What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 9th October 2025

The 69th BFI London Film Festival this years takes place between Wednesday 8th and Sunday 19th October at several South Bank and West End cinema venues and select partner cinema venues across the UK. The twelve
-day programme is jam-packed with the world’s best new films, series and immersive storytelling, presenting your opportunity to delight in the undiscovered, as all feature films and series are being shown in the UK for the first (and sometimes the only) time. 

The festival will showcase 247 films from seventy-nine countries. The Opening Night Gala presentation is the American mystery film 'Wake Up Dead Man : A Knives Out Mystery', Written and Directed by Rian Johnson, and the Closing Night Gala film is the UK and US Co-Produced historical fantasy film '100 Nights of Hero' Written and Directed by Julia Jackman.

This years Headline Gala section features twenty-one films, and these are outlined in brief as below :-

* 'After the Hunt'  - from the USA and Directed by Luca Guadagnino.

* 'Ballad of a Small Player' - from the UK and Directed by Edward Berger.

* 'Blue Moon' - from the USA and Ireland and Directed by Richard Linklater.

* 'Bugonia' - from the UK and Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

* 'The Choral' - from the UK and Directed by Nicholas Hytner.

* 'Christy' - from the USA and Directed by David Michod.

* 'Die, My Love' - from Canada and Directed by Lynne Ramsay.

* 'Frankenstein' - from the USA and Directed by Guillermo del Toro.

* 'H is for Hawk' - from the UK and Directed by Philippa Lowthorpe.

* 'Hamnet' - from the UK and Directed by Chloe Zhao.

* 'The History of Sound' - from the USA, the UK and Italy and Directed by Oliver Hermanus.

* 'Is This Thing On?' - from the USA and Directed by Bradley Cooper.

* 'It Was Just an Accident' - from Iran, France and Luxembourg and Directed by Jafar Panahi.

* 'Jay Kelly' - from the USA, the UK and Italy and Directed by Noah Baumbach.

* 'The Mastermind' - from the USA and Directed by Kelly Reichardt.

* 'No Other Choice' - from South Korea and Directed by Park Chan-wook.

* 'Nouvelle Vague' - from France and Directed by Richard Linklater.

* 'Pillion' - from the UK and Directed by Harry Lighton.

* 'Roofman' - from the USA and Directed by Derek Cianfrance.

* 'Sentimental Value' - from Norway, France and Germany and Directed by Joachim Trier.

* 'Springsteen : Deliver Me from Nowhere' - from the USA and Directed by Scott Cooper.

For the details of the ten films in Official Competition, plus the Special Presentations section, the First Feature Competition, the Documentary Competition and the Thematic Strands, plus a whole heap of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp

Looking forward to this weeks seven new movies coming to a big screen Odeon close to you, we kick off with a political thriller in which US government officials must deal with a single nuclear missile attack on the city of Chicago. This is followed by a Sci-Fi action film that is the third in the series, and this time mankind encounters AI beings for the first time when a highly sophisticated programme, leaves the digital world for a dangerous mission in the real world. Next up we have a WWII action horror drama which finds a group of young soldiers, who become stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean after their ship is sunk by the enemy and must battle for their lives against a giant hungry great white shark. Then we turn to an Aussie drama about a stage designer who returns to Australia to bid farewell to his dying mother, however, his planned quick trip descends into chaos, drama, and funny moments. Following on, we have a drama film from a first time Director that tells the story of how after seventy years with her best friend, this old lady moves to New York City for a fresh start, but making new friends at ninety-four years of age proves difficult. Up next is an Aussie survival thriller where after her husband goes missing in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment, a woman joins a body retrieval unit in the hopes of finding him alive; before closing out the week with a doco in which archival footage and interviews provide insight into the partnership, both professional and personal, between film Director James Ivory and film Producer Ismail Merchant.

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 coming week.

