DOG : Tuesday 22nd March 2022.

'DOG', which I saw at my local independent movie theatre this week, is an M Rated American comedy drama film, and is Directed and Co-Produced by Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin with the latter also having story and screenplay credits, and with both making their directorial debuts. The film was originally slated for its release in the US in mid-February 2021 but was pushed back to mid-July, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then pushed back again to 18th February 2022 in the US and to last week in Australia. The film has garnered positive critical reviews and has so far grossed US$66M off the back of a US$15M production budget. 

The film opens up with Jackson Briggs (Channing Tatum) wielding an axe down on logs for firewood in his snow covered cabin somewhere in the hills beyond Washington. He receives a call and suddenly his mood changes. Next up he is seen at a bar with other Army Rangers officers celebrating the life of a fellow soldier who has suddenly passed away. After an evening on the turps, Briggs asks Officer Jones (Luke Forbes) for his sign off to be readmitted to the Army Rangers following being medically discharged some time ago. Briggs is desperate to get back to active duty and to do what he does best, but has been turned down several times already, needing sign off from an Officer, all of whom seem reluctant to give. 

Finally, Officer Jones hauls Briggs out of the back of his old Ford Bronco truck where he crashed out the night before, saying that he will authorise Briggs reinstatement if he agrees to perform one important task. That task is to deliver an Army dog, named Lulu, a Belgian Malinois, down the Pacific Coast from Joint Base Lewis–McChord in Washington to Nogales, Arizona in time to attend her handler's funeral. This he must do without any upset, mistakes or trouble along the way, the dog must be delivered safe and healthy, and he must be on time. Otherwise, no reinstatement! The only issue is, is that Lulu has become so traumatised by her active service in the Army Rangers battle zones, that no one dare go near her - as she has already hospitalised three men and is now deemed to be unsalvageable, and for the journey she is to be kept muzzled, on a leash, and following the funeral put-down. 

Reluctantly Briggs agrees, after all he will do almost anything to get back into the Army Rangers. Following further advice not to let Lulu near any one else, or another animal, and to not touch her ears Briggs and his canine companion begin their 1700 mile journey due south in Briggs 1984 Ford Bronco. 

Of course, the journey down to Arizona via Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles does not go without its fair share of upset, mistakes and trouble along the way. This includes a brief soujourn at a gun club in which Briggs practices his pistol shooting skills while Lulu breaks out of her cage and sets about ripping the trucks seat upholstery to pieces. Then in Portland, Briggs heads to a bar where he has several unsuccessful attempts to pick up women, but then when he thinks he has struck pay dirt with two likely girls who practice tantra the possibility of an evening of pleasure is interrupted by a guy outside trying to quiet Lulu's incessant barking down, and who ultimately throws a rock smashing the back window of the truck. When Lulu jumps through the window and attacks the rock throwing assailant, the girls quickly disappear back inside their house wanting nothing more to do with Briggs. 

Then in San Francisco, Briggs decides he has a plan to stay in a lavish hotel for the night so that Lulu can sleep on a comfortable bed. Briggs decides to act as a blind ex-serviceman and so is granted a penthouse suite at no cost. After settling in, sharing a bath together, ordering room service, Briggs is all suited and booted for a night on the town, and leaves Lulu behind, but Lulu wants to tag along. In the hotel lobby, Lulu charges of her leash with Briggs giving chase, and attacks a man wearing Middle Eastern robes. After the francas Briggs promptly announces in the lobby now packed full of onlookers that all of a sudden he can see! He is promptly arrested and the dog impounded, with no resolution in sight until Monday, and the funeral is on Sunday. Briggs comes clean about his rouse, offers to confess, but states he needs to be somewhere very important by Sunday with the dog, at which point he is let off the hook and allowed to continue with his journey. 

In Los Angeles, Briggs visits his former wife Niki (Q'orianka Kilcher) and his three years old daughter Sam whom he is estranged from. Needless to say that visit does not go well. He then visits Lulu's brother Duke, who had been adopted by another former Army Ranger Noah (Ethan Suplee) who has spent the last six months retraining Duke in how to adapt to humans. Noah gives Briggs some insight into how he can retrain Lulu. When its time to leave, Briggs discovers that his truck has been broken into and all of the possessions belonging to his former colleague Rodriguez have been stolen, including his jacket, his back pack and most importantly his field diary detailing his exploits with Lulu in the field. Noah, Briggs, Lulu and Duke all go on the hunt for the perpetrator with the dogs sniffing out the scent from the dog tags as worn by Rodriguez. They catch up with the thief who is living under a bridge and who claims that he is a war vet and that the possessions are his, but Briggs quickly puts him in his place. 

