THE SUBSTANCE : Tuesday 24th September 2024

I saw the R18+ rated 'THE SUBSTANCE' earlier this week and this UK and French Co-Production is a satirical body horror film Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Coralie Fargeat in only her second feature film outing following her 2017 debut with 'Revenge'. This film screened in the Palme d'Or main competition at this years Cannes Film Festival, where Fargeat won the award for Best Screenplay. It was released here in Australia, the US and the UK last week and in France from 6th November, cost almost US$18M to produce, has so far grossed US$6M and has generated positive critical acclaim.

The films opens with a small handful of workmen seen laying a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with the name of Elisabeth Sparkle emblazoned upon it. Over time with literally hundreds of thousands of feet walking over it, the star becomes cracked and somewhat tarnished. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), is a former Academy Award winning Actress and now is renowned for a popular TV aerobics show which has been running for many years. On her 50th birthday she is fired by her boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) who wants to relaunch the show with a much younger, more virile, more attractive host. On the drive home she is distracted by workers tearing down a billboard of her show, and her vehicle is T-boned by another car and ends up on its roof. Elisabeth is hospitalised but miraculously suffered no injuries, but amid her distress and anxiety a young nurse gives her a flash drive labeled 'The Substance' - a black market product which promotes a mystery supplier's invention - a serum that, when injected, creates a younger, more beautiful, more 'perfect' version of the user, though the two are still connected as one. 

After plugging in the flash drive to her TV and watching the brief ad she initially discards the drive in the bin, but after some deliberation comes back to it. She orders the product and the next day receives a message that her package is ready for collection from a nondescript location seemingly in the arse end of town. Arriving back at her apartment she injects the product - a single use 'Activator' resulting in a younger version of herself in her 20's (Margaret Qualley) being violently and quickly born from a large slit running the length of her spine.

The younger form, stitches up Elisabeth's back and adopts the name 'Sue', and is instructed by the mystery supplier to inject a 'Stabiliser' serum extracted from the unconscious Elisabeth each day. The two are instructed to switch bodies every seven days without fail, with one resting unconsciously and drip fed liquid food while the other lives life as normal. Harvey initiates his talent scouts to begin a search for a new host and when Sue is auditioned she is almost instantly hired back onto Elisabeth's old show and fairly quickly reaches the giddy heights of fame and admiration. When Elisabeth is forced to switch bodies with her, however, she continues to struggle with a heightened sense of inadequacy, loneliness and low self-esteem.

The differences between Elisabeth and Sue become ever more obvious, as Elisabeth begins indulging in overeating and alcohol while Sue addictively extracts more Stabiliser to avoid having to switch bodies, causing Elisabeth to age rapidly at first with a dishevelled index finger, then her left leg with her hair thinning and greying and age spots appearing on her face. Elisabeth contacts the supplier, who tells her that she can either keep obeying the switches or terminate the Substance, neither of which will restore her past appearance. Elisabeth relents and continues to abuse the Substance as Sue.

Weeks pass by as Elisabeth is reduced to a haggard, bent over old woman due to Sue's ongoing addiction. When Sue is invited to host a highly anticipated TV network New Year's Eve special, she extracts enough Stabiliser from Elisabeth's spine to be used for the next couple of months. However, on the eve of the special, Sue runs out of Stabiliser and is forced by the supplier to switch back to Elisabeth. To her abject horror, she is now a hairless and deformed hunchback. 

Desperate, Elisabeth calls the mystery supplier again and asks for the Termination serum. She disguises herself in heavy clothing, goes to the nondescript address and obtains a new serum to end Sue's existence. However, still yearning for that feeling of fame and admiration, she stops at the last second and revives Sue, severing their connection. Upon seeing the near-empty serum, Sue is angered by Elisabeth's actions and repeatedly slams her head against the bathroom mirror. Elisabeth crawls to the lounge room where the pair fight with Sue kicking Elisabeth across the room to leave her in a crumpled heap on top of a shattered glass coffee table only for Sue to repeatedly kick Elisabeth to death until she bleeds out. Sue then leaves to go host the New Year's Eve show.

