CAPTAIN MARVEL : Tuesday 12th March 2019.

Here we have the twenty-first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 'CAPTAIN MARVEL', and the first film in the MCU to feature a female led Superhero. This much hyped eagerly anticipated film which I saw earlier this week, is said to be the second most keenly awaited blockbuster of 2019 behind 'Avengers : End Game' with advance ticket sales placing it in third place of any MCU film to date behind 'Avengers : Infinity War' and 'Black Panther'. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck for US$152M, development of the film began in 2013 and was officially announced in late 2014, with Brie Larson publicised as Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) at San Diego's Comic-Con in 2016. The film saw its Worldwide Premier in London on 27th February, its US Premier in Hollywood on 4th March and went on general release in Stateside on 8th March, two days after its Australian release. The film has so far grossed US$525M and has garnered generally favourable Reviews.

Set in 1995 on the Kree Empire (a scientifically and technologically advanced militaristic alien race resembling humans almost exactly) planet of Hala, Starforce (a crack team of super-powered individuals) member Vers (Brie Larson) has recurring visions of an older woman with whom she shares some sort of affinity. Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) is mentor and commander to Vers, and head of Starforce. He trains her to control her fighting abilities, while the Supreme Intelligence (Annette Benning) an artificial intelligence and ruler over the Kree prompts Vers to maintain her emotions in check.

Following a little pep talk with the Supreme Intelligence (whom Vers recognises as the same woman from her visions) she is granted her first mission with Starforce, accompanied by Korath (Djimon Hounsou), Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan), Att-Lass (Algenis Perez Soto), Bron-Char (Rune Temte) and of course Yon-Rogg. Together they venture to the planet Torfa to rescue a Kree scout named Soh-Larr who has infiltrated a group of Skrulls (alien shapeshifters who can transform themselves into exact replicas of other beings at will).

This leads to a Skrull ambush led by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) which results in Vers being captured, separated from the rest of her group and taken aboard an Earth bound ship and subjected to a probe of her memory. After successfully thwarting her sworn enemy, Vers manages to escape in a pod which crash lands on Earth through the roof of a Blockbuster Video Store late at night.

Early the next morning this overnight activity has attracted the attention of desk jockey S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg, both of whom were de-aged by 25 years for the purposes of the 1995 setting), whose questioning of Vers is interrupted by an attack by several recently arrived Skrulls on the hunt for their escaped prisoner.

During the chase involving Vers hunting down the shapeshifting Skrulls both of whom are being hunted down by Fury and Coulson, Vers recovers a crystal containing her extracted memories dropped by a Skrull she tussled with aboard the subway train, while Fury kills a Skrull replicating Coulson. Talos meanwhile has assumed the identity of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Keller, and after performing an autopsy on the dead Skrull, orders Fury to work alone to learn more of this shapeshifting alien race, although of course he has ulterior motives for doing so.

Fury mentions to Keller that he has a lead on Vers and tracks her down to a remote bar, which she had seen before in her visions and which clearly holds some significance. There the pair sit around the table while they both fire questions at each other seeking some clarification of one anothers history, motivations and what next having made their acquaintances. Using his S.H.I.E.L.D. Security clearance he takes Vers to the classified Pegasus US Air Force Base that she has memories of from her visions. Once there, they forcibly break into the archives room and Vers learns from various retrieved files that she was an Air Force pilot presumed dead in 1989 after crashing a plane with an experimental engine designed by a Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Benning), whom she recognises as the woman from her visions.

Talos, disguised as Keller, arrives at the Pegasus Air Force Base with a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents who quickly hunt down Fury and Vers, but the pair successfully manage to evade capture and escape in a cargo jet together with Dr. Lawson's stowaway cat, Goose. They fly to Louisiana to meet with Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) a former fellow Air Force Pilot who flew with Vers, and who was the last person to see Vers and Lawson alive. Vers and Fury arrive at the Rambeau homestead to be greeted by Rambeau's eleven year old daughter Monica (Akira Akbar) who refers to her supposedly dead friend as Carol Danvers and sets about recounting her backstory to the long lost friend. Shortly afterwards Talos arrives at the Rambeau family home and reveals that he comes in peace and that the Skrulls are refugees searching for a new home and Lawson was a Kree renegade helping them.

Talos persuades Danvers, Fury and Rambeau to listen to the recovered black box recording from Lawson's plane, prompting Danvers to regain her memories of that fateful day and remember the events leading up to, including and after the experimental plane went down. Lawson tried to destroy the engine's energy-core before being killed by Yon-Rogg for working with the Skrulls. When Danvers destroyed it she absorbed the energy from the explosion and lost all of her memory in the process.

