Birthday's to share this week : 31st May - 6th June 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Mark Wahlberg does on 5th June - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 44, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 31st May

• Clint Eastwood - Born 1930, turns 85 - Actor | Director | Producer | Composer | Songwriter
• Colin Farrell - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actor | Producer
• Tom Berenger - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Brooke Shields - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actress | Producer

Monday 1st June

• Heidi Klum - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actress | Producer | Writer
• Morgan Freeman - Born 1937, turns 78 - Actor | Producer
• Robert Powell - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actor
• Brian Cox - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor | Producer
• Jonathan Pryce - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor
• Powers Booth - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actor

Tuesday 2nd June

• Wentworth Miller - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor | Writer
• Kevin Feige - Born 1973, turns 42 - Producer
• Zachary Quinto - Born 1977, turns 38 - Actor | Producer
• Dominic Cooper - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actor
• Liam Cunningham - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor
• Dennis Haysbert - Born 1954, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
• Stacy Keach - Born 1941, turn s74 - Actor | Producer | Director

Wednesday 3rd June

• James Purefoy - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor
• Imogen Poots - Born 1989, turns 26 - Actress

Thursday 4th June

• Angeline Jolie - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Russell Brand - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Sean Pertwee - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor
• Bruce Dern - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actor
• Geoffrey Palmer - Born 1927, turns 88 - Actor | Television Personality

Friday 5th June

• Mark Wahlberg - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Kathleen Kennedy - Born 1953, turns 62 - Producer 

Saturday 6th June

• Sandra Bernhard - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actress | Writer | Singer
• Jonathan Nolan - Born 1976, turns 39 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Jason Isaacs - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer
• Robert Englund - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor | Director
• Paul Giamatti - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor | Producer

Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg was born in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts to mother Alma Donnelly, a bank clerk and nursing assistant, and father Donald Edward Wahlberg, a Teamster and delivery driver. He is the youngest of nine children, with his siblings being Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie (who died in 2003) and Donnie. Brothers Robert and Donnie are also film and television Actors. The family had a Roman Catholic upbringing and the young Mark attended Copley Square High School in Boston but dropped out at 13 years of age and so never graduated. He subsequently gained his High School Diploma in 2013.

As a young lad, Wahlberg had been on the wrong side of the law countless times involving serious run-ins with the Boston PD. By 13 he had a cocaine habit, and at 15 civil actions were brought against him for racist attacks on local citizens for which he showed no remorse. At 16, on the same day he viciously attacked two Vietnamese men on separate occasions, and subsequently was convicted with attempted murder, and pleaded guilty to assault. He was sentenced to two year jail time, but served only 45 days. Following in the footsteps of three of his brothers and a sister in prison, upon release he saw the error of his ways and sought to better his life, make amends and accept full responsibility for his actions.

Wahlberg's first brush with fame came with his brothers boy band 'New Kids on the Block' for which Mark was part of the original line up. After three months he quit and in 1990 formed his own band 'Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch' which garnered two hit singles 'Good Vibrations' and 'Wildside' off the 'Music for the People' debut album.

His acting debut came in 1993 on the TV film 'The Substitute'. A year later his big screen break came in 'The Renaissance Man' with Danny DeVito, and then in 1995 with Leonard DiCaprio in 'Basketball Diaries'. It was really 'Boogie Nights' in 1997 though as Dirk Digger in Paul Thomas Anderson's acclaimed film featuring an all star cast, that brought him to prominence.

He closed out the decade with 'Three Kings' with George Clooney before lurching into 'The Yards' with Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron; 'The Perfect Storm' again with George Clooney, and 'The Planet of the Apes' reboot courtesy of Tim Burton in 2001. Another remake followed in 2003 with 'The Italian Job' with Wahlberg reprising the role of Charlie Croker made famous back in 1969 by Michael Caine. This in turn led to 'I heart Huckabees' a year later, then 'Four Brothers' with gridiron drama 'Invincible' before his acclaimed role in 'The Departed' for Martin Scorsese in 2006 and co-starring Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. For this he received nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe amongst others.

'The Shooter' came next with another cop drama that same year in 2007 with 'We Own the Night' before the critically panned 'The Happening' for M. Night Shyamalan, and the equally average 'Max Payne'. In between his Middle Earth exploits Peter Jackson Directed Wahlberg on 'The Lovely Bones' in 2009 before his next acclaimed role in 'The Fighter' with Christian Bale which garnered further award nominations.

2013 was a busy year with four new releases off the back of 'Ted' for Seth MacFarlane and 'Contraband' that gave us 'Broken City', 'Pain & Gain', '2 Guns' and then 'Lone Survivor'. Last year Michael Bay re-energised the hugely successful but flagging 'Transformers' franchise with Wahlberg at the helm this time around with 'Age of Extinction' which grossed over US$1.1B, and then the early 70's James Caan remake of 'The Gambler' also in 2014.

