THE BLACK PHONE : Tuesday 2nd August 2022.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'THE BLACK PHONE' earlier this week, and this American super-natural horror film is Co-Written for the screen, Co-Produced and Directed by Scott Derrickson whose previous feature film outings take in the likes of 'Hellraiser : Inferno' in 2000, 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' in 2005, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' in 2008, 'Sinister' in 2012, 'Deliver Us from Evil' in 2014 and 'Doctor Strange' most recently in 2016. This film is an adaptation of the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill. The film saw its Premier screening at Fantastic Fest in late September last year and went on release in the US towards the end of June this year, here in Australia on 21st July and has so far grossed US$144M off the back of a US$18M production budget and garnering generally positive Reviews.

The film opens up with a bunch of young lads playing in a baseball competition, with thirteen year old Finney Blake (Mason Thames) pitching the ball, and Bruce (Tristan Pravong) batting. With two strikes behind him, Finney pitches his third ball which results in Bruce hitting a home run and winning the match. After the game Bruce and Finney congratulate each other with Bruce saying that Finney has got a 'minted arm'. It is 1978 and we are in Denver, Colorado. Finney lives with his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), and their abusive and alcoholic father Terrence (Jeremy Davies) in the suburbs. At school Finney is often bullied by the same gang, but is looked out for by his good friend Robin (Miguel Cazarez Mora). One day Bruce is seen cycling towards a black panel van, and is next seen on a Missing Person's poster adorning the local streets. 

Gwen, who experiences psychic dreams just as her late mother did, dreams of Bruce's abduction and sees that he was taken by a man in a black van with black balloons, known locally as The Grabber. Detectives Wright and Miller (E. Roger Mitchell and Troy Rudeseal respectively) attempt to interview young Gwen, but struggle to believe her claims. Sometime later the Grabber abducts Robin, and then within a few days Finney is also kidnapped. 

Finney comes around sometime later on a mattress in an empty soundproofed basement. On the wall is a disconnected black rotary phone that the Grabber claims does not work, and the broken cord would seem to confirm that notion. Later, Finney hears the phone ring and answers it. Bruce's spirit, unable to remember his own name or who he was when he was alive, tells Finney about a floor tile located in the corridor to the toilet, that he can remove to dig a tunnel to escape through the soft earth directly beneath the floor. 

The Police conduct door to door searches for Finney, but this proves fruitless. The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) brings Finney food and a soda. While eating on scrambled eggs the phone rings and it is another boy called Billy, who instructs him that he had hidden a length of cord behind the junction of the wall and floor and he can use it to escape through the high window of the basement. While climbing Finney breaks the bars on the window which come crashing down on top of him and so preventing him from climbing back up. Gwen dreams of Billy being abducted and confides in her father about what is happening. Finney sleeps and when he wakes up the Grabber is there in the basement having watched him sleep. The Grabber exits but leaves the door to the basement unlocked. As Finney prepares to sneak out the phone rings again and Billy tells him not to as this is a game the Grabber likes to play, as he lies in wait upstairs to attack his victims within an inch of their lives, with a belt, just as Billy was. 

Detectives Wright and Miller speak to an eccentric man called Max (James Ransone) who is staying in the area with his brother and who has been conducting his own investigation into the missing kids. It is revealed Finney is being held in the basement of Max's brothers house, of which he is unaware, and that the Grabber is in fact his brother. After a heated exchange with the Grabber, where he tests Finney's honesty, he speaks as if he would have let Finney go free. Finney speaks to another one of his victims, Griffin, on the phone. Griffin directs Finney to the combination of a bike lock scrawled on the basement wall with a bottle top, and that the bike lock secures the front door to the house. He also informs him that the Grabber has fallen asleep upstairs while waiting for him to emerge, and that if he is to get past him he must do so in absolute silence. Finney gingerly sneaks upstairs and unlocks the door after several attempts with the dial combination, but the Grabber's dog alerts him to Finney's escape. Finney flees down the street but is quickly recaptured at knife point. 

Discouraged by his failed escape attempt, Finney answers the phone to hear another victim, a punk called Vance whom Finney was scared of. Vance advises Finney of a storage room located immediately behind one of the basement walls and that he can escape through it if he breaks a hole in the wall and exits through the freezer on the other side. Finney creates a hole with the cistern lid and enters the back of the freezer only to discover that the freezer door is locked. Feeling even more dejected Finney breaks down sobbing, totally disheartened. The phone rings one more time with Robin at the end of the line. He consoles Finney and encourages him to finally stand up and fight for himself. He instructs Finney to remove the phone receiver and pack it tight with the dirt he had dug up and to use it as a weapon.

