What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 5th November 2026.

The 24th annual SCANORAMA European Film Festival is held this year from Thursday 5th November through until Sunday 22nd November in Lithuania, in the Baltic region of Europe. The festival was usually held in three cities - Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda and in 2025 the reach was extended to ten cities in Lithuania. The largest and most prominent international film and cultural event of the autumn season, annually bringing together more than 40,000 cinema lovers. Every November, it presents a carefully curated selection of European films alongside critically acclaimed works from across the globe. The main criterion behind the SCANORAMA programme selection is high artistic value. Films shaping new trends in European cinema are presented in specially curated programme sections, allowing audiences to explore the cinematic fields that interest them most in greater depth. The festival’s distinctive identity is recognised and appreciated both by Lithuanian film industry professionals and international experts alike . . . . . so reads the official website.

There are ten films being screened in the International Feature Film Competition - a programme of films by European filmmakers with unique aesthetics and styles, aimed at discovering and highlighting bold and original works that are rarely distributed outside their own countries. Those films are as given in brief below :-

* 'Do You Love Me' - from France, Lebanon, Germany and Qatar, this documentary is Co-Produced and Directed by Lana Daher. Drawing on films, news reports, home movies and popular songs spanning the past seventy years, the film explores the Lebanese collective consciousness, shaped equally by joy and grief. Images of the civil war give way to Israeli bombardments, while rituals of everyday life - weddings and domestic scenes - punctuate the political narrative.

* 'I Want to Be Human' - from Lithuania, this documentary is Written, Directed and Co-photographed by Rinaldas Tomasevicius. Beneath the rough language, chilling stories, and isolated daily lives of prisoners, the Director manages to reveal that even under the most hopeless circumstances, humanity remains a possibility.

* 'Low Expectations' - from Norway and Denmark, and this drama film is Written and Directed by Eivind Landsvik. After years of gruelling studio sessions, relentless touring and hard partying, 29-year-old musician Maja succumbs to a distinctly twenty-first-century affliction: burnout. Unable to bear the pressure and weight of fame, she moves back in with her mother and takes a part-time job at a local secondary school. Colleagues and friends gradually draw her out of a debilitating depression, while her new reality teaches her to see both life and herself afresh.

* 'Paris Paris' - from Belgium and this drama film is Written and Directed by Isabelle Tollenaere. In a ghostly, seemingly abandoned apartment block in Paris, Yi-En, Junior and Hamzah build a home together. All three have left their countries behind and carry the burden of exile. They share not only a living space, but also memories, dreams and different ideas of what home means. Their unlikely household teems with life, offering shelter to a stray cat and a rescued fish, yet the refuge they have so carefully created remains fragile.

* 'Petty Thieves' - from Croatia, France, Germany and Serbia, this drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Mate Ugrin. In summer, the resorts along the Adriatic coast are packed with tourists. Rio works in a local hotel kitchen, supplementing his meagre wages by stealing from foreign holidaymakers. When Andrea discovers his thefts, they agree to join forces and split the spoils. What begins as a pragmatic arrangement develops into an unexpected intimacy.

* Shame and Money' - from Germany, Kosovo, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia and Belgium, this drama film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Visar Morina. Shaban and his wife Hatixhe run a small cattle farm in rural Kosovo. After a family dispute costs them their herd, their main source of income, they move to Pristina with their daughters in search of work. When Hatixhe’s family offers them jobs cleaning a nightclub, Shaban accepts, but the help brings him more humiliation than relief.

* 'Supporting Role' - from Georgia, Estonia, Turkiye, Switzerland and the USA, and this drama film is Written and Directed by Ana Urushadze. Niaz was once a celebrated star of Georgian cinema. Now back in his homeland, he longs to act again, but the film industry has long since forgotten him. At an audition, a young Director offers him the supporting role of an eccentric old man in her debut feature. The old-fashioned Niaz takes offence - young Directors, he concludes, no longer respect Actors. Given three days to decide, he wanders the streets of Tbilisi, contemplating his own transience, both as an Actor and as a man.

* 'The Patron' - from Sweden, this drama thriller film is Written and Directed by Julia Thelin. A cleaner dreams of escaping her routine and finding a more meaningful life. One evening, posing as an influential art patron, she invites two art students into her employer’s empty home. Intoxicated by her newfound power, she becomes increasingly entangled in the deception, but what begins as an innocent game soon takes a more troubling turn.

