Birthday's to share this week : 30th April - 6th May 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Kirsten Dunst does on 30th April - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 35, 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 30th April

• Jane Campion - Born 1954, turns 63 - Director | Writer | Producer 
• Kirsten Dunst - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director
• Gal Gadot - Born 1985, turns 32 - Actress  
• Lars von Trier - Born 1956, turns 61 - Director | Writer | Producer | Actor | Cinematographer | Editor | Songwriter

Monday 1st May

• Wes Anderson - Born 1969, turns 48 - Director | Writer | Producer | Actor
• James Badge Dale - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actor 
• Jamie Dornan - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actor
• Joanna Lumley - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actress |   

Tuesday 2nd May

• Lone Scherfig - Born 1959, turns 58 - Director | Writer 
• David Suchet - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actor | Producer 
• Stephen Daldry - Born 1960, turns 57 - Director | Producer
• Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson - Born 1972, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Singer

Wednesday 3rd May

• Rob Brydon - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Television Personality
• Bobby Cannavale - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor 
• Amy Ryan - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actress 
• Christina Hendricks - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actress  

Thursday 4th May

• Richard Jenkins - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actor
• Will Arnett - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer  

Friday 5th May

• Lance Henriksen - Born 1940, turns 77 - Actor 
• Michael Palin - Born 1943, turns 74 - Actor | Writer | Television Personality | Singer | Songwriter
• John Rhys-Davies - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor | Producer
• Richard E. Grant - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Henry Cavill - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actor  

Saturday 6th May

• Alan Dale - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actor 
• George Clooney - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer

Kirsten Caroline Dunst was born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, USA to mother Inez Dunst, a Lufthansa airline hostess and occasional artist and former gallery owner, and father Klaus Hermann Dunst, a medical services executive. Up to the age of eleven, the young Kirsten lived in the Brick Township of New Jersey attending the independent coeducational Ranney School. In 1993 her parents split and she relocated with her mother and younger brother, Christian, to Los Angeles where she attended Laurel Hall School in North Hollywood and then the coeducational Catholic College Notre Dame High School. Her parents divorced in 1995. By the time she had graduated from Notre Dame in 2000, Dunst had already spent ten years or so in the acting business, and chose to continue along that path that had launched her career at age three as a child fashion model on television commercials having signed up with Elite Model Management and Ford Models.

At the age of six Dunst made her feature film debut in a minor role in Woody Allen's short film 'Oedipus Wrecks' which was part of the anthology film 'New York Stories' comprising three short films with the central theme being New York City as Directed by Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. In 1989 she lent her voice talents to the English language version of the Japanese animated feature film 'Kiki's Delivery Service', and followed this up in 1990 with 'The Bonfire of the Vanities' playing the daughter to the character played by Tom Hanks. The film also starred Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Melanie Griffiths. 'High Strung' and 'Greedy' both came before 'Interview with the Vampire : The Vampire Chronicles' based on the Anne Rice best seller in which Dunst plays child vampire and surrogate daughter to the characters played by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. She had her first on-screen kiss with Pitt, aged eleven. Her performance garnered several award wins and nominations including her first Golden Globe nod. That same year came 'Little Women' opposite Winona Ryder, Claire Danes, Susan Sarandon, Christian Bale and Gabriel Byrne. 

1995 saw the release of Joe Johnston's 'Jumanji' with Robin Williams which was a commercial success raking in US$263M. In 1996 Dunst played on six episodes of 'ER' as a child prostitute taken under the stewardship of George Clooney's Dr. Doug Ross. The following years she starred in 'Tower of Terror' for 'The Wonderful World of Disney' television series, and then lent her voice work to the animated feature 'Anastasia' and followed this up that same year with Barry Levinson's 'Wag the Dog' with Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, William H. Macy and Woody Harrelson, and then 'True Heart' also that same year. Closing out the decade was 'All I Wanna Do', 'Small Soldiers', Drop Dead Gorgeous', 'Dick' and 'The Virgin Suicides' for Sofia Coppola with James Woods, Scott Glenn, Danny DeVito, Josh Hartnett and Kathleen Turner.

The turn of the new decade saw Dunst graduate from High School and lurch into 'The Crow : Salvation' the supernatural action film and the third instalment in 'The Crow' series based on the comic book of the same name. After a very limited release this film went straight to video. This was followed up by the likes of 'Luckytown', teen comedy 'Bring It On' which has become a bit of a cult classic and recovered US$90M from its US$11M budget, then 'Deeply' and then into 2001 with 'Get Over It', 'Crazy/Beautiful', Peter Bogdanovich's period drama 'The Cat's Meow', and then 'Lover's Prayer'. This leads us to 'Spiderman' based on the Marvel comic book teen web slinging hero as played by Tobey Maguire with Dunst playing Mary Jane Watson - Peter Parker's (aka Spiderman) love interest. Directed by Sam Raimi the film cost US$140M to make and brought in US$822M at the global Box Office. Dunst would reprise her role in 'Spiderman 2' released in 2004 and again in 'Spiderman 3' released in 2007. The latter two films made a combined US$1,68B against production costs of US$458M.