Continuing their journey south on the wide open road, at night and in the pouring rain, the Ford Bronco blows a gasket and Briggs and Lulu have to abandon the truck and walk. They find an old barn and take shelter there for the night while the rain lashes down with thunder claps and lighting strikes all around them, which unsettles Lulu. At sun up the next morning, the pair head off with Briggs having to physically carry Lulu on his back, because the dog is too exhausted to continue walking. They reach the funeral, as it has already begun. Lulu who is kept on a leash is released and she goes and rests her head on Rodriguez's boots as his coffin is laid to rest with full military honours.

That night, laid up in some cheap motel, Briggs wakes, stumbles into the bathroom and has a seizure. Lulu looks on with doleful eyes. Briggs in time comes round and crawls out of the bathroom eventually falling asleep on the floor, with Lulu resting her head on his chest. The next morning with the truck now repaired, Briggs arrives at the local Army base to hand Lulu over to be put down. He hands her over with a heavy heart having called Officer Jones saying that she has changed and that he should think again about having her put down. But Jones is steadfast. Briggs drives out of the base but in his rear view mirror sees that Lulu is rebelling against her new captors. He halts the Bronco, reverses, collects the dog, and drives out of there. 

'Dog' is a fairly predictable tale of one man's and one canine's road to redemption having both suffered at the hands of PTSD, suicide and both the physical and emotional scars of war. Channing Tatum portrays the lost and wounded former soldier keen to get back into the ranks with his colleagues very well with the emotional heft, the light hearted dialogue and the humorous quips that make his performance all the more realistic, rather than playing this just for laughs and downgrading the film into the realms of kid friendly fare, which this film definitely is not. For first time Directors and Writer Carolin, the pair have proven their ability to deliver a film with a message of overcoming adversity, man and animal bonding all wrapped up in a buddy road trip movie that is a heartwarming crowd pleaser. 

'Dog' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

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

The 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards, honouring the best independent films and television series of 2021, were presented by Film Independent on 6th March. The nominations were announced on 14th December 2021 by Actresses Beanie Feldstein, Regina Hall, and Naomi Watts. Returning to an in-person ceremony this year, the event was held at the Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California and hosted by married couple Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman.

The winners, grinners and also rans in this years thirteen feature films categories are as given below :-

* Best Feature - awarded to 'THE LOST DAUGHTER', beating out 'A Chiara', 'C'mon C'mon', 'The Novice' and 'Zola'. 

* Best Director - presented to MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL for 'The Lost Daughter', beating out Janicza Bravo for 'Zola', Lauren Hadaway for 'The Novice', Mike Mills for 'C'mon C'mon' and Ninja Thyberg for 'Pleasure'.

* Best Male Lead - presented to SIMON REX for 'Red Rocket', beating out Clifton Collins Jnr. for 'Jockey', Frankie Faison for 'The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain', Michael Greyeyes for 'Wild Indian' and Udo Kier for 'Swan Song'.

* Best Female Lead' - awarded to TAYLOUR PAIGE for 'Zola', beating out Isabelle Fuhrman for 'The Novice', Brittany S. Hall for 'Test Pattern', Patti Harrison for 'Together Together' and Kali Reis for 'Catch the Fair One'.

* Best Supporting Male - presented to TROY KOTSUR for 'CODA', beating out Colman Domingo for 'Zola', Meeko Gattuso for 'Queen of Glory', Will Patton for 'Sweet Thing' and Chaske Spencer for 'Wild Indian'. 

* Best Supporting Female - awarded to RUTH NEGGA for 'Passing', beating out Jessie Buckley for 'The Lost Daughter', Amy Forsyth for 'The Novice', Revika Reustle for 'Pleasure' and Suzanna Son for 'Red Rocket'.

* Best Screenplay - awarded to MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL for 'The Lost Daughter', beating out Nikole Beckwith for 'Together Together', Janicza Bravo and Jeremy O. Harris for 'Zola', Mike Mills for 'C'mon C'mon' and Todd Stephens for 'Swan Song'.

* Best First Screenplay - presented to MICHAEL SARNOSKI and VANESSA BLOCK for 'Pig', beating out Sheldon D. Brown and Matthew Fifer for 'Cicada', Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jnr. for 'Wild Indian', Shatara Michelle Ford for 'Test Pattern' and Fran Kranz for 'Mass'.

* Best First Feature - presented to '7 DAYS', beating out 'Holler', 'Queen of Glory', 'Test Pattern' and 'Wild Indian'.

