What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 4th August 2022.

The 70th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. This year it runs in cinema's across the city from Thursday 4th August until Sunday 21st August and online from Thursday 11th until Sunday 28th August. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venice Film Festival in 1932, Cannes Film Festival in 1939 and Berlin Film Festival in 1951. MIFF’s 2022 in-cinema programme features eighteen days of premiere showcases, international features, exclusive screenings, commissioned works, panel discussions, industry events, live talks and XR experiences for cinephiles of all tastes and persuasions. 

This years Opening Night gala film presentation is the Australian feature 'Of an Age' Written and Directed by Goran Stolevski in only his second feature film outing following 'You Won't Be Alone' released earlier this year. The Closing Night gala film is the Australian documentary 'Clean' Directed and Co-Edited by Lachlan McLeod.

MIFF’s film competition, Bright Horizons, recognises the new, the next, the breakthrough and the best, as it presents an extraordinary international line-up of first and second-time filmmakers competing for one of the richest film prizes in the world. Initially comprising three awards, the MIFF Film Competition includes as its flagship prize the AU$140K Bright Horizons Award – the richest feature film prize in the Southern Hemisphere, plus the Blackmagic Design Australian Innovation Award and the MIFF Audience Award. There are eleven feature films in competition, and they are :-

* 'Aftersun' from the UK and Written and Directed by Charlotte Wells. Coming of age drama about a father–daughter bond and the small moments that build it, and those that threaten to break it. Australian Premier.

* 'The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future' from Chile, France, Germany and the USA and Co-Written and Directed by Francisca Alegria. This drama fantasy is a surreal, offbeat fable of environmental destruction and familial reconciliation. Australian Premier.

* 'Domingo and the Mist' from Costa Rica and Qatar and Directed, Co-Produced and Written by Ariel Escalante Meza. In this drama fantasy a widower resists attempts to oust him from the land where his wife’s spirit returns to him as an ethereal mist. Australian Premier.

* 'Leonor Will Never Die' from the Philippines and Written and Directed by Martika Ramirez Escobar. This action crime fantasy drama sees fiction clashing with reality as an elderly filmmaker becomes the hero of her own life. Victorian Premier.

* 'Mass' from the USA and Written and Directed by Fran Kranz. This crime drama has two couples whose world's collide for a painful emotional reckoning in the aftermath of a school shooting. Australian Premier.

* 'Neptune Frost' from Rwanda and the USA and Co-Produced and Co-Directed by Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams, Written and Composed by Saul Williams and lensed by Anisia Uzeyman. This Sci-Fi LGBTQIA+ drama set in a past, present and future Rwanda unfolds like a dream, as a young coltan miner encounters Neptune Frost, an intersex hacker who leads us down a trans-dimensional rabbit hole of post-colonial possible realities. Australian Premier.

* 'Petrol' from Australia and Written and Directed by Alena Lodkina. This drama offering is about an idealistic film student who is drawn into an enigmatic performance artist’s shadowy world. World Premier.

* 'Playground' from Belgium and Written and Directed by Laura Wandel. This coming of age drama offers up a gripping child’s-eye view of the cycles of bullying and how the schoolyard mirrors the ‘playground’ of adult life. Australian Premier.

* 'Robe of Gems' from Argentina and Mexico and Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Natalia Lopez Gallardo. This crime drama explored the murky complexities of the Mexican drug trade. Australian Premier.

* 'Rodeo' from France and Co-Written and Directed by Lola Quivoron. This crime drama film is about a daredevil female motorcyclist who revs after a place to belong. Australian Premier.
* 'The Stranger' from Australia and Witten and Directed by Thomas M. Wright. This crime drama follows two brooding strangers, one a ragged loner and the other, a criminal, introduced by a mutual associate in the West Australian badlands. A single father, the criminal takes a special interest in the impoverished loner, while in the background one of the nation’s largest Police operations closes in.

