GRAN TURISMO : Monday 14th August 2023.

I saw the M Rated 'GRAN TURISMO' at my local multiplex earlier this week, and this American biographical sports film is Directed by Neill Blomkamp whose prior feature film credits take in his debut with the acclaimed 'District 9' in 2009, then 'Elysium' in 2013, 'Chappie' in 2015 and 'Demonic' in 2021. This film is based on the PlayStation Studios video game series of the same name, and inspired by the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a teenage Gran Turismo player aspiring to be a race car driver. Originally slated for a wide cinema release last week, this has been reduced to a limited release due to the SAG-AFTRA strike before its release proper from the 25th of this month. The film has garnered mixed critical acclaim and has so far grossed close to US$11M. 

The film opens in the home of the Mardenborough's in Cardiff, Wales with Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) a compulsive obsessive late teenager over his Gran Turismo simulated racing game for which he is a self-confessed expert having spent literally thousands of hours perfecting his skills and constructing and deconstructing his on-line vehicles to his specifications in order to eek out the necessary speed and handling advantages over his on-line opponents. On this particular day he receives a parcel in the post containing a brand new steering wheel which will help him take his gaming skills to the next level. Jann's brother Coby (Daniel Puig) berates him for having to save up his hard earned cash from his part-time job as a shop assistant for months, in order to buy the steering wheel, but Jann responds that it only took him one month of his wage. Jann and Coby's parents are Steve Mardenborough (Djimon Housou) a former professional football player who played for Cardiff City Football Club and his mother Lesley (Geri Halliwell), who berate Jann for spending all of his waking hours playing his game rather than getting a real job or going on to university.

In the meantime, Danny Moore (Orlando Bloom) a marketing executive for Nissan is in Tokyo pitching a plan to Nissan's Board for an opportunity for the world's best Gran Turismo driver to become a real race car driver, and progress through the ranks of the GT Academy to win a spot on Team Nissan and drive in race competitions globally, and in the process open up Nissan to potentially millions of car buying customers. When the Board give the thumbs up for the competition to go ahead, on the one proviso that it is absolutely safe to do so, Danny sets about calling all of his Chief Engineer contacts who will effectively mentor and monitor the group of ten hopefuls in the GT Academy and whittle those ten down to one outright winner who will progress. The last name on Danny's list after a whole bunch of rejections is Jack Salter (David Harbour), a former race car driver who could have been a world champion were it not for a crash in the 24 hour Le Mans race after which he lost his nerve. 

After sneaking out one night with Coby to go and see Jann's would be girlfriend Audrey (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) and taking their Dad's car without his permission, they get side swiped by another car driven by a group of teenagers on their way home. Both cars are pulled over the Police, and while the officer is questioning the driver of the other vehicle, Jann decides to push the peddle to the metal and drive off at speed with the Police car giving chase. Jann's driving skills manage to evade them being caught, but with a broken wing mirror and the side panels needing a paint job, Dad is waiting outside when they pull up outside their home. As penance, Dad insists that Jann join him at his work at a rail yard, given that Jann seems to have little motivation to find a real job and only has his sights set on a pipe dream of racing cars.

And so Jann is selected to compete in a Gran Turismo race at his local gaming arcade because he clocked the fastest time, and so leaving the rail yard and rebelling against his Dad he arrives just in the nick of time to take his seat at the console. Needless to say Jann wins the race and his place on the GT Academy, located at Silverstone Race Circuit, in Northamptonshire, England. There he is joined by nine other hopefuls and are introduced to Danny, Jack (recently recruited from his Chief Engineer role at Capa Racing) and executive members of Nissan.

And so Jack puts the hopefuls through their paces which involves physical exercises to strengthen their bodies to be able to withstand extreme G-forces and speeds, their mental dexterity to make split second decisions while driving at those extreme speeds, and of course time spent behind the wheel of the cars they may one day be racing. Over the course of six weeks they are put through their paces, with Jack and Danny ultimately reducing the number from ten down to five, with the top five having to race each other in a sudden death competition with the winner taking all. And so in 2011, Jann became the third and youngest winner of the GT Academy competition, beating out 90,000 other entrants, and has his sights set on a career as a professional race car driver.

