What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 5th March 2015.

Friends, readers and film followers - this is my first update from Adelaide in South Australia where I have recently started a new day job that will keep me active when I'm not writing about cinema, movies, the film world and what goes on in it, on it and around it! The other news of significance is that Summer here has given way to Autumn, and with it comes a slew of new films as if to herald a new season.

This week then we have a deep black sea submariners sunken treasure adventure thriller and there is no Johnny Depp or Jack Sparrow in sight; a sleight of hand daze & confuse 'em rob 'em blind action adventure that is glossy, sexy and features beautiful people of course; a fantasy epic where your lucky number seven is sure to spell action, adventure and peril most evil; a work gig to a distant land where three hapless salesmen encounter more challenges than they thought; and a time travelling mind bending history changing conundrum that could end very badly for the world as we know it!

Whatever you choose to spend your movie going dollar on in the week ahead, choose wisely from one of the new releases as below, or any of those Previewed in previous weeks and still on general release. There remains plenty of choice, and when you've sat through your selection, drop us a note in the Comments sections below this, or any Post, and share your thoughts with the ever expanding readership at Odeon Online. Enjoy your film!

BLACK SEA (Rated M) - Directed by Kevin MacDonald who also Produced, this is an all too familiar story of a bunch of greedy men who go off to sea in search of sunken riches only to turn against each other before the final pay-off leaving more booty to divide amongst fewer shipmates, which of course is all good if you happen to be one of the few still left breathing! What separates this from all other other familiar tales that have trodden a similar path, or sailed into similar uncharted waters, is that at the helm is Kevin MacDonald who has a track record in tightly written, tautly filmed action adventure ('Touching the Void', 'How I Live Now', 'State of Play', 'The Eagle') and this time we are set in the confines of a submarine with a rag tag bunch of unscrupulous misfit salty sea dogs.

This bunch are led by Captain Robinson (Jude Law) - a former naval office turned salvageman who lost that gig and now accepts a job with a backer lurking in the shadows that we know little about and trying to win back favour with a former employer all the while secretly plotting his revenge. The task is to venture forth to the Black Sea and salvage a WWII German U-Boat that was sunk in those waters somewhere, and is rumoured to contain a stash of gold bullion. The crew that Captain Robinson assembles are made up of British and Russian seafarers that include Ben Mendelssohn (Fraser), Scoot McNairy (Daniels) and Grigorly Dobrygin (Morozov) amongst others all adding a touch of authenticity to the claustrophobic underwater tin can conditions. Of course tensions rise when Brits and Ruskies, language and cultures clash leaving Captain Robinson to mediate and smooth over troubled waters. Solid submariner stories are few & far between on the big screen, but by all reports this has the tension, the intensity, the thrills and the characterisation to make this a winner and a worthy addition to the canon.

FOCUS (Rated MA15+) - touted as a romdramedy (romantic drama comedy) this package stars Will Smith as Nicky Spurgeon a long-time gifted and successful confidence trickster who gets himself tangled up romantically with young Jess Barratt (Margot Robbie). Things seem to be going well for the couple and so Nicky begins to introduce the young & talented Jess to his world and all the tricks and grifting skills that go with it. However, when Jess gets too close Nicky breaks things off and can smell a rat and so the two go their separate ways. Fast forward three years and Jess has now risen through the ranks of Nicky's world, and they find themselves in Buenos Aires both on opposite sides of the same con. This time though the stakes are very high with the target a billionaire race car owner, and in rekindling that old flame Nicky's personal and professional life are thrown into disarray at a time when he most needs to be on his game! Produced for US$100M and Directed and Written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa this also stars Rodrigo Santoro, some exotic locations, fast cars and all the glitz & glamour of the high life.

SEVENTH SON (Rated M) - this is another epic fantasy adventure based on the book of the same name as Directed by Sergei Bodrov on a production budget of US$95M. With a solid cast this film has taken over two years to get to the big screen after a slew of mishaps and misadventure occurred after production wrapped way back when. The story centres around a young Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) who is the fabled seventh son of a seventh son who works on some farm minding his own business, tending to the land and having no idea on God's green Earth what fate holds in store for him. He is taken under the wing as an apprentice by John Gregory (Jeff Bridges) - a Spook who has long since defended the Earth from evil malevolent forces, and who back in the time of yore captured and imprisoned wicked witch Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore). However, a once in a hundred year event is about to occur that will allow the wicked with of the west to morph dragon like and escape from captivity and wreak her revenge on this who would stand in her way. Enter John Gregory who has only until the next full moon to train up his seventh son apprentice into a finely tuned witch slaying machine to overcome the dark forces - a process that would ordinarily take years. Of course things don't go easily for the dynamic duo as they are distracted along their journey and have to ward off various other evil entities before the final showdown. You have seen this kind of stuff before but with two heavyweight Oscar winners in top billing it could be worth a look!

UNFINISHED BUSINESS (Rated MA15+)) - this dramedy is Directed by Ken Scott and is likely to do for the corporate sales world what 'The Hangover' did for Bucks Nights/pending weddings! There is a solid cast in the comedy drama offering that takes in Vince Vaughn as Dan Trunkman, a small hard working conscientious business owner, and a couple of his close business associates - Mike Pancake (Dave Franco) and Timothy McWinters (Tom Wilkinson). When the three comrades in arms need to travel to Europe to close the biggest and most important deal of their lives against stiff competition, you could be mistaken for thinking that the guys would have their fate sealed, their homework done, their PowerPoint Presentations finely honed, and their sales pitch perfect! But of course, the world of business sales never runs smoothly and inevitably what could go wrong does go wrong in the extreme! Also starring Sienna Miller and Nick Frost, it could just be that this solid cast might save the plot and create an enjoyable business trip on the company's expense account!

PROJECT ALMANAC (Rated M) - this film was released here in Australia last week, but flew under my radar . . . and perhaps that is hardly surprising! You have seen this film before under the guises of a hundred different time travelling movie offerings where the past catches up with the future, and those in the future must go back into the past to safeguard the future! Make sense? This found footage style of film-making as applied to 'PA' is starting to wear a little thin but Director Dean Israelite and big time action Producer (and Director too) Michael Bay tell a story of a group of late teenage buddies who discover the plans for a time machine buried in the basement of one of theirs houses. Needless to say the adventurous scientific time bending nerds decide that it would be a whizz to build the thing, and so they do . . . successfully, and in so doing use the device for their own personal gain and adrenalin rush. But of course, in travelling back to the past, they change the future destiny of the world and themselves . . . and not necessarily for the better! Getting back to the future they soon confront the error of their ways and so have to go back again, several times, to fix the past in order to prevent certain future events from occurring that could have far reaching consequences for them as individuals, as a group, and for the world at large. Time travel is always an interesting premise, but I'm not sure this has anywhere near the makings of last years excellent 'Predestination'! Made for just US$12M it has already grossed US$30M.

That's it then - five new offerings to get you out in front of a big screen - no excuses! Share your thoughts, observations and emotions - good, bad and ugly at Odeon Online.

Movies - see some this week!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-