Due for release in 2015 is 'Mojave', with 'Ted 2' and 'Entourage' due this year soon. 'Daddy's Home' and 'Deepwater Horizon' both currently filming, and 'Patriot's Day' is rumoured for sometime thereafter. Throughout all of this there was also the hugely successful 'Entourage' TV Series built around Wahlberg's early life experiences in Hollywood - this has now spawned a spin-off movie due for imminent release in which he has both acting and Producer credits.

Wahlberg has 44 acting credits to his name, 22 Producer credits and numerous singer/songwriter credits. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards for 'The Fighter' and 'The Departed', two Golden Globes for the same, a BAFTA win for 'Entourage' in 2004, and numerous Primetime Emmy Awards giving a total career award wins tally of 21 to date, and a further 52 nominations.

He has been with fashion model Rhea Durham since 2001 and they married in mid-2009. They have four children - Ella Rae (born 2003), Michael (born 2006), Brendan Joseph (born 2008) and Grace Margaret (born 2010). He is a devout Roman Catholic and attends Church every day. He established the 'Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation' in 2001 to raise funds for youth services, and he is active in 'The Good Shepherd Centre' for homeless women & children.

Mark Wahlberg - a Bostonian, often typecast in tough guys roles, always looks like he's giving 110%, deeply Religious (although his dialogue rarely indicates this), an accomplished Actor, Producer, Singer and Songwriter, occasionally outspoken and controversial, but able to open a movie carrying a giant epic blockbuster or mainstream independent offering, and clearly bankable, watchable and dependable - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 28th May 2015.

Here in Australia we lurch into Winter this week with more excuses to beat the seasonal cold climactic conditions and venture inside to a warm dark place with a big silver screen, surround sound and escapist adventure on a grand scale. The week ahead offers no exception with more great offerings to tempt, tease and tantalise the filmic tastebuds, so don't be shy and get out there see a movie this week!

Speaking of which, we have five great offerings that take in another great theme park future adventure attraction adapted for the big screen and possibly hoping to emulate that Johnny Depp vehicle that has done so well over the years; then there is another natural disaster flick that has been done a hundred times before that sees death, destruction & danger writ large and one man only capable of saving the world . . . apparently; and a Spanish/Argentinian very black comedy offering that sees six unconnected stories linked only be acts of extreme violence and vengeance. Next up is an Aussie film of a determined damaged man, his Utopian commune, his child soldiers and his son through whose eyes we see the story unfold; and finally a case of life imitating art in small town France as an English couple roll into town whose lives seems to mirror those as written about by a an influential French writer in a certain novel 170 years before.

With a heck of a choice this week when you have been to see your movie choice, remember to drop us your views & opinions in the Comments section below this or any other post, and share your critique with the movie going world. Enjoy your film!

TOMORROWLAND (Rated PG) - this film is based on the Disney theme park future Utopian, innovative and optimistic land that first appeared in 1955 and over the years has been through several updated visions and still exists today as more & more Disney theme parks open around the world. The film, which has its inspiration from the attraction, is Directed, Produced and Written by Brad Bird utilising a budget of US$180M and is a Sci-Fi mystery action adventure. The roots of this tale begin in 1964 at The New York World's Fair where a young aspiring inventor meets a seasoned inventor pro who travel together through the 'It's a small world' attraction.

Years later in the present day young inventor Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) meets with that young inventor from back in 1964, Frank Walker (George Clooney) and together they embark on a dangerous journey to uncover the secrets of 'Tomorrowland' a place located somewhere between time and space but with a clock counting down on their future, and that of mankind. In the spirit of the late great Walt Disney this is a story for children of all ages with optimism, invention, adventure, hope and promise at its core that is writ large in this offering that surely would do the man proud for capturing all of those themes on which he built his global empire. Also starring Hugh Laurie and a cast of child acting talent as you would expect.

SAN ANDREAS (Rated M) - here we have another natural disaster action adventure film the like of which you have seen one hundred times before. What is different this time around - dunno really except it cost US$100M, was shot on Australia's Gold Coast and in Brisbane as well as LA, San Fran and Bakersfield, and features Dwayne Johnson and Kylie Minogue amongst others! Directed by Brad Peyton this is the story of a magnitude 9 earthquake along California's San Andreas fault line that sees the earth torn apart from under Los Angeles all the way to San Francisco. Needing to locate his estranged daughter search & rescue helicopter pilot Ray Gaines (Dwayne Johnson) and his ex-wife Emma (Carla Gugino) embark on a treacherous journey through the devastation to reach their daughter and escape to safety together with a few other misplaced refugees along the way no doubt. En route cities crumble, the earth will split open, fire & brimstone will spew forth, tidal waves will engulf cities, people will inevitably die by the thousands, after shocks will be felt on the east coast and the world will never be the same again - thanks God though for The Rock! Also starring Alexandra Daddario (as Blake - Ray's estranged daughter), Paul Giamatti, Ioan Gruffudd and our Kylie!

