What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 3rd June 2021.

Held every Memorial Day weekend since 1979, 'Mountainfilm' is a documentary film festival that showcases nonfiction stories about environmental, cultural, climbing, political and social justice issues. Held this year from 28th to 31st May as an in-person event and online from 31st May to 6th June in Telluride, Colorado, the festival offers exceptional documentaries, and goes beyond the film medium by bringing together world-class athletes, change makers and visionary artists for a multi-dimensional celebration of indomitable spirit. Mountainfilm, which includes interactive talks, free community events, outdoor programming and presentations, aims to inspire audiences to action on worthy causes.

This years programme includes 25 feature documentary films and over one hundred short films. Those feature documentaries include :-

* 'After Antarctica' - from the USA and Directed by Tasha Van Zandt. In 1989, lifelong explorer Will Steger and five other men set out on a seven-month-long expedition to traverse 4,000 miles across the continent of Antarctica. Almost 30 years later, Steger is still exploring. At 75, he sets out on a solo expedition to the Arctic Circle, where two stories unfold in parallel.

* 'American Gadfly' - from the USA and Directed by Skye Wallin. In 2019, a group of ambitious teens hatched a perfect scheme, one in which they would awaken former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel from his political slumber and encourage him to run for President in 2020. He would not be running to win, but to raise awareness — a true gadfly by definition, a nuisance, a provocative and persistent stimulus.

* 'The Ants & The Grasshopper' - from the USA, UK and Malawi and Directed by Raj Patel and Zak Piper. Anita Chitaya is transforming her village in Malawi with new farming and cooking methods even as drought looms. Chitaya and her mentor, Esther Lupafya, decide to embark on a journey through the US in an effort to convince Americans that climate change is real. World Premier screening.

* 'Bear Like' - from Switzerland and Directed by Roman Droux. Here, the filmmaker heads to the remote wilds of Alaska with bear researcher David Bittner in pursuit of a better understanding of the powerful animal that captured his childhood dreams. Together, they spend a summer with the grizzlies, often in extremely close proximity.

* 'Buried' - from the USA and Directed by Jared Drake and Steven Silg. The combination of steep terrain, fluctuating temperatures and howling winds make Alpine Meadows one of the most avalanche prone ski resorts in the U.S. By March 1982, the resort had developed a rigorous avalanche safety protocol that was in many ways ahead of its time. But then a monster storm moved in, bringing relentless snow and fierce winds and creating conditions ripe for disaster. World Premier screening.

* 'Godspeed, Los Polacos!' - from the USA and Directed by Adam Nawrot. Here, a handful of brazen, and perhaps naive, university students concoct a harebrained plan to escape Soviet-era Poland to paddle their janky, homemade kayaks in some 'real' whitewater during the Cold War era. Against all odds, they connive their way out from behind the Iron Curtain, eventually finding themselves in South America, where they embark on a kayaking mission that seems doomed.

* 'Jacinta' - from the USA and Directed by Jessica Earnshaw. Like the mother who gave birth to her at seventeen, Jacinta struggles with addiction. Perhaps it’s no accident that they wind up doing time together. The film maker here turns her unblinking camera on Jacinta, her mother, her father, her brothers, her grandparents and the daughter she gave birth to at sixteen, revealing deep codependency and multiple layers of trauma.

* 'Los Hermanos/The Brothers' - from the USA and Directed by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider. Fate split Afro-Cuban brothers Ilmar and Aldo apart, and now the virtuosic musicians live on either side of a geopolitical divide, one in Cuba and one in New York. Music, blood and shared history bound them together, as they reunite for a performance they’ve long dreamt of.

* 'Missing in Brooks County' - from the USA and Directed by Lisa Molomot and Jeff Bemiss. The unforgiving desert landscape of Brooks County, Texas has been the site of more than 2,000 migrant deaths since 2008, the result of a U.S. Border Patrol policy that diverts immigrants into treacherous crossing areas where they often succumb to dehydration and exposure. Here we are introduced to many of the families who are desperately seeking lost loved ones, the individuals and organisations aiding them and the 'build the wall' supporters who attempt to thwart their efforts.

* 'Playing with Sharks' - from Australia and Directed by Sally Aitken. Valerie Taylor is a living legend in the underwater world who spent most of her life swimming with, filming and learning to understand sharks. From her early days as a champion spearfisher and open-water shark diver, to her involvement in the film 'Jaws' and its deadly effect on shark populations around the globe, we watch as Taylor transitions from shark diver to passionate shark protector.

