PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN : Tuesday 16th February 2021.

I finally got around to seeing 'PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN' this week following its release in Australia on 7th January. This MA15+ Rated American thriller offering is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Emerald Fennell in her feature film making debut. The film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2020 and went on general release Stateside on 25th December 2020 having so far taken approaching US$9M at the Box Office and garnered positive Reviews. It was named one of the ten best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review, with Carey Mulligan also winning Best Actress, and has received fifty-three award wins so far plus a further 114 nominations including four nods at the upcoming 78th Golden Globe Awards on 1st March, including Best Motion Picture, Drama.

The opening scene of the film sees three male colleagues in a bar late one evening all ridiculing a female colleague. One of the men, Jerry (Adam Brody) notices what's look to be a very drunk young and particularly attractive woman sat all alone. Egged on by his colleagues he siddles up to the woman playing the concerned and caring gentlemen who offers to share a cab home with her to ensure she arrives safely. On the journey he suggests a stop off at his place which is close by for a nightcap. She complies with his wishes and once home and after said nightcap, the woman says she needs to lie down. Jerry seizes the opportunity to get her onto his bed and starts groping, kissing and removing her underwear. At this, the woman sits bolt upright and asks what the hell he thinks he's doing, now as sober as a judge. Jerry is somewhat surprised to say the least at the woman's sudden sobriety, and starts to backtrack as the woman gives him a very stern dressing down.  

It turns out that the woman in question is thirty year old Cassandra 'Cassie' Thomas (Carey Mulligan) who lives with her parents Susan and Stanley (Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown respectively). They have breakfast together every morning and Cassie's mother especially berates her for not having a boyfriend, having no friends, for still living at home, and for having a near non-existent social life. Cassie responds saying that's just the way she likes it. Cassie works at a coffee shop owned by Gail (Laverne Cox), and there one day comes in Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham) whom nine years previously she was in medical school with. Ryan is now a paediatric surgeon, while Cassie who was the brains of their class is working in a dead end coffee shop! Ryan asks Cassie out, but she initially refuses his advances. 

A few nights later and Cassie is with Neil (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), once again pretending to be very drunk in his apartment. Neil snorts a couple of lines of coke and encourages Cassie to do the same, but she blows instead of snorts. Neil comes on all sympathetic and caring about Cassie's inebriated state and starts to grope and kiss her and puts his hand up her dress. At which point, Cassie reverts back to her completely sober state and asks what he thought he was doing. Neil is taken aback and starts to be fearful of the repercussions that Cassie might bestow up on him, and is left defenceless as she pins him against the wall and reads him the riot act. 

The next days Ryan is back in the coffee shop and again asks her out on a dinner date - this time Cassie responds in the affirmative. On their first date Ryan mentions that their former classmate Alexander 'Al' Monroe (Chris Lowell) is getting married soon. Now it comes out that at medical school Cassie was very close friends with a Nina Fisher who was raped by Al Monroe nine years ago. As a result, both the school and the legal system failed Nina and as a consequence both Nina and Cassie dropped out of medical school despite being Grade A students, and subsequently Nina committed suicide. 

Hearing the news of Al's forthcoming wedding, Cassie begins plotting her revenge on those she considers responsible for the rape and death of her best friend. She first invites an old friend from medical school, Madison McPhee (Alison Brie), who didn't believe Nina's accusations, to lunch at an upmarket restaurant and gets her drunk on Champagne and red wine, then has a man she hired take Madison to her hotel room. After the incident, Cassie ignores all of her many calls. 

Next, Cassie targets Elizabeth Walker (Connie Britton), the medical school dean who dismissed Nina's case due to lack of evidence. Cassie pretends to be a makeup artist for a band called 'Wet Dream' that Walker's teenage daughter Amber (Francisca Estevez) loves and tricks the teenager into getting into her car. Later, Cassie meets Walker under the pretense of resuming her education and questions her about the events that led to Nina's dropout and death. When Walker explains away her actions, Cassie tells her she dropped Amber off at a dorm room with a bunch of drunk male students, and not to worry!! After a fearful Walker apologises for her inaction, Cassie reveals Amber is safe at a local diner. 

