DISCLOSURE DAY : Tuesday 16th June 2026.

I saw the M Rated 'DISCLOSURE DAY' earlier this week at my local multiplex, and this American Science Fiction film is based on an original story, Co-Produced and Directed by Steven Spielberg, who I'm sure needs no introduction. Spielberg is no stranger to the world of Sci-Fi having helmed 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' in 1977, then 'E.T.' in 1982, 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' in 2001, 'Minority Report' in 2002, 'War of the Worlds' in 2005 and 'Ready Player One' in 2018. This film saw its Premiere screening in Paris early this month, went on world wide release last week, has generated positive critical reviews and has so far recovered US$121M at the global Box Office from a production budget of US$115M.

The film begins with a staged wrestling match, and in the audience sits Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) watching nonchalantly, while the rest of the crowd rise to their feet enthusiastically to cheer on the champion. From behind a man pulls a revolver and jabs it into Kellner's side, telling him to stand up and release his back pack next time the crowd stands and cheers. He does so, the back pack is removed and he is taken outside. It is quickly revealed that Kellner is a cybersecurity specialist who up until that day had spent the prior eight years working for the Wardex Corporation, a secret arm of the US government, and that he had stolen a piece of extraterrestrial technology and dozens of related files, detailing various events of human and alien contact dating back to the Roswell incident, some 79 years ago, and right up to the very recent past. Wardex CEO Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) discovers the theft and has Daniel branded a foreign spy, making him the target of federal authorities. Once outside, Scanlon and Kellner come face to face, but Kellner is able to thwart his would be captors by revealing that he is in possession of one of three very powerful alien devices, and so Scanlon reluctantly chooses to let him go. He goes into hiding at a convent with his girlfriend, Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson), a former noviciate of the convent before she lost her calling three years earlier. 

Meanwhile, in Kansas City, television meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is preparing for work at home when a cardinal bird flies in through her kitchen window, briefly observes her, and is then chased away through the window by Margaret's boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell), a jobbing musician. The incident awakens latent psychic abilities, so giving Margaret the ability to understand the thoughts and emotions of others, and unconsciously converse in foreign languages she has never learned. 

After the two news anchors have finished their story of an imminent World War III currently unfolding, they cross to Margaret's live weather broadcast, during which she unexpectedly begins speaking in an unknown language, and then collapses on the studio's stage. Footage of the broadcast goes viral and draws the attention of Wardex, which identifies the language as extraterrestrial in origin. After being hospitalised and nearly captured by Scanlon's agents, Margaret also goes into hiding with Jackson in tow.

Having been extracted from the convent by Dave Santiago (Tommy Martinez) and taken to a remote safe house, Kellner reveals the stolen files to Jane, explaining that Wardex has been experimenting on live alien captives and reverse engineering their technology for years, and states his intention to make the information public, and how the world deserves to know the truth. Jane while horrified by the footage seen on the laptop, is reluctant to broadcast this news to the world because of her religious beliefs. Kellner learns of Margaret and discovers that he is the only one who can understand the alien language she spoke in the broadcast. 

Through one of the three alien devices that grants him telepathic capabilities, Scanlon forms a psychic bond with Jane and uses it first to make her attempt to kill Daniel and to track them to the remote safe house, and then to track them to a hotel. Jane escapes with the alien device in Kellner's possession, but Kellner is captured. Meanwhile, as her abilities evolve, Margaret has visions of him and follows them to a black site where he is being held. 

They escape when Margaret learns how to use her abilities to empathetically influence their pursuers into standing down. Scanlon's head of security Casper Boyd (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), intentionally rams their car into the side of a passing speeding freight train, and the pair are dragged along in their vehicle by the train into the path of an oncoming train. Kellner pulls Margaret out just in time for them to climb onto the train and make their way to safety. Margaret has a panic attack once inside the safety of a carriage, and Kellner calms her down. 

Margaret and Kellner are rescued by a team of a dozen or so Wardex employees who have become whistleblowers. Their leader, Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), who has been working with Kellner and in regular communication with him, shelters them in a warehouse containing a near exact reconstruction of Margaret's childhood home and encourages her to recover suppressed memories connected to the extraterrestrial phenomenon. 