'A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE' (Rated M) - this American political thriller film is Co-Produced and Directed by Kathryn Bigelow who made her feature film Directorial debut in 1981 with 'The Loveless' and which she would follow up with other titles including 'Blue Steel' in 1990, 'Point Break' in 1991, 'Strange Days' in 1995, 'K-19 : The Widowmaker' in 2002, 'The Hurt Locker' in 2008, 'Zero Dark Thirty' in 2012, and 'Detroit' in 2017. This film saw its World Premiere showcasing in the main competition at this years recent Venice International Film Festival in early September where it was nominated for the Golden Lion.

This film based at the White House, where US government officials scramble to deal with an incoming single nuclear missile launched by an unidentified enemy at the city of Chicago. It boasts an ensemble cast taking in Idris Elba as the American President, with Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke and Kaitlyn Dever. It will have a limited cinema release in the UK on 3rd October and here in Australia and the USA this week, before streaming globally on Netflix from 24th October. 

'TRON : ARES' (Rated M) - is an American Sci-Fi action film Directed by Joachim Ronning, whose previous feature length Directing credits are 'Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead me Tell No Tales' in 2017, 'Maleficent : Mistress of Evil' in 2019, and 'Young Woman and the Sea' in 2024. This film is the third instalment in the 'Tron' series following the original 'Tron' in 1982 and a sequel to 2010's 'Tron : Legacy', and this film follows a highly sophisticated programme, Ares, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind's first encounter with A.I. beings. The film has an ensemble cast including Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, and Gillian Anderson, with Jeff Bridges reprising his role as Kevin Flynn from the previous films. The first two films in the series scored a worldwide Box Office haul of US$450M off the back of combined production budgets of US$187M, with this third offering coming in at a budget of US$150M. The film is released this week too in the USA.

'BEAST OF WAR' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian WWII action horror drama film is Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Kiah Roache-Turner whose prior feature film output takes in 'Wyrmwood : Road of the Dead' in 2014, 'Nekrotronic' in 2018, 'Wyrmwood : Apocalypse' in 2022 and 'Sting' in 2024. Here, and based on actual events, a group of young soldiers, fresh out of boot camp, during World War II in 1942, when a Japanese fighter sinks an Australian warship in the Timor Sea. Clinging to a makeshift raft, a handful of soldiers soon find themselves in a desperate fight for survival as a giant and very hungry great white shark circles in the water. Starring Mark Coles Smith, Joel Nankervis, Sam Delich and Steve Le Marquand. The film saw its World Premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in mid-August and is released Stateside in mid-October. 

'THE TRAVELLERS' (Rated M) - is an Australian drama film that is Written and Directed by Bruce Beresford who made his feature film Directing debut in 1972 with 'The Adventures of Barry McKenzie', and would follow this up with the likes of 'Don's Party' in 1976, 'Breaker Morant' in 1980, 'Puberty Blues' in 1981, 'Her Alibi' and 'Driving Miss Daisy' both in 1989, 'Paradise Road' in 1997, 'Double Jeopardy' in 1999, 'Mao's Last Dancer' in 2009 and 'Ladies in Black' in 2018. Here then, Stephen Seary (Luke Bracey), a charismatic and successful stage designer, returns to Australia to say goodbye to his dying mother. What was to be a quick trip descends into a frustrating and sometimes quirky challenge as family responsibilities, a difficult relationship with his curmudgeonly father Fred (Bryan Brown), unresolved conflicts with long-forgotten antagonists, romantic interludes, and the presence of an annoying sister make his return to Europe and the opera he has contracted to design increasingly problematic. Also starring Susie Porter and Nicholas Hammond. 

'ELEANOR THE GREAT' (Rated PG)  - this American drama film is Co-Produced and Directed by Scarlett Johansson in her feature film making debut. Here, Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb), a 94-year-old Floridian woman, strikes up an unlikely friendship with a 19-year-old student Nina (Erin Kellyman) in New York City, after she tries to rebuild her life following the death of her best friend of seventy years. The film saw its World Premiere screening at this years Cannes Film Festival in late May where it was nominated in the Un Certain Regard and Camera d'Or categories. The film was released in the USA on 26th September and early critical reviews has rated this mixed or average. The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jessica Hecht.

