HEARTS & BONES : Tuesday 21st July 2020.

'HEARTS & BONES' which I saw last week at my local independent movie theatre is an Australian drama film Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Ben Lawrence in his feature film debut following his 2018 documentary 'Ghosthunter'. Shown initially at the June 2019 Sydney Film Festival and originally slated for an April 2020 release, after its showing around the film festival circuit and due to the impact of COVID-19 its wide Australian release was cancelled as cinemas nationwide were closed down. Instead it was shown on a number of streaming platforms from early May, but fortunately since cinemas have reopened it is being showcased in a select number of theatres. This film has collected five award wins and a further seventeen nominations, and has garnered positive Reviews from Critics.

Having recently arrived back home in Sydney from an overseas assignment in Iraq, acclaimed war time photographer Daniel Fisher (Hugo Weaving) is interrupted during a moment of passion with his former ballet dancer turned teacher partner Josie Avril (Hayley McElhinney). Knocking on the door of their warehouse loft style home is Sebastian Ahmed (Andrew Luri) and immigrant from South Sudan who arrived in Australia fifteen years prior. He is very happily married to Anishka (Bolude Watson), they live in a very cramped apartment, have one young child and another due. Sebastian has seen a ramshackle house for sale somewhere in Sydney's Western suburbs that he has his heart set on to buy for himself and his growing family, and to get out of their constricting apartment.

Sebastian works in a commercial laundry by day, and drives a taxi by night, and Anishka works cleaning houses by day and in a restaurant at night, giving up their young child to a kindly child minder for fifteen hours a day. Ahmed heard a radio interview with Fisher, and then through making enquiries at a book store which was selling copies of his published works, was able to track down the photographer. Ahmed is concerned that a planned exhibition of his most famous works taken from decades of covering many of the worlds war torn hot spots, will include images of a massacre taken in his South Sudanese village fifteen years previously, in which he lost his wife, two sons and his daughter.

Upon their first meeting Fisher is dismissive of Ahmed, until Fisher collapses in the street with a mild seizure and then takes him to the hospital in his taxi. From this point on a bond is forged between the two men. Ahmed invites Fisher to attend a meeting of his community choir in which he meets other African refugees who all sing and play musical instruments as a form of therapy. Fisher is at first reluctant to 'intrude' but goes along and becomes friends with the other choir members. All the while Ahhmed urges Fisher to bring his camera to take photos of the choir, and still keeps pestering him about not including the photos of his village massacre in his upcoming exhibition. One evening Fisher offers to drive Ahmed home after a choir practice session. Ahmed then invites the photographer in to meet his wife and to have some supper. Before going in, Ahmed confides in Fisher that Anishka knows nothing of his past life, his first wife and his three children and what became of them of them all - and he wants it kept that way.

Fisher is non-plussed about the upcoming exhibition anyway. He is increasingly suffering from high levels of stress and anxiety brought about by decades of being in very close proximity to gun fire, explosions, death and destruction and the fact that Josie announced that she is fifteen weeks pregnant upon his return home, a little matter that they had seemingly previously agreed to would not happen since they lost their first child, a daughter, a couple of years ago shortly after childbirth due to some medical condition.

Fisher agrees to let Ahmed trawl through his portfolio of photographs taken at the time and ponders his request to pull the pictures from the upcoming show. Ultimately Fisher agrees to pull the pictures from his exhibition and gives the portfolio of photos to Ahmed. In the meantime, Ahmed buys the run down house and he and Fisher begin ripping up the flea infested carpets, tearing down the window coverings and generally start on the process of making it liveable. Ahmed has also decided that he needs to come clean with his wife and tell her of his history that weighs so heavily on his mind. He musters the courage to do so, and she rebels against this revelation, saying that she needs time to digest this news and orders him out of their apartment for two days. He goes to stay in his new house.

