What's new in Odeon's this week : Wednesday 26th December 2018.

As 2018 draws to a close and thoughts turn to a happy, healthy and successful New Year for everyone, it is also that time of year when Awards Season goes into overdrive, well & truly! The first two months of 2019 sees more notable film and television awards than you could possibly poke a stick at, and its a wonder that the movie and TV business functions at all with all the pomp and ceremony, back slapping, acceptance speeches and lavish gala presentations, dinners and glitzy gatherings that the who's who of the industry seem to attend at this time of year. In the meantime, to all my readers, Best Wishes to you all for a very Happy New Year, thanks for your support in 2018, and let's do it all over again in 2019!

So mark up in your diary, the count down to the mother of them all, The Oscar's at the back end of February, and look out for the following awards ceremonies in the meantime :-
* 4th January 2019 - the 8th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards from the Mondrian Hotel, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
* 6th January 2019 - the 76th Golden Globe Awards hosted by Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg from the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California.
* 13th January 2019 - the 24th Critics Choice Awards from the Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, California.
* 19th January 2019 - the 30th Producers Guild of America Awards from the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California.
* 27th January 2019 - the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards hosted by Megan Mullally from the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California.
* 2nd February 2019 - the 71st Directors Guild of America Awards from the Hollywood & Highland Centre, Los Angeles, California.
* 2nd February 2019 - the 46th Annie Awards from the UCLA Royce Hall, Burbank, California.
* 10th February 2018 - the 72nd British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA) from the Royal Albert Hall, London.
* 17th February 2019 - the 71st Writers Guild of America Awards hosted by Chelsea Peretti from the Beverly Hilton, Beverly Hills, California.
* 19th February 2019 - the 23rd Satellite Awards from the InterContinental Hotel, Century City, Los Angeles, California.
* 23rd February 2019 - the 34th Independent Spirit Awards hosted by Aubrey Plaza from Santa Monica Beach, California.
* 24th February 2019 - the 91st Academy Awards from the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. A host is yet to be confirmed following Kevin Hart's swift departure in early December.

This week there are five new release movies coming to your local Odeon on Boxing Day. Kicking off with the next instalment in the DCEU that sees our amphibious hero go head to head and toe to toe (or should that be tail to tail and fin to fin) against his brother and another mortal enemy for his right to rule over the seven seas and his ancestral home. We then have a change of pace and turn to a love story against the odds set amidst political upheaval in 1950's Poland in this highly acclaimed and much awarded foreign language offering. Attention then turns to a bio-pic of the very recent past concerning the Vice President of the USA and his political manoeuvrings that still resonate to this day. Next up is a mystery comedic film concerning a dynamic English super-sleuthing duo of yesteryear who get caught up in a murderous plot involving Queen Victoria. We then wrap up the week with a CGI animated sequel to a 2012 film that sees our titular hero enter the rabbit hole that is the interweb to fix and on-line game, and almost cause a meltdown in the process.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'AQUAMAN' (Rated M) - here comes the much hyped, eagerly awaited and keenly anticipated sixth film in the DC Extended Universe, the third live action film starring 'Aquaman' after 2016's 'Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice' and 2017's 'The Justice League', and the first film in which this title character gets his own feature length outing. Development for an 'Aquaman' film first began way back in 2004 but eventually amounted to nothing until ten years later when a script was commissioned and the following year Aussie James Wan was hired to Direct. The character incidentally first appeared in 'More Fun Comics' in 1941 as a back up feature but later in the '50's and '60's due to his rising popularity became a founding member of 'The Justice League' and in the '90's he was taken a lot more seriously again by those writers depicting his role as the head of Atlantis and King of the Seven Seas. This film saw its London World Premier at the end of November, went on release in China in early December breaking various records, has so far grossed US$489M having been released in the US on 21st December, off the back of a Budget at circa US$180M, and has generated mixed or average Reviews so far. A sequel is already in the early stages of development.

At some point in the very dim and distant past, the city of Atlantis was once home to the most advanced civilisation on Earth. Now submerged beneath the ocean, Atlantis is an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm (Patrick Wilson). With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to unite the seven underwater kingdoms by force if necessary, and then declare war on the surface world out of the belief that humanity is responsible for polluting the seas (seems like a reasonable enough belief to me!!) Standing in his way is Aquaman (Jason Mamoa), Orm's half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko (Willem Dafoe), Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the oceans deep. Also starring Dolph Lundgren, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, Graham McTavish, Temuera Morrison and Julie Andrews lends her voice talents.