'WE BURY THE DEAD' (Rated MA15+) - is an Australian and US Co-Produced survival thriller film Written and Directed by Zak Hilditch, who made his feature film debut in 2003 with 'Waiting for Naval Base Lilly', and which he would follow up with his better known projects including 'These Final Hours' in 2013, '1922' in 2017 and 'Rattlesnake' in 2019. Here then, Ava Newman (Daisy Ridley), a desperate woman, searches for her husband in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment. Hoping to find him alive, Ava joins a 'body retrieval unit', but her search takes a chilling turn when the corpses she's burying start showing signs of life. Also starring Mark Coles Smith, Brenton Thwaites and Matt Whelan, the film had its World Premiere at SXSW in March this year, is released here in Australia this week, but not in the US until sometime in 2026, and has generated largely positive critical reviews.

'MERCHANT IVORY : THE DOCUMENTARY' (Rated PG) - this 2023 doco is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Stephen Soucy and documents the history of Merchant Ivory Productions, which produced films such as 'A Room with a View' in 1985, 'Howards End' in 1992 and 'The Remains of the Day' in 1993. It covers the partnership between Ismail Merchant, an Indian-born Producer, and James Ivory, an American Director, from their meeting in 1961 through their collaboration on over forty films. The documentary addresses their focus on literary adaptations and period dramas, as well as challenges like financial constraints and cultural differences. It includes interviews with Actors such as Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Grant and Vanessa Redgrave, and other associates of Merchant Ivory Productions. The film saw its World Premiere at DOC NYC Festival in November 2023, went on limited release in the US at the end of August 2024 and only now is it released here in Australia. 

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 week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

JURASSIC WORLD : REBIRTH : Tuesday 8th July 2025

I saw the M Rated 'JURASSIC WORLD : REBIRTH' at my local multiplex earlier this week, and this American science fiction action film is Directed by Gareth Edwards whose previous feature film credits take in his Directorial debut in 2010 with 'Monsters' which he would follow up with 'Godzilla' in 2014, 'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' in 2016, and 'The Creator' in 2023. This film is a standalone sequel to 2022's 'Jurassic World Dominion' the fourth 'Jurassic World' film and the seventh instalment overall in the 'Jurassic Park' franchise. The first six films in the series have grossed at the worldwide Box Office a total of US$6,076B against combined production budgets of US$1,143B - so long live the dinosaurs! The film was released in the US last week too, cost US$180M to produce, has so far grossed US$391M worldwide and has garnered mixed critical reviews.

The film opens seventeen years ago on the remote Atlantic Ocean island of Saint Hubert in a research laboratory owned and operated by InGen in which the scientists experiment on the creation of mutated dinosaurs. One such creation is a deformed six-limbed tyrannosaur called a  'Distortus Rex' that escapes containment, kills an employee and wreaks havoc, forcing the facility personnel to abandon the lab and flee the island leaving it deserted. We then fast forward seventeen years later and learn that the Earth's climate and ecology has proven largely inhospitable to sustain the de-extinct animals, and they are forced to reside in a band around the Equator, which is more akin to the climate in which their pre-historic ancestors lived and thrived. That area around the Equator is now marked as no-travel zones to anyone and everyone by international law.

Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), an executive at pharmaceutical giant ParkerGenix, recruits Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson), an ex-military covert operative, to work with paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey) on a top-secret mission to retrieve biomaterial samples from the three largest remaining prehistoric specimens, which hold the key to a new heart disease treatment. The kicker is that these three samples must be retrieved from live dinosaur specimens. In a bar in Suriname, Zora recruits her longtime friend Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) to lead the expedition, and to provide the boat and the crew to get them to the island. He brings boat driver LeClerc (Bechir Sylvain), mercenary Nina (Philippine Velge), and the security chief Bobby Atwater (Ed Skrein).