* 'The River Runner' - from the USA and Directed by Rush Sturges. The story of Scott Lindgren’s twenty-year quest to be the first person to paddle the four great rivers that originate from Tibet’s sacred Mount Kailash is more than a gripping whitewater flick. It is also an intimate chronicle of an emotionally stunted athlete who’s having a breakthrough after a life crisis.

* 'Running the Roof' - from the UK and Directed by Ben Crocker and Alexis Tymon. On a bet made between friends, a globe is spun and where a finger lands will determine the destination for a multi-day run. Tajikistan. Bonded by their love of running, and now committed to seeing their bet through, the friends pull out a map and plot their route through the Bartang Valley, taking them over 300 miles across the country from the border of Afghanistan to the border of China, surrounded by enormous mountains in what the locals call 'the roof of the world'.

* 'Spaceship Earth' - from the USA and Directed by Matt Wolf. When a group of freethinkers came together in the mid-‘60's, they put their collective energy toward projects that challenged the norm and made a difference. And, when faced with the devastating effect of human ignorance on planet Earth, they launched their grandest project yet : Biosphere 2, an enclosed ecological system set in Arizona. Within it, various biomes, animals, insects and humans lived for two years — showcasing the delicate relationship between man and environment on a worldwide stage.

* Wall of Shadows' - from Poland, Germany and Switzerland and Directed by Eliza Kubarska. Despite their misgivings, a Sherpa family prepares to guide a trio of Western climbers up Kumbhakarna, the worlds 32nd highest mountain in Nepal, a mountain so sacred they are forbidden to climb it. Tensions rise amongst the guides, who want to avoid risks but desperately need the money they will earn from completing the trip, and the stubborn westerners who push the group on even though the weather grows dangerous.

* 'Weed & Wine' - from the USA and Directed by Rebecca Richman Cohen. Two farming families, one in France and one in California, navigate the burden of history and the inevitability of change as one generation prepares to pass the farm onto the next. Drawing parallels between France’s long-held winemaking traditions and the up-and-coming legal cannabis industry, they may be worlds apart, but they find themselves on common ground, navigating family tension and the tightrope between tradition and reinvention.

* 'Writing With Fire' - from India and Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh. In 2002, a group of Dalit women in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh started the newspaper 'Khabar Lahariya'. Challenged by deep prejudice against their caste, oppressive patriarchy and religious extremism, the courageous reporters do their work at great personal risk — including domestic violence and threats from corrupt officials and the mafia. Their work however, has paid dividends in formerly neglected neighbourhoods.

* 'Yes I Am - The Ric Weiland Story' - from the USA and Directed by Aaron Bear. Ric Weiland was one of the first employees at Microsoft and had a brilliant and creative mind. A champion of gay rights, Weiland came out in the 1970's and used his wealth to create social change, donating more than US$20M to fund more than sixty nonprofit organisations. Those efforts to establish representation and resources for the LGBTQ+ community continue to have a profound impact today.

* 'Youth v Gov' - from the USA and Directed by Christi Cooper. Twenty-one young Americans take on the world’s most powerful government in a revolutionary lawsuit that claims that over six decades of presidential administrations have continued to actively abuse their most vulnerable citizens by willingly contributing to the climate crisis. The plaintiffs are not in search of monetary retribution, but a plan and commitment to stop climate change.

For the complete itinerary of feature and short films being showcased at this years Montainfilm Festival, and a whole lot more besides, you can go to the official website at : https://www.mountainfilm.org/

This week then there are five new release films coming to you local Odeon and we start with the eighth instalment in a hugely successful horror franchise that sees two noted paranormal investigators look into a murder case that may be linked to demonic possession. Next up is a story of a woman who takes advantage of her growing celebrity status when the police and the public think her dead husband is just missing. This is followed up by a documentary following a group of Jewish and Palestinian chefs who take part in a unique food festival in the Israeli city of Haifa; and then we turn to a French offering about a seriously ill woman who tries to find her long-lost child with the help of a man in the middle of a burnout and a blind archivist, before closing out the week in a parallel present, where a delivery man takes a job in the gig economy pulling cable to link together the new quantum trading market.