* 'Trial of Hein' - from Germany, this drama is Written and Directed by Kai Stanicke. After fourteen years on the mainland, Hein returns to the fishing village where he grew up, on a remote island. The isolated community greets him coldly, and even his closest relatives suspect him of being an impostor. When a trial is convened to establish his identity, it emerges that Hein’s memories differ even from those of his childhood friend. The villagers’ suspicion hardens into open hostility, and Hein resorts to drastic measures to prove his version of the truth.

* 'Under a Bad Star' - from France, this drama film is Co-Written, Co-photographed and Co-Directed by Yann Berlie and Lola Cambourieu. Kiki and her partner Alex are trapped in a paralysing cycle of action and reaction, driven by a distorted, reality-detached notion of love. The couple’s young daughter, Malone, becomes a witness to this relationship drama - over the course of 24 hours, she observes Kiki’s emotional journey as she navigates the twists and turns of pain, passion, confusion, tenderness, and desperation.

For the details of the other film strands being showcased at this years festival, plus a whole bunch of other good stuff, you can visit the official website at : http://www.scanorama.lt

Turning the focus back to this weeks seven new movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, we begin with a black comedy political thriller in which a pair of CIA agents face a trust-testing mission from Santiago in Chile to Easter Island in the south-east Pacific Ocean in 1973. Then we have a romantic fantasy comedy drama in which an ostracised fisherwoman tasks the local basketmaker to weave her a husband, but when her wicker creation proves unexpectedly extraordinary, his presence ignites jealousy and upheaval that threatens their peaceful village. Next up, is an action offering that sees a weapon systems engineer and former Green Beret protecting his Wyoming neighbours against a ruthless corporation threatening their rural community. Then we turn to a historical musical drama film in which two brothers find themselves forced onto opposite sides of the American Revolutionary War, turning a fight for freedom into a personal battle for family and forgiveness. This is followed by a Japanese epic kaiju film that is set in 1949, with the Shikishima family having to confront a fresh catastrophe two years after surviving their previous ordeal with this legendary monster. Turning next to a RomCom in which a former lawyer pivots to a career as an event planner after a public professional fallout; and closing out the week we have an Aussie doco about a former Victoria Police detective who spent 27 years on the force, including fifteen years in the homicide, rape, and missing persons units.

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 coming week.

'WILD HORSE NINE' (Rated MA15+) - is a black comedy political thriller film that is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Martin McDonagh, whose previous feature filmmaking credits take in his 2008 debut with 'In Bruges' and which he would follow up with 'Seven Psychopaths' in 2012, 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' in 2017, and 'The Banshees of Inisherin' in 2022. This film had its World Premiere screening in the main competition at this years Venice International Film Festival in early September, where it won lead Actor John Malkovich the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. It is released in the UK, the USA and here in Australia this week. Early critical reviews have been generally positive. 

Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat, CIA bureau chief MJ (Steve Buscemi) dispatches officers Chris Carlisle (John Malkovich) and Lee Chesterfield (Sam Rockwell) from Santiago, Chile to Easter Island, in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. Among the island's iconic statues, the longtime partners wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies, while Chris's newfound bond with a pair of rebellious students Monica and Alicia (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailin Salas respectively) threatens to send everyone's trip to this remote paradise sideways. Also starring Parker Posey and Tom Waits.

'WICKER' (Rated MA15+) - this UK, US and Australian Co-Produced romantic fantasy comedy drama film is Written and Directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, and is based on the short story 'The Wicker Husband' by Ursula Wills. Here, In a small medieval farming town with rigid social hierarchy and patriarchal culture, a reclusive fisherwoman (Olivia Colman, who also Co-Produces here) is ostracised due to her persistent fish smell and rejection of institutionalised marriage. When the japes at her spinster status intensify, she sarcastically commissions for herself a husband made out of wicker. The master weaver (Peter Dinklage) brings the Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgard) to life, where his utility and dedication to his wife creates a romance so pure it causes absolute chaos amongst the villagers of the closed-minded town. Also starring Elizabeth Debicki and Richard E. Grant. The film premiered at this years Sundance Film Festival in late January, was released in the US and the UK in late October and here in Australia from this week, having garnered generally positive critical acclaim, and has so far grossed US$17M from a US$10M production budget.