The next day, Jann is on a private Leer Jet with Danny and Jack heading off to Vienna to take part in his inaugural race. There are five races left in the season and Jann must land in the top four in one race to be granted his FIA licence to be able to drive at the top level. In his first race Jann was a back marker, in his second he ranked 17th, in his third race he came 12th and in his fourth he did not finish and crashed out. However, in his fifth race he finished fourth and so was granted his FIA licence. 

And so the next season takes us to various race circuits around Europe where Jann is always in competition with the very opinionated and aggressively competitive Nicholas Capa (Josha Stradowski) who firmly believes that a simulator driver will never stand on the winners podium, and that they are not real race car drivers. As the season progresses, the action takes us to Germany's Nurburgring race track. With the race in full swing and Jann catching Capa, his Nissan GT-R Nismo caught air and cartwheeled end over end several times through the fence into spectators, leaving one spectator dead. Jann is rushed to hospital in a helicopter while his parents watch on from their home in Cardiff in disbelief. Jann eventually comes round in a hospital bed with Danny and Jack on hand. He asks what happened, and Jack explains, and then responds with 'was anyone hurt', to which Jack responds with one spectator died. Jann is mortified. It takes Jann a while to reconcile the events of that horror crash, but later on while driving around the Nurburgring with Jack behind the wheel of a Porsche he first recounts his own experience at the Le Mans 24 hour race years earlier and teases Jann with the words 'don't let the crash define who you are - how you respond to it will'. He then tells Jann to finish his lap, on the empty track, which he does. 

His final fixture of the season was to be the 24 hour Le Mans race. In the lead up everything is good, and Jann has made a good recovery, but during the early stages of the race he is closing in on a car when it veers out of control, off the track, into the tyre wall and bursts into flames. Jann is visibly shaken by the event which occurred directly in front of him and which he then caught in his rear view and wing mirrors, which brought back memories of his horrific accident. He slows down dramatically giving up his place as seventh and falling back to fifteenth in a crisis of confidence, with Jack and Danny beside themselves in the pit lane. Jack then plays Jann his favourite Kenny G and Enya songs, which he uses to relax and compose himself prior to a race, on the team radio which brings Jann back to the here and now. Fairly quickly with his mind back on the task in hand, Jann begins to recover his lost ground rising through the rankings and ultimately battling it out for third place with Nicholas Capa and just inching ahead of his arch rival as they cross the chequered flag in a photo finish, with Jann being declared in third place and a podium finish. 

'Gran Turismo' is an entertaining sports drama biopic that has emotion, excitement, exhilaration and energy that elevates it above many of the other video game adaptations that we have seen in recent times. The production values and clever use of graphics are top notch, and the racing sequences (of which there are plenty to satisfy any petrolhead) are expertly crafted from both inside, outside and above the cars. The performances from Harbour, Bloom and Madekwe are all on point and the Direction from Neill Blomkamp all help to create an underdog racing story, that if a little generic in its formula, has enough under the bonnet to maintain your interest for its 135 minute run time. This film won't be for everyone, but if fast cars racing around closed circuits is your thing, then this movie is for you. 

'Gran Turismo' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE OUTPOST : Tuesday 13th October 2020.

'THE OUTPOST' which I saw this week is an MA15+ Rated American and Bulgarian Co-Produced war drama film that is Directed by Rod Lurie whose previous feature film making credits take in the likes of 'The Contender', 'The Last Castle', 'Nothing But the Truth', and 'Straw Dogs'. This film is based on the 2012 book 'The Outpost : An Untold Story of American Valor' by Jake Tapper about the Battle of Kamdesh during the war in Afghanistan. Due to see its Premier screening at South by Southwest in March of this year, when the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it was released through Premium VOD and in selected US theatres in early July this year. Last week it saw its cinematic release in Australia having earned just over US$1M at the Box Office so far and generated largely positive Reviews.