Inside, Margaret remembers that she and Kellner were both abducted by extraterrestrials as ten year old children and subjected to experiments that gave them their powers. Kellner was given almost superhuman mathematical capabilities which made him a shoe-in for his cyber security role at Wardex recruited by Wakefield. And Margaret was bestowed with the ability to speak and understand any language and taps into people's minds. She also learns that the unusual animals that have appeared throughout their lives are extraterrestrials, assuming harmless forms to observe them, such as a moose, a fox, a racoon and that cardinal bird. 

Margaret and Kellner, accompanied by Wakefield and the other whistleblowers, return to Margaret's television studio to make a public broadcast they name 'Disclosure Day'. Scanlon and his team arrive en masse and attempt to halt their broadcast, disabling the power grid and the station's backup generator, but Jane arrives and gives her device to Margaret, who uses it to restore the power. Defeated, Scanlon decides to watch instead of continuing to stop them, but Boyd leaves in anger, with most of his team leaving with him. The transmission reveals to the stunned world historical evidence of alien encounters and the ensuing government cover-ups. As the broadcast reaches a global audience, halting the imminent war, the whistleblowers reveal one of the extraterrestrials, whom they freed. The alien privately communicates a message to Kellner, who is the only one who understands their language as though it is English, who in turn relays it to Margaret. With the world transfixed to their TV screens and their phones and computers, Margaret prepares to deliver the alien message, saying, 'Listen'.

With 'Disclosure Day' here Director Spielberg has delivered his audience another masterful story that could act as a companion piece to his seminal 1977 movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. While this film doesn't quite reach those same lofty heights, what it does deliver is a thrilling chase movie laced with plenty of expertly choreographed action sequences, conspiracy theories, emotional heft, and perhaps a career best performance from Emily Blunt, and while we're at it Josh O'Connor puts in a convincing turn too. Make no mistake, this is a blockbusting effort from the master storyteller, that will have pondering over that timeless question of whether we are alone in the infinite universe, and if ever, or whenever, the truth does eventually come out, will we be prepared for it and what will the consequences be? See it on the big screen, you won't be disappointed, and at a run time of 145 minutes it doesn't outstay its welcome. 

'Disclosure Day' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 18th June 2026.

The 34th annual Raindance Film Festival takes place this year from Wednesday 17th June through until Friday 26th June in central London, England. Raindance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the UK and is based in the heart of London’s buzzing West End film district. The festival was established in 1992 and showcases feature film and shorts by filmmakers from around the world to an audience of film executives and buyers, journalists, fans and filmmakers. Each year, Raindance attracts some 16,000 visitors including about five hundred industry professionals into London. Raindance Film Festival is officially recognised by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences USA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the British Independent Film Awards. Selected shorts will qualify for Oscar and BAFTA considerations. 

This year the festival will open with the UK Premiere of Michel K. Parandi’s Sci-Fi thriller 'April X', and close with the European Premiere of Kirsty Bell’s documentary 'Eddie Cochran: Don’t Forget Me', with a further eighty-three narrative and documentary features, 112 short films and twenty-seven immersive projects. Forty-eight of the features, 56% of the total, come from first-time Directors.

In the Best International Feature category, are the following ten films :-

* 'April X' - from the USA and Romania and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Michel K. Parandi. A high octane, near future thriller about twins Bax and April. When April goes missing, Bax searches every dark corner of the post Soviet cityscape trying to find her, ultimately descending into madness. 

* 'Born to Lose' - from the USA and Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Joseph Zentil. A young biker grapples with his father's troubled legacy and escalating debts to a local gangster. As he races to restore a vintage motorcycle to save himself, he must confront family secrets and forge his own identity. International Premiere.

* 'Frank' - from Estonia and Written and Directed by Tonis Pill. Following a serious domestic violence incident, 13 year old Paul arrives in an unfamiliar town where in his pursuit of happiness he makes one bad decision after another. His seemingly inevitable downfall is thwarted, however, by a strange disabled man. UK Premiere.

* 'Jardines Del Bosque' - from Mexico and Co-Written and Co-Directed by Alex Barragan, Diego Barragan, and Co-Produced and scored by Alex Barragan and Edited by Diego Barragan. Three friends remember the summer of 2014 when they were preteens and an older girl from their neighbourhood disappeared one day without a trace. As their search intensifies, what began as an innocent game of detectives slowly turns into a dark mystery that changes them forever. World Premiere.