Talos then leads the group, including Goose the cat, to Lawson's cloaked lab ship orbiting Earth, where numerous Skrulls are in hiding and protecting the Tesseract, the source of the energy-core. By now Yon-Rogg and his Starforce team are hot on the heels and infiltrate the lab ship capturing Danvers, where she is connected up remotely to the Supreme Intelligence to await her fate. During their conversation which is very one sided against the mere human Danvers taken in and nurtured by the Kree, Danvers is able to remove a Kree implant that was suppressing her powers giving her full access to her abilities. 

During the ensuing battle, Fury retrieves the Tesseract and Goose, who is revealed to be a Flerken, an alien creature resembling the common house cat, but which have a pocket dimension inside their mouths which can be used to consume and store almost anything. She swallows the Tesseract before scratching Fury's left eye and blinding him. Yon -Rogg orders the support of Kree official Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) who fires a series of intergalactic ballistic warheads towards Earth, which forces Danvers in her shiny new red and blue livery to defend against with all her might. This forces Ronan the Accuser to flee to another dimension stating that he will be back to finish the job he started on another day.   

Meanwhile, an escaping Yon-Rogg darts off in an escape pod chased by Danvers who forces her quarry to crash land some where in the desert on Earth. She quickly overpowers him and has him return to Hala against his will, empty handed and with a warning to the Supreme Intelligence not to mess with her or the Skrulls again. Danvers flies off to help the Skrulls find a new homeworld, and gives Fury a modified pager to contact her in the event of any dire emergency. Meanwhile, back at his desk Fury drafts an initiative paper aimed at targeting other heroes like her, because if there's one out there, there's sure to be more. He changes the name after finding a photo of Danvers in her Air Force jet, which bears her call sign 'Avenger'.

Watch out for the Stan Lee cameo appearance, and in whose name this film is dedicated, and the mid-credits and end-credits sequences too, which bring us forward to the present day and take us back to Fury's 1995 empty desk, and that cat!

'Captain Marvel' is a worthy addition to the MCU, and an enjoyable mid-'90's romp aided and abetted by a feel good 'buddy cop' partnering between a younger and still finding his feet Nick Fury and the emerging super powers of Carol Danvers coming to terms with her destiny. In this time of the 'MeToo' movement, this film resonates with female empowerment, overcoming adversity and women finding their place in the world, and for that reason it strikes a chord that couldn't be more relevant. There's also just the right amount of humour between Fury and Danvers to provide a grounded levity before the action set pieces click in. Whilst the story backs and forths to the point of near confusion in the first half, hold tight, because it does all come together in the end and makes sense. What didn't make sense to me however, is unlike all the other Superheroes we have seen on the big screen - both MCU and DCEU, Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers aka Vers is indestructible and wields unprecedented power it seems. She can glide effortlessly through great balls of fire, survive unharmed and unscathed by even the biggest explosions (refer intergalactic ballistic warheads), live to tell another day from falling out of an escape pod somewhere above the Earth's atmosphere and hurtle towards the Earth crashing into bed rock and simply dusting herself off, she can thwart photon blasts, being buried under crashing iron and steel infrastructure, kicked, punched, thrown aloft and never, does she have a torn piece of clothing or a hair out of place. She well and truly might just be the saviour of the known universe, and perhaps the only match for Thanos! Watch this space! Certainly worth the price of your ticket, worth seeing on the big screen, and it's great to see Samuel L. Jackson looking so much younger, leaner and fresher, and for the most part with both eyes intact.

'Captain Marvel' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 14th March 2019.

With awards season now done for the 2018 cinematic year, there is one (forgettable) awards ceremony that celebrates everything that is bad about the movies and that takes place one day before the more revered Academy Awards. The 39th Golden Raspberry Awards (aka 'The Razzies') were held in Los Angeles on 23rd February and the awards themselves are in the form of a 'golf ball-sized raspberry' perched atop a Super 8mm film reel, all spray painted gold, and awarded for failure in cinematic achievement. The first Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony was held on March 31, 1981, to honour the worst in film of the 1980 film season.

This years winners, or losers, depending on which way you want to look at it, are given below :-

* Worst Picture : 'HOLMES & WATSON', beating out 'Gotti', 'The Happytime Murders', 'Robin Hood' and 'Winchester'.
* Worst Director : ETAN COHEN for 'Holmes & Watson', beating out Kevin Connolly for 'Gotti', James Foley for 'Fifty Shades Freed', Brian Henson for 'The Happytime Murders' and The Spierig Brothers for 'Winchester'.
* Worst Actor : DONALD TRUMP for 'Death of a Nation' and 'Fahrenheit 11/9'.
* Worst Actress : MELISSA McCARTHY for 'The Happytime Murders' and 'Life of the Party'.
* Worst Supporting Actor : JOHN C. REILLY for 'Holmes & Watson'.
* Worst Supporting Actress : KELLYANNE CONWAY for 'Fahrenheit 11/9'.
* Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel : 'HOLMES & WATSON', beating out 'Death of a Nation', 'Death Wish', 'The Meg' and 'Robin Hood'.
* Worst Screenplay : NIALL LEONARD for 'Fifty Shades Freed' based on the novel by E. L. James.
* The Razzie Redeemer Award : MELISSA McCARTHY for 'Can You Ever Forgive Me?'  This award is presented to a past Razzie Award nominee or winner who had subsequently 'become a respected artist' and come back from critical and/or commercial failure.

