What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 19th November 2020.

The brand new UK collaborative 'Amplify! Film Festival' is currently running from the 6th through to the 22nd November. Bringing brilliant new cinema right into your lounge room 'Amplify!'s' online film festival beams feature films, documentaries, shorts, Q&A discussions and industry events wherever you are in the UK. Combining the Cambridge, Bath, Brighton and Cornwall Film Festivals this four partner event pools over one hundred years of accumulated experience to support independent filmmakers and bring a diverse range of films to the audience spread out across the cities of the UK. 

This years line up covers an array of film types, genres and categories, which is partly summarised below :-

UK Premier screenings

* 'Falling' - from Canada, UK and Denmark this Directorial debut for Viggo Mortensen is also written and stars him alongside Lance Henriksen that sees a father-son relationship sustained by pain and resentment, dominated by a hot-tempered patriarch. Also in the 'Directorial Debut' section.

* 'My Mexican Bretzel' - from Spain with subtitles, this is Directed by Nuria Gimenez featuring Leon and Vivian Barrett travelling the world in a glamorous lifestyle following WWII. Also in the 'Triple-F Rated' section and in the 'Directorial Debut' section.

* 'Schoolgirls' - from Spain with subtitles this Directorial debut by Pilar Palomero is a semi-autobiographical film set in the early '90's about the doubts, fun, discovery and restlessness that accompany adolescence. Also in the 'Triple-F Rated' section and in the 'Directorial Debut' section.

* 'Body of Truth' - from Germany and Switzerland this documentary film is Directed by Evelyn Schels and examines the artists Marina Abramovic, Shirin Neshat, Sigalit Landau, and Katharina Sieverding who have all incorporated their bodies and the bodies of others into their work. Also in the 'Triple-F Rated' section.

* 'I Never Cry' - from Poland and Ireland this drama film is Directed by Piotr Domalewski and is a tale of teenage rationale and angst, in which a Polish seventeen year old girl's journey into adulthood is set against the effects of mass economic emigration after Poland joined the European Union.

* 'Caught in the Net' - from the Czech Republic this documentary film is Directed by Barbora Chalupova and Vit Klusak in their Directorial debuts and is a daring film about a project to catch and arrest a paedophile. Also in the 'Triple-F Rated' section and in the 'Directorial Debut' section.

* 'Cat in the Wall' - from Bulgaria and the UK with subtitles the documentary filmmakers Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva bring us their fiction film debut set on a London council estate, where multicultural residents clash over their social and economic differences, but must come together when an ownerless cat becomes trapped in the walls. Also in the 'Triple-F Rated' section.

* 'Some Beasts' - from Chile with subtitles Directed by Jorge Riquelme Serrano this thriller offering delves into the dark unravellings of a well-to-do urbanite family holidaying on a remote Chilean island.

* 'Open Door' - from Albania, Kosovo, Italy and North Macedonia with subtitles this Directorial debut for Florenc Papas sees a thirtysomething woman whose younger sister arrives back from Italy unexpectedly pregnant and their planned trip to see their old-fashioned father looks like a disaster in waiting - unless they can find someone to play the role of Elma's husband! Also in the 'Directorial Debut' section.

* 'The Two Sights' - from Canada and the UK with subtitles Directed by Joshua Bonnetta this sound-focused documentary cinematically reconnects the narratives of a disappearing oral tradition with its physical environment set in the far western islands of Scotland's Outer Hebrides. 

* 'Aalto' - from Finland and Directed by Virpi Suutari this documentary film is about Finnish architect Alvar Aalto who holds a unique position amongst his peers, having brought a humanist influence to architecture by creating spaces that serve our social, psychological, and environmental needs. This film provides an insight into the intimate love story and their joint contribution to the world of modernist architecture that he shared with his wife Aino whom he married in 1924.

* 'The Mole Agent' - from Chile, USA, Germany, Netherlands and Spain with subtitles, this is Directed by Maiti Alberdi and sees an 83 year old man go undercover in an nursing home to uncover if there's any truth that his client's mother is being mistreated. 

