MIDWAY : Thursday 30th January 2020.

I saw the M Rated 'MIDWAY' on its Australian opening night in a movie theatre that was somewhat surprisingly devoid of paying customers. This is a remake of the 1976 film of the same name which charts the Battle of Midway following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Directed and Co-Produced by that master of disaster Roland Emmerich whose previous screen outings take in the likes of 'Independence Day', 'Godzilla', 'The Day After Tomorrow', '10,000BC', '2012', 'White House Down', and 'Independence Day : Resurgence' most recently. The film has been a passion project of Emmerich's since the mid-'90's, but he had trouble getting the necessary financial backing for the film before finally fund raising most of the budget of US100M and officially announcing it in 2017. With that sort of budget, this film is one of the most costly independent films of all time. Released in the US in early November last year, the film has so far taken US$123M at the Box Office and has received generally mixed or average Reviews so far.

On 7th December 1941, Japanese forces launch a devastating attack on Pearl Harbour, the U.S. naval base in Hawaii, so catapulting the US into WWII. In the days immediately following the attack Admiral Chester Nimitz (Woody Harrelson) is given command of the severely fractured US Pacific Naval Fleet. He speaks with Lieutenant Colonel Edwin T. Layton (Patrick Wilson) - an intelligence officer of the US Pacific Fleet, about his failure to convince Washington of the impending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, but to stick to his guns when next he needs to confront Washington over a suspected enemy attack.

On 18th April 1942, Lieutenant Colonel James Dolittle (Aaron Eckhart) led an air raid on the Japanese capital of Tokyo and other places of strategic interest on Honshu Island. It was the first air strike on the Japanese archipelago, and showed that the Japanese mainland was vulnerable to an American air attack while serving as retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbour. Sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium bomber aircraft take off from the USS Aircraft Carrier 'Hornet' with fifteen aircraft reaching China but all crashed, including Dolittle's while the 16th landed at Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. As a result the Japanese turn their focus on the Coral Sea in a battle fought from 4th to 8th May 1942, between the Imperial Japanese Navy and naval and air forces from the United States and Australia.

In the meantime Commander Joseph Rochefort (Brennan Brown) the Chief Cryptologist of the US Pacific Fleet Radio Unit intercept messages with a Japanese location noted by the call sign 'AF'. Layton speaks with Nimitz, who advises him that Washington believes that 'AF' is a target in the Aleutian Islands. Layton disagrees, believing the intended target to be Midway Atoll. Nimitz instructs the team to find a way to definitively prove that 'AF' is in fact Midway. Needless to say, in time, Rochefort and Layton are able to prove that Midway is the target. In preparation for an ambush of the Japanese fleet, Nimitz orders carriers 'Hornet' and 'Enterprise' to be recalled from the Coral Sea operations and demands that the damaged 'Yorktown' be made ready for combat operations within 72 hours. Attacked by Japanese dive-bombers in the Coral Sea, the 'Yorktown' sustained damage from a bomb which penetrated the flight deck and exploded below decks, killing or seriously injuring 66 men. The bomb also damaged her superheater boilers, rendering them inoperable . . . but only for 72 hours!

On 4th June the Japanese launch an air attack against Midway. Early attempts by US land based aircraft to strike at the Japanese fleet carriers fail. After a downed B-26 narrowly misses striking a carrier's bridge, the Japanese crew are stunned, believing the aircraft was attempting a suicide run, although Admiral Chuichi Nagumo (Jun Kunimura) nervously infers that the plane was most likely out of control due to battle damage. 'Nautilus', a US submarine, successfully locates and attacks an enemy carrier but the torpedo narrowly misses its target. The destroyer 'Arashi' keeps the submarine pinned down with depth charges so the carriers can escape. Meanwhile, US carrier planes are launched in an effort to destroy the Japanese carriers. After reaching the last known location of the Japanese fleet the US forces discover that the carriers have moved. Upon sighting the 'Arashi', the Lieutenant Commander of the Air Group of the 'Enterprise', Wade McClusky (Luke Evans), correctly infers the Japanese destroyer is rushing back to join the main Japanese fleet and leads his planes to follow its course and attack.