While this is going on, Fisher makes a discovery about Ahmed as seen in one of the photos from that South Sundanese massacre of fifteen years prior, and it reveals something about Ahmed's past that he has tried to cover up, and is more than likely his motivation for not wanting the photo's shown at Fisher's exhibition. Fisher confronts Ahmed with his discovery and the pair share heated words which ends up with Ahmed physically throwing Fisher out of the house. Josie calls Anishka over to her house where she confronts her with the truth behind the photograph. Josie is left speechless by Anishka's reaction to the photograph and the story behind it, as Anishka tears the photo out of a recently published book of Fisher's works, and goes to confront Ahmed at the house. Anishka says that their marriage is over.

Meanwhile, Fisher and Josie are not getting on so well, and Fisher storms out of their house with his kit bags packed ready to fly off to his next assignment in Syria, much to Josie's chagrin. In driving to the airport at the last minute he takes a detour to visit Ahmed in his new house, only to discover that Ahmed had attempted to hang himself using electric cable, but the beam over which he had tied the noose had broken, leaving Ahmed unconscious but still alive on the floor. Ahmed is rushed to hospital, and Anishka visits breaking down uncontrollably upon arrival.

A short time later Ahmed is convalescing in the back yard of his house with Anishka and their friends from the community choir helping them move in. All is forgiven between Ahmed and Anishka. Fisher and Josie arrive, and in the back yard Ahmed tells Fisher that its OK for him to exhibit the photograph that had caused him so much angst, as it represents part of who he is. We then fast forward a couple of months to the opening night of Fisher's photographic exhibition. Josie and Fisher have given birth to a new daughter and Ahmed and Anishka also have their new child in tow, as the choir burst into song singing The Talking Heads 'Road to Nowhere'.

'Hearts & Bones' is certainly a film that will make you think and contemplate the racial and cultural differences that we are experiencing in the world right now with fleeing refugees, and how two couples from completely opposite ends of the spectrum in just about every sense are thrust together, overcome adversity and ultimately live happier more fulfilled lives as a result. It is by no means an easy watch, as we are thrust into the everyday lives of two couples that forces us to ponder the passage of time over the circumstances for a course of action and the differing perspectives of two men. The acting from the four principle players is top notch with Hugo Weaving giving his role as the stoic and fractured protagonist his usual pathos and first timer Andrew Luri showing us that he is an acting force to be reckoned with. Director Lawrence has here crafted a complex film of deep sorrow, remorse, anguish and anxiety yet hope for a better future, and as the end credits roll we see a montage of real life photographs of refugees fleeing their own countries in the hope of a better life. Powerful and thought provoking stuff!

'Hearts & Bones' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MORTAL ENGINES : Tuesday 11th December 2018.

I saw 'MORTAL ENGINES' earlier this week, and here the supremely collaborative team of Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens get their creative minds around this latest post-apocalyptic steampunk adventure offering based on the book of the same name by Philip Reeve. The threesome here Co-Produce and between them penned the Screenplay of this American and New Zealand co-production that cost somewhere north of US$100M to bring to the big screen, is Directed in his debut by fellow New Zealander Christian Rivers, saw its Premier in London at the end of November, was released in New Zealand and Australia last week, and the US on 14th December. The film has so far recouped US$23M and has received mixed Reviews.

Set about one thousand years after civilisation was destroyed by a cataclysmic event known affectionately as the 'Sixty Minute War' what remains of humanity have regrouped and created mobile 'predator' cities that devour smaller mobile settlements across what was once Great Britain and continental Europe. 

The film opens up with a thrilling chase sequence as the mega city on wheels that is London (not as we know it albeit still containing some recognisable landmarks) hunts down a smaller mining community called Salzhaken. Eventually after admirably attempting to evade capture, Salzhaken and her people are captured in the giant jaws of London, under the very specific orders of Lord Mayor Magnus Crome (Patrick Malahide).

With the people of Salzhaken now inside London, they are assembled, processed and greeted by Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving) - the Head of the Guild of Historians, a popular Londoner and a man with a plan! Amidst the captured is Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmer) who wears a scarf to mask her face. Hester has spent six months hunting down Valentine. 

Meanwhile, Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan) a proud lower class London apprentice historian and collector of 'Old Tech' (toasters, computers, mobile phones as once used by 'the ancients') spies Hester through the crowd advancing menacingly towards Valentine. He sees Hester pull a blade and lunges towards Valentine, stabbing him in the side. Tom intervenes, and thwarts any further attempt by Hester to assassinate Valentine. Evading capture by the authorities, Tom gives chase through a now rapidly dismantling Salzhaken to be salvaged for scrap, anything of value, and fuel. 