* 'Adventures of a Mathematician' - from Germany, Poland and the UK and Directed by Thor Klein this film gives a compelling account of how one simple man is capable of great things and how he made significant contributions to the field of mathematics, nuclear physics and  modern computing by applying his talents to The Manhattan Project in order to develop a functioning atomic weapon during WWII.

* 'An Impossible Project' - from Germany and Austria and Directed by Jens Meurer this documentary film is about former biologist Dr. Florian Kaps whose heroic battle against the odds to save the world’s last remaining Polaroid factory after the first iPhone was released in 2008, and so keep analogue film alive in a world increasingly taken over by the digital image.

* 'Robolove' - from Austria with subtitles this is Directed by Maria Arlamovsky and this documentary is a compelling exploration of self and what it means to be human. Do we need androids that resemble humans? Do they provide some bridge between humans and machines? Or will they provide a way for us to pass our legacy to future generations?

Triple-F Rated screenings

If a film also features significant women on screen in their own right it is 'Triple F-Rated'. The rating is designed to support and promote women and redress the imbalance in the film industry. Other than those films highlighted above that fall into this category, there is also :

* 'The Audition' - from Germany and France with subtitles and Directed by Ina Weisse sees a music teacher with a fanatical and meticulous obsession with excellence who has identified a young musician with stage fright as being in need of her initially protective mentoring, but what seems to be her generosity gradually reveals itself to be something much darker.

* 'The Innocence' - from Spain with subtitles and Directed by Lucia Alemany that sees a teenage girl who dreams of leaving her hometown to become a circus artist. Her parents are good people, but not especially in tune with the needs and desires of their young daughter. Also in the 'Directorial Debut' section.

* 'Cocoon' - from Germany with subtitles and Directed by Leonie Krippendorff about a fourteen year old girl growing up in Berlin who is young and marginalised but then discovers that she can become the centre of someone else's universe. 

* 'Asia' - from Israel with subtitles and Directed in her debut by Ruthy Pribar and is about a mother and daughter relationship that is limited and strained, until events force them to develop a deeper, more authentic bond. Also in the 'Directorial Debut' section.

* 'Luxor' - from Egypt, UK and UAE and Directed by Zeina Durra that sees a British aid worker (played by Andrea Riseborough) seeking respite from the trauma of her work on the Jordanian-Syrian border with a trip to the Egyptian city of Luxor, where she used to live in her 20's.

* 'Rose Plays Julie' - from Ireland the the UK and Directed by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor and tells the story of a young woman who decides to take time out from her veterinary studies to contact her birth mother, who gave her up for adoption and went on to become a successful actress. This in turn leads her to her biological father, a famous archaeologist, and discoveries that cut deeper than she anticipated.

Directorial Debut screenings 

* 'Patrick' - from Belgium and the Netherlands and Directed by Tim Mileants this story surrounds Patrick whose only concern is that he’s lost one of his hammers. This despite the fact that his father just died and the camp his family runs is on the brink of revolt.

* '76 Days' - from the USA with subtitles and Directed by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and an Anonymous contributor Covid-19 is laid bare in this zeitgeisty documentary cataloguing the 76 days after the eleven million inhabitants of Wuhan went into lockdown on 23rd January 2020.

* 'You Will Die at Twenty' - from Sudan, France, Egypt, Germany, Norway and Qatar with subtitles, this is Directed by Amjad Abu Alala and is about a newborn boy who is taken for a blessing by his parents, but an accident causes the village's holy man to declare the child will die at the age of 20.

* 'Influence' - from Canada and South Africa and Directed by Diana Neille and Richard Poplak here the late Timothy Bell was a veteran of the British advertising world, most famous for being the favourite spin doctor and confidante of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. This films takes a look behind the curtain to analyse the man who pulled the strings, and chart the eventual fall from grace of his controversial PR firm, Bell Pottinger.