You can get a whole lot more at the official website : http://www.razzies.com

This week there are just two new movies gracing our Odeon screens. We kick off with a true story of a terrorist attack on a luxury Indian hotel just ten years ago that sees the brave hotel staff battle against all odds to save their guests and thwart their oppressors. And then we have a change of pace as we turn to England and one mans hope of finding his long lost son who walked out many years ago over an argument about a game of Scrabble.

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

'HOTEL MUMBAI' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian, Indian and American Co-Produced thriller is Directed, Co-Produced, Written and Edited by Aussie Anthony Maras in his feature length film debut. The film saw its World Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year, was screened at the Adelaide Film Festival in October and goes on release first here in Australia this week and the US at the end of this month. Based o the 2009 Documentary 'Surviving Mumbai' by Victoria Midwinter Pitt, the film is of the 2008 Mumbai attacks where a group of terrorist attacks occurred in November 2008, when ten members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorist organisation based in Pakistan, carried out a series of twelve coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai. At least 174 people died, including nine terrorists, and more than three hundred were wounded. This film centres around the attack in particular on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.

As a wave of devastating terror attacks throughout Mumbai catapult the bustling Indian city of some thirteen million inhabitants into chaos, in the heart of the city’s tourist district, Islamic terrorists lay siege to the iconic Taj Palace Hotel, whose guests and staff become trapped in a heroic, four day long battle for survival. The cast here takes in Dev Patel as Sikh concierge Arjun, Russian businessman Vasili’s (Jason Isaacs), the wealthy Zahra (Nazanin Boniadi) who checks into one of the hotel’s opulent suites with her American spouse David (Armie Hammer), newborn baby and Australian nanny Sally (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) in tow, supported by the Hotel's staff who are unwavering in their belief that the 'Guest is God' there is Head Chef Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and as the Hotel Manager (Vipin Sharma). And finally there are the four terrorist antagonists (Amandeep Singh, Suhail Nayyar, Yash Trivedi, Gaurav Paswala), who roam the hotel lobby and hallways armed to the teeth, taking out guests and employees with no remorse, and setting off a series of explosions that ultimately set fire to the hotel. A gripping true story well crafted and faithfully recreated that combines real archival footage with the Directors vision.

'SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER' (Rated PG) - here English occasional Director, Producer and Screenwriter Carl Hunter brings us this mystery comedy drama that centres around Alan (Bill Nighy) who was a bespoke Merseyside tailor now retired, with moves almost as sharp as his custom made suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out over a game of Scrabble all to do with the word 'Zo' being admissible as a bona fide word in the English language. With a body to identify and his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his youngest son Peter (Sam Riley) who always considered himself to be second best, and solve the mystery of an online player who he thinks could be Michael, so he can finally move on and reunite his family. Also starring Alice Lowe, Jenny Agutter, Tim McInnerny and Alexi Sayle. The film has met with a largely positive response from Critics.

With just two new release movies this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

GRETA : Tuesday 5th March 2019.

'GRETA' which I saw earlier this week, is a psychological thriller offering Directed and Co-Written by Neil Jordan whose previous big screen credits over a long and distinguished career take in 'The Company of Wolves', 'Mona Lisa', 'We're No Angels', 'The Crying Game', 'Interview with the Vampire', 'Michael Collins', 'The End of the Affair' and 'The Brave One' amongst others. The film saw its World Premier screening at last years TIFF in early September, and only last week did it get a release in Australia, and in the US too. The film has garnered generally mixed Reviews, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by it, and it has so far taken US$6M at the Box Office.

Here Frances McCullen (Chloe Grace Moretz) finds a handbag on the New York subway and dutifully returns it to Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric and late 50/early 60 year old French piano teacher who loves tea and classical music, but is just a little lonely. Greta is overjoyed that Frances has returned her handbag and invites the young girl in for a freshly brewed coffee. Over coffee in the afternoon, Frances learns that Greta is a widow, and has a daughter living in Paris studying music at University, with whom she speaks to quite often over the phone. Frances is working as a waitress in an upmarket restaurant and living with her best friend Erica Penn (Maika Monroe) in a penthouse bought for her by her parents. We also learn that Frances one year ago lost her own mother to cancer and is still coming to terms with that loss. Meanwhile her father Chris (Colm Feore) is a workaholic, and with whom she has a strained and distant relationship.

