Birthday's to share this week : 1st - 7th January 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jeremy Renner does on 7th January - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 46, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 1st January

• Frank Langella - Born 1938, turns 79 - Actor
• Verne Troyer - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor  

Monday 2nd January

• Todd Haynes - Born 1961, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Cuba Gooding Jnr. - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Tia Carrere - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actress | Producer 
• Paz Vega - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actress  
• Kate Bosworth - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actress 

Tuesday 3rd January

• Victoria Principal - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actress | Producer
• Mel Gibson - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer  

Wednesday 4th January

• Julian Sands - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor 
• Dyan Cannon - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actress | Writer | Director
• Julia Ormond - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actress    

Thursday 5th January

• Diane Keaton - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Robert Duvall - Born 1931, turns 85 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Hayao Miyazaki - Born 1941, turns 75 - Animator | Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
• Roger Spottiswoode - Born 1945, turns 72 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
• Clancy Brown - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Vinnie Jones - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor
• Bradley Cooper - Born  1975, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Director

Friday 6th January

• Rowan Atkinson - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Writer 
• Norman Reedus - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Eddie Redmayne - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actor  
• Sylvia Syms - Born 1934, turns 82 - Actress
• Kate McKinnon - Born 1984, turns 33 - Actress | Writer

Saturday 7th January

• Linda Kozlowski - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actress  
• David Caruso - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
• Nicolas Cage - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer
• Irrfan Khan - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Jeremy Renner - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter

Jeremy Lee Renner was born in Modesto, California, USA to mother Valerie Tague and father Lee Renner who managed the the local bowling alley in Modesto during the 1980's. His parents were married as teenagers and divorced when the young Jeremy was just ten years of age. He attended the Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto and then Modesto Junior College where he studies criminology, computer science and psychology before being drawn to acting through an elective. Bitten by the acting bug, he decided to relocate himself to San Francisco to study at the American Conservatory Theatre, then moving to Hawaii and then onto Los Angeles in 1993. 

Upon his arrival in L.A. Renner dedicated much of his time to theatre productions with the highlight coming in 'Search and Destroy' which he starred in and Co-Directed to critical acclaim. In 1995 he secured his first big screen break in 'National Lampoon's Senior Trip'. From here he secured single episode appearances on televisions series 'Deadly Games', 'Strange Luck', 'To Have & to Hold', 'The Net', 'Time of Your Life' and 'Angel'. In the meantime there were a number of made for television films and features that included 'Paper Dragons' and 'A Friend's Betrayal' all seeing out the '90's.

In 2002 he secured his first starring role in 'Dahmer' playing serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer - a complex role for which he was highly acclaimed. This in turn led to 'S.W.A.T.' with Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson - his first commercially successful action film. This led to 'The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things', then 'A Little Trip to Heaven' with Forest Whitaker, 'North Country' with Charlize Theron, '12 and Holding', 'Neo Ned', an uncredited turn in 'Lords of Dogtown' and 'Love Comes to the Executioner'.

2007 saw 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' with Brad Pitt, then the British zombie horror sequel offering'28 Weeks Later' with Robert Carlyle, then 'Take' with Minnie Driver before Kathryn Bigelow's highly acclaimed and six times Academy Award winning 'The Hurt Locker' in which Renner was nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role for his performance as maverick bomb disposal expert Staff Sergeant William James. The film picked up 120 award wins and another 121 nominations around the circuit including the Oscar for Best Film and Best Director. 

'Ingenious' came next with another critically acclaimed turn in the Ben Affleck Directed, Co-Written and starring crime drama 'The Town'. Renner was again nominated for an Academy Award for his role as James Coughlin in the Best Supporting Actor category. The film picked up nine award wins and a further 45 nominations in all.

The following years saw Renner embark on a series of hugely successful franchise offerings that started off with his uncredited role and first appearance as Clint Barton/Hawkeye in 2011's Avengers offering of 'Thor'. He would reprise his role in 2012's 'The Avengers', 2015's 'Avengers : Age of Ultron', 2016's 'Captain America : Civil War', the currently filming and due in 2018 'Avengers : Infinity War' and the recently announced 'Ant Man and the Wasp' also due in 2018.

The next franchise saw Renner star as intelligence analyst William Brandt opposite Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in the fourth instalment in the ever popular and successful 'Mission : Impossible' series of films with 2011's 'Ghost Protocol'. Again, he reprised his role in 2015's 'Rogue Nation' and is set to do so in 'M:I 6 - Mission Impossible' currently in pre-production for a 2018 release. Finally, Renner starred in a spin off of the acclaimed fast paced action Jason Bourne franchise but without Matt Damon. Renner played Alex Cross in 'The Bourne Legacy' for Director and Writer Tony Gilroy - a role he is set to reprise again in a recently announced Bourne sequel that may or may not see him playing alongside Matt Damon.

