THE COMEBACK TRAIL : Tuesday 17th November 2020.

'THE COMEBACK TRAIL' which I saw this week is an M Rated American crime comedy film Written and Directed by George Gallo who has twenty-two Writer credits, ten as Producer and sixteen as Director to his name including 'Double Take', 'Local Color', 'Homeland Security', 'Middle Men', 'Columbus Circle' and 'The Poison Rose'. This film is a remake of the 1982 film of the same name Directed by Harry Hurwitz. Featuring an ensemble cast, this film saw its Premiere screening at the 43rd Mill Valley Film Festival in California in mid-October this year and now gets a run in Australia ahead of its originally slated release Stateside in mid-December which has subsequently been pushed back to sometime next year. 

The film opens in 1974 Hollywood with grindhouse movie Producer Max Barber (Robert De Niro) sat at a cafe table with his business partner and nephew Walter Creason (Zach Braff) reading the latest Review for their new movie about to have its World Premier screening at a cinema just down the street. That movie is titled 'Killer Nuns' and lobbying the theatre in protest is a group of nuns parading up and down the street with placards chanting to boycott the film. They have sold no tickets to the World Premier event and Walter coyly says to Max that perhaps its time to give up on the movie making business. But Max is an old hand at the film game and he reminds his nephew that their company 'Miracle Motion Pictures' lives by the motto 'If it's Good, It's a Miracle' and as miracles happen every day they just need to watch out for one to land their way, and it will, such is Max's optimism.  

When Max arrives back at his home, which is right under the flightpath of an airport so the house shakes violently every time a plane lands or takes off, he is greeted by Reggie Fontaine (Morgan Freeman) a mob boss whom he is indebted to to the tune of US$350K for financing 'Killer Nuns'. As the movie has bombed, Reggie wants his money back and straight away. After exchanging some dialogue about classic movies and Actors, Reggie gives Max three days to come up with the money, otherwise he's dead meat!

In the office of 'Miracle Motion Pictures' Max and Walter contemplate their futures and their next production. Walter picks up a script of a movie called 'Paradise' which Max wrote years ago, and which rival film producer James Moore (Emile Hirsch) who once worked for Max, has been keen to get his hands on for years, and is prepared to pay handsomely for it. But Max is very attached to 'Paradise' saying that it is Oscar material, the dialogue is top notch and that he has in mind certain production values and certain casting decisions to make the film - only he can't possibly afford the US$1M+ price tag to put his movie and his script into production. Max visits James Moore at his lavish home and asks for a loan of US$350K to pay off his debt to Reggie. Moore is prepared to write a cheque on the spot for the US$350K on one condition! And that is that Max sells him the rights to his 'Paradise' screenplay for which after some bidding toing and froing Moore ups the ante to US$1M, with the US$350K as a downpayment. Max is tempted, but still refuses to budge on his beloved script. 

After visiting the set of Moore's latest US$1M action movie starring the much loved and highly regarded Hollywood Actor Frank Pierce (Patrick Muldoon), at which Max and Moore are still at loggerheads over his 'Paradise' script, they witness Pierce fall to his death from six storeys up while preparing for a stunt. Later back home, the news of Pierce's deaths is all over the news channels, saying that as the Actor performed all his own stunts the studio will receive a US$5M pay out from the insurance company. Whilst Max is livid at Moore's good fortune in financing a film that had a budget of US$1M, he's going to get back US$5M and had less that one days film footage in the can. But, a light goes on inside Max's head. 

Enter Duke Montana (Tommy Lee Jones) a washed up aging depressed old drunk who back in the day was a renowned Actor famed for playing a gun totting fearless cowboy. Now he resides all alone in a nursing home for retired Actors and once every day puts a single bullet in his six shooter pistol, spins the chamber and places the gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger, thus far unsuccessfully. Max and Walter track down Duke and offer him the lead role in their new upcoming movie 'The Oldest Gun in the West'. 

Unbeknownst to Walter however, is the fact that Max has an ulterior motive in hiring Duke. Willing to perform all his own stunts, Max intends to kill off Duke during a stunt, and claim a hefty insurance payout. After hiring a suitable Director to helm the film project, Megan Albert (Kate Katzman), and bringing Reggie in on the scam just as his three day deadline is about to lapse, the movie goes into production. 

Reggie calls Max after the first day of filming to enquire about Duke's demise, but Duke survived his first stunt when his horse stalled at a burning wagon tossing him through the flames sending him crashing down to the ground on the other side, on fire. On the second day, Reggie calls again hoping for more favourable news that the lead Actor is well and truly dead, but Max reports that Duke survived another stunt involving a sabotaged rope bridge across a deep ravine with a fast flowing river below. On the third day after receiving further similar news of another survived stunt, Reggie decides to take the law into his own hands and visit the set and kill the sucker himself.  