Frances begins to spend time with Greta, having struck up an instant liking for each other, and they are both seemingly very comfortable in each others company. Frances suggests that Greta should get a dog to keep her company, and that it would be a welcome distraction. At first Greta shirks off the idea but then warms, and agrees only if Frances will help her choose one from the Dog Rescue Centre, which she does. One night while Frances is helping Greta prepare a dinner for the two of them Frances stumbles across a stash of handbags in her sideboard, identical to the one she retrieved and containing the same set of contents. Furthermore, on the back of each handbag is a Post-It note with the name of a girl and a mobile phone number. This gravely disturbs Frances, who cuts dinner short, and upon the advice of Erica, cuts ties with Greta completely.

Shortly thereafter following numerous unanswered phone calls and text messages from Greta to Frances' mobile phone at all times of the day and night, Greta begins stalking Frances and is even seen standing outside the restaurant where she works staring blankly in through the window from across the street. This unsettles Frances. On another occasion, Greta books a table at the restaurant, insults Frances while she is going about her work and creates a scene upturning her table in a fit of rage. She is restrained by other restaurant staff and Security Officers and the Police called. Greta is carted off in an ambulance for treatment and released from custody the next day. At this point, after Greta has also stalked Erica one evening while out at a club, both Frances and Erica seek to take out a restraining order but are told by the Police that the process could take months.

Later, Frances meets up with her father, with his advice being to cut Greta out of her life completely. Meanwhile, Frances has tried to make contact with Greta's daughter in Paris and indirectly finds out that Greta was released from a psychiatric hospital and also learns from a Counsellor that Greta's daughter committed suicide four years ago, and that she never did go to France to study music. Frances is encouraged to get out of the city for a break but torn to either go away with her father or go with Erica out of the country, but Frances feels that she should not not leave because of Greta’s behaviour. Erica suggests lying to Greta and saying she was leaving to fix her own issues, and to apologise to the woman for her behaviour. After some tuition in the art of blatant lying from Erica, Frances follows this advice, and meets with Greta in church to make peace.

The next day, Greta emerges in Erica's apartment and drugs Frances while she is home alone, and then kidnaps her, bundling the partially conscious Frances into the back of a taxi on the basis that she is very sick. Greta takes her to her home, where she bundles the now comatose Frances into a large wooden locked box in a secret room located behind the piano. Greta then proceeds to send text messages to both Chris and Erica telling each of them that she is with the other and having a good old time, using photo's found within Frances' mobile phone. When Frances is released from the confines of her wooden box she finds clothing and ID cards from the other girls that had been abducted by Greta over time, and she surmises met with a sticky end.

In time, Erica and Chris learn that Frances was not with either of them on holiday as they had been led to believe. By now she has been kept with Greta for a good couple of weeks, forced to learn piano and speak French. During a cooking lesson, Frances cuts off Greta's finger with a cookie cutter, and uses the rolling pin she is holding to knock Greta unconscious. Frances tries to escape but all the doors and windows are locked shut and there is no sign of any keys. Heading into the basement to try and find an exit Frances stumbles across a bodybag only to find one of Greta's victims in it and still breathing. Greta then appears and takes control of the situation by promptly wrapping a bag around Frances' head until she passes out. To prevent Frances from trying to escape again, she shackles her to  the bed frame and gags her mouth. In the meantime, the body in the bag in the basement is no longer breathing, having been seen to by Greta.

Chris hires a personal friend and Irish private investigator Brian Cody (Stephen Rea) to locate Greta and hopefully shed some light on Frances' disappearance. Brian, after doing some digging, explains to Chris that Greta was a nurse who was discharged for abusing sleeping medication and further explains that Greta was supposed to be back in Hungary, her home country. Brian visits the home to meet with Greta who lets him in and is very pleasant offering him a cup of coffee and a chat. He questions the old woman about Frances, but Greta shrugs off their brief acquaintance as the whim of a young girl. Meanwhile, Frances attempts to get his attention by thrashing her body against the bed and in turn the wall against which the piano is located on the other side. This action causes the metronome on top of the piano to activate. Brian snoops around and deduces that there is a secret room behind the piano despite Greta attempting to block off the noise by playing loud classical music. Brian is tranquilised and eventually shot dead by Greta with his own gun using three bullets at point blank range to the head.