They set out to Saint Hubert Island to extract samples from the aquatic Mosasaurus, the land based Titanosaurus, and avian Quetzalcoatlus. They track the Mosasaurus, which has shipwrecked a family sailing in the mid-Atlantic Ocean in the no-travel zone - Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his older daughter Teresa (Luna Blaise) and her boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono) and Reuben's younger daughter Isabella (Audrina Miranda). Duncan is intent on rescuing the family which is in the opposite direction of the island much to the displeasure of Martin and Bobby. 

With the family safely on board, Zora successfully extracts a sample from the Mosasaur. However, it returns with a group of Spinosaurus and attacks the ship, killing Bobby and Nina in the process. Teresa in a state of panic tries to alert the Coast Guard with a May Day call but Martin attempts to prevent her from radioing, to protect the mission's utmost secrecy, then refuses to help her when she and the Delgado's fall overboard. The Mosasaur forces the ship aground, stranding the team on the island, with the family becoming separated from the original ship's crew. Now on foot and trudging through the jungle, Zora informs the remaining crew that she engaged a rescue helicopter to circle the island at sundown the next day.

Zora successfully extracts the second sample from a Titanosaurus and the third and final sample from a Quetzalcoatlus egg, by abseiling down a sheer rock wall to access its nest located in a cave. Dr. Henry and Zora become trapped inside the cave when the adult Quetzalcoatlus returns to its nest, but is distracted by  LeClerc who ultimately is devoured by the giant winged beast. 

Meanwhile, the Delgado's are stranded elsewhere and search for the 'village'. They encounter various dinosaurs along the way including an infant Aquilops, which Isabella adopts and names Dolores, a Dilophosaurus feeding on the corpse of a Parasaurolophus and a sleeping Tyrannosaurus Rex, which awakens and chases the Delgados down a fast flowing river in an inflatable raft.

The Delgado's and the expedition group reunite at the abandoned laboratory for their planned helicopter extraction. Teresa confronts Martin for attacking her on the boat, and leaving her at the mercy of the ocean and the Spinosaurs. The group questions Martin about the attack and he pulls a gun on them, steals the samples from Zora, cuffs the case to his hand and attempts to flee to the helipad. A pack of mutated raptor/pterosaur hybrids, dubbed 'Mutadons' descends on the survivors who by now have taken refuge in a network of underground tunnels that ultimately lead to the harbour, to escape.

The rescue helicopter arrives and circles for two minutes as instructed to do so by Zora, but sees no sign of life so begins to leave. Henry lights a flare, which is seen by the retreating helicopter and it doubles back, but is destroyed by the Distortus Rex, which then turns on Martin and devours him, as the sample case is flung away and lands close to Zora with Martin's arm still attached. The survivors come to a locked gate at the end of the underground tunnel, and discover a motor boat on the other side. 

The D. Rex awaits outside by the boat, and the raptor/pterosaur hybrids are stalking them in the tunnels. Isabella is the only survivor small enough to fit through the gate, and she unlocks it. The group load themselves onto the boat, while Duncan diverts the D. Rex away using a flare, but Zora fears for his life when the flare is extinguished in the near distance.

Zora, Henry, Reuben, Teresa, Xavier and Isabella narrowly escape the D. Rex in the boat when a flare beams out across the night sky. Duncan is still alive wading out through the water and Reuben turns the boat to retrieve him. With the boat now skimming across the ocean and with samples in hand, Henry asks Zora what her intentions are now that she has possession. Zora and Henry agree to distribute the new medication without a patent, making it open-source for the whole world to take full advantage of.