WILD TALES (Rated MA15+) - this Spanish/Argentian collaborated film is Directed by Damian Szifron and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this years Academy Awards. Made for just US$3.3M it has already grossed US$30M and is a bleak black comedy of six unconnected stories but connected by their themes of violence, vengeance, and what drives people to such extremes. With its story titles 'Pasternak', 'The Rats', 'The Strongest', 'Little Bomb', 'The Proposal' and 'Until Death Do Us Part' this film has already electrified audience and has picked up 23 award wins and 38 further nominations. Laugh, cry and be shocked by the range of raw emotions shown here as these characters are pushed to extremes of human behaviour.

PARTISAN (Rated MA15+) - this is an Australian film Written and Directed by Ariel Kleiman and filmed in Australia and in Georgia. It tells the story of Gregori (Vincent Cassel) who is the leader and founder of a Utopian commune that he has established behind high walls to help troubled woman whilst training an army of child soldiers, shielded from the evils of the outside world. This tale unfolds through the eyes of young Alexander (Jeremy Chabriel) - a child of Grigori's, bright, intelligent and brave. As Alexander knows very little of the outside world we learn on what he comes to discover as he is sent out with other children on assassination raids. With Gregori playing the father figure, the ruler, and the authoritarian he mentors all his children in the art of killings, survival and navigation techniques, but, as Alexander grows up and becomes more wise so he begins to question his fathers motives, intentions and decisions. A raw and emotional journey this film won the Cinematography Award at The Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize there too.

GEMMA BOVERY (Rated MA15+) - this French subtitled DramedyRom is Directed by Anne Fontaine and the Screenplay was Co-Written by her too and stars both French and English acting talent. Here, Martin Joubert (Fabrice Luchini) is a well-heeled Parisian who relocates to Normandy and settles into the peaceful tranquil village life as a baker. One fine day an English newlywed couple move into a neighbouring farm - Gemma and Charles Bovery (Gemma Arterton and Jason Flemyng respectively) and here Martin's idyllic life is turned upside down as he becomes acquainted with the young couple. Martin is an avid follower of the works of famed influential 19th century writer Gustave Flaubert who published 'Madame Bovary' in 1857. Now seemingly witnessing art imitating life in front of his very eyes, the actions of the heroine of that novel, also called Gemma Bovery, begin to mirror those of the woman before him. As his affections grow stronger for the woman, and as she gets sidetracked by other male interests, should he intervene as fact and fiction seem to be on a collision course, or should he stay away from the hand that fate may be about to deal him? You'll just have to see the movie for that answer!

Five new release movies that offer action, adventure, drama, comedy and romance this week and five very good reasons to get out to your local movie theatre. When you have enjoyed your film, share your thoughts, and then go do it again!

Movies - see as many as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

POLTERGEIST - Saturday 23rd May 2015.

Back in 1982 Tobe Hooper Directed a film based on a Steven Spielberg story, called 'POLTERGEIST' which he made for US$10.7M and it ended up grossing US$122M and spawned two sequels in 1986 and 1988. The influential Director who had made the cult classic horror film 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' back in 1974 crafted a modern ghost story with a backdrop of a suburban setting involving an everyday young family caught up in terrifying malevolent otherworldly circumstances. Fast forward 33 years, and 'Poltergeist' has been remade for a whole new audience with an insatiable appetite for such scare 'em offerings and who will be largely unfamiliar with the earlier classic horror film of the same name, which I saw last night.

I sat in the movie theatre with what seemed to be an audience of teenagers, and mostly girls who at the required moment let out shrieks, nervous laughs and stilted screams when the horror elements clicked in. Directed this time around by Gil Kenan, with horror master Sam Raimi taking a Producer credit, and with a US$35M budget, I can tell you that there is nothing new to see here!

This updated contemporary offering follows an identical story line - same family unit, same suburban estate, same things that go bump in the night, same paranormal investigators, same root cause of all the spectral shenanigans, and to a large extent same effects. Only the technology has been updated this time to give us smart phones, tablets, flat screen TV's and computer wizardry that shorts out, springs to life of their own accord and pick up static from 'the other side' when you least expect it. Some of the effects have been improved upon as you would expect given the advances in CGI over the last thirty plus years, but none of this does anything to improve on the original!

