SALTBURN : Tuesday 21st November 2023

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'SALTBURN' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this psychological thriller drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Emerald Fennell in her second feature film outing following the highly acclaimed 'Promising Young Woman' in 2020 which reaped 116 award wins and another 193 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. This film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Telluride Film Festival in late August and was released in the US, the UK and here in Australia last week having so far generated mostly favourable reviews and grossed US$1.7M at the Box Office. 

The films open up in 2006 with a collar, tie and blazer wearing Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) walking across the quad at Oxford University and into his ground floor dormitory as a first year freshman. He is looked upon with some disdain by many of the other jeans and T-shirt wearing students, some of which mildly abuse his attire. On his first night over dinner in the packed refectory he struggles to find a place to sit, and ends up opposite another equally displaced student Michael Gavey (Ewan Mitchell) who introduces himself as another 'Nigel Nofriends'. Oliver observes Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), a charming, handsome, popular and clearly very well off student, who is attending Oxford with his American cousin, Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe), and who happens to be attending the same college. 

One day just before the summer break of 2007 Oliver lends Felix his bicycle so Felix can attend a class to which he is already running ten minutes late, as Felix's own bicycle has a punctured wheel. Felix is extremely grateful. As a result of this gesture, the two become fast friends and is invited into Felix's and Farleigh's inner circle of friends, which sees Oliver turn his back on Michael. Oliver becomes increasingly obsessed with Felix. Oliver tells Felix he is an only child with an alcoholic mother and a drug dependent father, and grew up in Prescot, near Liverpool. One day he announces that his father has suddenly died. Oliver's story garners Felix's sympathy, and so he invites Oliver to spend the summer with him and Farleigh at Saltburn, his wealthy family's sprawling estate in the country. Oliver accepts, albeit reluctantly at first.

Oliver arrives at Saltburn where he is greeted by the Butler of the house, Duncan (Paul Rhys), and after a whistle stop tour of the household Felix introduces him to his father, Sir James (Richard E. Grant), his mother, Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), and his sister, Venetia (Alison Oliver). Also at Saltburn is 'Poor Dear' Pamela (Carey Mulligan), Elspeth's friend, whom the family believes has now outstayed her welcome and actively encourage her to leave when she reveals that she has rented a new flat. Despite the family's initial eccentricities and over indulgent living standards, Oliver clearly relishes his time at Saltburn. Oliver begins lying to curry favour with the family so they can grow even more fond of him, firstly implying to Elspeth that Pamela made up her bizarre, tragic stories for the attention it brought her. Later in the summer, the family learns that Pamela has died, though Elspeth in nonplussed by the news.

Late one evening Oliver secretly watches Felix masterbating while taking a bath in their shared bathroom to which their bedrooms both adjoin. After Felix has brushed his teeth and bid his friend goodnight, Oliver drinks the last of the draining water from the bathtub and licks the plughole clean. Another night, he sees Venetia outside his bedroom window wearing a see through night gown. He performs oral sex on Venetia despite it being her time of the month to which Oliver retorts that its just as well he's a vampire. Farleigh observes this from his bedroom window overlooking the gardens. Farleigh tells Felix who is upset with Oliver, since a former friend of Felix's had also slept with Venetia last summer. Oliver convinces him that Farleigh was lying and that he was only comforting the moody Venetia, who he claims is interested in him. Later, Oliver overhears an argument between Felix and Farleigh over the latter milking Sir James' for financial support for his university studies. On another occasion during a party with a karaoke machine, Farleigh retaliates by tricking Oliver into performing the Pet Shop Boys song 'Rent' (whose lyrics mirror Oliver's current situation at Saltburn) to everyone. Later that night, Oliver threatens Farleigh and initiates a sexual encounter. The next morning, Farleigh is asked to leave Saltburn when he is said to have attempted to sell rare ceramic antique plates from Sir James' collection to Sotheby's. 

With Oliver's birthday approaching Elspeth and Sir James plan a fancy dress party for two hundred or so guests to celebrate. On the morning of his birthday Felix surprises Oliver with a road trip. Upon nearing their destination Oliver panics when Felix tells him that they are going to see his mother in Prescot in an attempt to mend their fractured relationship. However, it is revealed that Oliver's family lives in the upper-middle-class suburbs, his father is alive and very well, both his parents are kind and not substance abusers, and he is not an only child and in fact has two sisters. Felix is mortified by Oliver's deception, telling him to leave after the party that evening, while Oliver states that he only lied so Felix would be his friend. That evening, the party commences at Saltburn with numerous guests in attendance, including Farleigh, who threatens Oliver. Inside Saltburn's maze, Oliver attempts to reconcile with Felix, but Felix outright rejects him. The next morning, Felix is found dead in the maze.

