What's new in Odeon's this week : Saturday 1st January 2022.

As 2021 draws to a close and many of us say good riddance to a year of mask wearing, social distancing, QR code scanning, lockdowns, restrictions and ever escalating COVID-19 case numbers as first the Delta variant ripped through the world and now the new Omicron variant continues its path of mayhem, it's a time of reflection on the cinematic year that was, and the hope for generally better times ahead in the new year. This year I have Reviewed fifty-eight movies, Previewed 228 feature films and documentaries and paid my respects to 262 legends of both the small screen and the big screen who have passed away in 2021. All that remains for me to say is the very best to you for a very Happy New Year that is safe, healthy and prosperous, and wherever you are in the world, get out and watch a movie at your local multiplex or local independent movie theatre and support all those working tirelessly in front and behind the camera who like so many other trades and industries around the world, continue to do it tough. Thanks for your support in 2021 and I look forward to bringing you more of the same content in the year ahead. 

To tempt you out to your local Odeon on a balmy Summer's evening and in the first week of 2022, we have three new cinematic offerings, kicking off with a biographical offering about the blossoming romance between a young, attractive Italian woman working as an office manager within her father's small trucking firm and the heir to a 50% stake in a renowned Italian fashion house that transforms into a fight for control of that famed fashion brand. This is followed by a reboot of two classic films from the 1980's that serves as a direct sequel set 32 years after the second film, in which a group of youngsters discover their connection to the grandfathers secret legacy and the group of ghost busting heroes he was once part of. And we close out the week with an adventure comedy film about how a young girl's love for a tiny puppy makes the dog grow to an enormous size.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the three latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or 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 coming week.

'HOUSE OF GUCCI' (Rated MA15+) - is an American biographical crime drama film Directed by Ridley Scott in his second film release this year following 'The Last Duel' released in Australia at the end of October. This film is based on the 2001 book 'The House of Gucci : A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed' by Sara Gay Forden. The World Premiere screening of 'House of Gucci' was held at London's Leicester Square in early November 2021 and was theatrically released in the US in late November 2021. The film has received mixed reviews from critics, and it has so far grossed US$112M from a production budget of US$75M.

The film is inspired by the shocking true story of the family behind the Italian fashion empire, Gucci. When Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an outsider from humble beginnings, marries Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately . . . murder. Also starring Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci (son of Aldo Gucci), Jeremy Irons as Rodolfo Gucci (father of Maurizio), Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci (uncle to Maurizio), Salma Hayek as Giuseppina 'Pina' Auriemma (a psychic), and Jack Huston as Domenico De Sole (assistant to Maurizio). 

'GHOSTBUSTERS : AFTERLIFE' (Rated PG) - this American supernatural comedy film is Directed and Co-Written by Jason Reitman whose previous film making credits include his debut 'Thank You for Smoking' in 2005, 'Juno' in 2007, 'Up in the Air' in 2009, 'Labour Day' in 2013, 'Tully' in 2018 and 'The Front Runner' too that same year. This film serves as the sequel to 1984's 'Ghostbusters' and 1989's 'Ghostbusters II' both directed by Reitman's father Ivan, and the fourth film in the Ghostbusters franchise after the female-driven reboot Directed by Paul Feig in 2016. 'Ghostbusters : Afterlife' was screened unannounced on 23rd August 2021, during the 2021 CinemaCon event in Las Vegas. It was released in the US in mid-November 2021, after being delayed four times from an original July 2020 date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film has garnered mixed or average Reviews and has so far grossed US$178M off the back of a US$75M production budget. Set thirty-two years after 'Ghostbusters II', a single mother Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon) and her two children Trevor and Phoebe (Finn Wolfhard and Mackenna Grace respectively) move to a small town in Oklahoma, where they discover their connection to the Ghostbusters and their grandfather's secret legacy. Also starring Paul Rudd, Bokeem Woodbine, J.K. Simmons with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver reprising the roles from the earlier films. 

'CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG' (Rated PG) - is an American adventure comedy film Directed by Walt Becker whose previous Directorial offerings include 'Van Wilder' in 2002, 'Wild Hogs' in 2007, 'Old Dogs' in 2009 and 'Alvin and the Chipmunks : The Road Chip' in 2015. This film is based on the children's book series of the same name by Norman Bridwell. The film was screened unannounced on 26th August 2021, during the CinemaCon event in Los Angeles. It was initially scheduled to premiere at the September 2021 Toronto International Film Festival to be followed by a cinema release in the US in mid-September after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was ultimately pulled from the festival and was later released theatrically and on Paramount+ on 10th November 2021 in the US. When Emily Elizabeth Howard (Darby Camp) meets a magical animal rescuer Mr. Bridwell (John Cleese) who gives her a little red puppy, she never anticipated waking up to find a giant, ten feet tall hound in her small New York City apartment. With her single mother away on business, Emily and her fun but impulsive uncle Casey Howard (Jack Whitehall) set out on an adventure that takes a bite out of the Big Apple. It has received mixed reviews from critics, having grossed US$74M on a US$64M budget. A sequel is in development.

With just three 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 at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS : Tuesday 28th December 2021.

'THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS' which I saw earlier this week is an M Rated American Sci-Fi actioner Directed, Co-Written, Co-Produced by Lana Wachowski and based on characters created by both Lana and Lilly Wachowski, who between them both Wrote and Directed the three previous instalments in this hugely popular film franchise back in 1999 with 'The Matrix', then its first two sequels 'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'The Matrix Revolutions' both released in 2003. Those first three films grossed at the global Box Office US$1.63B off the back of a combined production budget of US$363M, but at the time the Wachowski's were adamant that the franchise ended with 'Revolutions' with the Writers/Directors going on to helm other film and TV projects together. However, in late 2019 a fourth film in the franchise was announced with Lana Wachowski returning to Direct but this time without her sister. This film saw its World Premier showcasing in Toronto, Canada on 16th of this month and was released in Russia on the same day, before its worldwide release this week. Early indications are that the film has garnered generally positive Reviews and has so far grossed US$69M from its production budget of US$190M. 

Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a successful video game developer and the creator of The Matrix video game trilogy based on faint albeit recurring memories of Neo. At a local coffee shop, Anderson comes into contact with Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss), married to Chad (Chad Stahelski) and with two young boys but with no recollection of her past, on which Anderson based Trinity, a character in his game. Anderson struggles at times to differentiate between what he perceives as his reality from his dreams. His therapist (Neil Patrick Harris) prescribes him blue pills to suppress such occurrences, which one day he just stops taking.

Anderson operates a programme simulation called a modal, a testing environment, created to develop game characters. A girl named Bugs (Jessica Henwick) learns that the modal is running old code in a loop, that shows when Trinity first found Neo within the original Matrix. Bugs discovers a programme manifesting Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), and helps free him before Anderson's business partner, Smith (Jonathan Groff), can erase the modal. After discovering his location, Bugs and Morpheus extract Anderson from the Matrix and learn that Smith is actually Agent Smith (as portrayed by Hugo Weaving in the first three films).

Neo wakes up in a pod covered in a gel like substance and with wires and probes protruding from his arms, chest, back, neck and mouth. He observes Trinity confined in another one nearby, as machines dispatched by Bugs to retrieve and transport him to Bugs' ship, and into the human stronghold, Io. There, he meets Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), who tells him that sixty years have passed in the real world since the Machine War, and that human survivors have joined forces with machines that defected to join human society. Though Neo is adamant he wants to rescue Trinity, Niobe opposes and orders Neo to stay out of the Matrix and imprisons him. Bugs and her crew disobey the order and bust Neo out of his cell in order that he can free Trinity.

Neo, Bugs and the crew enter the Matrix, where they are confronted by Smith and other exile programs including The Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) who want the Matrix restored to its earlier format. A fight breaks out in an abandoned warehouse, and Neo battles Smith, ultimately gaining the upper hand as he steadily regains his hand to hand combat capabilities. They leave and locate Tiffany working in her motorcycle workshop, but just as Neo begins talking to her, his therapist appears and immobilises Neo by manipulating time to slow motion. He reveals his identity as the Analyst, a programme designed to study the human mind. He explains that after Neo and Trinity died, he was able to resurrect the pair to study them, by rebuilding their bodies, which explains why they have only aged twenty years in the last sixty. In doing so, he found that suppressing their memories but keeping them close produced an efficient, power-producing Matrix, resistant to the anomalies that resulted in the previous versions failing. Neo's release has destabilised the system and threatened a reboot of the Matrix, according to the Analyst, who has bought time from his superiors, whom he convinced that Neo would voluntarily return to his pod to avoid putting Trinity's life at risk.

