Birthdays to share this week : 15th - 21st June

Do you share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer or Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming week? 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 over the coming week. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Check out too the spotlight on this weeks Birthday Girl on 20th June, Nicole Kidman, at the end of this feature.

Sunday 15th June

• Neil Patrick Harris - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actor | Producer
• Courteney Cox - Born 1964, turns 50 - Actress | Producer
• Helen Hunt - Born 1963, turns 51 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Ice Cube - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
• James Busey - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actor
• James Belushi - Born 1954, turns 60 - Actor | Producer

Monday 16th June

• Daniel Bruhl - Born 1978, turns 36 - Actor
• Arnold Vosloo - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor

Tuesday 17th June

• Greg Kinnear - Born 1963, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Thomas Haden Church - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor
• Ken Loach - Born 1936, turns 78 - Director | Writer
• Bobby Farrelly - Born 1958, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Louis Leterrier - Born 1973, turns 41 - Director
• Barry Manilow - Born 1943, turns 71 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer

Wednesday 18th June

• Isabella Rossellini - Born 1952, turns 62 - Actress | Director | Writer
• Barbara Broccoli - Born 1960, turns 54 - Producer
• Sir Paul McCartney - Born 1942, turns 72 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor | Producer | Humanitarian

Thursday 19th June

• Zoe Saldana - Born 1978, turns 36 - Actress
• Paul Dano - Born 1984, turns 30 - Actor
• Kathleen Turner - Born 1954, turns 60 - Actress
• Gena Rowlands - Born 1930, turns 84 - Actress
• Paula Abdul - Born 1962, turns 52 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress

Friday 20th June

• Nicole Kidman - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actress | Producer | Humanitarian
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse - Born 1989, turns 25 - Actor
• John Goodman - Born 1952, turns 62 - Actor
• Robert Rodriguez - Born 1968, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Martin Landau - Born 1928, turns 86 - Actor | Producer

Saturday 21st June

• Chris Pratt - Born 1979, turns 35 - Actor
• Juliette Lewis - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actress
• Lana (Larry) Wachowski - Born 1965, turns 49 - Director | Producer | Writer
• David Morrissey - Born 1964, turns 50 - Actor
• Lana Del Rey - Born 1986, turns 28 - Singer | Songwriter
• Lalo Schifrin - Born 1932, turns 82 - Composer

Nicole Mary Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Australian parents, and she spent the first three years of her life living in Washington DC. It was then that she relocated to Sydney where she grew up attending Lane Cove Public School in her primary years and then North Sydney Girls High School in her secondary years. Describing herself as very shy and inwardly she 'escaped' into the dramatic arts at school as a young teenager, and ultimately went on to study at The Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. 

Her first break to the big screen came in 1983 aged 16 starring in the Aussie holiday family favourite 'Bush Christmas' and later thats ams year in 'BMX Bandits'. When her mother developed breast cancer, the young Kidman temporarily halted her education and her acting career to care for her mother and working as a massage therapist. In 1987 she resumed her acting dream and starred in TV mini-series 'Vietnam' which in turn led to 'Dead Calm' with Sam Neill and Billy Zane in 1989.

It was her next role however, which struck pay-dirt for Kidman - starring with the up & coming Mr. Tom Cruise in 'Days of Thunder' in 1990. Their on-screen chemistry spilled over into off-screen chemistry and the two were married that same year on Christmas Eve. She subsequently starred with Cruise again in 'Far and Away' in 1992 and then in 'Eyes Wide Shut' in 1999.

Her marriage to Cruise however, came to an end with their divorce in August 2001 - in June 2006 she married Keith Urban - she has four children now - two from each relationship.

To date Kidman has 65 acting credits to her name with a wide and diverse portfolio of films to her name across almost all genres. aside from those already mentioned there are : 'To Die For', 'Batman Forever', 'The Peacemaker', 'The Others', 'Moulin Rouge', 'The Hours', 'Cold Mountain', 'The Human Stain', 'Dogville', 'The Stepford Wives', 'The Interpreter', 'Australia', 'Rabbit Hole' and more recently 'Stoker', 'The Railway Man' and 'Grace of Monaco'. She is also keeping her forward schedule booked with 'Before I go to Sleep' now wrapped, 'Queen of the Desert' and 'Paddington' now in post-production, 'Strangeland' currently filming for a 2015 release and 'Genius' just announced for a 2015 release also.

She has 50 award wins bestowed upon her and a further 85 nominations so far in her career - with one Academy Award for Best Actress in 2003 for 'The Hours' playing Virginia Woolf complete with prosthetic nose. She picked up nominations too for 'Moulin Rouge' in 2002 and 'Rabbit Hole' in 2011. She has won three Golden Globes for Best Actress for 'The Hours' also, and 'Moulin Rouge' and 'To Die For' together with six other nominations. There is also a BAFTA win for 'The Hours' and two other nominations. Nicole Kidman was the first Australian actress to win a Best Actress Academy Award.

Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women, and is the international spokesperson for their ending violence against women initiative. She has also established her own Productions Company - 'Blossom Films'. Having been born Stateside she enjoys dual Australian and US citizenship.

