STAR TREK : BEYOND - Tuesday 26th July 2016.

I saw 'STAR TREK : BEYOND' in 3D this week because it was the only option at a time that suited me, but, it does add value! 'Star Trek' as we know it had its humble beginnings as an NBC television series back in 1966, which ran for just three seasons - having been cancelled in 1969 because of declining ratings. Series creator Gene Roddenberry always wanted to continue the series in film first pitching the idea in 1969, but it would be another ten years before the small screen series made it to the big screen - largely off the back of syndicated series re-runs during the 70's which proved to be a whole lot more popular second time around. Released in time for Christmas 1979, the first film 'Star Trek : The Motion Picture' reunited the television cast for US$35M, returning a worldwide gross of US$139M. Throughout the 80's there were a further five films up until 1991with 'The Next Generation' taking over in 1994 and running though until 2002, culminating with 'Nemesis' - the worst performing film of the franchise to date making just US$67M from its US$60M outlay. Then in 2009 Director J.J.Abrams got hold of the franchise for an overdue and much needed reboot with 'Star Trek' and followed this up in 2013 with 'Star Trek : Into Darkness' - the latter proving the most successful of the franchise so far yielding a return of US$467M from its US$185M budget. The first twelve films were made for a combined US$540M and returned a collective US$1,931B, with this film, the thirteenth, made for US$185M and released in the 50th anniversary year of that original television series going to air. So far the film has grossed US$161M.

And so to this next instalment. Co-Written by Simon Pegg - a self confessed Trekkie and Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise, Scottie, and Directed by Justin Lin who Directed the 'Fast & Furious films 3, 4, 5 and 6' to huge Box Office success, with J.J.Abrams taking a Producer credit on this one. Here the rebooted crew are reunited once again as we find them mid-way through their five year journey to go boldly where no man has gone before, en route to dock with the only recently completed, shining, bright and new deep-space starbase 'Yorktown'. As the film opens after an engaging scene where Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is on some distant planet with a goodwill gift offering to some 'Gremlin' like inhabitants that doesn't go quite according to plan, he is transported back to the USS Enterprise where through an introductory narrative we learn that life out in deep deep space for so long has become very hum drum, routine and mundane with Kirk beginning to question the purpose of their five year long mission to probe the outer reaches of the universe. 

Docking with the star base 'Yorktown' laid out in all its deep space steel, glass and technological glory is a visual spectacle especially in 3D, and here we learn that Kirk has applied for a Vice Admiral promotion based on the Yorktown which would essentially mean life on the ground and no more flying for Captain Kirk. He recommends Spock (Zachary Quinto) as the new Captain of the Enterprise, who has just learned that Ambassador Spock has recently passed away (Leonard Nimoy died during pre-production of the film). 

In a Yorktown command centre, an advancing escape pod is intercepted drifting from a nearby nebula containing a survivor named Kalara who claims that her ship and her people are stranded on Altamid, a planet in the nebula. The Enterprise is the most technically advanced ship in the fleet and so Kirk agrees to a rescue mission, and musters his crew. However, once inside the nebula and navigating through a sea of giant rocks their rescue mission turns into an ambush as the Enterprise is overcome by a huge swarm of small attack ships that quickly dismantle the ship leaving it venerable to the as yet unknown enemy. 

The enemy quickly manifests itself in the form of alien being Krall (Idris Elba), who boards the ship and begins to overthrow all those in their path as they search for an alien artifact called the 'Abronath' - that Kirk and Spock have in their possession, and which Kirk has attempted to give to the 'Gremlins' at the introduction. Kirk is able to stow the Abronath away as the Enterprise is systematically torn apart by the swarm, and for as long as possible Krall and his army search the ship unsuccessfully. With all hope for salvaging the now heavily disabled Enterprise, Kirk gives the order to abandon ship, as the saucer section is all that remains and begins its decent into the planet below. The crew do so in a multitude of escape pods, which are quickly picked up by the returning attack ships.