Oliver and the Catton family mourn Felix's death, but Elspeth and Sir James try to put a brave face on the matter. Sir James cuts Farleigh off from his financial support, saying that he will not inform the Police but that is the last thing he will do for him, and forces him to leave Saltburn for good when Oliver suggests that Farleigh doing lines of coke at the party last night contributed to Felix's death. After Felix's funeral, Oliver privately breaks down as he strips down and penetrates Felix's newly dug gravesite in the driving rain. When Elspeth demands Oliver stay at Saltburn, Venetia later confronts him when Oliver barges in on her while she is taking a bath. It dawns on her that he has successfully latched himself onto her family and that Felix's death was a result. Venetia is found dead the following morning having apparently slashed her wrists in the bathtub, leaving Elspeth and Sir James in further despair. Fearing that Elspeth is growing too attached to him and becoming suspicious of his insistence on staying, Sir James opens his cheque book and asks Oliver how much does he want to leave Saltburn. Oliver responds that he can't leave Elspeth while she needs him most, but Sir James is insistent, and Oliver leaves having agreed a price. 

A number of years later and Oliver reads about the recent death of Sir James in the newspaper. Sometime shortly afterwards and Oliver is sat in a cafe typing away at his laptop when Elspeth walks in to buy a takeaway coffee. They are both surprised to see each other and Elspeth comments to Oliver how grown up he is and how pleasing it is to see him again. Oliver gives his condolences to Elspeth over the passing of her husband to which she responds that he never really recovered following the death of Felix and Venetia. She urges him to return with her her to Saltburn. 

Soon afterwards and Elspeth becomes fatally ill. On her deathbed, looking very proud of himself, Oliver reveals that he was responsible for all the tragic events that have fallen upon Saltburn having orchestrated his initial meeting with Felix, Oliver then murdered him by poisoning the bottle of Champagne that he drank from that night in the maze. He also subtly manipulated Venetia into killing herself by placing razor blades on the side of her bath, and sent the email that resulted in Farleigh's fast exit from Saltburn. Finally, he planned his encounter with Elspeth in the cafe, with flashbacks revealing that she subsequently left all of her financial assets to Oliver, including ownership of Saltburn. Oliver then kills Elspeth by forcefully removing her life support tube. Having now taken over the Saltburn estate and the Catton fortune and seemingly dismissed the Butler, maids and footmen, Oliver dances naked around the house to 'Murder on the Dancefloor' by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. 

'Saltburn' is a slow-burn thriller about those born with not one but two silver spoons firmly planted in their mouths, and those hangers-on who aspire to such dizzy heights and those even fewer who make it - by fair means or in this case by foul. Writer and Director Emerald Fennell has here delivered us a film of modern day British aristocracy that is conflicted by the out-of-touch staid and overly quirky mannerisms of the parents versus the next generation keen to mark its place in the world, and on that note Richard E. Grant, Rosamund Pike, Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan are all expertly cast in their roles of old school versus new school. The very black and often bleak humour is rendered with a deft touch that if you blink you'll surly miss some of the zingers that come hurtling by. Barry Keoghan gives a fearless performance in every respect from the mild mannered unassuming student we first meet at Oxford University to the cold calculating murderer we see at the end who relishes in his ill gotten gains - one for the ages for sure. 

'Saltburn' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

STAR WARS : THE RISE OF SKYWALKER - Monday 23rd December 2019.

'STAR WARS : THE RISE OF SKYWALKER' has an M Rating, and so it is with much fanfare, hype and anticipation that the final instalment in the epic space opera franchise which I saw earlier this week and which had its humble beginnings way back in 1977, finally draws to a close. 'The Rise of Skywalker' marks the third instalment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following 2015's 'The Force Awakens' and 2017's 'The Last Jedi', and the final episode of the nine-part 'Skywalker Saga'. The 'Star Wars' franchise has spawned multiple films and animated movies and television series. The original trilogy was released between 1977 and 1983, the prequel trilogy between 1999 and 2005, and a sequel trilogy began in 2015, and comes to an end this year with the release of this film. In between the sequel films, two anthology films were released, 2016's 'Rogue One' and 2018's 'Solo: A Star Wars Story', both set between the prequel and original trilogies. The combined global Box Office revenue of the films equates to over US$9B and is currently the second-highest-grossing film franchise, behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 'Star Wars : The Force Awakens' currently sits at the top of the sales ladder with US$2.07B, followed by 'Star Wars : The Last Jedi' at US$1.33B, then 'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' at US$1.06B with 'Star Wars : Episode I : The Phantom Menace' also in the one billion dollar club at US$1.03B. This films sees J.J. Abrams returning to the Directors and Screenwriters chair following his success with 'The Force Awakens' and after the ousting of Colin Trevorrow following creative differences with the Studio and a breakdown in his relationship with Producer Kathleen Kennedy. The film saw its worldwide release last week, has so far taken US$517M off the back of a production budget in the region of US$275M and has garnered generally mixed reviews.