* 'Running Against the Wind' - from Ethiopia and Germany with subtitles Directed by Jan Philipp Weyl and telling the story of two young Ethiopian boys who run for fun, but, when they grow up, only one remains a dedicated athlete, while his friend has become involved with drugs and crime.

For more information, you can visit the official website at : https://www.amplifyfilm.org.uk

This week there are seven latest release new movies coming to an Odeon near you. We launch with a biopic set in the Hollywood of yesteryear and how the writer of one of the greatest films ever made comes to blows over the credit for his script with the Director, Producer and star of that film. We next turn to a Christmas offering surrounding Chris Cringle who is down on his luck and finds himself at odds with an assassin hired by a disgruntled twelve year old. This is followed up by a live action Italian film about a wooden puppet who longs to become a real boy and the adventures he has along that journey; and in turn a British offering about a Vietnamese refugee living in England who seeks to retrace his family history in his native country while scattering the ashes of his dead parents who fled from the ravages of the Vietnam War. We then have a French film about a new Principal joining a middle school in a Paris suburb and the relationships that unfold with her students and her staff; and following this is a real love story marred by tragedy; before closing out the week with an Aussie offering about a high school girl who plucks up the courage to ask another girl out to the school formal, only to be guided through this tricky scenario by her dead aunt, who was also an '80's lesbian activist, acting as her Fairy Godmother.   

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

'MANK' (Rated M) - this American biographical drama film is Directed and Co-Produced by the multi-award winning and nominated David Fincher whose previous film making credits include his debut 'Alien 3', then 'Se7en', 'The Game', 'Fight Club', 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', 'The Social Network', and 'Gone Girl' amongst others. This film is based on a script written by David Fincher's father Jack Fincher which he wrote in the '90's with David wanting to film it following 'The Game' in 1997 but it never eventuated because David wanted to shoot the film in black & white to maintain an authenticity of the period in which the film is set ie. the Hollywood of the 1930's and '40's. When father Jack died in 2003 the film was put on the back burner, until mid-2019 when Netflix International Pictures put the movie into production. The film has garnered positive critical acclaim, and goes on a limited cinematic release from this week before streaming on Netflix from 4th December. 

The story here centres around the life of alcoholic Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) as he is scribing 'Citizen Kane', and the issues that arose with Orson Welles (Tom Burke) throughout production of the film and in the lead up to the release of the film in 1941. Also starring Tuppence Middleton as Sara Mankiewicz, Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst, Arliss Howard as Louis B. Mayer, Ferdinand Kingsley as Irving Thalberg, Toby Leonard Moore as David O. Selznick, Lily Collins as Rita Alexander and Tom Pelphrey as Joseph L. Mankiewicz. 

'FATMAN' (Rated MA15+) - Written and Directed by the brothers Eshom and Ian Nelms, this American dark comedy action film stars Mel Gibson as Chris Cringle (aka Santa Clause) who in order to save his business which is on an ever downward spiral, is forced into a business arrangement with the US military. To complicate things even more, Chris Cringle gets entrenched in a deadly battle of wits against the Skinny Man (Walton Coggins), a highly skilled assassin working in a toy shop who has been hired by a trumped up twelve year old Billy Wenan (Chance Hurstfield) after he was gifted a lump of coal in his Christmas stocking. Also starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The film has received mostly negative Reviews so far and saw its limited release Stateside on 13th November before its digital download release on 17th November and its limited release in Australia this week. 

