BABYLON : Tuesday 24th January 2023.

'BABYLON', which I saw earlier this week at my local multiplex, is an MA15+ Rated American epic period comedy-drama film Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle, whose prior film making credits take in the highly acclaimed and multi-award winning 'Whiplash' in 2014, 'La La Land' in 2016 and 'First Man' in 2018. 'Babylon' saw its World Premier in Los Angeles in mid-December before its US release on 23rd December, and has divided critics with those who generally praised the cinematography, editing, score, and performances, but were divided on its screenplay, direction, graphic content, and runtime. The film cost US$78M to produce and has so far recouped US$31M but received five nominations for the 80th Golden Globe Awards and won one for Best Original Score, and nine nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards winning one for Best Production Design. So far the film has won twenty-nine awards and been nominated a further 138 times (some of which are still pending an outcome from future awards ceremonies). The film has a run time of three hours and nine minutes.

The film opens up in Bel Air, California in 1926 with Mexican immigrant Manuel 'Manny' Torres (Diego Calva) helping to transport an elephant to a debauched, drug-fueled party at a Kinoscope Studios executive's isolated mansion in the Hollywood hills.

Later that evening the party, which by now is in full swing, is gate crashed by Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) and Manny very quickly becomes smitten with the very brash, overtly ambitious self-appointed 'star' from New Jersey. Upon meeting her and snorting a few lines of coke together, Manny states that he wishes to be part of something bigger. Meanwhile, Jane Thornton (Phoebe Tonkin) has overdosed on drugs during a golden shower routine on obese Actor Orville Pickwick (Troy Metcalf) and has the elephant walked through the room full of debauched party goers in order to distract them, while he helps carry the comatose girl out to her car and away to the nearest hospital.

Also at the lavish and out of control party are Chinese-American lesbian cabaret singer and title card writer Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li), and African-American jazz trumpeter Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo). The flamboyantly-dancing Nellie is spotted and swiftly recruited to replace Jane Thornton in a Kinoscope film having been told that she needs to be on set at 8:00am the next morning. Manny is introduced to and befriends Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), a benevolent yet troubled, several times married film star. Manny drives a drunken Jack home early the next morning. Jack is also due on set that morning and he asks Manny if he has ever been on a film set, to which he responds with 'no'. Jack helps Manny secure general assistant jobs at Kinoscope, which he manages to complete all tasks asked of him with seemingly relative ease and as a result quickly climbs the ladder within the studio system.

Nellie becomes almost an overnight sensation, turning her into the latest 'it girl', and is keenly covered by gossip columnist Elinor St. John (Jean Smart), who also follows Jack's career. As Al Jolson's 'The Jazz Singer' heralded in sound film so replacing silent movies from 1927 onward, Manny skillfully adapts to such technical changes, eventually gaining Directing jobs. Nellie struggles to navigate sound film's demands, and increases her drug use and reckless gambling, tarnishing her reputation despite Manny's seemingly unwavering assistance and persistence.

Nellie, hires her father Robert Roy (Eric Roberts) as her Business Manager. One night at a party together he tells many of the gathered guests of the time he fought a snake and lived to tell the tale. Nellie perks up and publicly asks everyone if they want to see her Dad fight a rattlesnake. Jack shouts out 'Hell yeah!' and so they drive out into the desert until they come across a rattle snake. As Robert siddles up to the snake he passes out in a drunken stupor and so she fights the snake, which bites her neck, and she passes out. Fay kills it by chopping off its head and sucks out the venom and when Nellie comes around a few moments later passionately kisses Fay. While running lines with his new wife Estelle (Katherine Waterstone), Jack is devastated to learn his longtime friend and Producer, George Munn (Lukas Haas), has committed suicide.

Come 1932, and Jack begins to feel that his popularity has waned since the advent of the 'talkies' and following a couple of Box Office failures. However, he still works in low-budget MGM films. Meanwhile, Sidney has secured his own musical film and orchestra, but is offended when Manny requests he use blackface makeup to darken his skin because under the studio lights he almost appears white, and the picture needs to appeal to Southern audiences. After finishing the film, Sidney leaves Kinoscope and goes back to his roots playing small gigs in bars and clubs. As Hollywood becomes less free thinking and free-doing, studio executives tell Manny to fire Fay, the Kinoscope title writer, because of her perceived lesbian affair with Nellie and the fact that movies no longer need title cards. 