* 'Lost Land' - from Japan, France, Malaysia and Germany and Written, Directed and Edited by Akio Fujimoto. The film follows four-year-old Shafi and his nine-year-old sister Somira, Rohingya refugees, who embark on a perilous journey from a refugee camp in Bangladesh to Malaysia to reunite with their family. UK Premiere.

* 'My Daughter's Hair' - from Iran and Directed by Hesam Farahmand. Tohid and his wife and children have an average life. Until a very simple event shatters the story of their lives. UK Premiere.

* 'No Lastname' - from Iran and Written and Directed by Mohammed Reza Sattari. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an undocumented family living on society's margins struggles with poverty, grief and emotional collapse. As death and desperation close in, fragile relationships begin to fracture. World Premiere.

* 'PARO - The Untold Story of Bride Slavery' - from India and the USA and Co-Written and Directed by Gajendra Ahire. Sold at thirteen, stripped of her children, and betrayed by every promise of safety, Chand’s final act of defiance transforms unimaginable suffering into a powerful call for justice and change. UK Premiere.

* 'Silent Rebellion' - from Switzerland and Co-Written and Directed by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo. 15-year-old Emma, pregnant after a rape, defies her repressive rural Protestant community to carve a path of self-determination, transforming trauma into a catalyst for emancipation while confronting the moral hypocrisy of the village and the spectre of World War II around her. UK Premiere.

* 'Tokyo Nightfall' - from Japan and Written, Directed and Edited by Yuto Shimizu. After his sister Anna dies by suicide following a traumatic encounter in high school, Amenashi drifts through grief and guilt. Drawn to a clandestine mass-suicide gathering in Tokyo, he enters a nightclub where he and two friends confront entrapment, despair, and the buried emotions that bind them to life. World Premiere.

For the full line up of all the feature narratives, documentaries, short films, animated films, the other award categories, and a whole bunch of other good stuff, you can go to the official website at : http://www.raindance.org/festival

Looking ahead to this weeks five new release movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we kick off with an American thriller in which an aged Robin Hood grapples with his past life while in the hands of a mysterious woman after being critically injured. Next up we have an American animated adventure comedy drama film that sees another sequel to this hugely popular franchise, in which Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the rest of the gang's jobs get exponentially harder when they go head-to-head with a new threat to playtime. Then we turn to an Australian coming of age romantic supernatural horror film where two star-crossed teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. This is followed by a French offering in which a wealthy heiress whose plan to stage a landmark concert is derailed by the clashing egos of the virtuosos recruited for the performance. And closing out the week we have a real life drama about Supermodel Kate Moss who embarks on a journey of self-discovery when acclaimed artist Lucian Freud offers to paint her portrait.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or 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 coming week.

'THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD' (Rated MA15+) - this American thriller offering is Written and Directed by Michael Sarnoski who made his first feature in 2021 with the multi-award winning film 'Pig' and which he would follow up with 'A Quiet Place : Day One' in 2024. He is set to Write and Direct a live-action film adaptation of the video game 'Death Stranding', which is currently in active development with a release date yet to be announced. This film is a dark adaptation of the 17th-Century ballad 'Robin Hood's Death', by an unknown Writer.

After being seriously injured in a brutal battle that he thought would be his last, Robin Hood (Hugh Jackman) finds himself being nursed back to health by a mysterious woman, Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer). As he recovers, he begins to reckon with his violent past of crime and murder, and as feelings of regret set in, Robin finds an unexpected chance at salvation. Also starring Bill Skarsgard as Little John, with Murray Bartlett and Noah Jupe, The film saw its World Premiere screening at the Sydney Film Festival earlier this month and is released here in Australia and the US from this week.