Neo and Bugs forcibly exit the Matrix when another ship sent by Niobe brings their ship back to Io. Niobe takes Neo to Sati (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), an exile programme he previously met, whose parents were killed by the machines. Looking to avenge their death, Sati helps concoct a plan to free Trinity. Back in the Matrix at the cafe where Neo and Tiffany first met, Neo offers a deal with the Analyst that if he fails to convince Trinity to remember her past and voluntarily leave the Matrix, he would agree to return to his pod. The Analyst accepts. As Neo tries to convince Tiffany she's part of the Matrix, her family appears tempting her to stay. She initially gives in but before she has exited the cafe she rejects their pleas recalling her true identity as Trinity. As the Analyst attempts to kill her, Smith appears seeking revenge for his own imprisonment, which gives Neo, Trinity, and the others the chance to escape. What follows is a high octane chase through the streets with a swarm of sentient computer beings hot on the tail of Trinity and Neo riding on the back of a motorcycle as sentient bodies are shot, crushed, run over, mowed down and obliterated and cars explode all around them. 

Being the last waiting to be extracted, Neo and Trinity become stranded on the roof top of a skyscraper as heavily armed helicopters shoot off countless rounds of machine gun fire at them. Holding hands, they leap off the roof top hoping Neo is able to harness his ability to fly, but instead Trinity gains the ability, and flies them to safety. With their recently discovered control over the Matrix, both return to meet the Analyst, who now has taken on a submissive stance. They jokingly thank him for the opportunity of a fresh start, which they intend to use to remodel the Matrix as they deem most appropriate. The Analyst looks down but not out, as Neo and Trinity fly off into the sunset.  

'The Matrix Resurrections' is essentially a love story wrapped up in computer code with fast paced action, stunning visuals, and plenty of nods to the original trilogy using actual footage lifted straight from those first three films to remind or educate the viewer of what came before and how we got to this point. The film will no doubt please fans of those first three instalments, and it is easily the best since 1999's 'The Matrix' first hit cinema's screens with its bullet-time, red pill/blue pill, wire-fu fight sequences that defined an era of action Sci-Fi movies. The strong cast here also are a return to form for Reeves and Moss who especially have chemistry that is clearly evident in every scene they share together. At a running time of two and a half hours the film moves a long at a swift pace and never leaves you wanting, and the ending certainly leaves room for a follow-on movie, so whether this is defined as a sequel and the end of the franchise, or a reboot and the start of something new, remains to be seen. See it on the big screen - you won't be disappointed.

'The Matrix Resurrections' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SPIDER-MAN : NO WAY HOME : Tuesday 21st December 2021.

'SPIDER-MAN : NO WAY HOME' which I saw at my local multiplex last week, is the eagerly anticipated M Rated American Superhero film based on the Marvel comics character Spider-Man and is the follow up to 2017's 'Spider-Man : Homecoming' and 2019's 'Spider-Man : Far From Home' and is again Directed by Jon Watts. This film is the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is the fourth film in Phase Four of the MCU following 'Black Widow', 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' and 'The Eternals' with 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' coming next in May 2022 followed by a string of others through 2023. This film saw its World Premier screening in Los Angeles on 13th of this month and was released worldwide later that same week having so far grossed US$1.05B off the back of a production budget of US$200M and has garnered generally positive critical acclaim. A sequel is already in development.

After Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) identity as Spider-Man was exposed by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) at the end of 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' with J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) the Executive Reporter of the sensationalist news website TheDailyBugle.net who is provided a doctored video exposing Spider-Man's identity prompting him to broadcast it to the entire world. He frames Parker for the attack on London, claiming Mysterio as a hero, and Spider-Man as a murderer. Needless to say Parker's life and Spider-Man's reputation are turned upside down. Parker, his girlfriend M.J. (Zendaya), best friend Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) are arrested without charge and interrogated at the Department of Damage Control. Lawyer Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) is able to wrangle Parker out of any charges as the group wrestle with the negative worldwide publicity that has been thrown their way. Meanwhile, Parker, M.J. and Ned are eagerly awaiting the results of their applications to M.I.T. and when they arrive in the post they all convene at the cafe where M.J. works to open their envelopes at the same time. Needless to say, all three are rejected on the grounds of the negative publicity surrounding them which the university doesn't want to get entrenched in. 