'COLD WAR' (Rated M) - here we have a highly acclaimed Polish foreign language film that is Directed and Co-Written by Pawel Pawlikowski, and said to be loosely inspired by the lives of the Director's parents during the Cold War years of the 1950's in Poland. So far the film has won 15 awards and been nominated for a further 24 including being screened in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Pawlikowski took out the award for Best Director. It has also been selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards to be held in late February 2019. For its brief running time of just 85 minutes, the film is set against a backdrop of the Cold War years in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris, depicting an impossible love story in impossible times between a musical director Wiktor Warski (Tomasz Kot) who discovers a young singer Zuzanna Lichon (Joanna Kulig), and follows their subsequent love story over the years. The film was made for under US$5M, has so far grossed US11M and has received widespread Critical acclaim.

'VICE' (Rated M) - this American biographical comedy offering is helmed by Director, Producer, Screenwriter and Actor Adam McKay and has already created a certain amount of buzz around the awards circuit having so far picked up five award wins, six nominations and a further 26 nods of yet to be announced awards including six Golden Globe nominations to be awarded in early January 2019. The story here starts with Governor George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) of Texas who chooses Dick Cheney (Christian Bale), the CEO of Halliburton Co., to be his Republican running mate in the 2000 American Presidential election. Cheney's impressive resume takes in time as White House Chief of Staff, House Minority Whip and Defence Secretary, and as such is no stranger to the political arena. When Bush wins by a narrow margin, Cheney begins to use his newfound power to help reshape the country . . .  and the world in ways which still resonate to this day. Also starring Steve Carell as Donald Rumsfeld, Tyler Perry as Colin Powell, Bill Pullman as Nelson Rockefeller, Bill Camp as Gerald Ford with Jesse Plemmons, Amy Adams, Alison Pill, Eddie Marsan, Shea Whigham and LisaGay Hamilton. The film cost US$60M to produce, and is released in the US this week too.

'HOLMES AND WATSON' (Rated M) - here we have another take on that famed 19th Century British sleuth pairing created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. This time, this American mystery comedy offering is Directed and Written for the screen by Etan Cohen and stars Will Ferrell as Holmes and John C. Reilly as Watson. Costing US$42M to make, the film is released in the US on 25th December, and the story here surrounds our intrepid Super Sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his trusted sidekick Dr. Watson as they investigate a murder at Buckingham Palace. They quickly learn that the clock is counting down on four days in which they have to crack the case, before Queen Victoria herself becomes the next victim of criminal mastermind James Moriarty (Ralph Fiennes). Also starring Rob Brydon, Hugh Laurie, Rebecca Hall, Kelly Macdonald, Pam Ferris and Lauren Lapkus.

'RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET' (Rated PG) - in 2012 Walt Disney released 'Wreck it Ralph' - a computer animated comedy film that went onto receive 33 award wins and another 42 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit, as well as collecting a US$471M Box Office haul off the back of a US$165M budget outlay. Now in late 2018 we have the sequel as Directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston who also Co-Wrote the story. Starring much of the voice cast reprising their roles plus new voice talent this time around, the film here centers around video game bad guy Ralph (John C. Reilly) and fellow misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) who must risk it all by traveling into the World Wide Web in search of a replacement part to save Vanellope's video game, 'Sugar Rush'. Finding themselves way in over their heads, Ralph and Vanellope rely on the citizens of the internet (aka 'the netizens') to help navigate their way, including an entrepreneur named Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), who is the head algorithm and the heart and soul of trend-making site BuzzzTube. Also starring the voice work of Gal Gadot, Alan Tudyk, Alfred Molina, Ed O'Neill, Jane Lynch, Hamish Blake and numerous others, this film also cost US$175M to Produce and has so far taken US$308M and has received generally positive Critical acclaim.

With five new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

OVERLORD : Tuesday 18th December 2018.

I saw 'OVERLORD' this week, and here we have an American WWII horror offering that spins a new slant on the historical D-Day Landings. Directed by Western Australian Julius Avery, whose only other feature so far has been 'Son of a Gun' in 2014, this film is Co-Produced by J.J. Abrams and is set on the eve of D-Day. Initially thought to be the fourth instalment in the 'Cloverfield' series, this rumour was subsequently denied by Abrams earlier in 2018. The film was released in the US on 9th November, cost US$38M to make, has so far grossed US$42M and has generated mixed or average Reviews so far.

On the eve of D-Day in early June 1944, American paratroopers are preparing to drop in behind enemy lines to penetrate the walls of a fortified church and destroy a radio transmitter. When their plane is shot down the five remaining soldiers Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell), Private Boyce (Jovan Adepo), sniper Tibbet (John Magaro), photographer Chase (Iain De Caestecker) and Dawson (Jacob Anderson) must continue on foot.

