas (Jonah Hauer-King), a young man who gives her a good home in Denver, Colorado. When Bella becomes separated from Lucas, she soon finds herself on an epic 400-mile journey from Farmington, New Mexico back to Denver to reunite with her beloved owner. Along the way, the lost but spirited dog touches the lives of an orphaned mountain lion, a down-on-his-luck veteran and some friendly strangers who happen to cross her path on this epic journey that will take two years to complete, if she can survive that long. Also starring Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos, and Alexandra Shipp.

'THE GUILTY' ('DEN SKYLDIGE') (Rated M) - this Danish psychological thriller known as 'Den Skyldige' in its native tongue, is Directed by first timer Gustav Moller, saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival way back in January 2018, was selected as the Danish entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category at the upcoming Academy Awards, in total has so far won 27 awards around the festival and awards circuit and been nominated for another 31, and has received widespread Critical acclaim. Here Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) is a Policeman who’s been demoted temporarily to working the phones in the emergency call centre of his local Police Force after one too many at-work misdemeanours. When a terrified woman named Iben (voiced by Jessica Dinnage) calls him to say she’s being abducted by her ex-husband and the call is then suddenly disconnected, Asger will need to use every bit of his ingenuity and policing skills to find her before it's too late. Taking place entirely within the confines of Asger’s secluded and enclosed emergency services room, and in real time, this film has been praised for ramping up the tension, the sound design and for Cedergren's compelling performance.

With four new release movies 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-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 8th March 2018.

And so Hollywood's night of nights was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the second consecutive year on Sunday evening March 4th from the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. This year marked the 90th Academy Awards ceremony with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honouring the best in film entertainment from 2017 across 24 individual categories. 'The Shape of Water' went into the awards with the most number of nominations at thirteen, followed by 'Dunkirk' with eight, 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' with seven, 'Darkest Hour' and 'Phantom Thread' each with six, 'Blade Runner 2049' and 'Lady Bird' each with five, then 'Call Me By Your Name', 'Get Out', 'Mudbound' and 'Star Wars : The Last Jedi' each with four, and 'I, Tonya' and 'Baby Driver' each with three. In case you were hiding under a rock, here is a summary of the winners and grinners from the main categories, as presented at this years 90th Academy Awards by the glitterati and glamourati of Hollywood's finest talent, all presented without any major upset this year!

* Best Picture : awarded to 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Director : awarded to Guillermo del Toro for 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Foreign Language Film : awarded to 'Fantastic Woman' (Chile).
* Best Animated Feature Film : awarded to 'Coco'.
* Best Documentary Feature Film : awarded to 'Icarus'.
* Best Actor : awarded to Gary Oldman for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in 'Darkest Hour'.
* Best Actress : awarded to Frances McDormand for her portrayal of Mildred Hayes in 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'.
* Best Supporting Actor : awarded to Sam Rockwell for his portrayal of Jason Dixon in 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'.
* Best Supporting Actress : awarded to Allison Janney for her portrayal of LaVona Golden in 'I, Tonya'.
* Best Original Screenplay : awarded to Jordan Peele for 'Get Out'.
* Best Adapted Screenplay : awarded James Ivory for 'Call Me By Your Name'.
* Best Original Score : awarded to Alexandre Desplat for 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Original Song : awarded to Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez for 'Remember Me' from 'Coco'.
* Best Cinematography : awarded to Roger Deakins for 'Blade Runner 2049'.
* Best Production Design : awarded to Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin for 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Film Editing : awarded to Lee Smith for 'Dunkirk'.
* Best Costume Design : awarded to Mark Bridges for 'Phantom Thread'.
* Best Visual Effects : awarded to 'Blade Runner 2049'.

This week then we have five new release movies coming to an Odeon near you. We kick start with a post 9/11 Afghanistan War drama about twelve US Special Forces men sent behind enemy lines to work with the local insurgents to bring down the Taliban, it's al-Qaida allies and capture a strategically placed city - no mean feat! We then turn to an acclaimed German film about one woman's quest for the truth, justice and revenge when her husband and son are killed by a terrorist nail bomb. Next up is a biographical film about a weekend sailor who gets into deep water attempting to sail single handedly around the world back in 1968 that resulted in a cheating scandal and his ultimate demise into the watery deep. This is followed up by a family friendly film of a cheerleading champion from the US looking to replicate her success from back home down in South Australia; and we finish up with an animated feature of down on their luck ordinary folk who on a night out of fun and frolics at a monster dress-up party unwittingly get transformed into the actual characters they are portraying by an evil witch working for Count Dracula.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new 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 warmly invited to share your cinematic 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.