Set a year following the events of 'The Last Jedi', the surviving Resistance led by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) intercept a mystery message beamed across the galaxy by the apparently dead Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). Meanwhile Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the Supreme Leader of the First Order locates just one of two Sith wayfinder devices that directs him to the planet of Exegol, in the Unknown zone. Arriving there, Ren finds an almost physically disabled Palpatine rigged up to some sort of vast life support machine who proceeds to tell him that he created Snoke (the former Supreme Leader of the First Order whom Ren sliced in half at the waist in the last film) as a puppet to control the First Order and lure Ren to the dark side. Palpatine reveals a secret army of Star Destroyers and tells Ren to find and kill Rey (Daisy Ridley), who is still undergoing Jedi training with General Leia Organa, so that he can take his rightful place as the Emperor.

In the meantime, Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) receive official word from a spy within the First Order confirming Palpatine's return. Rey uncovers notes in Luke Skywalker's Jedi texts about a Sith wayfinder device that will help them locate Palpatine. Rey, Poe, Finn, Chewbacca, BB-8, and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) all leave for the planet Pasaana to seek the wayfinder, while R2-D2 stays with Leia. Arriving on Pasaana, the group comes across a once in every 42 year carnival with the locals out partying like it's 1999.

Ren quickly learns where Rey is located through their shared bond of the Force and travels there with his Knights of Ren. When an advance party of Knights arrive the group are quickly given shelter by Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) who directs them to the wayfinder's last suspected location. Rey and the others discover the skeletal remains of assassin Ochi, his ship, and a dagger inscribed with Sith text, which C-3PO's programming forbids him from deciphering.

Sensing that Ren is rapidly approaching, Rey goes out into the desert to confront him. The First Order captures the Millennium Falcon, takes Chewbacca prisoner, and Ochi's dagger which Chewie had stowed away in his satchel. Rey slices through the wing of Ren's advancing ship causing it to bounce across the desert dunes and explode into ball of flame. However, Ren walks away from this completely unharmed and in attempting to save Chewbacca, Rey inadvertently destroys a First Order transporter with Force lightning in a stand-off with Ren. The group escapes on Ochi's old, yet still serviceable ship, assuming Chewbacca was killed in the resultant explosion.

Poe reluctantly suggests traveling to Kijimi to have the Sith text extracted from C-3PO's memory banks, although he has bittersweet memories of his time on this planet and vowed never to return . . . but when duty calls! The process wipes C-3PO's memory, but reveals coordinates to a wayfinder on Kef Bir. Rey, through her Force sense, sees that Chewbacca is in fact still alive, and the group mounts a rescue mission. While Ren searches for Rey, on Kijimi the group infiltrates his Star Destroyer with the help of Zorii Bliss, a seemingly former love interest of Poe's. Rey recovers the dagger and has visions of Ochi killing her parents with it, while Finn and Poe rescue Chewbacca. Ren   informs Rey again through their shared bond of the Force that she is Palpatine's granddaughter and that Palpatine had ordered Ochi to find Rey as a child, but her parents hid her on Jakku to keep her safe. Finn and Poe get into a firefight with a bunch of stormtroopers and are captured and ordered for immediate execution. General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) thwarts the execution squad and reveals himself as the spy, allowing the group to escape on the retrieved Falcon. Hux is promptly executed as the known spy in the ranks for treason by Allegiant General Pryde (Richard E. Grant).

The group land on the windswept planet of Kef Bir. Jannah (Naomi Ackie), a Resistance sympathiser, leads them to the remains of the second Death Star, where Rey locates the wayfinder having traversed massive ocean swells to get there. Ren, having tracked the group to Kef Bir, and not far behind Rey destroys her newly found wayfinder and asks her to help him overthrow Palpatine.

Rey and Ren duel on the wreckage of the downed Death Star amidst ever mounting seas. Leia, now dying, calls to Ren through the Force, distracting him, and Rey impales him with her light sabre. Sensing Leia's death, Rey heals Ren's life threatening injury and exiles herself on Ahch-To. There, Luke's Force spirit encourages Rey to face Palpatine, and he gives her Leia's lightsaber and his old X-wing so that she can get off the island.

Rey leaves for Exegol, using the wayfinder from Ren's ship. Still on Kef Bir Ren speaks with a vision of his father Han Solo (Harrison Ford), ultimately seeing the error of his ways and throwing away his lightsaber assumes his true his identity as Ben Solo. Palpatine sends one of his Star Destroyers to destroy Kijimi as a show of force.

