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 21st May 2015.

With Winter fast approaching (in Australia anyway!) there are plenty of reasons to get out to your local multiplex to be entertained with a movie of choice from blockbusting epic, to original horror, to thought provoking Sci-Fi and most things in between. And, in the weeks ahead there is more cinematic goodness to come, to add heaps more excuses for your big screen viewing pleasure as the cooler months take hold - unless of course you live in the northern hemisphere!

For the week ahead there are three new offerings that recreate a classic horror chiller updated for the modern era; an undercover espionage action comedy caper; and an historical true story drama spanning sixty years. Of course added to this there are plenty more large and small movies and mainstream and independent films to choose from. So, do yourself a favour and catch a big screen experience in the week ahead. When you're done, drop a Comment below this or any other Post and share your views with our ever growing world wide readership! Enjoy your film!

POLTERGEIST (Rated M) - In 1982 'Poltergeist' hit our big screens Directed by Tobe Hooper and scared the bejeezus out of us all for its modern take on supernatural demonic possession in suburban USA. Written for the screen by Steven Spielberg based on his own story, it was also Produced by him too and on a budget of just US$10.7M it grossed over US$121M and spawned two sequels in 1986 and 1988. Now in 2015, 'Poltergeist' is back and rebooted for the modern age and a whole new audience keen to be shocked, scared and surprised once again. This time around we are Directed by Gil Kenan based on Spielberg's original story and Produced by Sam Raimi.

Sam Rockwell stars as Eric Bowen and Rosemary DeWitt as his wife Amy, with young children Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), Madison (Kennedi Clements) and Griffin (Kyle Catlett) whose suburban home is invaded by angry spirits, who become more and more angry and increasingly malevolent as time progresses. When the apparitions manifest themselves in differing ways and with rising frequency they take the households youngest daughter into their netherworld of supernatural evil forces. The family have to muster their combined strength, resolve, determination and the forces of good to overcome the forces of evil in order to recover their daughter, and live happily ever after . . . maybe!

SPY (Rated MA15+) - Written, Produced and Directed by Paul Feig with a US$65M budget this is a CIA action comedy about desk jockey Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) who despite being trained as a field agent has sat behind the scenes for years as the ears and eyes of Bradley Fine (Jude Law) a top agent out in the field thwarting criminals and wrongdoers on a grand scale. When Fine is topped off by Bulgarian arms trader Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), Susan persuades her superiors that she should go undercover for the first time to capture Boyanov, avoid a potential global disaster and avenge the death of Fine. With more accomplished Agents available including Rick Ford (Jason Statham) and Karen Walker (Morena Baccarin), Cooper is in the box seat because Boyanov knows the identity of the CIA's top agents who now need to lie low for fear of blowing Coopers cover. This is likely to be everything you would expect from Melissa McCarthy with slap stick set pieces, cat & mouse, agents and double agents, spies and super spies, weapons of mass destruction all underpinned with a solid cast to add weight and gravitas . . . but will it be enough to carry this film?

WOMAN IN GOLD (Rated M) - Directed by Simon Curtis for US$11 and so far grossing US$37M this is the true story of Austrian Jewish refugee Maria Altmann who fled Nazi Austria just before the start of WWII to seek safe harbour in America knowing that 'the writing was on the wall'. Maria is successful in her escape attempt but she must abandon her parents, family and loved ones to the fate of the Nazi's and their pillaging and looting. Fast forward sixty years and Altmann is now living in Los Angeles, and following the funeral of her sister she discovers a number of letters written in the 1940's revealing attempts to recover certain works of art stolen by the Nazi's during the War. One such piece was painted by her Aunt, now known throughout Austria as 'Woman in Gold'. Altman (Helen Mirren) engages young inexperienced lawyer Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) who makes a claim to the Art Restitution Board In Austria to have the painting returned to its rightful owner, but of course the Austrian authorities will have none of it. The picture they claim is theirs and now hangs as a national treasure in an art gallery. And so begins a case that goes all the way to the US Supreme Court where the matter is filed as The Republic of Austria vs. Altmann and where Schoenberg and Altmann battle it out in court with the Austrian art world over a cold case that spans the past sixty years. If you're not all together up on art history or know of this story then check out the film to see how the ruling went, and where this famed painting now hangs. Daniel Bruhl, Katie Holmes,  Charles Dance, Elizabeth McGovern and Jonathan Pryce also star.

Three films all offering something different. Get out amongst it in the week ahead and do yourself a favour and catch any one of these, or the other great content currently doing the rounds - there's bound to be something out there for you!

Movies - see as many as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-