Unable to stabilise herself as a result of Elisabeth's death, Sue's body begins to rapidly deteriorate backstage. First one of her teeth drops out then more leaving gaping holes in her mouth and then her finger nails begin dropping off too. In a frantic bid to save herself, Sue rushes back to the apartment and disobeys the supplier's instructions and tries to create a new version of herself with leftover Activator. Instead, she inadvertently creates 'Monstro Elisasue', a grotesque hybrid monster of the two. Meanwhile, Harvey and his Board of Directors are excitedly keen to see Sue take to the stage and wow the American TV audience on NYE. 

Monstro goes to take Sue's place and shocks the audience into stunned silence as they take in the scene before them at the live broadcast. The horrified spectators quickly descend into violent chaos, culminating in Monstro's head getting decapitated, grotesquely regenerating and bursting with blood. As the audience becomes drenched in Monstro's blood, the hybrid manages to escape outside before collapsing into a bloody heap of viscera.

The face of the original Elisabeth emerges from the remains as a blob, slowly crawling toward her neglected star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Elisabeth finds solace by positioning herself on the star, eventually merging with it as she melts away. The next morning, her bloody remains are cleaned up by a floor scrubber. 

You have to hand it to Coralie Fargeat who for only her second feature film outing has here written and Directed a script that has something to say about the manner in which we perceive beauty, try to cling on to it as we age, and the ever present impact of the media (in all its forms) on how that beauty is viewed. At the same time Fargeat doesn't shy away from the blood and guts that literally spew forth in the third act that make for a mesmerising watch - the like of which you will have trouble seeing anywhere else this year. Demi Moore gives a no holds barred performance which is probably her finest role in a couple of decades, and is ably supported by Margaret Qualley as two sides of the same coin. If your fan of body horror, blood and entrails aplenty all wrapped up in a neat storyline, then this movie is for you . . . and if not there's plenty of other films at your local Odeon to choose from.

'The Substance' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 26th September 2024

The 32nd edition of the FilmFest Hamburg takes place this year from Thursday 26th September through until Saturday 5th October. Every year the festival attracts over 50,000 cinema fans. Over ten days, 124 national and international feature and documentary films from fifty-five countries are shown on fourteen screens as world, European or German Premieres. The programme in ten sections ranges from cinematically sophisticated arthouse films to innovative mainstream cinema. It is the third-largest film festival of its kind in Germany after Berlin and Munich.

This years Opening Gala film presentation is 'Holy Cow' from France and is Co-Written and Directed by Louise Courvoisier in her feature film debut, with the Closing Night film being 'The Room Next Door' from Pedro Almodovar in his English language full length feature debut and stars Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, John Turturro and Alessandro Nivola. 

There are a number of competitive film and television strands, with this years Hamburg Production Award for International Cinema Co-Productions centering on six films with an award of €25K as follows :-

* 'Armand' - from Norway, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany and Written and Directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tondel in his feature Directorial debut. After an alleged fight between two 6-year-old boys, the parents and school staff are called in to clarify the incident.

* 'Happy Holidays' - from Palestine, Germany, France, Italy and Qatar this family drama film is Written and Directed by Scandar Copti, and won the Award for Best Screenplay at this years recent Venice International Film Festival.

* 'Spirit in the Blood' - from Germany and Canada and Written and Directed by Carly May Borgstrom. This thriller tells the story of how after a young girl is found dead in a secluded religious mountain community, a pack of teenage girls decide to fight against the evil spirits they believe killed her by embracing their own dark nature.

* 'The Assessment' - from Germany, the USA and the UK and Directed by Fleur Fortune in her feature length debut and starring Elisabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander, Minnie Driver and Himesh Patel. In the near future where parenthood is strictly controlled, a couple's seven-day assessment for the right to have a child unravels into a psychological nightmare.