At the Resistance base, the group reconvene minus Rey, and learn that Leia has since died. R2-D2 restores C-3PO's memory. After a brief period of mourning, the assembled Resistance follow Rey's coordinates to Exegol. Meanwhile, there she confronts Palpatine and he demands she kill him to transfer his spirit into her so that she can claim her rightful place as the ruler over the galaxy. Lando in the meantime has mustered reinforcements from across the galaxy to join the battle. Ben arrives to help Rey, overpowering the Knights of Ren. Recognising that Rey and Ben are a rare Force dyad, Palpatine drains their power to reinvigorate himself. He attacks the entire Resistance fleet with Force lightning and sends Ben careering backwards into a deep ravine.

Rey, weakened, hears the voices of past Jedi, who lend her their strength. Palpatine attacks her with his lightning, but Rey deflects it back at him using the Skywalker lightsabers, killing him and herself in the process. Ben has picked himself up, dusted himself down and clambered out of the dark depths of the cavernous ravine into which he was thrust, and revives Rey by transferring his life force into her. They kiss, and Ben dies. The Resistance destroys the remainder of Palpatine's vast armada of attack ships. As the Resistance celebrates its great victory, Rey visits the now long abandoned Lars homestead on Tatooine. There she buries the Skywalker lightsabers in the sand, having built her own.

'Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker' is all style over substance for me. It's impressively filmed with more than its fair share of action set pieces to keep the viewer entertained, and these are all delivered with spectacle and an eye for attention grabbing detail. But conversely, the film is way to busy thrusting us from one fight sequence to another without seemingly any let up whether its one on one, group on group, the Sith on the Jedi, or The First Order on the Resistance, its relentless at the expense of any further character development, imagination, emotion or time to really comprehend what just went before.  And what's with the indestructible Kylo Ren/Ben Solo who should have died from his injuries on at least three separate occasions by my reckoning only to bounce back each time completely unscathed - like he's Wile E. Coyote! This final instalment is entertaining enough but it treads largely down a familiar path that we have seen before over the course of its eight predecessors. The end when it comes feels rushed to get there, and it will offer few surprises as the end is the title of the film, and our heroine of the last three films rises as Skywalker somewhat unpredictably. Worth seeing on a big screen with glorious surround sound, but don't go in with too high an expectation to see anything especially new or inventive in the storyline narrative.

'Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

PALM BEACH : Friday 9th August 2019.

I saw 'PALM BEACH' towards the end of last week, and this M Rated Australian drama comedy offering is Directed and Co-Written by Australian Actress, film and television Director and Screenwriter Rachel Ward and stars an ensemble cast set amidst the back drop of Palm Beach on Sydney's Northern Beaches. The film had its Premier screening at the recent Sydney Film Festival, went on general release in Australia on 8th August and has so far met with mostly mixed Reviews.




To mark a milestone birthday, Frank (Bryan Brown and real life husband of Rachel Ward) and his wife Charlotte (Greta Scacchi) decide to throw a three-day party to celebrate at their luxurious house at Palm Beach, welcoming their nearest and dearest friends. Frank flies in long term friends Leo (Sam Neill) and his wife Bridget (Jacqueline McKenzie) and Billy (Richard E. Grant) and his wife Eva (Heather Mitchell) from various corners of the globe having arrived Business Class in Sydney and then flown by private charter seaplane upto the ritzy Northern Beaches oceanside suburb of Palm Beach. Upon arrival the two couples are ushered into the spectacularly lavish, light, airy and spacious home overlooking the peninsula out to the lighthouse perched atop Barrenjoey Headland. Almost immediately the Dom Perignon is flowing and the gathered families including adult children sit down to a lavish meal of prawns, oysters, salmon, more Champagne and wine aplenty. By now we have also learned that Frank, Leo and Billy were once involved in a band together called 'The Pacific Sideburns' who had one hit record called 'Fearless' back in 1977 but little beyond that.

Rounding out the guest list are Frank and Charlotte's grown up kids - the aimless son Dan (Charlie Vickers) and new doctor Ella (Matilda Brown, and real life daughter of Brown and Ward), with Caitlin (Frances Berry) the daughter of Leo and Bridget, together with Holly (Claire van der Boom) the daughter of a departed friend and her new sheep farmer beau Doug (Aaron Jeffrey).