Down but not out, Parker visits Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) at the Sanctum Sanctorum and asks for his help, in creating a spell that will make the world forget that Parker is Spider-Man. Reluctantly, Strange agrees and sets about casting his magic. However, during the process, Parker repeatedly interrupts by asking for exceptions that should include M.J., Ned and Aunt May and a few others to be precluded from forgetting. This causes the spell to become corrupted, but thankfully, Strange is able to contain it. Parker leaves, believing that nothing has happened. 

Parker decides to track down the M.I.T. Administrator who is on her way to the airport, at the suggestion of Stephen Strange to simply have a conversation and ask her to reconsider M.J.'s and Ned's applications as they were only innocent bystanders in the recent events that brought them all to this point. Stuck in traffic, Parker is suddenly attacked by Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina). Octavius tears open Parker's nanotechnology Iron-Spider suit which in turn links up with his own mechanical octopus tentacles which gives Parker the opportunity to take control and disable them. Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) then arrives and also attacks. Strange teleports Parker back to the Sanctorum and does the same with Octavius only locking the latter in a cell next to Curt Connors aka The Lizard (Rhys Ifans). Strange tells Parker that the corrupted spell briefly allowed people from other universes who know Spider-Man's identity to enter our own, and as a consequence orders Parker, M.J., and Ned to locate and capture them to minimise the harm they are likely to cause. 

Parker captures Max Dillon aka Electro (Jamie Foxx) and Flint Marko aka Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) as Osborn reclaims control of himself from his alter-ego Green Goblin persona. Osborn goes to a F.E.A.S.T. (Food, Emergency Aid, Shelter and Training) building, where May comforts him before Parker retrieves him. While discussing their previous battles with Spider-Man, Osborn, Octavius, and Dillon come to realise that they were pulled from their universes just before their deaths at Spider-Man's hands. Strange prepares a spell that will send the villains back to their own universes, but Parker counters that they should first cure the villains' powers to avoid them dying when they return. Parker steals the boxed spell, and following a foot chase in the Mirror Dimension in which Parker successfully traps Stephen Strange takes the villains to Happy Hogan's (Jon Favreau) apartment with Aunt May. There, using Stark Industries hi-tech, Parker is successful in curing Octavius, but Osborn's Goblin alter-ego takes control and convinces the uncured villains to betray Parker. As Dillon, Marko, and Connors all escape, Osborn and Spider-Man fight with the latter coming off worse. Osborn fatally injures May, who in her dying breath says to Parker that 'with great power, there must also come great responsibility' before succumbing to her injury. Parker is distraught at the death of his beloved Aunt. 

Ned discovers he can create portals using Strange's sling ring, which he and M.J. use in an attempt to locate Parker. They find 'Peter-Two' (Tobey Maguire) and 'Peter-Three' (Andrew Garfield), alternate versions of Parker who were summoned from their respective universes by Strange's spell. Ned and M.J. locate Parker and comfort him while the other Parkers share stories of losing loved ones. They encourage Parker to fight in May's honour. The three Parkers develop cures for the villains and coax Dillon, Marko, and Connors to the Statue of Liberty, where Peter-Two and Parker cure Marko and Connors. Octavius arrives to help and cures Dillon.

Ned frees Strange from the Mirror Dimension where he had been trapped for twelve hours, just as Osborn arrives and destroys the boxed spell, rupturing the barrier between universes. While Strange tries to maintain the barrier, an enraged Parker attempts to kill Osborn this time gaining the upper hand, but Peter-Two stops him. Peter-Three and Parker inject Osborn with his cure, so restoring his sanity. Parker realises the only way to protect the multiverse is to erase himself from everyone's memory and requests that Strange do so, promising M.J. and Ned that he will find them again. Strange casts the spell returning everyone to their respective universes and wiping everyone's memory of Parker in his universe. Two weeks later, Parker visits M.J. and Ned at the cafe to reintroduce himself, but thinks better of it. While mourning at May's grave, he has a conversation with Hogan who doesn't recognise him, but as a consequence is inspired to carry on. He moves into an apartment, makes a new Spider-Man suit and jumps out the window continuing with his web-slinging superheroics, just as J. Jonah Jameson beams over the airwaves that Spider-Man hasn't been seen for three weeks now and that he should come forward and reveal his true identity. 

Watch out for the mid-credits sequence featuring Eddie Brock aka Venom (Tom Hardy) and the end credits scene featuring a brief clip from 'Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness' due in cinema's in May 2022. 