As those escape pods not captured by the returning swarm come to land on the planet they are spread far and wide over mountainous terrain. Sulu (John Choo) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) are rounded up by Krall's foot soldiers. Kirk and Pavell (Anton Yelchin) round up with Kalara to find the wreckage of the Enterprise saucer in the hope that they can establish communication with other survivors. Spock and Bones (Karl Urban) come down close to each other and meet up although Spock is wounded to his stomach by a large piece of shrapnel. Scottie (Simon Pegg) is alone in the forest wondering what to do next when he is set up on by some alien no good types and is promptly rescued by Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) an alien scavenger with a particular set of skills who has previously escaped from Krall's prison camp, and we learn that Krall's second-in-command was responsible for the death of her father. So she has a axe to grind with Krall and his types.

At this point in the film we focus on the three separated groups as they attempt to regroup, while Krall plots an attack on the Yorktown initially and then the wider Federation. Jaylah takes Scottie under her wing and leads him to her 'house' which it turns out is the USS Franklin - the wrecked Starfleet ship that disappeared mysteriously over one hundred years ago. Jaylah has used her cunning engineering skills to reboot the fallen vessel, and with Scottie's help is able to get the ship almost operational again - it could just be their ticket outta Dodge! 

Whilst working on they ship which has been invisibly cloaked from view, an alarm is triggered by a trap laid by Jaylah that has ensnared both Kirk and Pavell, reuniting these characters. They make the Franklin their base of operations and together plot their move on Krall to free the survivors of the Enterprise. With the Franklin's old but still serviceable technology Kirk, Pavell, Scottie and Jaylah are able to locate Spock and Bones and beam them up, so reuniting the team to devise their plan to free their colleagues in Krall's captivity.

Meanwhile, Krall eventually gets his hands on the Abronath, that has been secretly concealed by one of the captive Enterprise crew. It transpires that this is one half of a sophisticated age old bioweapon created by the original inhabitants of Altamid, that can destroy humanoid lifeforms in a matter of seconds. Now armed with this missing half, Krall can complete the weapon and set his mission in train, beginning with his wholesale attack on Yorktown. With the rescue mission of those crew members held captive successful and them all beamed up to the Franklin, Kirk gives the order for the now fired up ship to hot foot it to Yorktown to intercept the swarm and Krall.

The question is now how to foil the swarm that so rapidly and so efficiently all but destroyed the Enterprise, in a ship that is one hundred years her senior and with less sophisticated technology. Spock hits upon an idea to treat the bioweapon like a swarm of bees and so you confuse one you confuse them all that leads to their collective downfall. Send a VHF jamming signal to halt their communication with each other, confuse the hell out of them and the swarm will self destruct . . . and it does - leaving just Krall and a few remaining officers heading full bore into Yorktown pursued by Kirk and the Franklin.

By now Krall's true identity has been revealed and as it turns out he has a lot in common with the Federation, has a reason to be pissed and wanting to take out bitter revenge on those that he believes did him wrong in the past. Krall escapes on foot having survived the wreckage of being pursued and downed by the Franklin. He heads up a ventilation shaft with the aim of activating the bioweapon on the one million or so citizens of Yorktown, and is chased by Kirk. This all leads to some pretty fancy footwork and close quarter fist fighting in zero gravity that is rendered well in 3D high above the city below. Needless to say it doesn't end well for Krall who is ejected into the vacuum of deep space where he is engulfed and quickly consumed by his own unleashed bioweapon.

Alls well that ends well, as the crew are reunited on a safe and secured Yorktown, except for some minor collateral damage. They gather to celebrate Kirk's birthday, as Kirk turns down the offer for promotion in favour of remaining in command of a newly constructed USS Enterprise-A rather than being a desk bound grounded Vice Admiral. Spock opens a box from Ambassador Spock and within its contents is a photograph of the Enterprise crew - their future selves (as depicted by Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Takei et al).

I enjoyed 'Star Trek : Beyond' and in having Simon Pegg co-script has added a tone of originality and a throw back to the Star Trek of old that combines adventure, escapism, spectacle, fun and humour to the storyline. The 3D is worth the added cost especially for the scenes of the Yorktown and the early demise of the Enterprise under attack from an all powerful, ruthless and relentless enemy. The cast have by now settled into their roles with a familiarity and comfort factor that makes them watchable and relatable, and Director Justin Lin knows how to deliver on the action set pieces on an epic scale and with confidence. Worth seeing on the big screen and worth the price of your ticket for sure.  'Star Trek 4' has just been announced, with expectations the crew will return together with Chris Hemsworth as Captain Kirk's father, George Kirk. This film is dedicated to the memories of Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ANTON YELCHIN - dies aged 27 - R.I.P.