'GHOST SOLDIER' (Rated CTC) - is an American action film that is Directed by William Eubank who made his feature film Directorial debut with 'Love' in 2011, which he would follow through with 'The Signal' in 2014, 'Underwater' in 2020, 'Paranormal Activity : Next of Kin' in 2021, 'Land of Bad' in 2024, with 'The Last Druid' currently in post-production and set for a release sometime in 2027. Henry 'Fitz' Fitzgerald (Jim Caviezel) is a former US Army Special Forces (Green Beret) soldier who lives off the grid in Wyoming designing weapons for a US military research projects agency. When an asset management company employs corrupt law enforcement officers and foreign agents to seize vast swaths of ranch land and water for their own benefit, Fitz steps up to protect his neighbours from their aggressive schemes. Also starring Olivia Thirlby, Shea Whigham, Garret Dillahunt and Beau Knapp. The film is released Stateside on 11th November to coincide with Veteran's Day. 

'DRUMMER BOY' (Rated PG) - this American historical musical drama film is Directed by Ben and Joel David Smallbone. Ben Smallbone made his feature film Directorial debut with 'Priceless' in 2016 and would go on to helm 'A Rush of Hope : Find Answers to Life's Questions' in 2020, 'Johnny Cash : The Redemption of an American Icon' in 2022, 'Fame : Fortunes, Failure and Faith' in 2023, 'Stoned Cold Country' in 2023. 'Homestead' in 2024 and 'For King + Country : No Turning Back' in 2025. Here then, as America's fight for independence begins, a young drummer boy Benjamin Clem (Lucas Leach), an enslaved woman Emmaline (India Brown), and a divided family each search for freedom in a world built to deny it. With music carrying hope through battle and loss, Drummer Boy turns the Revolution into a deeply human story of faith, forgiveness, and the belief that no person is born to live in chains or be forgotten. Also starring Joel David Brown as Jeremiah Clem, Ioan Gruffudd as Nathaniel Clem, Melora Hardin as Rachel Clem and Iain Glen as Major John Ambrose. The film is released by Angel Studio's this week also in the US and is the second film released by the studio this year set during the American Revolution, after July's 'Young Washington'.

'GODZILLA MINUS ZERO' (Rated M) - this Japanese epic kaiju film is Written, Directed, and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki, and is the sequel to 2023's 'Godzilla Minus One' which grossed US$116M of the back of a US$10M production budget, and was also Directed by Takashi Yamazaki. This film is the 39th film in the Godzilla franchise which began in 1954 with 'Godzilla'. Set in 1949, the effects and aftermath of WWII reduced Japan to zero, and Godzilla plunged it into minus. Two years have passed since then, and the country has faced agonising struggles to achieve recovery and finally reclaim its daily life. Just as humanity managed to cling to a hard-won peace, a new threat strikes, crushing hope in an instant. There is no third time. Everything ends here as Japan faces a new threat from King Ghidorah, a three headed dragon like creature, and Godzilla regenerates and resurfaces to combat the monster. The film saw its Premiere screening at the New York Film Festival at the end of September and is released in the USA and here in Australia this week, having garnered generally positive early critical reviews.

'LOVE ON DECK' (Rated G) - is an Australian romantic comedy film Directed by Colin Budds who made his feature film Directing debut with 'Hurricane Smith' in 1992 and woulds go on to helm the documentary 'Danger Zone : Stunt School' in 2007, 'Romance at the Vineyard' in 2023 and 'A Vintage Christmas' in 2024, as well as Directing numerous TV series and short films throughout his career to date. Here then, after a devastating professional betrayal, ex-lawyer Samara Hart (Rhiannon Fish) has rebuilt her life from the ground up - trading courtrooms for creativity as the owner of her own event-planning business. When her longtime friend Liv Stevens (Lana Golja) hires her to plan her parents' lavish 40th wedding anniversary celebration aboard a luxury yacht in tropical Queensland, Samara thinks it's the perfect job . . . until she discovers the charter captain is Nate Lawson (Daniel Lissing), the former colleague she blames for destroying her career. Forced together at sea, their stubborn banter gives way to undeniable chemistry neither can ignore.

'THE POLICEWOMAN' (Rated MA15+) -  this Australian true crime feature documentary film is Co-Produced, photographed, Directed and Edited by Steven Pasvolsky who made his feature film debut with 'Deck Dogz' in 2005 and would follow this up with other doco's including 'Calibrate' in 2021 and 'The Power of Activism' in 2023. This film chronicles Narelle Fraser's journey from young constable in the 1980's, to a respected and highly skilled detective with Victoria Police. It depicts her 'real life' story, yet is told with creative license, including archival footage, interviews and re-enactments using miniature models. These re-enactments support her memories in an internal way as she recounts the events and encounters that shaped her Police life. 

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 week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 29th October 2026.

