Birthday's to share this week : 26th April - 2nd May 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Channing Tatum does on 26th April - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 35, at the end of this feature.

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

Sunday 26th April

• Channing Tatum - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Kevin James - Born 1065, turns 50 - Actor | Producer
• Jet Li - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer
• Joan Chen - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actress | Producer | Director | Writer

Monday 27th April

• Kevin McNally - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actor | Writer

Tuesday 28th April 

• Jessica Alba - Born 1981, turns 34 - Actress | Producer
• Penelope Cruz - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actress | Producer
• Bridget Moynahan - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actress

Wednesday 29th April

• Michelle Pfeiffer - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actress
• Uma Thurman - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actress | Writer
• Daniel Day-Lewis - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actor
• Jerry Seinfeld - Born 1954, turns 61 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Television Personality
• Philip Noyce - Born 1950, turns 65 - Director | Producer | Writer | Cinematographer

Thursday 30th April

• Kirsten Dunst - Born 1982, turns 33 - Actress
• Lars von Trier - Born 1956, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Jane Campion - Born 1954, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer

Friday 1st May

• Joanna Lumley - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actress | Producer
• James Badge Dale - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actor
• Wes Anderson - Born 1969, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Jamie Dornan - Born 1982, turns 33 - Actor

Saturday 2nd May

• Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor | Producer
• David Suchet - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor | Producer
• Stephen Daldrey - Born 1961, turns 54 - Director | Producer

Channing Matthew Tatum was born in Cullum, Alabama to mother Kay Faust, an airline employee and Glenn Tatum, a construction worker. When he was six years of age the family moved to to Mississippi where he lived rurally close to the great river. He grew up engaging in many athletic sports including soccer, American football, basketball, track and martial arts - even practising the latter under the tutelage of a 10th dan. His teenage years were mostly spent in Tampa where he attended Gaither High School, and thereafter Tampa Catholic High School from which he graduated in 1998. From there he attended Glenville State College in West Virginia on a football scholarship but dropped out to return home to work assorted odd jobs. These included working as a roofer before starting as a male stripper under the alias 'Chan Crawford'.

His first gig as a dancer was in Ricky Martin's 2000 music video for 'She Bangs' for which he earned $400. Having done some work in the fashion industry he began modelling for Armani and Abercrombie & Fitch, and then television commercials for Pepsi and Mountain Dew, and then in turn for Nautica, Dolce & Gabana, American Eagle and Emporio Armani.

His screen acting debut came in 2005's 'Coach Carter' with Samuel L. Jackson, although it was 'Step Up' a year later that gave him wider acclaim, and it was on this film that he met his future wife. In between time there was 'Havoc', 'Supercross', a small part in Steven Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds'  and then 'She's the Man'.

'A Guide to Recognising your Saints' followed in 2008 with a large ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jnr., Shia LeBeouf, Chazz Palmenteri, Rosario Dawson and Eric Roberts, and then 'Battle in Seattle' and 'Stop Loss' with Ryan Phillippe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt about soldiers returning from the Iraq War, followed up with a cameo reprisal of his role as Tyler Gage in 'Step Up 2 : The Streets' in the meantime.

Then came 'Fighting' in 2009 after which he teamed up with Director Michael Mann on 'Public Enemies' with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, playing Pretty Boy Floyd, and then the actioner  'G. I. Joe : The Rise of Cobra' and 'Dear John'. From this point forward he became determined to Produce the films in which he was starring which led him to 'Haywire' Directed by Stephen Soderbergh with again an ensemble cast with the likes of Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas and Bill Paxton. There was also 'The Vow' '21 Jump Street' with Jonah Hill, and 'Magic Mike' based on his own experiences as a Florida male stripper.

Following some busy years in 2011 and 2012 which also took in 'The Dilemma' and 'The Eagle', 2013 was to prove no different with 'Side Effects' once more for Stephen Soderbergh, the reprisal of his role as Duke/Conrad Hauser in 'G.I. Joe : Retaliation' then a cameo in 'This is the End' and 'White House Down' and a cameo in 'Don Jon' too rounding out the year. 2014 brought '22 Jump Street' with Jonah Hill again and then the highly acclaimed 'Foxcatcher' and the less well received 'Jupiter Ascending' earlier this year. 

Next up for Tatum is 'Magic Mike XXL' continuing the story of Michael 'Magic Mike ' Lane due for release later this year, and Quentin Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight' also due in late 2015. 'Hail Caesar' is in post-production for Joel & Ethan Coen and starring Josh Brolin and George Clooney amongst an all star line-up and due in 2016, as is '23 Jump Street' and 'X-Men : Apocalypse' currently in pre-production for release later in 2016 also. In the latter he'll play the character 'Gambit' which it is announced will get it's own spin-off in 'Gambit' in 2016/17.

Tatum has so far 42 acting credits and nine Producer credits to his name, with a Writer credit too for 'Magic Mike XXL'. He has garnered nineteen award wins and 48 other nominations. He has two Production Companies - '33andOut Productions' and 'Iron Horse Entertainment'. He is married to Jenna Dewan whom he met on 'Step Up' and they celebrated their wedding in July 2009 - together they have a daughter - Everly Elizabeth Maiselle, born in May 2013. He admits to suffering ADD and dyslexia as a child and has developed a drinking habit which he states as being too much.

Channing Tatum - athletic, physical, muscular, deep voiced and often playing tough guys roles but equally at home in softer emotional roles, your rise in the last ten years has been steady but steep and is set to continue doing so - we'll keep watching! Happy Birthday to you Channing, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 11th September 2014.