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin died tragically, aged just 27, on the morning of 19th June 2016, in what is described as a freak car accident at his home in Los Angeles, California. Due at a rehearsal later that day, when he was a no-show his friends drove over to his house and found him pinned against a brick wall and security gate by his car, dying in the process from blunt traumatic asphyxia. The Jeep Grand Cherokee car which caused his death was a 2015 model that had been recalled for a roll away risk. Truly tragic circumstances.

Born in Leningrad, Russia on 11th March 1989 to ice skating champions Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin his family were subjected to political and religious oppression, and so at the age of just six months, his family relocated to the USA having gained refugee status.

His first acting role came at the age of nine, when he was cast in 'A Man is Mostly Water' with a part on 'E.R' that same year.  This was quickly followed up with 'Delivering Milo' with Albert Finney, 'Along Came a Spider' with Morgan Freeman, 'Hearts in Atlantis' with Anthony Hopkins, and then a heap of television series including 'Taken', 'The Practice', 'Without a Trace', 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and 'NYPD Blue' - all before he was even 15 years of age. More big Hollywood fare followed with 'House of D' with David Duchovny, 'Fierce People' with Donald Sutherland, 'Alpha Dog' with Bruce Willis, 'Charlie Bartlett' with Robert Downey Jnr. and 'Middle of Nowhere' with Susan Sarandon. In between there were further television appearances on 'Huff', 'Criminal Minds' and 'Law & Order : Criminal Intent'.

In 2009 J.J. Abrams cast Yelchin as Pavel Chekov in the reboot of the Star Trek franchise in 'Star Trek' - a role he would reprise again in 2013 in 'Star Trek : Into Darkness' and again in the yet to be released 'Star Trek : Beyond' due later this year, and with an all star cast. It is perhaps for this role that he is best well known fitting into the shoes created by Walter Koenig in the original Gene Roddenberry television series of the '60's and seven of the first series of feature films up until 1994.

Immediately following the Star Trek reboot in 2009, came another reboot of a hugely successful franchise founded in the early 80's, with 'Terminator : Salvation' with his role as Kyle Reece opposite Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. 'Like Crazy' came next with Jennifer Lawrence, then the Roland Joffe Directed 'You and I', followed by Jodie Foster's 'The Beaver' with Mel Gibson, then the remake of the classic horror 'Fright Night' with Colin Farrell, and 'Odd Thomas' based on the Dean Kootz novel with Willem Dafoe.

'Only Lovers Left Alive' with Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, '5 to 7', 'Cymbeline', and 'Burying the Ex' for Joe Dante, 'Dying of the Light' for Paul Schrader, 'Experimenter', 'Broken Horses', 'The Driftless Area' and 'Green Room' bring us up to date, with the latter only being released in Australia last month. In the meantime there were further television series appearances, a number of short films, and his voice talents as 'Clumsy' in 'The Smurfs' and 'The Smurfs 2', and 'From Up On Poppy Hill' 

Yelchin has 65 acting credits, with five films still yet to be released - those being - 'Star Trek : Beyond', 'Rememory' with Peter Dinklage, 'Thoroughbred', 'We Don't Belong Here' and 'Porto'. He had six award wins to his name and another eleven nominations.

So much achieved at just 27 years of age from an acting career already spanning 18 years. With a diverse acting range from cute & cuddly Smurfs to zombie beaters, to neo nazi horror, to near future terminators, to going boldly where no man has gone before to RomCom, action and Mexican drug cartels, Yelchin was up for anything and everything and was a rising star, in demand, and will be sorely missed by those closest to him, those that had the pleasure of working with this young gifted talent, and by us - the film going public.

Anton Yelchin - Rest In Peace
1989-2016

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

GREEN ROOM : Tuesday 17th May 2016.