By now weeks and possibly months have passed by with Frances still bound and gagged to her bed. Greta is back up to her old tricks and leaves another handbag for an unsuspecting victim on the subway. That unsuspecting victim brings the handbag to Greta's home and is welcomed inside by Greta, like history is repeating itself . . . again! Frances attempts to get their attention by banging once again against the bed frame, but is unsuccessful. After Greta drinks the coffee, she suddenly feels overcome with drowsiness and quickly deduces that it had been spiked and passes out as a result. The victim takes off her brunette wig to reveal herself as Erica. Erica is also alerted to the metronome that self started as a result of the bed banging against the wall next to the piano. She rescues Frances before the pair place Greta’s motionless body in the box and securing it with a makeshift lock, and then leave to get some much needed fresh air.

'Greta' may not offer the genre anything that we haven't already seen countless times before, but it is saved by the two female leads in Isabelle Huppert playing the totally unhinged antagonist to quiet calculating perfection, and Chloe Grace Moretz as the young innocent protagonist caught in the wrong place at the wrong time just trying to be an upstanding model citizen by doing the right thing. The other characters are left to hang as window dressing and to move the largely predictable cat and mouse plot along for all of its sub-100 minute run time. The film is certainly worth the price of your ticket, or you can wait to catch it from the comfort of your sofa in your own home, just don't expect anything new and fresh, but rather a respectable by the numbers rehash of previously trodden ground. 

'Greta' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 7th March 2019.

In February the world bid a fond farewell to a number of stars of the silver screen and the small screen. In brief, shown below, is my passing tribute to those stars who leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, and in particular the world of film and television. May you all Rest In Peace, and thanks for the memories . . . . Albert Finney, Bruno Ganz, Stanley Donen and Andre Previn. 

* Albert Finney - born 9th May 1936 and died 7th February 2019, aged 82. Finney was an English Actor of stage, television and cinema. He graduated from London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1956 and went on to become a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company appearing in productions of 'Henry V' and 'Coriolanus'. His first film role came with the television production of the stage play 'She Stoops to Conquer' in 1956, followed by 'The Miser' that same year. His first cinema released film was 1960's 'The Entertainer' and 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' for which he won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He then followed this up with his multi-award winning 'Tom Jones' in 1963, and in 1968 he made his Directing debut with 'Charlie Bubbles' in which he also starred with Liza Minelli in her screen debut. Over the following decades Finney starred in many notable films and in acclaimed award winning roles including 1970's 'Scrooge', 1971's 'Gumshoe', 1974's 'Murder on the Orient Express' as Hercule Poirot, 1982's 'Shoot the Moon', 1983's 'The Dresser', 1984's 'Under the Volcano', 1990's 'Miller's Crossing', 2000's 'Erin Brockovich' and 'Traffic', 2003's 'Big Fish', 2007's 'The Bourne Ultimatum' and his final two roles in 2012 in 'The Bourne Legacy' and 'Skyfall'. All up Finney had 65 Acting credits to his name, twelve as Producer, two as Director and over his career he amassed 28 awards wins and another 53 nominations including five Academy Award nods, six Golden Globe nominations and three wins and eleven BAFTA nominations and three wins.

* Bruno Ganz - born 22nd March 1941, died 16th February 2019, aged 77. Ganz was born in Zurich, Switzerland who went on to play in numerous German language film and television productions in a career spanning more than fifty years. He gained his first big screen role in 1960 in 'The Man in the Black Derby' and over the following decades he would receive critical acclaim for such films as 'The American Friend', Terry Gilliam's 'The Boys from Brazil', Werner Herzog's 'Nosferatu the Vampyre', Wim Wenders 'Wings of Desire', Jonathan Demme's 'The Manchurian Candidate', perhaps his most famed role as a convincing Adolf Hitler in 'Downfall', Francis Ford Coppola's 'Youth Without Youth' and more recently 'The Baader Meinhof Complex', 'The Reader', 'Unknown', 'Night Train to Lisbon', 'The Counselor', 'In Order of Disappearance' and 'The House That Jack Built' amongst others. All up Ganz had 121 Acting credits and had 27 award wins to his name and a further fifteen nominations.

* Stanley Donen - born 13th April 1924, died 21st February 2019, aged 94. Donen was an American film Director and choreographer from Hollywood's Golden Age whose most noted works include 1949's 'On The Town', 1952's 'Singin' in the Rain', 1954's 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers', 1955's 'It's Always Fair Weather' , 1957's 'Funny Face', 1958's 'Indiscreet' and 1963's 'Charade'. A frequent collaborator with Gene Kelly with whom he shared Directing credits on several acclaimed films being 'On the Town', 'Singin' in the Rain' and 'It's Always Fair Weather' and is described as being the catalyst that transitioned Hollywood musical films from realistic backstage dramas to a more integrated art form in which the songs and dance routines were a natural continuation of the story. Over the years that followed Donen Directed such films as 'Damn Yankees', 'Arabesque', 'Two for the Road', 'Lucky Lady' and 'Blame it on Rio'. All up Donen had 32 Directing credits and seventeen as Producer to his name, with thirteen award wins including an Honorary Academy Award, and a further nine nominations.