'TOY STORY 5' (Rated G) - is an American animated adventure comedy-drama film Produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, and is Co-Written and Directed by Andrew Stanton, whose prior feature film making credits take in his 2003 debut with 'Finding Nemo' and which he would follow up with 'WALL-E' in 2008, 'John Carter' in 2012, 'Finding Dory' in 2016 and 'In the Blink of an Eye' released earlier this year. This film is the fifth main instalment in Pixar's 'Toy Story' film series and the sequel to 2019's 'Toy Story 4'. Including the spin-off film 'Lightyear' from 2022, those five films have grossed almost US$3.3B at the worldwide Box Office from combined production budgets of US$720M. Here then, after Woody (voiced again by Tom Hanks) left Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) to help abandoned toys find owners, Jessie (Joan Cussack) becomes the leader of Bonnie's room, with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) as her second-in-command. However, a now-eight-year-old Bonnie has become enamoured of her new favourite plaything, a frog-like tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee). Also starring the voice talents of Conan O'Brien, Tony Hale, Bonnie Hunt, Ernie Hudson and Keanu Reeves. The film is released Stateside this week also.

'LEVITICUS' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian romantic coming of age supernatural horror film is Written and Directed by Adrian Chiarella in his feature film Directing debut. The film explores the dark consequences of religious fanaticism when two teenage boys - Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen), subjected to a radical conversion therapy ritual, are hunted by a supernatural entity that takes the form of the person they desire most - each other. Also starring Mia Wasikowska, Ewen Leslie and Nicholas Hope. It saw its World Premiere showcasing at this year Sundance Film Festival at the end of January, and is released here in Australia and the USA this week, having garnered universal critical acclaim.

'THE MUSICIANS' (Rated PG) - is a French musical comedy drama film Co-Written and Directed by Gregory Magne in only his third feature film making outing following 'L'air de rien' in 2012 and 'Perfumes' in 2019. Wealthy heiress Astrid Carlson (Valerie Donzelli) finally succeeds in fulfilling her late father’s dream - to bring together four Stradivarius (two violins, a viola and a cello) for a unique concert, eagerly expected by music lovers around the world. But Lise Carvalho (Marie Vialle), George Massaro (Mathieu Spinosi), Peter Nicolescu (Daniel Garlitsky), and Apolline Dessartre (Emma Ravier), the four virtuosos recruited for the occasion, are incapable of playing together. The rehearsals are one ego crisis after another. With no solution in sight, Astrid decides to go and find the only person who, in her eyes, can still save the event, Charlie Beaumont (Frederic Pierrot), the composer of the score. The film was released in its native France in early May 2025, and only now does it arrive in Australian cinemas thirteen months hence.

'MOSS & FREUD' (Rated MA15+) - this UK and New Zealand Co-Produced real life drama film is Written and Directed by James Lucas in his feature film making debut, although he is acclaimed for his Writing and Executive Producing his Academy Award winning short film 'The Phone Call' in 2013. Here, in 2002, at age 28, Kate Moss (Ellie Bamber) is already the greatest fashion icon of our time. Endlessly watchable, never predictable, always natural and utterly unpretentious. Kate shaped a generation. Yet she still yearns to be seen, truly seen. In a bold move, Kate enters Lucian Freud's (Derek Jacobi) the famed British painter and draughtsman, who is regarded as one of the foremost 20th Century English portraitist -  studio. Two British cultural titans converge, and Kate bares herself. Freud's genius explores Kate's hidden depths. Her complexity unfolds. A mesmerising rapport develops. The wild party scene fades whilst self-discovery takes centre stage. Tension mounts. Truths emerge. Kate finds her voice, her strength, her true self. Kate blossoms from supermodel to eternal muse. This is a journey into the heart of an icon. After sittings over the course of many months, the resultant painting was auctioned in 2005 for £3,928,000. The film had its World Premiere screening at the BFI London Film Festival in mid-October last year, was released in the UK in late May, and arrives in select Australian cinemas this week. 

With five new release movie offerings 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 at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE GOOD BOY : Tuesday 9th June 2026.

As part of this years Sydney Film Festival I saw 'THE GOOD BOY', aka 'HEEL' at my local independent movie theatre earlier this week. This Polish and UK Co-Produced black comedy thriller film is Directed by Jan Komasa, whose previous feature film output include 'Suicide Room' in 2011, 'Warsaw 44' in 2014, 'Corpus Christi' in 2019, 'The Hater' in 2022 and 'Anniversary' in 2025. This film is Komasa's first English language feature. It had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September last year, was released in the USA in late March, has received generally positive critical reviews, and has so far grossed US$1.2M at the Box Office. The film goes on general release here in Australia on 2nd July. 