'Levity' came next in 2003 with Billy Bob Thornton and Morgan Freeman, then Mike Newell's 'Mona Lisa Smile' with Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal followed by Michael Gondry's 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' with Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Wilkinson. 'Wimbledon' followed in 2004 with Paul Bettany; Cameron Crowe's 'Elizabethtown' in 2005 with Orlando Bloom; Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette' in 2006 with Dunst in the title role, and then 'How to Lose Friends & Alienate People' in 2008 with Simon Pegg.

Another new decade dawned with 'All Good Things' opposite Ryan Gosling, and then Lars von Trier's Written and Directed 'Melancholia' alongside Keifer Sutherland, John Hurt, Stellen Skarsgard, Alexander Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Comedy Romance 'Bachelorette' followed in 2012 with Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplin and Rebel Wilson, and later that same year came 'On the Road' based on novel by Jack Kerouac and Directed by Walter Salles with Garret Hedlund, Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, and Elisabeth Moss. 'Upside Down' followed with Jim Sturgess, then an uncredited turn in Sofia Coppola's 'The Bling Ring', then 'Anchorman 2 : The Legend Continues' with Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, followed up with 'The Two Faces of January' with Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Isaac.

Jeff Nichols 'Midnight Special' with Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton and Adam Driver and the still on general release 'Hidden Figures' with Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae and Kevin Costner bring us up to date in terms of feature films. In between time Dunst Directed and Co-Wrote two short films - the sixteen minute 'Welcome' in 2007 and the seven minute 'Bastard' in 2010 which was shown at both the Tribeca and Cannes Film Festivals. Over the years she has also appeared in numerous made for television films such as 'The Siege at Ruby Ridge', 'Fifteen and Pregnant', and 'The Devil's Arithmetic', and television series appearances including 'Sisters' in 1993, 'Touched by an Angel' and 'The Outer Limits' in 1997 and most recently as Peggy Blomquist in the second season of the acclaimed TV adaptation of 'Fargo'.

Next up for Dunst is drama film offering 'Woodshock' starring Pilou Asbaek and Lorelei Linklater and due for release later this year. As is a remake of 'The Beguiled' for Sofia Coppola and also starring Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Angourie Rice and Colin Farrell. Recently announced is made for television film 'On Becoming a God in Central Florida' and her own feature film Directing debut which she has also Written and is Executive Producing on - 'The Bell Jar' and will star Dakota Fanning, Patricia Arquette and Jesse Plemons and is due out in 2018.

All up Dunst has 74 Acting credits to her name, three as Director (including 'The Bell Jar' currently in pre-production), three as Writer and two as Producer. Dunst has amassed thirty award wins to her name and a further 63 nominations including two Golden Globe nods for 'Fargo' and 'Interview with the Vampire', a Primetime Emmy Award nomination also for 'Fargo' and an AACTA Award nomination for 'Melancholia'. She works with the Elizabeth Glazer Paediatric AIDS Foundation and has worked in raising awareness for Breast Cancer. In 2008 she underwent treatment for depression checking herself into a treatment centre in Utah. Last year she began dating her 'Fargo' Co-Star Jesse Plemons and they are now engaged to be married.

Kirsten Dunst - only 35 but have spent your whole life over four decades in front of the camera and with the critical and commercial success to back it up; became a German citizen in 2011; has been named on various 'Top' lists over the years including '25 Hottest Stars Under 25', Entertainment Weekly's '30 Under 30'. '#25 out of the Top 102 Sexiest Women in the World', and one of People Magazine's '50 Most Beautiful People in the World' in 1995 and 2002; takes tap dancing lessons; has set up her own Production Company; has sung in numerous films and music videos for well known recording artists; is Sofia Coppola's go to girl; and has amassed a varied body of work across almost all genres from the age of seven that is truly enviable. Happy Birthday to you Kirsten, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-  

PERSONAL SHOPPER : Tuesday 25th April 2017.

'PERSONAL SHOPPER' which I saw early this week is a psychological thriller Directed and Written by Frenchman Oilvier Assayas whose last film was the acclaimed 'Clouds of Sils Maria' also starring Kristen Stewart as she does in this latest offering. The film Premiered at Cannes last May in competition for the Palme d'Or where is shared the Best Director Award, before its release in France in December and in the US in early March. Interestingly enough the film was booed at its initial Cannes Film Festival screening, but at its official Premier it received a near five minute standing ovation.

Here American Maureen Cartwright (Kristen Stewart) is a personal shopper for wealthy clients and in particular famous fashion model Kyra (Nora von Waldstatten) buying clothes, accessories and taking care of lesser tasks mostly in her home city of Paris, but her shopping trips often take her to London too and other European centres. As the film opens we see Maureen pulling up to a large set of iron gates in a friends car. She gets out, unpadlocks the heavy chains securing those gates and the car drives in. Maureen paces up behind the car to a large house standing in its own grounds on the outskirts of some nameless town. We learn that this is where Maureen's twin brother, Lewis, died just a few months ago and with whom she shared a genetic heart condition. Before he passed away they made a pact that whoever would go first, would then reach out from the other side and make a connection somehow with the surviving sibling that they are at peace. They both believed they had the ability to connect with the spirit world, but his powers were stronger than hers. She is dropped off at the house by good friend and former girlfriend of her brother, Lara (Sigrid Bouaziz). The house is empty, deserted and cleared of most fixtures and fittings. Maureen stays the night hoping for some kind of message, sign, or signal from her dead sibling.