For the full line up of all films, events and activities taking place at this years 70th Melbourne International Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://miff.com.au/

This week then with five new cinematic offerings to tease you out to your local Odeon, we kick off with an action comedy that sees five assassins who find themselves on a fast moving bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto with only a few stops in between, and in time they discover that their missions are not unrelated to each other. Next up is a New Zealand film about a self-destructive teenager who, upon returning home from his boarding school discovers his gin-soaked grandmother has moved in, and so the stage is set for a battle of wills to begin. Then we have a drama romance story concerning two strangers who wind up double-booked in the same upstate New York rental during the start of COVID-19, with the lockdown forcing them both to stay and confront the unexpected feelings that develop between them. This is followed by a Swedish comedy crime caper that sees the family patriarch serving jail time and by the time he is released ten months later his cronies now lead honest lives, but when he is tipped off about a lucrative job, to pull off the heist he will need his old friends. And we close out the week with a French comedy about a man who believes his job in a government department is set for life until cuts in spending put him at odds with a ruthless ministerial inspector who will stop at nothing to oust him from his job. 

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 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 week ahead.

'BULLET TRAIN' (Rated MA15+) - this American action comedy film is Co-Produced and Directed by David Leitch whose previous film making credits include his uncredited debut on 2014's 'John Wick' with Chad Stahelski, then 'Atomic Blonde' in 2017, 'Deadpool 2' in 2018 and 'Fast and Furious Presents : Hobbs & Shaw' in 2019. The film is based on the Japanese novel 'Maria Beetle' by Kotaro Isaka, and is released in the US this week also.

Trained killer Ladybug (Brad Pitt) wants to give up the life but is pulled back in by his handler Maria Beetle (Sandra Bullock) in order to collect a briefcase on a bullet train heading from Tokyo to Kyoto, Japan. Onboard the train, he and other competing assassins discover their objectives are all connected. Also starring Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Michael Shannon, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Andrew Koji and Hiroyuki Sanada. 

'JUNIPER' (Rated M) - is a New Zealand film Witten, and Directed by Matthew Saville in his debut feature film making offering. Here, when a self-destructive teenager Sam (George Ferrier) is suspended from school and asked to look after his feisty alcoholic grandmother Ruth (Charlotte Rampling) as a punishment, the crazy time they spend together turns his life around and enables her to face her own mortality. Also starring Marton Csokas, the film has generated widespread Critical acclaim. 

'ALONE TOGETHER' (Rated M) - this drama romance film is Written, Directed, Co-Produced and stars Katie Holmes in only her second feature film making outing following 2016's 'All We Had'. Travelling upstate for a short romantic getaway to escape the pandemic in New York City, food critic June's (Katie Holmes) plans go awry right from the off. Arriving at the AirBnB in advance of her boyfriend, John (Derek Luke), she is shocked to discover it has been double-booked by recently single Charlie (Jim Sturgess). When John decides to stay in the city to care for his parents, June has to settle in for the long haul as she realises that the initial two weeks of the pandemic might just drag on a little bit longer than anyone anticipated. As spring begins to unfold around them, June and Charlie make the most of the sudden break in their routines and develop an unexpected intimacy as they bond over their goals, ambitions and, of course, relationships. 

'THE JONSSON GANG' (Rated PG) - is a comedy crime film Co-Written and Directed by Tomas Alfredson whose previous film making credits include 2008's 'Let the Right One In', 2011's 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' and 2017's 'The Snowman'. Featuring the family of felons who first appeared on Swedish screens way back in 1981, here the popular franchise gets its second reboot following the failure of its first attempt in 2015. Here then, after a failed heist, Charles Ingvar 'Sickan' Jonsson (Henrik Dorsin) spends ten months in prison. By the time he is released, his cronies now lead honest upstanding law abiding lives. When he is tipped off about a lucrative job, to pull off the heist he will need his old friends to return to the fold. Also starring Anders Johansson, David Sundin and Hedda Stiernstedt. 

'EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH' (Rated M) - this French comedy film is Written, Directed and stars Jerome Commandeur in only his second feature film following 2016's 'Ma familie t'adore deja', although he has thirty-two credits as an Actor. An irresistible force meets an immovable object when a zealous ministerial inspector Isabelle Bailliencourt (Pascale Arbillot), determined to do everything in her power to make cuts in civil service spending, comes up against Vincent Peltier (Jerome Commandeur), a peaceful civil servant at the Water and Forestry Department in Limoges. As far as he’s concerned, his job, is 'guaranteed for life!' The war of nerves has only just begun when she transfers him from one meaningless job to another and to some of the must inhospitable places on Earth, including the North Pole where he meets Eva Brebant (Laetitia Dosch), a scientist that changes his perspective on life. It is time for him to make a decision.

With five 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 coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

LOGAN LUCKY : Tuesday 22nd August 2017.

