What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 4th September 2014.

This week with Spring in the air, a spring in our step and the promise of longer days, warmer evenings and more new cinematic offerings to tempt us, we have another diverse palette ranging from the comedic horrific, the big action disaster epic, a fly-on-the-wall real life fictional doco-drama charting the growing pains of one family (and yes, you read that right!), and a story of a life or death decision . . . literally! Of course, there is plenty of filmic content still doing the rounds from previous weeks, which when combined with this weeks latest releases will give you plenty of reasons to visit a warm dark place with a bunch of strangers and sit in wonder at the oral, aural and visual wonder unfolding on a giant screen right there in front of you! What's not to like?

So get out there sometime over the coming week - do your part to keep cinema alive, and then drop me a comment at Odeon Online to share your moviegoing experience with my other reader! Enjoy your big screen experience!

INTO THE STORM (Rated M) - of course this is another Mother Nature doing her thing disaster flick that uses the full force of the elements to destroy property, landmarks, crucial infrastructure, whole city blocks, towns, villages, and needless to say human and animal collateral damage too. You'll be thinking that we have seen this before in 'Twister' - that 1996 offering that perhaps set the tone of tornadoes rampaging across the US countryside. Then there was 'The Perfect Storm' in 2000 that did the same thing out in the Grandbanks with giant tides and hurricane winds trashing a local fishing community and a few of its favourite sons! And of course you would be right when you throw this into the mix with '2012', 'The Day After Tomorrow', 'Dante's Peak' etc. etc. etc. So how is this any different? Well to start, we are further advanced in our CGI technology now than we were then so bringing the effects up closer, making them bigger, bolder and more brazen, and at the helm of this wet & windy movie we have Steven Quale who has learned his craft from a certain James Cameron shooting second unit on 'Avatar' . . . not bad credentials really!

This story centres around a 24 hour period in the town of Silverton, Oklahoma that gets hit with the full force of several tornadoes and cyclones, and the ensuing fall-out on the townsfolk - those that try to take shelter and find some refuge, and those thrill seekers who want to face the action and record it for posterity. It is this point upon which the 'found footage' visuals of this film are conveyed - through the CCTV, video cameras, mobile phones, and GoPro's of those caught in the maelstrom. Along the way are a band of storm chasers of course, and other principle characters who have to run, hide, chase, save and brave it out until the storm passes - most notably Richard Armitage (Gary Fuller - the Vice-Principal of the local High School) and Sarah Wayne Callies (Alison Stone, storm chasing Meteorologist). The shorts look impressive enough up on the big screen, and if you like this kind of thing - then this is for you! Take your raincoat!

If I Stay (Rated M) - the young and talented Chloe Grace-Moretz stars in this drama of young and talented cello player who needs to decide to pursue her musical aspirations at Juilliard, or pursue her life with her true love, Adam. One day, out on a drive in the country with her family everything changes for ever when a head-on collision hurls Mia Hall (Moretz) out of the car and leaves her in a coma. Mia however, is caught between this life and the next, between life and death for one day in which she must decide her own fate. She is having an out of body experience during which she witnesses her family unravel at the sight of her still comatose body, learns of the fate of the other family members, undergoes surgery, and must reconcile her relationship with Adam (Jamie Blackley) amongst all of this tragedy before deciding on her ultimate fate to stay in this world, or cross-over into the next!

BOYHOOD (Rated M) - Director and Screenwriter Richard Linklater has been working on this opus for some twelve years now having conceived the idea back in 2001 or so. Since then he has filmed at regular intervals the growing up of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) who we join at the films outset at the age of six. He lives with his mother (Patricia Arquette) and sister Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), and dad (Ethan Hawke) has left the relationship only recently. The film therefore charts the fictional life of the family, but at the same time we see Mason grow up on screen in front of our eyes over  twelve year period. This family experiences what every family experiences - love, loss, drama, good times, bad times, birthdays, Christmas, school, discovery, excitement and so much more besides, and we see this too through Mason's eyes as he too experiences these things as he grows from young childhood through adolescence and onto young adulthood. This has had big reviews so far for this rare achievement in film making, it's subject matter and what it explores and reveals about all of us.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (Rated M) - set in a quiet peaceful suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, this comedy horror brings together a trio of Vampires  - Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), Viago (Taika Waititi) and Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) - each  of them still very much human-like but centuries old and living together in a shared house with all the mundane rituals associated with 21st Century life - except that their blood lust lives on in their immortality, which they must conduct behind closed doors for fear of venturing out into the sunlight or catching themselves reflected in a mirror.  When various human interlopers arrive they are either dispatched via puncture wounds to an accessible artery to provide the necessary sustenance, or are welcomed to provide support to the cosy homestead. But lurking in the cellar is a fourth inmate - the 8,000 year old inhuman vampire Petyr (Ben Frensham), that becomes the subject of a Vampire search & destroy. . .  and is! Later on at a ball - our trio meet other Wellingtonian night crawlers - zombies, werewolves, witches and warlocks, with whom they at first fight, but then reconcile themselves together to fend off the trials and tribulations of their 21st Century existence with some degree of understanding and harmony. This is Directed, Written and stars 'Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and is therefore sure to resonate with those followers of this troupe and their unique brand of comedy . . . and a good dose of horror and gore thrown into the mix!

There you have it for the week ahead! Four very differing offerings that are sure to please, surprise and delight, and tempt you out to a multiplex or local independent cinema on an early Springtime afternoon or evening. Get amongst it and let me know what you thought.

Movies . . . see as many as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-