Very little happens overnight although Maureen senses a presence in the household, but is unsure if this is her brother of some other ethereal entity.  The next day we see her at work, shopping for her employer - Kyra, who is very demanding, very head strong and very opinionated to the point that Maureen hates her job and she hates Kyra. The fashion model is hardly ever there however, more often than not attending some international fashion event, or photo shoot or party or social function that demands her presence. This leaves Maureen the free run of Kyra's apartment but under strict guidelines not to wear any article of clothing or use her accessories and not to stay over in her absence . . . never, ever! Meanwhile Maureen rides her scooter around the streets of Paris collecting dresses, jewellery, handbags, belts for Kyra and delivering them to her apartment. And Maureen is good at her job - she has a rapport with all the top fashion houses and boutiques around town, and she coincidentally is the same size as Kyra.

From time to time Maureen SKYPE's with her boyfriend Gary (Ty Olwin) who is some sort of IT Consultant working in Muscat, Oman. He is keen for her to join him as his work still has two months or so to run, Maureen however, cannot move on until she has received a sign from her dead brother, so her life is on hold. She spends another night in the deserted house hopeful of some sort of communication with her brother. This time, success, sort of, as taps turn on all by themselves, first in the downstairs kitchen and then quickly upstairs in the bathroom. Then there are things that go bump in the night, and then an ethereal manifestation appears but it's not that of her brother! This sends the scared shitless Maureen cowering into the corner as the entity floats menacingly above her. She musters up the strength to look up as the ghost like figure vomits up ectoplasm, and then it and the ectoplasm disappear through a stairwell window never to be seen again. Maureen decides its high time to exit the house and does so post haste, not even closing the doors behind her.

A day or so later Maureen has to go to London for the day to collect some more gear for Kyra. Going through the security checks at the train station in Paris she begins receiving text messages from 'Unknown'. Boarding the train and throughout the journey to London, during the day and on the journey back she has near constant text dialogue with 'Unknown' which increasingly becomes more and more sinister. 'Unknown' however, will not reveal his or her identity except that they know each other. Maureen senses the danger but cannot shy away from it.

The secret messenger taunts Maureen into facing her fears and taking advantage of her employers apartment and clothing in her absence. Upon returning from her London shopping trip armed with new clothes and Kyra overseas, Maureen settles into the apartment for the night and tries on a couple of high fashion outfits recently sourced. She falls asleep in Kyra's bed, only to wake with a start in the early morning with a ghost like entity hovering above her bed which disappears as soon as Kyra comes round from her slumber.

The next day the text messages from 'Unknown' continue but this time with a greater sense of urgency and menace. Going back to her own apartment and retrieving her post there is an envelope with 'Maureen' hand written in big bold text. In it is a key card to a hotel room to which she is go, to meet with 'Unknown', but upon arrival the room is empty. She waits and waits and leaves, enquiring at the desk whose name the room is booked under and who paid for the room - Maureen Cartwright and cash, therefore no trace, comes the response from the desk clerk. Later we see Maureen visiting a Cartier boutique to collect a very expensive necklace and arm band which she delivers later that afternoon to Kyra's apartment. Upon entering Kyra is clearly at home evidenced by the upturned vodka bottle on the table and luggage and clothes strewn about the place, but, the place is all quiet. Maureen stumbles across a shocking discovery, that sees her run from the apartment.

More text messages come forth this time of a threatening nature with 'Unknown' seemingly willing to confront her at her apartment, but these prove to be a hoax. At which Maureen promptly switches the SIM card in her phone and discards the old one. She does though make another visit to the hotel room, where 'Unknown' meets with her, although we do not see 'Unknown' and her together and we are left guessing as to the identity of her assailant. When the dust has settled Maureen spends a few nights at the house of her good friend Lara, having made the decision to go to Muscat to spend a few months with her boyfriend. Lara has a new boyfriend with whom she chats in the garden over a breakfast cup of tea. When the boyfriend leaves for work a short time later, we see a bearded figure through the kitchen window behind her, walking towards the back door, carrying a glass. Maureen is not aware of the mysterious figure behind her - only of the glass as it falls to the floor and smashes into a thousand pieces. and the mystery man disappeared, as if into thin air!

Maureen travels to Oman to be with Gary who has had to travel five hours out of the city to the mountains, but leaves specific instructions for her to travel onwards to meet him. Upon arriving at her destination, she hears noises from an adjacent room - large crashing noises. She enters to see a glass floating in mid air. Nervously she speaks out asking yes or no questions - knock once for yes and twice for no! She asks if it is Lewis to which there is a positive response and she asks if he is at peace to which he also answers yes, but the knocking is very loud, as if angry. Further questions ensue, leaving us hanging with Maureen's final question which will leave you the audience questioning her concluding sentence and debating the outcome long after the credits have rolled.