Gwen has a dream of Vance's abduction and learns the number of the Grabber's property. She cycles around the neighbourhood trying to locate the house and falls from her bike when confronted by the bloodied spirits of the Grabbers victims stood in front of her adjacent to the house. She returns home and calls Detective Wright. 

Max realises Finney is being held in the house and rushes to the basement to free him, believing that his brother is out working. Little does he know that his brother is standing right behind him on the stairs and brings down an axe right on his head killing him instantly. The police rush over to the house that Gwen found but find it empty. In the basement, however, they find the buried bodies of the Grabber's five previous victims with an open grave waiting for the sixth. 

The Grabber attacks Finney with the axe, but Finney manages to trip the Grabber with the cord, causing him to fall into the partial tunnel Finney dug, where the Grabber breaks and traps his ankle in the window bars placed at the bottom. Finney repeatedly smashes the weighted phone handset against the face and head of the Grabber. The spirits of the Grabbers other victims taunt him over the phone before Finney breaks his neck with the cord used to trip him initially, killing him. Finney distracts the guard dog with meat from the freezer and escapes the house using the combination he learned from Griffin. Finney exits the house across the street from the gravesites where he reunites with Gwen and the police rush to the property. The siblings comfort each other as their father arrives, apologises for his treatment of Finney and begs his forgiveness. Back at school, the new local hero and a now more confident Finney sits next to his crush in Science class.

With 'The Black Phone' Scott Derrickson is back in his comfort zone providing the audience with a well crafted story, combined with dramatic, emotional, super-natural and horror elements and set back in the late '70's where the aesthetic of that era is spot on and hark back to the classic horror films of the '80's such as 'The Shining', 'Poltergeist', 'Misery' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and the type of story that could have easily been penned by Stephen King. The performances from Thames and McGraw as the two siblings who each have their own super-natural experiences to work through are first rate, and Hawke as the multiple child killer whose face is never fully revealed, lends his menacing machismo to solid effect. As a horror film, this film is light on jump scares and what would be described as real moments of horror tension and terror, but as a super-natural crime thriller it does deliver on the chills and spills that help elevate it above many of its current contemporaries. 

'The Black Phone' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 21st July 2022.

The 22nd edition of the New Horizons International Film Festival which takes place in the city of Wroclaw, in southwestern Poland, this year from Thursday 21st July through until Sunday 31st July. This festival was established in 2001 as a place to present the brave artistic cinema, which was not present in Poland at that time, while looking for new forms of expression, and going far beyond the limits of conventional film. The official website, reads that 'it is a festival of cinema visionaries, uncompromising artists who have the courage to follow their chosen path against the prevailing fashions and talk about the most important things with their unique language. From among the hundreds of films shown every year at international festivals and among those submitted for selection, the ones selected are those that, thanks to their unusual form and power of expression, do not allow themselves to be forgotten. They arouse extreme reactions and emotions, arouse polemics and discussions, evoke delight and protests. But it is precisely such films that most often set the latest trends in world cinema. The main competition is the fulfilment of the idea of ​​'New Horizons' cinema'. 271 films are being showcased at this years festival, of which 209 are full length feature films and sixty-two are short films. 

The New Horizons International Competition is the showpiece of the Wrocław festival. It is here that the fresh, uncompromising works of artists looking for original forms of expression are presented. Among the twelve competition titles that will compete for this year's Grand Prix, there are productions from countries including Bolivia, Brazil, France, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Switzerland and Great Britain. Those twelve films are :-

* '107 Mothers' - from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Ukraine and Directed by Peter Kerekes. Lesia is a young prisoner, recently imprisoned in Odessa. A child is already being born in the centre. However, she will be able to see little Kola only at certain times. The boy will stay in the children's ward until he is three years old, then, if he is not taken care of by someone from the family, he will go to an orphanage. Lesia's fate is shared by all mothers who are serving their sentence.