The film opens following the extremely anti-social behaviour of 19-year-old Tommy (Anson Boon). He is a foul-mouthed, drug-abusing, beer swilling delinquent hooligan with a penchant for random acts of extreme violence - all of which he records and uploads to his social media pages for all the world to see. During a night out with his girlfriend Gabby (Savannah Steyn), Tommy becomes heavily drunk and stoned, can barely walk and later becomes separated from his friends, after his bender late at night. He is then abducted on the street by an unknown figure.

Macedonian national Rina (Monika Frajczyk) meets with a man named Chris (Stephen Graham) in a cafe to interview for a housekeeping job. After a series of fairly simple questions Chris invites her to his large isolated countryside home where she signs a non-disclosure agreement and is taken for a tour of the house, meeting Chris's reclusive wife Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough) and their ten-year-old son Jonathan (Kit Rakusen). While viewing the cellar downstairs, Rina observes an unconscious Tommy chained to the ceiling. She attempts to leave, but Chris stops her and says he is aware of her past and uncertain visa situation. Following a threat to call his contact in the Home Office, Rina agrees to take the job - working two days a week on a Monday and Thursday.

Tommy is revealed to have been in the house for some time. He regularly antagonises and threatens Chris, and attempts to reason with Rina for help when she works in the cellar either loading up the washing machine or mopping the stone floor. Chris forces Tommy to watch educational films starring Chris and his family, as well as clips of Tommy's anti-social capers or violent attacks uploaded online. Tommy maintains his abusive attitude to which Chris responds with kindness and lectures, claiming that he is trying to help Tommy become a better person, though he shows no reluctance in beating or tasering Tommy whenever he resists his captivity, such as when he throws his urine-soaked clothes at Kathryn's face. Following this latter episode Chris severely beats Tommy with a Police extendable baton multiple times shouting out 'bad boy' with every blow. 

As time progresses and Tommy's manner starts to become more passive, Kathryn begins giving him books to read and the family allows him to watch movies with them. His temperament calms and he slowly builds a civil rapport with everyone in the household, especially Jonathan. After celebrating Tommy's birthday with a picnic out on the Yorkshire moors, Chris moves him to a room upstairs, having constructed a ceiling-mounted track system to which Tommy's chain is attached, allowing him to move throughout the house. However, Chris has also inserted combination locks throughout the track to control Tommy's movement and prevent him from venturing downstairs unsupervised. 

Later Rina advises the family that she thinks she is being followed, and fears for her safety. They invite her to move into the house, which she does. At Tommy's urging, Chris employs his and Rina's assistance in arranging a romantic dinner for Kathryn in the back garden. Though this is a success, Tommy is able to steal a knife from the kitchen drawer as the family is distracted in the garden, and hides it in a pot plant. Upstairs, while Chris thanks him for his help, Tommy asks why he in particular was abducted. Chris does not give a straight answer. Tommy states he is aware that his room once belonged to someone else, and asks who. 

One day, when Chris is out for a drive, a gang of three men break into the house seeking Rina. She agrees to leave with them, though before doing so she whispers the four digit combination code to the locks in Tommy's ear. Tommy then attacks the men but they overpower him, and beat him up. When Chris returns, he thanks Tommy for protecting 'their' family, and reveals his plan to install a security system and motion detectors on the property, which he says that Tommy can help him with the installation. That night, Tommy gingerly opens the combination locks and sneaks downstairs, taking the hidden knife and using it to pry his chain from the track. Chris, awakened, comes down with a handgun, but Tommy attacks from behind and disarms him, after which Kathryn arrives. Tommy says that he will never be the person who used to live in his room and demands to go free. Heartbroken in her husband's arms, Kathryn agrees to let Tommy leave. He does so walking out into the night, later collapsing in the middle of a deserted stretch of road. 