As Nagumo's personnel switch out their aircraft ordnance for an anti-ship attack, US carrier-based planes appear suddenly. 'Enterprise' squadron Commanders McClusky and Richard Best (Ed Skrein) successfully lead their planes through the anti-aircraft fire and destroy the Japanese carriers 'Kaga' and 'Akagi', and squadrons from the 'Yorktown' destroy the 'Soryu'. Attempting to salvage the battle, 'Hiryu' commanded by Tamon Yamaguchi (Tadanobu Asano) attempts to rally the remaining Japanese aircraft for an assault against the US carriers. Locating 'Yorktown', the Japanese bomb and disable the carrier scoring three direct hits.

Upon returning to the 'Enterprise', Best learns that half of his squadron is either missing in action or destroyed. Informed that there is a surviving Japanese carrier, Best rallies what pilots he can and sets off to attack the 'Hiryu'. Japanese anti-aircraft fire fails to stop the attack, but Best in his typical no fear gung-ho do or die dive bombing raids scores a critical hit that destroys the 'Hiryu'. 

Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance (Jake Weber), informed of the destruction of the last Japanese carrier, decides to withdraw for the night rather than test his luck. Informed of the loss of his carriers in battle, Admiral Yamamoto (Etsushi Toyokawa) orders his fleet to withdraw from the battle rather than risk his battleships without sufficient air cover, effectively bringing the Battle of Midway to a conclusion. Upon returning home in a wheelchair Best is reunited with his wife Anne (Mandy Moore). He informs her that he inhaled a large dose of caustic soda into his lungs instead of oxygen to aid with high altitude flying, and as a result he will never fly again. 

The closing credits reveal what became of those US wartime heroes depicted in the film, as well as the Japanese reprisals following the battle. Dennis Quaid also stars as Vice Admiral William Halsey the Commander of Carrier Division Two aboard his flagship carrier 'Enterprise'. Halsey led a series of hit-and-run raids against the Japanese, striking the Gilbert and Marshall islands in February, Wake Island in March, and carrying out the Doolittle Raid in April 1942. Halsey returned to Pearl Harbour from his last raid on 26th May 1942, in poor health due to an extremely serious bout of Shingles brought about by stressful conditions at hand, and as such missed out on the Battle for Midway, which he later described as his greatest disappointment.

In remaking 'Midway' Director Roland Emmerich here takes a valuable lesson in history that he presumably made for a whole new audience either unfamiliar with that 1976 film, or indeed the decisive battle in the Pacific, or both, and on that basis I guess the story had to be told, again! And whilst the CGI effects are commendable, and the action set pieces well executed, what we have here boils down to Uncle Sam beating his chest once again and spraying a can of whoop ass all over the cookie cutter Japanese. The cast are all largely one dimensional as is the heavily cliched dialogue, and I felt the film was bereft of any emotional weight or the chance to get really invested in the characters. There is very little by way of suspense or tension here either, and you just know that in Ed Skrein's Dick Best flying ace, that he's going to win the day and get back to his girl, shaken but not stirred! Ultimately this is a WWII drama set in the 1940's, with the look and feel of a 1970's war time epic, boxed up with all the CGI of 2020, and on that basis the film delivers, but left me feeling a little underwhelmed.

'Midway' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 30th January 2020.

The 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards were presented on 19th January 2020 at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. These awards are determined by the 160,000 strong American Screen Actors Union as voted by the Actors for the Actors.

Additionally, the 72nd Directors Guild of America Awards were held on 25th January at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Los Angeles, California and hosted once again by American film maker, Actor and Comedian, Judd Apatow. These awards honour the outstanding Directorial achievement in feature films, documentary, television and commercials of 2019.

This years awards winners and nominees from both ceremonies are as given below :-

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS
* Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Presented to JOAQUIN PHOENIX for 'Joker' beating out Christian Bale for 'Ford v Ferrari', Leonardo DiCaprio for 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', Adam Driver for 'Marriage Story', and Taron Egerton for 'Rocketman'.

* Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Presented to RENEE ZELLWEGER  for 'Judy' beating out Cynthia Erivo for  'Harriet', Scarlett Johansson for 'Marriage Story', Lupita Nyong'o for 'Us' and Charlize Theron for 'Bombshell'.

* Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Presented to BRAD PITT for 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' beating out Jamie Foxx for 'Just Mercy', Tom Hanks for 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood', Al Pacino for 'The Irishman' and Joe Pesci for 'The Irishman'.
* Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Presented to LAURA DERN for 'Marriage Story' beating out Scarlett Johansson for 'Jojo Rabbit', Nicole Kidman for 'Bombshell', Jennifer Lopez for 'Hustlers' and Margot Robbie for 'Bombshell'.

* Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Presented to 'PARASITE' beating out 'Bombshell', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'The Irishman', and 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'.

* Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Presented to 'AVENGERS : ENDGAME', beating out 'Ford v Ferrari', 'The Irishman', 'Joker' and 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'.

* The Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award

Presented to ROBERT DE NIRO.


DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARDS
* Feature Film Award
Presented to SAM MENDES for '1917', beating out Taika Waititi for 'JoJo Rabbit', Quentin Tarantino for 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', Bong Joon-ho for 'Parasite' and Martin Scorsese for 'The Irishman'.
* Documentary Award
Presented to STEVEN BOGNAR and JULIA REICHERT for 'AMERICAN FACTORY' beating out Feras Fayyad for 'The Cave', Alex Holmes for 'Maiden', Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska for 'Honeyland' and Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang for 'One Child Nation'.


* First Time Feature Film Award
Presented to ALMA HAR'EL for 'HONEY BOY' beating out Mati Diop for 'Atlantics', Melina Matsoukas for 'Queen & Slim', Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz for 'The Peanut Butter Falcon' and Joe Talbot for 'The Last Black Man in San Francisco'.

For all the latest news and views of both these awards ceremonies, you can visit the official websites at : https://www.sagawards.org and https://www.dga.org

And so this week then we have five new release movies coming to your local Odeon. Kicking off with a WWII drama that sees an epic naval battle in the North Pacific that ultimately proved to be one of the most crucial of the war, and a turning point in the war against the Japanese. Next up we have the fourth instalment in a supernatural horror franchise that sees the ghosts of previously murdered victims come back to wreak bloody mayhem and death on those that would cross the threshold into one certain house. We then turn to another WWII drama but this one centering on an Austrian peasant farmer and his family who refuses to swear allegiance to Hitler and to fight for the Nazi's, and the subsequent consequences upon him, his family and his local rural community. This is followed by a biopic of a famed Actress of the '60's who was targeted by the FBI because of her connections with The Black Panther movement of the time; and we close out the week with a comedy drama about a young man with Down Syndrome who follows his dreams aided and abetted by an unlikely coach and ally - a petty criminal on the run.

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

'MIDWAY' (Rated M) - this is a remake of the 1976 film of the same name which charts the Battle of Midway following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Directed and Co-Produced by that master of disaster Roland Emmerich whose previous screen outings take in the likes of 'Independence Day', 'Godzilla', 'The Day After Tomorrow', '10,000BC', '2012', 'White House Down', and 'Independence Day : Resurgence' most recently. The film has been a passion project of Emmerich's since the mid-'90's, but he had trouble getting the necessary financial backing for the film before finally fundraising most of the budget of US100M and officially announcing it in 2017. With that sort of budget, this film is one of the most costly independent films of all time. Released in the US in early November last year, the film has so far taken US$123M at the Box Office and has received generally mixed or average Reviews so far.

On 7th December 1941, Japanese forces launch a devastating attack on Pearl Harbour, the U.S. naval base in Hawaii. Six months later, the Battle of Midway commences on 4th June 1942, as the Japanese navy once again plans a strike against American ships in the Pacific. For the next three days, the U.S. Navy, their leaders, soldiers and a squad of brave fighter pilots engage the enemy in one of the most important and decisive battles of World War II. Midway Atoll in the North Pacific Ocean is roughly equidistant between North America and Asia and is an unorganised, unincorporated territory of the United States and has been since 1867. Midway continues to be the only island in the Hawaiian archipelago that is not part of the state of Hawaii. Starring an ensemble cast that includes Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Alexander Ludwig, Mandy Moore, Tadanobu Asano and Etsushi Toyokawa.