Our family comprises recently retrenched and out of work Dad Eric Bowen (Sam Rockwell) who I must say puts in a good turn, his writer wife Amy Bowen (Rosemary DeWitt), and three kids - it's all about me selfish teenage girl brat Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), frightened by his own shadow Griffin (Kyle Catlett) and young six year old innocent Madison (Kennedi Clements). Moving into their new home, things get highly suspicious and irregular from the get go, when the kids at first notice weird things going on about the new homestead. Straight away Griffin want's outta there as he suspects that something ain't quite right.

Sleeping in the attic room with a window skylight directly above his bed and a huge tree whose limbs sway menacingly in the wind directly above that window, Griffin is on edge from the very first night, and even more so when against the moonlight those limbs seem to come alive. Of course that night things do go bump and the ghostly activity starts to manifest itself. It doesn't take long before young Madison is singled out for attention and she starts talking to 'imaginary' friends. The next night having already settled down to a level of domesticity and dismissive of all the unexplained activity as 'rampant imagination' Eric and Amy are invited to a dinner party leaving the kids at home and Kendra baby-sitting. Cue bad shit going down in the house of a thousand ghosts!

Naturally there is a storm outside and as the kids tuck themselves up in bed so a shit storm is unleashed inside that effects all three in different sinister ways. Kendra's new smart phone starts to pick up unexplained static that becomes more clear as she moves around the house and into the garage; the tree outside Griffin's bedroom window springs to life (literally) and crashes in on him, and the clown toys discovered in his room the night before spring to life and attempt to kill him; and Madison is drawn to the TV set and the voices coming from it. With all this mayhem going on Mum and Dad arrive home just in time to save Griffin from death by tree, Kendra from breaking a finger nail, but as for Maddie - she has gone to the netherworld inside the flat screen TV abducted by evil malevolent unseen forces residing therein.

With only Maddie's broken voice emanating from the TV to show she is still alive but someplace else, Amy enlists the support of the local ghostbusters by way of her old University Department of Paranormal Research. They come to the house, rig up their high-tech computer gizmo's to detect activity in every room in the house and pretty soon learn that the place is well & truly possessed! As more bad stuff goes down so more danger is thrown at the resident householders now desperate to cling on to the fading contact they have with Maddie. Enlisting the help of TV celebrity ghost hunter and exorcist Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris) ultimately good overcomes evil but not before they learn that the estate was built 20 years ago on an old cemetery, and whilst the headstones were relocated 20 miles away, the corpses were not! Underneath the house therefore are the disturbed, resentful, mightily pissed off souls of all those who have gone before, now looking for a way out - and Maddie is the one to guide them!

Griffin gets his moment of glory when he goes 'in' to the other world through a portal in Maddie's closet  to retrieve her, and the spectral shit kickers are banished to damnation forever . . . or are they? Of course it doesn't end there and as they strive to leave the house forever, more bad stuff goes down before the house gets torn apart all around them and the dead rise up from the earth beneath. What is interesting to note is that while all this ghostly mayhem and demonic destruction is going on in and around the Bowen house, what of the neighbours, and the guys down the street and the whole estate - nothing else to see there, and the other locals don't even come out to see what the commotion is all about! Strange, but true!

Having seen the 1982 original 'Poltergeist' first at the movies when I was a late teenager, several times subsequently on video, DVD and then the TV, it remains a firm favourite of the genre. This though is a by the numbers facsimile that offers nothing new, is formulaic, predictable and could have been given a whole new take on the story - instead it is a chapter by chapter repeat that suffers as a result. Do yourself a favour and skip paying $20 to see this on the big screen and instead download the original and by far the best 1982 movie - you will be more richly rewarded for it, and twenty bucks better off!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

RIO : archive from 9th April 2011.

I took my young lad to see 'RIO' in eye popping all colourful 3D this afternoon with a bunch of mates on his Birthday. This animated feature film was made for US$90M and grossed US$484M worldwide and naturally gave rise to a sequel in 2014 called aptly 'Rio 2' which cost US$103M and brought home US$500M and was Written and Directed by the same guy on both occasions - Carlos Saldanha. The film scored an Oscar nomination and won three awards all up and was nominated a further 28 times.

Our story here centres around a baby Macaw, Blu (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) who is captured from his jungle home close to Rio de Janeiro and smuggled out of the country to be sold in the US. Whilst en route to some new bird cage Stateside and travelling though Moose Lake, Minnesota, Blu gets dropped out of the truck transporting him, accidentally. A passing little girl, Linda (Leslie Mann) finds the macaw, takes him in, cares for him and brings him up over the next 15 years or so.