After a satisfying lunch, the hosts and guests all settle down in various parts of the house enjoying a night cap and pleasant conversation. All that though is about to implode as Leo confides in Charlotte that he had a recent skin cancer scare from which he is now fully recovered and that he deeply regrets a decision they and Frank made together twenty years ago and is now willing to tear their families apart so that the truth can finally emerge. This news comes as a devastating blow to Charlotte who Leo tasks with telling Frank of his decision after all these years. Just then Leo and Charlotte are called into the lounge to watch an award winning French TV commercial for adult incontinence nappies put together by Billy but using their song 'Fearless' as the backdrop to the ad. No one up to this point has seen the ad, not even Eva, and when Leo and Frank hear their music in the background they are needless to say furious.

The next morning Frank makes his peace with Billy and they all go off for a surf. And so another day begins and so does another day of eating and drinking. Amidst all of this Frank tasks his guests with the construction of an outdoor pizza oven, Bridget lets it slip that she believes that Leo has never really loved her, and Eva as a jobbing Actress is torn between a part playing a grandmother in an upcoming movie much to Billy's constant derisory comments that at 60, she is still too young to be playing such roles, despite the fact that such roles are the only one's now being offered to her.

Added to this there is Holly and Doug's emerging romance, the fact that Frank is secretly on anti-depressants and ever since he sold his hugely successful sportswear company, 'Swagger Gear', he has felt 'dead inside' and he can barely relate to his no hope son, Dan. And the final insult to Frank is Billy's constant comments about twin chimney pots blotting the view from the house out across the Headland and the two bodies of water either side - to which Frank responds after several niggling comments by taking a hammer to said chimney pots in a fit of rage, only to be rescued down from his ladder by his gathered friends, but not before Frank has muttered a few terse words in their direction.

The next night the friends are all taken by boat to a beachside restaurant where more celebrations follow and a firework display in Frank's honour. Ella makes a speech to mark her fathers birthday which starts off very negatively but ends on a positive one to which Frank is invited to respond but is so overcome with emotion that he can't. One on the walk home Holly reveals to Doug after he has asked for her hand in marriage, that she is not the one for him, and he is obviously knocked for six by her rebuttal.

The next day the group board the boat once again and head up the waterway to a secluded spot and enjoy another lavish lunch at a picnic spot under the trees. Doug has repaired the outboard motor to Franks speed boat, so enabling Dan to take out Caitlin on a doughnut. While speeding along Dan is distracted and to avoid a collision with a youngster enjoying himself out on the water swerves the boat, loses control and is tossed overboard and knocked unconscious in the fall. He is rushed to hospital in an ambulance with a very concerned Frank and Charlotte by his side, while the other house guests all return to Palm Beach in a very sombre mood awaiting news. Doug meanwhile has said goodbye to Holly for the last time.

In hospital Dan regains consciousness and it is determined that he has a broken collar bone only and is therefore out of danger. Frank makes his peace with Dan and vows never to question him again, and Dan responds tearfully that he'll make his own way in the world and will prove himself worthy. Holly meanwhile texts Doug to say simply that she can't have children, at which point he turns the car around and returns to Palm Beach.

With all of this going on Leo, Charlotte and Frank confront each other over the secret that they have harboured for over twenty years. And that is who is the true biological father of Dan. Leo believes it his him, following a one night stand with Charlotte, even though Frank has raised him. Ella overhearing the discussion comes to the rescue with the results of a DNA test that she and Dan had done some years ago proving that 99.95% that they are biological brother and sister, and unless Leo slept with Charlotte giving rise to Ella as well, then they must both be Frank's children. And so this matter too is resolved once and for all.

The next morning Eva awakes early, packs her things and tells Billy that she is leaving him, for good. She orders a cab, it arrives and off they drive with Billy chasing the cab on foot down the drive. He implores Eva to give him one last chance, apologises profusely for his actions, his attitude and the things that he has said and done. Reluctantly she agrees to come back on the basis that he promises that the next ten years will be their best ten years. As the sun sets on another day, the pizza oven has been fired up, cocktails are shaken and the party gets underway once again and everything is good in the world.

'Palm Beach' is a take it or leave it, something and nothing, style over substance kinda movie where the views, the vistas and the stunning scenery seen from the sun soaked deck of an opulent unspoilt abode perched above the ocean on one side and Pittwater on the other take priority over the plot. This is the story of a largely group of seniors (aged 60 years+) with their affluent, privileged lifestyle living off the royalties of their one hit wonder from yesteryear and their subsequent mostly successful careers, and their close knit mateship, all suffering from first world problems, getting under the skin of each other but willing to forgive and forget in a heartbeat because they, after all, are long term friends and all disputes can be settled with a good feed washed down with a chilled Chardonnay. Ward has assembled a fine cast of Antipodean movie royalty here (many of whom have worked numerous times with each other over the years) and you certainly get a sense that filming this movie must have been a hoot all the way through. But, I was left wanting more melodrama, more laughs, and more substance in what is described as a drama comedy, rather than just being kept engaged by a film that really has few standout moments other than the backdrop of Palm Beach and the environs itself.