* 'The Vanishing' - from France, Germany and Tunisia and Directed by Karim Moussaoui. Reda seemingly has a life of privilege in Algiers, in his late twenties still living at the family home, with a father who has arranged a job and a fiancee. Reda is eager to please, yet the more he tries the more he veers off course

* 'Transamazonia' - from Brazil, Germany, France, Switzerland and Taiwan and Directed by Pia Marais. As a young child, Rebecca is rescued from a plane crash in the Amazon rainforest by a member of a nearby Indigenous tribe. Now a teenager, she is well known in the area as her father, an American missionary, claims that she is a faith healer. Rebecca's misgivings about her situation are compounded by the arrival of illegal loggers poised to disrupt the local way of life.

In addition the Douglas Sirk Award will go to British Director Andrea Arnold and French Director Jacques Audiard. The award ceremonies will take place on the occasion of the German Premieres of their current films 'Bird' and 'Emilia Perez' respectively, and is presented to those personalities who have made a special contribution to film culture and the film industry.

For the full details and the line up of the other competitive film and TV strands being showcased including The Hamburg Production Award for German Cinema Productions, The Arthouse Cinema Award, The Young Talent Award, The Critics Choice Award, and a whole lot more other good stuff worthy of your attention, you can go to the official website at : https://www.filmfesthamburg.de/en/

Turning the focus back to this weeks five new movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we launch with an epic Sci-Fi set in the city of New Rome where the main conflict is between a brilliant artist and architect in favour of a utopian future, and a greedy Mayor, and between them is the Mayor's daughter whose loyalty is divided between her father and her beloved architect. Then we have a horror thriller in which a family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years, but their safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the children questions if the evil is real. Next up is a French comedy offering about two swindlers, who deep in debt, infiltrate a group of climate activists when they are attracted to the free food and drinks they are offered. This is followed by an American drama about a failing father who attempts to salvage some semblance of paternal standing while being rapidly exposed for the fraud he is; before closing out the week with a Vietnamese film about a man who becomes a 'God of Gamblers' suddenly with the help of a female Ghost.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films 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 week ahead.

'MEGALOPOLIS' (Rated M) - is an American epic Sci-Fi fil Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, whose previous film making credits take in the classic 'The Godfather Parts I, II and III' in 1972, 1974 and 1990, 'The Conversation' in 1974, 'Apocalypse Now' in 1979, 'The Cotton Club' in 1984, 'Peggy Sue Got Married' in 1986, 'Gardens of Stone' in 1987, 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' in 1992, 'The Rainmaker' in 1997 with 'Twixt' in 2011 his most recent film before this one. Coppola spent US$120M off his own money to fund the production of this passion project which he first began considering in 1977 and for which he began script ideas in 1983. Production of the film has been on-again off-again over the years with him returning to the film in earnest in 2019. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at this years Cannes Film Festival, where it Premiered in mid-May this year,  and has proven divisive amongst critics with mixed or average reviews. It is released in the US this week too.

In a decaying metropolis called New Rome, idealist architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) is granted a license by the federal government to demolish and rebuild the city as a sustainable utopia using Megalon, a material that can give him the power to control space and time. His nemesis, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), remains committed to a regressive status quo. Torn between them is Franklyn's socialite daughter and Cesar's love interest Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), who, tired of the influence she inherited, searches for her life's meaning. Also starring Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwatrzman, Kathryn Hunter, James Remar, D.B.Sweeney and Dustin Hoffman. 

'NEVER LET GO' (Rated MA15+) - this American survival horror film is Directed by the French filmmaker Alexandre Aja who made his English language Directorial debut in 2006 with 'The Hills Have Eyes' and which he would follow up with 'Mirrors' in 2008, 'Piranha 3D' in 2010, 'Horns' in 2013, 'The 9th Life of Louis Drax' in 2016, 'Crawl' in 2019 and 'Oxygen' in 2021. Here then, after an unspeakable evil has taken over the world, the only protection for a mother (Halle Berry) and her twin sons Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nolan (Percy Daggs IV) is their house and strong bond. Needing to stay connected at all times, to the extent that they even tether themselves with ropes, they must cling to one another and never let go. However, when one of the boys questions if the evil is real, the ties that bind them together are severed, triggering a terrifying fight for survival. The film was released last week in the US, has so far grossed US$4.5M from a production budget of US$20M and has generated mixed or average reviews. 