'PINOCCHIO' (Rated M) - this Italian fantasy film is Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written for the screen by the Italian film maker Matteo Garrone who's previous Directorial credits include 'Gamorrah' in 2008, 'Tale of Tales' in 2015 and 'Dogman' in 2018. This film is based on the 1883 book 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' by the Italian author Carlo Collodi. 'Pinocchio' has been a passion project for Garrone, who drew the first storyboard of the story at the age of six. This film is aimed at both adults and children, unlike his previous very adult orientated films, and the majority of characters, including Pinocchio himself, were created through prosthetic make-up rather than CGI. The film was released in its native Italy in mid-December last year, in the UK in mid-August this year and now here in Australia from this week. Having taken so far US$20M at the Box Office off the back of a US$12M production budget, the film has so far garnered positive Reviews. The film centres around Geppetto (Roberto Benigni) a poor Italian carpenter who builds a wooden puppet with which to earn himself a living by touring the country with it. As Geppetto begins to build the puppet, which he decides to name 'Pinocchio' (Federico Ielapi), he soon realises that Pinocchio is alive and able to experience feelings and express emotion, and decides to take him as his son. What follows is a journey of discovery and adventure for the wooden puppet as he strives to become a real boy. The film is overdubbed into English.

'MONSOON' (Rated M) - is a British drama film Written and Directed by the Cambodian born Chinese British film maker Hong Khaou in only his second feature film outing following 'Lilting' in 2014. The film saw its World Premier showing at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival at the end of June 2019 before its release in the UK in late September this year and in the US last week. The film has generated mostly positive Critical Reviews and has so far taken US$9K at the Box Office. Here Kit (Henry Golding), a young British Vietnamese man, returns to his birth country for the first time in over 30 years. He was just six years old when he and his family escaped Saigon as 'boat refugees' after the Vietnam War. No longer familiar with this country and unable to speak his native language, Kit embarks on a personal journey from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi in search of a place to scatter his parents’ ashes. Along the way he reconnects with his childhood friend Lee (David Tran) and falls for Lewis (Parker Sawyers), an American whose father had fought in the war. 

'SCHOOL LIFE' (Rated M) - is a French film Written and Directed by Grand Corps Malade (aka Fabien Marsaud) and Mehdi Idir, was released in France in late August 2019 and received positive Reviews from Critics becoming a box office success taking so far US$14M before being streamed via Netflix from early April 2020. And so here, the new vice principal of a middle school in the suburb of Paris, Saint Denis, Samia Zibra (Zita Hanrot) is warned by her fellow teachers that students are unmotivated and rarely abide by any form of discipline. She sees things in a completely different light compared to those others. However, she gets to know the students especially Yanis Bensaadi (Liam Pierron) who is quite sharp and intelligent but disillusioned by a world that seems to have turned its back on him and his family.

'ALL MY LIFE' (Rated M) - is an American romantic drama film Directed by Marc Meyers based on the true story of Solomon Chau and Jennifer Carter. Released in the UK in late October and scheduled for a US release date of early December, the film cost US$25M to produce. This story revolves around a young couple Solomon Chau (Harry Shum Jnr.) and Jennifer Carter (Jessica Rothe) as they plan their wedding in the face of devastating news. The couple, who had been planning their Toronto wedding since April 2014, found out that Chau had liver cancer in December of that year. To make sure they got the wedding of their dreams, they moved the date up to April 11, 2015, and they raised more than $52,000 through a GoFundMe account. They were married for four months before he died.

'ELLIE & ABBIE (& ELLIE'S DEAD AUNT) (Rated M) - this Australian film is Written and Directed by Monica Zanetti in her feature film making debut. Here seventeen year old Ellie (Sophie Hawkshore) is struggling to find the courage to ask her classmate, Abbie (Zoe Terakes), to the school formal, while at the same time struggling to come out to her Mum, Erica (Marta Dusseldorp). Luckily her Aunt Tara (Julia Billington), a lesbian activist who died in the '80's has shown up as a 'Fairy Godmother' guiding her through and offering advice on the trials and tribulations of first love, whether Ellie wants it or not. The film has generated mostly positive press so far. 

With seven 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 cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 29th August 2019.