* 'Afterwater' - from Germany, South Korea, Spain and Serbia and Directed by Dane Komljen. Composed of three parts, each with three heroes and a different lake at the centre of the story, it flows freely between epochs (present, past and future), media (digital, 16mm and video), forms of coexistence, identities, but also languages, ideas and texts.

* 'Until Friday, Robinson' - from France, Switzerland, Iran and Lebanon and Directed by Mitra Farahani. In a brilliant and, in its own way, audacious documentary essay, Farahani paints portraits of 'angry age prophets' facing death and the weakness of the flesh, but still extremely insightful and witty. Sometimes they only appear as shadows, sometimes we see them in photos from the hospital. By recording their surroundings and lifestyle, Farahani asks intriguing questions about generational experience, existential choices and conclusions that revolutionists draw from their own biographies.

* 'Enys Men' - from Great Britain and Directed by Mark Jenkin. The year is 1973, communication and entertainment are hard to come by. No change - the woman notes in her diary, but she brought a lot of luggage with her. Memories, fears and fantasies spread around the island, they swim to the shore, they are delirious, they call in the Cornish dialect, they disturb the rhythm.

* 'A Piece of Heaven' - from Switzerland and Germany and Directed by Michael Koch. The postcard scenery of the Alpine province serves as a contrast to the hardships of the heroes' lives, dependent on the whims of nature and the jokes of a perverse fate. All these inconveniences are felt most strongly by Anna - a waitress from a local inn, who decides to tie up with a slightly older Marek. The newcomer arouses the distrust of the local community. The more facts are against the man, the more earnestly Anna stands up for her partner, knowing that she is also fighting for the right to live her own way.

* 'We Haven't Lost Our Way' - from Poland and Directed by Anka Sasnal and Wilhelm Sasnal. They look at the life of a woman and a man at the crossroads - in two separate stories, which, however, perhaps have something in common. Ewa is an English teacher and translator, but she works as a carer for an old lady, whom she is supposed to entertain with reading and conversation. Eryk works at the university, but he is more concerned with helping the needy than with literature, which - like his explosive disposition - causes him a lot of problems. 

* 'Immaculate' - from Romania and Directed by Monica Stan and George Chiper-Lillemark. Daria - a teenager who paid her first love with her addiction to heroin. While her boyfriend is imprisoned, the girl is forced by her parents to take methadone treatment. At the centre, he tells his story, but is he honest? Full of fear, Daria learns the strict rules of the clinic, spends time with other patients, and the key that can open many doors in these relationships and bring relief is touch.

* 'Burning Earth' from Brazil and Portugal and Directed by Adirley Queiros and Joana Pimenta. Here we follow the fate of the Chita and Lei sisters. They are the leaders of a female gang that sells stolen gasoline in one of the largest favelas on the South American continent - in Sol Nascente on the outskirts of Brasilia. The sisters also agitate politically, dance at parties and have long talks with each other. However, the police are on their heels, chanting patriotic and religious slogans. 

* 'The Dam' - from Serbia, Germany, Sudan and France and Directed by Ali Cherri. The protagonist of this film, made in North Sudan near the gigantic Merowe dam, is Maher, a brick maker, seasonal worker from Darfur, who sneaks into the desert in the evenings to make a huge figure out of clay.

* 'A Hidden Gem' - from Argentina and Mexico and Directed by Natalia Lopez Gallardo. The plot that takes place in the Mexican province of Hidden Gem focuses on the search for a missing woman. The kidnapped sister, who serves on the estate of a wealthy family, and her white employer, recovering from the divorce, are involved in it. A moving story about systemic violence, entanglement, misogyny and class guilt.

* 'Great Move' - from Bolivia, France, Qatar and Switzerland and Directed by Kiro Russo. First, we see the city of La Paz from above as a hellish cauldron full of people, sounds and colours. New tall buildings are adjacent to dark alleys and decaying ruins. Closer shots show streets and bazaars bustling with life. Street trade is booming, crowded buses squeeze through the crowd, cars are honking, and unionists are organising miners' demonstrations. This is a portrait of the city, animated by dark energy, full of mysteries and magic.

* 'Water' - from Spain, Switzerland and France and Directed by Elena Lopez Riera. We are in a sleepy town in southern Spain, where the sun-scorched earth is sometimes haunted by great water, which is a breeding ground for various legends and myths. People are beautiful here, but they have no job and no prospect for the future - the youth only dream of breaking out of this hole.