Linda is now all grown up and owns a book store and Blu is her domesticated, intelligent and faithful loving loyal, and flightless, companion. By chance the bookshop is visited by Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro), a Brazilian Ornithologist who claims that Blu is the last male of his species, and that back home in Rio de Janiero he has a female named Jewel (Anne Hathaway) ready to boogie!

Along the way Blu meets up with Red-crested Cardinal named Pedro (Will.I.Am) and a Yellow Canary called Nico (Jamie Foxx). Not before long though the two Macaws are captured by smugglers ready to sell Blu & Jewel on the black market. What follows is a game of hide & seek as Blu & Jewel get locked up, get rescued, escape, fall in love, thwart another bird napping at the hands of a horde of pesky villainous Marmosets, escape again, get into a heated argument and go their separate ways, release a bunch of other captured birds, take down a plane, learn to fly and live happily ever after!

This is amusing, bright & colourful, has great animation, catchy tunes, is fast paced and fun. It is one for the kids for sure but enjoyable fluff for the Mums & Dads too, and kids of all ages. If you missed this when it first came out, catch both 'Rio' and 'Rio 2' now on DVD or download and watch them back to back on a cold wet weekend with the kids camped out on the sofa! Good fun!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 24th - 30th May 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Carey Mulligan does on 28th May - check out the tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 30, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 24th May

• Kristen Scott Thomas - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actress
• John C. Reilly - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Alfred Molina - Born 1953, turns 62 - Actor | Producer
• Jim Broadbent - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actor
• Roger Deakins - Born 1949, turns 66 - Cinematographer

Monday 25th May

• Cillian Murphy - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actor
• Ian McKellen - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actor | Writer
• Mike Meyers - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Frank Oz - Born 1944, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Anne Heche - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director
• Jacki Weaver - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actress

Tuesday 26th May 

• Helena Bonham Carter - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actress
• Pam Grier - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actress
• Matt Stone - Born 1971, turns 44 - Writer | Producer | Actor
• Lenny Kravitz - Born 1964, turns 51 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor

Wednesday 27th May

• Paul Bettany - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Christopher Lee - Born 1922, turns 93 - Actor
• Joseph Fiennes - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actor
• Louis Gossett Jnr. - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actor | Producer | Director

Thursday 28th May

• Carey Mulligan - Born 1985, turns 30 - Actress
• Kylie Minogue - Born 1968, turns 47 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress | Writer
• Sondra Locke - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actress | Director

Friday 29th May

• Annette Benning - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actress
• Rupert Everett - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Danny Elfman - Born 1953, turns 62 - Composer | Actor

Saturday 30th May

• Antoine Fuqua - Born 1965, turns 50 - Director | Producer
• Duncan Jones - Born 1971, turns 44 - Director | Producer
• Harry Enfield - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Director

Carey Hannah Mulligan was born in Westminster, London to mother Nano Booth, a university lecturer, and father Stephen, a hotel manager. At three years of age the family moved to Germany where the young Carey's father had transferred to manage a hotel there. While living in Germany Carey and her brother Owain, attended the International School of Dusseldorf. Five years later, aged eight, the family returned to England where as a teenager she was educated at Woldingham School.

From aged six her interest in acting was sparked by her brothers performance in a school production of 'The King & I'. While at Woldingham School she involved herself in theatre and was the student head of drama while herself performing in musicals, plays and actively supporting productions.

Her parents were disapproving of her desire to pursue an acting career, instead wanting to attend university like her brother. She applied to three London drama schools but failed to gain an offer. In her last year at school author/writer/Director and Politician Julian Fellowes gave a lecture on the production of 'Gosford Park'. She sought advice from Fellowes which led to a dinner invitation for aspiring young Actors to gain advice on their chosen career path. That dinner in turn led to an introduction with a casting assistant and an audition for 2005's 'Pride and Prejudice' which she eventually scored in the role of Kitty Bennett.

Working in a pub and as a errand runner at Ealing Studios she first trod the boards at 19 in 'Forty Winks' at London's Royal Court Theatre. In 2005 she auditioned too for the BBC adaptation of Dicken's 'Bleak House' for which she won the BAFTA Award in her television debut having starred with Judi Dench, Donald Sutherland and Keira Knightley. In 2006 she starred in several TV shows including 'The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard', 'Agatha Christie's Marple', 'Trial & Retribution X', 'Waking the Dead', 'Northanger Abbey', 'My Boy Jack' and 'Doctor Who', as well as the stage play 'The Seagull' with Kristen Scott Thomas and Chiwetel Ejiofor,

In 2009 at just 24 her first lead role hit our screens with 'An Education' by Lone Scherfig and written by Nick Hornby. Further to her breakout role she won a BAFTA Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and the BAFTA Rising Star Award. That same year she starred in 'The Greatest' with Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon.







