Birthday's to share this week : 18th - 24th June 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Frances McDormand does on 23rd June - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 60, 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 18th June

• Paul McCartney - Born 1942, turns 75 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Producer | Writer | Actor | Director
• Isabella Rossellini - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actress | Director | Writer | Producer
• Barbara Broccoli - Born 1960, turns 57 - Producer   

Monday 19th June

• Gena Rowlands - Born 1930, turns 87 - Actress 
• Kathleen Turner - Born 1954, turns 63 - Actress | Producer
• Zoe Saldana - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Director  
• Paul Dano - Born 1984, turns 33 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Singer

Tuesday 20th June

• Martin Landau - Born 1928, turns 89 - Actor | Producer
• Danny Aiello - Born 1933, turns 84 - Actor | Producer
• Stephen Frears - Born 1941, turns 76 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• John Goodman - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Robert Rodriguez - Born 1968, turns 49 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor | Actor | Cinematographer | Composer | Songwriter | VFX Producer | Cameraman
• Josh Lucas - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Producer  
• Christoper Mintz-Plasse - Born 1989, turns 28 - Actor 
• Olympia Dukakis - Born 1931, turns 86 - Actress | Producer
• Nicole Kidman - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actress | Producer | Singer

Wednesday 21st June

• Juliette Lewis - Born 1973, turns 44 - Actress | Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Director
• Lana Wachowski - Born 1965, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Chris Pratt - Born 1979, turns 38 - Actor | Singer
• Benjamin Walker - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actor   

Thursday 22nd June

• Kris Kristofferson - Born 1936, turns 81 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor 
• Bruce Campbell - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer 
• Randy Couture - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | UFC Champion
• Uwe Boll - Born 1965, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Meryl Streep - Born 1949, turns 68 - Actress | Singer  
• Lindsay Wagner - Born 1949, turns 68 - Actress | Producer

Friday 23rd June

• Frances McDormand - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actress | Producer
• Selma Blair - Born 1972, turns 45 - Actress
• Bryan Brown - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actor | Producer
• Russell Mulcahy - Born 1953, turns 64 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Joss Whedon - Born 1964, turns 53 - Writer | Producer | Director | Songwriter | Actor
• Joel Edgerton - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director  

Saturday 24th June

• Peter Weller - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actor | Director | Producer
• Dan Gilroy - Born 1959, turns 58 - Writer | Director | Producer
• Iain Glen - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer
• Nancy Allen - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actress 

Frances Louise McDormand was born in Chicago, Illinois and was adopted by a Canadian couple - mother Noreen Nickleson, a registered nurse and Vernon McDormand, a Disciples of Christ Pastor. She has a sister, Dorothy, who is an ordained Minister and Chaplain for the Disciples of Christ too, and another sibling - all three being adopted by the McDormand's who had no biological children of their own. Her father moved the family around a lot during their children's upbringing as part of his role with the Church, to small centres of population across Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee before eventually settling in Pennsylvania in the small community of Monessen. The young Frances attended Monessen High School from where she graduated in 1975. In 1979 she graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in theatre studies. In 1982 she graduated from the Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts Degree, and where she was a room mate of Holly Hunter for a time.

McDormand scored her film debut in the Coen Brothers first feature film offering in 1984, with 'Blood Simple', and she would go onto star in many of the Coen's films subsequently over the years, right up until the most recent 'Hail, Caesar' in 2016.  From this point on there was really no looking back for the young Actress. In 1985 she scored appearances on a single episode of 'Hunter', on six episodes of 'Hill Street Blues', in television movie 'Scandal Street' and in feature film 'Crimewave' written by the Coen Brothers and Directed by Sam Raimi. 1987 yielded 'Raising Arizona' for Writer/Directors Joel & Ethan Coen and co-starring Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter and John Goodman. Seven episodes on 'Leg Work' before the highly acclaimed multi-award winning Alan Parker Directed 'Mississippi Burning' with Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe in 1988. 'Chattahoochee' with Gary Oldman and Dennis Hopper saw out the '80's.

Ken Loach's 'Hidden Agenda' with Brian Cox opened the '90's, and then Sam Raimi's 'Darkman' with Liam Neeson, and then an uncredited appearance in the Coen Brother's 'Miller's Crossing' with Albert Finney, followed up closely by an uncredited role in the Coen's Brothers 'Barton Fink' with John Turturro. 'The Butcher's Wife', 'Passed Away' and Robert Altman's 'Shortcuts' with an ensemble cast came along in 1993. John Boorman's 'Beyond Rangoon' and crime drama 'Palookaville' came before perhaps one of McDormand's most noted roles as heavily pregnant police officer in small town mid-western USA 'Fargo' for the Coen Brothers once again, and also starring William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare. For her performance as Marge Gunderson, McDormand won the Best Actress Academy Award, the SAG Award and was nominated for the Golden Globe and the BAFTA.