* Andre Previn - born 6th April 1929, died 28th February 2019, aged 89. Previn was born in Germany as Andreas Ludwig Priwin. In 1938 the family moved to Los Angeles via New York and Paris and in 1943 Previn became a naturalised US citizen. He was a composer, arranger, pianist and conductor who started out his career by arranging and composing Hollywood film scores for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Previn was involved in the music as either composer, conductor or performer for over fifty films over his entire career. He won four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings (and one more for his Lifetime Achievement). His more noted film scoring works include 'Kiss Me Kate', 'It's Always Fair Weather', 'Kismet', 'Gigi', 'Porgy and Bess', 'Thoroughly Modern Millie', 'My Fair Lady', 'Paint Your Wagon', 'Jesus Christ Superstar', 'Rollerball', 'The Elephant Man', 'Just Cause', 'Fight Club' and 'Shadowboxer'. All up Previn had eight award wins and 23 nominations including four Oscar wins and seven nominations and six Primetime Emmy nods. He had also been the Music Director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Oslo Philharmonic, as well as the Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

This week coming to your local Odeon, we have five new release films heading your way. We start with the 21st groundbreaking instalment in the MCU with this latest film that offers us up a female Superhero headlining this origin movie that is set some twenty years ago and features some familiar characters and a whole bunch of new ones. We then turn to a tale of two brothers in America's Old West at the height of the Gold Rush as they hunt down a man who wronged their boss with a view to assassinating him, only to have the tables turned leading to cross, double cross and bloodshed along the way. Next up is a Spanish foreign language film featuring two star Hollywood players in this tale of kidnapping, betrayal and intrigue in this remote town outside Madrid that plays out around what was supposed to be happy joyous family reunion; and then we have an Aussie drama that fuses a post-apocalyptic thriller with real life interviews centring around mans continuing physical violence towards woman in our society today. Closing out the week is a psychological horror offering surrounding a serial killer at large for twelve years who sees his grisly murders as a form of artistic merit with each one developing him into what he is.

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

'CAPTAIN MARVEL' (Rated M) - and here we have the twenty-first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first film in the MCU to feature a female led Superhero. This much hyped eagerly anticipated film is said to be the second most keenly awaited blockbuster of 2019 behind 'Avengers : End Game' with advance ticket sales already placing it in third place of any MCU film to date behind 'Avengers : Infinity War' and 'Black Panther'. Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck for US$152M, development of the film began in 2013 and was officially announced in late 2014, with Brie Larson publicised as Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) at San Diego's Comic-Con in 2016. The film saw its Premier in Hollywood on 4th March and goes on general release in the US on 8th March, two days after its Australian release.

Set in 1995, Captain Marvel, aka Carol Danvers, (Brie Larson) is a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, as she becomes one of the galaxy's mightiest heroes and joins Starforce, an elite Kree military team, before returning home to Earth with questions about her past and true identity, when our fragile blue planet is caught slap bang right in the middle of a galactic conflict between two alien worlds. Also starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson (who were both digitally 'de-aged' by 25 years to place them in the mid-'90's setting), Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, Djimon Hounsou as Korath, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Annette Benning as the Supreme Intelligence, Jude Law as Yon-Rogg, and of course Stan Lee has a posthumous cameo.

'THE SISTERS BROTHERS' (Rated MA15+) - here French film Director and Screenwriter Jacques Audiard brings us his first American English language film offering having previously Directed such notable outings as 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped', 'A Prophet' and 'Rust and Bone'. Based on the 2011 book of the same name by Patrick deWitt, the movie rights were picked up by John C. Reilly's Production Company that same year, went into Production in 2017, saw its World Premier at the Venice International Film Festival back in September last year, went on general release later that same month in the US, garnered generally positive press, but is considered a Box Office bomb having only recouped US$11M of its US$38M budget outlay so far. The darkly comedic Western stars John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix as our titular and notorious assassin brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters respectively who get caught up in the California Gold Rush on the hunt for Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) whom they have been sent to kill, by their employer known only as The Commodore (Rutger Hauer). Along the way they team up with John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is a tracker and who is also employed by The Commodore to bring Warm in, but befriends him instead learning that he is a free spirited chemist who has devised a chemical that temporarily shows the whereabouts of gold underwater. All manner of cross and double-cross ensues as the four men chase each down en route to California.