Tom's chase of Hester comes to an abrupt halt at a giant rotating waste chute, down which Hester escapes but not before informing Tom that ten years ago Valentine killed her mother, and is responsible for the disfiguring scar on her face. Valentine, arrives to find no sign of Hester, and Tom explains that she escaped, and also what she said to him. Of course he denies the accusation, but then turns and kicks Tom in the chest sending him backwards into the chute to be ejected from the city with the waste. 

Tending to his wounds, Velnetine's daughter Katherine (Leila George) asks why the girl would want to kill him. He denies all knowledge of who she might be, but says that he'll send a scout ship out to search for Tom, as Katherine was clearly quite close to him. Needless to say, he's lying and has absolutely no intention of locating Tom.

Tom and Hester survived the fall from London and come round in the giant caterpillar tracks left by London as it continues its journey. The pair reluctantly team up as they seek to navigate the Great Hunting Ground with scavenger colonies on the look out for easy prey as night falls. Luckily, they narrowly escape on a hiding colony known as Scuttlebutt, but the owners lock the pair up with the intention of selling them as slaves once they reach their destination. While locked up and en route Hester confides in Tom some of her back story, and how Valentine killed her archaeologist mother Pandora Shaw (Caren Pistorius) after she discovered a piece of Old-Tech from a dig in the Dead Continent of America which he steals from her, whilst the young eight-year old Hester (Poppy MacLeod) escaped with an all seeing eye necklace her mother gave her moments before she died. This is why Hester wants revenge for her death.

Meanwhile, Valentine has hatched a plan to rid himself of Hester once and for all. He travels to an off shore floating prison colony which contains a dangerous and deadly cyborg inmate called Shrike (a barely recognisable Stephen Lang) - the last of an undead battalion of soldiers known as 'Stalkers', who were war casualties re-animated with machine parts and devoid of any memory of their past. Valentine's intention is to have Shrike hunt down and kill Hester, because of a broken promise the girl made to the cyborg.

Arriving at the slave market Tom and Hester are rescued by Anna Fang (Jihae) - a pilot and the leader of the Anti-Traction League, a resistance group standing against the mobile cities devouring Earth's resources and carving up the landscape. During the chaos that ensues, Tom and Hester are chased down by a relentless Shrike. Hester explains that Shrike had found and raised her after her mother was killed by Valentine, and Hester promised to allow him to turn her into a Stalker like himself, but she left six months ago upon learning that London was in the Great Hunting Ground. This is the broken promise that fuels Shrike's new found loathing for Hester, and why he wants his revenge for going back on her word . . . . but really, who can blame her?

Back on London, Katherine grows increasingly distant from her father, after learning from the eye witness account by Apprentice Engineer Bevis Pod (Ronan Raftery) that Valentine pushed Tom down the chute, and learns that her fathers energy project, which he has been spearheading for the last fifteen years in the secretly redeveloped St Paul's Cathedral, is a whole lot more than it seems.

Anna takes Hester and Tom on her airship the 'Jenny Haniver' to the sky city of Airhaven, joining up with other members of the Anti-Traction League. Tom, with his knowledge of old tech, figures out that what Pandora discovered is a super weapon called MEDUSA, that can wipe out entire cities almost instantly. This weapon is now in Valentine's hands and he is ready to use it having harnessed the energy source to do so. Shrike, in the meantime catches up with them and Airhaven is destroyed in a resultant fire. Shrike, however, is critically wounded, and coming to terms with the fact that Hester is in love with Tom he makes peace with Hester and frees her of her promise, before his lights go out for the last time.

Hester, Tom, Anna and the surviving Anti-Tractionists then travel to the 'Shield Wall' which protects an alternative civilisation comprising static permanent settlements in Asia. On London which is now rapidly advancing on the Shield Wall too seeking out fertile new territories to take over, Valentine kills Mayor Crome in a coup and drums up support from London's populace by pledging to destroy the Shield Wall using his new energy source. Arriving at the Shield Wall, Anna convinces the leader, Governor Kwan (Kee Chen) to unleash the Anti-Tractionist fleet of heavily armed aircraft to thwart London. But what they didn't count on was the sheer fire power of MEDUSA to destroy the airborne fleet in an instant and burn a gaping hole in the massive defencive structure of the Wall. 