In the meantime Max and Walter review the dailies and with Megan agree that the footage in the can so far has 'hit' written all over it. Walter is more excited about the prospect of them having their first sure fire hit on their hands than Max is, whose only interest is in killing off his star and claiming the insurance. In the meantime, Max just about survives a number of very near misses himself including getting kicked in the chest by Duke's stunt horse, Butterscotch. 

Reggie and a couple of his henchmen arrive on the set just as Duke is about to shoot a crucial scene involving him and a bunch of native Indian Americans standing off against a town's Sheriff, with both sides poised to draw their guns. Reggie walks straight in on the scene as Megan calls 'cut' with his own pistol drawn ready to gun down Duke for real. Sensing the commotion, Duke mounts Butterscotch, hauls up Max onto his back and gallops off, leaving Reggie to give chase in his car. They arrive at an abandoned drive in movie theatre where Max ordered Walter to grab a roll of film and project it on to the screen, so that Reggie could see some of the unfinished footage for himself. At the crucial moment the film rolls, and Reggie gazes up at the screen with a big smile on his dial. He also thinks that the film is going to be a hit, and orders Max to finish the movie. 

With the film in the can, we fast forward some months to the World Premier of 'The Oldest Gun in the West' with the audience at capacity and the media in attendance conducting red carpet interviews with cast and crew. Max, Walter, Reggie, Megan and James Moore are all present with Reggie interrupting an interview with Max saying that he is from this point forward going to Co-Produce every one of Max's movies. Duke arrives on his trusted steed, but refuses to be interviewed or to watch the World Premier screening saying that he doesn't like big crowds or being couped up indoors. He'd rather be outside riding his horse, and off he gallops as we see him riding through the foothills under the Hollywood sign. 

This film seemingly has pretty much divided audiences and Critics alike, and its easy to see why. On the one hand it has a strong cast of De Niro, Jones, Freeman, Braff and Hirsch who don't deliver any laugh out moments but do manage to raise a chuckle every so often, and who genuinely look as though they're having a good time on screen by hamming up the movie industry of yesteryear with cornball jokes and pratfalls. On the other hand the script is a little ho hum, the plot is predictable but at a fairly brisk running time of just over one hundred minutes, the film moves along at a good pace. It's not great, but it's not that bad either. 

'The Comeback Trail' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

AD ASTRA : Tuesday 24th September 2019.

'AD ASTRA' is an M-Rated American Sci-Fi adventure offering that has so far received universal acclaim following its World Premier screening at the Venice International Film Festival on the 29th August, and which I saw at my local independent movie theatre earlier this week. Directed, Written and Co-Produced by James Gray whose previous film making credits include his 1994 debut 'Little Odessa' and then 'The Yards', 'We Own the Night', 'Two Lovers', 'The Immigrant' and 'The Lost City of Z' most recently, the meaning of the title when interpreted from its Latin phrase means 'to the stars'. To that end, Gray described his desire for the film to be 'the most realistic depiction of space travel that's been put in a movie', and whether or not he has succeeded in that aim, only you can decide. The movie cost in the region of US$100M to make and has so far grossed US$51M since its worldwide release last week.

Set sometime in the not too distant future, Earth’s solar system is struck by random yet repeated mysterious power surges, potentially threatening all of human life. After surviving an incident caused by once such surge, which sees Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt), plummet uncontrollably from miles above the Earth's surface, the son of famed astronaut Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), is advised by U.S. Space Command that the surges have been traced to the 'Lima Project'. The Project was launched to search the far reaches of our Solar System for intelligent life forms, under Clifford's leadership – from whom nothing has been heard of for sixteen years since reaching Neptune.

Informed that Clifford may still be alive, Roy accepts a mission to travel to Mars to try and establish communication with him, joined by his father’s old associate Colonel Pruitt (Donald Sutherland). Roy McBride and Pruitt board a commercial flight bound for the Moon, and upon arrival are escorted by US military personnel to the Space Command base. 

En route in three lunar rovers, accompanied by security officers for their safe passage to another remote base on the dark side of the Moon, they are ambushed by scavenging pirates, who kill most of the group, except for McBride and Pruitt. However, upon reaching the base, a dying Pruitt is placed into intensive care, but not before handing over a Top Secret and highly classified memory stick to McBride which will shed further light on his mission. McBride now has to go it alone onto Mars.

He transfers to the ship 'Cepheus' on a highly confidential nineteen day flight to Mars. En route, the ship receives a May Day signal from a Norwegian biomedical research space station obviously in distress. Despite protests from McBride to maintain their course for Mars, the captain overrules McBride and goes to the aid of the alleged stricken vessel. Initially it seems abandoned as no one is responding to the radio communications, but a rogue baboon test subject has escaped, smashing through the captain's helmet visor and chewing off his hand down to a bloody stump before McBride is able to neutralise it. A second baboon attacks, but Roy locks the door frantically behind him and depressurises the chamber, killing it instantly. He attempts to save the captain and tapes up his badly damaged helmet before carrying him back to the Cepheus but he is declared dead on arrival. A brief service is held where the dead captain's body is ejected into space. The Cepheus lands on Mars just as another surge strikes, forcing manual intervention. The interim captain is overcome by nerves and is unable to fly or take commands, so leaving McBride to land the ship.