'THE GRUDGE' (Rated MA15+) - here we have the fourth instalment in the supernatural horror film franchise that first launched in 2004 which was in fact a remake of the original Japanese horror film from 2002 'Ju-On : The Grudge'. 'The Grudge 2' followed in 2006, with 'The Grudge 3' in 2009. The first three films grossed at the global Box Office a total US$297M off the back of a combined US$35M budget outlay, and so far this film has grossed US$41M since its US release in early January off the back of a US$12M budget. Directed by Nicolas Pesce in only his third feature film after 2016's 'The Eyes of my Mother' and 2018's 'Piercing' this film has been in development since 2011, and was originally intended as a reboot of the 2004 American remake and the original Japanese film, but ended up being a 'sidequel' that takes place during and after the events of the 2004 film and its sequels. After a young mother murders her family in her own house, a Police Officer attempts to investigate the mysterious case, only to discover that the house is cursed by a vengeful ghost. Now targeted by the demonic spirits, investigating the seemingly unrelated cases but all connected to one particular house, the detective must do whatever is necessary to protect herself and her family from harm. Starring Andrea Riseborough, Damian Bichir, John Cho, Betty Gilpin, Lin Shaye, Jacki Weaver, William Sadler and Frankie Faison.

'A HIDDEN LIFE' (Rated PG) - here Writer and Director Terrence Malick brings us this historical drama film set during WWII and based on real events. Malick's previously acclaimed films include 1973's 'Badlands', 1998's 'The Thin Red Line', 2005's 'The New World', 2011's 'The Tree of Life', 2015's 'Knight of Cups' and 2017's 'Song to Song'. This is the story of an unsung hero, Franz Jagerstatter (August Diehl), a rural Austrian peasant farmer working his land when war breaks out. Franz is called up for basic training and is away from his beloved wife Franziska (Valerie Pachner) and children for months, but after France surrenders and the end of wars looks imminent, Franz returns to his rural farm and tends the land with his family. However, as the war rages on the able-bodied men in the village are called up to fight. Their first requirement is to swear an oath of allegiance to Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. Franz refuses to do this and refuses to fight for the Nazis and when faced with incarceration and the threat of execution for treason, it is his unwavering faith and his love for his wife Franziska and children that keeps his spirit alive. Also starring Michael Nyqvist, Bruno Ganz, Jurgen Prochnow and Matthias Schoenaerts, the film cost in the region of US$8M to produce, has so far taken US$3M since its World Premier Screening at Cannes back in May 2019 and its US release in mid-December, and has garnered generally positive Press so far.

'SEBERG' (Rated M) - this American political thriller offering is Directed by Benedict Andrews, the Australian born but now resident in Iceland theatre Director turned film maker who released his feature film debut 'Una' in in 2016. He follows this up with this look at the life and scandal surrounding American Actress Jean Seberg who lived from 1938 until 1979 and died of probable suicide, and who amassed thirty-five film credits during her career. Set during the latter half of the '60's, American born yet French resident new wave Actress Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart) becomes the target of the FBI through the COINTELPRO surveillance programme due to her support of the civil rights movement and her romantic involvement with Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie) a Black Panther activist. She soon finds her life and career in jeopardy as the overreaching surveillance and harassment starts to take a toll on everything she holds dear. The FBI surveillance programme against Seberg used techniques to harass, intimidate, defame, and discredit her. The FBI's stated goal was an unspecified 'neutralisation' of Seberg with a subsidiary objective to 'cause her embarrassment and serve to cheapen her image with the public', while taking the 'usual precautions to avoid identification of the Bureau' according to FBI inter-office memos subsequently made available. The film also stars Jack O'Connell, Margaret Qualley, Colm Meaney, Zazie Beetz, Vince Vaughn, Stephen Root and Ser'Darius Blain, had its World Premier screening at Venice back in late August, was released in the UK earlier this month, in the US in late February and cost US$8M to make.

'THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON' (Rated M) - is an American comedy drama film Written and Directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz in their feature film debuts, and has been described as a modern day Mark Twain style adventure story. Telling the story of Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a twenty-two year old man with Down Syndrome, who runs away from his residential nursing home to follow his dream of attending the professional wrestling school of his idol, The Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). A strange turn of events pairs him on the road with Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), a small time outlaw on the run, who becomes Zak's unlikely coach and mentor. Together they wind through deltas, evade capture, drink whisky, find God, catch fish, and convince Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a kind nursing home employee charged with Zak's return, to join them on their journey. Also starring Bruce Dern, Jon Bernthal and John Hawkes, the film premiered at SXSW in March last year, went on limited release in the US in early August, has so far made US$22M off the back of a US$6M budget investment, has generated mostly favourable Reviews and has picked up eighteen award wins and another thirteen nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit.

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 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-