What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 25th August 2016

This week sees the US$100M budget release of 'Ben-Hur' - the fifth adaptation of the 1880 book by Lew Wallace - 'Ben-Hur : A Tale of the Christ'. The third big screen adaptation was made back in 1959 and stands the test of time to this day still as one of the classic all time swords and sandals epics. Back in its day the Bible and tales of the Roman Empire provided rich source material with other noteworthy epics of that era being 'Quo Vadis' in 1951, 'The Robe' in 1953, 'The Ten Commandments' in 1956, 'Spartacus' in 1960, 'Cleopatra' in 1963, 'The Bible' in 1966 and more recently of course we have had 'Gladiator' in 2000 and 'Exodus : Gods and Kings' and 'Noah' both in 2014 with a raft of others in between time.

The 1959 production of 'Ben-Hur' was Directed by William Wyler, was budgeted at US$7M and blew out to US$15M and was the most expensive film ever made for its time, and used 1.1 million feet of film for principal photography, that was edited down to 19,000 feet for the final cut. The theatrical release ran for 212 minutes, and used a cast of thousands, literally, including 200 camels, 2,500 horses, 10,000 extras with 365 Actors having speaking parts. Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rock Hudson, Paul Newman, Marlon Brandon and Leslie Neilsen were all considered for the role of Judah Ben-Hur which went to Charlton Heston on a salary of US$250K for the thirty week shoot plus expenses. The film opened to huge critical acclaim and delivered US$74M in Box Office receipts delivering MGM Studios over US$20M in profits and saving it from bankruptcy. The film was nominated in 12 categories at the 1960 Academy Awards and won an unprecedented eleven for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Effects, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Sound Design and Best Music Score. It also won four Golden Globes and one BAFTA - all up 27 wins and 13 nominations. It's Oscar wins have not yet been surpassed, matched only by 'Titanic' in 1998, and 'Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King' in 2004. Will Timur Bekmambetov's 2016 retelling of this classic tale live up to those heady expectations - both critically and commercially - you'll have to decide for yourself!

This week there are four new movie openings that offer comedy, drama, horror and a Biblical retelling of a highly acclaimed classic. Kicking off there is a much loved office manager from the small screen taking his musical aspirations on the road and to the big screen that is sure to have you cringing in your seat. Then a reimagining of a classic swords and sandals epic featuring one of the most famed race sequences in cinema history; with a good old Aussie outback horror story featuring a scary monster, missing persons, and the stuff of legend! Then we wrap up the week with an offering of opposites attracting as one young girl cares for an older man through a deep rooted connection that binds them both and from which they both find benefit in their own way.

Four different offerings this week which when combined with those released in previous weeks and still out on general release, give you plenty of reasons to catch a movie in the coming week. When you have done so, share your thoughts, views and opinions with your like minded cinephiles here at Odeon Online by posting a note in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your film of choice.

'DAVID BRENT : LIFE ON THE ROAD' (Rated MA15+) - back in 1982 a very young Ricky Gervais teamed up with good mate Bill Macrae and formed new wave band 'Seona Dancing' which is best described as a mash up of sound and imagery heavily influenced by the styles of David Bowie, Gary Numan and the Wham boys - George and Andrew. They had two singles which charted at their highest point at #79 on the UK Singles Chart, and as a result of that lacklustre performance the band split two years later. What the band did however, was give Gervais his first experiences of entertaining to a live audience, and in front of the camera. Following this Gervais spent the next fifteen years working in offices, including that of UK Radio Station 'XFM' where he met his future writing collaborator Stephen Merchant. In time he was made redundant from the radio station and he began playing the egotistical self-opinionated buffoon version of his own office self that eventually was pitched to the BBC. The rest is comedy history with the Gervais character David Brent of 'The Office' running for just twelve episodes from 2001 through until 2002 over two seasons, with two Christmas specials in 2003, and 'The Office Revisited' a short film for Comic Relief in 2013. The series has been widely acclaimed, the recipient of many awards and nominations, remade in numerous countries and sold to over 80 countries worldwide, and, it made a superstar of Ricky Gervais.