'Behind the Candelabra' (the dramatisation of the last ten years in the life of Liberace starring Matt Damon and Michael Douglas as released in 2013) was intended to be Steven Soderbergh's last film as a Director, but here with 'LOGAN LUCKY' which I saw last week, he has been coaxed out of self imposed 'retirement' by a script that he noted was an 'anti-glam version of an Ocean's movie where nobody dresses nice. Nobody has nice stuff. They have no money. They have no technology. It's all rubber band technology!' And so having amassed an ensemble cast, here Soderbergh has crafted a heist film (on which he is Director, Cinematographer and Editor) that has met with widespread critical acclaim. The film cost US$29M to make, was released in the US last week too as it was in Australia and has so far grossed US$16M.

Here, Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) is a labourer working on an underground construction job at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. He was once tipped to be a major league football star but a leg injury put that dream well beyond reach. Noticing that he walks with a limp, a pre-existing injury he did not divulge on his work application, he is called into the office by the site foreman, and laid-off. Later that afternoon he visits the home of his ex-wife Bobbi Jo (Katie Holmes) to pick up his young daughter Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie) and Bobbi Jo tells him that the family are moving across the State border to Lynchburg, Virginia. This angers Jimmy, as it will curtail his access to his daughter.

That evening Jimmy visits the bar run by his brother Clyde (Adam Driver) who is an Iraq War Veteran having lost his lower left arm and hand, and now wears a prosthetic hand. Clyde, while pouring drinks, gets melancholy with Jimmy about the curse of the Logan family and how they seem to have an endless run of bad luck and ill fortune plaguing their lives. In walks Max Chilblain (Seth MacFarlane) with two of his minders. Max is a wealthy British businessman who made his fortune out of an energy drink and sponsors a clean living former racing champ looking to make a comeback, Dayton White (Sebastian Stan), in the upcoming NASCAR race at the Speedway. Max insults Clyde, a fight breaks out which results in Jimmy torching Max's $80K sports car.

The next morning Jimmy divulges a plan to Clyde to rob the haul of cash from the Speedway circuit, using a recently installed state of the art pneumatic tube system that they accidentally uncovered when working on the underground construction project. The two of them will access the system during a forthcoming car show when security will be thin on the ground and attention will be diverted elsewhere. Clyde reluctantly agrees to the plan having thought his criminal past was behind him, and so the two brothers enlist the help of their sister Mellie (Riley Keough), Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) - serving a prison sentence for robbery, and his two half-witted brothers Sam (Brian Gleeson) and Fish (Jack Quaid).

Jimmy and Clyde visit Joe Bang in prison to pitch their plan, but Joe reminds them that he has just six months of his sentence left to serve, and how do they think that he can do the job given that he is 'IN-CAR-CER-A-TED!'. Joe likes the idea of the plan and insists that if he is to come on board, then he will need to be broken out of prison and returned immediately after the job is done, and no-one needs be any wiser that he was 'out' in the intervening period! Clyde deliberately drives his car though a petrol station window and gets locked up for three months, so that Joe has a contact on the inside and together they can work from prison on finalising their plan for their temporary escape.

Meanwhile Jimmy, readying plans on the outside with Mellie, Sam & Fish, learns that the construction project at the Speedway will be completed ahead of time, forcing the gang to move their plan for the robbery ahead of schedule by one week. Everything remains the same expect for the date, which now coincides with the biggest NASCAR race event of the year - The Coca-Cola 600 over the Memorial Day weekend.

From the inside, Joe and Clyde arrange for the other inmates to stage a riot, so causing a diversion that will allow them to escape unnoticed via the infirmary, and then underneath a delivery truck for which they have fabricated wooden boxes with which to conceal themselves to make their getaway. They are picked up outside town by Mellie, in a stolen sports car, and delivered to the Speedway on race day, while Sam & Fish using an improvised explosive devise blow the electrical grid so knocking out all the electrics to the stadium. This means that all the food and beverage vendors have to revert to cash only sales on the busiest day of the year. In the meantime, Jimmy, Clyde and Joe are down in the bowels of the building ready to blow the main pneumatic pipe that takes the tubes of cash from all around the stadium to one central drop off point, which is where the gang of three are located. Also using an IED made form gummy bears and bleach Joe blows the system sending plumes of smoke billowing out through the tubes in the food service outlets. A staff members calls it in, and guards are sent to investigate, but a diversion set up by Jimmy, prevents the guards from uncovering the ongoing heist.