McBride is escorted to the underground Space Command base on Mars which is secure from the impacts of the power surges where he meets facility Director Helen Lantos (Ruth Negga). There he is tasked with recording voice messages read from a pre-written script to send to the Lima Project, in the hope of connecting with Clifford, and upon hearing his sons voice will trigger a response. After several seemingly failed attempts, McBride goes off-script during a recording session with an emotional appeal to his father. He is almost instantly removed from the mission, and is led to assume that a response had been forthcoming, but his personal connection now presents a risk to himself and the overall success of the mission.

Whilst being temporarily held in a 'comfort room' awaiting his transportation back to the Moon and then home to Earth, he is visited by Lantos, who advises him that she was born on Mars, has been to Earth only once in her life as a young child, and is the daughter of crew-members aboard the Lima Project. She hands McBride classified footage showing that Clifford's crew mutinied by attempting to return to Earth, resulting in him turning off their life-support systems, and that her parents were among the crew killed. She tells McBride that the crew that brought him to Mars are leaving to destroy the Lima Project base with a nuclear device on board their ship.

The two decide between them that McBride should confront his father himself, and so Lantos sneaks McBride to an underground lake beneath the rocket launch site to give him access to the ship, although the clock is ticking on the countdown. McBride climbs aboard as the rocket takes off, and is discovered by a surprised and startled crew soon afterwards. The crew are instructed to dispense with McBride despite his best attempts to forewarn them all that he is non-hostile. A fight breaks out, and the crew of three all die, leaving McBride to his own devices in complete solitude for the long journey onto Neptune - some two billion miles away. 

The isolation and stress of the mission without any mental or physical stimulation takes its toll as McBride has memories of his relationships with his father and his estranged wife, Eve (Liv Tyler). After several weeks he arrives at the Lima Project. While approaching the Lima Project ship in a small module, another surge damages the module making it impossible to dock securely, forcing McBride to enter the ship via a space-walk. Finding the ship abandoned and its dead crew floating in zero gravity, he lays down the nuclear payload. His father is looking down on him from above as the ship's only survivor. Clifford explains that the surges originate from the ship's malfunctioning anti-matter power source, damaged during a mutiny. Clifford has continued to work alone on the project throughout all the passing years, refusing to lose faith in the possibility of discovering non-human intelligent life.

McBride tries to convince his father to return home with him to Earth, but Clifford dismisses the notion saying that he is already at home, and has been for the past twenty years, and that his relationship with his young son and wife were only ever going to be temporary. Despite his father's protests, McBride arms the nuclear payload with a three hour detonation time, and prepares to return to his ship with Clifford. Once outside the Lima Project ship Clifford uses his spacesuit thrusters to launch himself into deep space, unwilling to return to Earth. Still tethered onto his son, the pair struggle, with Clifford pleading to his son to let him go. Reluctantly, McBride releases his father who drifts off into deep space.

McBride is able to propel himself back onto his own ship, using a dismantled piece of the Lima Project ship's hull the size of a door to shield himself through Neptune's rocky ring. Without enough fuel to return, he uses the shockwave from the nuclear explosion to propel the ship home. Before the Lima Project ship was destroyed McBride downloaded as much data as he could from his fathers findings from all those years of space travel. The data retrieved suggests that humans are the only intelligent life in the universe, inspiring McBride to reconnect with those closest to him, and he returns to Earth with a whole new found positive outlook on life.

I have to say that I was somewhat underwhelmed by 'Ad Astra'. Sure Brad Pitt gives another great performance as the stoic, completely focused, deeply committed, utterly dependable and infinitely reliable astronaut treading in his fathers footsteps, and proving himself worthy to his peers, the US Government, the world ultimately and to his own Dad to be called Clifford McBride's son. At its core, this is a film about the impacts of an absentee father, and the lengths one man must go to in order to reconcile that fact and lay that ghost of the past finally to rest. Visually, the film looks great too from the opening sequence, to the Moon Space Command Base, the rover chase scene, and the passing of McBride's ship as it cruises past Saturn, Jupiter and finally reaches Neptune. But for all that visual splendour, it's nothing more than we have come to expect in this day and age of cutting edge technologically advanced CGI that we have seen before in the likes of 'Interstellar', 'Gravity', 'First Man', 'The Martian' and even '2001 : A Space Odyssey'. In the final analysis its a film about a man with daddy issues who has lost his way in the world and who catches a ride from Earth, to the Moon, to Mars and onto Neptune and back again to prove that humans are the only intelligent life form in the infinite universe and finally to say farewell to his old man, interspersed with a few action set pieces to maintain the interest. And there you have it! Also starring LisaGay Hamilton and John Ortiz.

'Ad Astra' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

JASON BOURNE : Monday 1st August 2016.