What Gareth Edwards has delivered here is a fairly formulaic by the numbers dino offering that does hark back in some ways to the original 'Jurassic Park' film, and yet it still treads almost the same path as the majority of instalments that have gone before. And that is that a bunch of guys and gals venture into largely unknown dino territory on some sort of expedition and the bad guys (and you know who they are from the get go) all get chomped on and spat out, and the good guys come back victorious ready for the next film in the series. So it is here, and the script writers have here pushed the boundaries of what might seem fair and reasonable to the average movie goer too. That said Scarlett Johansson delivers an admirable performance as do the principle cast, and Gareth Edwards knows how to ramp up the action set pieces, which I guess is the main reason why you go to see a movie that features prehistoric dinosaur versus human interaction writ large, and on that note 'Jurassic World : Rebirth' delivers.

'Jurassic World : Rebirth' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

FLY ME TO THE MOON : Tuesday 13th August 2024.

I saw the M Rated 'FLY ME TO THE MOON' earlier this week at my local independent picture house, and this American romantic dramedy is Directed by Greg Berlanti whose prior feature film output takes in 'The Broken Hearts Club' in 2000, 'Life as We Know It' in 2010 and 'Love, Simon' in 2018 as well as creating, writing and producing numerous successful TV shows and series. This film was released here in Australia and the US on 11th July, had a production budget of US$100M, has so far grossed US$41M and has garnered mixed critical reviews.

The film opens up with the three man crew of NASA's Apollo 1 preparing for a launch rehearsal test in late January 1967 when an electrical fire breaks out in the cabin killing all three crew members - Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee, and destroyed the command module. The Director in charge of the test Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) has had to live with the memory of that ill fated day ever since. We then cut to New York City and marketing ace Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is seen in a meeting with three men, all of whom have very clearly defined views on women in the workplace, and is there to pitch a motor vehicle campaign, which needless to say she aces too after correctly guessing the make and model of the cars the three drive. Following that meeting she is met by Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) who works for President Richard Nixon as his 'fixer', and offers her the role of a lifetime down in Florida to fix up NASA's public image, which she can hardly refuse, and especially considering Kelly's somewhat dubious background which he says would also allow her to walk away ultimately with a clean slate. 

And so Kelly and her trusted assistant Ruby Martin (Anna Garcia) fly down to Cape Kennedy, Florida where they quickly meet with, and fail to hit it off, with Cole and his right hand man in mission control Henry Smalls (Ray Romano). After establishing themselves in situ at NASA HQ Kelly quickly unveils her marketing plans to lift awareness of NASA among the American public with extremes in her campaign ranging from Omega Watches sponsorship to having the breakfast cereal that goes Snap, Crackle and Pop replaced with Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, who plan to blast off in Apollo 11 on 16th July 1969 - some 170 days hence, and be the first men to walk on the Moon. 

Needless to say as Kelly's various campaigns begin to prove successful, Cole's stance toward her begins to soften. However, the fly in the ointment proves to be a number of government senators who are opposed to the NASA programme and want to shut down the Apollo mission and redirect that funding to more meaningful purposes that will have a direct positive impact on the American people. And so Kelly goes to work on Senator Hopp (Gene Jones), Senator Cook (Colin Jost), Senator Hedges (Victor Garber) who of them all is walk in the park as he is already pro-NASA, but its Senator Vanning (Joe Chrest) who is the real problem child. 

And so one evening Cole decides to introduce Kelly to the love of his life Jenny - his own twin prop two seater plane - and fly them both across the border to meet for dinner with Senator Vanning and his wife Jolene (Stephanie Kurtzuba) at their home. The Vanning's are God fearing folk who believe in the word of the bible over science hence his seemingly staunch resistance to supporting NASA. Cole however, wins him over with a counter argument of how science and religion go hand in hand on this project, and on national TV Vanning pledges his support to the cause. 