'Palm Beach' warrants two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THEIR FINEST : Wednesday 3rd May 2017.

'THEIR FINEST' which I saw mid-last week is Directed by Lone Scherfig and based on the Lissa Evans 2009 book 'Their Finest Hour and a Half'. The film was first screened at TIFF in September last year, and had its US release in early April and its UK and Australian release toward the back end of April. The film has received generally positive critical Reviews, but this has yet to materialise in hard dollar return on its US$39M budget investment.

This WWII drama film is a film within a film as The British Ministry of Information set about making a morale boosting propaganda film about the evacuation of Dunkirk during the Battle of Britain and Hitler's devastating bombing raids on London. Set in a 1940 war torn London, we are first introduced to screen writer Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) as he stands eating hot chips out of a newspaper wrapping while watching a film about the British war effort in a packed cinema. But the audience are paying little attention, and laughing at the on screen antics that they should be taking seriously. Such is the quality of the acting, the film-making and the messages being conveyed.

We then move to Welsh lass Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton), an out of work Secretary who is summonsed to the Ministry of Information to attend for an interview to help write script for short information films to be played at cinemas across the land in between the main features. She lives with her husband Ellis Cole (Jack Huston) a moody artist who is unable to gain work or an exhibition for his paintings of dark industrial Britain, and who avoided the conscript due to an old Spanish Civil War leg wound. They are unable to pay the rent, so she accepts the gig at the Ministry for two pounds a week, but Ellis belittles Catrin's contribution and threatens to send her back to her home to the Welsh valley's under the smokescreen of protecting her from the Blitz. Needless to say, Catrin will have none of this and stands firm in her determination to take the job and the money that goes with it.

Quickly proving her worth, Catrin is promoted by Roger Swain (Richard E. Grant) the Head of Film at the Ministry of Information to work on a British propaganda film that shows 'authenticity and optimism' to the audience, and designed to lift the spirits and the hearts and minds of the British public at a time when they needed it the most. Catrin's role is to write the 'slop' - the women's dialogue that will appeal and be understood by a largely female audience. Her skills with dialogue and story telling catch the attention of Tom Buckley, who also works as a writer at the Ministry. He takes her under his wing to help work on a feature film about two sisters who supposedly helped rescue wounded British soldiers home from Dunkirk in their drunken fathers ramshackle steam boat across the English Channel back to Southend. Catrin visits the sisters for research purposes and discovers that the alleged 'true' story is subject to some poetic licence, and has to make a decision to report back the fact, or the fiction. She opts for the latter - after all, why let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Fairly soon the two writers aided by Raymond Parfitt (Paul Ritter) as another writer are frantically tapping away at their typewriters devising the foundation of the story, the dialogue, the dramatisation and the characters. They sign up ageing dapper screen lothario Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy) much to his disgust having usually played romantic leads but now assigned to a supporting drunken uncle role described as 'a shipwreck of a man, sixties, looks older'. He initially rejects the offer to his Agent Sammy Smith (Eddie Marsan), but when Sammy is killed in an air raid, he is convinced by sister Sophie (Helen McCrory) to take the gig in the absence of anything else, and she becomes Hilliard's new Agent.

Filming starts on the propaganda film down in Devon, and then the team get a summons to attend the Ministry of War offices in London. There they meet with the Secretary of War (Jeremy Irons) who orders the crew to write in a part of an American to give the film an appeal to a US audience. Furthermore, the Secretary has just the man for the job - a very photogenic American-Norwegian fighter pilot Carl Lundbeck (Jack Lacy) who was great in silent films but can't act in the talkies to save his life!

With the Director, the Producers and the Scriptwriters besides themselves over Lundbeck's hamfisted attempts at dialogue, Catrin's persuades Hilliard to give Lundbeck on the run acting lessons in return for enhancements to his role, so saving the picture.

During the location shoot Catrin and Buckley start to develop a fondness for each other, that culminates in him asking her to marry him. Buckley has learnt from another crew member that Catrin isn't in fact married to Ellis, but has taken his name out of propriety. Catrin refuses, and the pair argue.

When shooting returns to London for final studio filming, Catrin has had chance to cool off and spends the evening during an air raid rewriting the closing scenes of the film, and penning a note to Buckley with her change of heart. She leaves the finished script and her letter on Buckley's desk. The next day in the studio Catrin and Buckley share a moment of passion together out of view from the rest of the cast and crew. Buckley found the finished script and says she nailed it, and her letter too. Just when you thought of the happily ever after, a freak accident occurs that has far reaching ramifications for the couple, and which you would never have seen coming.