* Best Documentary Feature - awarded to 'SUMMER OF SOUL ( . . . OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED), beating out 'Ascension', 'Flee', 'In the Same Breath' and 'Procession'.

* Best Cinematography - awarded to EDUARD GRAU for 'Passing', beating out Ante Cheng and Matthew Chuang for 'Blue Bayou', Lol Crawley for 'The Humans', Tim Curtin for 'A Chiara' and Ari Wegner for 'Zola'.

* Best Editing - presented to JOI MCMILLON for 'Zola', beating out Affonso Goncalves for 'A Chiara', Ali Greer for 'The Nowhere Inn', Lauren Hadaway and Nathan Nugent for 'The Novice' and Enrico Natale for 'The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain'.

* Best International Film - presented to 'DRIVE MY CAR' from Japan, beating out 'Compartment No. 6' from Estonia, Finland, Germany and Russia, 'Parallel Mothers' from Spain, 'Pebbles' from India, 'Petite Maman' from France and 'Prayers for the Stolen' from Mexico. 

For all the other Television and Special Awards presented at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards and a whole lot more, you can visit the official website at : https://www.spiritawards.com

This week to entice you out to your local multiplex or independent movie theatre to watch any one or more of the seven new films coming your way, we kick off with a comedy drama that sees two former Army Rangers paired against their will on the road trip of a lifetime - one an ex-soldier and the other a  Belgian Malinois dog, as they race down the Pacific Coast to get to a fellow soldier's funeral on time. Next up we have a Spanish drama about a man who worked all his life at a Manchester bank, and when he is awarded an early retirement, he decides to visit his brother in Benidorm, only to discover that he's disappeared. Then we have a Sci-Fi offering set in an uncharted future, where two hardened souls meet and confront each other with the things they have done and what they have become. This is followed with an Irish film about stylists in a working-class Dublin hair salon who become vigilantes by accident and local heroes as they take on the gang members and gentrifiers threatening their community. We turn next to a South Korean film concerning rival diplomats from North Korea and South Korea who become trapped as civil war rages in Mogadishu, Somalia, and with no aid from either government, their only shot at survival requires uniting with bitter adversaries to escape. Following on from this we turn to an Aussie doco into how Lebanon has ended up in a state of complete catastrophe, exposing the country's dark underbelly which is its most sinister enemy; before closing out the week with another Aussie doco giving us intimate access to the private life of Australian singer and songwriter Courtney Barnett, an anti-influencer who is a powerful voice for our times as she embarks on a world tour

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the seven latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'DOG' (Rated M) - this American comedy drama film is Directed and Co-Produced by Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin with the latter also having story and screenplay credits, and with both making their directorial debuts. The film was originally slated for its release in the US in mid-February 2021 but was pushed back to mid-July, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and then pushed back again to 18th February 2022 in the US and to this week in Australia. The film has garnered positive critical reviews and has so far grossed US$45M off the back of a US$15M production budget. 

Here, U.S. Army Ranger Jackson Briggs (Channing Tatum) is tasked with bringing Lulu, a Belgian Malinois military working dog, down the Pacific Coast from Joint Base Lewis–McChord in Washington to Nogales, Arizona in time to attend her handler's funeral. Along the way, and behind the wheel of a 1984 Ford Bronco, Briggs has to come to terms with his post-traumatic stress disorder as well as his difficulty with making emotional connections. Also starring Jane Adams, Kevin Nash, Ethan Suplee and Q'orianka Kilcher.

'IT SNOWS IN BENIDORM' (Rated MA15+) - is a Spanish drama film Written and Directed by Isabel Coixet whose prior feature films include 'Things I Never Told You' in 1996 with Andrew McCarthy, 'My Life Without Me' in 2003 with Sarah Polley, 'The Secret Life of Words' in 2005 with Sarah Polley again, 'Elegy' in 2008 with Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz, 'Another Me' in 2013 with Sophie Turner, 'Learning to Drive' in 2014 with Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley, and 'The Bookshop' in 2017 with Emily Mortimer and Bill Nighy. Here then, after being forced to retire, Peter (Timothy Spall), a man of routines and few joys, decides to go to Benidorm to visit his brother Daniel with whom he has had minimal contact. But when he arrives in Benidorm, Daniel appears to have vanished. Peter will then discover that his brother owns the Benidorm Club, where a group of dancers make exotic and burlesque performances. Among them, is Alex (Sarita Choudhury), a beautiful woman with an enigmatic past, who will steal his heart. In the search of his brother, Peter will confront dangers involving real estate mafias and unpaid debts. And Benidorm is one more protagonist in this story, a place sometimes beautiful, sometimes dangerous and at times gloomy. Also starring Pedro Casablanc, Carmen Machi and Ana Torrent, the film was released in its native Spain way back in mid-December 2020, and only now does it get a release in Australia. 