Continuing with the coverage of the 76th Venice International Film Festival which launched on 28th August and runs through until 7th September, it was announced in the months preceding the festival that the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by a Director would be awarded to Spanish Director Pedro Almodovar whose film making credits include his international break out film in 1983 'Dark Habits' and then over the following years 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' in 1988, 'Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down' in 1989, 'All About My Mother' in 1999, 'Talk to Her' in 2001, 'Bad Education' in 2003, 'Volver' in 2006, 'The Skin I Live In' in 2011 and 'Julieta' in 2016. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by an Actor or Actress is awarded to English Actress, Singer and Author Julie Andrews whose film acting credits include 'My Fair Lady' and 'The Americanisation of Emily' both in 1964, 'The Sound of Music' in 1965, 'Torn Curtain' and 'Hawaii' both in 1966, 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' in 1967, 'Star!' in 1968, 'The Tamarind Seed' in 1974, '10' in 1979, 'S.O.B.' in 1981, 'Victor/Victoria' in 1982, 'Duet for One' in 1986, 'The Princess Diaries' in 2001 and its sequel in 2004 and from there she lent her voice talents to the animated 'Shrek' and 'Despicable Me' film franchises.

This years Out of Competition entries take in works of fiction and non-fiction and special screenings. Included in these are :-
Out of Competition : Fiction 
* 'SEBERG' - from the USA and Directed by Benedict Andrews and starring Kristen Stewart, Jack O’Connell, Anthony Mackie and Vince Vaughn.
* 'THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY' - from the UK and Italy and Directed by Giuseppe Capotondi and starring Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Donald Sutherland and Mick Jagger.
* 'MOSUL' from the USA and Directed by Matthew Michael Carnahan and starring Suhail Dabbach, Adam Bessa and Is’Haq Elias.




* 'ADULTS IN THE ROOM' - from France and Greece and Directed by Costa-Gravas and starring Christos Loulis, Alexandros Bourdoumis, Ulrich Tukur, Daan Schuurmans, Josiane Pinson, and Aurelien Recoing.
* 'THE KING' - from the UK and Hungary and Directed by David Michod and starring Timothee Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Tom Glynn-Carney, Lily-Rose Depp, Thomasin McKenzie, Robert Pattinson and Ben Mendelsohn.

Out of Competition : Non-Fiction 
* 'ROGER WATERS US + THEM' - from the UK and Directed by Sean Evans and Roger Waters. The former Pink Floyd man toured across North America, the UK and Europe throughout 2017 and 2018, which saw Waters perform to over two million people worldwide. The film was captured during his four-night stop at Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome on June 18th, 19th, 22nd and 23rd 2018, and features songs from his legendary Pink Floyd albums 'The Dark Side Of The Moon', 'The Wall', 'Animals' and 'Wish You Were Here', and from his last album, 'Is This The Life We Really Want?'
* 'CITIZEN K' - from the UK and USA and Direcetd by Alex Gibney and starring Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Vladimir Putin, Leonid Nevzlin, Boris Berezovsky, Igor Malashenko, Anton Drel and Boris Yeltsin. In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of the richest men in Russia, began a ten-year sentence for tax evasion. Many believed his downfall was challenging then newly elected president Vladimir Putin. During his time in a Siberian prison, Khodorkovsky became a world-famous dissident. Today, exiled in London, he continues to battle Putin’s 19-year hold on power.
* 'STATE FUNERAL' - from Holland and Lithuania and Directed by Sergei Loznitsa. Using mostly unseen archival footage from March 1953, the funeral of Joseph Stalin is seen as the culmination of the Dictator’s personality cult. The news of Stalin’s death on March 5, 1953, shocked the entire Soviet Union. The burial ceremony was attended by tens of thousands of mourners. This film bears witness to every stage of the funeral spectacle, and receives unprecedented access to the dramatic and absurd experience of life and death under Stalin’s reign.
* 'WOMAN' - from France and Directed by Anastasia Mikova and Yann Arthus-Bertrand. 'Woman' is a worldwide project giving a voice to some two thousand women across fifty different countries.  Based on first-person encounters, the project deals with topics such as motherhood, education, marriage or financial independence but also menstruations or sexuality discovering the voices of women as you have never heard them before.
* 'COLLECTIV' - from Romania and Luxembourg and Directed by Alexander Nanau and starring Narcis Hogea, Catalin Tolontan, Mirela Neag, Camelia Roiu, Razvan Lutac and Tedy Ursuleanu. In the aftermath of a tragic fire in a Romanian music club, more burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life threatening. A team of investigative journalists move into action to uncover massive corruption in the health system and other state institutions.
* '45 SECONDS OF LAUGHTER' - from the USA and Directed by Tim Robbins. A group of incarcerated men from Calipatria State Prison participate in a theatrical workshop with Tim Robbins’ theatre company, The Actors’ Gang. Defying racial barriers and gang affiliations, the men tap into emotions that have long been dormant while unexpected bonds emerge between former enemies, as they work towards a transformation and liberation unknown to their life behind bars.