'A DIFFICULT YEAR' (Rated M) - is a French comedy film Written and Directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. This story centres on Albert (Pio Marmai) and Bruno (Jonathan Cohen) who are both heavily in debt and so have turned to a community worker (Mathieu Amalric) to try and help get a grip on their lives. However, at one of their group sessions they instead stumble into an adjoining meeting room hosting a gathering of young social activists, led by a vivacious organiser Cactus (Noemie Merlant). Attracted more by the free beer and chips than the group's struggle against consumerism and protection of the environment, Albert and Bruno join the movement without any particular conviction, but soon sense an opportunity . . . if they don't get arrested first. The film was released in its native France in mid-October last year having screened initially at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. It has received mixed critical acclaim and has so far grossed US$7M. 

'NOTICE TO QUIT' (Rated CTC) - this American drama offering is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Simon Hacker in his feature film Writing and Directing debut. Here, Andy Singer (Michael Zegan), an out-of-work Actor now struggling as a New York City Real Estate Agent, finds his world crashing down around him when his estranged ten-year-old daughter, Anna (Kasey Bella Suarez), shows up unannounced on his doorstep just as he's to be evicted from his apartment. The film is released Stateside also this week.

'BETTING WITH GHOST' (Rated M) - is a Vietnamese comedy horror film Directed by Nguyen Nhat Trung in his screen debut and tells the story of Lanh (Tuan Tran), the son of a funeral director (Hoai Linh), who finds himself trapped in a downward spiral due to his gambling addiction. On the verge of losing everything, fate leads him to encounter a mysterious female ghost (Diep Bao Ngoc). United by their mutual desperation, they strike an unconventional deal, using each other to fulfil their hidden desires. The film was released in its native Vietnam earlier this month and has so far grossed US$4.7M at the Box Office. 

With five new release movie offerings 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 coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SPEAK NO EVIL : Tuesday 17th September 2024

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'SPEAK NO EVIL' earlier this week at my local multiplex, and this American psychological thriller film is Written for the screen and Directed by James Watkins whose previous film making efforts take in his debut in 2008 with 'Eden Lake', and which he would follow up with 'The Woman in Black' in 2012 and 'Bastille Day' in 2016. This film is a remake of the Danish film from 2022 Co-Written and Directed by Christian Tafdrup. Released in the US and here in Australia last week the film has garnered generally positive critical reviews and has so far grossed US$24M from a production budget of US$15M.

The film opens up in the Italian countryside where we are introduced to an American holidaying family Louise and Ben Dalton (Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy respectively) and their eleven year old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler). While there, they meet and become fast friends with British couple Paddy and Ciara (James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi respectively) and their eight year old son Ant (Dan Hough). We learn that the Dalton family recently relocated to London for Ben to open an office for his Chicago based company, but at the last minute the job was shelved and he was made redundant and is now unemployed. Sometime later a postcard arrives from Paddy and Ciara inviting the Daltons to their remote farmhouse in the Devon countryside. The family decides to go, hoping the change of scenery will be good for them and for Agnes who suffers bouts of anxiety and is attached, despite her age, to a stuffed rabbit toy. 

After a long drive from London down to the West Country they finally arrive at the farmhouse after dark. The Dalton's are warmly welcomed but as they spend more time at the house, they begin to grow increasingly ill at ease by strange incidents and the passive-aggressive behaviour from their hosts that cross boundaries of what would be considered acceptable. Louise is also troubled by Paddy and Ciara's aggressive treatment of Ant whom they learn was born with a condition that left him with a smaller tongue and without the ability to speak. One evening, the adults go out for dinner, leaving Agnes and Ant in the care of a babysitter named Muhjid (Motaz Mulhees) which unnerves the Daltons. While playing hide and seek in the farmhouse with Muhjid, Ant shows Agnes a collection of watches Paddy has and a message written in a foreign language, but Agnes doesn't understand him. 