Moe shows up one day unannounced with a suitcase, and discusses its contents first with Kelly before calling Cole into the meeting. He motions to the suitcase and asks Cole to look inside, revealing a bulky and heavy looking camera which Moe wants attached to the lunar landing module to take video footage that can be beamed back to Earth. Cole immediately says no, and that they are at a point where they are having to weigh every screw in an attempt to reduce the weight, and strapping a 15lb camera to the pod is totally impractical. Moe then mentions that he can always advise the President to withdraw funding to which Cole very reluctantly agrees and calls in two of his top engineers Stu Bryce and Don Harper (Donald Elise Watkins and Noah Robbins respectively) to strip the camera down to its bear bones and mount it on the pod. 

The next time Moe shows up he has a much more outlandish plan for Kelly, but she is sworn to secrecy apart from those in her inner circle, which does not include either Cole or Henry under any circumstances. She is given top secret access to a hangar in which she she is to 'stage' a fake Moon landing as a back up in the event that the real landing fails for whatever reason. And so Kelly and Ruby set to work, and they hire a Director whom they have worked with previously on ad campaigns in New York - Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash) who at first struggles with the concept, the surroundings and the 'actors' hired to portray Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins. But after a number of set backs Lance comes good as the day approaches. 

On launch day Kelly confides to Cole the plan to stage a fake Moon landing. Needless to say he is none to pleased at the prospect and storms off. Cole is advised that a component on the lunar lander camera is broken and enlist Stu and Don to investigate immediately. Reporting back that they need a component from a modern day colour TV set they jump in Coles Mustang with Kelly behind the wheel and drive off frantically to the nearest TV retail outlet only to find it closed for the pending launch. Kelly throws a garbage bin through the window of the shop while Stu enters and grabs a TV just as the Police show up. Caught red handed, Kelly turns on her charm and before you know it they are tearing back to Mission Control with a Police escort leading from in front. Stu hurriedly enters the cabin, replaces the component with just a few moments to spare before countdown begins. 

And so watched by a global audience Apollo 11 successfully launches into orbit. Some twenty-seven hours later the lunar landing module touches down on the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon. In the hangar housing the fake Moon landing mock up the cameras are set to roll, while simultaneously the cameras are also set to roll on the Moon. Watching on dual monitors in the hangar is Moe, Kelly and Ruby who once Armstrong exits the lunar lander can hardly tell the difference between the events unfolding for real on the Moon and those within the hangar. Until that is, a pesky black cat appears on the gantry directly above the fake set up, and is then chased by a Security Officer who gets his legs tangled in a rope and falls over the edge of the gantry to come to halt dangling just out of view of the camera. Meanwhile, the cat has run off and is running amok on the fake lunar landscape and ends up between the legs of 'Neil Armstrong'. 

Fortunately the footage had been cut by this time, but no one is any wiser as to which footage is real that is being broadcast to the world. It wasn't until Armstrong uttered those immortal words 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' that they all realise that the real Moon landing footage is being beamed around the world. And so the team, including Moe, breathe a big sigh of relief.

In the aftermath, Moe congratulates Kelly on a job well done and tells her that her history is now cleared and that she is free to start afresh. Kelly confides her back story to Cole saying that she was brought up from a very young age to sell door to door with her Mum and she would scam people into buying stuff they didn't need and that was how she ended up becoming a marketing whizz, and by the way, her real name is Winnie. Cole, having told Kelly that he never wants to see her again following her reveal about the fake Moon landing, embraces her, and they kiss. 

I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised by 'Fly Me to the Moon' which is part RomCom, part drama, part nostalgic history lesson and part conspiracy theory all wrapped into one neat little package with the chemistry between Johansson and Tatum clearly evident here, ably aided and abetted by Romano and always on top form Harrelson. This film is a real throwback to the comedies of the '60's featuring the likes of Hudson and Day, and on that level it works just fine if that's where your expectations rest. Director Berlanti has crammed enough sub-plots into the storyline here to maintain the interest, but at a run time time of 132 minutes the film at times feels a little bloated and off-kilter. That said, its worth the price of your cinema ticket to catch a movie the likes of which don't come around too often anymore these days.