As the film opens we are introduced to a troop of soldiers being helicoptered in to a remote outpost in Afghanistan located some fourteen miles from the border with Pakistan and at the base of three steep mountains. This is Combat Outpost Keating. Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha (Scott Eastwood) is amongst the new arrivals late at night. He settles in taking a lower bunk and as he stretches out he notices that a previous occupant has inscribed the words 'it does not get better' on the underside of the upper bunk. In the camp there is a complete mix of personalities, backgrounds and ethnicities, all led by Captain Benjamin Keating (Orlando Bloom). The next morning following a quick briefing by Keating, the newly arrived troops are shown around the camp ground when they are attacked by Taliban insurgents. The short lived skirmish results in an exchange of gun fire and mortar rounds aimed at a cluster of Taliban perched on a narrow escarpment just within range.  Such skirmishes are almost a daily occurrence with Keating's men generally gaining the upper hand even though they are disadvantaged by being on the lower ground, but they have far superior weaponry and trained soldiers. 

After being introduced to various other soldiers, including Specialist Ty Michael Carter (Caleb Landry Jones), Staff Sergeant Justin T. Gallegos (Jacob Scipio), Private First Class Zorias Yunger (Alfie Stewart), Private Ed Faulkner (Will Attenborough), and following that skirmish these men all had disagreements with one another or with Captain Keating, revealing the amount of pressure and stress the men collectively were under. The next day Captain Keating meets with a group of local tribal elders during which time he states that they must all work together with a shared sense of trust and respect, and he agrees to pay them and offer contracts for projects to help support and grow their communities, including the construction of a local school. He also advises them that the United States will compensate them for anyone who agrees to lay down their arms. After some reluctance the gathered Taliban all lay down their weapons at Keating's feet, and as a show of gratitude one of the English speaking elders embraces Captain Keating.

The next day Captain Keating announces that they are to return a big truck to another military base located just thirteen miles away. But the narrow unsealed mountain roads are too precarious for a vehicle of that weight and size, and so none of the men want to go because it's seen as being way to dangerous a mission. Captain Keating volunteers to drive the truck even though it will take all night to travel the thirteen miles, and Romesha and Carter ride with him in the cabin, with army patrol cars up front and behind. On a narrow stretch of road with a sheer drop to the left, the small convoy comes to halt having spied something in the road up ahead. Romesha and Carter go to investigate and discover that it is nothing, and turning around to go back and join Captain Keating, the truck gives way with its weight on the crumbling roadside and plunges down the mountain side and erupts into a ball of flame a couple of hundred feet below. Keating is thrown free, but has sustained severe head injuries and dies a short time afterwards where he lay. After the soldiers have held a funeral and a gun salute to their deceased Captain Keating, they are introduced to Captain Robert Yllescas (Milo Gibson). 

As he is being shown around the base on his first day, the Taliban insurgents attack, and afterwards Romesha leads his men on a patrol of the surrounding area. Looking down on their camp they see for the first time just how exposed and vulnerable the outpost really is. Sometime later Sergeant Josh Kirk (Jack Kesy) observes a man with a mobile phone taking photos and video footage of the camp. The man does a runner but Kirk give chase and catches up with him, knocking him to the ground. The man advises Kirk that the elders paid him to take photos of the camp. The next day Captain Yllescas is in discussion with the elders wanting to know more details surrounding the covert photography. The elders respond asking about their arrangement with Captain Keating as they feel it is now not being honoured. Captain Yllescas withholds money from the locals which was to be used for the school and to bring clean water and power to their community. As relations with the elders begin to deteriorate the US troops are warned by a local translator Mohammed (Sharif Dorani) of an impending mass attack by the Taliban. The US troops laugh it off and do not take the warning seriously saying that Mohammed cries wolf to them almost everyday, and nothing ever eventuates from his dire warnings.

