What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 17th February 2022.

The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival (aka Berlinale) is currently up and running from the 10th through until 20th February. The official website reads 'the Berlinale is a unique place of artistic exploration and entertainment. It is one of the largest public film festivals in the world, attracting tens of thousands of visitors from around the globe each year. For the film industry and the media, the eleven days in February are also one of the most important events in the annual calendar and an indispensable trading forum. The Berlin International Film Festival was created for the Berlin public in 1951, at the beginning of the Cold War, as a 'showcase of the free world'. Shaped by the turbulent post-war period and the unique situation of a divided city, the Berlinale has developed into a place of intercultural exchange and a platform for the critical cinematic exploration of social issues. To this day it is considered the most political of all the major film festivals. The festival brings the big stars of international cinema to Berlin and discovers new talents. It accompanies filmmakers of all disciplines on their paths into the spotlight and supports careers, projects, dreams and visions'.

'Every year, around 400 films of all genres, lengths and formats are shown in the various sections and special presentations of the Berlinale. Across the spectrum from feature films to documentary forms and artistic experiments, the audience is invited to encounter highly contrasting milieus, ways of life and attitudes, to put their own judgements and prejudices to the test and to reinvigorate their experience of seeing and perceiving in the realm between classic narrative forms and extraordinary aesthetics'.

The international jury, which this year is headed up by acclaimed Director, Screenwriter and Producer M. Night Shyamalan presides over the official competition, which will be announced at 7:00pm local time, on Wednesday 16th February. The following awards are presented :-

* Golden Bear for Best Film (awarded to the film’s Producers)
* Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
* Silver Bear Jury Prize
* Silver Bear for Best Director
* Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance
* Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance
* Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
* Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

Additionally, a whole bunch of other awards are bestowed in the following sections, 'Encounters', 'Berlinale Shorts', 'Generation Kplus' and 'Generation 14plus', 'Best First Feature Award', 'Berlinale Documentary' and the 'Honorary Golden Bear' award which this year is dedicated to French film and stage actor Isabelle Huppert, for lifetime achievement.

Watch out for next weeks Blog post in which I'll detail all the winners, grinners and also rans in main competition at the 72nd Berlinale. In the meantime, you can visit the official website, for all the news, programme information and a whole lot more at : https://www.berlinale.de/

Turning back to this weeks four new release movies coming to an Odeon close to you this week, we kick off with an action adventure offering about a street-smart thief who is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter to recover a fortune amassed by Ferdinand Magellan and lost five hundred years ago by the House of Moncada. This is followed by a drama film about a radio journalist who forges an unexpected bond with his precocious young nephew during a cross country trip. Next up is a Bosnian film about a teacher and translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica, and when the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp, before closing out the week with a highly acclaimed Danish animated feature about a successful academic in Denmark who is about to marry his long-time boyfriend, and who is confronted with a secret from his past.

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

'UNCHARTED' (Rated M) - this American action adventure film is Directed by Ruben Fleischer, whose previous film making credits include his big screen debut in 2009 with 'Zombieland', then 2013's 'Gangster Squad', 'Venom' in 2018 and 'Zombieland : Double Tap' in 2019. The film based on the video game series of the same name and had its Premier in Barcelona, Spain on 7th February, and was released in the UK last week and both here in Australia and the US this week. It has received mixed reviews from Critics and cost US$120M to produce. 

Here, street-smart thief Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor 'Sully' Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to recover a fortune lost by Ferdinand Magellan some five hundred years ago. What starts as a heist job for the duo becomes a globe-trotting, white-knuckle race to reach the prize before the ruthless Moncada (Antonio Banderas) does, who believes he and his family are the rightful heirs. If Nate and Sully can decipher the clues and solve one of the world's oldest mysteries, they stand to find US$5B in treasure and perhaps even Nate's long-lost brother Sam (Rudy Pankow) - but only if they can learn to work together.

'C'MON C'MON' (Rated M) - is a black and white drama film Written and Directed by Mike Mills in his fourth feature film outing following his 2005 debut with 'Thumbsucker' then 'Beginners' in 2010, and '20th Century Women' in 2016. The film had its World Premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in early September last year and was released in limited theatres in mid- November in the US. Having garnered widespread critical acclaim, and won twelve awards so far plus another forty-eight nominations, it has so far recovered US$2M fro its US$8.3M production budget. When his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann) asks him to look after her son, radio journalist Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) embarks on a cross-country trip with his energetic nephew Jesse (Woody Norman) to show him life away from Los Angeles, while Viv goes to Oakland to care for her estranged husband Paul (Scoot McNairy) struggling with mental illness.