In between 'The Avengers', 'Mission:Impossible' and 'Bourne' franchise films he starred in a modern take on the German folklore fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel, in the fantasy action comedy outing of 'Hansel & Gretel : Witch Hunters' in which Renner starred as Hansel alongside Gemma Arterton's Gretel - siblings who now grown up work as a pair of witch exterminators for hire. The film made US$226M off its US$50M budget outlay. This was followed up by the James Gray Directed period piece 'The Immigrant' with Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix which was nominated for the Palme D'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Next up was the David O. Russell Directed criminal comedy drama film 'American Hustle' in 2013 which was nominated for ten Academy Awards, won  a total of 66 awards and was nominated a further 202 times. With an ensemble cast including Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams and Michael Pena the film was a commercial success too bringing home US$252M at the Global Box Office from its US$40M budget.




2014 brought the true story of investigative journalist Gary Webb in 'Kill the Messenger' which saw Renner starring as Gary Webb and also taking his first Producer credit. With an all star cast that included Ray Liota, Oliver Platt, Michael Sheen, Andy Garcia, Barry Pepper, Robert Patrick, Rosemarie DeWitt and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, the film was well received critically, albeit it failed to make back its budget outlay.

'Avengers : Age of Ultron', 'Mission:Impossible - Rogue Nation' and 'Captain America : Civil War' as mentioned previously bring us up to his most recent release at the end of 2016, 'Arrival' for Director Denis Villeneuve and starring Amy Adams, and Forest Whitaker. The film has so far made US$145M off its US$47M budget cost and has already picked up eighteen award wins and 111 nominations.





Next up for Renner is 'Avengers : Infinity War' due in 2018 and currently filming, the animated 'Arctic Justice : Thunder Squad' also due in 2018 to which Renner is lending his voice talents together with James Franco, Alec Baldwin, John Cleese, Michael Madsen, Omar Sy, Anjelica Huston and Heidi Klum. 'M:I 6 - Mission Impossible' is in pre-production for later in 2018, recently announced are a Bourne sequel and Marvel's 'Ant Man and the Wasp', with 'Wind River' in post-production for an early 2017 release and starring also Martin Sensmeier, Jon Bernthal, and Elizabeth Olson.

All up Renner has 54 Acting credits to his name so far, and four as Producer. He has two Academy Award nominations for his performances in 'The Town' and 'The Hurt Locker', one Golden Globe nomination for 'The Town' and one BAFTA nomination for 'The Hurt Locker'. So far he has garnered thirty award wins and a further 51 nominations along the way. As well as an active career as an Actor in demand, he is a singer/songwriter, guitarist, drummer and keyboard player, and has written and preformed songs for a number of films he has appeared in. Renner married Canadian model Sonni Pacheco in January 2014 and within a year she had filed for divorce. They have a daughter together, Ava Berlin, born in 2013.

Jeremy Renner - runs a house renovating business in his spare time restoring rundown iconic Hollywood homes; is a UN Goodwill Peace Ambassador helping raise awareness of mine-clearing efforts in Afghanistan; has studied both Filipino and Thai martial arts; often plays intense, emotional character driven roles, frequently tinged with violence or unstable traits; is a bona fide action star having played such recurring roles in three major film franchises to date; put also plays flawed, often complicated grounded roles that bring him acclaim critically to match his commercial success from the blockbusters he is perhaps better known for. Very watchable and keeping it real in front of the camera and away from it - Happy Birthday to you Jeremy, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ARRIVAL : Tuesday 15th November 2016

And so the aliens have landed, in the form of first contact offering 'ARRIVAL' which I saw earlier this week based on the 1998 short Sci-Fi story 'Story of Your Life' by Ted Chiang. But make no mistake - this is no 'Independence Day', no 'War of the Worlds', no 'District 9' or 'The Thing' but more akin to the thinking mans 'Contact', 'Interstellar', 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', and 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. The films already highly rated adaptation is Directed by Denis Villeneuve, was made for US$47M, has taken US$39M at the global Box Office so far, and Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in early September where it won the Future Film Festival Digital Award, and was nominated for a Golden Lion.

Here, twelve vast and mysterious alien spaceships touch down in various seemingly random locations around the world. Termed 'Shells' by the Americans because of their elliptical shape they measure about 1500 meters tall and hover motionless about ten meters off the ground, not emitting any sound, any gas, any radiation and constructed of a solid black stone like material the like of which is unknown to us. One such Shell has touched down in Montana, and this is where the action plays out in a hastily set up Army camp close by to the alien craft.

