Birthday's to share this week : 18th-24th October 2015

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Ryan Reynolds does on 23rd October - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 39 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 18th October

• Jean-Claude Van Damme - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Editor
• Zac Efron - Born 1987, turns 28 - Actor | Producer
• Howard Shore - Born 1946, turns 69 - Songwriter | Composer
• Bob Weinstein - Born 1954, turns 61 - Producer | Writer

Monday 19th October

• Jon Favreau - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer
• Michael Gambon - Born 1940, turns 75 - Actor
• John Lithgow - Born 1945, turns 70 - Actor | Producer
• Trey Parker - Born 1969, turns 46 - Producer | Writer | Actor | Singer | Songwriter
• Jason Reitman - Born 1977, turns 38 - Actor | Producer | Director
• John le Carre - Born 1931, turns 84 - Writer | Producer

Tuesday 20th October

• Viggo Mortensen - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Danny Boyle - Born 1956, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Thomas Newman - Born 1955, turns 50 - Composer | Singer | Songwriter
• Timothy West - Born 1934, turns 81 - Actor

Wednesday 21st October

• Ken Watanabe - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Carrie Fischer - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actress | Writer
• Catherine Hardwicke - Born 1955, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer

Thursday 22nd October

• Saffron Burrows - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actress
• Catherine Deneuve - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actress
• Derek Jacobi - Born 1938, turns 77 - Actor | Producer
• Spike Jonze - Born 1969, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Cinematographer
• Jeff Goldblum - Born 1952, turns 63 - Actor | Producer
• Christopher Lloyd - Born 1938, turns 77 - Actor
• Jan de Bont - Born 1943, turns 72 - Director | Producer
• Bill Condon - Born 1955, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer

Friday 23rd October

• Ryan Reynolds - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actor | Producer
• Sam Raimi - Born 1959, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Ang Lee - Born 1954, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Philip Kaufman - Born 1936, turns 79 - Director | Producer | Writer

Saturday 24th October

• Kevin Kline - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor
• F. Murray Abraham - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actor
• Martin Campbell - Born 1943, turns 72 - Director | Producer

Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to mother Tammy, a retail salesperson, and father Jim Reynolds, a food wholesaler. He is the youngest of four brothers, two of which serve as Police Officers. He graduated from Kitsilano Secondary School in 1994 and attended Kwantlen Polytechnic University for a short time and dropped out to pursue an acting career.

His acting career began on the small screen in 1991 when he picked up a role in 'Fifteen' (aka 'Hillside') which ran until 1993 over 65 episodes. This then led to 'The Odyssey' from 1993-1994 over fourteen episodes. Over the next few years there was television work on single episodes of 'The Outer Limits' on two separate occasions, 'The Marshall', 'The X-Files' and 'The John Larroquette Show' before landing a long term gig on 'Two Guys and a Girl' from 1998-2001, running for 81 episodes.

His big screen career kicked off in 1993 with 'Ordinary Magic' with a bunch of made for TV movies to follow including 'My Name is Kate', 'When Friendship Kills', 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch', 'In Cold Blood' and 'Tourist Trap' - all before the decade drew to a close.

The new decade brought 'Big Monster on Campus', 'We All Fall Down' and 'Finders Fee' with James Earl Jones and Robert Forster, and then the title role in National Lampoons 'Van Wilder : Party Liaison' in 2002. 'The In-Laws' in 2003 came next with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks, then 'Foolproof' that same year and then his first comic book adaptation in 'Blade : Trinity' with Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Dominic Purcell. After this, Reynolds lent his voice work to the animated series 'Zeroman', before taking on the role of George Lutz in the 2005 horror remake of 'The Amityville Horror'.

Next up was 'Smokin' Aces' in 2006 with Ray Liotta, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia and Jeremy Piven, with 'The Nines' and 'Definatley, Maybe' in 2008, and 'Fireflies in the Garden' later that same year with Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson and Julia Roberts. 'Chaos Theory' and 'Adventureland' were next in 2009 with Kristen Wiig, Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg. That year too came his first appearance as Deadpool in 'X-Men Origins : Wolverine' with Hugh Jackman of course, with 'The Proposal' and Sandra Bullock and then 'Paperman' to follow with Jeff Daniels, Emma Stone and Lisa Kudrow.