Stewart appears in almost every scene within the film and she carries the film in a career defining performance exhibiting many characteristics of a lost soul who is unable to move on with her life until a life defining moment manifests itself spiritually. And in the meantime she gets on with her everyday hum drum life in the way she knows how dealing with various challenges along the way including an unknown serial text stalker, a job she hates, a city she can't leave, and various connections with the nether world. She shows us that she can do sullen, tearful, frightened, freaked-out, vacant, wanting and obsessive all within the same character that makes Stewart's performance so watchable and such a departure from her previous work. This is a slow burn and takes a while to come up to speed, but when it finally does ramp up in the second half patience will be rewarded by a genre breaking story that is intriguing, mysterious, confusing and compelling all at once. This film will not please everyone because of its slow meandering pace, its mishmash of story lines, the lose ends left hanging, and the questions left unanswered as the screen fades to black, but for others, this will add to the attraction.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 27th April 2017.

With the release of 'Free Fire' this week (as Previewed below), cult British Writer and Director Ben Wheatley has already carved out a name for himself in the ten short years that he has been Writing and Directing English television series and feature length films.
His short but highly acclaimed film career started in 2009 with British crime drama 'Down Terrace' which was made for just US$30K but picked up three award wins and four nominations including Most Promising Newcomer for Wheatley at the London Evening Standard British Film Awards, and the Raindance Award at the British Independent Film Awards. Wheatley acted as Director, Writer, Producer and Editor on the film.
The British crime drama psychological horror offering 'Kill List' came next in 2011 which was made for US$800K and again received much critical acclaim and picked up three award wins and sixteen nominations including Best Director and Best Screenplay nods for Wheatley at the British Independent Film Awards. Wheatley Directed, Wrote and Edited this film.
2012 saw the horror comedy 'Sightseers' which gave a whole new meaning to the English caravanning holiday. Directed and Edited by Wheatley the film won eleven awards and a further seventeen nominations including British Independent Film Awards, London Evening Standard Film Awards, London Critics Circle Film Awards and Empire UK Awards.
2013 saw 'A Field In England' an historical psychological horror film set during the mid-17th Century English Civil War. Made for US$385K and Directed and Edited by Wheatley the film collected one award win and eight other nominations all mostly for Wheatley's Direction and Best Film.
The big screen adaptation of J.G.Ballards source novel 'High Rise' came next in 2015 with an all star cast featuring Tom Hiddleston, Luke Evans, James Purefoy, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller and Elisabeth Moss. This film picked up two award wins and eleven nominations with Wheatley Directing and Editing once again. This dystopian drama film is set in the mid 1970's in an exclusive luxury tower block that has every modern convenience so that residents needn't leave the confines of their self contained environment until society begins to crumble and all hell breaks loose.
This brings us up to date with this years 'Free Fire' with 'Freakshift' in pre-production with Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander starring in this action horror film about a band of misfits who hunt down and kill underground nocturnal monsters. Wheatley met Amy Jump in the sixth form while at school in North London, and she has since become his wife. Amy Jump collaborates with Wheatley as Writer on all his films since 'Kill List'. A British Writing and Directing force to be reckoned with, Wheatley just keeps going from strength to strength and can put no camera lens wrong it seems. Read on for more.

In the coming week there are six new release films to coerce you out to your local multiplex or independent picture house. We kick off with the sequel to another comic book adaptation that was a surprising commercial and critical hit way back in 2014, that saw a disparate band of cosmos travelling saviours protect the known galaxy from all manner of foe, and this time around, well they're doing it all over again and this time to a killer mix tape. This is followed up by an all guns blazing shoot 'em up bullet fest set within the confines of an abandoned warehouse in 1978 Boston when an arms deal goes south very quickly for all concerned. Then we have a Hollywood set fictionalised bio-pic helmed by an acclaimed Writer, Director, Producer and Star featuring an ensemble cast that looks impressive on paper but has bombed at theatres; before moving onto two French foreign language films - one set in the present and surrounding a fifty-something year old teacher reinventing her life after her husband of 25 years darts off with another woman, and the other  set in the past at the end of WWII as a French Red Cross doctor comes to the aid of a group of nuns in Warsaw. We then wrap up with an Aussie teenage psychological thriller that pits nature against nurture from which there can be only one victor.

When you have sat through your film of choice sometime in the coming seven days, remember that you are warmly invited to share your movie going experience with your fellow readers here at Odeon Online. Leave your constructive, relevant and thought provoking observations in the Comments section below this or any other Post - we'd love to hear from you as always. In the meantime, enjoy your trip to the cinema.

'GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Vol. 2' (Rated M) - The Guardians of the Galaxy made their comic book debut in the January 1969 'Marvel Super-Heroes' #18 created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan as Writer and Artist respectively. The characters that appear in these films however, came together first in the April 2008 edition of 'Annihilation: Conquest' #6 by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning as Writer and Artist respectively and follow a different set of Members to those in the original publications. The first film, Directed and Co-Written by James Gunn was released in 2014, made for US$196M and took almost everyone by surprise by grossing at the global Box Office US$774M, was nominated for two Academy Awards and picked up a total haul of fifty award wins and another 98 nominations, and was hailed a critical success too. And so a sequel was inevitable, and once again Directed and Written by James Gunn, retaining the same ensemble cast featuring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Michael Rooker, and this time adding in Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell and Elizabeth Debicki amongst others. The fifteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Premiered in Tokyo, Japan earlier this month, is released in the US on 5th May, and in Australia,and the UK this week.