'Fly Me to the Moon' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BLACK WIDOW : Wednesday 28th July 2021.

I finally got around to watching the M Rated 'BLACK WIDOW' this week - the long awaited superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. This is the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first film in Phase Four of the MCU. Its release was delayed three times from an original May 2020 date due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 'Black Widow' saw its World Premier screenings on 29th June this year at various red carpet fan events in London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, and New York City and was released in Australia and the US on 8th and 9th July respectively, having garnered generally favourable Critical acclaim off the back of a US$200M production budget. This film is Directed by the Australian multiple award winning and nominated writer and film maker Cate Shortland whose three prior feature film credits are 'Somersault' in 2004 with Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington, 'Lore' in 2012 with Saskia Rosendahl and 'Berlin Syndrome' in 2017 with Teresa Palmer. The film has so far grossed US$320M and is also available to stream on Disney+ with Premier Access.

The film opens up in 1995 in Ohio where two young sisters, Natasha (Ever Anderson) and Yelena (Violet McGraw) are playing in their back yard. Their mother Melina (Rachel Weisz) calls them in for dinner. Their father Alexei (David Harbour) joins them saying to his daughters that the adventure he had always promised them is happening tonight and that they need to leave immediately. They bundle a handful of their belongings into the family car and drive off into the night. They turn down a dirt road and into a field, where under a concealed canopy is a light aeroplane. The two girls jump in, as does Melina, leaving Alexei to fend off a convoy of advancing patrol cars all guns blazing. Melina sustains a gun shot wound leaving Natasha to take the controls. With Alexei hanging onto the wing shooting at the patrol cars Natasha guides the small aircraft into flight leaving the carnage below. They land in Cuba and are greeted by General Dreykov (Ray Winstone) who has Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova drugged and carted off for training and indoctrination to the Red Room. It turns out that Alexei Shostakov and Melina Vostokoff are Russian undercover agents who posed as a model family in Ohio with two surrogate daughters for three years before making off with S.H.I.E.L.D intel which they passed onto Dreykov (a nod to James Bond here), who also runs the Black Widow programme. Dreykov has Alexei imprisoned for life, while Melina becomes a top tier scientist within the Red Room.

We then fast forward twenty-one years and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is on the run for violating the Sokovia Accords after she had defected to S.H.I.E.L.D and following the bombing of Dreykov's office in Budapest seemingly killing him and his young daughter Antonia. The US Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) is hot on her heels but she successfully evades him and escapes to a safe house located in remote Norway that has been provided to her by a close friend and former S.H.I.E.L.D ally Rick Mason (O-T Fagbenie). In the meantime in Morocco, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) kills a Black Widow but comes in contact with a synthetic red gas that neutralises the Red Room's chemical mind-control agent. Belova sends the small case of antidote vials to Romanoff, hoping she will send the Avengers to free the other Widows. Romanoff unknowingly drives off with the vials to get fuel for her generator when her car is bombed and she is attacked by Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) who is after the case of vials and not her. 

Romanoff manages to escape Taskmaster by jumping off a bridge into a river and when she surfaces with the clutch of vials she notes from a childhood photograph contained therein that they were sent by Belova. The pair reunite in Budapest and after some intense close quarter hand to hand combat they call a truce (a nod to Jason Bourne here) and Romanoff learns from Belova that Dreykov is still alive and the Red Room is still very much active. They are then set upon by a group of Black Widows and Taskmaster from which they successfully escape and then meet up with Rick Mason again who supplies them with a beat up old Russian helicopter. 

Flying their helicopter into what looks like a Siberian prison camp located at the base of a snow covered mountain range Romanoff and Belova break Shostakov out of prison, in a high stakes extraction that ultimately sees the prison complex flattened in a cascading avalanche of snow and ice. They expect him to tell them the whereabouts of Dreykov and he tells them to speak with Vostokoff, who now lives on a farm outside Saint Petersburg raising pigs. There she developed the chemical mind control process used on the Widows, that she perfected on her now very obedient pigs. 