The 32nd annual Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF) this year runs from Friday 30th October through until Sunday 8th November in the city of Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1995, GIFF is one of the oldest film festivals and one of the first in the world to include television in its programmes. A crossroads of genres and disciplines, a place of experimentation, encounters and celebration, it offers every year for ten days, films, series, interactive installations and virtual reality works to some 35,000 festival-goers. The largest space in Switzerland dedicated to immersive arts, the GIFF has become one of the major events in Europe. At the heart of the event is the GIFF PRO, a unique event in Switzerland dedicated to audiovisual innovation. More than 800 professionals of the image, industrialists and theoreticians from all over the world meet, debate and exchange on what makes the audiovisual universe of today and what will cross it tomorrow . . . . . so reads the official website.

This years Opening Night Film presentation is 'Tangles' from the USA and Canada and this adult animated biographical drama film is Co-Written and Directed by Leah Nelson and is based on Sarah Leavitt's graphic novel 'Tangles : A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother and Me'. When Alzheimer's disease begins to strip away Midge's (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) vibrant personality, her daughter Sarah (voiced by Abbi Jacobson), a headstrong young woman, is forced to return to her oddball family in the conservative small town she recently fled in order to care for her. She quickly realises she must accept the cruel and warped reality of the disease, and the imperfect beauty of her family, in order to become the daughter they need. Also starring the voice talents of Bryan Cranston, Seth Rogen, Beanie Feldstein and Sarah Silverman. 

The Closing Night Film is 'Arrested Memory' from Taiwan and Japan and this action comedy film is Written and Directed by Sabu. Lee is a superstar Police Detective in Taipei. After losing his team during a crime investigation, he is haunted by guilt and transferred to a rural Police station. Traumatised by the incident, Lee develops amnesia, but is determined to keep it a secret. Soon, he is assigned a new case - the kidnapping of the son of an influential Japanese businessman. As his memory continues to fade, Lee can only rely on his instincts, which, against all odds, lead him to the criminals.

This years International Feature Competition has a selection of ten feature films that transcend stylistic conventions and pave the way for new narratives. All presented as Swiss or European Premieres, these films compete for the Reflet d’Or (the Golden Reflection) for best feature film, accompanied by a cash prize of CHF10K (approx. US$12K). Those films are as given briefly below :-

* 'A Day in the Life of Jo : Chapter Phaedra' - from Greece, Germany and France and this drama film is Directed by Jacqueline Lenyzou. Jo, a rebellious teenager from Athens, first notices Phaedra during her music class. Charmed, she decides to ask her out. Swiss Premiere.

* 'Dawning' - from Norway and this horror film is Directed by Patrik Syversen. Confined to an isolated house deep in the Norwegian forest, three sisters receive an unexpected visit from a stranger whom they decide to help. Swiss Premiere.

* 'La Gradiva' - from France and Italy, this drama film is Directed by Marine Atlan. During a school trip to Italy, a class of Latin students grapple with the first feelings of young love and questions of identity. Swiss Premiere.

* 'The Diary of a Chambermaid' - from Romania and France, this drama film is Directed by Radu Jude. Gianina, a housekeeper for a middle-class family, works hard so she can reunite with her daughter in Romania at the end of the year.

* 'Les Indes' - from Switzerland and Spain, and this drama film is Directed by Nicolas Chapoulier and Pauline Julier. In the mid-17th century, three men set out on a perilous journey through inhospitable lands to deliver the portrait of the Infanta of Spain to her future husband - the young Louis XIV. Swiss Premiere.

* 'The Burning Giants' - from Thailand, France, Singapore and the Netherlands, and this drama film is Directed by Phuttiphong Aroonpheng. As frightening smoke engulfs the Thai jungle, a man from the Karen ethnic group is arrested. In Bangkok, his wife, Aeva, tries to find him. Swiss Premiere.

* 'The First Taste of Loneliness' - from China and France, this drama film is Directed by Gu You. A brilliant and striking depiction of the grief experienced by three generations of women following the sudden death of the family’s grandfather. European Premiere.

* 'The Loneliest Man in Town' - from Austria, this drama film is Directed by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel. Al Cook, a former blues legend, lives alone in an apartment building that a real estate company wants to tear down. With his head full of memories, he’s planning to make a wild dream come true. Swiss Premiere.

* 'Rehearsals for a Revolution' - from Czechia and Spain, and this drama film is Directed by Pegah Ahangarani. A poignant portrayal of the activist journey of five people close to director Pegah Ahangarani during nearly forty years of political repression in Iran. Swiss Premiere.

* 'Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep' - from Belgium, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and this drama film is Directed by Rakan Mayasi. After a tragic incident on the border between Lebanon and Syria, two innocent women become collateral victims of a cycle of revenge between two clans. Swiss Premiere.