On a patrol mission headed up by Captain Yllescas, a lot of chatter is picked up over the radio. Mohammed claims that the chat is about nothing really, not realising that it is probably coded. As Captain Yllescas is crossing a narrow rope bridge over a river and talking to Yunger behind him, he is blown up and killed outright. Yunger escapes being wounded but is traumatised after the incident and goes into shock. Later that night Yunger is talked out of shooting himself in the head by Romesha, and is the next day helicoptered off camp for treatment. 

Captain Sylvanius Broward (Kwame Patterson) arrives at the camp and when it is attacked he delays the orders for his troop to fire back when engaged in gunfire by the Taliban, and subsequently berates Romesha for engaging with the enemy when they are not seen to be holding any firearms. So many changes in their leadership over such a short period of time is only adding to the tension and stress the men are feeling. Captain Broward offers to pay the men an extra US$1,000 per month for their troubles. The relationship with the elders and the locals continues to deteriorate. Mortars come raining down on the base at night. The next day at the village, Broward is confronted by the villagers with a corpse of a young woman who claim that she was killed by mortars from the camp the night before, even though it is obvious to the soldiers that she has been dead for two or three days at least. The elders demand money for the loss of one of their daughters and further state that everyone knows the troops are leaving soon. Captain Broward gets upset and questions why they think they are leaving soon? As Captain Broward tries to get an answer to his question, the sniffer dog companion of one of the US soldiers bites a local man's hand. Mohammed explains that in their culture it is extremely disrespectful to get bitten by a dog. Captain Broward then pulls out his sidearm and shoots the dog, which only serves to alienate him even more from his own men. As he turns to walk away he orders one of the men to pay US$3,500 out of the Captains discretionary fund to compensate for the loss of the young woman. 

The next day as the soldiers are letting off some steam in their quarters, Captain Broward enters and announces that he has been relieved of his duties. Broward also advises that they are scheduling the birds to come pick them up with a Captain Stoney Portis and that the Saudi's will then close up the base on October 6th and ultimately blow it to kingdom come. Broward appoints First Lieutenant Andrew Bundermann (Taylor John Smith) to assume command until then. Bundermann's first order is to remain silent on all outgoing communications about leaving as they do not want to give the Taliban the heads up. He instructs the soldiers not to talk about leaving the base to anyone on Skype, email, the radio, or over the phone.

Early morning on 3rd October, Mohammed runs around the camp screaming that the Taliban are here. In the mountains, hundreds of Taliban soldiers are seen advancing on the camp as they begin their attack using mortars, rocket propelled grenades and gunfire. Soon the soldiers find themselves in a life or death battle at a base that is fully surrounded by mountains and the Taliban have the advantage of the high ground. The attack is one of the bloodiest battles and is known as the Battle of Kamdesh, that raged through the entire day until early evening when air support finally arrived dispensing with many of the remaining attackers. 

Eight U.S. soldiers were killed and twenty-seven wounded; eight Afghan soldiers were wounded, along with two Afghan private security guards. The US military estimated that 150 Taliban militants were also killed as a result of repulsing the assault. The US soldiers killed in the battle were Staff Sergeant Justin T. Gallegos, Specialist Christoper Griffin (Alexander Arnold), Private First Class Kevin C. Thomson (Bobby Lockwood), Sergeant Michael P. Scusa (Scott Alda Coffey), Staff Sergeant Vernon W. Martin (Cory Hardrict), Specialist Stephan L. Mace (Chris Born), Sergeant Joshua J. Kirk and Sergeant Joshua M. Hardt (Jack DeVos). Twenty-seven soldiers were awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat. Thirty-seven soldiers were awarded the Army Commendation Medal with 'V' device for valour, three soldiers were awarded the Bronze Star Medal, and eighteen others the Bronze Star Medal with 'V' device for valour. Nine soldiers were awarded the Silver Star for valour. Staff Sergeant Justin Gallegos and First Lieutenant Andrew Bundermann were ultimately awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha and Staff Sergeant Ty Carter were both subsequently awarded the Medal of Honour in 2013.