'GREEN ROOM' which I saw in the week is Written and Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, and so far this low budget limited release horror thriller has garnered much critical acclaim which has yet to transfer to big Box Office receipts, but nonetheless is worthy of your attention. With it's worldwide Premier at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival - one year ago now - and a limited release in the US in mid-April this year, the film arrived on Aussie shores mid this month and so far has generated US$2.8M from its budget outlay of US$5M. You'll have to hunt this film down though if you are tempted to see this well crafted and original film, because it is at selected cinemas only, and I had to traipse half way across Sydney to catch it . . . but it was worth the journey. The film has picked up six award wins and three other nominations from across the circuit too.

The story here concerns the members of a young punk band 'The Ain't Rights' - Pat, Sam, Reece and Tiger (Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawcat, Joe Cole and Callum Turner respectively) who are wrapping up a largely unsuccessful tour with a view that after their last gig they are all going to go their separate ways. We join them in the American Pacific Northwest travelling to the  Oregon coast to perform a gig which subsequently nets them about $6 each for their performance. None too pleased they take their anger and frustration out on Tad (David W. Thompson), a young radio host who coordinated the gig for them. Determined to set things right Tad organises another gig for them at a club just outside of Portland, tucked away in the murky forest backwater along the last chance highway and past the no-hope turn-off to shitville. He tells them that the gig will pay them $350. They climb into their truck which is their home away from home on wheels and contains instruments, bedding, clothing and their worldly possessions it seems, and head off for the gig later that afternoon. They are told that the audience will be boots and braces types - skinheads - but just to play whatever they choose. They open up with a cover of the Dead Kennedy's 'Nazi Punk's Fuck Off' which enrages the gathered audience but who are won over by the originality of the subsequent songs.

After the gig, the band pack up their gear and make a hasty retreat from their Neo Nazi confines, but Sam forgets she left her phone to recharge in the Green Room, and so Pat goes back to collect it. Barging into the Green Room he observes Amber (Imogen Poots) and Werm (Brent Werzner) standing over the body of a dead girl, with a knife protruding from her skull. Quickly the four band members are hurriedly locked into the Green Room with Amber and the corpse, by Gabe and Big Justin. Game (Macon Blair) leaves to call his boss and the owner of the club Darcy Banker (Patrick Stewart), leaving an armed Big Justin (Eric Edelstein) to keep the four friends and Amber at bay. They over power him however, and now the captor is held captive at gunpoint by the five. When Darcy arrives he attempts to calm the situation through the closed heavily locked door of the Green Room by lulling the five into a false sense of security, telling them the police have been called and the situation diffused, but he is concerned about the unregistered gun that Reece now holds, and for that reason they should give it up.

What follows is a game of wits as the four band members are fearful for their lives whilst Amber is the gung-ho nothing to lose one amongst them determined to make right by her dead friend laying on the floor in the same room. Darcy does his best to negotiate his way into the room and out of this mess, intent on eliminating the witnesses at the hands of his white supremacist Neo Nazi red laced skinhead followers. Whilst the gang inside the Green Room are held captive it all gets heated as tempers become more and more frayed, and Big Justin is held in an arm lock with a gun pointed at his head for good measure. The gang discover a bunker immediately below the floorboards as night begins to fall, and the venue has been cleared under the auspices of a power outage, so leaving Darcy and his henchmen to go about their business of dispensing with the five witnesses.

An attempt to negotiate and the five to be let loose from their confines goes horribly wrong when Pat tries to hand over the offending weapon to Darcy on the other side of the door.  The result is that his outstretched arm is savagely attacked and mutilated with knives and machetes. Just about recovering the situation within the Green Room, Amber takes a box cutter blade to Big Justin's stomach very effectively seeing him off in one swift slice.

The five eventually make it out of the Green Room and into the darkened deserted club, only to be greeted by pit bull dogs who quickly dispense with two of the band members whilst gun fire dispenses with another. This leaves Pat, Sam and Amber to get the hell outta Dodge with their lives still intact and their bodies in one piece, but Darcy is still hell bent on covering those tracks with a crime scene in the forest that makes the whole cause and effect look very different. With his arm now wrapped in gaffer tape the three remaining attempt to escape once again with further gun shots, pit bull attacks and bloody swipes of a machete resulting in Sam buying the farm, but not before two of Darcy's henchmen have succumbed too at the hands of Amber and Pat.