For the full details of the above named titles, plus the other competitive strands being screened, those films and TV series being showcased Out of Competition, and the other film and TV sections also being screened, together with a whole lot of other good stuff, you can go to the official website, at : http://www.2026.giff.ch

Turning the focus then back on this weeks six hot new release movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, we kick off with a WWII drama set in the tense 72 hours before D-Day, and with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice - launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether. This is followed by a psychological thriller where, in 2006, 'To Catch a Predator' host Chris Hansen sets out to make television history. Next up we have an action offering in which disillusioned by the end of the war in Afghanistan, a group of disgraced, war-torn ex-CIA operatives set out to Tehran to take down a life-changing score. Then we turn to a horror thriller that finds the quarantined residents of an infested apartment complex who find themselves in a fight for their lives against deadly, venomous spiders rapidly spreading throughout the building. Following on there is a Spanish drama offering that sees a young woman face a personal crossroads while exploring career possibilities, much to her family's concern; and closing out the week we have an Australian horror thriller where after losing his family to a zombie apocalypse, a lone werewolf becomes the reluctant protector of two teenage survivors as the undead evolve into an intelligent and far deadlier species.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six 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.

'PRESSURE' (Rated M) - is a UK and French Co-Produced WWII drama film that is Co-Written, Directed and Edited by Anthony Maras in only his second feature film making outing following 'Hotel Mumbai' in 2018. This film is based on David Haig's 2014 stage play of the same name. The film was released at the end of May in the US, in France in early September and in the UK in mid-September, having garnered largely positive critical reviews and so far grossing US$31M from its US$30M production budget. 

In June 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) must decide whether to launch Operation Overlord (the code name for the Battle of Normandy), the largest seaborne invasion in history, or postpone it and risk losing the element of surprise. Scottish Chief Meteorologist Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott) analyses incoming data and warns that severe storms, high waves, and low visibility will batter the English Channel on 6th June. Stagg clashes with American meteorologist Irving P. Krick (Chris Messina), who uses historical weather analogs to predict clear skies. British Field Marshal Bernard 'Monty' Montgomery (Damian Lewis) pushes hard to go ahead with the invasion regardless of the weather. Also starring Kerry Condon, Con O'Neill and Robert Portal. 

'PRIMETIME' (Rated MA15+) - this American psychological thriller film is Directed and Co-Produced by Lance Oppenheim in his narrative feature film debut, although he has also Directed the documentaries 'Some Kind of Heaven' in 2020, 'Spermworld' in 2024 and 'You Can See Everything' in 2026 which follows Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the defunct health technology company Theranos. Set in 2006 at the height of the reality Dateline NBC television series 'To Catch a Predator', we here follow NBC journalist Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson, who also Co-Produces here) as he teams up with the online anti-pedophila vigilante group 'Perverted-Justice' to stage high-stakes sting operations catching online predators. As the segment moves to primetime and explodes into a massive cultural phenomenon, the film tracks how a mission for public safety steadily curdles into an obsessive, ratings-driven race for fame and performative justice. Also starring Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo, Anna Faris, Bokeem Woodbine, Alex Winter, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher and Tony Revolori. The film has so far grossed US$51M from a production budget of US$14.5M since its release Stateside at the end of September, and has generated positive critical reviews.

'THE FIX' (Rated MA15+) - is an American action film that is Co-Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Guy Moshe who made his feature film Directorial debut with 'Holly' in 2006, and which he would follow up with 'Bunraku' in 2010, 'LX2048' in 2020 with 'The Last Draw of Jack of Hearts' currently in pre-production. Here, following a disastrous and tragic end to the war in Afghanistan, a team of CIA operatives led by Tucker (Zachary Levi) is left disillusioned and separated from service. Tucker visits his former mentor, Larry (Liam Neeson), who is now suffering from dementia. Larry reveals that there is US$25M in cash hidden inside the wall of the Hotel Tehran in Iran, from back in 1981. Tucker reassembles his old squad to go after the money. However, the plan shifts into a rescue and humanitarian mission when they must negotiate with an Iranian asset to smuggle an activist's daughter out of the country. The film was released in the USA in mid-September, has so far grossed US$1M and has generated largely unfavourable critical reviews. 