Next up Cassie pays a visit to Jordan Green (Alfred Molina), Al's lawyer who harassed Nina into dropping her charges. When Green expresses remorse for his actions, having suffered a mental breakdown over his guilt and now on a forced sabbatical from his law firm, Cassie forgives him. After visiting Nina's mother (Molly Shannon), who urges her to move on, Cassie abandons the rest of her plans for revenge. And so Cassie's relationship with Ryan goes from strength to strength, so much so that the pair find themselves falling in love with each other. 

One day when returning home, Cassie finds Madison waiting outside her house, still distraught and desperate to know what happened after their lunch having woken up in a hotel room with a strange man with whom she has no memory. Cassie reassures her that nothing happened. In response, Madison gives Cassie an old phone containing a video of Nina's rape before telling her to never make contact with her again. As she watches the video, Cassie is shocked to see Ryan among the onlookers. She confronts him at the hospital where he works and threatens to release the video unless he tells her where Al's bachelor party is being held. Ryan tells her and begs for forgiveness, but Cassie refuses and turns her back on him.

Cassie arrives at Al's bachelor party as a stripper in a nurses uniform, plying Al's friends with spiked alcohol to knock them all out and takes Al upstairs to be alone. She handcuffs him to the bed which he willingly volunteers to, and then reveals her true identity to him. However, as she tries to carve Nina's name into Al's stomach, he breaks free from one pair of cuffs, overpowers her and suffocates Cassie under a pillow. 

The next morning, Al's friend Joe (Max Greenfield) comes up to the room, discovers a sobbing Al and the lifeless body of Cassie still under the pillow, consoles him and helps him burn Cassie's body to destroy any evidence. A couple of days later Cassie's parents file a missing person report, and the Police begin an investigation. A Detective questions Ryan at the hospital, but Ryan does not reveal where Cassie was going and states that they split up five days ago and suggests she was mentally unwell and possibly suicidal.

During Al's wedding reception in the grounds of the house where the bachelor party was held, it is revealed that Cassie had sent Jordan Green the phone with the video of Nina's rape, along with information on where she was headed and who would be responsible if she went missing. The Police begin to arrive immediately after the wedding ceremony, and with Police tracker dogs uncover the burnt remains of Cassie's body. At the reception in front of all the gathered guests, the Police arrest Al and cart him away handcuffed, while Joe flees the scene and Ryan receives several scheduled texts from Cassie, explaining that this is not the end, until it is. She signs off in her name and a ; )

This is a thought provoking, of the moment, pitch black revenge thriller comedy that starts of light but culminates in a real sucker punch by the time the end credits roll, that will leave an impression firmly planted in your brain long after you have left the theatre. For her debut movie making outing, Director and Writer Emerald Fennell has here delivered a bold, audacious, never boring and highly relevant film underpinned by perhaps a career best performance from Carey Mulligan playing completely against type, and she absolutely nails it. The rest of the principle cast are alas undercooked in the often fleeting scenes they are in, but carried along on Mulligan's coat tails which should propel her into the Best Actress nominations at this years upcoming Oscars. 

'Promising Young Woman' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 3rd January 2019.

In December the world bid a fond farewell to a number of stars of the silver screen and the small screen. In brief, shown below, is my passing tribute to those stars who leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, and in particular the world of film and television. May you all Rest In Peace, and thanks for the memories . . . . Philip Bosco, Sondra Locke, Penny Marshall, Donald Moffat, Frank Adonis, June Whitfield, and Don Lusk.