'Spider-Man : No Way Home' deserves all the critical praise that is being bestowed upon it, and at in excess of US$1B at the global Box Office deserves to be the highest grossing film of 2021. Here Jon Watts has assembled a film that is chock full of heroes and villains, an impressive ensemble cast, large scale action, moments of laugh out loud humour, sharp dialogue, romance, emotion, grief and visual effects that very successfully pull together three Spider-Man franchises into one very satisfying well rounded conclusion. Here we see a grown-up more mature Peter Parker who is more willing to accept the consequences of his actions and take ownership of the end result, whilst still sharing a laugh and joke with 'Peter Two', 'Peter Three' Stephen Strange and Doc Ock in genuine heartfelt moments. Benedict Cumberbatch and Willem Dafoe add weight to an already impressive line up of acting talent. With a follow-up film already in development, who knows where the franchise will take us next, and even if Tom Holland will feature, but you can be sure that this will be a tough act to follow. My only criticism, and it's a small one at that, is that at a run time of two and a half hours, it could have been trimmed by fifteen minutes at least me thinks. That said, fans of the franchise certainly won't be disappointed. 

'Spider-Man : No Way Home' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Sunday 26th December 2021.

With the festive season now upon us, it would be remiss of me not to wish my global readership all the very best wishes for a Merry, Happy and safe Christmas, wherever you are in world, whoever you share it with and whatever it is you do to celebrate the occasion. Thanks for your continued support over the past twelve months - it is your readership that makes my synopsis and reviews of the latest release new movies all worthwhile, and I look forward to doing more of the same in 2022. Until then, Merry Christmas - I know what I'll be doing - celebrating down by the beach on a warm mid-Summer's day hopefully.  

This week with seven new release films to tease you out to your local Odeon over this Christmas festive period, we have something for everyone. And, we launch with the fourth film in this successful Sci-Fi action franchise and the first instalment in eighteen years that sees our two protagonists from the first films reprise their roles and enter a simulated reality which intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. Next up is a remake of a classic 1961 film about two street gangs in 1957 New York and a growing romance between a boy and girl caught on either side of these warring factions. Then we turn to a film set in 1973 where a young high school boy and girl meet and navigate first love in the San Fernando Valley. This is followed by an adaptation of a William Shakespeare play in which a Scottish Lord has designs on becoming the King of Scotland as foretold by three witches. Coming next is a story set in 1789 France about a cook who is fired from his aristocratic household for doing his own thing with his culinary delights, only to take refuge in a regional inn, and to ultimately establish what is in all likelihood France's very first restaurant. Then we have a Norwegian offering about a young woman who battles indecisiveness as she traverses the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, before closing out the week with the sequel to an animated feature film from 2016 that this time around sees an optimistic theatre owning koala bear and his friends needing to persuade the reclusive white-maned aged lion rock star to join them for the opening of a new show.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the seven latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or 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 coming week.

'THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS' (Rated M) - is an American Sci-Fi actioner Directed, Co-Written, Co-Produced by Lana Wachowski and based on characters created by both Lana and Lilly Wachowski, who between them both Wrote and Directed the three previous instalments in this hugely popular film franchise back in 1999 with 'The Matrix', then its first two sequels 'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'The Matrix Revolutions' both released in 2003. Those first three films grossed at the global Box Office US$1.63B off the back of a combined production budget of US$363M, but at the time the Wachowski's were adamant that the franchise ended with 'Revolutions' with the Writers/Directors going on to helm other film and TV projects together. However, in late 2019 a fourth film in the franchise was announced with Lana Wachowski returning to Direct but this time without her sister. This film saw its World Premier showcasing in Toronto, Canada on 16th of this month and was released in Russia on the same day, before its worldwide release this week. Early indications are that the film has garnered generally positive Reviews and has so far grossed US$16M. 

Set twenty years following the events of 'The Matrix Revolutions', Neo (Keanu Reeves) lives a seemingly ordinary life under his original identity as Thomas A. Anderson in San Francisco, with a therapist (Neil Patrick Harris) who prescribes him blue pills to counteract the strange and unnatural things he occasionally glimpses. He also meets a woman who appears to be Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), but neither of them recognises the other. However, when a new version of Morpheus (Yahya-Abdul-Mateen II) offers him the red pill and reopens his mind to the world of the Matrix, which has become more secure and dangerous in the years since the Smith (Hugo Weaving in the first trilogy and now played by Jonathan Groff) infection, Neo joins a group of rebels to fight a new enemy. Also starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Jessica Henwick, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Lambert Wilson.