With only Amber and Pat remaining a face off occurs in the bunker discovered below the Green Room which was accessed by a hole ripped in the floor boards. Armed only with the hand gun and a box cutter which Amber has already proven herself with, two other young red laced henchmen have been ordered to kill on sight, while Gabe cleans up the evidence of the dead bodies in the club. Pat and Amber overcome the two killing them, and seize Gabe when he inadvertently returns to the Green Room to clean up in there not knowing what has just gone down. He says that he just wants to go back to prison, and intends to give himself up to the Police. They lead him out of the club at gun point as dawn breaks outside and all is calm, but not yet over.

They walk through the forest and hear gun shots in the distance - the two send Gabe off to alert the Police which he willingly agrees to do. They come across Darcy and two of his men with the bands truck and the corpses of the other band members being made to look like they were attacked and killed by wild dogs. Needless to say it doesn't end well for Darcy and Co. at the hands of Pat and Amber who are determined to see that justice is duly served.

This is a well crafted, original story that is thrilling, horrific, tense and at times even funny. It is well cast with believable performances not the least of which is Patrick Stewart as the level headed but deviously sinister gentleman club owner hiding some very dark secrets and who will stop at nothing to protect his interests. But, what he and his kind did not count on was four young punks and a girl witness with a particular set of skills who will not go silently into the night, and in this respect both Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots hold their own too and give equally strong grounded performances. Taught, twisted, riveting, and riotous - this will not be for everyone, but for those who are looking for something fresh, genre defining, life or death, intense and emotional, then you can't go far wrong with this one.


-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 5th November 2015.

There is a certain British and Australian movie magazine that shall remain nameless but to which I have subscribed ever since it was first published in Australia, and I have every one of its so far 177 monthly editions sitting on my bookshelves at home. Being a movie Blogger too I read Reviews and Previews and general film stuff from numerous other sources too including newspapers, magazines, books, Blog sites, the Internet, on TV and the radio too, and the world of cinema is often the topic of conversation with family, friends, colleagues and anyone prepared to listen. What interests me too is what divides opinion about films and how one source can rave about the best film ever seen, and the other will pan it. I see it all the time, and even in the same publication a film might be awarded four stars at the time of release by one critic and then three months later on Blu-ray the same film gets two stars, or the reverse will apply. It just goes to prove that there's no right or wrong answer when it comes to movies and only you can decide what's hot, what's not, what's in and what's out. Just go along to be entertained and for $20 worth of escapism wrapped up in action, adventure, romance, comedy, drama, horror, science fiction, documentary, thrills and adventure you can be your own best judge, whilst doing your bit to keep film alive.

With that in mind therefore, over the coming week we have five new films coming to your local big screen complex that offer just about everything from romance, comedy, drama, action and zombies, although not in the same film you understand . . . well, maybe! First off there is a true life tragedy, emotion and equal rights story with the back drop of the US Police force; then a lesser known French tradition manifesting itself in New York with life changing consequences; a family survival action drama manifesting itself in south-east Asia when it all goes pear shaped for the locals and the tourists; everything you need to know about thwarting the walking dead with a Swiss Army Knife, a magnifying glass, some aluminium foil and the Boy Scouts Guide to Survival; and finally a home grown Aussie comedy of family, relationships and acceptance.

With another great choice, be sure to catch a film in the week ahead, and when you have done so record your thoughts, observations and assessment below this or any other Post in the Comments Box, and tell the Odeon Online Blogosphere what you thought. Enjoy your film.

FREEHELD (Rated M) - this drama film is Directed by Peter Sollett and is based on the 2007 short documentary film of the same name by Cynthia Wade and written for the screen by Ron Nyswaner. It stars a strong cast; an Oscar winning pedigree that saw it pick up the Golden Statue in 2008 for Best Documentary Short as well as a bunch of other wins and nominations around the festival circuit; and a true life story of gay rights, equality and endearing love.