And so what of the story line? Set about three months or so after the closing events of the first film, we see our intrepid band of intergalactic cosmos traversing Guardian heroes doing their utmost to keep their new found family together and maintain a peaceful accord with one another, as they also seek to discover the truth behind Peter Quill's, aka Star-Lord, (Chris Pratt) true parentage. Along the way old enemies turn into allies, and several Marvel characters that we have come to know and love from the Marvel Cinematic Universe come to their aid, as an enemy has designs on destroying the whole galaxy, so crossing over the rich film catalogue and further expanding the MCU. James Gunn has already announced that he will return as Writer and Director for 'Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3'.

'FREE FIRE' (Rated MA15+) - made for just US$7M this action comedy is Directed and Co-Written by Ben Wheatley and is set in a Boston warehouse in 1978 where an arms trade goes horribly and spectacularly wrong for all concerned. Those concerned amount to a dozen or so low life criminals who all start shooting at each other within the confines of a dirty abandoned rundown harbourside warehouse, when the deal doesn't quite go according to plan. As the shots ring out and chaos ensues, gang members on either side get shot and killed or injured, and so the entire film plays out within the warehouse as the tension reaches fever pitch, bullets fly, the body count rises and those left standing, or limping, try to find an exit in the bullet ballet. Starring Cillian Murphy, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Noah Taylor, Patrick Bergen, Sam Riley, Jack Reynor and Brie Larson this non-stop shoot-em up extravaganza is likely to be the most bullet riddled blood soaked chaotic fun you're gonna have at the cinema this year.

'RULES DON'T APPLY' (Rated M) - this romantic comedy drama film is Directed, Co-Produced, Written and stars Warren Beatty in his first Directing gig since 1998's 'Bulworth' and first acting role since 2001's 'Town and Country'. It is a bio-pic surrounding a time in the life of Howard Hughes, whom Beatty has been fascinated with for the past forty years, and for all of that time had intended to make a film based on the life of the American businessman, investor, pilot, film Director, and philanthropist. After a number of false starts the film is finally here, having been made for US$25M, starring a huge ensemble cast, and having been released in the US at the end of November last year. The film has been a Box Office bomb, recovering just US$4M, and has met with mixed Reviews from Critics. The plot surrounds newly arrived in Los Angeles beauty queen Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins) who is under contract to Howard Hughes (Warren Beatty). Being collected from the airport she meets with her recently appointed driver Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich). The two instantly feel an attraction for each other, but what are two star crossed lovers to do when their religious beliefs are put to the test, and an employee fraternising with a contract Actress is a definite no-no under Hughes' terms, conditions, and code of conduct. Also starring Matthew Broderick, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Steve Coogan, Oliver Platt, Paul Sorvino, Dabney Coleman, Annette Benning, Candice Bergen and Amy Madigan.

'THINGS TO COME' (Rated M) - Written and Directed by Mia Hansen-Love this French/German Co-Production was made for US$3.2M and so far grossed US$4.2M since its Premier at the February 2016 Berlin Film Festival where Hansen-Love was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director, and its release in France in April 2016. Now a year later the film arrives at Australian cinemas having collected a swag full of awards and nominations by film critic associations and during its showing at several film festivals. The film has been universally acclaimed. Starring Isabelle Huppert in a career defining performance as Nathalie Chazeaux, a dedicated and passionate philosophy teacher who juggles her richly rewarding teaching life, her students, her demanding drama queen of a mother, her two grown up children, and her husband of 25 years Heinz (Andre Marcon), also a a philosophy teacher. But things take a turn when her husband announces that he is leaving her and is moving in with another woman. They led a comfortable existence, without any pressures or strains on the relationship - she is stunned and blindsided by this news, but also philosophical about it - her life hasn't come to an end and she has lots going for her. And so Nathalie embarks on a year long voyage of discovery taking in a new friendship with a former student, Fabien (Roman Kolinka), realising that her ailing mother can no longer look after herself and what to do with her independent black cat, the dissolving of her marriage, and a changing of the guard at the publishing house where she publishes her books as a sideline. Causing Nathalie to re-evaluate her life and reassess her future, this is a well crafted film about what constitutes happiness and success amid everyday commonplace situations and the impact of them when confronted with the reality of starting afresh.

'BAD GIRL' (Rated MA15+) - this Australian teen psychological drama is Written and Directed by Fin Edquist, and stars Sara West as Amy Anderson, a seventeen year old no hoper scumbag drop out recently released on probation from juvenile detention whose relationship with her adoptive parents is at breaking point. The family decamp to a new ultra modern rural house set in a compound all of its own. Amy attempts suicide, but is saved just in time by attractive local girl Chloe (Samara Weaving) the recently appointed cleaner to the Anderson household. The two teenage girls hit it off, and the Anderson parents see Chloe as a calming influence on their troubled Amy. In time however, it begins to emerge that Chloe has a hidden agenda and has ulterior motives for wanting to get close to the Anderson family. As Amy's world begins to crumble before her, she discovers Chloe's secret and the far reaching implications of it, and as a result begins to fight for that which she sought to destroy and escape from. The film Premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2016.