'QUO VADIS, AIDA?' (Rated M) - translated literally means 'Where Are You Going, Aida?' is a Bosnian film Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Jasmila Zbanic. An international co-production of twelve production companies, the film was shown in the main competition section of the Venice International Film Festival in September 2020, and was nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 2021 Academy Awards and all up has garnered twenty-nine award wins and another thirty-four nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. The film dramatises the events of the Srebrenica massacre, during which Serbian troops sent Bosniak men and boys to death in July 1995 led by Serbian convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic. The film exposes the events through the eyes of a mother named Aida Selmanagic (Jasna Duricic), a schoolteacher who works with the United Nations as a translator. After three and a half years under siege, the town of Srebrenica, close to the northeastern Serbian border, was declared a UN safety zone in 1993 and put under the protection of a Dutch battalion working for the UN. 

'FLEE' (Rated M) - is a Danish animated docudrama film Directed and Co-Written by Jonas Poher Rasmussen whose previous documentary offerings include 'Searching for Bill' in 2012 and 'What He Did' in 2015. The film saw its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January 2021 and was released in the US in early December last year. It has received universal unanimous acclaim from film festivals and critics, with much praise bestowed upon it for animation, story, thematic content, subject matter, and LGBT representation; has garnered numerous awards, mainly for animated and documentary categories, all up so far winning sixty-five awards with a further 124 nominations (many of which are still pending an outcome at the time of writing). The film tells the extraordinary true story of Amin Nawabi, who, on the verge of marrying his husband, shares his story for the first time about his hidden past fleeing his home country of Afghanistan to Denmark as a refugee. Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau serve as Executive Producers on the film. With a budget of US$3.4M to produce, 'Flee' has so far recouped just US$232K. 

With four 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-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 1st June 2017

The 70th annual Cannes Film Festival has just wrapped closing twelve days of film extravaganza down on the French Riviera running from 17th until 28th May inclusive. Spanish film Director and Screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar was the President of the Jury for the Festival and Italian Actress Monica Bellucci hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. 'Ismael's Ghosts' by French Director Arnaud Desplechin, was the opening film for the Festival, and 'The Square' by Swedish Director Ruben Ostlund, was the closing film.

This year there were nineteen films in Official Competition all competing for the much prized Palme d'Or. Among those were : 'In the Fade' by Director Faith Akin and starring Diane Kruger; 'The Meyerowitz Stories' Directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson; 'Okja' by Director Bong Joon-ho and starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano; 'The Beguiled' by Director Sofia Coppola and starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning; 'Wonderstruck' by Director Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams; 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' by Director Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman and Alicia Silverstone; 'You Were Never Really Here' by Director Lynne Ramsay and starring Joaquin Phoenix; 'Good Time' by Ben and Josh Safdie and starring Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Jason Leigh; 'Happy End' by Director Michael Haneke and starring Isabelle Huppert; and competition winner of the Palme d'Or 'The Square' Directed by Ruben Ostlund and starring Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West and Claes Bang.

In official competition the other winners and grinners were : Grand Prix awarded to French drama film '120 Beats Per Minute' by Director Robin Campillo; Best Director awarded to Sofia Coppola for 'The Beguiled'; Best Actress awarded to Diane Kruger for 'In the Fade'; Best Actor awarded to Joaquin Phoenix for 'You Were Never Really Here'; Best Screenplay awarded to Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou for 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' and Lynne Ramsay for 'You Were Never Really Here'. Nicole Kidman was awarded a special 70th Anniversary Prize, had three films in competition this year, and a special 70th anniversary screening of Jane Campion's mystery television drama series 'Top of the Lake : China Girl' being the second season of the acclaimed series which Kidman stars in and which goes to air in September this year. Kidman was also unofficially crowned this years 'Queen of Cannes'.

Coming back down to Earth, this week there are just three new release films coming to your local multiplex or independent theatre. We kick off with this eagerly awaited fourth film in this Extended Universe for one particular female Superhero that we have seen before on the big screen just last year, but here she gets her very own origin story and what a whip cracking yarn it promises to be. We then move to bronzed babes and buffed bodies patrolling the beach, saving lives and catching crims in this big screen feature film based on a popular long running television series of the nineties, before wrapping up this week with a late '70's story of one middle aged Mum bringing up her young teenage lad with the help of her two 'adopted' and much younger mother figure friends.

When you have sat through your film entertainment of choice sometime somewhere in the coming seven days, be reminded to share your thoughts with your like minded cinephiles here at Odeon Online. Simply leave your relevant, concise and pertinent views, opinions and observations of any of the three movies as Previewed below, or those as Reviewed and Previewed between these humble pages previously, in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you as always, and meanwhile, enjoy your filmic experience.