* Sondra Locke - born Sandra Louise Anderson on May 28th 1944 and died November 3rd 2018 aged 74, although her death was not made publicly known until 14th December 2018. This American Actress, Singer, Director and Author had thirty acting credits to her name, four as Director, two as Producer and three Soundtrack credits too. She was the long term partner of Clint Eastwood from 1975 through until 1989, during which time she starred alongside him in six feature films - these being 'The Outlaw Josey Wales', 'The Gauntlet', 'Every Which Way But Loose', 'Bronco Billy', 'Any Which Way You Can' and 'Sudden Impact'. Locke was nominated for an Academy Award for her breakout supporting role in 1968's 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter' for which she was also nominated for two Golden Globes - Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Newcomer. After her split form Eastwood in 1989, her career went into decline, partly for health reasons and partly because of a very acrimonious split from Eastwood that saw a very protracted court case that eventually settled out of court. Her Directorial debut came in 1986 with 'Ratboy' in which she also starred and she followed this up with 'Impulse' in 1990 and 'Trading Favours' in 1997. She had two acting appearances in 2000 and then it would be another seventeen years before she stepped in front of the camera again in 2017's 'Ray Meets Helen' - her final film appearance. Her autobiography, 'The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly – A Hollywood Journey', was published in 1997.
* Philip Bosco - born Philip Michael Bosco on September 26th 1930, and died 3rd December 2018, aged 88. This American Actor of stage and screen began his television career on two episodes of the CBS historical education show 'You Are There' in 1953. Throughout the sixties and for the following four decades he appeared in numerous television series and made for television films. He gained his first big screen outing in 1968 in 'A Lovely Way To Die' with Kirk Douglas, and over the following decades appeared in such films as 1983's 'Trading Places', 1987's 'Suspect', 1988's 'Working Girl', 1996's 'The First Wives Club', 1997's 'My Best Friend's Wedding', 2000's 'Wonder Boys', 2005's 'Hitch' and 2007's 'The Savages'. All up Bosco had 94 Acting credits to his name, two award wins and two nominations for his screen work.
* Penny Marshall - born Carole Penny Marshall on October 15th 1943 and died December 17th 2018 aged 75. Marshall was an American Actress, Director and Producer who had 71 acting credits to her name, sixteen as Director and twelve as Producer. She gained her small screen debut as a dancer on the 'Jackie Gleason Show' back in 1953, but it wouldn't be until 1968 when she scored a role in the film 'The Savage Seven' . She then worked steadily throughout the '70's mostly on television series appearances and made for television movies. However, her breakout role came with 'Happy Days' in 1975 as Laverne DeFazio which ran until 1979. From there she reprised her role in thirteen episodes of 'Laverne & Shirley in the Army' in 1979, and her own TV show which ran for 178 episodes 'Laverne & Shirley' form 1976 through to 1983. She had regular acting work ever since, and in the meantime began Directing too with several episodes of 'Leverne & Shirley' and then her first feature film 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' in 1986 with Whoopi Goldberg. She followed this up with the hugely successful 'Big' in 1988 with Tom Hanks, then 'Awakenings' with Robin Williams in 1990, 'A League of Their Own' with Tom Hanks again in 1992, 'Army Intelligence' with Danny DeVito in 1994, 'The Preacher's Wife' with Denzel Washington in 1996 and 'Riding in Cars With Boys' with Drew Barrymore in 2001. She also Produced 'Cinderella Man' with Russell Crowe in 2005 and 'Bewitched' in 2005 also with Nicole Kidman. All up Marshall collected fifteen award wins and a further six nominations including three Golden Globe nods for 'Laverne & Shirley' in 1978, 1979 and 1980. She was married to Hollywood Director, Producer and Writer Rob Reiner from 1971 until 1981.