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

'THE CONJURING 3 : THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT' (Rated MA15+) - this supernatural horror film is Directed by Michael Chaves whose prior film making credits take in several short films and his feature length debut in 2019 'The Curse of La Llorona'. The film serves as a sequel to 2013's 'The Conjuring' and 2016's 'The Conjuring 2', and as the eighth instalment in the Conjuring Universe franchise, with those first seven films grossing worldwide more than US$1.9B at the Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$140M. Those other films in the franchise aside from the three aforementioned are 2014's 'Annabelle', 2017's 'Annabelle : Creation', 2018's 'The Nun' and 2019's 'Annabelle Comes Home'. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga both reprise their roles as paranormal investigators and authors Ed and Lorraine Warren, and the film is based on the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, a murder trial that took place in 1981 in Connecticut. 

The film reveals a chilling story of terror, murder and unknown evil that shocked even experienced real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga respectively). One of the most sensational cases from their files, it starts with a fight for the soul of a young boy, then takes them beyond anything they'd ever seen before, to mark the first time in United States history that a murder suspect, Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O'Connor) would claim demonic possession as a defence in his trail for the killing of his landlord Alan Bono, for which he was convicted of first degree manslaughter. Originally scheduled for release in mid-September last year the film was pushed back to this week in the US and Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

'BREAKING NEWS IN YUBA COUNTY' (Rated MA15+) - is a crime comedy drama offering Directed and Co-Produced by Tate Taylor whose previous film making outings take in 'The Help', the James Brown biopic 'Get On Up', 'The Girl on the Train' and 'Ava' most recently. After her husband Karl Buttons (Matthew Modine) goes missing, Sue Buttons (Allison Janney), an under appreciated suburban wife, gets a taste of being a local celebrity as she embarks on a city-wide search in Yuba County to find him. In an effort to extend her newfound fame for all its worth, she stumbles into hilarious hijinks as her world turns upside down, dodging a wanna-be mobster, Mina (Awkwafina), a relentless local policewoman, Detective Cam Harris (Regina Hall), her half-sister Nancy (Mila Kunis), a local news reporter desperate for a story, and her husband’s dead-beat brother Petey Buttons (Jimmi Simpson), who all set out to uncover the truth behind the disappearance. The film was released Stateside in mid-February, has so far taken just US$67K in Box Office receipts, and has generated mostly negative Press so far. Also starring Juliette Lewis, Ellen Barkin, Chris Lowell and Samira Wiley.

'BREAKING BREAD' (Rated M) - this US and Israeli Co-Produced documentary film is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by first time film maker Beth Elise Hawk. Here, Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel - the first Muslim Arab to win Israel's MasterChef - is on a journey to bring about social change through food rather than being at war with each other. And so, she founded the A-sham Arabic Food Festival, where pairs of Arab and Jewish chefs collaborate on exotic dishes like kishek (a Syrian yogurt soup), mussakhan (Palestinian roast chicken), kreplach (Jewish dumplings) and qatayef (a dessert typically served during Ramadan) all made to perfection. A film about hope, synergy and mouthwatering fare, this film illustrates what can happen when people focus on the person, rather than her religion; on the public, rather than the politicians.

'BYE BYE MORONS' (Rated M) - is a French comedy drama film Directed, Written and starring the French Actor, film maker and screen writer Albert Dupontel whose previous Directorial credits take in the acclaimed 2013 '9 Month Stretch' and and 2017's 'See You Up There'. The film received twelve nominations for the 46th Cesar Awards back in March this year where it won seven of those twelve nods including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Dupontel. And so, Suze Trappet (Virginie Efira) doesn’t have long to live and she is going to make her last remaining days count. Determined to find the son she was forced to abandon almost three decades ago, Suze sets out on a madcap quest that is filled with adventure, peril and bewildering encounters aided by a man going through burnout and a blind archivist. Also starring Nicholas Marie. The film was released in its native France back in late October last year and rose to the top of the Box Office despite the country being gripped by tight curfews due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

'LAPSIS' (Rated PG) - this mystery Sci-Fi drama film is Directed, Written, Edited and scored by Noah Hutton. Set in a parallel present, delivery man Ray Tincelli (Dean Imperial) is struggling to support himself and his ailing younger brother Jamie (Babe Howard). After a series of two-bit hustles and unsuccessful swindles, Ray takes a job in a strange new realm of the gig economy, that involves him trekking over miles of forest, undergrowth and rough terrain pulling cable to connect large, metal cubes that link together the new quantum trading market. As he gets pulled deeper into the zone, he encounters growing hostility and the threat of robot cablers, and must choose to either help his fellow workers or to get rich and get out. Also starring Madeline Wise. This film has so far collected two wins and four other nominations from across the awards and festivals circuit and saw its World Premier screening at South Korea's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival back in mid-July 2020.

