Birthday's to share this week : 11th - 17th June 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Kodi Smit-McPhee does on 13th June - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 21, 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 11th June

• Hugh Laurie - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Singer
• Peter Dinklage - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
• Shia LaBeouf - Born 1986, turns 31 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer   

Monday 12th June

• Richard Ayoade - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actor | Writer | Director | Producer
• Dave Franco - Born 1985, turns 32 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Frances O'Connor - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actress  

Tuesday 13th June

• Malcolm McDowell - Born 1943, turns 74 - Actor | Producer
• Stellan Skarsgard - Born1951, turns 66 - Actor | Producer
• Tim Allen - Born 1953, turns 64 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Chris Evans - Born 1981, turns 36 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Born 1990, turns 27 - Actor 
• Kodi Smit-McPhee - Born 1996, turns 21 - Actor
• Ally Sheedy - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actress 
• Kathy Burke - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actress | Writer | Director | Producer  
• Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen - Born 1986, turns 31 - Actresses | Producers | Twin Sisters 

Wednesday 14th June

• Diablo Cody - Born 1978, turns 39 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Donald Trump - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actor | Producer | Television Personality | President of the USA | Leader of the Free World   

Thursday 15th June

• Jim Belushi - Born 1954, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | 
• Ice Cube (aka O'Shea Jackson) - Born 1969, turns 48 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Jake Busey - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Producer
• Neil Patrick Harris - Born 1973, turns 44 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Singer
• Helen Hunt - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actress | Director | Producer | Writer 
• Courteney Cox - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actress | Producer | Director | Singer  

Friday 16th June

• James Bolam - Born 1935, turns 82 - Actor 
• Arnold Vosloo - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• John Choo - Born 1972, turns 45 - Actor | Producer
• Daniel Bruhl - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actor | Producer   

Saturday 17th June

• Ken Loach - Born 1936, turns 81 - Director | Writer | Producer
• Thomas Haden Church - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Greg Kinnear - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Jason Patric - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actor 
• Will Forte - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
• Louis Leterrier - Born 1973, turns 44 - Director | Producer 
• Scott Adkins - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actor | Producer

Kodi Smit-McPhee was born in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia to mother Sonja and father Andy McPhee - an Actor and professional wrestler. Kodi has an older sister, Sianoa, born in early 1992, and she is an Actress, Singer and Songwriter. When the young Kodi was about three years of age the family unit relocated to Melbourne.

Smit-McPhee's debut screen appearance came in the 2006 Stuart McDonald Directed 52 minute short film 'Stranded', and this was followed up by 'Fatal Contact : Bird Flu in America' with Joely Richardson and Stacy Keach. Another short film of fifteen minutes also appeared in 2006 - 'End of Town' and then four episodes on the first and only season of television series 'Monarch Cove', before biographical drama 'The King' about the story of Graham Kennedy, described as Australia's first and greatest home grown television superstar. These in turn led to Smit-McPhee's breakout role at the tender age of ten in the Richard Roxburgh biographical drama 'Romulus, My Father' playing the young son Raimond Gaita to father Romulus (Eric Bana) and mother Christina (Franka Potenta). Smit-McPhee won the Young Actors Award at the 2007 Australian Film Institute Awards, was also nominated for Best Lead Actor, and won a Special Achievement Award at the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.  

'The Tender Hook' followed in 2008 with Rose Byrne and Hugo Weaving, and then another awards worthy performance in John Hillcoat's 2009 post-apocalyptic world adventure drama 'The Road' based on the Cormac McCarthy novel and starring alongside Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and Charlize Theron. 

'Matching Jack' came next in 2010 with Richard Roxburgh, Colin Friels and James Nesbitt. More award wins and nominations followed for his performance in the 2010 Matt Reeves Written and Directed remake of the earlier 2008 Swedish film 'Let the Right One In', with horror mystery 'Let Me In' opposite Chloe Grace Moretz and Richard Jenkins. Aussie drama film 'Dead Europe' followed as did live action/animated Sci-Fi drama film 'The Congress' with Robin Wright, Paul Giamatti, John Hamm, Danny Huston and Harvey Keitel. 'Romeo & Juliet' with Hailee Steinfeld, Damian Lewis, Stellan Skarsgard and Paul Giamatti also arrived at our screens in 2013, as did 'A Birder's Guide to Everything' with Ben Kingsley. 