* Donald Moffat - was born in Plymouth, England on 26th December 1930 and died 20th December 2018 aged 87. An English Actor with a decades long career in film and stage in America, his first big screen role can in an uncredited performance in 'The Battle of the River Plate' in 1956, and from this point forward there was no looking back. He appeared in television series including 'The High Chaparral', 'Hawaii Five-0', 'Mission : Impossible', 'Bonanza', 'Gunsmoke', 'The Waltons', 'Logan's Run', 'Dallas', 'Bull' and 'The West Wing'. In the meantime his big screen roles took in the likes of 'Earthquake', 'Popeye', 'The Thing', 'The Right Stuff', 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being', 'The Bonfire of the Vanities', 'Class Action', 'Regarding Henry', 'Clear and Present Danger' and 'Cookie's Fortune' was to be his final feature film in 1999. His final small screen appearance came in 2005 in a single episode of 'Law & Order : Trial by Jury'. Moffat amassed 121 Acting credits throughout his screen career, plus additional stage credits for which he was nominated and won several awards.
* Frank Adonis - was born Frank Testaverde Scioscia on 27th October 1935 and died 26th December 2018, aged 83. He was an American Actor and one time Director, who amassed an acting portfolio of forty screen appearances in a career that began with an uncredited role in 1971's classic 'The French Connection'. From there he gained roles in such films as 'The Gambler', 'Eyes of Laura Miles', 'Raging Bull', 'Wolfen', 'Wall Street', 'King of New York', 'Goodfellas', 'Bad Lieutenant', ''True Romance', 'Ace Ventura : Pet Detective', 'Casino', 'The Juror', and 'Ghost Dog'. His sole Directing credit was on 1998's mafia action crime drama 'One Deadly Road' in which he also starred.
* June Whitfield - born June Rosemary Whitfield on 11th November 1925, and died on 28th December 2018, aged 93. Whitfield was an English Actress born in London, who first appeared on radio in 1946, and then in a number of West End and regional stage productions, before gaining her first credited television appearance in 1951. Throughout the '50's and '60's Whitfield had many support roles on notable television shows of that era including 'Dixon of Dock Green', 'Steptoe and Son' and 'The Benny Hill Show'. In 1968 she forged a working relationship with Terry Scott, with whom she would work until 1987 on two successful British sitcoms 'Happy Ever After' from 1974 until 1978 and 'Terry and June' which ran from 1979 until 1987 in which the pair played on screen husband and wife. In the meantime she appeared in 'The Goodies', 'The Dick Emery Show', 'Bless this House' and 'Minder' amongst others. From 1992 Whitfield had a recurring role in the Jennifer Saunders hugely popular sitcom 'Absolutely Fabulous' and reprised her role as Edina Monsoon's mother in the 2016 feature film of the series. As for feature films, she appeared in four 'Carry On' films over the years - 'Carry On Nurse' in 1959, 'Carry On Abroad' in 1972, 'Carry On Girls' in 1973, and 'Carry On Columbus' in 1992, as well as 'Jude', 'Faeries' and 'The Last of the Blonde Bombshells'. She continued her busy television work schedule with a recurring role on 'Last of the Summer Wine', and amongst numerous others including 'The Green Green Grass', 'Coronation Street', 'Eastenders', 'Doctor Who' and 'Boomers'. She also played 'Agatha Christie's Miss Marple' on BBC Radio 4 between 1993 and 2001. In 1982 Whitfield was granted the Freedom of the City of London, in 1994 she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Comedy Awards, and she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1985 Queen's Birthday Honours List, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1998 Birthday Honours, and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to drama and entertainment.
* Don Lusk - born Donald Lusk on 28th October 1913 and died on 30th December 2018, aged 105. Lusk was an American Animator and Director who joined the Walt Disney Company in 1933 where he worked up until 1960 having worked on such animated classics as 'Pinocchio' and 'Fantasia' both in 1940, 'Bambi' in 1942, 'Song of the South' in 1946, 'Cinderella' in 1950, 'Alice in Wonderland' in 1951, 'Peter Pan' in 1953, 'Lady and the Tramp' in 1955, 'Sleeping Beauty' in 1959, and 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians' in 1961. Throughout the '60's and '70's he worked extensively for Hanna-Barbera Studios on feature length animated films and cartoon television series including 'The Flintstones', 'The Jetsons', 'Scooby-Doo', 'The Smurfs', 'Yogi Bear' and 'Tom & Jerry' on many of which he Directed. Between 1969 and 1978 he animated numerous 'Charlie Brown' and 'Peanuts' television specials. Lusk retired in the early '90's after sixty years in the film and television business, and he leaves behind a lasting legacy of animated classics from Disney's Golden Age.