And so the three start vacuuming up the paper dollar bills and loading them into tie up black garbage bags. Needing to speed up the process, the vacuum is ratcheted up to full pelt only for Clyde's prosthetic hand getting in the way and being sucked up the inlet tube. With the job almost done, Sam and Fish masquerading as garbage pick up men drive off with their truck load of garbage bags up to the upper levels to unload to Jimmy's waiting pick-up truck. Clyde and Joe need to get back to prison, leaving Jimmy to retrieve Clyde's missing hand from inside the vacuum machine. On the way back through the back of house areas of the Speedway Stadium, Clyde and Joe and intercepted by Max and his driver Dayton White who crashed out mid-race. Max is furious at his expensively sponsored race driver, and during their argument Max recognises Clyde form the earlier brawl at his bar. Joe quickly deals with the situation by blowing out Max's lights, so they can resume their prison bound journey.

The heist is a success, Clyde and Joe break back into prison on the back of a fire truck when the staged rioting inmates mock up a fire in the canteen so alerting the Fire Brigade, and Mellie, Sam and Fish getaway unhindered. Jimmy, however, feels guilty about the robbery and calls the Police to his abandoned pick-up truck containing the garbage bags of stolen loot. FBI Special Agent Sarah Grayson (Hilary Swank) is assigned to the case, but all of her leads take her nowhere - due in part to the incompetence of Warden Burns (Dwight Yoakam) and his guards at the prison where Clyde and Joe are serving time, Max Chilblain whose egotistical opinionated and arrogant views can't be trusted, and the administration management back at the Speedway who are covered by insurance anyway. The case is promptly closed down and Grayson is reassigned, much to her chagrin, because she smells a rat, she just can't see it!  Joe is eventually released having served his time, and he returns to his old home. One morning there is a knock at the door, and a shovel left for his attention. Knowing the meaning of this, he unearths a tied up garbage bag of cash buried under a tree in his back yard.

It seems that before informing the Police of the stash of cash in his pick-up truck, that Jimmy secreted away several bags of loot, and divided the spoils between his associates and friends who had some part to play in the heist, no matter how small. This in turn created a distraction for the investigations which subsequently were called off because the Speedway were paid out by their insurance coverage, and there was no other evidence to point the finger at anyone. All's well that ends well, leaving the gang to enjoy a much needed drink in Clyde's bar, with Clyde sporting a brand new hi-tech prosthetic hand, looked upon at a distance by a plain clothes dressed and undercover Agent Sarah Grayson.

I enjoyed 'Logan Lucky' as the antithesis of an 'Ocean's' film about a bunch of underdog down on their heels, fresh out of luck, south eastern US rednecks seizing an opportunity to change their lives that you can't help but sympathise for, as the supposed good guys (those in authority) have rings run around them. Soderbergh here has assembled a strong cast that are well matched and look as though they are having a good time making this movie too - especially Daniel Craig who is just about as far removed from Bond as he could get. He also has woven a great story that is both suspenseful, thrilling, humorous, uncomplicated, and delivers a twist at the end - in a way that few Director's seem able to. This is a welcome return for Soderbergh who here once again proves that he is one of the most original, adept and efficient filmmakers working today with another top notch added to his heist caper movie holster. Very entertaining and well worth the price of your ticket.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 11th September 2014.

Spring is here, the deluge that has waterlogged Sydney for the last three weeks is fast becoming a fading memory, the days are growing longer, the temperatures are rising, and, there are four new films to tempt, tease and tantalise those tastebuds to ensure you venture out and experience big screen entertainment at its best at your local multiplex, or independent movie theatre. For the week ahead we have another all singing' all dancin' body poppin' foot tappin' so ya think y'can dance competition type offering that is a another sequel to a long list of films bearing the same pre-fix that you may have seen before (if you like this kinda thing!). Then we have the next generation of world saviours that started life 20 years ago as an animated series before finding live action stardom amidst the teen set before fading into obscurity - only to get the big studio treatment once again and spring back into life when you least expect it! Next up is a future Sci-Fi outing featuring some big names and a different world; and to close a tree hugging' greenies outing to prove a point . . . explosively!

When you get our there this week to your local movie theatre and sit there in awe of the silver screen, drop me a line afterwards and share your experience with my other Reader, by adding a comment at the end of this article, and let us know what you thought of this weeks latest release . . . or any of those others still doing the rounds and Previewed/Reviewed in previous weeks. Thanks!