She followed this up with 'Primal Fear' with Richard Gere in 1996, John Sayle's 'Lone Star', Bruce Beresford's historical WWII POW drama 'Paradise Road' with Glenn Close, 'Johnny Skidmarks' with John Lithgow, 'Madeline' and 'Talk of Angels' seeing out the decade. In the meantime, there were appearances on television series and made for TV movies.








Curtis Hanson's 'Wonder Boys' with Michael Douglas opened up the new decade with a fanfare of award wins and nominations, followed in quick succession by Cameron Crowe's 'Almost Famous' with Billy Crudup which also picked up a swathe of award wins and nominations, including the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG nods for Best Supporting Actress. These in turn led to another outing for those talented Writer/Directors the Coen Brothers in 2001's 'The Man Who Wasn't There' with Billy Bob Thornton. The next year saw 'Laurel Canyon', then Michael Caton-Jones 'City by the Sea' with Robert De Niro, followed by 'Something's Gotta Give' in 2003 with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.

2005 brought the acclaimed 'North Country' with Charlize Theron, in which again McDormand was nominated for the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG Awards in her supporting Actress capacity. Sci-Fi actioner 'Aeon Flux' followed immediately afterward that same year with Charlize Theron once again, and then Romantic Dramedy 'Friends with Money' alongside Jennifer Aniston, RomCom 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day' with Amy Adams, and another outing for the Writer/Director pairing of the Coen Brothers with 'Burn After Reading' with an all star cast that included George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, J.K.Simmons and Tilda Swinton.

'This Must Be the Place' with Sean Penn opened 2011, and that same year the third instalment in Michael Bay's mega Sci-Fi action franchise 'Transformers : Dark of the Moon', before the little more sedate 'Moonrise Kingdom' for Director and Co-Writer Wes Anderson with Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton again. This was followed up by 'Promised Land' for Gus Van Sant with Matt Damon and then most recently 'Hail, Caesar' for those Coen Brothers again and featuring an ensemble cast that included George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton once more.

In the meantime, there has also been the television mini-series 'Olive Kitteridge' in which McDormand plays the title role of the four episode series alongside screen husband Richard Jenkins. For her role McDormand was nominated for a Golden Globe, won a Primetime Emmy and won a SAG Award amongst a raft of others too. She has also lent her voice talents to an episode of 'The Simpsons', and to animated feature films 'Madagascar 3 : Europe's Most Wanted' and 'The Good Dinosaur'.

Next up for McDormand is 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' for Writer/Director Martin McDonagh and co-starring Peter Dinklage, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Abbie Cornish. This film is due for release towards the back end of this year. Currently filming and due in March 2018 is animated action comedy for Writer/Director Wes Anderson with 'Isle of Dogs' featuring McDormand's voice talents together with those of an ensemble cast that takes in Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton once more, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bryan Cranston, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, Liev Schreiber and Greta Gerwig.

All up McDormand has 62 acting credits to her name and two as Producer. She has amassed 55 award wins and a further 51 nominations including the Academy Award win for 'Fargo' and three others Oscar nods for 'Mississippi Burning', 'Almost Famous' and 'North Country', plus five Golden Globe nominations and one win for the ensemble cast in 'Short Cuts', a Primetime Emmy for 'Olive Kitteridge', three BAFTA nominations, and the SAG Award win for 'Fargo' and 'Olive Kitteridge' and three other nods. She also has a distinguished stage acting career too with awards wins and nominations for 'A Streetcar Named Desire' in 1988, 'The Country Girl' in 2008 and 'Good People' in 2011. McDormand is only one of twelve Actresses in history to win the 'Triple Crown of Acting' for her Academy Award win with 'Fargo', 'for her Tony Award win with the Broadway stage play 'Good People' and her Primetime Emmy Award win with 'Olive Kitteridge'.

McDormand has been married to Screenwriter and Director Joel Coen since 1984, which may have helped her secure so many roles in the Coen Brothers filmography over the years, and they have an adopted son from Paraguay - Pedro McDormand Coen.

Frances McDormand - ageing gracefully no doubt; still very much at the top of your game, in demand and sought after; a character Actor of repute and with the accolades to prove it; always watchable and entertaining; grounded and real. Happy 60th Birthday to you Frances, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online- 

HAIL, CAESAR : Saturday 12th March 2016.