When Dawson inadvertently steps on a landmine and is killed, the remaining four must continue steadfastly onward. In doing so they encounter French woman Chloe (Mathilde Ollivier) who agrees to escort the group to their ultimate destination. They learn en route that Chloe lives with her younger brother Paul (Gianny Taufer) and her aunt who was the subject of Nazi experiments in the vicinity of the church and has consequently been horribly disfigured and is in serious ill health. The group arrive at Chloe's home in the village where the church is located, and take time to take stock of their munitions and rest up, agreeing to start their mission at 3:00am, and have the church destroyed to rubble by 6:00am - the planned time of the commencement of the allied forces landings on the coast of Normandy.

Corporal Ford orders Tibbet and Chase to check on the planned rendezvous site in the event that any of the other soldiers from their downed aircraft survived and made it. Meanwhile, Ford and Boyce hang back while a routine inspection is conduced on the household by a Nazi patrol, led by SS Hauptsturmführer Wafner (Pilou Asbaek). The two soldiers remain motionless upstairs in the attic looking down on the unfolding events below through cracks in the floorboards. When Wafner attempts to rape Chloe, Boyce intervenes and they take him prisoner, with Ford rendering the Nazi Officer unconscious with a swift headbutt.

Boyce goes off in search of Tibbet and Chase to the rendezvous point, but en route comes close to the perimeter fence of the church. There he sees a cart load of naked disfigured bodies all lined up and torched several time with two flamethrowers, overseen by some official looking doctor type wearing spectacles and a white coat. Boyce is chased down by a very angry dog, and hot on his heels he manages to evade attack by jumping into the back of a truck containing the dead bodies of several of his paratrooper colleagues. The truck passes through the heavily fortified gates of the church, and the bodies are unloaded by two German soldiers. Boyce escapes the truck and begins to snoop around. He comes across a lab where seemingly bizarre experiments are being undertaken on humans.

Boyce is shocked and horrified by what he has witnessed and notices a black tar like substance that is rising up from under ground that seems to be distilled into some kind of serum, which is being injected into the less than willing patients. Boyce takes a sample of the serum already prepped up in a syringe, and rescues Rosenfeld (Dominic Applewhite) a fellow paratrooper being prepped up for experimentation, who was captured by the Nazis. The pair escape the church building through a waste tunnel.

Boyce and Rosenfeld make it back to Chloe's house, where Rosenfeld has his wounds attended to. Wafner refuses to explain what the serum is when questioned and as a result is strung up and gets a serious beating at the hands of Ford. As the squad prepare their assault on the church, Wafner attempts to escape, shooting and killing Chase in the process. Boyce is distraught by his death, and seeing the syringe close to hand injects Chase with the serum. Within minutes the serum brings Chase back to life, but he immediately begins to mutate, showing inhuman strength, a resistance to rapid close quarter gunfire, and turns hostile, forcing Boyce to pulverise his head with his rifle butt to stop him. In the ensuing chaos, Wafner escapes taking Paul as hostage, although he sustains a serious gunshot wound to his face by Ford in the subsequent shootout.

With time quickly ticking down the zero hour of 6:00am, Boyce convinces Ford that their priority must be to destroy the underground laboratories. So Tibbet and Rosenfeld are dispatched to create as much mayhem as they can at the main entrance and kill as many pesky Nazi's as the can possibly mow down between them, leaving Ford, Boyce and Chloe to enter the church through the same waste tunnel that Boyce had fled from earlier. Ford and Boyce split up to plant explosive charges - Ford to the radio control room and Boyce to the labs, while Chloe goes off in search of brother Paul.

While setting the charges, Ford is attacked by a mutated Wafner, who had previously injected himself with a potent mix of untested serums, which gave him near superhuman strength, the ability to heal his wounds while driving him increasingly insane. A fight breaks out and Wafner this time gains the upper hand. Boyce intervenes and is able to distract Wafner, so allowing the now badly injured Ford to inject himself with a sample of the serum.

They fight again, but the combination of Boyce and Ford this time forces Wafner down the pit where the compound was discovered courtesy of a gas bottle explosion. Wafner is down but he's not out, and in the ensuing minutes it takes Wafner to climb out of the pit, a badly injured Ford forces Boyce to leave him behind to finish what he started. Ford ignites a fuse to a stick of gelignite and waits for an advancing Wafner and now a number of other Nazi soldiers risen from the dead to approach, before kaboom!

Boyce successfully blows up the laboratory and with it the radio tower and the church escaping just in time for the church and radio tower to collapse behind him in a ball of flame and rubble. Following the destruction of the said target building, Boyce reports in to his commanding officer who has set up a base in the village, that is was Ford's decision to lay the explosives inside the church rather than outside to ensure its destruction, while electing to not mention the serum or the lab as Ford believed that neither side should have ownership of such a product. The officer in charge accepts Boyce's recounting of the story, and advises him that his company, what remains, will be reassigned to a new company as the war rages on.