Hester discovers that the all seeing eye pendant given back to her by Shrike at the time of his death, secretly contains a crash drive with a kill switch to disable and disarm MEDUSA permanently. All that the team now need to do is get back on London, infiltrate St. Paul's, get past Valentine and his guards and insert the crash drive before the next attack . . . simple! They head off leading an airborne attack raid on London's heavily fortified defences. 

Hester and Anna successfully land on London and quickly infiltrate St Paul's. Valentine fatally wounds Anna and she falls to her death from a high balcony. But, during this distraction Hester disables MEDUSA with the crash drive crippling the system forever. Still determined to bring down the Shield Wall, Valentine orders to ram the vast mobile city into the Wall. With Katherine's support, Tom steers the Jenny Haniver into the guts of the moving city to destroy London's engine. Valentine attempts to escape but Hester pursues and fights him on the roof of his own airship. Tom rescues Hester and shoots down Valentine's ship, where it is crushed under the weight of London's huge caterpillar tracks as the city grinds to a halt without any power. The surviving Londoners, led by Katherine, make peace with the Anti-Tractionists and are welcomed in by Governor Kwan. Tom and Hester embrace now that their work is done and fly off into the sunset in the Jenny Haniver to experience what the world has to offer.

'Mortal Engines' is a visual feast that delivers on spectacle and eye catching CGI, has some solid performances most notably from Robert Sheehan and Stephen Lang, and the constructed post-apocalyptic dystopian steampunk world that has been created here seems authentic and believable enough. But the story here lacks any real development, it is derivative predictable cookie cutter stuff that we have seen many times over in other franchises that this film seems to draw inspiration from - 'Star Wars', 'Terminator', 'Mad Max' etc. Young teenagers might enjoy this film more so than your self respecting adult might, and it is certainly worth seeing on the big screen for the action spectacle and the towering visuals of London on the move, but don't expect anything new or particularly genre groundbreaking here.

'Mortal Engines' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online- 

Birthday's to share this week : 2nd - 8th April 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Hugo Weaving does on 4th April - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 57, 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 2nd April

• Christopher Meloni - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Pedro Pascal - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actor
• Michael Fassbender - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actor | Producer
• Jesse Plemons - Born 1988, turns 29 - Actor
• Linda Hunt - Born 1945, turns 72 - Actress  

Monday 3rd April

• Cobie Smulders - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress | Singer
• Alec Baldwin - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor | Producer 
• Eddie Murphy - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer | Director
• Ben Mendelsohn - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor |   

Tuesday 4th April

• Craig T. Nelson - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• David E. Kelley - Born 1956, turns 61 - Writer | Producer
• Hugo Weaving - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Robert Downey Jnr. - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
• Barry Pepper - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor
• Estelle Harris - Born 1928, turns 89 - Actress   

Wednesday 5th April

• Hayley Attwell - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress 
• Roger Corman - Born 1926, turns 91 - Producer | Director | Actor | Writer 
• Peter Greenaway - Born 1942, turns 75 - Director | Writer | Editor | Actor
• Mitch Pileggi - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actor

Thursday 6th April

• Billy Dee Williams - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actor 
• Barry Levinson - Born 1942, turns 75 - Producer | Director | Writer | Actor
• Michael Rooker - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Paul Rudd - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer  
• Zach Braff - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer
• Sofia Boutella - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress

Friday 7th April

• Francis Ford Coppola - Born 1939, turns 78 - Producer | Director | Writer 
• Ted Kotcheff - Born 1931, turns 86 - Director | Producer | Actor
• Jackie Chan - Born 1954, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Stuntman | Singer  

Saturday 8th April

• Taylor Kitsch - Born 1981, turns 36 - Actor | Director | Writer | Producer
• John Madden - Born 1949, turns 68 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Robin Wright - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Patricia Arquette - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actress | Producer 