Having returned home, after two months away, Tommy does not admit to the interviewing Police Officer (Jessica Johnson) that he was abducted and claims he went away with his friend 'Jonathan'. The Police Officer says that a friend, Gabby, reported him as a missing person, while his mother admitted texting him twice, but as he never responded she gave up. Later he encounters Gabby in a nightclub, heavily wasted from drugs and alcohol. The next day Gabby pulls up at Tommy's house and they drive off with Tommy driving. They park up in a remote area and she says that she wishes she could 'disappear'. Tommy asks if she trusts him. When she says yes, he incapacitates her with chloroform, torches the car and carries her to the gate of Chris's home. After Tommy rings the buzzer and waits anxiously, the gate opens and he walks towards the house down the long driveway carrying Gabby in his arms, with Chris, Kathryn and Jonathan standing at the door to welcome him back. 

'The Good Boy' is a blacker than black dark comedy psychological thriller that is teetering on the brink of horror, given the opening scenes of Tommy running amok snorting, drinking, punching, kicking, fucking, pissing, arguing and yelling his way through a single night of obnoxious excess, to Chris who keeps his quarry chained to the ceiling for weeks and who is not afraid to wield his own form of justice with a baton, a taser, or a discovered packet of cigarettes belonging to his ten year old son. The performances of Boon, Graham and Riseborough are all top notch and they inhabit their roles with a real sense of believability and realism. Whilst there are certain similarities here with Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1971 film 'A Clockwork Orange', here Director Jan Komasa has substituted the institutionalised rehabilitation for the individuals rehab, and in doing so has delivered us a film that poses the question of 'nature over nurture', the power of social media and the hold it has over young teenagers and young adults that you'll be debating long after the end credits have rolled. 

'The Good Boy' or 'Heel' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 11th June 2026

The 25th Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) takes place this year from Friday 12th June through until Sunday 21st June, in the capital of Romania - Cluj-Napoca, a modern city with a rich history. Founded in 2002, TIFF is the first and largest international film festival in Romania and one of the most important film events in the region, with over 100,000 participants at each edition. Open to the general public as well as industry professionals, the TIFF showcases over 250 films and its programme includes cine-concerts, concerts, as well as art exhibitions and meeting opportunities between filmmakers and the Romanian audiences. The festival has taken on the mission of discovering new voices in cinema and hosts two international competitions - feature fiction and feature documentary - dedicated to first and second-time Directors, as well as an annual showcase of contemporary Romanian cinema . . . . . so reads the official website.

This years Opening Gala film presentation is '3 Days in September' from Romania and Directed by Tudor Giurgiu, and will have its Romanian Premiere after its World Premiere screening at the recent International Film Festival Rotterdam. Built around a single 65-minute long take, this romantic comedy is laced with dark humour. While vacationing on the coast ahead of their wedding, a couple's plans are upended on the eve of the celebration when a mysterious woman appears and delivers a shocking revelation to the bride-to-be about her partner. What follows is an intense night that forces the protagonist to confront her deepest fears and hardest choices. 

First and second-time Directors are yet again set to compete for top honours at this years festival. Twelve films from around the world will vie for the coveted Transylvania Trophy and other accolades in the Official Competition, while ten works will compete for the top prize in the What's Up, Doc? section. Those films in Official Competition are as given, in brief, below :-

* 'Sicko' - from Kazakhstan and Directed by Aitore Zholdaskali. A cynical, hard-boiled debut from the kazakh Director, already a box-office hit in his home country;
* 'Feels Like Home' - from Hungary and Directed by Gabor Holtai. A claustrophobic debut in which family functions as the amniotic fluid required to force a human being into existence.
* 'Le Roi Soleil' ('No One Will Know') - from France and Directed by Vincent Mael Cardona. A slick, high-concept collision of heist movie and slasher, centred on a winning lottery ticket and driven by the kind of greed that can only end badly.

* 'A Useful Ghost' - from France and Directed by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke. Anarchic and oddly tender, the film uses absurdism to ask serious questions about love and the wrongs we leave unaddressed.