'Overlord' starts out as any WWII actioner might, with a plane carrying its cargo of Uncle Sam's paratroopers flying over enemy lines at night with a clear cut mission in mind. As the tension mounts and the sky all around turns orange as the enemy anti-aircraft fire explodes in comic book colours of that era creating mayhem aboard and downing a squadron of airborne troop carriers wiping out too many lives in an instant, you just get a sense that this film is gonna be in yer face! And this where the normalcy of a war film of the modern era comes to an end, giving way to a horror Sci-Fi mash-up that delivers on the body horror, the gore and the nigh on immortal almost indestructible Nazi soldiers and French locals that are the subjects of clandestine underground laboratory experiments. The film is good fun, at times intense, often completely insane, the FX are well executed and it provides an alternate D-Day Landing account possibly like none you have ever seen before . . . . which is no bad thing! That said, it was not quite the horror gore fest I was imagining, and Boyce as the lead character seems as indestructible as those other antagonists all around him and manages to stumble around the old church with all its hidden secrets for the duration with nary a scrape. That said, for lovers of WWII actioners, blood and gore, wanton death and destruction underpinned by a reasonably tightly woven (alternative) story, then this is the film for you.

'Overlord' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 20th December 2018.

As another year draws to a close, it's time to reflect on the past year of achievements and to wish my global readership all the sincerest Best Wishes for a very Merry Christmas. This year I have Reviewed 48 movies and Previewed 222, and while at it provided a synopsis of some of the more notable film festivals from around the cinematic world and awards ceremonies of repute. I have also paid tribute to numerous personalities of the big screen and the small screen who passed away during the last twelve months, but all of whom leave behind a lasting screen legacy. And, for what it's worth, I've also from time to time let my imagination run away with my ramblings on film genre specific views and opinions.

Thanks for your readership over the last twelve months - it is appreciated, and as long as my global audience continues to show an interest in Odeon Online, I'll keep writing with my Reviews, Previews, news and views with what's hot and what's not in the world of the moving picture. On the eve of Christmas therefore, all that remains for me to say is once again, have yourself a very Merry Christmas, may the force be with you, your God by your side, and a movie that sparks your interest to visit your local Odeon for a few hours of escapism. Have fun, stay safe, and see as many films as you can.

This week we have four new films to tease you out to your local Odeon in the week before Christmas, two of which are of a historical costume drama type, one is of a Sci-Fi alternative world and the other is set in the here and now. First up then we launch with an acclaimed Grecian Director who takes us down a path of the English aristocracy in the early 18th Century and various members of the Royal household jockeying to be the favoured one by the fragile ruling Queen of the time. Next up we turn to an historical biographical drama recounting the story of how this acclaimed French writer rose to fame in the late 19th Century by going against the establishment. We then turn to an origin story and a prequel of a hugely successful film and toy franchise that takes us back to the '80's as this yellow VW is a whole lot more than it seems to be, and he's not the only one! We then wrap up with a martial arts telling that is a spin off of a popular three film Chinese franchise so far that sees our failed protagonist face off against a formidable business kingpin to win back his respect and confidence.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'THE FAVOURITE' (Rated MA15+) - Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek film, video, and theatre Director, Producer and Screenwriter here brings us this historical comedy drama offering that saw its World Premier screening at the Venice Film Festival back in late August where it won the Grand Jury Prize, and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress going to Olivia Coleman. The film went on general release in the US in late November, is released in the UK on 1st January 2019, has so far recovered US$7M of its US$15M production Budget, and has garnered widespread Critical acclaim. Lanthimos has enjoyed success more recently with 'The Lobster' in 2015 and 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' in 2017. The film has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture, plus 21 award wins from around the circuit, and a further 32 nominations.

Set during the early 18th century, England is at war with the French but in spite of this frivolous past times are thriving on both sides of the English Channel. A frail Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) occupies the throne, and her close friend Lady Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) rules over the country as her surrogate while tending to Anne's ill health and volatile temperament. When a new assistant to the household, Abigail Hill (Emma Stone), arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah. Sarah takes Abigail under her wing, and Abigail foreshadows an ideal opportunity to return to her aristocratic roots having previously fallen upon hard times as a result of her fathers misplaced business dealings. Also starring Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn and Mark Gatiss.