Hugo Wallace Weaving was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, Africa to mother Anne Lennard, a tour guide and former teacher and Wallace Weaving a seismologist. At a year old the family returned to England where they lived in Bedford and then Brighton, and then onto Melbourne and Sydney in Australia and then a time in Johannesburg, South Africa before returning back to England. While there, he attended The Downs School, a preparatory school located in Wraxall, near Bristol, Somerset and then Queen Elizabeth's Hospital independent boys school in Clifton, Bristol. In 1976 his family relocated back to Sydney, where Weaving attending the independent boys school, Knox Grammar School. After leaving school he studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney from where he graduated in 1981.

Weaving secured his first film role in a bit part in 1981's ' . . . Maybe This Time', and this was followed up in 1983 with 'The City's Edge'. In the meantime Weaving starred as English Cricket Captain Douglas Jardine in the seven part miniseries 'Bodyline' recounting the events of the 1932-33 English Ashes Test tour of Australia. 'For Love Alone', 'The Right Hand Man', television mini-series 'The Dirtwater Dynasty', made for television movie 'A Long Way From Home : Dadah Is Death' with Julie Christie and John Polson, and then television three part mini-series 'Bangkok Hilton' with Nicole Kidman, Denholm Elliott and Noah Taylor saw out the decade. 

The '90's kicked off with his AACTA Award winning turn in the Jocelyn Moorhouse Written and Directed 'Proof' with Russell Crowe. This was followed up by the likes of Ned Kelly send-up comedy 'Reckless Kelly' for Director and Co-star Yahoo Serious, then comedy crime thriller 'Frauds' with Phil Collins, and 'The Custodian' with Anthony LaPaglia, Naomi Watts, Barry Otto and Bill Hunter. Perhaps his breakout role however, came with 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' in which Weaving starred as drag queen Anthony 'Tick' Melrose aka Mitzi Del Bra alongside Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Bill Hunter again. Based on its US$2M budget the film grossed US$30M, spawned a stage show, became a cultural touchstone for the LGBT community especially, and reaped in numerous award wins and nominations including an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. 

In 1995 Weaving voiced the character of Rex, the Sheepdog in the hugely popular 'Babe' which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and picked up six other nominations, together with a Golden Globe win for Best Motion Picture and four BAFTA nods too amongst its total haul of nineteen wins and 24 other nominations. The film took US$254M from its US$30M budget outlay, and as a result of this success Weaving reprised his voice role in the 1998 George Miller Directed, Written and Produced sequel 'Babe : Pig in the City'. Ten part television mini-series 'Bordertown' with Cate Blanchett followed in 1995, and then 'True Love and Chaos' with Ben Mendelssohn, Noah Taylor, Miranda Otto and Naveen Andrews. 1998 saw RomCom 'Bedrooms and Hallways' and then his AFI Award winning turn in crime drama thriller 'The Interview' with Tony Martin and Michael Caton. In between there was further television work on short-lived mini-series and a couple of short films too.

All this led to his starring role as Agent Smith in the ground breaking Sci-Fi actioner 'The Matrix'. Weaving would reprise his role in the two sequels both released back to back in 2003 'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'The Matrix Revolutions'. The first instalment won four Academy Awards and two BAFTA's among its haul of 37 award wins and 45 nominations, with the two subsequent films bringing home another ten award wins and 59 nominations. All up the three films grossed US$1.63B from its combined US$363M budget outlay. Weaving also voiced his character in the video game release 'Enter the Matrix'.

'Strange Planet', 'The Old Man Who Read Love Stories', 'Russian Doll' came before Weaving's recurring role as Elrond in Peter Jackson's immensely popular and successful 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, kicking off with 'The Fellowship of the Ring' in 2001, then 'The Two Towers' in 2002 and culminating with 'The Return of the King' in 2003. The three films were made for a combined budget of US$281M and grossed worldwide US$2.9B. All up the three film series won seventeen Academy Awards, took a further eleven Oscar nominations, and all up won 438 award wins and took another 375 nominations. Subsequently Weaving his lent his Elrond voice talents to three video game releases - two in 2006 and one in 2009. 'Peaches', 'Little Fish' with Cate Blanchett and Sam Neill and then dystopian political thriller 'V for Vendetta' based on the limited edition DC Comics series of the same name was released in 2006 and took in an all star cast including Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Eddie Marsan and Tim Pigott-Smith.

