What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 13th November 2014.

As we inch ever closer to Summer in Australia with longer, and certainly warmer days, there is another reason to get out and catch a movie to take advantage of the all new cinema content currently on offer on a balmy late Spring evening. After last weeks mega budget Sci-Fi epic that seems to have dominated the movie critic headlines and it appears to have divided opinion also, we have four new releases for the week ahead that provide for more balanced viewing. There is yet another attempt to revitalise the comedic buddy actioner with two mates masquerading as Police Officers and no doubt hilarity and misadventure will ensue . . . or not! Then we have a NYC gangster, low-life crims, and, surprise surprise, more Russian hoodlums beating each other up and falling over each other in the process with a couple of central characters caught in the middle who knit the story together - better than your average . . . apparently! Next up an English comedy drama set in Paris where three unlikely characters share an unknown connection that throws them together in unexpected ways; and finally a Turkish offering showing us the great divide that exists between rich and poor, powerful and powerless, liked and disliked set amidst a backdrop of rugged mountain land.

So there is a taster of what is to come, and if this doesn't get you out to your local multiplex or local independent, then there are plenty of other offerings to tempt to you yet still doing the rounds and in general circulation. Whatever you choose for your viewing pleasure, when you have sat through your film of choice, share your views and opinions in the Comments Box below this Post and let my other Follower know what you thought. Enjoy your movie experience!

THE DROP (Rated MA15+) - Directed by Belgian Michael Roskam and written for the screen by Dennis Lehane based on his own short story, this stars at its leads Tom Hardy, Noomi Repace and James Gandolfini in his last film outing before his sudden death last year. Tom Hardy plays Bob Saginowsky as the quiet, unassuming, good natured guy going about his business working in a bar which is under the management of Marv (James Gandolfini), also Bob's cousin. The bar in question however, is under the control of the local Chechen mob who use it to 'drop' money and launder it back into circulation. When the bar is raided by two masked armed gunmen, the local Police and the Chechen mobsters start to take a more active interest in the bar than they have before which begins to place both Bob and Marv under close scrutiny from all quarters.

When local friends, family and enemies also start to have the spotlight thrust upon them in this little Brooklyn community, relationships will be tested and loyalties divided. Is Bob everything he seems, and as for Marv - what's his part in all of this? Bob meanwhile picks up an injured dog and nurses it back to health then adopting it as his own. Along the way he befriends local neighbour Nadia (Noomi Rapace) and their relationship starts to become something more. But there is more to this than we know as the story unfolds revealing more about the principle characters, their backgrounds, motivations, and who they really are. Tom Hardy is turning in increasingly solid performances and this is right up there, and as for the late James Gandolfini - worth seeing him just because it is his last film role.

LET'S BE COPS (Rated MA15+) - really, do we have to?? This is the tale of two 30 something guys - long term friends, who get invited to a fancy-dress party and decide to go as two of LA's finest - mature, upstanding Police Officers. After the party on the walk home dressed still in their full authentic looking Police uniforms the local community begin to take notice of them and show respect and treat them as though they are the long arm of the law. Keeping this charade up the two lads Justin and Ryan (Damon Wayans and Jake Johnson respectively) decide to take it up another notch learning Police techniques, procedures and buying an ex-patrol car that they modify, re-paint and adapt to look like the real thing. This only strengthens their case to keep at it, and needless to say tangles follow with the local Albanian mobsters, the real local LAPD, and the local love interest who 'lurves' a man in uniform! Needless to say there'll be car chases, gun toting action, rapid one-liners and all sorts of impossible situations that our would-be cops find themselves in before saving the day, the neighbourhood, their livelihoods and their reputations. Sounds predictable - with a few laughs along the way . . . maybe!

MY OLD LADY (Rated M) - Kevin Kline, Kristen Scott-Thomas and Maggie Smith star in this dramedy of down at heel struggling writer cum alcoholic Mathias Gold (Kevin Kline) who arrives in Paris to claim an apartment he has been left by his recently departed and estranged father. On arrival he encounters 92 year old Mathilde Girard (Maggie Smith) who lives in the apartment and is allowed to do so until she dies by French real-estate law. Deciding to take up residence with Mathilde, Mathias moves in and quickly learns that the old lady is living there with her daughter Chloe Girard (Kristen Scott-Thomas). Mathias takes up a position with a local real-estate agent and learns that there was more to Mathilde's relationship with his father than simple landlord and tenant, and that in fact the three of them are connected in unexpected unforeseen ways, that only the old lady can reveal. A strong cast, the makings of a good story, but will it deliver - see it to decide!

WINTER SLEEP (Rated M) - this is a Turkish drama film that won the Palme D'Or at The Cannes Film Festival and is the Turkish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at next Years Academy Awards. Set in Anatolia in the mountain steppes of Cappadocia it tells the story of former actor Aydin (Haluk Biliginer) who now runs a small hotel carved into a mountain side with his younger wife and his sister who is recently divorced. Aydin thinks he is the surrogate self appointed keeper of the local community dishing out his advice, guidance and opinion to the townsfolk whether they like it or not! And they don't - they dislike him and despise him, and so does his wife it seems. As the warmth and busyness of Summer gives way to the cold empty isolation of Winter relationships in the now quiet hotel and local village start to fray and stretch as Aydin must come to terms with who and what he really is and the people he has crossed paths with. Touted as compelling viewing as the central character unfolds, this is dialogue heavy but rewarding if you are prepared to sit through the near 200 minutes running time.

Four films offering a variety of viewing options in the week ahead. Check one (or two) out and share your opinion with Odeon Online.

Movies - see one this week!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-