'The Outpost' presents the viewer with a truly immersive rendition of the Battle of Kamdesh underpinned by a sense of urgency and hopelessness by being overcome by a group of marauding insurgents who outnumbered those US soldiers in Camp Keating eight to one. This is a realistic retelling of one of the bloodiest and boldest battles of the nineteen years of the Afghan War, that pays tribute to the brave soldiers who stood their ground and won the day against the odds, but not without sacrifice. The cast are all to be commended for their authentic depiction of the soldiers they portray with a particular stand out performance by Caleb Landry Jones, and the Director here has crafted a surprisingly visceral, gritty, intense, no holds barred depiction of the horrors of the battlefield, its bravery, its failures and the true cost of war on both sides. 'The Outpost' reminded me in some ways of Ridley Scott's 2001 'Black Hawk Down' - another true life account of American soldiers a long way from home fighting for their lives amidst seemingly impossible odds. Certainly worth watching on the big screen if you can. 

'The Outpost' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN : DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES - Tuesday 30th May 2017.

The trailer for the latest in this hugely successful franchise 'PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN : DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES', which I saw last week, would have us believe, that, allegedly, this is the final voyage for the good ship Black Pearl and her merry band of seafaring pirates as led by the most infamous swashbuckling blaggard of them all Cap'n Jack Sparrow. And so here we have this fifth instalment in the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series Directed by the Norwegian pairing of Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning for a cool US$230M budget outlay. This film has been in development since before the release of 'On Stranger Tides' in 2011 and went through extensive re-writes, filming delays and budget issues to ensure that the script and the production were just right to almost guarantee its commercial and critical success. It has been reported that Johnny Depp takes home a pay packet worth US$67M for reprising his role for the fifth time as our titular hero of the seven seas. This statistic would hardly seem surprising given that the first four films took a combined US$3,729B at the worldwide Box Office against a budget of US$1,044B together with a collective awards haul of 101 wins and 231 further nominations - not bad for a series of films based on a Disney theme park ride that was first launched fifty years ago. The film has so far taken US$508M since its release in the US, Canada, China and Australia at the end of May.

Here this story starts with a twelve year old Henry Turner (Lewis McGowan) who is in possession of a map that will tell him the exact offshore location of his now increasingly barnacled old man - the banished to sea as Captain aboard The Flying Dutchman, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), as seen at the end of 'At World's End'. Following a watery rendezvous at the bottom of the ocean Henry announces to his father that he knows of the means to break the curse which binds his father to Davy Jones Locker for all eternity, by way of the mythical Trident of Poseidon. Will of course will have nothing of this far flung fancy and tells his son that the Trident does not exist, and he should leave and forget about him. Henry vows to keep searching for the Trident and the means of setting his father free despite what he thinks or says.

We then fast forward nine years later and Henry is now a strapping young man (Brenton Thwaites) working for the British Royal Navy aboard a warship. While chasing down a pirate ship, Henry realises that his Captain is about to sail them straight into the jaws of the uncharted Devil's Triangle from which there is no return. Having an intimate knowledge of all things nautical, Henry is so convinced that they face certain doom, that he rebels against the Captain and his Officers, only to be locked up for his insolence and inciting a mutiny.

Sure enough, the Captain advances into The Devils Triangle and is quickly engulfed by a living shipwreck and its undead crew led by one Captain Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem), who go about killing every man on board . . . except the incarcerated Henry, who just happens to have a wanted poster for Jack Sparrow in his cell. Salazar spares Henry's life so that he can deliver a message that certain death is coming after him!