This film sees lesbian Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) as a New Jersey Police Lieutenant working in Ocean County. She has a domestic partner Stacie Andrea (Ellen Page), and when Hester is terminally diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005 she actively and repeatedly fights against the New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders to allow her pension benefits to pass to her life partner upon her death. Along the way sympathetic and hard-nosed colleague and police partner Dane Wells (Michael Shannon) provides support, as does activist Steven Goldstein (Steve Carrell) who rallies fellow police officers, the general public willing to be engaged, and anyone else willing to show empathy for the pair's fight for equality - in life and in death!

5 to 7 (Rated M) - first released at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2014, this film received a limited released in April 2015 and has finally made it Down Under. Written and Directed by Victor Levin, this film set in New York sees twenty-something aspiring writer Brian Bloom (Anton Yelchin) hit it off with older French woman Arielle Pierpont (Berenice Marlohe). She is a thirty-something, sophisticated, smart, intelligent . . . and married to diplomat Valery (Lambert Wilson), but that's OK because in France it is tradition to engage in 'cinq a sept' affairs whereby a married persons whereabouts will not be questioned the two hour period after work at 5:00pm and before home at 7:00pm. And so it is with Arielle and Valery, that allows her to carry on with Brian no questions asked. As their relationship grows so the web of intrigue grows too as Brian meets Jane (Olivia Thrilby) an Editor, and mistress to Valery. Looking on is Sam (Frank Langella) and Arlene (Glenn Close) as parents to Brian who sees the problems that exist but grateful that someone has an interest in their son. With romance, drama, comedy, entangled lives and a back drop of New York  this could almost be a Woody Allen feature.

NO ESCAPE (Rated MA15+) - this actioner was Directed by John Erick Dowdle, Written by him and his brother Drew Dowdle and Produced by the latter too for the sum of US$5M and already this has grossed US$54M having had its LA Premier in mid-August. Here we have a family in crisis as father Jack (Owen Wilson) takes an opportunity to move himself and his family to south-east Asia to head up a water processing plant there for the company he works for. It doesn't take long for a coup to erupt and Jack is caught in the midst of bloody unrest, political upheaval, death squads, violence, rape, pillage and torture and needing to employ all the survival instincts he can muster to protect himself and his wife Annie (Lake Bell) and daughter Lucy (Sterling Jerins). Along the way to save himself he encounters British tourist Hammond (Pierce Brosnan) who has a 'particular set of skills' that might just come in handy when you need to rescue your loved ones holed up in a foreign hotel during a coup, and you just gotta get sharpish to the local US Embassy no matter what.

SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (Rated MA15+) - I caught the trailer for this a few weeks ago, and thought it looked like a lotta fun as far as zombie action horror comedy films go, although I'm not sure there's much to top 'Shaun of the Dead' really! This one however, is Directed by Christopher B. Landon and stars a clutch of teenage lads who decide to join the Boy Scouts and soon have to save their small town from being over-run by marauding flesh eating walking dead zombies. Mustering all their Boy Scout knowledge and derring-do to thwart the undead enemy there is Ben (Tye Sheridan), Carter (Logan Miller), Augie (Joey Miller) and befriended waitress Denise (Sarah Dumont) who must save the day, all of humanity and life as we know it. 

NOW ADD HONEY (Rated M) - Directed by Wayne Hope and Written by his wife Robyn Butler who also stars, this Australian comedy has some strong talent behind it to bring their small screen experience and expertise to the big screen with this offering of a dysfunctional family who are descended upon by an overly bronzed movie starlet from Hollywood, Honey Halloway (Lucy Fry). She exists, for now, in that twilight zone between teenage sensation and young adult big time stardom and is forced to stay with her Aussie cousins to adjust, transition, reconnect and keep it real. Clearly there will be clashes, emotion, fun, frivolity, drama and it will all work out in the end with lessons learned, family ties firmly knotted and relationships cemented with the likes of Portia de Rossi, Erik Thomson and Hamish Blake thrown into the mix with varying degrees of success I would suggest.

Yet again, a completely diverse range of cinematic content coming your way in the week ahead. Get out amongst it and see a movie this week and then share your thoughts with us all here. In the meantime, enjoy your film of choice.

See you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-