Elinor and Manny attempt to rejuvenate Nellie's image by giving her elocution and deportment lessons so that she can fit in to Hollywood's high society and re-establish her career, but Nellie pushes back against upper-class snobbery at a party, ultimately vomiting violently on the host, and shaming the two people who gave her a second chance. 

Jack tries to call MGM Studio Producer Irving Thalberg (Max Minghella) but is put off several times by his Secretary, telling him to call back at 1:00pm and then at 4:00pm. After 4:00pm and being told that Thalberg had left for the day, Jack drives over to Thalberg's office to find it empty but he finds a magazine with the cover story by Elinor about his declining popularity and confronts her. She explains that his star may have faded, but he will be forever remembered on celluloid. 

Meanwhile, eccentric gangster James McKay (Tobey Maguire) threatens Nellie's life over her accumulated US$85K gambling debt. Manny initially rejects her pleas for help, but later secures funds from on-set drug pusher and aspiring actor 'The Count' (Rory Scovel), and visits McKay with him to pay off Nellie's debt. McKay begins by pitching three outlandish ideas he has for movies. Manny starts to panic upon learning that the money is fake, made by his own prop-maker. McKay invites the men to an underground gathering space for debauched parties and they go, albeit very reluctantly. When McKay realises the cash is fake, he attempts to kill them, but they narrowly escape in a hail of bullets, killing McKay's henchman Wilson (Ethan Suplee) in the process.

After everything that Nellie has put Manny through, he still asks her to flee with him to Mexico, get married, and start a new life together. She resists, but eventually agrees. However, McKay's associate tracks Manny down as he was gathering up a few possessions, shooting The Count and his roommate dead but sparing Manny's life if Manny leaves Los Angeles straight away and never returns. Meanwhile, oblivious to this, Nellie reneges on her decision and dances away into the night. 

Jack encounters Fay at a hotel party at which she reveals she is leaving for new opportunities in Europe. After saying their farewells, a downhearted Jack returns to his hotel room, picks up his revolver, walks into the bathroom and shoots himself dead. A montage reveals newspaper clippings detailing Nellie being found dead in a hotel room at age 34, and Elinor's death at age 76.

We then fast forward to 1952, and Manny returns to Hollywood, California with his wife and young daughter, having fled to New York City and opened his own radio shop. He shows them the Kinoscope Studios entrance, and visits a nearby cinema alone to see 'Singin' in the Rain', where the film's depiction of the industry's transition from silents to talkies moves him to tears. Then, the last one hundred years or so of big screen entertainment taking in clips from '2001 : A Space Odyssey' to 'Terminator 2' right up to 'Avatar' follows as the focus finally returns to 'Singin' in the Rain' and Manny smiles through his tears.

'Babylon' is way too long for its own good, and Writer Director Damien Chazelle could easily have shown more restraint by slicing off thirty minutes of this three hour+ ode to old Hollywood rather than the self-indulgent nod to early cinema that is sure delight cineastes everywhere nonetheless. That said, the production values on display here are first rate; Pitt, Robbie and Calva shine in their roles; and there are some genuine laugh out loud moments here but it's also easy to see where audiences and critics have been divided in their opinions and why those audiences have decided to vote with their feet rather than their bums on seats. 'Babylon' is brash, bold, hedonistic and all credit to Chazelle for going out on a limb to make this ambitious film but I left the theatre feeling a little 'meh!' about the whole thing and how it's mostly all style over substance.

'Babylon' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 19th January 2023.

The 23rd annual American Film Institute (AFI) Awards were presented on Friday 13th January at the Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills, LA over the course of an exclusive invitation only luncheon held for 250 select attendees from the world of American film and television. Presented by the American Film Institute to recognise the Top 10 films and television programmes of the year, these awards, unlike other accolades about the cinema and TV art form, acknowledge the film and television productions deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year's most significant achievements in the art of the moving image in American cinema. Media that does not fit the AFI's conventional eligibility criteria for the main categories, such as non-American productions as well as other types of media, are given recognition through the AFI Special Award. The American Film Institute is an American nonprofit film organisation that educates filmmakers and honours the heritage of the motion picture arts in the US.