Now in 2016 that character of David Brent is back with a camera crew returning to Slough to hook-up with the former 'Wernham Hogg' Regional Manager, who has been demoted and now works for 'Lavichem' as a travelling salesman flogging cleaning materials and female sanitary products. Brent however, still craves musical stardom and so takes leave of absence from work on a self funded national tour with his band 'Foregone Conclusion' in the hope of realising his dream and all the trappings that come with rock & roll fame. Having to fund the tour out of his own pension fund because of minimal ticket sales and needing to pay his band members and crew, we learn that the intervening years after leaving Wernham Hogg have been less than kind to Brent as the following camera, dialogue and documentary spotlight will reveal as the tour progresses. Written, Produced, Directed and starring Ricky Gervais, here we see the now 55 year old man-child Brent in all his sad, hopeless, excruciating yet ever hopeful persona quite possibly for the last time.

'BEN-HUR' (Rated M) - this is fifth big screen adaptation of the 1880 source novel 'Ben-Hur : A Tale of the Christ' by Lew Wallace. First made in 1907 in the form of a fifteen minute film, it was remade in 1925 in an epic silent film, the classic William Wyler Directed epic of 1959 with Charlton Heston and an animated feature in 2003 starring the voice of Charlton Heston and made by his production company. And so for a whole new audience possibly unfamiliar with the source material or the earlier films, comes this US$100M production Directed by Timur Bekmambetov with Jack Huston playing Judah Ben-Hur - a Jewish Prince of Jerusalem who is falsely accused of treason by his long standing childhood friend and adoptive brother Messala (Toby Kebbell) - a Roman nobleman. Surviving slavery for five years under Roman rule, Ben-Hur swears revenge on Messala for betraying him and his family, and so is taken in by Sheik Ilderim (Morgan Freeman) who trains him to become a charioteer for a show-down in The Colosseum which will see the two arch-rivals battle it out to the death, but not before a number of life changing encounters with Jesus (Rodrigo Santoro). The film has so far taken US$22M and has received average reviews at best.

'RED BILLABONG' (Rated MA15+) - Aussie's know how to create good quality horror thrillers on a tight budget that look and feel way more expensive than they really were to produce, and it seems that in this latest offering to join the genre we have another such case in point. Written and Directed by first timer Luke Sparke, this tells the outback story of two estranged brothers Nick and Tristan Marshall (Dan Ewing and Tim Pocock respectively) who are called back to their grandfathers property when it is left to them following his death. It is Nick's first time back in ten years having left the family home where he grew up because of a scandal that he ran away from. Tristan is the younger brother who has an axe to grind against Nick for leaving in the first place, but when a development company offer big money for the property Tristan needs to reach out to Nick for advice and guidance. As the two brothers are forced together by these circumstances, so they are drawn apart by the choices they need to make and what they learn of the property they have inherited and all of its dark, sinister secrets. As close friends and acquaintances start to go missing, and there are strange goings on around them they learn more of what will change their lives forever - but is it all real, mythical legend, a simple story or elaborate hoax that is lurking out there and seemingly stalking them all?

'THE CARER' (Rated MA15+) - Hungarian Writer and Director Janos Edelenyi has created an acclaimed comedy drama centring around Sir Michael Gifford (Brian Cox) a noted Shakespearean Actor suffering from Parkinson's disease with just one desire - to be left in peace and to be left alone to see out his days. Meanwhile, Dorottya (Coco Konig) a young and beautiful Hungarian Actress refugee has one desire too - to make it big on the English stage. The two are brought together by Gifford's daughter Sophia (Emilia Fox) after various caregivers have failed, and she needs to find someone who will offer stability, empathy and genuine care to look after her father and attend to his daily requirements. Needless to say, you can guess I'm sure that the two will hit it off forging a strong relationship that benefits both parties based on their mutual love and respect for Shakespeare, whilst those on the sidelines looking in will feel threatened and alienated by the new kid on the block muscling in on a sick old man with a hidden agenda (probably!) A predictable story but one that has been lauded for its nuanced performances particularly from Brian Cox and newcomer Coco Konig, as well as its strong dialogue and noteworthy support cast that include Anna Chancellor, Karl Johnson and Roger Moore.

With four new reasons to get out amongst it this week to your local movie theatre, be sure that you do, and don't pass up on the chance to see any one of these or those other films on general release as Reviewed and Previewed at this Blog. Then, share your thoughts with your fellow readers. In the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-