There, Belova reveals that while they were not a real family, she believed they were so, given that she was only six years of age when the family returned to Russia. Afterward, Vostokoff admits to Romanoff that she sent their location to Dreykov and within thirty minutes or so his agents arrive and take them to the Red Room, a floating facility located above the cloud line, and therefore above radar detection capabilities.

Vostokoff and Romanoff use face mask technology to swap places before being captured (a nod to 'Mission : Impossible' here),  so giving Vostokoff the chance to free Shostakov and Belova from their captivity. Meanwhile, Romanoff confronts Dreykov, who sees through her disguise. Dreykov reveals to Romanoff that Taskmaster is in fact his daughter Antonia, who suffered damage severe enough through the bomb explosion when she was just a child that Dreykov had to implant a chip in to the back of her neck. This turned her into the perfect compliant soldier, capable of mimicking the actions of anyone she sees. Romanoff attempts to kill Dreykov but fails to harm him due to a pheromone lock activated through her sense of smell. Dreykov reveals that he is in control of an army of Widows worldwide which he operates via his desk console. 

Romanoff intentionally slams her forehead down on his desk and breaks her nose, severing a nerve in her nasal passage to negate the pheromone lock, and then attacks Dreykov. Shostakov now suited up as the Red Guardian battles Taskmaster, while Vostokoff takes out one of the facility's engines setting in motion the eventual destruction of the entire complex. Belova goes off in search of the other Widows, who now have to guard Dreykov. Together, Shostakov and Vostokoff capture Taskmaster in a cell. The Widows arrive in Dreykov's office and he orders them to kill Romanoff and to make it long and painful. Just as Romanoff is about to be overcome, Belova arrives and detonates numerous vials of the mind control antidote over the Widow's so freeing them from their life of servitude. 

Romanoff gets into Dreykov's control desk and uploads the locations of the other Widows worldwide as the facility begins to explode and begins its free fall back to the ground below. Romanoff retrieves the two surviving vials of the antidote and frees Taskmaster from the locked cell. Vostokoff and Shostakov escape via a plane while Belova takes out Dreykov's aircraft, killing him and his Red Room soldiers, but Belova is blown clear in the explosion and begins plummeting towards the ground. In freefall, Romanoff gives Belova a parachute before battling Taskmaster. After landing, Romanoff uses one antidote vial on Taskmaster, freeing her from servitude. The freed Widows arrive as Belova, Vostokoff, and Shostakov reluctantly say goodbye to Romanoff, as Ross and a convoy of patrol cars arrive to apprehend her. She hands Belova the last vial of antidote and the portable drive, telling her to locate and free the other, still mind-controlled, Widows. They leave with Antonia, as Romanoff waits for the convoy to pull up.

Two weeks later, a now blonde Romanoff reunites with Mason, who has procured her a Quinjet. She leaves, saying that she came into this with no family, and now she has two intending to make amends and free the imprisoned Avengers. Stay tuned for the end credits sequence too. 

'Black Widow' is a fitting send off and a great big last hurrah for Natasha Romanoff in her own right. Cate Shortland here Directs her first superhero film with aplomb and proves that's she more than capable of helming big budget action spectacles on a US$200M grand scale. This is essentially a espionage story wrapped up in a tale of a dysfunctional family battling it out against a supervillain intent on world domination very much grounded on our humble blue planet rather than the standard MCU offerings of late centreing around intergalactic Gods, faraway planetary systems and those with superhuman powers. Johansson and Pugh are perfectly cast as the surrogate siblings with Pugh especially demonstrating her ability to carry the Black Widow universe in further instalments whichever direction that may go in, and Harbour provides much needed moments of levity amongst the more serious and emotional scenes. A well made stand alone entry into the MCU that delivers on the action, the emotion and the overall story arc. 

'Black Widow' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-