'THE INNOCENTS' (Rated M) - here we have another forgotten historical true life telling of WWII atrocities meted out by Russian Red Army soldiers occupying Poland toward the end of the war, upon a group of nuns. Directed and Co-Written by Anne Fontaine and telling the story inspired by the aunt of Co-Writer Philippe Maynial who was the French Red Cross doctor Madeleine Pauliac treating French patients at a post-war Warsaw hospital. Here, Mathilde Beaulieu (Lou de Laage) is that Red Cross doctor who is approached and agrees to help a Benedictine abbess, Sister Maria (Agata Buzek) in delivering a baby to a young woman in her convent. After delivering the newborn child, Mathilde returns the next day to check on mother and baby only to discover that seven of the other nuns within the convent are all pregnant, having been raped by Soviet soldiers. Mathilde decides to help the nuns through their pregnancies and child birth, but the Mother Superior (Agata Kulesza) wants their terrible secret kept quiet from the outside world and from prying ears and eyes. Mathilde therefore has to maintain her work with the Red Cross, while helping the nuns and their newborn children and maintain the closely guarded secret for fear of reprisals from the outside world. Made for US$7M the film has so far taken US$6.6M and has received widespread critical acclaim, picking up three awards wins and ten nominations from around the festival circuit.

Six new movie offerings then to tease you out to your local cinema in the week ahead ranging from comic book Superhero action fare to a gun totting blazing bullet action fest, to a couple of French foreign language offerings, to an Aussie teenage psychological thriller, to a fictionalised Hollywood bio-pic that is a passion piece from this acclaimed Director, Writer, Producer and Star. When you have sat through your film of choice, remember to share your thoughts with your like minded cinephiles here at this Blog. Meanwhile, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 23rd - 29th April 2017

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Dev Patel does on 23rd April - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 27, 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 23rd April

• Lee Majors - Born 1939, turns 78 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Michael Moore - Born 1954, turns 63 - Producer | Director | Writer
• John Hannah - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• John Cena - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actor | WWE Wrestler
• Dev Patel - Born 1990, turns 27 - Actor | Producer  
• Judy Davis - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actress

Monday 24th April

• Shirley MacLaine - Born 1934, turns 83 - Actress | Singer | Producer | Writer | Director
• Barbra Streisand - Born 1942, turns 75 - Actress | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Richard Donner - Born 1930, turns 87 - Director | Producer | Actor | Writer
• Dijon Hounsou - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Director  

Tuesday 25th April

• Al Pacino - Born 1940, turns 77 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Hank Azaria - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Talia Shire - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Renee Zellweger - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer  

Wednesday 26th April

• Joan Chen - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actress | Producer | Director | Writer
• Jet Li - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Kevin James - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Channing Tatum - Born 1980, turns 37 - Actor | Producer | Singer  

Thursday 27th April

• Kevin McNally - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer  

Friday 28th April

• Ann-Margret - Born 1941, turns 76 - Actress | Singer
• Bridget Moynahan - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actress 
• Penelope Cruz - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer
• Jessica Alba - Born 1981, turns 36 - Actress  

Saturday 29th April

• Michelle Pfeiffer - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Uma Thurman - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Phillip Noyce - Born 1950, turns 67 - Director | Producer | Writer | Cinematographer | Actor
• Daniel Day-Lewis - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor
• Jerry Seinfeld - Born 1954, turns 53 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer

Dev Patel was born in the north-west London borough of Harrow to mother Anita, a care worker and father Raj an IT consultant. His parents are of Indian Hindu descent, both born in Nairobi and emigrated to England separately in their teenage years, first meeting in London. Dev attended Longfields Middle School and there he experienced his first acting role in a school production of 'Twelfth Night'. From there he attended the state secondary Whitmore High School in Harrow and graduated with top marks in his Drama General Certificate of Secondary Education. He then completed the Advanced Subsidiary Level qualification in Drama in 2007, whilst working on his acting debut for the television teen drama series 'Skins' in which he starred as Anwar Kharral, a British Pakistani Muslim teenager in the first two seasons. At this point Patel had no professional acting experience, and gained the role because his mother saw a casting advertisement in the newspaper and took him along to audition. The show ran for seven seasons and was critically acclaimed, picking up seven award wins and thirty other nominations.

On the strength of his performance in 'Skins' he was cast after five auditions in his big screen debut in 2008 in the role of Jamal Malik, the main character in Danny Boyle's highly acclaimed 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Made for US$15M the film grossed US$378M and the film picked up eight Academy Award wins including Best Picture and Best Director from its total haul of 151 award wins and 120 further nominations. The film well and truly put Patel on the map after only his first big screen outing, with numerous award wins and nominations coming forth too for his performance.

This was followed up in 2010 by M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Last Airbender' in the role of Zuko, based on the animated television series 'Avatar : The Last Airbender'. The film garnered generally negative press and Patel was nominated for a Razzie Award, even though critically his performance was seen as one of the films redeeming features. Made for US$150M the film grossed US$320M and despite the adverse Reviews was a commercial success.