'CRAWLERS' (Rated MA15+) - this American horror thriller film is Directed by Angel Gomez Hernandez who Directed his first feature film with 'Don't Listen' in 2020 and which he would follow through with 'The Boogeyman : The Origin of the Myth' in 2023, and 'Dangerous Games to Play' which is currently in post-production. After a mysterious death at an apartment complex, manager Serena (Matilda Lutz) discovers a rapidly spreading infestation of venomous spiders. Trapped under quarantine, the residents must fight to survive as Serena uses her knowledge of the building to lead them against the threat while also facing her deepest fear. The film was released earlier this month in the USA, has so far grossed US$1M and has generated mixed or average reviews.

'SUNDAYS' (Rated M) - is a Spanish drama film and is Written and Directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azua in only her third feature film offering following 'Lullaby' in 2022 and 'Love at First Kiss' in 2023. Set in the Basque Country in northern Spain, the plot follows a seventeen year old woman Ainara (Blanca Soroa) pondering about the possibility of joining a cloistered convent, deepening family rifts featuring her aloof father Inaki (Miguel Garces) and her more involving aunt Maite (Patricia Lopez Arnaiz). The film had its World Premiere at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in late September 2025 and went on to win the Golden Shell. It has garnered widespread critical acclaim, has in total collected thirty-seven award wins and a further thirty-nine nominations from around the awards and festival circuit, and has so far grossed US$5.7M at the Box Office.

'DEAD HOWLING' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian horror thriller film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by John V. Soto who made his feature length debut with 'Crush' in 2009 and went on to helm 'Needle' in 2010, 'The Reckoning' in 2014, 'The Gateway' in 2018 and 'Avarice' in 2022. Here, Carter (Joel Jackson) is a lone werewolf who hunts the undead for sport after his family is murdered. His solitary life changes when he saves two siblings, Megan (Tea Heathcote-Marks) and Billy (Riley Stiles), who are searching for a rumoured safe zone. The trio must survive not only aggressive human threats but also a dangerous new evolution of the zombie virus. Also starring Ryan Kwanten, Temuera Morrison and Tom Burlinson. 

With six 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-

VERITY : Wednesday 21st October 2026.

I finally got around to seeing the MA15+ Rated 'VERITY' last week, and this American psychological erotic thriller film is Co-Produced and Directed by Michael Showalter whose previous feature film Directing credits take in the likes of his debut with 'The Baxter' in 2005 and which he would follow up with other titles including 'Hello, My Name Is Doris' in 2015, 'The Big Sick' in 2017, 'The Lovebirds' in 2020, 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye' in 2021, 'The Idea of You' in 2024 and 'Oh. What. Fun.' in 2025. This film is based on Colleen Hoover's novel of the same name published in 2018. The film cost US$40M to produce, has so far grossed US$163M and has generated mixed critical reviews. 

The film opens with Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) giving a public reading of her latest crime novel in a New York book store to just a handful of rather bored looking customers. Her agent Corey (Ismael Cruz Cordova) calls her and says that she has an appointment at 3:00pm that same afternoon in the offices of her publisher, to not be late and to wear something flattering. On the walk over to the offices, she stops at a pedestrian crossing at a busy intersection, and witnesses a cyclist get hit by a car right in front of her, with the cyclists blood splattering all over her head, hair, neck and clothes. A passer by asks if she is OK and escorts her to a nearby cafe with restrooms in which she can clean up. In doing so, he offers her his shirt to wear as her blouse is all messed up. Once cleaned up, and before leaving they introduce themselves, with the guy saying his name is Jeremy (Josh Hartnett). They then go their separate ways.

Once at the offices she is met by Corey who leads her into a room, at which is seated Jeremy and two others representing Jeremy. They are looking for someone to help one of their bestselling authors finish a popular novel series. The author, Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), known for writing novels from the perspectives of immoral villains, has been left in a catatonic state after a near-fatal car accident, a fact hidden from the media to prevent fans from thinking the series is over. Verity's husband, Jeremy, is mourning the recent drowning of their young eight year old daughter, Harper, from a canoeing accident. He assures Lowen she will be the best candidate for the job, as Verity has read her work and enjoyed it. The publisher says that the current work needs finishing off and there is an expectation for two further novels, paying US$75K a piece. Jeremy asks the others to leave the room so that he can talk privately with Lowen. He says that they are low-balling her, and that she should tell her agent to ask for a million. 

Lowen takes on the job and moves in with Jeremy, Verity, and Harper's twin brother Crew (Brady Wagner) in the family's lavish lakeside Vermont home, together with Anna (Irina Dvorovenko), Verity's nurse. Verity's office is in the house, enabling Lowen to absorb herself in Verity's copious notes to help her plan the next novel in the series. Lowen comes across a flash drive and on it is an unfinished manuscript of Verity's autobiography, in which Verity describes her initial infatuation with Jeremy and eventual resentment toward her children, whom she perceived as competition for his love and attention. Disgusted and horrified, Lowen abandons the manuscript halfway through reading it. 