The following year Weaving lent his voice talents to hugely successful franchise opener 'Transformers' as Megatron, the leader of the Deceptions who transforms into a silver Cybertronian jet. Weaving voiced Megatron for the first three films - taking in 2009's 'Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen' and 2011's 'Transformers : Dark of the Moon'. These first three films took US$2.67B at the global Box Office against a budget investment of US$545M with 'Transformers : Age of Extinction' released in 2014 and 'Transformers : The Last Knight' due for release imminently. 'The Tender Hook' and 'Last Ride' saw out the decade, with Weaving lending his voice talents once again to George Miller's Academy Award winning animated 'Happy Feet' as Noah the Elder, a role he would reprise in 2011's sequel, 'Happy Feet 2'.

2010 kicked off with Joe Johnston's horror fantasy 'The Wolfman' with Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Asa Butterfield, and Emily Blunt, with more voice work following on 'Legends of the Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole'.  'Oranges and Sunshine', 'The Key Man', and the Marvel adaptation introducing us for the first time to 'Captain America : The First Avenger' as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull followed. The Sci-Fi multi-dimensional, time travelling 'Cloud Atlas' that divided Critics and just about clawed back its US$130M budget featured an ensemble cast headed up by Tom Hanks and Halle Berry and ended up picking up seventeen award wins from around the traps and another 72 nominations. 

Weaving then reprised his role of Elrond in Peter Jacksons adaptation of 'The Hobbit' launching with 'The Unexpected Journey' in 2012 and culminating with 'The Battle of the Five Armies' in 2014. Weaving's character did not appear in the middle instalment 'The Desolation of Smaug' in 2013. The three films were made for a combined US$675M and grossed worldwide US$2.9B and picked up seven Academy Award nominations and a total awards haul of 45 wins and 200 other nominations.

In between time there was 'Mystery Road' with Aaron Pederson, 'The Mule' with Leigh Whannell, 'Healing' with Don Hany, 'Strangerland' with Nicole Kidman and most recently Jocelyn Moorhouse's 'The Dressmaker' with Kate Winslet, Mel Gibson's 'Hacksaw Ridge' with Andrew Garfield, and just out 'Jasper Jones' with Toni Collette. This brings us up to date with drama television series 'Seven Types of Ambiguity' due for airing later this year in Australia, and historical drama film 'Black 47' with Jim Broadbent and Stephen Rea currently filming. 

All up Weaving has 84 Acting credits to his name and two as Producer. He has so far accumulated 23 award wins and another 25 nominations. Aside form an extensive film and television career he has also appeared in numerous stage plays for the Sydney Theatre Company more recently in 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' in 2012, 'Waiting for Godot' in 2013 and 'Macbeth' in 2014. Weaving has been with his long term partner Katrina Greenwood since 1984 with whom he has two children - Harry (born in 1989) and Holly (born in 1993). Harry has followed in his fathers footsteps and has become an Actor too under the name Harry Greenwood. Weaving is an ambassador for 'Voiceless' the animal protection institute campaigning for animal rights.

Hugo Weaving - a diverse and successful career on film, television and stage; has starred in four mega franchise films series - 'The Matrix', The Lord of the Rings', 'The Hobbit' and 'Transformers' as well as an eclectic collection of local independent fare. Continues to be in demand, like a fine wine is maturing with age, has an instantly recognisable voice, loves working in Australia, and is always surprising us with his roles. Happy Birthday to you Hugo, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

HACKSAW RIDGE : Tuesday 8th November 2016.