'WEST SIDE STORY' (Rated M) - this American musical romantic drama film is Directed and Co-Produced by Steven Spielberg and is the second feature-length adaptation of the 1957 stage musical of the same name, with the first cinematic release being in 1961. The film features music composed by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It saw its US release on 10th December after being delayed a year by the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and has garnered widespread critical acclaim although that has not transferred into Box Office dollars taking US$30M so far from its production budget of US$100M. Here then, love at first sight strikes when young Tony (Ansel Elgort) sees Maria (Rachel Zegler, in her film debut)  at a high school dance in 1957 New York City. Their burgeoning romance helps to fuel the fire between the warring Jets and Sharks, two rival gangs of different ethnic backgrounds, vying for control of the streets. Also starring Ariana DeBose, Rita Moreno, Brian D'Arcy James and Corey Stoll, the film has so far picked up fifteen award wins and another eighty-eight nominations (some of which are pending a final determination) from around the awards and festival circuit.  

'LICORICE PIZZA' (Rated M) - is an American coming-of-age comedy drama film Written, Directed, Co-Produced and co-filmed by Paul Thomas Anderson whose previous film making credits take in the likes of 'Boogie Night' in 1997 with Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, 'Magnolia' in 1999 with Tom Cruise, 'There Will Be Blood' in 2007 with Daniel Day-Lewis, 'Inherent Vice' in 2014 with Joaquin Phoenix and and 'Phantom Thread' in 2017 with Daniel Day-Lewis again. The film tells the story of Alana Kane (Alana Haim) and Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley in 1973. Also starring Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, Tom Waits and Benny Safdie. The film costs US$40M to produce, goes on wide cinema release from this week, has garnered universal critical acclaim and has so far collected seventeen award wins and a further sixty-two nominations (some of which remain pending at the time of writing) from around the awards and festivals circuit. 

'THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH' (Rated M) - this American drama film is Directed and written for the screen by Joel Coen and based on the play 'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare. It is the first time that one of the Coen brothers has Directed a film without the others involvement. The film saw its World Premier screening at the New York Film Festival in late September before a limited cinema release this week and before streaming on Apple TV+ from mid-January. Having received widespread critical acclaim, the film has so far garnered six award wins and a further twenty-eight nominations (some of which are still pending an outcome at the time of writing) from around the awards and festival circuit. A Scottish Lord, Macbeth (Denzel Washington) becomes convinced by a trio of witches (all played by Kathryn Hunter) that he will become the next King of Scotland, and his ambitious wife, lady Macbeth (Frances McDormand) supports him in his plans of seizing power. Also starring Brendan Gleeson, Corey Hawkins, Harry Melling, Bertie Carvel and Stephen Root. 

'DELICIOUS' (Rated M) - Directed and Co-Written by Eric Besnard whose previous film credits include 'Cash' in 2008 with Jean Reno and Ciaran Hinds, 'In Gold We Trust' in 2010, and 'The Sense of Wonder' in 2015. Set in 1789 in France, and just before the Revolution, gastronomy is strictly the domain of the wealthy aristocrats and the prestige of a noble house is entirely dependent on the quality and reputation of its dining table. When talented but prideful cook Pierre Manceron (Gregory Gadebois) serves an unapproved dish of his own creation at a dinner hosted by the self-entitled Duke of Chamfort (Benjamin Lavernhe), he is promptly dismissed. Manceron retreats with his son to a regional inn visited infrequently by travellers, to lick his wounds. When a mysterious woman, Louise (Isabelle Carre) arrives with an offer to become his apprentice, the stage is set for a wildly enjoyable tale of reignited passion, mentorship and revenge . . . . .  and of the creation of France’s very first restaurant.

'THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD' (Rated MA15+) - is a Norwegian dark romantic comedy drama film Directed and Co-Written by Joachim Trier and is the third film in the Director's Oslo Trilogy following 'Reprise' - his 2006 feature film debut and 'Oslo, 31 August' in 2011. He has since made 'Louder Than Bombs' in 2015 with Jesse Eisenberg, Gabriel Byrne, Isabelle Huppert, David Strathairn and Amy Ryan; and then 'Thelma' in 2017. This film saw its World Premier in competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, with Renate Reinsve winning the award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. It was selected as the Norwegian entry for the Best International Feature Film at next years Academy Awards and has so far picked up thirteen award wins and another twenty-seven nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit, and has garnered universal critical acclaim. The film charts four years in the life of Julie (Renate Reinsve), a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is. Also starring Anders Danielsen Lie and Herbert Nordrum.