'COLETTE' (Rated M) - this biographical drama film is Directed by Wash Westmoreland, and is based on the life of the French novelist, journalist, actress and mime artist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. She lived from 1873 until 1954 and died at the age of 81, having been nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. She was perhaps best known for her 1944 novella 'Gigi' which was made into a French film in 1949, and a Hollywood Production in 1958 starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier and Eva Gabor. That film won the Academy Award for Best Picture the following year. This film tells the story of author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (Keira Knightley) who after moving to Paris, agrees to ghostwrite a semi-autobiographical novel for her husband Henry Gauthier-Villars (Dominic West). Its success quickly motivates her to stand up for creative ownership and overcome the societal constraints of the early 20th century. The film has its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January this year, went on general release in the US back in September, goes on release in the UK in early January 2019, has so far taken US$7M and has received generally positive Reviews so far.

'BUMBLEBEE' (Rated M) - it seems like the 'Transformers' movie franchise behemoth just keeps on keepin' on, so much so that this Sci-Fi actioner prequel takes us back to the humble beginnings of when that VW Beetle transformed into a Bumblebee, or was it the other way around? This time Michael Bay takes his place as Producer, having Directed all five of the original live action 'Transformers' films to date and gives way to Travis Knight on his live action Directing debut for this instalment. Set twenty years before the events of the first film and on the run in 1987, Bumblebee the Autobot seeks refuge in a junkyard in a small beach community in California. Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), is about to turn eighteen and endeavouring to find her calling in the world, stumbles across the battle-scarred and broken Bumblebee. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns that this is no ordinary yellow Volkswagen, and further the new pairing soon find themselves being hunted down by a Government Agency known as Sector 7, headed up by one Agent Burns (John Cena). Pretty soon, Charlie comes to the realisation that her Bumblebee is not the only Transformer, and that there are others who may not be quite as friendly. Also starring John Ortiz and the voices of the Decepticons include Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux and Martin Short. The film cost US$102M to bring to the big screen and is released in the US this week too.

'MASTER Z : IP MAN LEGACY' (Rated M) - here this Chinese language martial arts action film is Directed by Yuen Woo-ping, the Hong Kong martial arts Choreographer and film Director, renowned as one of the most successful and influential figures in the world of Hong Kong action cinema. In this spin off from the popular 'Ip Man' film franchise, this film charts the journey of Cheung Tin Chi (Max Zhang) who following a defeat at the hands of Ip Man takes shelter within himself, licks his wounds and becomes a depressed recluse. While Tin Chi tries to stay out of trouble, he gets himself into a fight with a local American business kingpin Owen Davidson (Dave Bautista), the big boss behind a bustling city bar precinct. Tin Chi fights hard using his teachings and his experience in Wing Chun (a martial art concept-based traditional Southern Chinese Kung-fu style and a form of self-defence, which utilises both striking and grappling in close-range combat) and earns back the respect he had lost. Also starring Michelle Yeoh and Tony Jaa.

With four new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MORTAL ENGINES : Tuesday 11th December 2018.

I saw 'MORTAL ENGINES' earlier this week, and here the supremely collaborative team of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens get their creative minds around this latest post-apocalyptic steampunk adventure offering based on the book of the same name by Philip Reeve. The threesome here Co-Produce and between them penned the Screenplay of this American and New Zealand co-production that cost somewhere north of US$100M to bring to the big screen, is Directed in his debut by fellow New Zealander Christian Rivers, saw its Premier in London at the end of November, was released in New Zealand and Australia last week, and the US on 14th December. The film has so far recouped US$23M and has received mixed Reviews.

Set about one thousand years after civilisation was destroyed by a cataclysmic event known affectionately as the 'Sixty Minute War' what remains of humanity have regrouped and created mobile 'predator' cities that devour smaller mobile settlements across what was once Great Britain and continental Europe. 

The film opens up with a thrilling chase sequence as the mega city on wheels that is London (not as we know it albeit still containing some recognisable landmarks) hunts down a smaller mining community called Salzhaken. Eventually after admirably attempting to evade capture, Salzhaken and her people are captured in the giant jaws of London, under the very specific orders of Lord Mayor Magnus Crome (Patrick Malahide).

With the people of Salzhaken now inside London, they are assembled, processed and greeted by Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving) - the Head of the Guild of Historians, a popular Londoner and a man with a plan! Amidst the captured is Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmer) who wears a scarf to mask her face. Hester has spent six months hunting down Valentine. 

Meanwhile, Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan) a proud lower class London apprentice historian and collector of 'Old Tech' (toasters, computers, mobile phones as once used by 'the ancients') spies Hester through the crowd advancing menacingly towards Valentine. He sees Hester pull a blade and lunges towards Valentine, stabbing him in the side. Tom intervenes, and thwarts any further attempt by Hester to assassinate Valentine. Evading capture by the authorities, Tom gives chase through a now rapidly dismantling Salzhaken to be salvaged for scrap, anything of value, and fuel. 