'HACKSAW RIDGE' which I saw in the week, and with which I'm pleased to announce that Mel Gibson is back - finally - and in the Director's chair for the first time since his acclaimed 'Apocalypto' in 2006 which he also Co-Wrote and Co-Produced. Since then he has starred in six films only, and most recently 'Blood Father' released only a few months ago to critical praise but lacklustre Box Office. Hollywood turned their back on Gibson for reasons that are well known and well documented, and so too did the movie going public, but in 'Hacksaw Ridge' it seems the Actor, Director, Producer and Screenwriter has served his time and there has been widespread applause for this, his latest Directorial offering which Premiered at the Venice Film Festival in early September to a ten minute standing ovation. After languishing in film development hell for a very long time, and having turned down the film twice before, Gibson finally agreed to helm the movie in 2014. Made for US$40M and filmed entirely in Sydney and rural New South Wales, Australia, this film features a string of fine Australian acting talent, and is already touted for Academy Award recognition come next February.

The film begins at a rural home in the Virginian hills, in the small town of Lynchburg where two young brothers are fighting - Desmond and Harold Doss, both not even ten years of age. They live with their mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths) a religious homemaker and housewife, and father Tom (Hugo Weaving) a WWI veteran who is deeply scarred by the after effects of war and the loss of three of his closest friends whom he still mourns over in the local cemetery. He's a hard drinking man, and for him its seems there ain't much good in the world anymore. As the boys fight Desmond picks up a brick and knocks Harold over the head with it, knocking him unconscious. Horrified, Bertha and Tom take the limp bodied Harold into the house fearful he may die. He doesn't, but Desmond retreats to a picture located in another room of the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and his eyes are drawn to the sixth Commandment - Thou Shalt Not Kill. Fifteen years later and Desmond is all grown up, a young adult (Andrew Garfield) and we see him attend to an accident outside his local church involving a man pinned under a car with a badly lacerated leg injury. This results in him accompanying the patient to the local hospital and coming face to face with nurse Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer). For Desmond it is case of love at first sight and he is smitten. He agrees to give blood just to strike up a conversation. In no time at all, his feelings for Dorothy are reciprocated and the pair are prancing around like star crossed lovers and a wedding date is set!

One evening over the family dinner in the Doss household, Harold (Nathaniel Buzolic) announces he has enlisted, much to the chagrin of his father. This prompts Desmond to do likewise. But because of his firm religious beliefs as a conscientious objector, he intends to serve as a medic having gained an interest in all things medical from his nurse fiance, Dorothy. He is posted to Fort Jackson in Carolina where he meets his fellow grunts, among them Smitty (Luke Bracey) and is put under the command of Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn). He performs in all physical exercises very well and passes all necessary tests, except he will not carry a weapon and nor train on Saturday's, being the Sabbath for the Seventh Day Adventist that he is. This incurs the ire of Sergeant Howell and his superior Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) who try everything in their power to get Doss to quit the Army and return home. They see his religious beliefs as a mark of cowardice and seek to have him discharged on psychiatric grounds. This fails and so they turn his fellow soldiers on him in an attempt to have their bullying and beatings make him leave of his own volition. This also fails, and just makes Doss more determined to serve his country as he wants to, but not to bear arms.

The time comes when Desmond's squad is to be issued with weekend leave passes, during which time the wedding is set for he and Dorothy. However, he is arrested for refusing to carry out the orders of his Sergeant and his Captain by not carrying a weapon, despite his exemplary record in all other areas. Doss is thrown in a military prison pending a Court Marshall hearing at which he is likely to be found guilty and as such spend the entire war in a prison cell. Dorothy gets wind of this and visits him pleading with Desmond to plead guilty so that he can be released without charge. Not prepared to compromise his beliefs for his sake and Dorothy's he pleads not guilty.

His father Tom meanwhile, dressed in full WWI military uniform, barges in on the proceedings with a letter from his former WWI commanding officer with whom he fought in France, and who is now high up in the echelons of the Military. The letter states that it is written in the US Constitution that Desmond is protected if he chooses not to carry a weapon. As such the case is dismissed, he is granted permission to go into battle as a medic, and promptly marries Dorothy.