'EVERYBODY KNOWS' (Rated M) - Directed by Iranian film maker and Screen Writer Asghar Farhadi who is best known for his two Academy Award winning Best Foreign Language Films 'A Separation' and 'The Salesman' this Spanish language psychological thriller offering opened the Cannes Film Festival back in May last year, was released in Spain in mid-September, and the US early last month. It has so far recovered US$15M from its US$12M budget and has garnered generally favourable Reviews. Starring real life couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz as Paco and Laura respectively. When Laura and her two children travel from Argentina to Spain to attend her sister's wedding to her hometown just outside Madrid, the joyful reunion soon turns tragic when her older daughter is kidnapped revealing a dark web of hidden secrets that ultimately become known to everyone. Ricardo Darin stars as Laura's husband, Alejandro and Barbara Lennie stars as Paco's wife, Bea.

'REFLECTIONS IN THE DUST' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian post apocalyptic drama is Directed and Written by Aussie Luke Sullivan and saw its World Premier screening at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival last year and now goes on a limited release across Australia. Here, an unspoken event has caused civilisation to crumble, leaving the survivors to cluster in the wilderness. Among them is a blind physical theatre and circus performer, ex-Paralympian, and advocate for disabled inclusion girl, Freckles (Sarah Houbolt) who struggles to survive with her father – a paranoid schizophrenic clown  (Robin Royce Queree). As she dreams of what may exist beyond her wasteland home, her father is increasingly consumed by fear, paranoia and hysteria. This film is described as a powerful allegory for the epidemic of violence against women in Australia and is dedicated to the countless women who continue to lose their lives on a weekly basis at the hands of a male. The Australian government deemed the film to be too extreme for audiences and strongly suggested it not be completed during production, however Director Luke Sullivan pushed ahead with the film, steadfastly stating that such an extreme story needs to be told in an era where ‘we are losing grandmothers, mothers, sisters and friends to senseless acts of violence perpetrated by men’.

'THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT' (Rated R18+) - Written and Directed by Lars von Trier this psychological horror film debuted at last years Cannes Film Festival where it divided audiences. It subsequently went on limited release in the US in late November when it polarised Critics and has so far taken US$2M from its budgeted outlay of almost US$10M. The film here follows Jack (Matt Dillon), a serial killer, over the course of twelve years during the 1970's and '80's in the US State of Washington. Jack has an artistic leaning and he sees his murders as art forms which he attempts to refine on each occasion which in turn help develop him as a serial killer. Throughout the film he has side discussions with Verge (Bruno Ganz) in between the depictions of the murders, most of which revolve around talk of philosophy, ethics or Jack's view of the world. Also starring Uma Thurman and Riley Keough.

With five new release movies this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ARCTIC : Tuesday 26th February 2019.

'ARCTIC' is an Icelandic Arctic Circle survival thriller which Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year where it competed for the Camera d'Or, and is Directed and Co-Written by Brazilian musician and filmmaker Joe Penna. Made for just US$2M this film was released in the US on 1st February, has received generally favourable Reviews so far, and has recouped US$1.7M of its Production Budget to date. Filmed over the course of nineteen days in Iceland, Mads Mikkelsen, who is the star of the show here, apart perhaps from the harsh, barren and beautiful snow covered landscape, later commented that it was the most difficult shoot of his career.

The film opens up with a lone figure heavily clad in cold weather gear, digging away in the snow to expose the frozen bedrock below. He works with the handle of a snow sweeper to dislodge large lumps of white rock from beneath the snow surface, to reveal black granite, and then uses the blade of the sweeper to dislodge the snow and shovel it to the side. It's bitter cold, the snow is blowing and he's labouring for breath. He gets to his feet, collects his tools, and walks away. In doing so, the camera pans out revealing the giant black letters carved in the pristine white snow - S O S.

The man walks back to his shelter - the wreckage of an aeroplane that he was obviously a passenger in. There are no other survivors, only him. The plane is beyond any repair, and inside he has set up a temporary home at least out of the elements. Everyday he follows the same routine, setting the alarm on his wrist watch to tell himself when to rest, when to work, when to eat and when to climb up the nearest snow capped hill to wind up his radio transmitter in the hope of reaching someone out there who will hear his distress signal and come to his rescue.

This same routine seems to maintain his sanity as Overgard, his name is printed on his jacket breast, needs to keep busy or succumb to his seemingly dire predicament. He has rigged up various static fishing lines through ice holes in the snow from which he exists on a diet of raw fish, as he has no cooking apparatus, and when he retires for the night it is still daylight outside and he huddles himself down in a zipped up sleeping bag fully clothed from head to toe.