Next up was an eight minute short film 'Commuter', also starring Charles Dance and Pamela Anderson, and filmed entirely on a Nokia E8 smart phone in HD to promote the launch of the phone in the UK. This gave way to 2012's 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' Directed by John Madden and with a cast that included Bill Nighy, Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Ronald Pickup. Patel starred as Sonny Kapoor the young man who has designs on owning and managing his own retirement hotel in India. The film cost US$10M to make and grossed US$137M at the worldwide Box Office and it picked up four award wins and another 22 nominations. Patel and the ensemble cast would reprise their roles in the follow up film in 2015 also Directed by John Madden and adding David Strathairn and Richard Gere into the mix. 'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' was again made for US$10M and grossed US$86M at the Box Office.

Between these two 'Exotic Marigold Hotel' films there was the Stephen Elliott Written and Directed 'About Cherry' in 2012 with James Franco and Heather Graham about the San Francisco porn industry, and then 'The Road Within' in 2014 also starring Zoe Kravitz, Robert Patrick and Kyra Sedgwick, about the young teenage inmates in a behavioural facility to cure the main characters of various ailments ranging from Tourette Syndrome, to OCD to eating disorders, how they escape and take a road trip as a consequence. 

This was followed up by the HBO Produced 'The Newsroom' television series which ran over three seasons from 2012 through to 2014 and 25 episodes. Patel starred as Neal Sampat in all 25 episodes alongside Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston, Emily Mortimer and Olivia Munn amongst others. The show was well regarded and picked up nine award wins and another 32 nominations. 2015 saw Neill Blomkamp's near future, Johannesburg set 'Chappie' also starring  Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, and Sharlto Copley as the mechanical Police droid 'Chappie' and Patel as its designer and engineer Deon Wilson.

2015 also saw 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' - the biographical drama telling the story of the pioneer Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan as portrayed by Patel and his friendship with his mentor at Cambridge University during WWI, Professor G.H.Hardy as played by Jeremy Irons. The film also starred Toby Jones, Kevin McNally, Stephen Fry and Jeremy Northam and received positive Reviews.

'Lion' came next in 2016 and is still to be found playing in some cinemas. Directed by Garth Davis and telling the true story of five year old Saroo who gets separated from his beloved brother in Khandwa, India and is inadvertently transported 1,500kms to Calcutta. After several adventures, later he is adopted by a Tasmanian couple played by Nicole Kidman and David Wenham and grows into young adulthood, attending Hospitality Training College in Melbourne having lost all contact and connections with his family and his native homeland. This is his story of how the grown Saroo Brierly retraces his roots to relocate his family back in India using Google Earth. The film was made for US$12M and has so far grossed US$135M and has been critically acclaimed having been nominated for six Academy Awards including Patels first nod as Best Supporting Actor, four Golden Globes including Patels nod as Best Supporting Actor too, five BAFTA's including the win for Patel as Best Supporting Actor, two SAG nominations including Best Supporting Male Actor and five AACTA's including the win again for Patel for Best Supporting Actor. The film picked up 31 award wins and another 75 nominations. 

Next up for Patel is 'Hotel Mumbai' currently in post-production for a release later this year. Directed by Anthony Maras and Co-starring Armie Hammer and Jason Isaacs this films tells the true story of the victims and survivors of the devastating attacks on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, India in 2008. 

All up Patel has seventeen Acting credits to his name and one as Producer on the upcoming 'Hotel Mumbai'. He has so far accumulated seventeen award wins for 'Lion', 'Slumdog Millionaire' and 'The Road Within' and a further 32 nominations. Patel was in a long term relationship with his 'Slumdog Millionaire' Co-Star Freida Pinto from 2009 through until 2014.

Dev Patel - Taekwondo champion having achieved a bronze medal at the 2004 Action International Martial Arts Association World Championships in Dublin; has already achieved much in just nine years of screen time and without any professional acting tuition; is a grounded Londoner who knows his strengths and weaknesses, and keeps it real as evidenced by his accolades garnered so far. Happy Birthday to you Dev, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

LAND OF MINE : Tuesday 18th April 2017.

'LAND OF MINE' is a Danish/German Co-produced foreign language historical drama film that I saw earlier this week. It had its Premier at TIFF in September 2015, and was released in its native Denmark in early December 2015 and only in the last three weeks has this highly acclaimed inspired by real WWII events offering arrived into Australian cinema's off the back of 26 award wins and nineteen further nominations including a Best Foreign Language Film nod at this years recent Academy Awards. Directed and Written by Martin Zandvliet, this film cost US$5.2M to make and has so far grossed US$2.2M.

Telling the true WWII story of the days immediately after the surrender of Germany in May 1945 when a group of about 2,000 German Prisoners of War were handed over to Danish authorities and sent out to the west coast. Here they were forced to clear up to two million land mines buried in the sand along the coastal beaches there, laid by the Germans when they occupied the country, believing that the Allied Invasion would take place there.