2010 saw him in 'Buried' in this critically acclaimed film starring the man inside a coffin for the duration of the movie. His turn a year later as another Superhero, Hal Jordan, in 'The Green Lantern' for Director Martin Campbell and with an all star cast brought in just US$220M off a US$200M production budget. He didn't enjoy the experience and failed to connect with his Director and ultimately was pleased that the film failed at the Box Office so he wouldn't have to reprise his lead character in a sequel.

A return to more comedic fare came with 'The Change Up' in 2011, and then 'Safe House' with Denzel Washington with his voice talents being lent to 'The Croods' and 'Turbo' both in 2013 and  'R.I.P.D.' followed as a commercial and critical flop at a US$130M production budget. 'The Voices' was next, as was 'The Captive' in 2014, and this year there has been 'Mississippi Grind', 'Woman in Gold' with Helen Mirren, and most recently 'Self/less' with Ben Kingsley. Next up is 'Deadpool' reprising his role from the earlier 'X-Man Origins' film in this standalone feature as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and 'Criminal' both in post-production for 2016, and the animated 'The Croods 2' for 2017 for which he will once again lend his voice talents.

Reynolds has 62 acting credits to his name, and four Producer credits to date, and he has so far won six Awards and a further 26 nominations for his efforts.

He was married to Scarlett Johansson from September 2008 until July 2011, and in September 2012 he married former co-star and Actress Blake Lively with whom he has a daughter, James Reynolds, born in December 2014. He was engaged to singer Alanis Morissette from 2004 until 2006.

Ryan Reynolds - comic Actor, action star, comic book hero for both DC and Marvel, voted 'Sexist Man Alive' in 2010, often plays a regular Joe and remains a likeable, affable, handsome boy next door kinda guy, Happy Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 4th December 2014.

With Australian Summer time now officially underway; Private Schools having finished their year now and embarking on an eight week Summer Holiday until the end of January; and the mercury steadily rising in those thermometers, we can expect a slew of new cinematic offerings over the coming weeks and it kicks starts here on 4th December with a swathe of new films to get you out in to the temperature controlled air conditioned comfort of a cinema seat.

With no less that ten, yes ten, new release films this week alone we have everything from the Biblical epic on the grandest scale; there is a cult classic Ozploitation from the early 80's remade for a whole new audience; a Disney offering telling us it's a bad day in 'da family hood' as things go from bad to worse for this close knit clan; a number of foreign language films to tempt; a weepie; an Aussie love story that turns sour; and an animated Sci-Fi that fuses real and computer generated life together in a cyber world of the future.

There has gotta be something here for just about everyone; and so when you have checked any one or more of this weeks impressive haul of new releases, drop me a line in the Comments Box immediately below this or any other Post and share your thoughts on your filmic experience with the world. Enjoy your film!

EXODUS : GODS AND KINGS (Rated M) - Sir Ridley Scott (profiled in my Birthday Tribute this week) is back at doing what he perhaps does best - delivering us epic scale, big spectacle, well crafted and visually stylish movies. He has done it before propelling us into space travel Sci-Fi horror ('Alien' & 'Prometheus') and future dystopian landscapes ('Blade Runner'), and thrusting us back in time to ancient civilisations, cultures and myths ('Gladiator', 'Kingdom of Heaven' and 'Robin Hood'). This time though it's the Old Testament taking us a back to circa 1200BC as we see Moses (Christian Bale) rising up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton) to free 600,000 Hebrew slaves and escort them through Egypt to flee the land gripped by plague, and Ramses tortuous regime.