Despite Verity's inability to move or speak, Lowen starts to notice Verity looking at her when no one else is around, although she is unsure if these episodes are just hallucinations. Lowen successfully plans the next novel based on Verity's exhaustive, albeit muddled, notes and prepares to begin writing it. A mutual attraction grows between her and Jeremy, and they begin an affair. Over dinner in a German restaurant in the nearby town, Jeremy confesses that though Verity never read Lowen's book, he did, and felt a deep connection to her, but lied because he thought the validation would mean more coming from Verity. 

Lowen revisits Verity's autobiography, which contains a confession that Verity intentionally capsized the canoe in an attempt to drown her children and thus reclaim Jeremy's devotion; their son Crew only survived because of his ability to swim. The manuscript ends with a declaration that Verity plans to commit vehicular suicide to escape legal consequences for her actions. 

Lowen confronts Verity, threatening to expose her to the Police and take Verity's family and career for herself. She stabs Verity in the palm of her hand with a drawing pin, but the patient remains steadfastly catatonic just gazing straight ahead and unflinching. Later, Lowen asks Crew about Harper's death, and he refuses to answer, but implies that Verity speaks to him, despite her supposed catatonic condition. Lowen confides her findings to Jeremy. He angrily confronts Verity, who fearfully admits to faking her catatonia, and pleads with him to let her explain. He begins to strangle her, but Lowen stops him before suggesting that he suffocate her instead, by covering her mouth and pinching her nose but not to leave any physical marks, to make her death look like an accident. After he kills her, they dump her body in the lake and convince Police that she must have woken up from her catatonia, left the house in a state of confusion, and accidentally drowned.

Fast forward seven months, and Lowen has published the next novel in Verity's series and is pregnant with Jeremy's daughter. As they prepare to move out of the house, Lowen comes across a handwritten letter concealed under a loose floorboard from Verity, addressed to Jeremy in the event that she and Crew left him. The letter promises that the autobiography was merely a writing exercise to help her process her grief, and so by this account, she never resented her children, Harper's death was truly an accident, and she was not actually suicidal. It also tells how Jeremy discovered the manuscript, believed it to be true, drugged Verity, and put her in her car with a brick on the accelerator in an attempt to kill her and make it look like a suicide. She survived, but faked catatonia for fear that he would report her to Police or kill her if he thought she was capable of telling anyone what he did. Lowen decides not to tell Jeremy about the letter and continue her new life with Jeremy, Crew, and their unborn daughter, no longer sure which of Verity's stories to believe.

Make no mistake, 'Verity' is hardly going to win any Best Picture, Best Writing or Best Director Awards this season, but nonetheless this film is an enjoyable psychological erotic thriller that is light on eroticism and light on thrills and tension, and heavy on its predictability. The three lead Actors do the very best they can with the material they've been given, yet still manages to offer up the audience enough melodrama and plot twists and turns to at least maintain the interest of those viewers familiar with the source material, and for those who are not, a reasonably entertaining night at the movies. 

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

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

WHALEFALL : Tuesday 20th October 2026.

I saw the M Rated 'WHALEFALL' earlier this week, and this American survival thriller film is Co-Written for the screen, Co-Produced and Directed by Brian Duffield in only his third feature film offering following 'Spontaneous' in 2020 and 'No One Will Save You' in 2023. He has recently been linked to Write and Direct 'Crumble' for Laika Studios and that he would also Direct and Co-Write with Zach Cregger a film based on Trevor Henderson's internet phenomenon 'Siren Head'. This film is based on the 2023 novel of the same name by Daniel Kraus. The film saw its World Premiere screening in London on 5th October and was released Stateside and here in Australia last week having so far grossed US$19M from a production budget of US$40M and generating mixed or average critical reviews.

Mitt Gardiner (Josh Brolin), a local deep sea dive expert and dive-boat captain, is diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma. Refusing to succumb to the illness, Mitt leaves sealed farewell letters for his wife and three children in a cooler on his boat, while his good friend Hewey (John Ortiz) continues fishing fully aware of Mitt's intentions. After strapping diving weights to himself, he leaps into the ocean off Northern California’s Monastery Beach to end his life. Hewey sobs as he hears the splash of Mitt entering the water. His body is never recovered, leaving his family to mourn with an empty casket.