As the film draws to a close we see Catrin sneak into a packed cinema to see the fruits of her efforts up on the big screen. The film is a huge success and has struck the right chords with its target audience. She is persuaded by Hilliard to write the next screenplay for a film he is being pitched for and for which he has an idea of a character outline - a cat burgling air raid warden. Catrin sits down at her typewriter and begins to tap away with the seed of another film script slowly maturing.

This is a feel good film with just the the right amount of war torn London horrors and emotional upset to keep it real, grounded and believable. Underpinned too by some standout performances most notably from Gemma Arterton and Bill Nighy, with Jeremy Irons, Eddie Marsan and Jack Lacy all doing well with the little screen time they have. The film within a film structure allows for all the levity and WWII era filmmaking quirks, tricks and smoke & mirrors camera work that adds an authenticity to this offering and is delivered by a sharp intelligent script, witty dialogue, solid acting all round and a message of the female inequality of the era being overcome by working women out of necessity.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

LOGAN : Tuesday 7th March 2017

I caught 'LOGAN' last week at my local multiplex. Hugh Jackman has been playing the character of James 'Logan' Howlett aka 'Wolverine' aka 'Weapon X' for the past seventeen years and has appeared in nine 'X-Men' films including this latest release which he says will be his last outing as the titular wisecracking adamantium clawed Superhero. He first appeared in 2000's 'X-Men' and then in 2003's 'X2', then in 2006 in 'X-Men : The Last Stand'. In 2009 Logan got his first stand alone feature in 'X-Men Origins : Wolverine' and was Directed by Gavin Hood bringing in US$374M at the global Box Office. 'X-Men : FirstClass' followed in 2011, then 'The Wolverine' in 2013 another stand alone feature Directed by James Mangold and bringing in US$415M in worldwide receipts. 'X-Men : Days of Future Past' was released in 2014, and 'X-Men : Apocalypse' in 2016. All up those first eight 'X-Men' films in which Wolverine/Logan has appeared have generated US$3.6B at the Box Office from a budget outlay of US$1.2B. Now 'Logan' is back in his final instalment (allegedly) and is once again Directed by James Mangold and this time on a US$97M budget in this third stand alone offering and the tenth film in the 'X-Men' franchise. Early reports have been very positive, with some saying it is the best 'X-Men' film to date, and so far the film has taken US$439M at the global Box Office.

Set in a near future world of 2029, where the mutant population is dwindling, with no new mutant births in over twenty years. With it Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) dreams of a brave new world featuring a new stage of mutant evolution, but those dreams have slowly died. James Howlett aka Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) has settled into a life as a hard drinking limo driver somewhere on the Mexican border. He scrapes together a meagre living while hustling medication for an increasingly infirm and ageing Professor X whom he cares for in a ram shackle abandoned smelting plant shared with Caliban (Stephen Merchant) who also looks after and attends to the ailing Professor whose strong telepathic powers have now become unstable and unpredictable with his advancing years. Logan too is ageing and his powers aren't what they used to be, as the adamantium fused to his bones is slowly poisoning him and working against his healing powers. Caliban is an albino mutant who has the ability to sense and track other mutants, but is adverse to sunlight as it burns his fragile skin.

After some introductory scuffles in a car park where Logan's prized stretched limo is being carjacked by a bunch of heavies, Logan proves that he still has what it takes to dispense with pesky criminal types. A short time later we see him being approached by Gabriella (Elizabeth Rodriguez) a former nurse at Alkali-Transigen (a biotech company responsible for the Weapon X programme). She wants Logan to escort her and an eleven year old girl, Laura (Dafne Keen) across the border and over to a place in North Dakota called 'Eden'. She is prepared to pay and offer Logan US$20K cash up front with the balance of US$30K on safe delivery at the other end. Logan is very reluctant and refuses at first.

In the meantime Logan is tracked down by Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), Transigen's relentless, calculating and cybernetically enhanced Head of Security, who seeks Logan's support in locating the young girl and returning her to Transigen. Logan refuses Pierce too.

After accepting the job from Gabriella, Logan finds her dead at their designated pick up point and no sign of Laura. Logan takes the cash anyway and disappears back to his secluded hideaway. Tending to an ailing Charles Xavier, they are interrupted by Pierce and his bunch of similarly cybernetically enhanced heavies, The Reavers. Laura appears having stowed away in the boot of Logan's limo, and disappears into the now long redundant smelting plant quickly followed by three Reavers. What follows is Laura proving who and what she really is - a mysterious young mutant who is very much like Logan, which is hardly surprising given that she was cloned from his blood, and using Logan's DNA Transigen weaponised clones of him. And so Laura quickly dispenses with the three goons, emerging carrying the head of one of those Reavers.