Meanwhile, on the northeast Caribbean island of Saint Martin, a young woman names Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) has been sentenced to death by hanging because she has been branded a witch because of her intelligence, her knowledge of astronomy and of horology. She is able to briefly escape her captors and inadvertently runs into Jack Sparrow who has been caught red handed robbing a bank vault with his crew. After a long slapstick chase sequence through the main town that is pulled straight from a Buster Keaton movie, the crew come to realise that the vault is empty and all their hard efforts were for nothing. Saying that their Captain's luck and good fortune have finally run out, Jack's crew abandon him. Later Carina meets with Henry who has also been sentenced to death for his crimes against the Royal Navy. During their brief meeting Carina tells Henry that she knows how to locate the Trident. She helps to free Henry but in the process is captured herself.

By now Jack is feeling decidedly depressed and sorry for himself. He has lost his crew, his ship, The Black Pearl, is cursed and locked inside a bottle, and he has no money with which to even buy himself a drink. He lumbers into a tavern caked in mud from a booze induced fall, and trades in his mystical compass for a bottle of the landlords finest rum. In giving up his compass, this causes the Devil Triangle to crumble into the sea, and Salazar and his undead ship mates to roam the seas now freely. Before you know it, Jack is caught by the British Army and sentenced to death with Carina the Witch. He chooses the guillotine and she is to be hanged. However, just in time Henry comes to the rescue of them both, as do Jack's former shipmates and crew having been paid to do so by Henry.  What follows is another action set piece lifted straight out of the Keystone Cops, allowing Jack, Henry, Carina and the pirate crew to escape on Jack's ramshackle old ship 'The Dying Gull'.

Out on the ocean wave, Carina reveals to Henry and Jack that she is in possession of a map that will lead them to the whereabouts of the Trident, but that the map is hidden in the stars, and being an astronomer and a horologist, only she is qualified on board to navigate the course. She agrees to help Henry lift the curse on her father and Jack lift the curse of the revengeful Salazar in exchange for her realising the dream that was left to her by her father. Meanwhile, Salazar is free to sail the seas in search of Jack and is intent on dispensing with all pirate ships once again. He systematically wipes out Barbossa's fleet which has grown quite large and very wealthy, in his relentless search for Captain Jack. Barbossa meets with Salazar and bargains with him to spare his fleet in exchange for the delivery of Jack Sparrow to which the undead Captain reluctantly agrees.

Before long Barbossa delivers on his promise to Salazar by locating Jack's ship off in the distance. Jack, Carina and Henry make off to the safety of a nearby island in a rowing boat, leaving the crew aboard The Dying Gull to create a distraction. Salazar and his men, being undead, are all to nimbly walk on water and give chase to the rowboat. Fortunately Jack, Carina and Henry are able to evade Salazar and his men at the waters edge when it is realised that the ghost crew are unable to walk on dry land, having been banished for all eternity to a watery existence.

Jack, Carina and Henry head inland and are promptly captured by some local pirate types that have taken up residence having been abandon there long before. Jack is forced into marrying the fugly overweight daughter of their leader but is rescued from a fate worse than death by Barbossa. He breaks the miniaturised Black Pearl out of its bottle, so breaking its curse and returning it to its full size and former glory. Barbossa takes control of the ship, ties up Jack to the mast, and allows Carina to navigate them to the island where the Trident is allegedly hidden. In a moment of calm, Jack and Barbossa come to realise a tantalising secret about Carina's true parentage, that neither of them can speak of again.

Sometime later, the Black Pearl escapes being destroyed by a British Naval warship, the HMS Essex under the command of Lieutenant Scarfield (David Wenham), which is instead taken out by Salazar's ship. The crew of the Black Pearl then face off against the crew of Salazar's ship, and is able to break away arriving at the island as directed by a constellation of stars marking out a path. Upon activating a path to the Trident, Jack and Carina are sent careering down a pathway  to the ocean floor where the Trident is located. By now the ocean has formed a deep trench with a deep wall of water on either side making access for the living easy.