Spring is here, the deluge that has waterlogged Sydney for the last three weeks is fast becoming a fading memory, the days are growing longer, the temperatures are rising, and, there are four new films to tempt, tease and tantalise those tastebuds to ensure you venture out and experience big screen entertainment at its best at your local multiplex, or independent movie theatre. For the week ahead we have another all singing' all dancin' body poppin' foot tappin' so ya think y'can dance competition type offering that is a another sequel to a long list of films bearing the same pre-fix that you may have seen before (if you like this kinda thing!). Then we have the next generation of world saviours that started life 20 years ago as an animated series before finding live action stardom amidst the teen set before fading into obscurity - only to get the big studio treatment once again and spring back into life when you least expect it! Next up is a future Sci-Fi outing featuring some big names and a different world; and to close a tree hugging' greenies outing to prove a point . . . explosively!

When you get our there this week to your local movie theatre and sit there in awe of the silver screen, drop me a line afterwards and share your experience with my other Reader, by adding a comment at the end of this article, and let us know what you thought of this weeks latest release . . . or any of those others still doing the rounds and Previewed/Reviewed in previous weeks. Thanks!

NIGHT MOVES (Rated M) - This is the story of three young radical new-age sensitive environmentalists who up to now have done their bit to save the world by being eco-friendly, going green, and connecting with their inner organic selves by working in agricultural communities, and hugging the occasional tree. All that is about to change when they realise that these efforts ain't gonna change much in the world, and so they need to take the law into their own hands and make a bouncing bold brash statement to make people sit up and take notice! And so our intrepid gang of three comprising Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), Dena (Dakota Fanning) and Harmon (Peter Sarsgard) hatch a plan to blow up a hydro-electric dam. The explosive expertise comes via Harmon who conveniently is an ex-Marine and an explosives guru so they have a motive, they have the nouse, and now all they need to do is secure the explosives and a means of getting to said dam - via a small but nimble little motor cruiser called 'Night Moves'.

The central set-piece sees the dam duly destroyed and you would think therefore that the job was done - mission accomplished! But what follows is the unravelling of the three as they become consumed by guilt, regret, remorse, and the ramifications of their actions upon themselves potentially, and the more far reaching community. Directed by Kelly Reichardt this is touted as suspenseful, gripping and intelligent film-making underpinned by a solid storyline that should resonate with us all for the wider message it contains.

THE GIVER (Rated M) - there is a solid cast in this future dystopian (or is it Utopian?) Sci-Fi story Directed by Philip Noyce and based on the 1993 Lois Lowry book of the same name. It is a future Earth where there is no war, no hunger, no pain and suffering, no racism or conflict and everyone in society has a purpose. And so too Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) at age 12 is selected to be the community 'Receiver of Memories' and undertakes a training programme to do so from 'The Giver' (Jeff Bridges) which involves him learning of all the pain, suffering, hardship, war, sadness that endured on the 'old' Earth and their former 'real' World. In doing so Jonas comes to realise that his World is in fact fake, manufactured and far from ideal with much that has been kept from them in an attempt to create a level of 'sameness' across all lives - this includes the removal of colour, music, and love and with everything controlled by 'The Elders' who are revered and looked upon positively by society. So Jonas is confronted with choices to make about his own life and that of his future, and in doing so will put himself and those others close to him at risk as he searches for freedom and answers. Also starring Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Taylor Swift and Alexander Skarsgard, this is the first of four books in this series which might just see this potential film franchise going the way of 'Divergent', 'The Hunger Games', 'Twilight' and 'Potter' - wait and see - it's up to you - the movie going, ticket buying audience!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Rated M) - once again New York City in under attack - this time from an unsavoury mob called 'The Foot Clan' and the city folk seem powerless or prepared to do anything to stand in their unscrupulous way! The future therefore looks uncertain and bleak, although help is at hand from the least likely of places! Lurking in the sewers beneath the city's streets are four masked saviours who have grown in the past 15 years since being tested on in laboratories and fed mutagens to develop their emotional, physical and mental strength to the point where, just in time, they are ready to save their fair city from all manner of doom and peril. Enter Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael, and Splinter their trusted Master . . . aka, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Discovered by intrepid Reporter April O'Neill (Megan Fox) and committed to remaining silent about their identity, their origin and their hideaway she is ably supported by roving cameraman and love interest Vernon Fenwick (Will Arnett) who with The Turtles must now foil a plan by The Foot Clan and their leader 'The Shredder' to spread a deadly virus across their fair city. Starring also William Fichtner, Whoopi Goldberg and the voice of Johnny Knoxville this is gonna be everything you would expect it to be brought up to date with the latest eye-popping CGI for a whole new audience!

STEP UP : ALL IN (Rated PG) - here we go again - another instalment in this long running well-past-its-use-by-date dance franchise that just regurgitates what has been seen and done already in this franchise, and others handed down through motion picture history dating back to 'Fame', 'Flashdance' and 'Footloose' methinks! This time the dance action takes place in Las Vegas, involves competing crews, a dance-off competition with a big pay-off at the end, and the prospect of a dance career, fame and possible fortune. Along the way their will doubtless be obstacles to be overcome, relationships tested, highly choreographed montages, and mindless dialogue that is expected to move whatever loose plot there is, along!

Four new offerings then that couldn't be more different, which together with all the other solid cinema content out there right now will give you plenty of choice. When you have seen your movie of choice this week (or two or three!) be your own critic and let us know what you thought via this - your favourite online movie Blog! Enjoy the experience!

Movies - see at least one this week!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-