With Caliban captured, the three narrowly escape in Logan's limo leaving a trail of bloodshed, death and destruction in their wake. But Pierce, using Caliban's mutant tracking powers to follow them, is never far behind them. In a quiet moment, Logan and Xavier watch a video on Gabriella's phone showing that she hatched a plan to evacuate as many children out of the Tnansigen facility as she could, Laura included. They were breeding mutant children using DNA samples from several mutants, but as the children grew up and became stronger and more powerful, so they were increasingly harder to control. As that project became obsolete, so the order was given to terminate this children, hence the escape plan.

Taking the action to Oklahoma City en route to North Dakota, the three stop off at a hotel casino to freshen up, acquire a change of clothes and change their bullet hole ridden limo for a vehicle less obvious. There Logan finds one of Laura's comic books of the 'X-Men' and inside notices a reference to a safe haven for mutants known as 'Eden'. He deduces that no such place can exist as it is a place of fiction appearing in a common book and the work of someones imagination.

When returning from sourcing a new car, the Reavers and Pierce have caught up with the three mutants in the hotel, during which time Xavier suffers a seizure and telepathically freezes all those within the hotel casino and in the immediate vicinity. Logan is able to battle through Xaviers freezing seizure and inject him with a suppressant, but not before taking out all the gathered Reavers in the room where Xavier and Laura were being held.

While on the road having left the carnage of Oklahoma City behind them, they encounter a family on the highway who have a road traffic accident involving several horses they were carrying in a trailer behind. The threesome help by rounding up the horses, and out of gratitude the family invite them back to their homestead for dinner. Logan is keen to avoid this type of interaction, but is overruled by Xavier in favour of a comfortable charitable evening of home cooked food and a a warm welcome.

Logan and the husband of the family are distracted by a burst water main that take them off property to fix it. In the meantime, Pierce and his goons have caught up with the family and a real clone of Logan, X-24 (also played by Hugh Jackman in a younger version of himself) takes out the entire family and stabs Xavier through the chest inflicting life threatening wounds. Logan appears as X-24 is carrying off Laura heavily shackled. Logan and the feral clone of himself go head to head in an intense close quarter fight sequence, that sees the X-24 impaled on a combine harvester by the husband of the family who discovered his slaughtered wife and children, before succumbing to X-24's razor sharp claws himself.

Caliban meanwhile sacrifices himself by detonating two hand grenades in the back of the truck where he is being held captive by Pierce and Dr. Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant), the brains behind the Transigen projects, and whose father Logan killed when he escaped from the Weapon X programme at Alkali Lake.

Laura and Logan bury Xavier, and then Logan collapses exhausted. He wants to abandon the worthless trip to Eden, but Laura convinces him to see his commitment out. X-24 is far from dead meanwhile having been administered a regeneration serum to aid and speed up his healing process. Logan and Laura duly arrive at Eden and are greeted by the other escaped mutant children. Logan is nursed back to a degree of health through two days of almost solid sleep and small doses of a healing serum administered by one of the teenage children, Rictor (Jason Genao).

At this point Logan agrees to part company with the group of mutant children, and waking the next morning from his deep slumber he finds Eden deserted and the children gone. Through a telescope perched high in a look out he spies the Reavers in the forest in the distance in hot pursuit of the children. He has no alternative but to go to their aid. Gaining ground and in close proximity, Logan injects himself with an overdose of the healing serum which sends him into a rage, in which he quickly dispenses with many Reavers before the serum wears off. Leaving only Rice, Pierce, X-24 and a few remaining Reavers, the children use their combined powers to dispense with Pierce and the last of the Reavers. Logan shoots Rice and kills him, and then goes head to head with X-24 in a brutal bloody battle to the end.

The upshot of all of this, is that the mutant children make it to safety we have to assume as they cross the border in search of a new beginning, and those that will give them safe harbour.

The critics and the audiences have praised 'Logan' and deservedly so. This is not your usual run 'o' the mill Superhero movie. The performances from Jackman, Stewart and Keen especially are all first rate. Jackman portrays Logan as the broken, weakened, vulnerable ageing man - a shadow of his former cigar munching wise cracking invincible self that represents probably his best performance as Wolverine/Logan in his seventeen year run. Stewart too lets down his guard completely as an equally broken man no longer in control of his emotions or his senses, rambling on, unsteady on his feet, and devoid of any greatness that he portrayed in previous 'X-Men' instalments. And as for young Keen - she could turn on a dime from sweet innocent young girl to menacing strength and ruthless killer in a heartbeat, and delivers her role convincingly. The story is well conceived, brutally acted out with slice and dice action sequences that deliver a high body count but not in the traditional Superhero way, but in a more grounded realistic way, and decidedly more adult oriented fare that delivers on just about every level. Catch it on the big screen while you can - you won't be disappointed.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-