Those ten award winners in the film category are as follows :-

* 'Avatar : The Way of Water' - Directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis.

* 'Elvis' - Directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

* 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' - Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert and starring Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu. 

* 'Nope' - Directed by Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yuen, Michael Wincott and Brandon Perea.

* 'She Said' - Directed by Maria Schrader and starring Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher and Tom Pelphrey. 

* 'The Fabelmans' - Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Gabriel LaBelle, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch.

* 'The Woman King' - Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and starring Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, Thuso Mbedu, John Boyega and Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

* 'Top Gun : Maverick' - Directed by Joseph Kosinski and starring Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connolly, Val Kilmer and Jon Hamm.

* 'Tar' - Directed by Todd Field and starring Cate Blanchett, Noemie Merlant, Nina Hoss and Mark Strong.

* 'Women Talking' - Directed by Sarah Polley and starring Frances McDormand, Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Ben Whishaw.

With the AFI Special Award being presented to 'The Banshees of Inisherin' as Directed by Martin McDonagh and starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.

For the ten winners of the television category, plus a whole lot more good stuff, you can visit the official website at : https://www.afi.com

Turning the attention then back to this weeks four new movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, we launch with a story of how decadence, depravity, and outrageous excess lead to the rise and fall of a number of ambitious dreamers in 1920's Hollywood. Then we have a UK doco that charts the true story of how in 1993, a boy named Brandon Lee enrols at the Bearsden Academy Secondary School in Glasgow, Scotland, and over time, it is revealed that Brandon Lee is not who he claims to be. Next up is a Spanish offering about two sisters who set up a bakery on the island of Mallorca together, that they inherited from a benefactor that they didn't know. And, closing out the week is a Russian family animated film about a grumpy bear who must bring a cute grizzly cub to America by flying on an airship with his friends, avoiding snowy disasters and an evil vulture along the way.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four 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 coming week.

'BABYLON' (Rated MA15+) - is an American epic period comedy-drama film Written and Directed by Damien Chazelle, whose prior film making credits take in the highly acclaimed and multi-award winning 'Whiplash' in 2014, 'La La Land' in 2016 and 'First Man' in 2018. 'Babylon' saw its World Premier in Los Angeles in mid-December before its US release on 23rd December, and has divided critics with those who generally praised the cinematography, editing, score, and performances, but were split on its screenplay, direction, graphic content, and runtime. The film cost about US$80M to produce and has so far recouped just US$15M but received five nominations for the 80th Golden Globe Awards and won one for Best Original Score, and nine nominations at the 28th Critics' Choice Awards winning one for Best Production Design. The film has a run time of three hours and nine minutes.

The film follows the rise and fall of multiple characters during Hollywood's transition from silent films to talkies during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in the late 1920's, including Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) - a popular silent film star known for his flamboyant parties; Manny Torres (Diego Calva) - a Mexican-American film assistant who aspires to have a larger role within the film industry; Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) - an aspiring actress and Manny's love interest; Elinor St. John (Jean Smart) - a sensationalist journalist; Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li) - a Chinese-American cabaret singer who also writes intertitles for films; and Sidney Palmer (Jovan Adepo) - a jazz trumpet player with Max Minghella, Lukas Haas, Tobey Maguire, Flea, Eric Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Katherine Waterstone and Phoebe Tonkin. 

'MY OLD SCHOOL' (Rated M) - this UK documentary film is Directed, Written and Co-Edited by Jono McLeod in his feature film making debut. The film saw its virtual World Premier screening at the January 2022 Sundance Film Festival, was released in the US in late July last year, and only now is it released here in Australia. It tells the story of how in 1995, it was discovered that 'Brandon Lee', who had a year earlier enrolled as a fifth-year student at Bearsden Academy secondary school in Bearsden, Glasgow, Scotland, had actually been a thirty-year-old former student, Brian MacKinnon, posing as a seventeen-year-old. The story attracted widespread and sensational news coverage at the time. McLeod, the film's Director, was one of MacKinnon's peers at Bearsden Academy. The story of MacKinnon's time at Bearsden and his unmasking are told through a combination of present-day interviews with MacKinnon's classmates and teachers, cartoon recreations, and archival footage. MacKinnon agreed to be interviewed for the film, but did not wish to appear on camera, so Actor Alan Cumming appears as an avatar for MacKinnon, lip syncing to the audio of his interviews. The film has so far grossed US$280K and has generated largely positive press.