2014 saw Smit-McPhee work with Matt Reeves again in 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' with Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell and Keri Russell. The same year also saw 'All the Wilderness' with Danny DeVito, Virginia Madsen and Isabelle Fuhrman, and then Sci-Fi post-drought apocalypse actioner 'Young Ones' with Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning. 

Western 'Slow West' as Directed and Written by John Maclean was released in 2015 and also starred Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelssohn, and this lead into the seven part one hundredth anniversary television drama mini-series special 'Gallipoli' with Smit-McPhee taking a lead role as seventeen year old Thomas 'Tolly' Johnson who lies about his age so that he can enlist in the First World War effort with his brother, and ultimately fight at Gallipoli in the raging, bloody and long drawn out battle that helped create the legend of the ANZAC's.

In 2016 Smit-McPhee starred as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in Bryan Singer's 'X-Men : Apocalypse' based on the popular and long running film franchise founded on the Marvel Comics characters. This ninth film in the 'X-Men' franchise stars an ensemble cast that you will be well aware of, and took US$544M at the global Box Office. 

Next up for Smit-McPhee is 'The Solutrean' Written and Directed by Albert Hughes and due for release towards the back end of this year. The film tells the survival story set 20,000 years ago during the last Ice Age as a young caveman struggles against the elements to find his way home after a hunting expedition goes awry. 

All up Smit-McPhee has 26 Acting credits to his name, having lent his voice talents also to the animated features 'ParaNorman' and 'Maya the Bee Movie'. He has already amassed three award wins for his performances in 'Romulus, My Father' and 'Let Me In' plus a further 23 nominations. Kodi is now a resident of Los Angeles, California where he lives with this Actress sister. 

Kodi Smit-McPhee - the young lad from Adelaide has done good; just 21 years of age and already has worked with some of the best Acting and Directorial talent in the business, and, has the accolades to prove it; is a star on the rise; in demand and sought after; and has got the talent to work across just about all genres. Happy 21st Birthday to you Kodi, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

X-MEN : APOCALYPSE : Saturday 21st May 2016.

'X-MEN : APOCALYPSE' which I saw with my 15 year old lad at the weekend is the eagerly awaited ninth film in the hugely successful 'X-Men' franchise and is now on general release 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$178M to bring to the big screen. 'Deadpool' has be the most lucrative so far returning US$763M 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. The film Premiered in London on 9th May, was released here in Australia on 19th May and opens in the US on 27th May, and has so far grossed US$115M prior to its US opening, albeit very mixed Reviews from the critics.

And so to this next instalment we see En Sabah Nur, aka 'Apocalypse' (Oscar Isaac) who is the ruler over ancient Egypt some 5,000 years ago and the first and most powerful mutant worshipped as a God since time began. He is both immortal and invincible having amassed the power of many other mutants along the way to becoming all powerful. As the film opens we see him in ancient Egypt about to change his body to preserve his immortality, but during the transference process to do so is betrayed by his worshippers and as a result he is entombed alive for centuries. His followers 'The Four Horsemen' are destroyed in the process while fending off those seeking to end his tyrannical reign.

We then fast forward to 1983 and Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) working for the CIA is hot on the heels of a cult who worship the ruins of what they believe is some ancient force buried deep beneath the surface of modern day Egypt but which they have been able to locate and tunnel access to. Reading the hieroglyphics on the visible part of the tomb, they unwittingly set in motion a chain of events that lead to the awakening of Sabah Nur and a resulting earthquake felt half way around the world. When Sabah Nur surfaces he quickly begins to assimilate to the world of the 20th Century and seeks to recruit four new horsemen, realising quickly that mankind has lost its way and forgotten about him. His first recruit is Ororo Munroe, aka 'Storm' (Alexandra Shipp), and then Elizabeth Braddock, aka 'Psylocke' (Olivia Munn), and then Warren Worthington III, aka 'Angel' aka 'Archangel' (Ben Hardy) and finally Erik Lehnsherr, aka 'Magneto' (Michael Fassbender). Supported by his followers each with a unique set of skills which Sabah Nur is able to further enhance and manipulate, he sets in motion a plan to destroy the known world and rebuild it in his image as he desires, and in so doing create a new world order.

Meanwhile, as this is going on Professor Charles Xavier, aka 'Professor X' (James McAvoy) is going about his daily business at his mansion home for gifted children, when he learns that Erik has resurfaced from self imposed exile and a life of domesticity somewhere in a Polish backwater following the events that unfolded at the end of 'Days of Future Past'. Seeking to connect with Erik through 'Cerebro', Sabah Nur is able to hack into the Professors own mind and discover the only power that he does not yet possess, but which he wants and needs to compete his arsenal and realise his dominance over the world. In doing so, and to protect himself, Sabah Nur simultaneously commands all world authorities to launch their nuclear weapons into outer space, so that he can go about his world rebuilding exercise unhindered and free from potential nuclear attack.