Every eighteen hours a hatch opens at the base allowing a small delegation of humans in to explore the anti-gravity interior where they emerge in a chamber with a huge rectangular window - the other side of which in a swirling white mist appear two 'heptapods' - seven legged beings towering over the humans, that bear no resemblance to anything we have seen before. Their 'finger tips' at the end of each limb opens up like a starfish from which they are able to emit an ink like substance thats swirls around and clings to the window like a coffee mug stain on a table. It then fades away and disappears once the humans have been able to capture it on film before another circular symbol is formed. This is the language of the aliens, and it is this language that renowned linguist professor Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) has been brought in to rather hurriedly decipher.

Joining Banks is theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) who now head up a team of other so called 'experts' endeavouring to communicate with the aliens and learn of their intentions. They report through to US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whittaker). Weber is under pressure from Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is more than gung-ho to let loose on the aliens with a can of Uncle Sam's whoop-ass, particularly when progress with communicating is painstakingly slow, and tensions are mounting at the other eleven locations around the world. Communicating with each nations leaders via a bank of live feed monitors, it soon becomes clear that each has a different agenda on what action to take, and all are learning different things about their respective Shells as time progresses, but are not prepared to share their discoveries.

Around the world there is rioting and looting in the streets and the social fabric of our planet is quickly falling into decay as it is realised that we are not alone in the universe, and according to the media and the doomsayers the end is nigh, and the aliens have come to attack and wipe out all known civilisation. In the meantime, the Chinese  and the Russians join forces and are quickly preparing to mount a full scale attack on the Shells located in their parts of the world if they don't haul ass soon and get the hell outta Dodge!

Meanwhile Banks and Donnelly are inside the shell every eighteen hours as the days, weeks and months pass by, with little progress being made. The alien language is very complicated, but through perseverance and applying what they both know, some progress is made. The aliens scroll a message that translates to 'offer weapon', and this is also seen in the other eleven Shells around the world. The world leaders are fearful upon seeing 'weapon' that they are under likely attack and begin mounting an offensive campaign. Banks however, interprets 'weapon' as 'tool' - a device to aid and assist, and perhaps the aliens are attempting to trade something of value, and important.

Throughout all of this Banks is having flash-backs about her daughter growing up and passing away from a rare disease while in her late teens - images we saw at the beginning of the film. She is haunted by these memories and bringing up her child alone, without the father who left for reasons that are unknown. However, as she comes closer to the aliens and begins to understand their language, she realises that in their time, time is non-linear and she too is now experiencing this through them. In communicating with one of the aliens up close and personal as best she can, she learns that the flash-backs she has been having are in fact flash-forwards and that her future daughters father will leave her after the child is born because he made 'the wrong choice'. The alien reveals that they are here to help mankind by sharing their language, and therefore their perception of time also, so that humanity can in turn help them 3,000 years from now. This is the 'offer weapon/tool' that the aliens were referring to in their scroll. The alien visitors mean no harm at all.

Returning to the base camp which is now being evacuated for fear of alien attack, Banks has another vision of eighteen months hence, when all is good in the world, the aliens have departed and the global leaders are united in celebration marking a new era of sharing, caring and togetherness. Banks siddles up to General Shang (Tzi Ma) of China who originally wanted to nuke 'em out of existence, but he thanks her for changing his mind. When Banks asks him how, he says she called him on his private number, which he then proceeds to give her for the first time. Coming round from her vision, she steals a satellite phone and calls Shang on his private number, and relates to him in fluent Mandarin the very same words that his wife said to him on her death bed - he told her these words in the future and she repeated them to him in the present. At this Shang orders his military might to stand down, prompting all other nations to do likewise, and together all nations share in their learnings gleaned from their respective Shells. At this, all Shells dematerialise and vanish into thin air.

Following this course of events, Donnelly declares his love for Banks, and in a flash-forward vision we learn that he will be father of Banks' daughter, and that he will leave her over 'the choice' she made to have a child even though she knew beforehand that the childs life would be cut short by a rare disease. Banks' motives are that now knowing that time is not linear, that it is better to have a child even for a short time, than never have that child come into existence.

This is a clever, thought provoking film that shares an underlying message of the importance of communication, unity and acceptance. Highly praised also for its stunning visuals, gripping story and great performances, especially from Amy Adams who carries this film, 'Arrival' is the thinking mans Sci-Fil movie that has something to say in todays world and turns the tables on the generally hostile alien contact genre with emotion, passion and a grounded realism that does not rely on heavy CGI, big guns, explosions and rousing end of the world speeches. Well worth the price of your ticket, and you'll need to concentrate on the storyline every step of the way.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 10th November 2016.