* 'Lionel' - from Spain and Directed by Carlos Saiz. An experiment on both sides of the lens - a road movie built around a script the cast never saw, yet one that arrives at a universal truth about fathers and sons.
* 'The Night is Fading Away' - from Argentina and Directed by Ezequiel Salinas and Ramiro Sonzini. A bittersweet love letter to cinema, in which a displaced projectionist takes a job as a night watchman at a cinema and gradually builds an unlikely community around old films;

* 'Truly Naked' - from the Netherlands and Directed by Muriel d’Ansembourg. The film makes nudity and sex matter-of-fact, then pivots to the harder question - whether shedding your clothes is the same as opening yourself up.
* 'Titanic Ocean' - from Greece and Directed by Konstantina Kotzamani. The film follows young women training to become professional mermaids in a world that never stops demanding reinvention.

* 'Butterfly' - from Norway and Directed by Itonje Soimer Guttormsen. The story tracks two sisters working through the long shadow of a guru mother, with self-knowledge serving as the film’s uneasy currency.

* 'My Father's Shadow' - from the UK and Directed by Akinola Davies Jnr. The film operates as a dream-memory of a political turning point and how it echoes through one family across generations.
* 'Our Father' - from Serbia and Directed by Goran Stankovic. The film examines the cult of a surrogate patriarch at a Serbian monastery for recovering addicts, and the difficulty of dismantling something that can’t be entirely condemned.
* 'The Red Hangar' - from Chile and Directed by Juan Pablo Sallato. A lean, pressure-cooker thriller about honour and duty during the Pinochet coup, remarkable for how much it achieves with limited means.

For a summary of the ten films in the Documentary Official Competition, plus the details of all the other films being showcased, and a whole lot of other good stuff, you can go to the official website at : http://www.tiff.ro/en

Drawing the attention then back to this weeks seven hot new release movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, we kick off with a Sci-Fi offering from a Director who is a master of his craft, and that films tag line is 'If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?' - enough said! Then we have a crime thriller in which a talented piano tuner's meticulous skills for tuning pianos lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down. Next up is an Italian adventure drama film in which a young woman travels to Piedmont to care for her ageing grandfather, an expert truffle forager. This is followed by another Italian drama film set in early 18th century Venice, Italy, where the fate of a virtuoso violinist is transferred when her orphanage hires an ambitious composer as the new musical instructor, one Antonio Vivaldi. In a completely different vein, we have next an Aussie comedy in which a group of students and teachers from a Language school in Delhi hit the road to discover Australia and gain first-hand experience of its authentic culture and language. Then we turn to a South Korean action horror film which follows a deadly, rapidly mutating viral outbreak inside a quarantined biotech facility; before closing out the week with an American biographical musical film charting the life and times of this man from surfer to filmmaker to world-renowned musician.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the seven latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or 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.

'DISCLOSURE DAY' (Rated M) - is an American Science Fiction film that is based on an original story, Co-Produced and Directed by Steven Spielberg, who I'm sure needs no introduction. Spielberg is no stranger to the world of Sci-Fi having helmed 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' in 1977, then 'E.T.' in 1982, 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' in 2001, 'Minority Report' in 2002, 'War of the Worlds' in 2005 and 'Ready Player One' in 2018. This film is released in the US this week too. 

If you found out we weren’t alone in the infinite universe, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? When cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) and Kansas City meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) discover proof of alien life simultaneously, they try to reveal the truth to the world all at once, while facing intense government secrecy. Also starring Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Wyatt Russell.

'TUNER' (Rated MA15+) - this USA and Canadian Co-Produced crime thriller film is Co-Written and Directed by Daniel Roher in his debut narrative fiction film following his documentaries 'Once Were Brothers : Robbie Robertson and the Band' in 2019 and the Academy Award winning 'Navalny' in 2022, and 'The AI Doc : Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist' which Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year and is scheduled for release later on in 2026. Niki White (Leo Woodall) a gifted young piano tuner whose heightened sense of hearing draws the attention of Israeli criminals, who see his talents as useful for opening safes as well as for tuning Steinways. With his once-promising musical career over, he works across New York with his mentor Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), encountering a range of characters, including composition student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), with whom he forges an unexpected connection. Niki's safecracking work threatens his budding romance with Ruthie and pulls him into increasingly dangerous territory. Also starring Jean Reno, Lior Raz and Tovah Feldshuh. The film had its World Premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in late August last year, was released in the US towards the end of May, has garnered generally positive critical acclaim, and has so far recouped US$5M at the Box Office from its US$7M production budget outlay.