It's not long afterwards that Howell, Glover, Doss and the squad from Fort Jackson are combat ready and sent forthwith to the war in the Pacific to take part in the Battle of Okinawa, an island 550kms off the Japanese coast, and strategically well placed for the final assault on Japan, if the Americans can take possession. The gathered American forces have come under intense attack that has seen countless casualties on both sides. Needing to scale the sheer cliff face of the Maeda Escarpment (aka as 'Hacksaw Ridge'), Doss meets up with two other battle weary medics who give him some advice to stay alive. After making their first ascent they are met with a constant barrage of heavy artillery attack with intense close quarter gun fire, mortar explosions, flame throwers, grenades and bayonets incurring heavy casualties on both sides. Doss manages to rescue a number of injured men, even those that looked like lost causes, whilst dodging enemy attack at its most ferocious.

That night when the days fighting has subdued, what's left of the squad dig into fox holes for the night, Doss and Smitty share a quite moment in which Doss recounts the reason why he refuses to handle a gun. He almost shot his father, after he held a gun to his mother, and since that day he has been steadfast in his belief to never again hold a firearm. After a restless night, interrupted by the nighttime sounds of rats chewing on the corpses of the dead, and the moans of those wounded on the battlefield, the Japanese mount another relentless attack. Smitty is killed and the American's go into retreat waiting for another artillery attack from its warships located just off the coast. The overhead bombardment has the desired effect on the Japanese forces but not before more extensive bloodshed, torn limbs, lascerated bodies and scorched remains is seen on both sides.

With the squad now retreated back down the Ridge, Doss remains at the top refusing to leave. He spends the next day and that night retrieving wounded soldiers from the battlefield, whilst dodging occasional enemy gunfire and scout troops picking off lone survivors. He is alone out there, but is determined in his mission to save as many as he can, by rappelling them down the edge of the cliff to safety - mostly Americans but the occasional Japanese soldier too. This he continues despite his bloodied and ripped raw hands, his physical exhaustion and the ever present dangers of his own death. Time after time he prays to his Lord - 'help me find one more', 'help me find one more', 'help me find one more'!

He comes across a wounded Howell who is unable to walk having sustained injuries to both legs. Under gunfire from advancing Japanese troops, Doss drags Howell backwards on a make shift stretcher so that Howell can take out those Japanese aggressors. He does so barely with enough time to bind himself and Howell and throw himself and his injured Sergeant off the cliff edge, to be retrieved by Glover and others below. Doss is hailed a hero when they return to the safety of their own base, and the full magnitude of Doss' efforts is realised.

The next day is a Saturday and the Sabbath for Doss. Acknowledging his beliefs now Glover asks Doss for his forgiveness, and says that his fellow soldiers, having witnessed Doss's efforts, believe in some form of Devine intervention that will protect them when they advance again on Hacksaw Ridge. But it means Doss going into battle on his Sabbath day, and without him, the men won't go. He agrees and with extra reinforcements, the Americans turn the battle around in their favour. Doss sustains a leg injury from a grenade thrown by Japanese officers pretending to surrender, and is gradually lowered down the cliff face on a stretcher clutching the Holy Bible given to him by Dorothy when he first joined up.

As a conscientious objector Doss single handedly saved the lives of more than 75 men under a barrage of constant enemy fire whilst upholding his firm religious beliefs. He was discharged from the US Army in 1946 and spent the next five years recovering from his own injuries (he was shot three times) and illness. Dorothy died in 1991, and Desmond died in 2006 aged 87, having been awarded the Medal of Honour in November 1945 by President Harry S. Truman, as well as The Bronze Star and Purple Heart, and numerous other commendations and awards.

This is a stirring film on many levels. Its sets the scene for the best part of the first half as the emotions and the tension come to the boil before the main event that Gibson has staged with gritty relentless realism not seen in a wartime movie since 'Saving Private Ryan'. And it is in the battle scenes that Gibson once again shows us his abilities to stage gut wrenching, bloody, brutal and violent action grounded in a reality that is seldom seen elsewhere - just as he did in 'Braveheart' and 'Apocalypto'. This is one of the must see films of the year - for a strong and memorable performance from Andrew Garfield, for a little known true story of one mans courage of his convictions amidst great adversity, and for Mel Gibson's return to form as a Director of repute. Be warned however, that the battle scenes are long, confronting, graphic and intense - a depiction of the horrors, immediacy, chaos and carnage of warfare that Gibson doesn't shy away from, and nor should he!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-