'JASON BOURNE' which I saw earlier in the week is based on the action spy thriller books and the character created by Robert Ludlum who first burst onto our screens in 2002 in 'The Bourne Identity' with Matt Damon playing the title character of a CIA assassin suffering extreme memory loss who chases across the world to uncover the secrets of his past, and claim back his identity. The first film was Directed by Doug Liman, with the second and third instalments - 'The Bourne Supremacy' in 2004 and 'The Bourne Ultimatum' in 2007 both Directed by Paul Greengrass. In 2012 'The Bourne Legacy' was Directed by Tony Gilroy with Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross on the run as a result of Bourne's actions in 'Ultimatum', and although Damon declined to return as our titular hero, he does appear in archival photographs and dialogue as the storylines overlap. Those first four films were made for a combined US$370M and grossed worldwide US$1,222B and collectively were hailed as both critical and commercial successes. Now almost ten years after last playing the character, Matt Damon is back and reunited with Paul Greengrass in this further instalment - made for US$120M with the screenplay written by Greengrass and both Damon and Greengrass acting as Co-Producers. The film has so far grossed US$128M since its release.

After ten years of laying low following the events at the conclusion of 'Ultimatum', we find Bourne (Matt Damon looking all the more grizzled and world weary) scraping together a meagre living by engaging in illegal fist fights for money somewhere on the Turkish/Bulgarian border. Meanwhile in Reykjavik, Iceland, Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) is collaborating with a computer hacker, whistleblower and privacy activist to hack into the CIA mainframe and expose their black op's programmes. Whilst doing so, Parsons finds documents relating to Bourne's past and in particular his entry into the Treadstone project and the part his father, Richard Webb, played in it, which ultimately cost him his life back in 1999. Armed with this extensive new found data Parsons travels to Greece to track down Bourne and alert him, convinced that while his memory has returned, these files will contain revealing new information that he will not be aware of.

Whilst Parsons is hacking into the CIA main frame, Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) who heads up the CIA's cyber operations team is alerted that their system has been compromised, and so a trace is put on Parson's with suspicions that she is linked to Bourne. Let the chase begin! Lee works for Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) the Director of the CIA who gives the go ahead to put full resources behind tracking Parsons and in turn Bourne - mobilising 'The Asset' (Vincent Cassel) to take them out in a search and destroy mission - ask no questions. Soon enough Parsons meets up with Bourne in a anti-government riot stricken Athens with CIA operatives and The Asset hot on their heels.

What follows is an intense action set piece around the back streets of Athens as Parsons and Bourne separate on foot and then meet up at Syntagma Square and commandeer a motorcycle tearing off down the side streets and alleyways chased by The Asset, the local Police and the CIA. They successfully manage to evade and by-pass rioting hordes, riot police, motorcycle police, the CIA in hot pursuit in the obligatory black trucks and The Asset chasing them down at high speed and then on foot. But The Asset comes good in the end with the help of drone surveillance from above, and a link to Lee in his ear, and with a single well aimed shot takes down Bourne and Parsons sending the former slamming into a parked car and the latter with a bullet in her back. Muttering her dying words she passes a luggage locker key to Bourne, containing a hand written notebook and an encrypted USB stick.

Moving to Berlin, Bourne locates the hacker that Parsons was dealing with back in Reykjavik, and has him decrypt the USB files. Looking through these he learns more truths about his father and how he was the originator of the Treadstone project that ultimately got him killed. However, Lee is able to trace the location of Bourne through malware implanted in the files which he has now accessed, and so a team is sent to take him out. By now however, Lee is beginning to form her own opinions of Bourne based on the information that she is seeing unfold in front of her own eyes. She alerts Bourne to the onset of the raid and that his cover is blown, just as he makes off, and the computer files are erased remotely. 

Using the data he recovered from these files the action moves to London, where Bourne tracks down a Malcolm Smith (Bill Camp), a former Treadstone Surveillance Agent now working at his own security firm. Smith is instantly nervous that Bourne wants to see him and alerts Dewey and in turn Lee that a rendezvous has been arranged. Lee meanwhile persuades Dewey to allow her one attempt to bring Bourne in having studied his files further. Dewey agrees to her plan but secretly mobilises The Asset to take down Lee's team and eliminate Bourne once and for all. Sensing that the CIA will be watching his every move, Bourne sets up some diversion and distraction tactics of his own in the very public gathering place he is to meet with Smith. He whisks Smith away long enough to question him on a roof top, not knowing that Dewey is in Smith's ear ordering him not to divulge anything to Bourne. However, Bourne is growing increasingly impatient threatening to launch Smith off the edge five storey's up. Smith relents and advises that Richard Webb created Treadstone, but tried to prevent his son's entry into the programme. Smith also advises that under orders from Dewey, he had The Asset kill Bourne's father but stage the death to look like a terrorist attack, so giving the young David Webb the impetus to join Treadstone. The Asset takes out Smith before any more beans can be spilled, and Bourne jumps to safety from five floors up!