This week we have three new release movies coming to your local Odeon, starting with a sequel to a much loved timeless classic that has been fifty five years almost in the making, that sees a beloved nanny with a particular set of magical skills return to the London home of her now grown up charges from yesteryear to help them out of a spot of bother. We then have a coming of age comedy drama that traces the last week in eighth grade for this thirteen year old girl as she struggles at the end of a disastrous school year. And finally this week, we turn to the third and allegedly final instalment in this successful animated franchise that sees the dragon and his trusted loyal rider fight to hang onto everything they hold dear.

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

'MARY POPPINS RETURNS' (Rated G) - and finally, a sequel to the much loved 1964 film 'Mary Poppins' based on the works of P.L.Travers of the same name. Released in Australia in 1st January 2019, Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written for the screen by Rob Marshall, a sequel was first muted back in 1965 and since then has languished in development hell with the author P.L.Travers knocking back Disney's proposed storylines. However, fast forward to 2015 and Disney pitched a story to Rob Marshall which with the approval of the Travers estate (she died in 1996 aged 96), got greenlit. The film Premiered in the US at the end of November and went on general release on 19th December, taking so far US$175M from its Budget outlay of US$130M. The film has so far received five award wins and a further thirty-four nominations including four Golden Globe, one Screen Actors Guild and five Annie Award nods all of which are yet to be announced.

Set in 1935 London, and now an adult widower with three children, bank teller Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) learns that his house will be repossessed in five days unless he is able to pay back his loan in full. His only hope of salvation from the bank is to find a missing certificate that shows proof of valuable shares that his father left him years previously. Just when all seems lost, Michael and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) receive the surprise of a lifetime when Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) the beloved nanny from their childhood years arrives to save the day and escort the Banks family on a magical, fun-filled adventure, that might just save their house from the clutches of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank and its new President William Weatherall Wilkins (Colin Firth). Also starring Julie Walters, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Meryl Streep, David Warner and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

'EIGHTH GRADE' (Rated M) - this highly acclaimed coming of age comedy drama is Directed and Written by Bo Burnham in his feature film debut. It Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2018, went on release in the US last July, and has so far made US$14M from its US$2M Budget investment. The film has also garnered 32 award wins and a further 51 nominations from around the festival and awards circuit. The story here surrounds introverted thirteen-year-old Kayla (Elsie Fisher) who endures the struggles and day to day life challenges on a tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school and the end of her so far disastrous eighth-grade year before graduating to high school. Struggling with anxiety and peer pressure in social situations, she escapes into YouTube producing videos offering life advice, which get almost zero views. Also starring Josh Hamilton and Emily Robinson.

'HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON : THE HIDDEN WORLD' (Rated PG) - here we have the third and supposedly final instalment in the 'How To Train Your Dragon' franchise which launched in 2010 with 'How To Train Your Dragon', and was followed up in 2014 with 'How To Train Your Dragon 2'. The first two instalments grossed US$1.12B at the worldwide Box Office off the back of a US$310M Production Budget and here Dean DeBlois returns as Director following his success with the first two, as do most of the original ensemble voice cast. Following on from the events of the first two films, the now chief and ruler of Berk alongside Astrid (America Ferrera), Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) has created a peaceful dragon utopia. When the sudden appearance of female Light Fury dragon lures Toothless (the best friend and protector of Hiccup and and now a grown Titan Wing Night Fury and Alpha Dragon) away, this coincides with the darkest threat their village has ever faced. Hiccup and Toothless must leave the only home they’ve known and journey to a hidden world thought only to exist in myth. As their true destines are revealed, dragon and rider will fight together to protect everything they’ve grown to hold dear. Starring the voice talents of Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Kit Harrington, T.J.Miller, Kristen Wiig, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, F.Murray Abraham and Gerard Butler. The film is not slated for release Stateside until the end of February.

With three new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-