NIGHT MOVES (Rated M) - This is the story of three young radical new-age sensitive environmentalists who up to now have done their bit to save the world by being eco-friendly, going green, and connecting with their inner organic selves by working in agricultural communities, and hugging the occasional tree. All that is about to change when they realise that these efforts ain't gonna change much in the world, and so they need to take the law into their own hands and make a bouncing bold brash statement to make people sit up and take notice! And so our intrepid gang of three comprising Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Fanning) and Harmon (Peter Sarsgard) hatch a plan to blow up a hydro-electric dam. The explosive expertise comes via Harmon who conveniently is an ex-Marine and an explosives guru so they have a motive, they have the nouse, and now all they need to do is secure the explosives and a means of getting to said dam - via a small but nimble little motor cruiser called 'Night Moves'.

The central set-piece sees the dam duly destroyed and you would think therefore that the job was done - mission accomplished! But what follows is the unravelling of the three as they become consumed by guilt, regret, remorse, and the ramifications of their actions upon themselves potentially, and the more far reaching community. Directed by Kelly Reichardt this is touted as suspenseful, gripping and intelligent film-making underpinned by a solid storyline that should resonate with us all for the wider message it contains.

THE GIVER (Rated M) - there is a solid cast in this future dystopian (or is it Utopian?) Sci-Fi story Directed by Philip Noyce and based on the 1993 Lois Lowry book of the same name. It is a future Earth where there is no war, no hunger, no pain and suffering, no racism or conflict and everyone in society has a purpose. And so too Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) at age 12 is selected to be the community 'Receiver of Memories' and undertakes a training programme to do so from 'The Giver' (Jeff Bridges) which involves him learning of all the pain, suffering, hardship, war, sadness that endured on the 'old' Earth and their former 'real' World. In doing so Jonas comes to realise that his World is in fact fake, manufactured and far from ideal with much that has been kept from them in an attempt to create a level of 'sameness' across all lives - this includes the removal of colour, music, and love and with everything controlled by 'The Elders' who are revered and looked upon positively by society. So Jonas is confronted with choices to make about his own life and that of his future, and in doing so will put himself and those others close to him at risk as he searches for freedom and answers. Also starring Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Taylor Swift and Alexander Skarsgard, this is the first of four books in this series which might just see this potential film franchise going the way of 'Divergent', 'The Hunger Games', 'Twilight' and 'Potter' - wait and see - it's up to you - the movie going, ticket buying audience!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Rated M) - once again New York City in under attack - this time from an unsavoury mob called 'The Foot Clan' and the city folk seem powerless or prepared to do anything to stand in their unscrupulous way! The future therefore looks uncertain and bleak, although help is at hand from the least likely of places! Lurking in the sewers beneath the city's streets are four masked saviours who have grown in the past 15 years since being tested on in laboratories and fed mutagens to develop their emotional, physical and mental strength to the point where, just in time, they are ready to save their fair city from all manner of doom and peril. Enter Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, and Splinter their trusted Master . . . aka, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Discovered by intrepid Reporter April O'Neill (Megan Fox) and committed to remaining silent about their identity, their origin and their hideaway she is ably supported by roving cameraman and love interest Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett) who with The Turtles must now foil a plan by The Foot Clan and their leader 'The Shredder' to spread a deadly virus across their fair city. Starring also William Fichtner, Whoopi Goldberg and the voice of Johnny Knoxville this is gonna be everything you would expect it to be brought up to date with the latest eye-popping CGI for a whole new audience!

STEP UP : ALL IN (Rated PG) - here we go again - another instalment in this long running well-past-its-use-by-date dance franchise that just regurgitates what has been seen and done already in this franchise, and others handed down through motion picture history dating back to 'Fame', 'Flashdance' and 'Footloose' methinks! This time the dance action takes place in Las Vegas, involves competing crews, a dance-off competition with a big pay-off at the end, and the prospect of a dance career, fame and possible fortune. Along the way their will doubtless be obstacles to be overcome, relationships tested, highly choreographed montages, and mindless dialogue that is expected to move whatever loose plot there is, along!

Four new offerings then that couldn't be more different, which together with all the other solid cinema content out there right now will give you plenty of choice. When you have seen your movie of choice this week (or two or three!) be your own critic and let us know what you thought via this - your favourite online movie Blog! Enjoy the experience!

Movies - see at least one this week!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-