Tom's chase of Hester comes to an abrupt halt at a giant rotating waste chute, down which Hester escapes but not before informing Tom that ten years ago Valentine killed her mother, and is responsible for the disfiguring scar on her face. Valentine, arrives to find no sign of Hester, and Tom explains that she escaped, and also what she said to him. Of course he denies the accusation, but then turns and kicks Tom in the chest sending him backwards into the chute to be ejected from the city with the waste. 

Tending to his wounds, Velnetine's daughter Katherine (Leila George) asks why the girl would want to kill him. He denies all knowledge of who she might be, but says that he'll send a scout ship out to search for Tom, as Katherine was clearly quite close to him. Needless to say, he's lying and has absolutely no intention of locating Tom.

Tom and Hester survived the fall from London and come round in the giant caterpillar tracks left by London as it continues its journey. The pair reluctantly team up as they seek to navigate the Great Hunting Ground with scavenger colonies on the look out for easy prey as night falls. Luckily, they narrowly escape on a hiding colony known as Scuttlebutt, but the owners lock the pair up with the intention of selling them as slaves once they reach their destination. While locked up and en route Hester confides in Tom some of her back story, and how Valentine killed her archaeologist mother Pandora Shaw (Caren Pistorius) after she discovered a piece of Old-Tech from a dig in the Dead Continent of America which he steals from her, whilst the young eight-year old Hester (Poppy MacLeod) escaped with an all seeing eye necklace her mother gave her moments before she died. This is why Hester wants revenge for her death.

Meanwhile, Valentine has hatched a plan to rid himself of Hester once and for all. He travels to an off shore floating prison colony which contains a dangerous and deadly cyborg inmate called Shrike (a barely recognisable Stephen Lang) - the last of an undead battalion of soldiers known as 'Stalkers', who were war casualties re-animated with machine parts and devoid of any memory of their past. Valentine's intention is to have Shrike hunt down and kill Hester, because of a broken promise the girl made to the cyborg.

Arriving at the slave market Tom and Hester are rescued by Anna Fang (Jihae) - a pilot and the leader of the Anti-Traction League, a resistance group standing against the mobile cities devouring Earth's resources and carving up the landscape. During the chaos that ensues, Tom and Hester are chased down by a relentless Shrike. Hester explains that Shrike had found and raised her after her mother was killed by Valentine, and Hester promised to allow him to turn her into a Stalker like himself, but she left six months ago upon learning that London was in the Great Hunting Ground. This is the broken promise that fuels Shrike's new found loathing for Hester, and why he wants his revenge for going back on her word . . . . but really, who can blame her?

Back on London, Katherine grows increasingly distant from her father, after learning from the eye witness account by Apprentice Engineer Bevis Pod (Ronan Raftery) that Valentine pushed Tom down the chute, and learns that her fathers energy project, which he has been spearheading for the last fifteen years in the secretly redeveloped St Paul's Cathedral, is a whole lot more than it seems.

Anna takes Hester and Tom on her airship the 'Jenny Haniver' to the sky city of Airhaven, joining up with other members of the Anti-Traction League. Tom, with his knowledge of old tech, figures out that what Pandora discovered is a super weapon called MEDUSA, that can wipe out entire cities almost instantly. This weapon is now in Valentine's hands and he is ready to use it having harnessed the energy source to do so. Shrike, in the meantime catches up with them and Airhaven is destroyed in a resultant fire. Shrike, however, is critically wounded, and coming to terms with the fact that Hester is in love with Tom he makes peace with Hester and frees her of her promise, before his lights go out for the last time.

Hester, Tom, Anna and the surviving Anti-Tractionists then travel to the 'Shield Wall' which protects an alternative civilisation comprising static permanent settlements in Asia. On London which is now rapidly advancing on the Shield Wall too seeking out fertile new territories to take over, Valentine kills Mayor Crome in a coup and drums up support from London's populace by pledging to destroy the Shield Wall using his new energy source. Arriving at the Shield Wall, Anna convinces the leader, Governor Kwan (Kee Chen) to unleash the Anti-Tractionist fleet of heavily armed aircraft to thwart London. But what they didn't count on was the sheer fire power of MEDUSA to destroy the airborne fleet in an instant and burn a gaping hole in the massive defencive structure of the Wall. 

Hester discovers that the all seeing eye pendant given back to her by Shrike at the time of his death, secretly contains a crash drive with a kill switch to disable and disarm MEDUSA permanently. All that the team now need to do is get back on London, infiltrate St. Paul's, get past Valentine and his guards and insert the crash drive before the next attack . . . simple! They head off leading an airborne attack raid on London's heavily fortified defences. 