Having done this, Sabah Nur and his four newly recruited powered-up Horsemen transport themselves into the heart of the Professors mansion to kidnap him, so that the Professors mind powers can be transferred into that of Sabah Nur. A ensuing explosion destroys the mansion to a big hole in the ground with nothing left but dust and rubble, but not before Peter Maximoff, aka 'Quicksilver' (Evan Peters) is able to remove all inhabitants to safety using his supersonic speed abilities, apart from Alex Summers, aka 'Havoc' (Lucas Till) who was at the epicentre of the blast and perished.

No sooner has the dust settled then William Stryker (Josh Helman) descends and arrests Hank McCoy, aka 'Beast' (Nicholas Hoult), Raven Darkholme, aka 'Mystique' (Jennifer Lawrence), Peter and Moira, and takes them to a secret test and observation facility for interrogation believing them to have been responsible for Sabah Nur's attack. Scott Summers, aka 'Cyclops' (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey, aka 'Phoenix' (Sophie Turner) and Kurt Wagner, aka 'Nightcrawler' (Kodi Smit-McPhee) secretly follow behind to liberate their mutant colleagues, and do so with the help of Logan, aka 'Weapon X' (Hugh Jackman in a brief non-speaking rampaging slicing & dicing killing spree) freed from the confines of a brainwashing experiment within the facility, and at the hands of Stryker.

The final showdown comes in Cairo as Sabah Nur commands Erik to use all the might of his powers to control the two Earth's magnetic poles causing widespread destruction (the Sydney Opera House scene is particularly impressive) and untold casualties. At this point the newly formed X-Men must face off against The Four Horsemen as Sabah Nur begins the process of transferring the Professor's mind into his own body. As Erik controls all they worlds metals to rise up out of the ground, the built city infrastructure, and the seabed, so Quicksilver and Mystique try to talk sense into him, and eventually he relents coming to his senses and seeing the true nature and motivation of what Sabah Nur is prepared to do to get his way, at any and all costs.

With his energy ebbing away and Sabah Nur rising all powerful, the Professor encourages Jean Grey to unleash her full, as yet unrealised, potential on Sabah Nur. She eventually musters the inner strength and determination to do so, resulting in his demise as his mortal form is incinerated into ashes. Archangel perishes in the clash, Psylocke is seen slinking off into the shadows, Storm takes sides with the X-Men realising which side her bread is best buttered on, and Magneto and Professor X kiss and make up. Once the world returns to safety and the widespread clean up operation begins, we see Erik stood floating thirty feet above the ground rebuilding the Professors Mansion by mind controlling the building materials to restore it to its former glory all in an afternoon's work! The Professor asks Erik to stay one more time, stating that he has seen so much good inside his mind, but Erik thanks him and says no, turns away and exits stage right. The new X-Men assemble in a training room, suited up for a mock battle against a number of Sentinels to prepare them for what is to come.

I enjoyed this ninth instalment in the franchise, it looks good on the screen, moves quickly through its 144 minutes running time, the effects are good enough, but in the final analysis it presents nothing we have not seen before, and quite probably served up better (I am thinking last years 'Age of Ultron' - not a dis-similar premise). Being nine films in (including this years 'Deadpool') how much more can be milked from this series I wonder at the cost of seeing huge cities torn to shreds, populations annihilated, and our fragile blue & green planet laid to waste? We have seen it in 'The Avengers' films and it's spin offs, and most recently too in 'Batman v. Superman' but at least the authorities in those films what to keep our heroes in check somehow - but no sign of that from the X-Men world order it seems. We are also introduced to new X-Men here without any real back story or sense of connectedness to them, and many of them serve just to make up the numbers contributing little to the story. At least in the latest 'Captain America' blockbuster we know all the superheroes from previous films and spin offs and can relate to them and they each serve a purpose, have a personality, a life and responsibilities, but with many of these guys there is little to relate to, except that they are good at destroying stuff, wholesale! Watch out for the obligatory Stan Lee cameo, seen here with his wife Joanie, and wait until the final credits have rolled for a closing sequence that segwey's into the next 'Wolverine' film, and the introduction of The Essex Corporation.

  

-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-