At dinner, Paddy questions Louise's vegetarianism and jokingly performs a sex act with Ciara, shocking their guests. Upon returning, Louise later that night discovers Agnes has been moved to share a bed with a drunken Paddy, Ciara and Ant. Horrified, the Dalton's steal themselves away very early the next morning, but are forced to return by Agnes who left behind her stuffed rabbit, and is having an anxiety attack in the back of the car.

Upon retrieving the toy, Paddy and Ciara who are awake by the time they return apologise for their behaviour and indirectly accuse the Daltons of judging them. The Daltons decide to stay in order to maintain the peace but the strange behaviour continues, unsettling the family. After an incident where Paddy throws a mug at Ant for repeatedly failing to keep time with a dance routine that he and Agnes had practiced, he steals a set of keys from a passed out Paddy and leads Agnes to a locked shed, with an underground bunker. Inside is a collection of luggage and the personal belongings of numerous families. Using a photo book, Ant reveals to Agnes that Paddy and Ciara are not his real parents but are serial killers who lure families to their farmhouse, rob and kill them before cutting out their children's tongue and using them to assist in luring their next victims. 

Ant shows Agnes a photo of his family depicting Ant with his tongue poking out and then motioning with his fingers a scissors action across his mouth, implying that this has happened to him and his family and that Paddy and Ciara intend to make the Daltons their next victims. Agnes fakes having her first period and manages to get Louise and Ben alone to explain the situation. Horrified, the family decides to leave, calmly so as not to arouse any suspicions and contact the Police to save Ant. 

Paddy and Ciara, realise that they have been figured out, and so puncture a tyre on the Daltons car, and hide Agnes's bunny high up in the guttering of the farmhouse to delay them, subtly mocking them as they do so. When the Daltons do finally drive off after Paddy repaired the tyre, Paddy throws Ant, who can't swim, into a pond. Ben sees this from his rear view mirror and jumps to the rescue of Ant before a gun-wielding Paddy and Ciara capture them. 

Paddy forces Louise to transfer their savings to their account, while Ciara holds Ben and Agnes at gunpoint before preparing to kill them and cut out Agnes's tongue. A struggle ensues, as Louise slashes at Paddy's face with a box cutter she found in the farmhouse. Paddy is injured and the family and Ant flee into the house. Paddy, Ciara, and their accomplice Mike (Kris Hitchen), hunt for the family. Mike locates Ben and is able to overpower him, but Louise manages to kill Mike by planting a claw hammer firmly into his skull and save Ben before the family flees to the roof. Ciara makes her way to the roof, attacks but falls to her death. 

As the family tries to escape, Paddy emerges, holding Agnes at gunpoint. Agnes manages to inject Paddy with a syringe of ketamine which was intended for her but dropped by Paddy when Louise slashed at his face, incapacitating him. As the family go to leave, Ant approaches Paddy who acknowledges his fate by saying to Ant 'That's my boy'. An enraged Ant sits on top of Paddy's chest and repeatedly beats him to death with a brick out of revenge, while screaming for all his lungs will allow, with the Daltons looking on in horror. The Daltons and Ant leave the farmhouse. While they drive, Agnes gives her stuffed bunny to Ant, who sobs quietly.

About half way in you'll come to realise that there is something dramatically unhinged, disturbing and twisted about James McAvoy's character Paddy. Here, like in 2016's 'Split' from Writer and Director M. Night Shyamalan McAvoy gives a compelling performance that goes from affable Mr. Nice Guy to downright gonzo batshit crazy much like Jack Nicholson's character of Jack Torrance did in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 classic 'The Shining'. Having not seen the original Danish film I cannot draw comparisons, but suffice to say James Watkins has here crafted a suspenseful thriller that slowly ramps up the tension and the danger factor to a more than satisfactory conclusion that ultimately sees those fish outta water city types win the day over those morally corrupt country bumpkin serial killers. Certainly worth the price of your movie ticket.

'Speak No Evil' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new at Odeon's this week : Thursday 19th September 2024.