With five new release films 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 in the coming week, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN : Wednesday 12th October 2016.

The psychological thriller drama 'THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN' which I saw in the week is based on the best selling book of the same name by British author Paula Hawkins. The book was Hawkins debut, and it remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 13 weeks upon release in early 2015, and by August this year had sold eleven million copies worldwide. Now coming to a big screen near you, the book has been adapted for the big screen by Erin Cressida Wilson and Directed by Tate Taylor (who most recently brought us the James Brown bio-pic 'Get On Up' and before that 'The Help') for a budget of US$45M, and having so far taken US$50M since its premier in London in late September and its US release on 7th October.

Starring Emily Blunt as Rachel Watson (the girl on the train!) - a divorcee with a drink problem who left her husband Tom (Justin Theroux) after she caught him cheating on her with their real estate agent Anna Boyd (Rebecca Fergusson). Before their marriage came to an end, we learn through various flashbacks that Rachel was prone to getting into the drink after which she would invariably black-out with little recollection of the events that occurred during her drunken stupor. It would take her husband to recount her antics after the fact, and she claims that this led to their separation, Tom drifting off the matrimonial path with another, plus the fact that she is unable to bear children.

She travels to and from work every day on a train, always sits by the window and gazes out as she passes her former home that Tom now occupies with his new wife Anna and their young daughter Evie. She is bitter, as she drinks from her water bottle that is secretly filled with gin or vodka, and doodles pencil drawings in her note book. Tom's neighbours are Scott and Megan Hipwell (Luke Evans and Haley Bennett respectively) who seem to have the perfect, loving, caring marriage that Rachel fantasises about to the point of obsession from the window of her passing train. The reality is however, something quite different, as Scott is controlling, aggressive and the typical Alpha male, whereas Megan is detached, resentful and carrying on with various other men behind Scottt's back - including her shrink - Dr. Kamal Abdic (Edgar Ramirez).

One day however, en route to work gazing out of her window seat she witnesses something suspicious and shocking - Megan and Abdic kissing and embracing on the balcony of her home, which turns her image of their prefect life into a tailspin. How could Megan do such a thing, how could she betray her loving husband, and who is that man she was with? After another day on the turps, she confronts Megan on the way home from work in a tunnel under the railway line, only to wake some hours later in her room covered in blood and with no memory of how she got there, the cause of the blood, the head injury she has sustained and the bruising to her upper body.

Subsequently it is made known that Megan is missing and is later presumed dead. Rachel is questioned by Detective Sergeant Riley (Allison Janney) who suspects that she may be covering something up because of her recent activity, including allegedly stalking her ex-husband and his new family, harassing them with incessant phone calls, and that she was actually fired from her place of work a year ago because of her drinking problem, despite the fact that she travels into 'work' everyday on the train, masquerading that she is still gainfully employed. Rachel claims she has no memory of any events surrounding the time of Megan's disappearance and whilst the Detective remains unconvinced, she needs evidence . . . which she doesn't have.

Rachel, approaches Scott under the guises that she and Megan were friends and that Megan confided in her about an affair, to which Scott puts two and two together and determines that the other man is Abdic. Rachel identifies Abdic as the man she saw on the balcony earlier with Megan. Rachel then schedules an appointment with Abdic and speaks to him of her failed relationship with Tom and her drunken actions at an office party hosted by his boss Martha (Lisa Kudrow) that resulted in him getting fired.

Later, having another martini before returning home, gradually Rachel has flashbacks of that evening in the tunnel. She returns to that same place and has visions of Anna and Tom in the tunnel and shouting abuse at Anna before being set upon and beaten up at which point she blacks out. Anna becomes increasingly suspicious of Rachel after seeing her in the neighbourhood several times and in close proximity to her former home, but the Detective dismisses these thoughts on the grounds again of needing hard evidence, and Tom too downplays that Rachel could have any involvement in Megans's disappearance.