Filmed largely on location in southern Spain and finished off at Pinewood at a budget of US$140M there will be everything here that your learned in school - rivers of blood; plagues of locusts, frogs, bats; a parting of The Dead Sea; burning bushes; epic conflict; bloodshed; wars, tears, gnashing of teeth and table beating with clenched fists. Ridley Scott does this stuff so well, and has amassed a cast too that reunites him with Sigourney Weaver as Tuya and supported by Aaron Paul as Joshua, Ben Kingsley as Nun, John Turturro at Seti, Ben Mendelsohn at Hegep and a cast of some 6,000 or so extras spread over several filming locations. This is big and the trailers seen so far make this look very impressive on the big screen, and for the second epic offering of the season so far (after 'Interstellar') it has got to be on your must-see list!

TURKEY SHOOT (Rated MA15+) - the original film of the same name on which this remake is based is/was a 1982 Ozploitation cult-classic Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. Set in a future post-apocalyptic dystopian world where deviants, mutants, weirdo's and miscreants are rounded up into prison camps and then randomly set free as canon fodder in a game of cat & mouse to the death for the pleasure of their captors - only one such captors has ideas on survival of his own. And so to 2014 and this time helmed by Jon Hewitt and starring Dominic Purcell as a disgraced Navy Seal thrust into a survival reality TV game show with a bunch of other killers, assassins and undesirables all needing to take each other out by any means foul or fair to win their freedom. Rick Tyler however (Purcell) claims his innocence all along, and in fighting for his own survival he must also prove his innocence. Is this likely to go down in the annals of gore-heavy cult-classic remakes - probably not, but sill could be entertaining enough for a (re)visit!

THE CAPTIVE (Rated MA15+) - Canadian Director Atom Egoyan has given us a taught, tense psychological thriller surrounding the disappearance of ten year old Cass and the long search for her over an eight year or so period. When father Matthew (Ryan Reynolds) leaves her unattended for just a few moments he returns only to find her gone. Reporting this immediately to the Police he quickly becomes the prime suspect. Over time his search continues, his marriage breaks down, and he continues to be questioned by Police once a year as time passes on the anniversary of her disappearance at the hands of a paedophile ring. Whilst she might be dead Matthew never gives up hope even as the years clock by, and then little trinkets of Cassie's begin to appear at the hotel where mother Tina (Mireille Enos) now works as a cleaner. Disturbing, dark, emotional and bleak subject matter this may resonate a little like last years 'Prisoners' but this goes deeper than a revenge story as questions go unanswered for years but parental anguish never subsides for the love of a lost one unaccounted for.

THE CONGRESS (Rated M) - written and Directed by Ari Folman this combines both human elements and animated Sci-Fi fantasy as the two become fused together in the second half of the film when ageing actress (Robin Wright playing herself) sells her digital image to a movie production house in order that her digitised self can continue to be used well into the future and beyond her human use by date. Fast forward twenty years and Wright is invited to speak at The Congress in The Animated Zone which she can only enter by taking a drug allowing herself to become an animated version of herself. When the studio announces plans to sell Wright so that anyone can become an animated version of her, she at first agrees but then detracts and voices her opinion to the gathered crowds at The Congress against becoming a 'product'. As the film progresses so we toy with newer technologies still and the blurriness with what is perceived as real or not, and just how far can technology take us in cyberspace and beyond the Internet age. Starring John Hamm, Kodie Smit-McPhee, Harvey Keitel, Danny Huston and Paul Giamatti this is likely to test your observation, concentration and powers of deduction and will leave you pondering long after the credits have rolled.

HUMAN CAPITAL (Rated MA15+) - this Italian offering based on the American book of the same name by Stephen Amidon comes to us from Director Paolo Virzi and has already won a raft of awards. In short we see the repercussions on two families in the aftermath of a waiter knocked off his bike when cycling home from work one evening just before Christmas. The driver of the vehicle doesn't stop, and the injured waiter lies in the road left to suffer. The next day in hospital, the waiter's life is ebbing away.  This is where the films begins, and then we are taken back six months exploring the intricacies, anxieties, failings and desires of the two families responsible for this accident, but not yet knowing who is the perpetrator of the crime. On one side is a very wealthy banking family and on the other a struggling hard-up little hope middle class family whose lives become interwoven as a consequence of this accident, but not before we have visited the main players back stories and how these collide in a heap of greed, manipulation, emotion and excess. Nominated as the Italian entry for Best Foreign Language Film at next years Academy Awards.