Next up was 'Never Let Me Go' with Keira Knightley in 2010, together with Oliver Stone's 'Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps'. The following year came a return to the stage with 'Through a Glass Darkly' which like many of her works to date was much praised and highly lauded. This led to 'Drive' for Director Nicholas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, and Oscar Isaac for which she was nominated for her second BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. Steve McQueen's 'Shame' with Michael Fassbender followed that same year and the two latter films debuting at the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals respectively.

In 2013 she starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann's 'The Great Gatsby' followed by Joel & Ethan Coen's 'Inside Llewyn Davis' with Oscar Isaac once again. Following this was the TV mini-series 'The Spolis of Babylon', the 'Skylight' with Bill Nighy and Directed by Stephen Daldry, with 'Far from the Madding Crowd' and 'Suffragette' with Meryl Streep and Helena Bonham Carter both due later this year.

To date Mulligan has 24 acting credits to her name, and 43 awards wins including the BAFTA for 'An Education' and a further 49 nominations including Academy Award and the Golden Globe nods for 'An Education' and the BAFTA for 'Drive'.

In 2009 she participated in the 'Safe Project' to raise awareness of sex trafficking, she has been  an ambassador for the Alzheimer's Society since 2012, and from 2014 for 'War Child' also. She married Marcus Mumford (of Mumford & Sons) in April 2012, and they are expecting their first child this year.

Carey Mulligan - so much talent from someone still so young; experienced in film, TV and theatre; determined and focused; grounded and humble; charmingly playboyish and beautiful too - Happy 30th Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 21st May 2015.

With Winter fast approaching (in Australia anyway!) there are plenty of reasons to get out to your local multiplex to be entertained with a movie of choice from blockbusting epic, to original horror, to thought provoking Sci-Fi and most things in between. And, in the weeks ahead there is more cinematic goodness to come, to add heaps more excuses for your big screen viewing pleasure as the cooler months take hold - unless of course you live in the northern hemisphere!

For the week ahead there are three new offerings that recreate a classic horror chiller updated for the modern era; an undercover espionage action comedy caper; and an historical true story drama spanning sixty years. Of course added to this there are plenty more large and small movies and mainstream and independent films to choose from. So, do yourself a favour and catch a big screen experience in the week ahead. When you're done, drop a Comment below this or any other Post and share your views with our ever growing world wide readership! Enjoy your film!

POLTERGEIST (Rated M) - In 1982 'Poltergeist' hit our big screens Directed by Tobe Hooper and scared the bejeezus out of us all for its modern take on supernatural demonic possession in suburban USA. Written for the screen by Steven Spielberg based on his own story, it was also Produced by him too and on a budget of just US$10.7M it grossed over US$121M and spawned two sequels in 1986 and 1988. Now in 2015, 'Poltergeist' is back and rebooted for the modern age and a whole new audience keen to be shocked, scared and surprised once again. This time around we are Directed by Gil Kenan based on Spielberg's original story and Produced by Sam Raimi.

Sam Rockwell stars as Eric Bowen and Rosemary DeWitt as his wife Amy, with young children Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), Madison (Kennedi Clements) and Griffin (Kyle Catlett) whose suburban home is invaded by angry spirits, who become more and more angry and increasingly malevolent as time progresses. When the apparitions manifest themselves in differing ways and with rising frequency they take the households youngest daughter into their netherworld of supernatural evil forces. The family have to muster their combined strength, resolve, determination and the forces of good to overcome the forces of evil in order to recover their daughter, and live happily ever after . . . maybe!

SPY (Rated MA15+) - Written, Produced and Directed by Paul Feig with a US$65M budget this is a CIA action comedy about desk jockey Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) who despite being trained as a field agent has sat behind the scenes for years as the ears and eyes of Bradley Fine (Jude Law) a top agent out in the field thwarting criminals and wrongdoers on a grand scale. When Fine is topped off by Bulgarian arms trader Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), Susan persuades her superiors that she should go undercover for the first time to capture Boyanov, avoid a potential global disaster and avenge the death of Fine. With more accomplished Agents available including Rick Ford (Jason Statham) and Karen Walker (Morena Baccarin), Cooper is in the box seat because Boyanov knows the identity of the CIA's top agents who now need to lie low for fear of blowing Coopers cover. This is likely to be everything you would expect from Melissa McCarthy with slap stick set pieces, cat & mouse, agents and double agents, spies and super spies, weapons of mass destruction all underpinned with a solid cast to add weight and gravitas . . . but will it be enough to carry this film?