Megan's partially decomposed body is found later on in the woods and it is determined in the autopsy that she was pregnant but the baby was neither Scott's or Abdic's. Scott therefore becomes a prime suspect and confronts Rachel with his knowledge that the two in fact had never met, and that Rachel was conspiring against him. He's not happy and he vents his anger on Rachel, but leaves before any real harm is done. Later, Rachel runs into Martha on the train and decides to confront Martha with an apology for her behaviour at that ill fated office party that led to her then husband Tom being fired. Martha is rather taken aback by her apology stating that her behaviour had nothing to do with it - she fell ill and was taken into a back room to recover - all perfectly innocent and acceptable. The reason why Tom was fired was because he 'couldn't keep his dick in his pants'. At this point it dawns on Rachel that Tom was manipulating her memories for his own gain and to cover up for his abuse of her, and not the other way around as she has believed all this time.

Anna meanwhile has become increasingly suspicious of her husband Tom, and tries to hack into his computer but fails repeatedly. She finds an old mobile phone in his brief case with voice mail messages and text messages to and from Megan. Anna deduces that Tom was in fact having an affair with Megan, who used to babysit for Tom and Anna until a short time ago before Megan broke off the arrangement rather abruptly, much to Anna's surprise at the time. Rachel comes to realise that Megan was in fact pregnant with Tom's baby and that Megan had told Abdic this news in confidence, and what she saw on the balcony that day was misinterpreted by her. More memories come flooding back to Rachel who now has clarity of vision about what happened in the tunnel that evening.

It seems that Rachel mistook Megan for Anna that evening in the tunnel, as she was walking towards Tom's car parked at the other end. It was Tom that beat up Rachel, which fuelled with alcohol caused her to black out, before driving off with Megan in his car. At this point they drive to the woods where Megan confronts Tom with the news that she is pregnant with his child. Tom is enraged and commands that Megan aborts the pregnancy as not only does he not want another child but can also ill afford another child, and he does not want the news of their affair surfacing. Megan is perplexed at this news and they argue, resulting in Tom physically shoving Megan off her feet causing her to fall backwards knocking her head on a rock. In a state of semi consciousness, Tom finishes off the job with a few well aimed blows to the head with another rock. To see how Tom gets his comeuppance you'll just have to see for yourself.

I was expecting more from this film I have to say. It jumps around all over the place, which I understand is the format of the book, but it makes for disjointed viewing here. Aside from Emily Blunt's performance, the remaining cast as strong as they are, are very one dimensional and difficult to warm to. There are parallel's here to be drawn with 'Gone Girl' which is a far superior film. If you have read the book then doubtless you'll flock to the movie theatre to see how the pages transfer to the big screen, but, you can wait to see it on your own small screen in the comfort of your own home on a Friday night with a pizza and a bottle 'o' red and save yourself the price of a ticket. The film has some redeeming features, most notably Blunt's performance as the downtrodden alcoholic neurotic fantasising voyeur, but the rest is fairly predictable and ho-hum!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 6th October 2016.

What is it about real life drama and true story disaster films that make them so compelling? Perhaps it is because we see everyday people thrust into extraordinary circumstances competing against all the odds to rise victorious, overcome adversity and conquer their fears in order to survive in situations that we may remember from television and media reports in the recent past, or yesteryear. As such they are relateable, memorable, and believable stories grounded in reality no matter how much poetic license or big budget expense Hollywood can throw at them, think 1997's 'Titanic' as the mother of them all! And even disaster epics based on fictitious circumstances can be as equally compelling - think 1974's 'The Towering Inferno', or 1972's 'The Poseidon Adventure' or 1962's 'The Day of the Triffids' to name but a few classics.

This year alone we have had six big screen renditions of real life disasters that I can think of quickly - those being :-
* 'The 33' - based on the 2005 Chilean gold and copper mine collapse leaving 33 men buried underground for 69 days,
* '13 Hours : The Secret Soldiers of the Benghazi' - based on the 2012 Islamic militant attack on the US Embassy in Libya, and how six soldiers engaged in fierce firefighting to protect the lives of American diplomats and operatives,
* 'The Finest Hours' - based on the 1952 voyage of the SS Pendleton which was ripped in two by a huge storm, and the US Coastguard rescue mission to retrieve 30 sailors stranded in the ships sinking stern section,
* 'Sherpa' - based on the 2014 Mount Everest expedition and told from the Sherpa's perspective when an avalanche killed sixteen Sherpa's, and the actions taken as a consequence,
* 'Sully' - based on the 2009 emergency landing of a US Airways Flight on the Hudson River by Flight Captain Chesley Sullenberger that saved every one of the 155 passengers and crew on board,
* 'Deepwater Horizon' - based on the 2010 oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that killed eleven people and caused an unprecedented oil spillage and environmental and social disaster, and as Previewed below.