'SING 2' (Rated PG) - this American computer animated musical comedy film is Directed and Written by Garth Jennings whose previous feature film credits include his 2005 debut 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy', 'Son of Rambow' in 2007, and 'Sing' in 2016 as well as numerous music videos for noted singers and bands before and since. The first film grossed US$634M off the back of a US$75M production budget making this sequel inevitable. Here then the ever-optimistic koala, Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey), and his all-star cast of performers prepare to launch their most dazzling stage extravaganza yet . . . all in the glittering entertainment capital of the world, Redshore City. There's just one small hitch however, in that they first have to persuade the world's most reclusive rock star Clay Calloway (voiced by Bono) to join them. Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Nick Kroll, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Nick Offerman and Garth Jennings himself, reprise their roles from the first film, with this sequel also adding the voice talents to new characters by Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Pharrell Williams, Letitia Wright, Eric Andre, Chelsea Peretti, Jennifer Saunders, Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Edgar Wright and Fisher Stevens. The film premiered at the AFI Fest in mid-November, before its wide cinema release this week and has generated mixed or average Reviews so far. 

With seven 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 at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE FRENCH DISPATCH : Tuesday 14th December 2021.

I saw the 'THE FRENCH DISPATCH' at my local independent cinema earlier this week. This M Rated anthology comedy film is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Wes Anderson whose previous film making credits take in his feature length debut with 'Bottle Rocket' in 1996, then 'The Royal Tenenbaums', 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou', 'The Darjeeling Limited', 'Fantastic Mr. Fox', 'Moonrise Kingdom', 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and 'Isle of Dogs'. It was set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May 2020, and get a wide release on 24th July, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was cancelled and the film was pulled from the schedule in early April 2020. The film was rescheduled for release in mid-October 2020, before being pulled from the schedule again on 23rd July 2020 for an indefinite period. Eventually the film saw its World Premiere screening at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-July this year, and was released in the US in late October. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and has thus far grossed US$41M exceeding its production budget of US$25M.

A love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper - Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun - in the fictional 20th-century French city of Ennui-sur-Blase, that brings to life a collection of stories published in 'The French Dispatch' where Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray), the editor of the newspaper dies suddenly of a heart attack. According to the wishes expressed in his will, publication of the newspaper is immediately suspended following one final farewell issue, in which three articles from past editions of the paper are republished, along with an obituary. 

After a cycling tour of the city of Ennui-sur-Blase by reporter Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson) in which he guides us through some of the history, the colourful personalities, and the key locations including the arcade, pick-pockets alley, and a noted cafe comparing each place and the residents therein to the past and the present day and observing that whilst so much has altered, just how little has changed over the years in his beautiful city, we see Howitzer critiquing Sazerac's report, while the latter tends to his bicycle. 

The Concrete Masterpiece

J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton), a writer and staffer at The French Dispatch, is seen giving a lecture at the art gallery of her former employer, Upshur 'Maw' Clampette (Lois Smith), in which she goes into fine detail about the career of Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio del Toro). Rosenthaler, is a mentally disturbed artist serving a sentence in the Ennui prison for a double murder. Allowed out of his straightjacket he paints an abstract nude portrait of Simone (Lea Seydoux), a prison officer with whom he develops a close relationship. Julien Cadazio (Adrien Brody), an art dealer also serving a sentence for tax evasion, is so impressed by the painting that he offers to buy it despite Rosenthaler's reluctance. Upon his release, Cadazio convinces his family of art exhibitors to put it on display, and Rosenthaler soon becomes a sensation in the art world. Rosenthaler, however, struggles with inspiration, and devotes himself to a long-term project. 

Fast forward three years and Cadazio, his uncles Nick and Joe (Bob Balaban and Henry Winkler respectively), Clampette, Berensen, and a bunch of artists inspired by Rosenthaler, all frustrated at the lack of further artworks, bribe their way into the prison to confront him, only to discover that his masterpiece is in fact a series of ten frescoes painted onto the concrete wall of the prison hall. Angered that the paintings cannot be removed from the prison, Cadazio and his delegation gets into a physical altercation with Rosenthaler and the other inmates, but soon appreciates the paintings for what they are, and later arranges for the entire room to be airlifted out of the prison into a private museum in Kansas, owned by Clampette. For his actions in halting a prison riot that breaks out during the reveal of the paintings, Rosenthaler is released on probation.