'LEMON AND POPPY SEED CAKE' (Rated M) - is a 2021 Spanish-Luxembourg film Directed and Co-Written by Benito Zambrano, based on the novel of the same name by Cristina Campos. The film saw its World Premier showcasing at the Valladolid Film Festival in Spain in late October 2021 before its release in Spain in mid-November 2021, and only now does it get a limited release in Australia. In the small town of Valldemosa located on the Spanish island of Mallorca in the Mediterranean, Anna (Eva Martin) and her sister Marina (Elia Galera), who were separated when they were teenagers, meet again to sell a bakery they've inherited from a mysterious woman they know nothing about. The two sisters have led very different lives. Anna has barely left the island and is unhappily married to a man she no longer loves. Marina travels the world working as a doctor for an NGO. As the sisters try to uncover the secrets hidden behind their enigmatic benefactor and her property, they are forced to confront old family disputes and make up for lost time.

'BIG TRIP 2 : SPECIAL DELIVERY' (Rated PG) - is a Russian and Hungarian Co-Produced animated family adventure comedy film Directed by Natalya Nilova and Vasiliy Rovenskiy. After a big trip, Mic Mic the bear (voiced by Daniel Medvedev) just wants to relax. Unfortunately, another stork mishap means he must care for an adorable baby grizzly – and bring it all the way to America! As Mic Mic and his zany friends travel by airship, devious vulture Billy tries to sabotage the mission. Can the brave crew survive a lightning storm, crash-landing, ice flood, snowy avalanche – and Billy’s traps – to bring the cute cub to America, and keep the forest there free from evil’s rule? 

With four 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 week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

The Sydney Film Festival 2014 : 4th -15th June.

Once again the Sydney Film Festival is about to launch later this week offering us Sydneysiders and movie going tourists, film enthusiasts and cinema geeks a feast for the senses, and celluloid overload as we seek to cram in as much moving picture entertainment as is humanly possible over a twelve day period.

The Sydney Film Festival again cements its place as the world's longest continuously running film festival now in its 61st year, and judging by this years diverse offering is sure to provide some enticing entertainment for everyone, and will be sure to please. With films from across the globe from Argentina, Australia and Austria to the UK, Ukraine and the USA and just about everywhere in between, there are over 180 screenings over the period from Opening Night on 4th June to Closing Night on 15th June.

There are feature length films, short films, documentaries, retrospectives, classics, animated films, horror films, and many from first time Directors and many being premiered in Australia. There are films in official competition, and of the 180 or so screenings, over 30 are Australian.

You can see this years entries at an number of venues across Sydney, taking in The State Theatre, the George Street Event Cinemas, the Dendy Cinema at Opera Quays, the Cremorne Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Skyline Drive-in at Blacktown. There will also be talks and discussions at the George Street Apple Store, and a Big Screen showing all things SFF at the Martin Place Amphitheatre, and don't forget to drop into the Sydney Film Festival Hub for lively talks, presentations, food, drink, pop-ups and perspectives - upstairs and downstairs at Sydney Town Hall throughout the Festival.

Some of the highlights this year would have to be 'Locke', 'The Rover', 'Snowpiercer', 'Calvary', 'The Captive', 'Frank', 'The Two Faces of January', 'Joe', 'Palo Alto', 'Love is Strange', 'The Skeleton Twins', 'Cold in July', 'Night Moves', 'Starred Up', and 'Babylon' amongst a plethora of others. You could also catch a Robert Altman retrospective and seat yourself in front of 'Nashville' or 'M*A*S*H' or 'Short Cuts' or five of his others screening also, and if it's a Classic you're looking for then you could go for 'Rebel Without a Cause' or the original 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

With so much to choose from you had better get in quick. You can get more information on all films, session times, locations and ticketing etc. by checking out the official website at : SFF.ORG.AU or you can call 1300 733 733, or you can download the app : SFF 2014 APP and carry it all around with you in your pocket. Tickets are what you would expect to pay for any singular screening at $19.50 but there are bulk deals to be had, and you can package your screening up with dinner etc., and as an added bonus many events are free too!

Have a great film festival, and see as many movies as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-