This week there are just three new releases that first up tells the true story of an off-shore disaster that came at a significant human, environmental and social cost just a few short years ago; then a best seller adaptation of the domestic psychological thriller type that is sure to leave you guessing and on the edge of your seat just as 'Gone Girl' did before it; and finally from an acclaimed Russian Director comes this historical drama at the museum as two opposing sides join forces to save an art collection.

As always, you are warmly invited to leave your own cinematic critique when you have sat through your movie of choice in the week ahead, by leaving a Comment below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your film.

'DEEPWATER HORIZON' (Rated M) - for those who don't know, the Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean. Built in 2001 in South Korea the rig was leased to the British Petroleum Company (BP) from 2001 until September 2013. In September 2009, the rig drilled the deepest oil well in history at a vertical depth of 10,700m in the Tiber Oil Field at Keathley Canyon block 102, approximately 400kms southeast of Houston, in 1,300m of water. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, an uncontrollable blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed eleven crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 65kms away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the Deepwater Horizon sank, leaving the well gushing oil at the seabed and causing the largest oil spill in U.S. waters. The oil spill that resulted continued until 15th July 2010 when it was finally capped off. Subsequently, BP have made it known that they have had to pay of US$55B in clean up costs and fines and that aside from themselves, Halliburton, the services contractor, and Transocean as the rig operator were also at fault.

This film charts that story as Directed by Peter Berg and made for US$156M that takes place in the Gulf of Mexico with the events leading up to that massive human, social, ecological and financial disaster. Starring Mark Wahlberg as electrician and oil rigger Mike Williams (whom Peter Berg has Directed previously in 'Lone Survivor' and the upcoming 'Patriots Day') who returning from some family time with his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) and ten year old daughter Sydney (Stella Allen) is looking at a three week shift on the DWH. Arriving with other shift starters there is Gina Rodriguez as the only female on the crew, Kurt Russell as the rig's chief supervisor, Dylan O'Brien as the rig's youngest crew member, and John Malkovich as the BP engineer and rig supervisor. When a series of safety inspections don't yield the test results as expected or required, the worst fears of those on board the rig don't take long to become a horrifying reality. Here Wahlberg plays the grounded everyman thrust into extraordinary circumstances to help rescue some of his co-workers while his family and the world watch on as ultimately the DWH disappears into the ocean into a deep fiery grave. Featuring a top cast who do not overplay the heroics, top notch effects and a story that is a believable, authentic telling of human courage in the face of adversity writ large.

'THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN' (Rated MA15+) - this psychological thriller drama is based on the best selling book of the same name by British author Paula Hawkins. The book was Hawkins debut, and it remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 13 weeks upon release in early 2015, and by August this year had sold eleven million copies worldwide. Now coming to a big screen near you, the book has been adapted for the big screen by Erin Cressida Wilson and Directed by Tate Taylor (who most recently brought us the James Brown bio-pic 'Get On Up' and before that 'The Help') and stars Emily Blunt as Rachel Watson - a divorcee with a drink problem who left her husband Tom (Justin Theroux) after she caught him cheating on her. Everyday she takes the train to work and muses about the apparent perfect life of her neighbours Scott and Megan Hipwell (Luke Evans and Haley Bennett). One day however, en route to work gazing out of her window seat she witnesses something suspicious and shocking and subsequently Megan goes missing and is later presumed dead. What's a girl to do? Also starring Edgar Ramirez, Lisa Kudrow and Rebecca Ferguson.

'FRANCOFONIA' (Rated M) - premiering at the Venice Film Festival back in September 2015, this drama Directed and Written by Alexander Sokurov who brought us the highly acclaimed single take 'The Russian Ark' in 2002 is out on a very limited release here in Australia and you'll have to hunt it down to catch it in all its majesty on the big screen. Set in 1940 its tells the story of The Louvre in Paris and how its museum director Jacques Jaujard (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) and German Officer the Count Franz Wolff-Metternich (Benjamin Utzerath) work together to protect the precious and priceless artworks from the Nazi's. Beautifully filmed and richly rewarding this film interweaves the ravages of war with the need to preserve our history and culture through art.

With three top films from which to choose your night out at the movies, you would be hard pressed not to find something to like here, or amongst those out on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed here at Odeon Online previously. Whatever you decide upon, share your views with us here, and in the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-