WOMAN IN GOLD (Rated M) - Directed by Simon Curtis for US$11 and so far grossing US$37M this is the true story of Austrian Jewish refugee Maria Altmann who fled Nazi Austria just before the start of WWII to seek safe harbour in America knowing that 'the writing was on the wall'. Maria is successful in her escape attempt but she must abandon her parents, family and loved ones to the fate of the Nazi's and their pillaging and looting. Fast forward sixty years and Altmann is now living in Los Angeles, and following the funeral of her sister she discovers a number of letters written in the 1940's revealing attempts to recover certain works of art stolen by the Nazi's during the War. One such piece was painted by her Aunt, now known throughout Austria as 'Woman in Gold'. Altman (Helen Mirren) engages young inexperienced lawyer Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) who makes a claim to the Art Restitution Board In Austria to have the painting returned to its rightful owner, but of course the Austrian authorities will have none of it. The picture they claim is theirs and now hangs as a national treasure in an art gallery. And so begins a case that goes all the way to the US Supreme Court where the matter is filed as The Republic of Austria vs. Altmann and where Schoenberg and Altmann battle it out in court with the Austrian art world over a cold case that spans the past sixty years. If you're not all together up on art history or know of this story then check out the film to see how the ruling went, and where this famed painting now hangs. Daniel Bruhl, Katie Holmes,  Charles Dance, Elizabeth McGovern and Jonathan Pryce also star.

Three films all offering something different. Get out amongst it in the week ahead and do yourself a favour and catch any one of these, or the other great content currently doing the rounds - there's bound to be something out there for you!

Movies - see as many as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MAD MAX : FURY ROAD - Saturday 16th May 2015.

After an absence of thirty years Max Rockatansky is back with a bigger, bolder, budget busting effort by Director and originator George Miller once again at the helm in this fourth instalment in the franchise. 'MAD MAX : FURY ROAD' hit our screens only this week with all the anticipation and hype associated with this long awaited cult series follow-up. Having spent the last twenty or so years in development hell, the notion for a script had been locked away in Millers head for a very long time but global events, location shooting, studio changes, the political landscape and even the weather all conspired to create delay after delay. Finally with the green light switched on filming started shooting in Namibia in mid-2012 and US$150M later the film is here . . . finally!

The Mad Max back catalogue is impressive enough to warrant all the hype about this cult film series that began way back in 1979, with the release of 'Mad Max' with a young fresh faced Mel Gibson in the title role as our titular hero and damaged police patrol cop. That film was made for just AU$400K and grossed over US$100M at the global Box Office, and for many years until 1999 stood as the most commercially successful film of all time on a dollar for dollar basis, until the release of 'The Blair Witch Project'. 'Mad Max : The Road Warrior' was released in 1981 with Mel Gibson again starring, and generated US$40M+ including after sales off a US$4.5M budget. 1985 saw the last instalment up to now ' Mad Max : Beyond Thunderdome' with Mel Gibson again, and Tina Turner acting and singing the title track,  with US$36M+ from an initial US$12M budget - the most lacklustre of the series thus far.

I can remember watching 'Mad Max' and 'Mad Max : The Road Warrior' back to back in a special double bill feature at the Odeon Leicester Square in London in about 1983, and being stunned by the story, the visuals, the energy of these films and the benchmark set for all such future dystopian post-apocalyptic offerings. And, so I went in to see 'Mad Max : Fury Road' last night with high expectations, and I have to say came out feeling a little underwhelmed.

Tom Hardy now takes on the lead role as Max Rockatansky and he does a solid enough job as a broken man whose only instinct now is to 'survive' by any means necessary. We are set about 45 years after the world has gone belly up and everything is scarce - food, water, oil and fuel and humans prey on humans at just about every turn. The last vestiges of any form of civilisation seem to have been long gone, leaving only now a dystopian disfigured downtrodden population all vying for the new world currency - water, fuel and bullets - all of which are in short supply. Out in the desert 'The Citadel' looms large as an oasis of rock, water supply, greenery and a burgeoning diseased population overseen by tyrannical leader King Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, who also played 'The Toecuter' in 1979's 'Mad Max'). His followers are 'The War Boys' who capture Max early on, keep him locked up in a cage, tattoo his back and designate him a universal blood donor. Max is a brooding fractured man of very few words and says little throughout the film - letting his actions clearly speak louder!

Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) drives a heavily armoured War Rig to collect gasoline and other supplies for Joe from nearby settlements - Gas Town and Bullet Farm - and so heads off on her regular supply trip with outriders for protection. En route it is revealed that Furiosa is carrying 'The Five Wives' - five young beautiful girls who are Joe's breeding stock, and one is heavily pregnant with his child. Furiosa makes a decision to head off track to seek safe haven far way to 'The Green Place' across the treacherous 'Wasteland' but is quickly pursued by Joe and his entire army of War Boys when the truth is made known to him.