Revisions to a Manifesto

Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand) a journalist for The French Dispatch, reports on a University student protest breaking out in the streets of Ennui that soon escalates into what becomes known as the 'Chessboard Revolution'. While the revolution initially is inspired by petty concerns over access to the girls dormitory, the traumatic military conscription of one student, Mitch-Mitch (Mohamed Belhadjine), leads to more stringent protests. The students’ cause spreads to the working class folk of Ennui.

Despite her insistence on maintaining 'journalistic neutrality', Krementz has a brief romance with Zeffirelli (Timothee Chalamet), the self-appointed leader of the uprising, and in secret helps him write his manifesto while they are in bed together, and adds an appendix. Juliette (Lyna Khoudri), a fellow revolutionary, is unimpressed with his manifesto. After they briefly express their disagreement about its contents and the appendix, Krementz tells the two to 'go make love', which they do. A few weeks later, Zeffirelli is killed while trying to repair the tower of a revolutionary pirate radio station, and soon a photograph of his likeness becomes symbolic of the movement. Years later, Krementz adapts the story of Mitch-Mitch’s conscription, and Zeffirelli and Juliette’s relationship, for a stage play.

The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner

During a television interview, Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright) recounts the story to the interviewer (Liev Schreiber) of his attending a private dinner with The Commissaire of the Ennui Police Department (Mathieu Amalric), prepared by legendary Police Officer and acclaimed Chef Lt. Nescaffier (Stephen Park). The dinner is disrupted when the Commissaire's son Gigi (Winston Ait Hellal) is kidnapped and held for ransom by the criminal underworld of Ennui, led by a failed musician called The Chauffeur (Edward Norton), who is demanding the release of an underworld accountant called 'The Abacus' (Willem Dafoe), who possesses their combined financial records. 'The Abacus' is in a solitary confinement cell at Police HQ where the dinner is being held. Wright recounts his own imprisonment in that same cell for his homosexuality, for which he was bailed out by Howitzer and offered a job at The French Dispatch.

Following a late night shoot-out at the kidnapper's hideout, Gigi is able to tap out a message in Morse Code using a coin and a radiator to 'send the cook'. Lt. Nescaffier is sent into the kidnappers' hideout to provide both them and Gigi with food, but secretly the food is laced with poison. The criminals all fall victim to the poisoned fare, and Nescaffier barely survives (because to his strong constitution) after being made to taste test it first. The Chauffeur escapes with Gigi, and leads the police on an animated foot and car chase through the city. Gigi manages to escape out of the sunroof and reunites with his father. During his recovery, Nescaffier saves 'The Abacus' from near starvation by preparing him an omelette, the prisoner having been totally neglected in the fracas. Back at the office of The French Dispatch, Howitzer tells Wright to reinsert a deleted page. In it, a recovering Nescaffier tells Wright that the taste of the poison was unlike anything he had ever eaten in his life, before they commiserate over the state of both being foreigners in France.

In the epilogue, Howitzer is seen to be laid out on his desk, covered in a sheet very dead, on his birthday. The French Dispatch staff, consisting Owen Wilson, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman, Fisher Stevens, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Griffin Dunne and the waiter (Pablo Pauly) who delivers the birthday cake all mourn Howitzer's passing, but all set to work on his obituary and on the final issue in honour of his memory. 

'The French Dispatch' is whimsical, quirky and imaginative Wes Anderson storytelling at almost its best (although not quite up there with 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'), and that's because with an opening prologue, a closing epilogue and three stories sandwiched between there is so much to take in, so much to see and so much to read on screen that it's really difficult to keep up. That said, the set designs are impeccable and richly realised, the assembled cast of A-list Actors is straight out of the Who's Who of European and American acting talent, and the sure fired quick witted dialogue is sure to raise a smile a least for even the most hard boiled viewers. As far the three individual stories are concerned not one of these stands out as being head and shoulders above the others and whilst each stands alone on its own merits, as a whole it's hardly the sum of its parts. All credit though to Director and Writer Wes Anderson for his truly unique approach to storytelling and film making, that makes his films stand aloft in a world dominated by comic book adaptations, RomComs, and shoot 'em up take no prisoners action fare.  

'The French Dispatch' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-