THE MYSTERY OF HAPPINESS (Rated PG) - this Argentinian offering from Director Daniel Burman tells the story of Eugenio (Fabian Arenilles) and his life long business partner Santiago (Guillermo Francella) - they set up business together in their youth and have been together ever since. They are soul mates and have come to know each other almost inside out. One day Eugenio disappears without any trace it seems and so Santiago and Eugenio's wife Laura (Ines Estevez) embark on a search to find him but in time discover that they have a connection and prefer to remain together in each others company rather than finding the lost husband and business partner. A film about love, loyalty, relationships, the search for happiness and fulfilment and following your dreams.

THE GREEN PRINCE (Rated M) - this doco/drama/thriller is based on the real life events surrounding Mosab Hassan Yousef a Palestinian living in Ramallah. Growing up he is intent at going to fight the Israeli's but at 17 is arrested for gun smuggling and interrogated by the Shin Bet - Israel's Security Forces, and is sent off to prison. In prison he witnesses first hand the tactics, torture and treatment by Hammas of the inmates, and hears of the ever escalating campaign of suicide bombings. Fearful for his own safety he agrees to turn spy for Israel but is deeply ashamed for doing so, and as for his new Shin Bet handler Gonen he is deeply pleased for securing such a prize, as he has 'bagged' the eldest son of a founding member of Hammas. Yousef aided and abetted the Israeli Security Forces for ten years, and 'The Green Prince' was the name given to him by his handlers given his background.

LOVE IS NOW (Rated M) - this little Aussie flick charts young love across one long Summer as Audrey (Clare van der Boom) and Dean (Eamon Farren) - the former an experienced photographer, and the latter a happy snapper - embark on a journey following the New South Wales Summer harvest trail. With love in the air, the free spirit in the wind, and a world of adventure beckoning what unfolds is a journey of discovery that neither of them had anticipated. Directed by Jim Lounsbury and filmed entirely using a Nikon digital single reflex camera.

YOU'RE NOT YOU (Rated M) - this is likely to be this weeks big weepie so take your box of Kleenex, and be prepared. Directed by George C. Wolfe and based on the book of the same name by Michelle Wildgen, this stars Hilary Swank as Kate who is a talented classical pianist recently diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - a neurodegenerative disorder resulting in difficulty to eat, swallow and breathe due to muscle wasting). Husband Evan (Josh Duhammel) enlists the help of Bec (Emmy Rossum) - a young college student who has little or no experience of such things, and is needed because the marriage between Kate & Evan is about to implode. As time progresses the two opposing female characters forge a close bond despite their differences and both come to face their demons, explore new emotions and learn more of who they really want to be.

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY (Rated PG) - 12 year old Alexander (Ed Oxenbold) has been having a run of bad luck but nobody takes his seriously! At midnight on his 12th Birthday he wishes that everyone else in his family could experience the sort of bad luck he has had to contend with, and so the next day everyone else in his family fall foul to the worst of luck you can imagine. Brother, sister, mum and dad all have the worst luck just when they need things to go right for drivers license test, stage performance, car pooling, job interview . . . and that's just the beginning! It gets worse and young Alex feels somehow responsible . . . be careful what you wish for! Also starring Steve Carrel as Ben Cooper (Dad), Jennifer Garner as Kelly Cooper (Mum), Dylan Minnette as Anthony Cooper (older brother) and Kerris Dorsey as Emily Cooper (older sister) needless to say it all goes horribly wrong before the day rights itself and everything turns out sunshine & rainbows in the end!

WOW! what a big week for movies! Something for every taste almost and plenty to choose from. Get out there and keep cinema alive, and then share your thoughts with your favourite Blog - Odeon Online.

Movies - see as many as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-