'12 STRONG' (Rated MA15+) - aka '12 Strong : The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers' is an American war drama film from Danish first time Director Nicolai Fuglsig and is based on Doug Stanton's New York Times Bestsellers non-fiction book 'Horse Soldiers' published in 2009. The film was released in the US in mid-January, cost US$35M to make and has so far grossed US$58M and has received mixed or average Reviews thus far. The film tells the story of CIA paramilitary officers, US Special Forces and USAF Combat Controllers, sent to Afghanistan immediately following the September 11 attacks.

In the aftermath of September 11, US Army Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) with Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595 volunteers to lead a US Special Forces team into Afghanistan for an extremely dangerous mission fighting alongside the Northern Alliance leader General Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban) to take down the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies and capture the strategically placed city of Mazar-i-Sharif - the fourth largest city of Afghanistan located in the country's north. Outgunned and outnumbered, Nelson and his forces face overwhelming odds in a fight against a ruthless enemy that shoots first and asks questions last. Also starring Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, William Fichtner and Trevante Rhodes.

'IN THE FADE' (Rated MA15+) - Written, Co-Produced and Directed by German Fatih Akin, this film has won ten awards and fourteen nominations including the Golden Globe win for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language and two satellite Award wins for Best International Film and Best Actress for its lead, Diane Kruger. The film was also in competition at last years Cannes Film Festival for the Palme d'Or, with Diane Kruger taking out the Best Actress Award.  Here Katja Sekerci (Diane Kruger) is married to a Kurdish man Nuri (Numan Acar). They live with their five years old son in Hamburg. One day, returning to her husband's office in the evening to collect him and their son, she is greeted by a Police cordon advising her that a man and a child have been killed in a vicious nail bomb attack. The Police close in and arrest two Neo-Nazi suspects with an international network on the grounds of seemingly watertight evidence. Pushed to the edge of despair over their deaths, Katja sees no reason to carry on, until she has a moment of clarity and decides instead that she wants justice, and revenge. The film has received generally positive press since its initial release in Germany back in November last year.

'THE MERCY' (Rated M) - is a British biographical drama film from Director James Marsh who previous Directorial credits include the documentaries 'Man on Wire', 'Project Nim' and feature drama films 'Shadow Dancer' and 'The Theory of Everything'. Here he tells the true story of the disastrous attempt by weekend sailor Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth) to complete the Sunday Times Golden Globe single handed round the world yacht race in 1968. Crowhurst had entered the race in the hope of winning a cash prize from The Sunday Times to aid his failing business. Instead, the amateur sailor encountered challenges early in his voyage, and secretly abandoned the race while reporting false positions, in an attempt to appear to complete a circumnavigation without actually circling the world, all the while remaining in the Atlantic Ocean. Evidence found after his disappearance suggests that this attempt ended in mental breakdown, possible insanity and suicide in mid-1969 somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Also starring Rachel Weisz as Clare Crowhurst, David Thewlis and Ken Scott.

'GOING FOR GOLD' (Rated G) - Written, Produced and Directed by South Australia's Clay Glen, and filmed in around that State's capital city Adelaide, here the film maker takes us into the world of family friendly competitive cheerleading. His two previous outings 'Raising the Bar' and 'Second Chance' centred around the world of gymnastics, and like 'Going for Gold' were aimed squarely at the family and children's markets. The film here follows the story of seventeen year old Emma (Kelli Berglund) a champion cheerleader who's father is a widowed US Air Force Officer. When father and daughter relocate themselves from the USA to South Australia, Emma starts at high school and soon discovers a small but emerging competitive cheerleading culture, and so sets about recruiting a mixed bunch of cheerleading wannabes in an attempt to win the State title.

'MONSTER FAMILY' (Rated PG) - aka 'Happy Family' is a British and German CG animated horror comedy Co-Production, that was released in Germany back in August last year, the USA in early February and the UK last week. Directed and Produced by Holger Tappe the film is based on the children's book 'Happy Family' by German novelist and writer David Safier. The story here is about the Wishbone family, who have not had much luck in their lives. The Mum and Dad of the family, Emma (Emily Watson) and Frank (Nick Frost) plan a fun night out to a monster costume party for the family in order for them to reconnect and lift their spirits. However, things backfire when an evil witch working for Count Dracula (Jason Isaacs) is ordered to turn Emma into a Vampire (the character she is portraying to the Monster Costume Party) and inadvertently turns the whole family into their costumed monsters too. Frank into Frankenstein, daughter Fay (Jessica Brown Findlay) into a Mummy and son Max (Ethan Rouse) into a Werewolf. What follows in a chase across town leading them eventually to London in an attempt to reverse the curse. Also starring Celia Imrie and Catherine Tate.

With five 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 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-