We are first introduced to Sergeant Carl Rasmussen (Roland Moller) waiting in his Jeep at an intersection when a column of captured German soldiers of all ranks passes by. The Sergeant waits and waits at the intersection and then drives down the road in the opposite direction to which the Germans are walking. He pulls his Jeep up abruptly and reverses ten meters or so, jumps out, and picks out a German soldier carrying a wartime souvenir of a Danish flag and promptly starts to relentlessly beat him up violently and without any remorse. Such is the Danes hatred of the Germans for occupying their country for the past five years, and what right did that German soldier have to steal the Danish flag! This sets the tone for the film that will unfold, and gives us the measure of the man. We then see the Sergeant pacing out demarcation lines on the beach according to a map of where 45,000 land mines are buried in the sand on the area of beach that he is to supervise the clearing of.

Next up we see thrown together teams of young German soldiers, mostly teenagers conscripted by Hitler in the closing days of the war. They are in a training camp learning how to diffuse land mines - the type of which are buried in the coastal sands they will shortly be sent to clear. They at this point are under the command and the training of Captain Ebbe (Mikkel Folsgaard), who has even more contempt for the Germans and cares not if they live or die.

Once their training is complete, the German lads, some of them no more than boys, are tested on live land mines in a bunker against the clock. Speed is of the essence for the authorities, while staying alive and in one piece is the priority for the young lads. The scene where one by one the boys enter the bunker carrying a live land mine which they have to diffuse is edge of your seat stuff, as one by one they come out some smiling, some shaking but all sweating from their ordeal. It is their first of many such ordeals from which many will perish or carry permanent life changing injuries.

With their training complete, the lads are sent off to the west coast where they meet for the first time with the hard nosed, uncaring, brutal Sergeant whose contempt for the Germans is set in stone, and as such he is determined to treat them with zero tolerance and zero sympathy.

He tells them that his strip of beach contains 45,000 buried land mines and if they each clear six mines every hour they will be able to return home to Germany in three months as free men. The reality is though that many of his team were teenagers and all were ill equipped to get down on their hands and knees and carry out such dangerous work day in day out for three months with little sustenance, cramped and makeshift sleeping conditions, and nowhere to clean up.

Every day the Sergeant marches his team down to the beach to dig for mines. This task seems like an endless one as the team inch along the beach side by side on their bellies prodding beneath the surface for hard metal objects that must be diffused. As each mine is located, so we see shaking hands very gingerly pulling out the detonator pin, which for the most part meets with success, but along the way there are failures as well resulting in casualties and severe life threatening injuries sustained. Sometimes it's freak accidents and sometimes it's booby trapped mines too that cause the explosions, and when they do come, it's almost with a sense of relief from the tension being played out on screen.

Each early evening the team are locked inside the confines of their hut where they sleep off the stress, the fear, the anxiety of the day. Tensions mount within the team as they suffer from acute hunger, from the mood swings of the Sergeant, and from the personality clashes within their own ranks. As the team grow increasingly hungry scavenging for food which makes them sick, and weary, so the Sergeants feelings towards his young charges starts to soften.

As time passes the Sergeant comes to appreciate that his team really had nothing to do with the wartime German occupation of Denmark, and he begins to show sympathy towards them - securing them rations of bread and potatoes, organising a beach soccer game, showering them with clean water and providing pain killing medical aid to those injured. He warms especially to Sebastian Schumann (Louis Hoffman) who stands out as the natural leader of the group, and with whom he has open conversation and shares a joke or two.

In the final analysis the beach is cleared of 45,000 mines. The team that remains are on clean up duty aided by others loading all the diffused land mines onto the back of a truck for removal. Sharing jokes and light hearted banter about their future lives once they return to Germany, one of the lads becomes just a little too slack with loading the munition onto the truck. The resultant explosion sends truck parts, bodies, sand and a thick plume of black smoke up into the air leaving a huge burned out crater in its wake. The majority of the team perish, leaving only four surviving out of the original team of fourteen.

As the four remaining, including Sebastian, board the truck to begin their journey home and to freedom so the authorities have over-ruled that decision on the strength that they need more experienced Germans to clear more land mines elsewhere on the west coast, and as such they are forced to stay behind. The Sergeant pleads with Captain Ebbs but to no avail - the orders have been given and they must be followed, and after all, they're only Germans and 'if they're old enough to go to war, they're old enough to clean up after them!'. The Sergeant finds the decision to be unjust given the commitment originally made, the sacrifices he has seen in human life as a result of his mine clearing operation, and the determination seen in his young men. And so, the Sergeant engineers their release and secretly defying orders takes them to a drop off point 500 metres away from the German border, where they are released and run toward their freedom.

This is an intense, at times confronting, emotionally charged film that you can't help but feel invested in. The body of Actors give convincing  performances especially Moller as Sergeant Rasmussen and Hoffman as Schumann, and also adding weight are the roles of identical twin brothers Ernst and Werner Lessner played by Emil and Oskar Belton respectively and Helmut Morbach as played by Joel Basman. A little known story that turns the tables on the Nazi's as the downtrodden, persecuted and punished in the aftermath of the War making the captive the captor and ultimately a hero from the antagonist. This is believable, engaging throughout, beautifully shot in muted tones and a relevant story of tragedy, tension, compassion and the human spirit that needed to be told. Of the 2,000 or so German POW who were ordered to clear the beaches of their own laid landmines, more than half either died in the process or suffered serious injury during the five months in took to clear the beaches completely - more than were killed during the entire five year Nazi occupation of Denmark.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-