Bourne meanwhile meets up with Lee who is left scratching her head wondering what the hell just happened to her team. She confesses that she is questioning Dewey's motives, and advises him that Dewey is due to speak at a Las Vegas convention with Aaron Kalloor (Riz Ahmed), the CEO of a social media application with 1.5 billion subscribers - called 'Deep Dream'. Kalloor has a huge following being the face of corporate social responsibility in the internet age, but his company is being secretly funded by Dewey, who wants to use his technology as a backdoor entry for unhindered surveillance of the masses in a project now known as 'Iron Hand'. Kalloor has an attack of his conscience and intends to come clean at the convention in front of a gathered audience and the worldwide media. But Dewey has other thoughts and orders The Asset to take out both Kalloor and Lee whilst they sit on the speakers panel, but this attempt is thwarted by Bourne just in time. In the frenzy afterwards Bourne makes it to Dewey's suite to confront him with what he knows with both the CIA and Lee closing in. In the ensuing fracas Dewey is shot by Lee, and Bourne sustains a bullet wound from Craig Jeffers (Ato Essandoh), Deweys right hand guy, but not before Bourne puts a bullet in him.

This only leaves The Asset on the run having sustained a bullet wound from Bourne at the convention assassination attempt. The Asset commandeers a SWAT truck to make his getaway, leaving Bourne to do likewise with a car through the streets of uptown Las Vegas in what is a lengthy and well choreographed chase sequence. When both vehicles come to rest in a casino amidst much carnage, destruction and collateral damage, a foot chase leads to a sewer where its close quarter hand to hand combat between Bourne and The Asset. Needless to say, the latter buys the farm!

In the aftermath when the dust has settled and Bourne has gone back underground, he meets in a park with Lee who attempts to persuade him to come back in, promising him that the CIA is changing with the times and can be the organisation he thought it was when he first signed up. He walks away saying he'll think about it, but does not respond when she calls after him 'how will I reach you'? The film closes as Lee sits back in her car with a recording device planted earlier by Bourne that has audio visual evidence that she cannot be trusted.

I liked 'Jason Bourne' but it delivers exactly what you have come to expect from this franchise. It is well delivered but fairly formulaic and predictable. The action set pieces look good at the hands of Director Paul Greengrass who has proven his ability to stage intense close up fist fights and epic multiple vehicle city centre chases on foot, on motorcycle and by car. Bourne has proven as indestructible and indefatigable as ever surviving bullet wounds, near strangulation, countless body blows, falling off a roof five storeys high with nothing but an industrial strength washing line to break his fall, careering off a motorcycle at high speed and into a parked car, and driving his car into a SWAT truck that pins him under the roof of the porte cochere to a casino. And that is just in this film! Their are some confusing elements to this film, questions left unanswered and plot holes that includes what has Bourne been doing for the last ten years as we see him engaging in various underground illegal fist fights - for what purpose exactly I wonder? It is worth seeing for sure, but you can wait for the DVD/Bluray release, and while this film sets up a possible further instalment, I do wonder if this franchise has now run its course and its time for Bourne to ease himself into retirement once and for all, and concentrate on his future rather than his past.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 28th July 2016.

Last week for a bit of fun I counted up to 30 using movie titles with numbers in their title from 'Zero Dark Thirty' to '30 Days of Night'. This week, continuing in that same vein I've listed those upto 100. This is just my view of the cinematic universe and there'll be those I've missed and plenty more too besides those I have given below. See what you think?

• '31 North 62 East' - 2009 - Directed by Tristan Loraine, starring John Rhys-Davies,
• 'Miracle on 34th Street' - 1947 - Directed by George Seaton, starring Maureen O'Hara,
• '35 Up' - 1991 - Directed by Michael Apted, starring Michael Apted,
• 'The 39 Steps' - 1935 - Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Robert Donat,
• 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' - 2005 - Directed by Judd Apatow, starring Steve Carell,
• '42' - 2013 - Directed by Brian Helgeland, starring Harrison Ford,
• 'Movie 43' - 2013 - Directed by Peter Farrelly amongst others and starring a Who's Who of Hollywood's A-listers,
• '44 Inch Chest' - 2010 - Directed by Malcolm Venville, starring Ray Winstone,
• '47 Ronin' - 2013 - Directed by Carl Rinsch, starring Keanu Reeves,
• '48 Hours' - 1982 - Directed by Walter Hill, starring Eddie Murphy,
• 'Ladder 49' - 2004 - Directed by Jay Russell, starring John Travolta,
• '50 First Dates' - 2004 - Directed by Peter Segal, starring Adam Sandler,
• 'Planet 51' - 2009 - Directed by Jorge Blanco, starring Dwayne Johnson,
• '52 Pick-Up' - 1986 - Directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Roy Schneider,
• '54' - 1998 - Directed by Mark Christopher, starring Ryan Philippe,
• '55 Days at Peking' - 1963 - Directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Charlton Heston, 
• 'Passenger 57' - 1992 - Directed by Kevin Hooks, starring Wesley Snipes,
• 'Gone in 60 Seconds' - 2000 - Directed by Dominic Sena, starring Nicolas Cage,
• '61*' - 2001 - Directed by Billy Crystal, starring Barry Pepper,
• 'Roadhouse 66' - 1984 - Directed by John Mark Robinson, starring Willem Dafoe,
• ''71' - 2015 - Directed by Yann Demange, starring Jack O'Connell,
• 'Winchester '73' - 1950 - Directed by Anthony Mann, starring James Stewart,
• 'Around the World in 80 Days' - 1956 - Directed by Michael Anderson, starring David Niven,
• '84 Charing Cross Road' - 1987 - Directed by David Jones, starring Anthony Hopkins,
• '88 Minutes' - 2008 - Directed by Jon Avnet, starring Al Pacino, 
• 'United 93' - 2006 - Directed by Paul Greengrass, starring Christian Clemenson,
• '99 Homes' - 2015 - Directed by Ramin Bahrani, starring Michael Shannon,
• '100 Rifles' - 1969 - Directed by Tom Gries, starring Raquel Welch.