Nicole Kidman - talented actress, defender of women's rights, (one of) Australia's favourite daughters, beautiful woman - Happy Birthday to you Nicole from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week - Thursday 5th June 2014

With an Australian long weekend looming, and the winter chills taking a grip on our evenings, there is no better time to get out to your nearest movie theatre and sit in a darkened room, in a comfortable chair accompanied by a bunch of strangers gawping up at a big screen film experience unfolding before your very eyes and ears. Once again this week there is a diverse offering to give you plenty of choice whether it's alien invasion sic-fi; alien sexual encounters lo-fi that don't end well and leave you pondering; a 20th Century plucked out of Hollywood icon bio-pic; a teenage romantic cancer weepie; and ex-squaddies returning home to belt out a few 'Proclaimers' sing-a-longs!

Get out amongst it over the coming week and catch a movie, and then let me know what you thought!

SUNSHINE ON LEITH (Rated PG) - this is the story of a couple of likely lads returning from their tour of duty in Afghanistan to their home town of Leith to settle into the routine of a life on civi-street! Mates get reunited, there is a wedding in the offing, and along the way four fellas strike up an ensemble piece that is all tribute to 'The Proclaimers' back catalogue set amongst the trials and tribulations of life in everyday Leith. Directed by Dexter Fletcher and starring a bunch of known British acting talent, this is a feel good sing-a-long movie that will have you humming '500 miles' long after the credits have rolled, and leave you with a big smile on your face.

UNDER THE SKIN (Rated MA15+) - Scarlett Johansson plays a voluptuous wide-eyed lone woman stalking the streets of Scotland in search of men upon which to curb her voracious sexual appetite. Filmed almost entirely from her point of view, this is the story of an alien that has adopted the body that Johansson now inhabits. After several conquests which end horribly for the males in question, she begins to question the meaning of her life and those around her as she analyses those she comes into contact with, what she observes of life on Earth, and its true value. There is almost certainly a moral to this story that will keep you thinking beyond the end. As for Johansson's performance - very much out of the box this one that demonstrates the range she is capable of. 'Under the Skin' has garnered mixed reviews so far - you decide!

GRACE OF MONACO (Rated PG) - already there has been much publicity for this bio-pic of Grace Kelly, aka, Princess Grace of Monaco as depicted on screen by our very own Nicole Kidman. Much of that publicity has been far from flattering, with the critics jumping straight in with their views, opinions and critiques immediately following this years recent Cannes Film Festival which this film opened, describing it as wooden, amongst other choice descriptives. Even the Monaco Royalty have publicly distanced themselves from this film depiction of the famous lady and the events that unfolded at that time. On the strength of those global condemnations this film is likely to disappear down the same deep dark chasm as Naomi Watt's bio-pic of last year 'Diana'. 

Starring Nicole Kidman in the title role with the likes of Tim Roth, Paz Vega, Parker Posey, Derek Jacobi, Robert Lindsay and Frank Langella you could be forgiven for thinking that some of this acting talent might be a little misplaced playing the likes of Prince Rainier III (Roth) and Aristotle Onassis (Lindsay). Set in the early 60's the story plays out amidst Grace's struggles between Hollywood, her marriage, her identity and the political intrigue at the time in that State. Bio-pic or fairytale (as it has also been described) or nightmare as Director, Olivier Dahan, might now be thinking, all of this is history that is well documented and well known and of course ends in tragedy - sounds like art imitating life . . . or is it the other way around!

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (Rated M) - no easy subject matter this one - a teenage cancer sufferer intent on making the most of life and what might be left of it (played out by Shailene Woodley, last seen in 'Divergent') with her young love interest (Ansel Elgort, also last seen in 'Divergent') who take the bull by the horns and between them stoically, positively, humorously and without self-pity confront what life has to throw at them making the most of every moment and each other. Also starring Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe this is a battling the odds, teen tragi-romance tear jerker that will have you reaching for the Kleenex by time the credits roll.

EDGE OF TOMORROW (Rated M) - Live, Die, Repeat; Live, Die, Repeat; Live, Die, Repeat - is the premise for this latest Tom Cruise offering that might best be described as 'Groundhog Day' for the on-line gamer age. Directed by Doug Liman (he of 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith', 'Jumper' and the 'Bourne' series fame) and also starring Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton and Brenda Gleeson this film is based on the novel 'All You Need is Kill' by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and set in a future Europe that has been laid to waste following an alien attack. Tom Cruise is a lead man in a UK based 'United Defence Force' but some internal wranglings see him demoted and pushed out into the field to fight invading aliens. Waking on the first day of demoted life we soon learn that this is also his second to last day alive and each time he is dispatched to fight he must die, only to come back and relive that day time and again, each time learning a little more about the aliens, the attack and what he must do ultimately to thwart the ongoing invasion. This is where the film takes on a multi-level gaming experience, where Cruise must master one level before he can successfully move onto the next and claim ultimate victory aided and abetted along the way by Trainer and Mentor, Emily Blunt. Liman we know is capable of delivering the action, the set pieces and the spectacle, and Tom Cruise eats this stuff up with his usual gusto and determination, being described as one of his finest performances in a goodly while.

Enjoy the week, enjoy the movies - see as many as you can!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-