The 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF) takes place this year from Friday 20th through until Saturday 28th September, in the Spanish city of San Sebastian, located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community. Since its creation in 1953 it has established itself as one of the fourteen 'A' category competitive festivals accredited by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations), of which it has one of the lowest budgets. It has hosted several important events of the history of cinema, including the international Premieres of 'Vertigo', Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the European Premiere of 'Star Wars'. It was the first festival attended by Roman Polanski and has helped advance the professional careers of filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Bong Joon-ho and Pedro Almodovar.

This years Opening Film presentation is Audrey Diwan's erotic drama film 'Emmanuelle' and stars Noemie Merlant and Naomi Watts. The Closing Film is the romantic comedy drama film 'We Live in Time' Directed by John Crowley and starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. 

There are sixteen feature films in Official Competition competing for the Golden Shell Award, including the following titles :-

* 'Conclave' - from the UK and USA, this psychological thriller is Directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini. 

* 'Emmanuelle' - from France and is an erotic drama Directed by Audrey Diwan and starring Noemie Merlant and Naomi Watts.

* 'The End' - is an European Co-Produced post-apocalyptic musical film Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and starring Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, Tim McInnerny and Lennie James.

* 'Hard Truths' - from the UK and Spain this drama film is Written and Directed by Mike Leigh and starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

* 'The Last Showgirl' - from the USA and this drama is Directed by Gia Coppola and starring Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista. 

* 'I'm Nevenka' - from Spain, this drama is Co-Written and Directed by Iciar Bollain and starring Mireia Oriol.

* 'The Wailing' - from Spain, Portugal and France, this psychological horror film is Co-Written and Directed by Pedro Martin-Calero and starring Ester Exposito and Mathilde Ollivier.

* 'When Fall Is Coming' - from France and Written and Directed by Francois Ozon, this drama stars Helene Vincent and Josiane Balasko.

In addition, the Donostia Award given every year to a number of Actors and filmmakers derives its name from Donostia, the Basque name of San Sebastian, with the 2023 Donostia Award winner Javier Bardem expected to receive the award this year as the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike prevented him from attending the 71st festival. This years awards go to the Australian Actress and Producer Cate Blanchett (as featured on the official promotional poster as above) and the Spanish film Director and Screenwriter Pedro Almodovar. 

For the full run down of those films in Official Competition, plus the other competitive strands, the full programme of films being showcased, and a whole lot of other good stuff, you can go to the official website at : https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2024

This week then we have five new movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, kicking off with a body horror offering that follows a fading celebrity who decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself, unknowingly giving her horrifying side effects. Then we turn to a Sci-Fi thriller in which an astronaut struggles to maintain his grip on reality during a possibly fatally compromised mission to Saturn's moon, Titan; and this is followed by an Aussie family adventure film about a young girl and her adopted stray dog who try to win the Agility Course Championships at the Krumpets Dog Show in London so they can save the family farm. And closing out the week we have a pair of animated features, the first being an origin story of how once brothers-in-arms Orion Pax and D-16 become sworn enemies Optimus Prime and Megatron and finally, following a shipwreck, an intelligent robot becomes stranded on an uninhabited island, and in order to survive the harsh environment, it bonds with the island's animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films 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 week ahead.

'THE SUBSTANCE' (Rated R18+) - this UK and French Co-Production is a body horror film Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Coralie Fargeat in only her second feature film outing following her 2017 debut with 'Revenge'. This film screened in the Palme d'Or main competition at this years Cannes Film Festival, where Fargeat won the award for Best Screenplay. It is released here in Australia, the US and the UK from this week and in France from 6th November, with early reviews giving it a universal acclaim rating.

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), renowned for a popular TV aerobics show, faces a devastating blow on her 50th birthday as her boss fires her. Following a car crash in which she is hospitalised and amid her distress, a young nurse offers her a black market substance which promises to transform her into an enhanced version of herself. After some deliberation, Elisabeth orders the product, and a version of herself in her 20's (Margaret Qualley) is violently and quickly born from her body. What could possibly go wrong? Also starring Dennis Quaid. 