A few weeks ago an article in the tabloid press over here caught my eye, about a subject I hold close to my heart. Written by James Wigney the article was titled 'Games up for online pirates : Movie boss' warning to downloaders' and surrounds the illegal downloading of movies and television content with Australia being 'one of the worst offending countries for online piracy, with 1.24 billion visits to illegal pirate sites last year'. With a population of approaching just twenty-five million, that's a statistic not to be taken lightly methinks! The boss in question here, Graham Burke, heads up Village Roadshow and he was addressing the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast earlier in October. The plan is to shut down with immediate effect up to one hundred illegal download sites the moment the courts hand down the decision on the movie industry's war on piracy, which will see an immediate and dramatic drop in piracy as a result. He went on to say that 'many people think this is a victimless crime' 'It's not, and if this were to continue, there will be no 'Red Dog', there will be no 'Mad Max', there will be no 'Star Wars', there will be no creativity'. The worrying trend seems to have emerged among younger people, with 31% of 12-17 year olds pirating movies . . . and thinking it is OK to do so. Well said on all of the above! I am a firm advocate of paying your $20 and seeing a film at the full retail price on the big screen as the Producers, Directors, Actors, Screenwriters, and film crew intended, and all who have to be paid out of the proceeds from that small investment in two hours of entertainment. Do the right think Australian and movie lovers of the world, and pay the price of a ticket and go see a movie at the Odeon instead of illegally downloading a film from a pirate site and committing a crime! You know it makes sense!

And so to this week where we have just two new release movies coming to your local picture house and both are very different and both have already been highly acclaimed widely by critics and movie goers. First up is a second Directorial outing for this fashion guru turned movie maker featuring an all star cast in this psychological romance and revenge story within a story thriller; and this is followed up by a Sci-Fi drama from a Director of repute of first contact and learning to communicate with otherworldly visitors whilst our world leaders squabble amongst themselves and take us to the brink of war. Both films feature the highly acclaimed and awarded Actress Amy Adams in the lead roles.

Remember, that when you have sat through your film or films of choice in the week ahead as either Previewed below, or as Reviewed and Previewed previously amidst these humble Blog pages, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions of your movie going experience with our other readers by leaving a Comment below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and enjoy your movie in the meantime.

'NOCTURNAL ANIMALS' (Rated MA15+) - written for the Screen, Co-Produced and Directed by fashion designer Tom Ford whose previous fashion credits include time as the creative brains behind Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and then his own label Tom Ford, this is only the second Directorial outing for the man who is already making a name for himself in the world of cinema. Ford set up his own Production Company, Fade to Black, in 2005 and his debut as Director came in 2009 with 'A Single Man' with Colin Firth in the lead role. That film picked up 34 award wins and another 52 nominations including an Oscar nod for Firth in the Best Lead Actor category and it made US$25M from its US$7M budget outlay. Now Ford is back with his second film that has already been widely acclaimed having won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival in early September this year. The film opened in the UK last week, in Australia this week and in the US next week, and was made for US$22M.

Based on the 1993 novel 'Tony and Susan' by Austin Wright, 'Nocturnal Animals' tells the story of successful Los Angeles art gallery owner Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) who is now married to Hutton Morrow (Armie Hammer) but all is not well in that camp. One day unexpectedly Susan receives a manuscript from her long estranged ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) - a man whom she left twenty or so years earlier. Edward asks Susan for her opinion of his story. Reading through the manuscript there are elements that resonate with her past life and that of her present too, as memories and emotions of her first marriage coming flooding back. The as yet unpublished novel is called 'Nocturnal Animals' and is based on a story of a family holiday that turns violent and deadly. With the line between fact and fiction, reality and make believe becoming more obscured Susan must face her past life, some hidden truths and the meaning behind her ex-husbands novel in which she imagines the lead character Tony Hastings (Jake Gyllenhaal) playing out the husband and father figure on that ill fated family holiday. Also starring Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Sheen, Laura Linney, Isla Fisher and Andrea Riseborough, this psychological romantic revenge thriller story within a story is a must see.

'ARRIVAL' (Rated M) - based on the 1998 short Sci-Fi story 'Story of Your Life' by Ted Chiang, this already highly rated adaptation is Directed by Denis Villeneuve, was made for US$50M and Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in early September where it won the Future Film Festival Digital Award and was nominated for a Golden Lion. The film is released Stateside also this week. When twelve vast and mysterious alien spaceships touch down in various strategically placed locations around the world, an elite team of experts is mobilised to establish contact and determine what the extra terrestrial visitors want from our little blue planet. Linguist Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), mathematician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) and US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) join forces to find the answers and communicate with the alien beings while the rest of the world and its quarrelling leaders reside on the brink of war. But, amidst this will Banks be prepared to risk her own life and that of humanity to uncover the answers sought? Highly praised also for its stunning visuals, gripping story and great performances, especially from Amy Adams.

With two highly acclaimed films newly released this week, and both starring Amy Adams in very different roles and genres, my recommendation is to catch them both! I don't think you'll be disappointed by either outing, and when you have sat through these two films you can share your views with your like minded cinephiles here at this Blog. In the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon, in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-