'LOVELAND' (Rated M) - is an Australian Sci-Fi film Written, Directed, Co-Produced, Edited, filmed and scored by the Indigenous Australian Ivan Sen whose previous film making credits are his debut 'Beneath Clouds' in 2002, 'Dreamland' in 2009, 'Toomelah' in 2011, 'Mystery Road' in 2013 and 'Goldstone' in 2016. In the near future Hong Kong, a hired mercenary named Jack (Ryan Kwanten) lives a lonely and monotonous existence filled with robotic lovers and callous executions. However, everything changes when he meets April (Jillian Nguyen), a soulful nightclub singer. As his heart comes alive for the first time, his body mysteriously begins to break down. Pursued by robotic henchmen, Jack seeks the help of reclusive life extension scientist Dr. Bergman (Hugo Weaving), who may hold the answers to his dark predicament. 

'DEADLY CUTS' (Rated MA15+) - this Irish comedy offering is Written and Directed by Rachel Carey in her feature film making debut, and centres around a group of hair stylists in a working-class Dublin hair salon, called 'Deadly Cuts' and operated by the fearless Michelle (Angeline Ball), who become accidental vigilantes and community heroes as they take on gang members demanding protection money and gentrifiers threatening their community by wanting to demolish their street and put up a tourist hotel. Also starring Ian Lloyd Anderson, Aidan McArdle, Ericka Roe, Lauren Larkin, Shauna Higgins and Victoria Smurfit. 

'ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU' (Rated MA15+) - is a South Korean action drama film with English subtitles that is Written and Directed by Ryoo Seung-wan. The film, based on real events, is set during the Somali Civil War and the two Koreas' efforts to be admitted to the United Nations in the late 1980's and early 1990's. It depicts details of a perilous escape attempt made by North and South Korean embassy workers stranded during the conflict, and stars Kim Yoon-seok as Han Sin-seong, the South Korean Ambassador to Somalia; Jo In-sung as Kang Dae-jin, South Korea's ANSP Counselor/intelligence officer; Heo Joon-ho as Rim Yong-su, the North Korean Ambassador to Somalia and Koo Kyo-hwan as Tae Joon-ki, North Korea's MSS Counselor/intelligence officer. The film was generally well received by Critics and grossed an estimated US$29M so far, having been released in South Korea in late July 2021and so far garnering twenty award wins and another eight nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit.

'ENOUGH! LEBANON'S DARKEST HOUR' (Rated Exempt) - is a documentary film Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Lebanese-Australian filmmaker Daizy Gedeon in only her second feature doco following her 1996 film 'Lebanon . . . Imprisoned Splendour'. Filmed over four years and across four continents, the film documents Lebanon's descent into a state of turmoil over recent years. The eyes of the world have been forced to turn their gaze upon Lebanon, not only because of the Beirut Port explosion that devastated this ancient city on 4th August 2020, but also because Lebanon stands as an allegory for kleptocratic regimes that have seen a resurgence across the globe, and their catastrophic impact. It covers the 2019 October Revolution and includes exclusive interviews with many key political leaders of the past four years, including Prime Minister Saad Hariri, former foreign minister Gebran Bassil, warlord Dr. Samir Geagea, Hezbollah minister Mohammad Fneich, former justice minister Salim Jreissati and governor of Lebanon's Central Bank, Riad Salame. 

'ANONYMOUS CLUB' (Rated M) - Directed, Written and filmed by Danny Cohen in his debut feature documentary after directing several music videos for Courtney Barnett and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Here he returns once again to Courtney Barnett who in 2012 started recording music in her inner-Melbourne bedroom and, alongside fellow musician Jen Cloher, founded her own record label, Milk! Records. Since then, the notoriously shy but vastly talented singer/songwriter has released two EPs and two albums, landed a suite of accolades and amassed adoring fans around the world. In 2018, she embarked on the world tour for her album 'Tell Me How You Really Feel' – and Danny Cohen tagged along to document the journey. Shot over a three-year period this film charts Barnett’s ups and downs both artistically and personally. The narration, forthright and unguarded, is voiced by Barnett herself – she kept an audio diary on the road, at Cohen’s request – while Cohen provides vivid, energetic footage.

With seven 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-