'WONDER WOMAN' (Rated M) - the beginnings of the DC Comics Superhero known as 'Wonder Woman' first appeared in the October 1941 edition of All Star Comics #8 and her origin story tells us that she was sculpted from clay by her mother Queen Hippolyta and given life by Aphrodite, along with superhuman powers as gifts by the Greek Gods. The character is a founding member of the Justice League, demigoddess, and warrior princess of the Amazonian people. In her homeland, she is Princess Diana of Themyscira, and outside of it, she is known by her civilian identity Diana Prince. And so now 'Wonder Woman' gets her very own feature length stand alone movie, having taken seventy years to first appear in 2016's 'Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice' although by then Diana Prince was a fully formed bona fide Superhero. This stand alone feature Directed by Patty Jenkins takes us back one hundred years or so to the origins of the character at the time of the First World War, albeit she is an immortal warrior over five thousand years old. The film cost US$120M to make, is released in the US and China this week too, and is the first Superhero film to be Directed by a woman with a female protagonist. 'Wonder Woman' is the fourth film in the DC Extended Universe after 'Man of Steel', the aforementioned 'Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice' and 'Suicide Squad'.

Set at about the time of the First World War, the Amazon princess Diana (Gal Gadot), who is living on the remote island of Themyscira, meets American military pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) when he washes ashore having crashed his aircraft somewhere offshore. After learning from him about the ongoing events of World War I, and the huge conflict that is erupting around the world, she leaves her home for the first time, venturing to London and the battlefields of Europe to bring an early end to the war, and in so doing becomes 'Wonder Woman' realising her full powers and her full potential. Also starring Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta; Robin Wright as General Antiope, the sister of Hippolyta and Diana's aunt; David Thewlis as Ares, the treacherous son of Zeus and half-brother of Diana; and Danny Huston as General Erich Ludendorff, an ambitious and iron fisted general of the German Army. The film is Co-Prodiced by Zack and Deborah Snyder and the story was Co-Written by Zack Snyder. Wonder Woman will also be back in this November's release of 'Justice League'.

'BAYWATCH' (Rated MA15+) - this film is based on the hugely popular and internationally successful American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson that ran for eleven series over 242 episodes from 1991 through until 2001. The show led to a spin-off, 'Baywatch Nights' from 1995 to 1997 over two seasons, and three direct to video films: 'Baywatch the Movie : Forbidden Paradise' in 1995; its sequel 'Baywatch : White Thunder at Glacier Bay' in 1998; and 2003 reunion film 'Baywatch : Hawaiian Wedding'. Now in 2017 and at a budgeted US$69M 'Baywatch' the big screen feature film is upon us. Directed by Seth Gordon, and starring Dwayne Johnson as Mitch Buchannon (formerly played by Daivid Hasselhoff) the overzealous, keen, athletic leader of an elite group of lifeguards patrolling Emerald Bay in Florida, and Zac Efron as  Matt Brody, a disgraced former Olympic swimmer turned wannabe lifeguard who is seen as a PR lifeline to convince the city not to further cut its funding to the Baywatch squad. At the upcoming try-outs for new lifeguard positions, Matt Brody is one of three hopefuls but he soon clashes with headstrong Mitch Buchannon. However, the pair must soon put there differences aside when drugs, the murder of a city dignitary, and an unscrupulous business woman threaten the local Baywatch community. Also starring Kelly Rohrbach as C.J. Parker (formerly played by Pamela Anderson). The film has so far taken US$29M since its release in the US on 25th May and has received less than positive press so far.
 
'20th CENTURY WOMEN' (Rated M) - Mike Mills wrote and Directed this semi-autobiographical comedy drama film for just US$7M which was released Stateside on 28th December 2016 and has so far recovered US$6M. The film has won ten awards and been nominated for a further 68 including Best Original Screenplay at this years Academy Awards and two Golden Globe nods for Best Motion Picture and Best Actress for Annette Benning. Set in Santa Barbara in Southern California in 1979, this film tells the story of Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) a young teenager and his relationship with his determined single mid-fifty year old mother Dorothea Fields (Annette Benning). She enlists the help and support of household lodger Abbie (Greta Gerwig) a free spirited new wave artist and Julie (Elle Fanning) a street smart and overly confident neighbour to aid in Jamie's upbringing and introduction to the world at a time of cultural change and rebellion. Also starring Billy Crudup, the film has received positive Reviews from Critics.

Three films this week all with women at the core - 'Wonder Woman', '20th Century Women' and 'Baywatch' featuring scantily clad swimsuit wearing lifesaving babes that any self respecting guy would want their life saved by, no doubt! Whatever your chosen realm of movie escapism is this week, be sure to share your thoughts with us here afterwards, and in the meantime, I'll see you somewhere, sometime, in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-