For the full details and the other film strands playing at the 22nd New Horizons International Film Festival, you can go to the official website at : https://www.nowehoryzonty.pl/artykul.do?lang=en&id=267

Turning the attention then back to this weeks three new cinematic offerings, we kick start with a mystery drama about a young woman who raised herself in the marshes of the America's deep South becomes a suspect in the murder of a man she was once involved with. This is followed by a super-natural horror about a thirteen year old lad who after being abducted by a child killer and locked in a soundproof basement, starts receiving calls on a disconnected phone from the killer's previous victims. And closing out the week we have a Spanish Argentinian film about a wealthy businessman who hires a famous filmmaker to help make a smash hit film.

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

* 'WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING' (Rated M) - this American mystery drama film is Directed by Olivia Newman and is based on the 2018 best selling novel of the same name by Delia Owens. This is Olivia Newman's second feature film outing following the 2018 release of 'First Match' on Netflix. The film is Co-Produced by Reece Witherspoon and the title song is written and sung by Taylor Swift. It cost US$44M to produce and is released this week too Stateside. 

Catherine 'Kya' Clarke (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is an endlessly resourceful young girl who grows up in the marshlands of North Carolina. Abandoned by her parents and older siblings in the early 1950's, Kya learns to survive on her own. She is taught to read and write by her friend Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith) and falls for him, but is left behind once again when he goes to college. Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson) is a quarterback who draws Kya into a tryst with promises of marriage that never eventuate. After Kya ends their relationship, Chase attacks her and she narrowly escapes. Then, while she is away, Chase is found dead and Kya is engulfed in a murder trial, with the evidence against her seemingly insurmountable. Also starring David Strathairn and Garret Dillahunt.

* 'THE BLACK PHONE' (Rated MA15+) - is an American super-natural horror film Co-Written for the screen, Co-Produced and Directed by Scott Derrickson whose previous feature film outings take in the likes of 'Hellraiser : Inferno' in 2000, 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' in 2005, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' in 2008, 'Sinister' in 2012, 'Deliver Us from Evil' in 2014 and 'Doctor Strange' most recently in 2016. This film is an adaptation of the 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill. Here, Finney Shaw (Mason Thames), a shy but clever thirteen-year-old boy, is abducted by a sadistic masked killer, known as The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming serves little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer's previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn't happen to Finney. The film saw its Premier screening at Fantastic Fest in late September last year and went on release in the US towards the end of June this year having grossed US$116M off the back of a US$18M production budget and garnering generally positive Reviews. 

* 'OFFICIAL COMPETITION' (Rated M) - this Spanish and Argentinian comedy film is Co-Written and Directed by Gaston Duprat and Mariano Cohn and it saw its World Premier showcasing at last years Venice Film Festival in early September before being released in its native Spain and Argentina in late February and mid-March respectively. An aged multimillionaire, Humberto Suarez (Jose Luiz Gomez) willing to leave a legacy decides to finance a feature film Directed by eccentric Lola Cuevas (Penelope Cruz). The Screenplay is adapted from an award-winning novel about a man who is unable to forgive his brother for killing their parents in a drunk-driving accident. The two brothers are to be played by defined actor Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez) and celebrity actor Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas), whose differing methods cause them to clash during rehearsals. The film has generated largely positive Reviews, and has so far grossed US$4M at the Box Office. 

With three 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-

DOCTOR STRANGE : Sunday 30th October 2016

'DOCTOR STRANGE' which I saw last weekend is the fourteenth instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the guise of one Doctor Stephen Strange, a lesser known character in the comic canon, but one nonetheless who has carved out a niche following and who has been around since being created by artist Steve Ditko in 1963, with Stan Lee penning the mystical mind bending story. Made for US$165M, the early Reviews of 'Doctor Strange' have been very positive, with Marvel looking as though they have backed another winner, with the Box Office tally so far amounting to US$123M, with it's US release date being 4th November. With Scott Derrickson in the Director's Chair and also taking a Screenplay and Story credit, Benedict Cumberbatch playing the title role and ably supported by a strong cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, Rachel McAdams and Benjamin Bratt, and all the touchstones from the MCU that we have come to know, love and expect, I think it's fair to say that we are going to be seeing more of the good Doctor in future standalone and cross-over instalments.