Meanwhile, Salazar has given chase, and his undead ghost possesses Henry so enabling him to walk on dry land, which in turn gives him access to the Trident on the now dry ocean bed, which he gets to first. Wielding its mighty power, Salazar impales Jack with the Trident. Henry is now free of Salazar's ghostly possession and realises that an earlier clue to breaking its curse upon the sea, is to 'divide' the Trident into two. Before Salazar is able to render the final blow to Jack, Henry intervenes, breaks the Trident and so returning Salazar and his shipmates to the realm of the living. Barbossa aids Jack, Carina and Henry to safety by way of the dropped anchor from the Black Pearl above, but time is running out as the divided sea walls now begin to cave in. As the anchor gradually lifts the three and Barbossa to safety with torrents of ocean water closing in, so Salazar makes a final last ditch attempt to thwart Jack, but ultimately is unsuccessful. Salazar and his crew mates are engulfed by the sea, drown and die, never to be seen again!

All ends happily after after, as Will Turner's curse is lifted and he is reunited with his wife Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Henry and Carina get it together, and Jack regains the mighty Black Pearl, a loyal crew, and his mystical compass back which points to their next heading, which might just be the teaser that 'Pirates 6' is more of a likelihood than the Studio Exec's would have us believe.

This is an OK entry into the 'Pirates' cannon, but delivers exactly what you would expect and largely what you have seen before. The action set pieces and the CGI are impressive enough, but delivered with a slapstick intent that has been overcooked in the four previous instalments, and as such there is really nothing new to see here. It is an entertaining enough romp - not a bad film but not a great one either, just about sufficient to keep you engaged and maintain your interest for its two hour running time. Johnny Depp plays the Cap'n with a predictable familiarity, that even his brief younger days back story provide little respite from. Rush and Bardem as Barbossa and Salazar respectively provide more of a spectacle and keep the momentum going providing a welcome break from Sparrow's trademark slapstick antics, forced smiles and die-hard one-liners. Watch out for the cameo by Sir Paul McCartney as locked up Uncle Jack, and the end credits sequence setting the scene for the next instalment . . . maybe, perhaps, possibly, and do we really need it!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 11th - 17th January 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week? Orlando Bloom  does, on 13th January - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 11th January

• Amanda Peet - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actress
• Mary J. Blige - Born 1971, turns 44 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress
• Jason Connery - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director

Monday 12th January

• Rob Zombie - Born 1965, turns 50 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Singer | Songwriter | Composer
• Oliver Platt - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• Anthony Andrews - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actor
• John Lasseter - Born 1957, turns 58 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Aaron Seltzer - Born 1974, turns 41 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Kirstie Alley - Born 1951, turns 64 - Actress | Producer

Tuesday 13th January

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actress | Producer
• Orlando Bloom - Born 1977, turns 38 - Actor | Producer
• Liam Hemsworth - Born 1990, turns 25 - Actor
• Patrick Dempsey - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Bill Bailey - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor | Comedian | Producer | Singer | Songwriter | Composer
• Michael Pena - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actor

Wednesday 14th January

• Jason Bateman - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Carl Weathers - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actor | Director
• Steven Soderbergh - Born 1963, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor | Cinematographer
• Lawrence Kasdan - Born 1949, turns 66 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Faye Dunaway - Born 1941, turns 74 - Actress | Producer
• Emily Watson - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress

Thursday 15th January

• James Nesbitt - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor
• Mario Van Peebles - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Ryan Corr - Born 1989, turns 26 - Actor

Friday 16th January

• John Carpenter - Born 1948, turns 67 - Director | Producer | Writer | Composer
• Debbie Allen - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actress | Director | Producer | Singer | Songwriter

Saturday 17th January 

• Zooey Deschanel - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Jim Carey - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• James Earl Jones - Born 1931, turns 84 - Actor
• Brian Helgeland - Born 1954, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Leigh Wannell - Born 1977, turns 38 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent, England to Sonia Constance Josephine Copeland and Harry Saul Bloom. His mother was born in Kolkata, India and the man he knew in his early life as his father was a South African Political Activist - he died when Orlando was just four years old. He was raised by his mother, older sister Samantha and Colin Stone whom his mother announced when Orlando was thirteen years of age was his actual biological father.