One year later on the anniversary of Mitt's death, college student Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams) returns home to California from Iowa deeply traumatised with the loss of his father. The two had a argumentative relationship, and Jay refused to speak with Mitt during his terminal illness or read the letter he left behind. To seek emotional closure, and to give his mother Zara (Elizabeth Shue) and sisters Eva (Jane Levy) and Nan (Emily Rudd) a piece of their father to properly bury, Jay sets out on an unauthorised, solo scuba dive to retrieve his father's remains, carrying a tank with one hour of air. We learn that Mitt taught Jay everything he knew about scuba diving, so he's no stranger to the sport, although hasn't dived for some time. 

After about ten minutes from first entering the choppy sea conditions, Jay is deep underwater close to the edge of a submarine canyon, when he is caught in a battle between a giant squid and a sperm whale. When he tries to swim to the surface, the squid's tentacles wrap around his dive gear, and the whale sucks both the squid and Jay into its massive jaws before swallowing them.

Jay comes round inside the pitch-black, suffocating environment of one of the whale's four stomach chambers. He fights off the squid, which is then crushed to death by the powerful stomach walls. Determined to find a way out, Jay unknowingly crawls into the next chamber, where digestive juices and stomach acids begin to burn his hands and erode his dive gear, all while the squid's half-digested beak pierces his already dissolving hand. Realising this chamber is a point of no return with guaranteed death, Jay climbs back into the first chamber to plan another way to escape. With his oxygen depleting and surrounded by the whale's digestive system, Jay has a panic attack.

Jay pulls off the squids beak implanted in his hand and screams in excruciating pain in doing so. Improvising the squid's beak and the light of a recently swallowed bioluminescent jellyfish, Jay tries to climb up the whale's oesophagus to reach its mouth and escape to the ocean. When the creature briefly breaches the water to breathe, Jay desperately tries to call out to a nearby whalewatching tour boat, but his cries for help go unheeded. As the whale plunges down into the depths, the sudden downward momentum pins Jay against the stomach wall. The crushing water pressure punctures his eardrums and triggers bleeding from his nose, ears and mouth until he passes out.

Jay comes round again to discover he is almost completely out of time and almost out of oxygen. Giving up on a clear exit route, he furiously stabs the stomach wall with the squid's beak to force the whale to regurgitate him, but his efforts fail. Suddenly, the whale is ambushed by a pack of orcas. The predators' brutal onslaught prompts a nearby pod of sperm whales to gather around and drive the orcas away, leaving Jay's whale mortally wounded and slowly making its way up to the surface for more oxygen.

Deprived of his life saving oxygen and badly injured, Jay begins to accept the possibility of death and hallucinates conversations with his father. Jay apologises for failing to have deeper conversations with his Dad and for refusing to read his letter. The hallucination of his father gives him the mental clarity to remember a survival lesson. He realises that the whale’s internal decomposition and digestive tract have filled the stomach chambers with highly flammable methane gas. Jay constructs a makeshift explosive device using built up methane gas from the chamber, the mix of oxygen (at 79%) and nitrogen (at 21%) from his remaining scuba tank and a small bale of steel wool that he found earlier wrapped in a plastic bag inside the whale's gut, with batteries he brought down as dive weights to create an ignition spark. He uses the squid's beak to slice a hole into the stomach lining to wedge the makeshift explosive device in. The resulting blast blows a massive hole right through the side of the whale's stomach and body, that propels Jay up to the ocean's surface. He watches the whale's lifeless corpse sink out of view to the bottom of the ocean. A tour boat rescues him and tourniquets his left arm.

Some months later, Jay and his family are aboard Mitt's old boat. Jay, with scars to his face and neck and minus his left hand, finally reads the letter his father left him and is overcome with emotion, breaking down into tears while laughing. His mother calls out 'is it time to go home' to which Jay replies with 'yes'. 

On paper and even in the shorts for this film, the plot seemed to be both audacious and too far fetched to be taken too seriously, but I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the time the end credits rolled. The cinematography is top notch as are the visual effects of the whales innards, and Austin Abrams (fresh from the latest 'Resident Evil' movie), gives a noteworthy performance as the seriously put-upon scuba diver trapped in such a claustrophobic and alien environment, whose emotions are mostly seen in his eyes through his diving mask. Interspersed with all the action inside the guts of the whale, there are flashbacks to Jay's broken relationship with his father Mitt, and some of the lessons handed down from father to son that ultimately stand Jay in good stead, and are instrumental in his eventual survival, but these scenes are also peppered with a smattering of schmaltz. With a unique setting, and as a survival thriller film it works well enough if you are prepared to suspend all belief in the premise, and leave your brain at the theatre door.

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

-Steve, at Odeon Online-