The film opens in an ancient looking library of sorts where arrives Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and two of his henchmen through some kind of magical portal. They behead the librarian and steal some select pages from an ancient and mystical book, and with their business done they disappear from whence they came. Meanwhile, we are introduced to the brilliant and world acclaimed neurosurgeon Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he preforms intricate surgery on a patient, assisted by Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) - his former love interest. Strange whilst brilliant is egotistical, self-opinionated and not good on a personal level with emotions, empathy and relationships. He has all the trappings of a hugely successful career though - penthouse suite overlooking the city, fast car, public speaking engagements, designer suits, and an extensive exclusive watch collection for every occasion. He is much sought after for his brilliance on the operating table, and is keen to keep pushing the envelope of medical research to advance his know how, his skills and to keep at the top of his game.

One evening en route to a high profile public speaking engagement at the wheel of his sports car, he veers out of control and through a mountain side crash barrier, down a ravine being turned every which way as his car crumples around him gradually coming to rest on its end and half submerged in the water on the outskirts of the city. He comes round sometime later after having had extensive surgery performed on him to repair the damage done to both of his crushed hands. He is distraught, as his hands are the very tools he so relies on to perform the intricate surgery that he is world renowned for. What is he to do?

After months of seeking out the means with which to repair his hands and restore them to their former abilities, and only failing in the process and using up all of his accumulated wealth in the meantime, Strange seeks out a Jonathan Pangborn (Benjamin Bratt) whom he has been told was a paraplegic who mysteriously was able to walk again. Pangborn tells Strange that his healing must come from within and directs him to Kathmandu and to a place known as Kamar-Taj. And so using the last of his available funds he travels to Nepal out of desperation and in a last ditch attempt to find a cure for his hands to heal, the way Pangborn has been healed.

Arriving at Kamar-Taj he is taken in by Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and introduced to The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) - the Sorcerer Supreme who has lived for a very long, albeit undisclosed, time and has taught all comers over that time. The initial introductions do not go according to plan and Strange is kicked out on the street for his arrogance, but eventually the two relent and allow the Doctor back in. The Ancient One shows Strange her power to help him believe in the power beyond our own understanding, our own universe and our own dimensions. 'Through the mystic arts we harness energy to shape reality' she tells him. This time Strange eats humble pie and begs for The Ancient One to teach him. Months pass as Strange becomes the model pupil, devouring the books from the library to quench his thirst for knowledge and understanding, aided by Librarian Wong (Benedict Wong), and practicing the mystical arts to a point where he can harness such powers and command them.

Strange learns of Kaecilius and that he was a former pupil of Kamar-Taj and The Ancient One, and that it was he who killed the librarian and stole the pages from the The Ancient One's collection of books and forbidden texts from the same place he has now taken up residence in. Strange also learns that the world is protected from the otherworldly dimensions by a spell that connects three buildings (called Sanctums) located in London, New York and Hong Kong. The task of the sorcerers, through Kamar-Taj, is to protect all three Sanctums. Pangborn, however, chose to pass up on this opportunity and channel his newly learned mystical powers into regaining the use of his legs and making his body whole again. As for Kaecilius, he moved to the dark side following the death of those closest to him, believing that everyone should have the opportunity to live as long as The Ancient One, and as such has turned against Kamar-Taj for his own personal gain and immortality.

Kaecilius and his henchmen begin to call up the all powerful ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu. In the Dark Dimension time does not exist and therefore everyone can live forever. Dormammu sees our humble little green planet as rich pickings for a take over. Kaecilius sets his energy in motion using the stolen texts from The Ancient One back at Kamar-Taj. The London Sanctum is destroyed, leaving Strange to exit Kamar-Taj post haste and to make to New York to protect the Sanctum there. Here, Strange and Kaecilius meet head to head, fist to fist and toe to toe for the first time. Strange is aided by the mystical red 'Cloak of Levitation' which sourced him out having a will of its own, and which helps keep his antagonists at bay until Mordo and The Ancient One arrive to provide the necessary back up.

A foot chase follows through the streets of New York, where Kaecilius uses his dark mystical powers to distort reality as the city scape inverts itself, building collapse in on themselves, and the world is turned upside down, inside out and every which way unimaginable. This is minding bending stuff the like of which we saw in 'Inception' a few years ago, but not to this scale it must be said, and all the while, Strange and Co. and chasing, fighting and evading Kaecilius and Co. It's a wild ride man! In the fracas The Ancient One is injured, but not before Kaecilius reveals that she has gained her strength and longevity by tapping into The Dark Dimension for her power. Her injuries are life threatening and she dies on the operating table back in Strange's own hospital, with a bewildered Palmer looking on, wondering WTF just happened here?