All that said, and turning to more current affairs, there are four new films to grace our cinema screens in the week ahead kicking off with the fifth instalment in this popular action spy franchise that sees a return to form for this pairing of Actor and Director for a third outing, as this character comes in from the cold after an absence of ten years still seeking answers whilst thwarting enemies on both sides of the law. Then there is a down on his luck salesman trying to close the deal of his life in a far away country while licking his wounds resulting from a broken marriage, a lost home and family upheaval. Next up historical fact and fiction combine in this critically acclaimed foreign language film shot in the depths of the South American jungle as a tribal elder helps two scientists separated by thirty years, seek out a mythical plant. And then we wrap up with a tale of all things bread like with one added secret ingredient that helps boost sales and helps two opposites combine their talents on a micro scale with an underlying macro message.

Remember, that when you have sat through your movie of choice in the week ahead, be sure to return to these humble pages and share your thoughts and observations on the movie you have just seen by leaving a note in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We would love to hear from you. Until then, enjoy your film, and get a taste for this weeks latest releases from my Previews as below.

'JASON BOURNE' (Rated M) - this action spy thriller series of films based on the books and the character created by Robert Ludlum first burst onto our screens in 2002 in 'The Bourne Identity' with Matt Damon playing the title character of a CIA assassin suffering extreme memory loss who chases across the world to uncover the secrets of his past and claim back his identity. The first film was Directed by Doug Liman, with the second and third instalments - 'The Bourne Supremacy' in 2004 and 'The Bourne Ultimatum' in 2007 both Directed by Paul Greengrass. In 2012 'The Bourne Legacy' was Directed by Tony Gilroy with Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross on the run as a result of Bourne's actions in 'Ultimatum', and although Damon declined to return as our titular hero, he does appear in archival photographs and dialogue as the storylines overlap. Those first four films were made for a combined US$370M and grossed worldwide US$1,222B and collectively were hailed as both critical and commercial successes. Now almost ten years after last playing the character, Matt Damon is back and reunited with Paul Greengrass in this further instalment - made for US$120M with the screenplay written by Greengrass and both Damon and Greengrass acting as Co-Producers on this film.

After ten years of laying low following the events at the conclusion of 'Ultimatum', CIA Director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) tries to lure our man Jason Bourne out of self imposed exile and assigns Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) to track him down and bring him out of the shadows. Lee however, suspects that Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) - a former CIA Operative and ally of Bourne, is also searching for him. So begins another game of cat & mouse as the action ramps up and Bourne finds himself front & centre as he and Parsons get caught up in a sinister network leveraging terror and technology to build a global power base, whilst evading the CIA who have their own agenda for wanting to bring him in, and Bourne attempts to uncover further answers about his past and his family. Vincent Cassel also stars.

'A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING' (Rated M) - written for the screen and Directed by Tom Tyker and based on the 2012 book of the same name by Dave Eggers, this comedy drama film starring Tom Hanks in the lead role was released in the US on 22nd April having cost US$30M to make and so far it has realised a return of just US$4.7M, representing Tom Hank's lowest grossing film in which he has top billing for thirty years. Set in 2010, the film tells the story of Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) - a washed up, depressed, down at heel corporate salesman who lost his home and divorced his wife during the Global Financial Crisis. He travels to Saudi Arabia with the intention of selling a holographic teleconferencing system to the Saudi Government for a pending development in the King's Metropolis of Economy and Trade. As he goes about his business he is assisted by new acquaintances in the form of a beautiful doctor Zahra (Sarita Choudhury) and a smart arse cab driver Yousef (Alexander Black). Also starring Tom Skerritt and Ben Whishaw.

'EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT' (Rated M) - this film has been critically lauded the world over, and is the proud recipient of 24 Award wins and another twenty nominations including the Best Foreign Language Film nomination at this years Academy Awards, and the winner of the Arts Cinema Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight. Filmed entirely in the Amazonia region of Colombia and Directed by Ciro Guerra, the films tells two stories separated by thirty years both centering upon an Amazonian Shamen, Karamakate (played by Nilbio Torres as the younger, and Antonio Bolivar as the older). He is the sole survivor of his tribe, and he accompanies two scientists - the German ethnologist and explorer Theodor Koch-Grunberg (1872-1924) played by Jan Bijvoet in 1909, and American biologist Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001) played by Brionne Davis in 1940 as they each search for a rare and sacred plant - the Yakruna - said to possess healing and psychedelic properties. Mixing both fact and fiction in glorious monochrome with the backdrop of the Amazonian rainforest with the emergence of Colonialist enforcers and the ensuing destruction of tribal lands, culture, history, beliefs, people and nature on a scale that still continues, Guerra delivers a haunting, dramatic, revealing and thought provoking film on a multitude of levels - a must see.

'DOUGH' (Rated M) - Directed by John Goldschmidt this film tells the story of an ageing Jewish baker Nat Dayan (Jonathan Pryce) single handedly running his little bakery shop and finding it all a little too much as the strains and struggles of early mornings, heavy lifting & kneading and hot baking ovens begin to creep into his old age whilst trying to maintain a viable business. Persuaded, albeit reluctantly, to take on a young seemingly no-hope Muslim immigrant apprentice from Darfur Ayyash Habimana (Jerome Holder) things begin to take a turn for the better when the young lad drops cannabis into the dough mixture, and suddenly the bread shop is much in demand and its products sought after as demand outstrips supply. This is a film that explores the power of relationships, acceptance, tolerance and support for the little guy who overcomes adversity from the big guy - with a little help from some weed, luck and good fortune. Pauline Collins and Phil Davis also star.

Four films for mid-Winter that once again offer a mixed bag of new cinematic content for your movie going choice in the week ahead. Share your thoughts when you have done so, and in the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 19th May 2016.

Last week I ran the introduction to the latest releases segment with a small feature on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Box Office successes, with the promise that I would do likewise with the DC Extended Universe this week. With 'Batman v. Superman' for DC now at a worldwide Box Office haul of US$870M and 'Captain America : Civil War' for Marvel at US$957M, and both still out on general release, the stakes are high in both camps, and the expectations of what is to come even higher. With that in mind here is the low down on the DC filmography with the Superman and Batman franchises reigning supreme and underpining that universe, here are the numbers :-

• 'Superman' - December 1978 - US$300M - with Christopher Reeve in the title role.
• 'Superman II' - June 1981 - $101M - with Christopher Reeve.
• 'Superman III' - June 1983 - US$60M - with Christopher Reeve.
• 'Superman IV' - July 1987 - US$11M - with Christoper Reeve.
• 'Superman Returns' - June 2006 - US374M - with Brandon Routh in the title role.
• 'Man of Steel' - June 2013 - US$668M - with Henry Cavill in the title role.
• 'Batman' - June 1989 - US$409M - with Michael Keaton in the title role.
• 'Batman Returns' - June 1992 - US$267M - with Michael Keaton.
• 'Batman Forever' - June 1995 - US$336M - with Val Kilmer in the title role.
• 'Batman and Robin' - June 1997 - US$238M - with George Clooney in the title role.
• 'Batman Begins' - June 2005 - US$359M - with Christian Bale in the title role.
• 'The Dark Knight' - July 2008 - US$1,003B - with Christian Bale and #24 highest ranking film of all time currently.
• 'The Dark Knight Rises' - July 2012 - US$1,085B - with Christian Bale and the #16 highest ranking film of all time currently.
• 'Batman v. Superman' - March 2016 - US$868M - with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill in the title roles and the #45 highest ranking film of all time currently.
• Outside of these, there have been 'Catwoman', 'Constantine', 'Watchmen', 'Jonah Hex', 'Green Lantern' and 'The League of Extraordinary Gentleman' plus a host of other characters from the equally rich source material, some of which have performed reasonably well at the Box Office while others have not. Additionally, there have been numerous animated feature films, television films, short films and television series dating all the way back to the early 40's.

What does the future hold for the DC Extended Universe - already either due for imminent release, filming, in pre-production of on the slate there is : 'Suicide Squad' due August this year; 'Wonder Woman' due in June 2017; 'Justice League : Part One' due in November 2017; 'The Flash' due in March 2018; 'Aquaman' due in July 2018; 'Shazam' due in April 2019; 'Justice League : Part Two' due in June 2019; 'Cyborg' due in April 2020; and 'The Green Lantern Corp.' due in July 2020. Much to get excited about.