'SLINGSHOT' (Rated MA15+) - is an American Sci-Fi psychological thriller film Directed by the Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom whose prior feature film credits take in 'Derailed' in 2005, '1408' in 2007, 'Shanghai' in 2010, 'The Rite' in 2011, 'Escape Plan' in 2013, 'Outside the Wire' in 2021 and 'Stockholm Bloodbath' in 2023. This film follows an elite trio of astronauts - Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne), John (Casey Affleck) and Nash (Tomer Capone) aboard a years-long, possibly compromised mission to Saturn's moon Titan. As the team gears up for a highly dangerous slingshot manoeuvre that will either catapult them to Titan or into deep space, it becomes increasingly difficult for one astronaut to maintain his grip on reality. Also starring Emily Beecham and David Morrissey. The film was released Stateside at the end of August, has so far grossed US$727K and has generated mixed or average reviews.

'RUNT' (Rated PG) - this Australian animal adventure family film is Directed by John Sheedy in only his second feature film offering following 2019's 'H is for Happiness'. This film, which is adapted from Craig Slivey's 2022 novel of the same name, follows the story of ten-year-old Annie Shearer (Lily LaTorre) and Runt, her stray dog, as they attempt to win the Agility Course Championship at the Krumpets Dog Show in London in order to save her parents Bryan (Jai Courtney) and Susie (Celeste Barber) farm in the outback town of Upson Downs, from drought, misery and a local landowner. Also starring Deborah Mailman and Jack Thompson.

'TRANSFORMERS ONE' (Rated PG) - is an American animated Sci-Fi action film based on Hasbro's 'Transformers' toy line. The film is Directed by Josh Cooley in only his second feature film Directorial outing following 'Toy Story 4' in 2019. This film serves as an origin story set on the planet Cybertron centring around the history of the Transformers race and the relationship between two Cybertronian workers named Orion Pax (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (voiced by Brian Tyree-Henry) as they go from brothers-in-arms to archenemies as Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively. Also starring the voice talents of Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm. The film is released Stateside this week too. 

'THE WILD ROBOT' (Rated PG) - this American animated Sci-Fi survival film based on the book series of the same name by Peter Brown, produced by DreamWorks Animation and is Written and Directed by Chris Sanders, whose previous Directing efforts take in his 2002 debut with 'Lilo & Stitch' and which he would follow up with 'How to Train Your Dragon' in 2010, 'The Croods' in 2013 and 'The Call of the Wild' in 2020. This film follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, 'Roz' (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o) for short, that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling named Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor). Also starring the voice work of Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill and Ving Rhames, the film is released in the US next week on 27th September and the UK on 18th October having seen its World Premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8th September. 

With five new release movie offerings 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 coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE : Tuesday 10th September 2024

I saw the M Rated 'BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE' earlier this week, and this American fantasy comedy horror film is Co-Produced and Directed by Tim Burton and is the sequel to Burton's 1988 film 'Beetlejuice' which grossed US$75M off the back of a US$15M production budget and garnered seven award wins (including the Academy Award for Best Make-Up) plus another eleven nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. In the intervening years the film's success gave rise to an animated TV series, video games and a 2018 stage musical. The film saw its World Premiere showcasing as the Opening Night film presentation at the Venice International Film Festival in late August before its worldwide release from last week. It has so far grossed US$173M off the back of a US$100M production budget and has garnered generally positive critical acclaim.

Set thirty-six years after the events of the first film, and in the present day Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is the host of a supernatural talk show called 'Ghost House', produced by her boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux). During the taping of a segment, she has a vision of the demon Betelgeuse, who haunted her family thirty-six years previously, in the audience. Taking a sudden break from filming Lydia learns from her stepmother Delia (Catherine O'Hara) about the death of her father Charles who died while travelling back from Brazil when his plane crashed into the sea and he was eaten by a shark. While driving back to Winter River for the funeral service, the surviving Deetz family pick up Lydia's estranged teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), from boarding school. Astrid is a complete non-believer in ghosts, demons and all things afterlife which her mother so sternly propagates, stating that she believes only that which she can see and in science. Following the funeral services, Rory proposes to Lydia in front of the attendees, which she reluctantly agrees to, causing Astrid to flee and meet Jeremy Frazier (Arthur Conti), who invites her over prior to the wedding at midnight on Halloween - two days hence.