With Strange and Mordo distracted with the death of The Ancient One, Kaecilius departs for the Hong Kong Sanctum. By the time Strange and Mordo arrive, the Dark Dimension has already been summonsed and is beginning to engulf the city with mounting destruction and a rising body count. Strange has another trick up his sleeve, in the form of the mystical 'Eye of Agamotto' - an amulet he retrieved form Kamar-Taj that he now wears around his neck and with which he can command time. Strange turns back time so reversing the effect of The Dark Dimension on the city and its people. In the process he creates an ever lasting time loop in which he and Dormammu are seemingly caught forever reliving the same moment over, and over and over again. In time with constant chiding by Strange, Dormammu grows weary of the repetitiveness and agrees to leave Earth and take his disciples with him, in exchange for Strange breaking the loop.

Needless to say all's well that ends well for Strange, and the people of Hong Kong and the citizens of the world. Mordo however, exits stage left disgusted that Strange and The Ancient One dare defy the forces of nature by bending time to save humanity. Strange becomes The Sorcerer Supreme now that The Ancient One has left this mortal coil, and retreats back to the New York Sanctum acting as the guardian there armed to the teeth with his new found and already proven metaphysical abilities, and his now trademark red Cloak of Levitation.

Watch out for the mid-credits sequence involving a one on one fireside chat over a never ending litre of beer with Thor in which Strange questions Thor's decision to bring his brother Loki to Earth to search for their father Odin. Strange wants Loki off our planet quick smart and agrees to help Thor in his search - a nod here to the upcoming 'Thor : Ragnarok' due in November 2017. In the end credits sequence, Mordo visits Pangborn in his workshop and steals back the powers that he has to walk claiming that Earth already has too many sorcerers, leaving Pangborn in a crumpled crippled state on the floor! And finally, watch out for the obligatory Stan Lee cameo - hilarious!

I enjoyed this new mystical mind bending, time warping, psychedelic addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Cumberbatch is perfectly cast in the role and does the character justice in this origin story that sets the foundation for more to come as we are told after the end credits have rolled. Marvel have here once again proved themselves far superior in bringing their rich comic heritage to the big screen in new, inventive and unique ways that keep us entertained, amused and ultimately coming back for more - far more so than those from the other side of the fence, DC! This film and this character is unlike any we have hitherto seen, and as such Doctor Strange provides a welcome shot in the arm for the SuperHero genre, that will help invigorate that universe and take it in a new direction. 'The Avengers protect the world from physical dangers, we safeguard it against more mystical threats' exclaims Wong, and here the portal opens setting the scene for future Strange instalments and cross-over episodes as inevitably worlds collide. Bring it on! Catch 'Doctor Strange' on the big screen - it's well worth your $20 for the solid story, the great visuals and strong performances.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 27th October 2016.

The heavily hyped, highly anticipated next instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is released this week in the form of 'Doctor Strange' as Previewed below. Representing the 14th film in the MCU, the good Doctor is a lesser known character in the rapidly expanding portfolio of Marvel superheroes to get the big screen treatment as the MCU enters its third stage which launched with the hugely successful 'Captain America : Civil War' earlier this year. Stephen Vincent Strange - world acclaimed neurosurgeon - first appeared in Marvel's Comic Books back in July 1963 created by artist and conceptualist Steve Ditko with the storyline coming from Stan Lee. Since then there have been a long line of comic books, novels, video games, cross-over animated television series and a few films including a 1978 live action film titled 'Dr. Strange' with Peter Hooten in the lead role, the animated direct to DVD 'Doctor Strange : The Sorcerer Supreme' in 2007, and a brief cameo in the 2010 animated 'Planet Hulk'. Now in 2016, after a gestation period that commenced in 1986 when a movie adaptation went into pre-production and then faltered, various Writers including David S. Goyer, Alex Cox and Wes Craven coming and going over subsequent years, and as Studios came and went, finally Scott Derrickson scored the gig to Direct. As a self-confessed fan of the mystic superhero since childhood, he had his mind set on just one Actor to play the lead role - Benedict Cumberbatch. After this outing, we'll see Cumberbatch reprising his role as Doctor Strange in 'Avengers : Infinity War' due in May 2018.