Hester and Anna successfully land on London and quickly infiltrate St Paul's. Valentine fatally wounds Anna and she falls to her death from a high balcony. But, during this distraction Hester disables MEDUSA with the crash drive crippling the system forever. Still determined to bring down the Shield Wall, Valentine orders to ram the vast mobile city into the Wall. With Katherine's support, Tom steers the Jenny Haniver into the guts of the moving city to destroy London's engine. Valentine attempts to escape but Hester pursues and fights him on the roof of his own airship. Tom rescues Hester and shoots down Valentine's ship, where it is crushed under the weight of London's huge caterpillar tracks as the city grinds to a halt without any power. The surviving Londoners, led by Katherine, make peace with the Anti-Tractionists and are welcomed in by Governor Kwan. Tom and Hester embrace now that their work is done and fly off into the sunset in the Jenny Haniver to experience what the world has to offer.

'Mortal Engines' is a visual feast that delivers on spectacle and eye catching CGI, has some solid performances most notably from Robert Sheehan and Stephen Lang, and the constructed post-apocalyptic dystopian steampunk world that has been created here seems authentic and believable enough. But the story here lacks any real development, it is derivative predictable cookie cutter stuff that we have seen many times over in other franchises that this film seems to draw inspiration from - 'Star Wars', 'Terminator', 'Mad Max' etc. Young teenagers might enjoy this film more so than your self respecting adult might, and it is certainly worth seeing on the big screen for the action spectacle and the towering visuals of London on the move, but don't expect anything new or particularly genre groundbreaking here.

'Mortal Engines' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online- 

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 13th December 2018.

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards were held at Sydney's Star Hotel and Casino on Wednesday 5th December 2018, and as the official website states, these are a continuum of the AFI Awards, which have honoured screen excellence in Australia since 1958. The AACTA Awards recognise film, television and documentary screen craft excellence - including Directing, Producing and Acting, through to Cinematography, music and score composition and costume design - across more than fifty Awards each year. The AACTA's are Australia's highest film and television Awards which began in their now current format in August 2011, following the AFI's launch of the Australian Academy. and are held annually in Sydney, Australia in recognition and celebration of Australia’s highest achievements in film and television, as judged by the industry itself.

This year, amidst all the glitterati, glamourati, and the paparazzi the proud winners and grinners of the big screen awards were presented to the following :-

* AACTA Award for Best Feature Film : 'Sweet Country'
* AACTA Award for Best Indie Film : 'Jirga'
* AACTA Award for Best Direction : Warwick Thornton for 'Sweet Country'
* AACTA Award for Best Lead Actor : Hamilton Morris for 'Sweet Country'
* AACTA Award for Best Lead Actress : Angourie Rice for 'Ladies in Black'
* AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actor : Simon Baker for 'Breath'
* AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress : Nicole Kidman for 'Boy Erased'
* AACTA Award for Best Original Screenplay : David Tranter and Steven McGregor for 'Sweet Country'
* AACTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay : Joel Edgerton for 'Boy Erased'
* AACTA Award for Best Cinematography : Warwick Thornton for 'Sweet Country'
* AACTA Award for Best Original Musical Score : Christopher Gordon for 'Ladies in Black'
* AACTA Award for Best Sound : 'Breath'
* AACTA Award for Best Costume Design : Wendy Cork for 'Ladies in Black'
* AACTA Award for Best Feature Documentary : Paul Damien Williams for 'Gurrumul'
* AACTA Award for Best Visual Effects or Animation : Animal Logic for 'Peter Rabbit'
and, The AACTA Longford Lyell Award for Lifetime Achievement was awarded to Bryan Brown.

This week then sees the release of four new films coming to your local Odeon. We launch off with a re-cut, re-edited, and partially re-shot version of a strictly adults only anti-hero superhero film of earlier this year that re-wrote the rule book in all of its bloody violence, foul mouthed, wise arsed glory. This version has been toned down for a family audience this festive season, whilst still retaining many of the touchstones that has made this franchise so popular. Next up is a tale of mid-nineteenth century Ireland with the backdrop of the Great Famine and one mans struggle to seeks justice, or revenge or both on those that did him, and his family, wrong. We then go to a revenge action thriller concerning a one woman army out to wreak bloody vengeance on those that killed her husband and her daughter - and there's plenty of miscreants lining up it seems on both sides of the law. Wrapping up the week is an animated feature film concerning multiple web-slinging superheroes with arachnid like tendencies who inhibit an alternate universe to their live action counterparts.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'ONCE UPON A DEADPOOL' (Rated M) - in 2016 the Marvel character of Deadpool aka Wade Wilson burst onto our screens in this origin feature of the fourth wall breaking potty-mouthed wise-cracking indestructible anti-hero superhero. A huge financial success raking in a Box Office haul of US$783M off the back of a US$58M Budget, critically acclaimed, multi-award winning and record breaking 'Deadpool' was Directed by Tim Miller and starred Ryan Reynolds as our titular hero who hunts down the man who gave him mutant abilities and caused his scarred physical appearance. Of course, off the back of this success came 'Deadpool 2' earlier this year as Directed by David Leitch for US$110M and bringing home US$734M in which our hero forms the team X-Force to protect a young mutant from the time-travelling soldier, Cable. 'Deadpool 3' is currently in development.