The young Bloom attended St. Peter's Methodist Primary School, The King's School, and St. Edmund's School all in Canterbury. He struggled academically because he suffered with mild dyslexia and so immersed himself in pottery, sculpture and photography. He in turn studied poetry and prose  and with his sister gave many recitals of classic works and from the Bible. He was encouraged by his mother to take art and drama classes and in 1993 he relocated to London to complete drama, photography and sculpture classes at the Fine Arts College in Hampstead. He joined the National Youth Theatre and gained a scholarship to the British American Drama Academy.

He then began acting professionally securing roles in three episodes of BBC's hospital drama 'Casualty' and one episode of 'Midsomer Murders' before appearing with Stephen Fry in his 1997 big screen debut 'Wilde'. He then attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London to study acting. While there he fell three stories from a roof top terrace and broke his back. Beyond all expectations he made a quick and full recovery and returned to the stage. During one performance, Peter Jackson was sat in the audience, and following a post-show discussion he was cast in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy which began filming two days after he graduated. The rest as they say, is history!

His role as Legolas in the 'LOTR' series propelled Bloom into the international spotlight and mainstream - a role he would reprise a further four times in 'The Two Towers' and 'Return of the King' and then again more recently in two of the three 'The Hobbit' films 'The Desolation of Smaug' and 'The Battle of the Five Armies'. Whilst shooting the first 'Rings' film he also secured a small role in Ridley Scott's 'Black Hawk Down' in 2001 and 'Ned Kelly' in 2003 with Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush.

Immediately following the success of 'LOTR' came another huge franchise beckoning with the first in the epic blockbuster 'Pirates of the Carribbean' series with 2003's 'Curse of the Black Pearl' opposite Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley. His role as Will Turner was subsequently reprised in 2006's 'Dead Man's Chest' and 2007's 'At World's End', and he is rumoured to be back again for 2017's 'Dead Men tell no Tales' having skipped 'On Stranger Tides' in the meantime.

Following on came 'Troy' in 2004 Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and starring as 'Paris' alongside Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Peter O'Toole, with 'Kingdom of Heaven' a year later for Director Ridley Scott with Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson and Edward Norton. Coming after the epic blockbuster fare largely seen up to now came 'Elizabethtown' in 2005 with Kirsten Dunst, 'New York, I Love You' in 2009 in one of the twelve short films that comprise the complete film package, and then several other roles flying largely under the radar - 'Sympathy for Delicious', 'Main Street', 'The Good Doctor', 'Zulu' and the more widely known 'The Three Musketeers' in 2011. Next up is 'Digging for Fire' with Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell and Sam Elliott due later this year, and then 'Unlocked' thereafter with Director Michael Apted and also starring Noomi Rapace, Toni Collette, Michael Douglas and John Malkovich.

Bloom has 38 acting credits to his name and three Producer credits thus far. He has twenty award wins and a further 21 award nominations. He was associated with Actress Kate Bosworth from 2003-2006 and married to Miranda Kerr from 2010-2013 with whom they have a son - Flynn Christopher Blanchard Copeland Bloom born in 2011. He is a practising Buddhist, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador,  and is involved in environmental organisation 'Global Green'. As wells breaking his back, he has also broken his left arm (playing rugby), his right leg (skiing), his left leg (motorcycle accident), right wrist (snowboarding), several ribs (filming 'LOTR'), nose (playing rugby) and cracked his skull several times. His home in the Hollywood Hills was robbed by the 'Bling Ring' in 2009 during which US$500K in personal possessions were stolen - although mostly subsequently retrieved.

Orlando Bloom - very handy with a sword and a bow, rides a horse well, adept at close quarter combat, athletic and known for sword and sandal, epic fantasy, costume drama roles and possessing cheeky boyish good looks - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-