This week there are just three new cinema releases coming to an Odeon near you, but each have been critically acclaimed and therefore merit your strongest consideration when pondering what to see on the big screen in the week ahead. We kick off with the latest offering from your favourite cinematic universe that has already yielded thirteen films of superhero goodness, with this fourteenth introducing us to a new lesser known character who learns to fight mystical threats against our humble world using newly acquired metaphysical powers and a higher learning. We then move to rural Texas and a modern day game of cops and robbers in the mid-West that brings a couple of young guns up against an old hand Ranger and his trusted pardner. The week then wraps up with a French foreign language film about rape, female empowerment and revenge from a Director not too concerned about courting controversy.

As always, remember to share your views and observations with your like minded readers here, by leaving your Comment below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear form you, and in the meantime, enjoy your film.

'DOCTOR STRANGE' (Rated M) - the fourteenth instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is upon us in the guise of one Doctor Stephen Strange, a lesser known character in the comic canon, but one nonetheless who has carved out a niche following and who has been around since being created by artist Steve Ditko in 1963, with Stan Lee penning the mystical mind bending story. Made for US$165M, the early Reviews of 'Doctor Strange' have been very positive, with Marvel looking as though they have backed another winner, with Scott Derrickson in the Director's Chair and also taking a Screenplay and Story credit, and Benedict Cumberbatch playing the title role ably supported by a strong cast.

And so Doctor Stephen Strange is a world acclaimed neurosurgeon - both brilliant and egotistical. When a car accident robs him of the use of both hands and therefore his ability to perform surgery he scales the globe seeking a cure that will repair and restore the use of his hands. When this doesn't eventuate and he has lost his way in life and used up all of his accumulated wealth, he comes across 'The Ancient One' (Tilda Swinton) in a mysterious mountain enclave known as the Kamar-Taj located in the Himalayas. Here The Ancient One shows him what might be and what he is capable of, and he also learns that those others of the enclave represent the front line of defence against dark forces intent of destroying reality. 'Through the mystic arts we harness energy to shape reality' she tells him. It's not long before Strange is caught between the world he once knew, and giving that all up to defend the world against mystical threats as an all powerful sorcerer using his new found metaphysical abilities. Also starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, Benjamin Bratt, Benedict Wong and Rachel McAdams.

'HELL OR HIGH WATER' (Rated MA15+) - released Stateside in mid-August having Premiered at Cannes in May this year, and only now reaching Australian shores, this film has already received high praise from the critics and has made US$30M from its US$12M budget. Directed by David Mackenzie this modern day Western crime thriller tells the story of two brothers, Tanner (Ben Foster) and Toby Howard (Chris Pine) whose mother has recently died, leaving the family farm in West Texas facing foreclosure if the mortgage isn't paid off imminently. Needing to raise some fast cash to pay off the loan to secure the house and farm, and set themselves up, the two brothers embark on a spree of local bank robberies on the Texas Midlands Bank. What they don't count on though is that local wise, grizzled and fast approaching retirement Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and his partner in law enforcement Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) are hot on their tails and closing in. This cops and robbers saga plays out until the final showdown, when Ranger Marcus Hamilton just might prove that in fact this is a country for old men!

'ELLE' (Rated MA15+) - this French foreign language film is Directed by Paul Verhoeven in his first feature film outing in ten years and his first in French. The film Premiered in competition at Cannes earlier this year and it has been chosen as the French entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards in February 2017. The film has been critically acclaimed. Telling the story of hard as nails high flying corporate Chief Executive Officer of a Paris based video game production company, Michele LeBlanc (Isabelle Huppert) who lives her love life as tough and as ruthless as her business life. Until that is, one day she is raped in her own home by an unknown assailant, which changes her life forever. When Michele, determined to track down her attacker, finally does so, what begins is a cat and mouse game of violent sexual encounters that could escalate out of control at any time, but which nonetheless she appears to be aroused by - or is this just part of her plan to exact revenge on the perpetrator?

Three highly acclaimed films then to choose from this coming week that give you ample excuses to get out to your local Odeon at least once over the next seven days. When you have done so, share a Comment with us and let us know what you thought of you movie going experience. In the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-