And so 'Once Upon a Deadpool' is a re-cut PG version of 'Deadpool 2' said to be more family friendly and less potty-mouthed with a Christmas twist, that also includes twenty minutes of new footage not previously seen. Those scenes mostly take in Deadpool's bedside dialogue with Fred Savage in a homage to Savage's starring role as the Grandson in the 1987 bedtime-story classic 'The Princess Bride'. Other than these additions to frame the story, and some additional light hearted child friendly themeing, the bulk of the film is a re-edited, supposedly toned down version of 'Deadpool 2'.

'BLACK '47' (Rated MA15+) - this Irish historical period offering is Directed and Co-Written for the screen by Lance Daly and is based on a short story made into a short film called 'An Ranger' by Pierce Ryan and P.J. Dillon. The film saw its World Premier screening at the Berlin Film Festival back in March this year, was released in Ireland in September and now goes on a limited release here is Australia this week. Telling the story set in 1847 during the Great Famine of 1845-1849, of an Irish Ranger Martin Feeney (James Frecheville) who returns from war to find that his mother has died in the famine of starvation, and his brother has been hanged by the British having stabbed a bailiff during the family's eviction from their home. When his plans to emigrate to America fails, he starts a vendetta against the establishment in Ireland. Also starring Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Jim Broadbent, Freddie Fox and Barry Keoghan the film has received generally positive Reviews and has so far grossed US$2M.

'PEPPERMINT' (Rated MA15+) - here French film Director and Cinematographer Pierre Morel, whose previous Directing credits include 'District 13', 'Taken', 'From Paris With Love' and 'The Gunman', delivers us an American action vigilante movie that has been described by one Critic as 'Death Wish' on steroids'. Released in the US in early September, the film cost US$25M, has so far recovered US$49M but has received generally negative Press along the way. In this story Riley North (Jennifer Garner) awakens from a coma after surviving a brutal attack that killed her husband and daughter. When the system shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself over  a period of five years, from law abiding citizen to urban killing machine using all the close quarter combat tactics in the guerrilla playbook. Channelling her frustrations at the system and the injustice served into motivation, the young widow spends years in hiding teaching her mind, body and spirit to become an unstoppable force. Eluding a drug cartel underworld headed up by Diego Garcia (Juan Pablo Raba), the Police in the form of Detectives Stan Carmichael and Moises Beltran (John Gallagher Jnr. and John Ortiz respectively) and the FBI Agents Lisa Inman and Barker (Annie Illonzeh and Method Man respectively), Riley embarks on a deadly quest to deliver her own personal form of justice by utilising her own set of very particular skills.

'SPIDER-MAN : INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE' (Rated PG) - here we have a computer animated feature film based on the famed Marvel Comics character and produced by Columbia and Sony in association with Marvel. Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman the film cost US$90M to make, is released Stateside this week too and has generated widespread Critical acclaim for the quality of innovative animation, the story line, humour and voice acting. The film is set in a shared multiverse called the 'Spider-Verse', which features different alternate universes. Bitten by a radioactive spider, teenager Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) suddenly develops mysterious powers that transform him into Spider-Man. Juggling his high-school demands with his new found super powers, he must now use his new skills to battle the Kingpin, aka Wilson Fisk (Liev Schreiber), a hulking madman who can open portals to other dimensions. Miles however, is one only of many Spider-Men (or Spider-Persons to be PC), including Peter Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson). Hailee Steinfeld voices Gwen Stacey aka Spider-Gwen, Lily Tomlin is May Parker, Zoe Kravitz is Mary Jane Watson and Nicolas Cage, Brian Tyree Henry, Oscar Isaac, Mahershala Ali, Kathryn Hahn and of course the obligatory cameo by the late great Stan Lee. A sequel is already in the early stages of development together with several potential spin-offs based on the buzz surrounding this feature. The film has been nominated for an early 2019 Golden Globe Award in the Best Animated Feature category.

With four new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-