Later while in the attic of their former home, Astrid discovers a box of items belonging to her father Richard (Santiago Cabrera), who disappeared two years earlier, and an ad to contact Betelgeuse. She learns that Jeremy is actually a ghost seeking her help to restore his life, at which point Astrid concedes that her mother was right all along. They enter the afterlife after he has Astrid recite an incantation from the 'Handbook for the Recently Deceased'. 

Discovering Jeremy is dead and his past as the murderer of his mother and father who was then killed by breaking his neck while falling from his own treehouse, and thereafter being trapped to within the confines of the house for the last 23 years, Lydia reluctantly calls upon Betelgeuse to help retrieve Astrid. He agrees but demands that Lydia marry him, allowing him to stay in the mortal world and evade Delores (Monica Belluci), his vengeful ex-wife who in life was a mysterious soul-sucking witch who poisoned Betelgeuse several centuries earlier during the Black Plague before he killed her with an axe in retaliation, and chopping her up into multiple pieces. Delores has returned and using a staple gun pieces herself back together. Meanwhile, Delia conducts a ceremony at Charles' grave using two live snakes she believed were no longer venemous, that bite and kill her. 

Lydia agrees to the marriage, and Betelgeuse and she are transported into the afterlife train station in an attempt to stop Astrid from boarding the 'Soul Train', which transports souls into the beyond. By reciting the incantation, Astrid was tricked into swapping places with Jeremy in order for him to regain his life. She recognises one of the station's employees as her father Richard, who rescues her and Lydia while Betelgeuse sends Jeremy down into the depths of Hell.

Hunted by ghost detective and former B-movie action star Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe) for bringing Lydia into the afterlife, Betelgeuse agrees to help Delia find Charles if she helps him find Lydia, who along with Astrid was ushered away and returned to Winter River by Richard. At a church in the mortal world, Lydia and Astrid arrive as Rory waits at the altar, watched on patiently by the reverend Father Damien (Burn Gorman).

Betelgeuse, needless to say, hijacks the wedding, injecting Rory in the neck with a truth serum to reveal his true intentions to marry Lydia for her money. Enraged, she punches Rory, knocking him out. As Betelgeuse prepares to marry Lydia, Delores arrives to confront him, along with Wolf and his team. Using the handbook as a guide, Astrid unleashes a giant sandworm through a portal she painted on the floor into the church that eats Delores and Rory, while Betelgeuse freezes Wolf and his men to the spot where they stand.

Astrid reveals that Betelgeuse violated the rules of the handbook by bringing Lydia into the afterlife, thwarting the wedding and allowing Lydia to return him to the afterlife by blowing him up like a balloon which then explodes with the remnants floating back down to the floor before igniting in a puff of smoke and flame. Afterward, Lydia and Astrid reassure Delia of their love for her as she is escorted to the afterlife by Wolf. She soon reunites with Charles before boarding the Soul Train bound for Heaven. Sometime later, Lydia films the final segment of her last episode of 'Ghost House', opting to spend time with Astrid and travelling the world. Despite this, she continues to have nightmares about Betelgeuse, including one in which Astrid gives birth to his 'mini-me' child. 

It must be said that there is much to like about this trip down memory lane for those of us old enough to have enjoyed the 1988 original, and it's encouraging to see Director Tim Burton back on form and delivering us his trademark zany no holds barred fantastical horror comedy offering that still packs a punch. It's not entirely necessary to be familiar with the 1988 original, as this film stands firmly on its own two feet and ably fills in any backstory as it moves along to bring the viewer up to speed on what has gone before. Keaton slips back into his role of Betelgeuse like he's never been away, as do Ryder and O'Hara for the most part, ably supported by Ortega, but as for the other principle cast members they are left largely under developed and left wallowing in multiple plot twists and turns many of which prove to be dead ends. The film certainly looks the part, but with 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' Burton has sacrificed substance in favour of style. 

'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-