For the full run down on all the screenings, the news and views from the 76th Venice International Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2019

This week coming to your local Odeon, we have six new release movies starting off with an Australian period piece set back in 1825 that sees a young convict girl join forces with an Aboriginal tracker to hunt down a British Officer who raped her and killed her husband and young child. We then move to a story set in the '70's in New York's Hell's Kitchen of three wives who take on the mob to earn a crust while their husbands are locked up in prison serving time. This is followed by a modern day cops & robbers caper where two hardened career Detectives are suspended for their strong arm antics who jump to the other side of the fence in a bid to make some much needed cash until their suspensions are lifted. Next up is a true story of the failed attempts to rescue the crew of a stricken Russian nuclear submarine that sank to the bottom of the Berents Sea in 2000. We then move to an Italian foreign language crime drama telling the story of a meek and mild dog salon owner who goes up against the local petty crime bully with unexpected consequences, before closing out the week with a documentary of the 1972 recording of a live gospel album by a world renowned singer and songwriter who died last year.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six 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.

'THE NIGHTINGALE' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian thriller is a period piece Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Jennifer Kent in only her second film making outing following 2014's highly acclaimed horror offering 'The Babadook'.  This film saw its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival back in September 2018, its US release earlier this month and in Australia this week after its screening at the recent Sydney Film Festival, and has so far received generally positive Reviews, although has divided audiences with its graphic depictions of rape and murder. Kent subsequently defended the decision to depict such violence, claiming that the film contains historically accurate representations of the colonial violence and racism that took place against the Australian Indigenous people of that time. The film was produced in collaboration with Tasmanian Aboriginal elders who feel that this is an honest and necessary depiction of their history and a story that needs to be told.

Set in Tasmania in 1825, Clare (Aisling Franciosi), a 21-year-old Irish convict, is brutally raped and witnesses the murder of her husband and baby by Hawkins (Sam Claflin), a British officer, and his cohorts. Unable to find justice, she takes Billy (Baykali Ganambarr), an Aboriginal tracker, with her through the harsh and unforgiving wilderness to seek revenge on the soldiers, and gets much more than she bargained for. Also starring Damon Herriman and Ewen Leslie.

'THE KITCHEN' (Rated MA15+) - here we have an American crime film Written and Directed by Andrea Berloff, in her Directorial debut but whose previous film writing credits include 2006's 'World Trade Centre', 2015's 'Straight Outta Compton', '2016's 'Blood Father' and 2017's 'Sleepless'. It is based on the Vertigo comic book miniseries of the same name. The story here is of  the wives of three Irish mobsters, who take over organised crime operations in New York's Hell's Kitchen in the late '70's, after the FBI arrests their husbands while getting caught red handed robbing a convenience store, and they are sent down for three years apiece. The wives in question here are Kathy Brennan (Melissa McCarthy) married to Jimmy (Brian d'Arcy James), Ruby O'Carroll (Tiffany Haddish) married to Kevin (James Badge Dale) and Claire Walsh (Elisabeth Moss) married to Rob (Jeremy Bobb). Also starring Domhnall Gleeson, Bill Camp, Margo Martindale and Common, the film was made for US$38M, has so far recouped US$14M since its release Stateside earlier this month, and has received mostly negative Reviews. Sounds like a lot lesser version of Steve McQueen's 2018 film 'Widow's'.

'DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE' (Rated R18+) - this American neo-noir crime thriller is Directed and Written by Steven Craig Zahler whose previous Directing credits are 'Bone Tomahawk' and 'Brawl in Cell Block 99'. The storyline here follows two police detectives Brett Ridgeman (Mel Gibson) and Anthony Lurasetti (Vince Vaughn) who find themselves suspended by their Chief, Lieutenant Calvert (Don Johnson) without pay when a video of their strong-arm tactics is leaked to the media. With little money and no options, the embittered Policemen decide to use the criminal connections they have developed through their time in law enforcement to make cash that will sustain them until their suspensions are lifted, but as they descend into the criminal underworld they discover more than they wanted lurking in the shadows. Also starring Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Jennifer Carpenter, Udo Kier and Thomas Kretschmann, the film was made on a Budget of US$15M, saw its release at the Venice International Film Festival in September last year, a limited US release in March, has so far taken just US$306K and has garnered mixed or average Reviews so far.

'KURSK' (Rated M) - this French and Belgian Co-Produced English language drama film is Directed by Denmark's Thomas Vinterberg based on Robert Moore's book 'A Time to Die', surrounding the true story of when disaster struck the K-141 Kursk Oscar II-class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine of the Russian Navy on 12th August 2000. The Kursk sank during a Russian naval exercise in the Barents Sea after two explosions within the submarine. Twenty-three sailors survived those initial explosions who desperately waited for help to arrive while their oxygen ran out steadily minute by minute. The Russian government refused help from foreign governments for five days before agreeing to aid from the British and Norwegian governments, by which time all 118 seamen on board had perished. This is that story, and features Matthias Schoenaerts, Colin Firth, Lea Seydoux, Max von Sydow and Michael Nyqvist. This film saw its World Premier screening at TIFF in early September last year, went on release in France in November, in the US at the end of June and now gets a limited run in Australia following its showing at the recent Sydney Film Festival. The film costs US$40M and has garnered mixed or average Reviews.

'DOGMAN' (Rated MA15+) - is a 2018 Italian crime drama film Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written  by Matteo Garrone. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival where Marcello Fonte as the lead Actor won the award for Best Actor. Inspired by real events, it was selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. In a coastal village on the outskirts of an Italian city, where the only law seems to be survival of the fittest, Marcello (Marcello Fonte) is a slight, mild-mannered man who divides his days between working at his modest dog grooming salon (called 'Dogman'), caring for his daughter Alida, and being coerced into the petty criminal schemes of the local bully Simoncino (Edoardo Pesce), an ex-boxer who terrorises the neighbourhood. When Simoncino's abuse finally brings Marcello to a breaking point, he decides to stand up for his own dignity through an act of vengeance, with unintended consequences. The film was released in Italy in May 2018 and now sees a limited run in Australia having generated largely favourable Reviews.

'AMAZING GRACE' (Rated G) - American singer songwriter Aretha Franklin records her gospel album 'Amazing Grace' live at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972. She is accompanied by the Southern California Community Choir. Directed by Sydney Pollack the 'Amazing Grace' film was not released on schedule in 1972 due to difficulties syncing the audio tracks with the visual print and was relegated to a vault at Warner Bros. until 2007 when Producer Alan Elliott purchased the raw footage and attempted to sync it. The pared-down footage, now 87 minutes in length, was planned for a 2011 release. Franklin sued Elliott for appropriating her likeness without permission, however, and the release date passed. Elliott made another attempt to premiere the film in 2015 at the Telluride, Toronto and Chicago Film Festivals, but Franklin sued him again for unpublished reasons. After Franklin's death in 2018, her family made an arrangement to release the film which saw its Worldwide release back in April this year, and only now does it arrive in Australia, to widespread Critical acclaim.

With six 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-