And so what is coming your way in the week ahead? Four new films, that's what! First up is another Marvel offering, but outside of their Cinematic Universe, but nonetheless #9 in a hugely successful franchise that sees the resurrected grand-daddy of all mutants go head to head in the world of the 20th Century, and there's only one team that can stand up and save the world. Then we have a film of transferred memories and the hunt for a package that will save the world, starring three fellas who were last together on the big screen in Oliver Stone's 'JFK'. Following on from this we have a comedy drama about a mother/daughter relationship that sees well meaning Mum going too far with the smotherly love only to be told back off - and so she channels its elsewhere, with surprising consequences; and wrapping up a doco of the musical kind definitely with strings attached!

With four new offerings, and still great content on general release as Reviewed and Previewed between these pages, get out amongst it this week to your local cinema, and when you have sat through your movie of choice, feel free to share your thoughts, observations, and ratings below this or any other Post in the Comments Box below. Enjoy your film.

'X-MEN : APOCALYPSE' (Rated MA15+) - the eagerly awaited ninth film in the hugely successful 'X-Men' franchise is now upon us with high expectations given how the more recent films in the series have performed. With Bryan Singer back in the Director's chair having also Directed the series opening two films 'X-Men' and 'X2' in 2000 and 2003 respectively, with 2014's 'Days of Future Past' too, it seems that this instalment is in safe and confident hands. In the meantime there has been 'The Last Stand', 'Origins : Wolverine', 'First Class', 'The Wolverine' and this years 'Deadpool'. Counting those previous eight films, the series has so far made US$3.82B from a combined Budget of US$1.08B, with 'Apocalypse' costing US$234M to bring to the big screen. 'Deadpool' has be the most lucrative so far returning US$762M from an outlay of just US$58M compared to 'Days of Future Past' as the next best which returned US$748M from a US$200M outlay.

And so to this next instalment we see 'Apocalypse' (Oscar Isaac) - the first and most powerful mutant worshipped as a God since time began is both immortal and invincible having amassed the power of many other mutants along the way to becoming all powerful. Having been betrayed by his worshippers, he was entombed for centuries and his followers 'The Four Horsemen' destroyed. Now waking from a forced restful slumber in 1983, the newly energised Apocalypse soon realises that the world has forgotten him, and it has changed in ways that are far from his liking. Deciding to destroy the world and rebuild it to his own vision, he enlists four new horsemen - Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Archangel (Ben Hardy), and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to support his cause and bring about the destruction needed to rebuild a new world order. With the fate of our little blue & green planet hanging in the balance, Professor X (James McAvoy) and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) lead a young team of X-Men to thwart their evil foe and save the Earth. Also starring Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Kodi Smith-McPhee as Nightcrawler with Rose Byrne, Hugh Jackman and Lucas Till. Let the battle commence!

'CRIMINAL' (Rated MA15+) - this action thriller Directed by Ariel Vromen has seen mixed reviews from around the traps for its US$32M Budget for which it has so far returned US$27M having been released Stateside in mid-April, and given the ensemble cast that stars. Essentially CIA Agent Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) is killed on the job while escorting a hacker informant to a safe house. Desperate to find this hacker who it seems can engage all the worlds nuclear warheads at will, Pope's next line of command Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman) reaches out to Dr. Mahal Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) a pre-eminent neurosurgeon who has developed a way of transplanting the memory of a dead man into a living one. Franks believes there is only one person who can undergo such treatment, and that person is convicted criminal Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner). And so begins a cat and mouse game involving implanted memories, the CIA, a dead mans family, and an anarchist on the hunt for a package hidden somewhere safe that only the dead man's memory can reveal. Sounds completely plausible and rational. Also starring Gal Gadot as the dead Agents wife.

'THE MEDDLER' (Rated M) - Witten and Directed by Lorene Scafaria this is a dramedy that was Premiered at TIFF in September 2015, released in the US towards the end of April, has received strong critical acclaim, but this is yet to transfer into anything resembling serious Box Office takings. Nonetheless, here we have Lori Minervini (Rose Byrne in her second release this week) a still single  successful screenwriter living in LA when her recently widowed beloved Mother Marnie (Susan Sarandon) decides to up sticks and relocate from New Jersey to LA to be closer to her darling daughter. When Mum comes on too strong with the positive advise, interference and persistent meddling in Lori's life, it is time to draw the line, and so Marnie finds new ways to channel her positivity, optimism and generosity to help others change their lives for the better, with surprising results for all concerned. Also starring J.K.Simmons.

'HIGHLY STRUNG' (Rated M) - Scott Hicks latest foray into the world of music and cinema opened the Adelaide Film Festival in October last year, and this week gets its general release. Fitting that it should premier in Adelaide as this is where the Australian String Quartet are based and have been going strong there for the last 30 years. Hicks explores the world of stringed instruments, the power and the passion behind those that play them, the desire of those to own them, how they are made, what they stand for, where and how they sound the best, and the function that each member of the quartet holds. It's a story of drama and beauty, passion, obsession and possession into a world of classical music that many of us would otherwise pass by.

With four very different films once again, promising (almost) something for everyone, there'll be no reason not to catch a movie in the week ahead. When you have done so, share your thoughts, and until then - I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-