What follows on is a film dominated by several extended chase sequences across the barren landscape of the desert as Max at first is strapped to the front of a vehicle by Nux (Nicholas Hoult) in hot pursuit of the War Rig, all the while drip feeding his precious blood supply to a dying Nux back in the cab behind the wheel of his menacing souped up heavily armed dune bashing vehicle. Eventually after much death, destruction and vehicular mayhem the War Rig continues its journey leaving a crashed Nux & Max and countless others buried in a sand dune somewhere still shackled together. When Max comes round he spies the War Rig in the distance and begins his journey on foot, carrying a seemingly dead Nux on his back, because the two are still chained. After a fist fight with Furiosa and now Nux who has regained consciousness, Max takes the vehicle leaving the girls behind, with Joe's army in the hazy distance heading towards them still in pursuit.

It's not long before the girls catch-up given that Furiosa has several 'kill-switches' installed inside the rig to prevent such eventualities, and so Max has little choice but to take them on board and to get the hell outta Dodge before them pesky varmint War Boys descend again! And so of course this leads to the next high octane set piece that sees Joe and his War Boys nudge ever closer through a canyon as Furiosa seeks safe passage in exchange for a payload of gasoline to the keepers of the canyon pass. Blocking further passage of the War Boys behind them through an orchestrated rock fall, the War Rig heads off but not before Joe in his 4WD Monster Truck is able to scale the rock slide and head off in pursuit once more, joined this time by the canyon dwellers who have just seen their fuel payload go up in billowing black smoke!

And so the journey continues with more car-nage, more death, more destruction and more vehicular mayhem as cars, trucks and bikes crash out in spectacular fashion, bodies are flung far & wide, fist fights and close quarter attacks take place at 120 MPH atop those rigs & trucks, and flames and smoke billow out of exhaust systems as every inch of acceleration is sought to gain the upper hand.

It's much the same as we saw in the opening sequence except a different location this time, and then when the dust settles we get some reprieve from the fast paced action as Max, Furiosa, Nux and the now Four Wives all spend a little time getting acquainted and start to bond. This is the obligatory calm before the storm before the final set piece where all Hell will let lose as Joe musters every last vehicle and every last War Boy to retrieve his remaining breeders and dispense with Furiosa and Max. As Furiosa drives on they arrive at a place she recognises and states her affiliation to a clan where she used to live with her mother. From here they decide to abandon the truck and head across the salt plains to another place and sanctuary beyond they believe . . . but it is a 160 day journey which they will have to do on motorbike. They head off, leaving Max behind of his own choice. Considering his fate, he follows on a motorbike to catch them up revealing a plan to return to The Citadel where they can begin afresh with clean water and a new life in safety. They agree, and so retrace their steps in the War Rig.

Of course, it is not long before they come head to head with Joe and his War Boys and so it's on again for young & old and more well choreographed vehicular stunt work as more cars, trucks, bikes of every description collide, get overturned, get burned out, flipped, nudged, shunted and ground down into the desert dust before our heroes arrive back at The Citadel - although they have paid a price! It is all very well executed and deftly handled to deliver road movie carnage to this level with expert practical stunt work combined with cutting edge CGI, but by the third set piece and relentless chase sequences it all begins to get a little predictable and a little wearing I found.

I couldn't really warm to Tom Hardy's Max as I did with Mel Gibson's but maybe it is just because now after all these years in the wilderness Hardy's Max is more grizzled, emotionally bereft, and has witnessed more death, destruction and loss than he would care to remember which causes him to experience visions of past memories he would rather forget! That said I question too why such a group would go through so much adversity, conflict, terror and danger along their journey, only to turn around and go back from whence they came, knowing that they may not even make it given what they know lies in front of them! And the action set pieces as good and as convincing as they are just dominate the film from end to end in seemingly never ending road rage written on the grandest scale - I was getting bored toward the end of the monotony and repetition of I was seeing - surely there are only so many ways to skin a cat! I was looking for a little more depth, more character development (although perhaps Miller assumes we know Max's back story - but what happened in the intervening years I wonder, and what about Furiosa too) and perhaps an insight in to the world as it now is and how The Citadel came to be.

At the time of writing 'Mad Max : Fury Road' had grossed US$27M with largely very positive reviews, but for me the jury is out and for the reasons stated above I was a little underwhelmed by it all. I shall probably go see it again to satisfy myself that my views expressed here are validated. I have no doubt that this film will do well enough catering for a whole new audience not familiar with Miller's three previous Mad Max outings, its young adult action appeal, the pedigree of its predecessors and the stylised video game action sequences. See it for yourself on the big screen and you decide, and then let me know what you thought.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-