Then one day his fortunes are about to change. Winding away at his radio transmitter, he is about to call it a day as a blizzard approaches when a green light flashes to life on his receiver. As the weather begins to close in, a faint hum of a helicopter can be heard. As it gets nearer, Overgard lights a flare to attract attention, but the approaching helicopter struggles to maintain control in the blizzard conditions. Within two minutes, Overgard's elation at being rescued turns to despair as the helicopter is caught in the fierce wind and spins out of control crashing to the ground in the distance in a plume of black smoke.

Overgard rushes over to the downed chopper. The thing is upside down in the snow with its tail snapped off. Hanging in the cockpit upside down is the dead pilot and one other female passenger (Maria Thelma Smaradottir), still alive, barely. He attends to a deep cut in her stomach using the First Aid kit and staples the wound together. He unbuckles the dead pilot and drags him outside. The pair remain in the cockpit overnight - the woman unconscious, and Overgard sleeping off this traumatic turns of events.

Using the helicopter door as a makeshift sledge Overgard drags the woman back to his place where she will be a little more comfortable and he can attend to her. She remains unconscious. The next day Overgard returns to the helicopter to salvage what he can from the wreckage. There he finds rope, a gas bottle with burner, a cigarette lighter, a tarp, a torch, a map of the terrain, pot noodles and in the tail section of the helicopter is housed a brand new sledge - he can hardly believe his luck! At least now he can make a noodle broth with freshly cooked fish and eat a home cooked meal for he and his patient. The woman slips in and out of consciousness. Overgard studies the map studiously seeking the best most direct route to get to a seasonal shelter several days north of his current location . . . . . and with a badly injured patient.

When a clearing in the weather conditions prevail, Overgard decides to cut his losses and make a bid for civilisation and salvation. Clearing his makeshift camp inside the plane of all equipment that might prove useful, he loads up the sledge packing the woman as comfortably as he can on top, wrapped tightly in a sleeping bag and head gear, covered with the tarp and tied down. As so his journey begins. For the first couple of days Overgard makes good progress, with the fine weather holding up. But progressively the climatic conditions worsen which sees Overgard dig out an ice cave in the snow one night, take refuge in a narrow cave on another only to be attacked by a particularly aggressive and hungry Polar Bear, and shelter behind their upturned sledge in a whiteout on another.

He makes slow but steady progress but reaches an impasse when his path is blocked by a tall rocky outcrop. He clambers to the top to see what is on the other side. Once there, below him the valley stretches out in the distance making for seemingly easy passage for him and his patient, but he must first haul his patient up the steep rocky incline. He is determined, but fails in his attempt, not once, not twice but three times. He then calls it quits and resigns himself to going the long way round which will add another five days at least to his journey time.

And so he beleagueredly makes his way onward. The woman continues to slip in and out of consciousness. One night the pair shelter under a rocky outcrop, and falling asleep, Overgard awakens the next morning to find the woman barley breathing, her stomach wound worsening, and a trickle of blood emanating from her mouth. He believes she is close to death and decides to cover her up, and continue his journey alone. Before he has ventured less that one hundred metres he falls into a crevice in the snow and is knocked out. He comes around with his leg pinned under a boulder.

Struggling to free himself he is all but spent. Giving one last heave ho, he musters what little strength and resilience his has left and yanks his leg free in spite of the agonising pain it causes. He gingerly limps his way out of the crevice to reveal a large bloody gash in his lower leg. He returns to the woman who is still alive and is able to muster the word 'hello' to him. The pair continue their journey once again, with Overgard painstakingly pulling on the sledge with his one good leg while doing it tough with the other.

Later the scenery opens up to reveal greenery and a lake in the distance. There he he sees a helicopter land by the edge of the lake and two airmen get out of it. After a distress flare seemingly does not attract the attention of the helicopter crew, Overgard sets his jacket on fire and holds it aloft waving it about frantically in the hope that they will see that. When the helicopter appears to be flying away and is out of sight, he lies down next to his patient, believing that now all hope is lost. In the closing frames we see the helicopter touching down immediately behind.

Mads Mikkelsen carries the full weight of 'Arctic' on his shoulders, and it pays off. Despite the gruelling nineteen days of principle photography he puts in a compelling performance that might just rank as the best of his career to date. Joe Penna keeps the action and the drama at an even pace in the fairly brisk less than one hundred minute run time, although the trials, tribulations and challenges faced along the way are genre specific that we have seen plenty of times before (and in that I'm thinking 2017's 'The Mountain Between Us'). That said this is worth the price of your ticket for sure to see this bleak harsh unrelenting tale of conviction against the odds, man versus nature, courage overcoming real adversity and the power of the human spirit to never give up. 

'Arctic' warrants four stars of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-