'TRIFOLE' (Rated M) - is an Italian adventure drama film Co-Written and Directed by Gabriele Fabbro in his second feature film outing following 2021's 'The Grand Bolero' although he has helmed numerous short films and the occasional documentary. A modern fable about truffles, sustainability and family. Trifole, set in the Alba, Piedmont White Truffle region of Italy, tells the adventure of a young woman, Dalia (Ydalie Turk) who leaves London looking for her own path, and who reconnects with her ailing, truffle-hunting grandfather Igor (Umberto Orsini) and nature. Eventually, she bonds with her grandfather and learns to value tradition, the territory, and a more sustainable way of life. The film was released in its native Italy in mid-October 2024, in the USA in mid-October 2025 and only now does it get a limited release here in Australia, having so far grossed US$77K from a production budget of US$1.6M, and has generated largely favourable reviews. 

'PRIMAVERA' (Rated M) - this Italian and French drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Damiano Michieletto in his feature filmmaking debut, and is based on the 2008 novel 'Stabat Mater' by Tiziano Scarpa. Early in the 18th century, Ospedale della Pieta is the biggest orphanage in Venice, but it is also where the most talented of the orphans who live there are introduced to the study of music. A talented violinist, Cecilia (Tecla Insolia), confined to the orphanage, meets Antonio Vivaldi (Michele Riondino) who becomes her teacher. Under his mentorship and through his music, she gains courage to break free from the life she was destined for and pursue her passion. The film saw its World Premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September last year and was released in Italy on Christmas Day last year, and has generated largely positive critical press.

'HOW TO TALK AUSTRALIANS' (Rated M) - is an Australian comedy film Co-Written and Directed by Tony Rogers who made his feature film debut with 'Rats and Cats' in 2007 and has Directed multiple episodes of TV series in the intervening years. This his second feature, tells the story of a group of Indian students and teachers from The Delhi College of Linguistics who leave the classroom and head Down Under to discover Australia and gain first-hand experience of its authentic language and culture. When their plane is diverted to the country town of Dubbo due to storms, and their tour-leader is detained by customs, the hapless bunch unearth the ‘real’ Australia while never making it to Sydney, Melbourne . . . or even Brisbane. Starring Shane Jacobson, Stephen Curry, Esha Banavali, Rohan Ganju and Udara David. The film cost in the region of US$1.5M to produce. 

'COLONY' (Rated MA15+) - this South Korean action horror film is Co-Written and Directed by Yeon Sang-ho who made his feature length debut with the animated 'The King of Pigs' in 2011, and which he would follow up with another animated feature 'The Fake' in 2013. His first live action feature was the acclaimed 'Train to Busan' in 2016, which was followed by the adult animated zombie horror 'Seoul Station' as a prequel that same year. His second live action film was 'Psychokinesis' in 2018, then 'Peninsula' in 2020, 'JUNG_E' in 2023, 'Revelations' in 2025 and 'The Ugly' also in 2025. A biotechnology professor, Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun), is in attendance at a biotech conference that erupts into chaos with the release of a rapidly mutating virus. The outbreak results in the transformation of infected individuals, prompting authorities to seal off the facility and trap survivors inside with an escalating threat. The film Premiered in the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May this year, was released in its native South Korea on 21st May, cost in the region of US$12M to produce having so far grossed US$32M, and has received mixed or average reviews.

'JACK JOHNSON : SURFILMUSIC' (Rated PG) - is an American biographical documentary film Directed by Emmett Malloy who has Directed numerous music videos for acclaimed recording artists, including Jack Johnson, and a number of feature length films including 'Out Cold' in 2001, the musical doco 'Big Easy Express' in 2012, 'The Tribes of Palos Verdes' in 2017, and the music doco 'Biggie : I Got a Story to Tell' in 2021. This film chronicles Jack Johnson’s evolution from surfer to filmmaker to world-renowned musician. It traces how Jack’s early years making surf films with close friends became a foundation for a much broader creative life, capturing moments in and out of the water that later surfaced in his songwriting. Blending rare footage from those formative surf films and Jack’s personal and family archives with present-day reflections, the film weaves together how lived experience, friendship, and exploration shaped the sound and stories behind the music. 

With seven new release movie offerings 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 at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-