'HAIL, CAESAR' which I saw over the weekend is the latest offering and the 17th film from those very talented Coen Brothers - Joel and Ethan bringing us a nostalgic Hollywood comedy with an all star cast. Directed, Produced, Written and Edited by the Coen's with lensman Roger Deakins on camera duty the film premiered in LA on 1st February and went on general US release on 5th February, and, has so far made US$47M off its US$22M budget. The idea for the film has been kicking around since 2004 and was intended to be a 1920's set comedy film surrounding a play about Ancient Rome where the focus was on the lead character to be played by George Clooney completing a trilogy of films that sandwiched 'Intolerable Cruelty' between 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' and this latest production. Come 2008 and there was still no script although the notion of the film still existed as a glint in the Coen's eyes. Fast forward to late 2013 and a script was being worked up, and by May 2014 it was confirmed that this would be there next Production but the era and the plot had shifted to what we now have.

'Hail, Caesar' melds a fictional story with a real life character, that being Joseph Edgar Allen John 'Eddie' Mannix (played here by Josh Brolin) who died in 1963 having worked throughout the golden era of Hollywood's studio system as a film producer, studio executive and 'fixer' to the stars of the time. As the film opens it is the early 50's and there is a voiceover narrative provided by Michael Gambon that sees Capitol Pictures Head of Production and 'fixer' to the stars Eddie Mannix being introduced to us as he takes confession - it is 5:00am in the morning and his day is about to start - it is 24 hours since his last confession - Mannix is a serial confessor!

As the film progresses we are introduced to various characters over the course of a single day - all of whom are busy at Capitol Pictures churning out movies as Hollywood did in the 50's to detract from the angst of the time caused by the Cold War, the Red Scare, Commies under the bed and the advent of television. These were often of big song & dance numbers, westerns, sword & sandal Roman epics and films the audience could immerse themselves in and 'escape' the realities of life for a few hours.

Here we have hapless Hollywood heart-throb and #1 leading man Baird Whitlock (George Clooney, channelling Kirk Douglas, Clark Gable and Chuck Heston) shooting that epic Roman swords and sandals movie from which this film takes its title. During a scene he is drugged and eventually abducted by a group of screenwriters with Communist tendencies who demand a ransom of $100,000. He wakes up in a lavish beach house and is taken in by his 'kidnappers' with tea and cucumber sandwiches and told that they are all Hollywood Writers wanting a slice of the action for their creative writing skills that underpin the movie industry but for which they gain no reward or recognition . . . but really they have an agenda of propagating Communism and the Russian Dream. Hapless Whitlock fails to see this initially and goes along with their 'study-group' cover-up but within a few hours succumbs to their politiccal and economic ideals. By mid-day Mannix receives a ransom note from 'The Future' demanding payment in exchange for the safe return of Whitlock who is now AWOL whilst 'Hail, Caesar' needs to wrap with the pivotal concluding scene to be shot.

Meanwhile, talented and handsome dancer, Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum channelling Gene Kelly) is shooting a naval themed song & dance musical on another sound stage, as is a gorgeous swimmer, DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson channelling Esther Williams) on another, filming an aquatic musical featuring synchronised swimming and mermaids a la Busby Berkeley. She is upset and distressed since her second marriage ended in tatters (and subsequently 'fixed' by Mannix) and she is now pregnant to an unknown father and this pending news could be very bad for her career - a husband is needed quickly! Then there is  a singing cowboy, Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich channelling Kirby Grant), who as one film ends is told that his image is being changed and he is to report to the Studio for his next walk on part later that day on the serious 'Merrily We Dance' being shot by renowned British Director, Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) who has concerns over Hobie's acting capabilities after the first few takes go awry, and complains to Mannix about safeguarding the artistic integrity of his picture.

Meanwhile, there is Tilda Swinton playing identical twin reporters Thora and Thessaly Thacker who both work for conflicting entertainment publications as gossip columnists who believe they have an inside scoop on Baird Whitlock's disappearance earlier in the day, and a scandal surrounding one of his earlier films 'On Wings with Eagles'. Mannix persuades the feuding sisters to hold their columns for 24 hours by which time he'll have retrieved Whitlock having paid the ransom out of 'petty cash', and will have defused the situation turning attention to something else.

Mannix pays the ransom money later that afternoon and then speaks with Hobie about his part in the Laurentz Production, and then orders him to accompany Carlotta Valdez (Veronica Osorio channelling Carmen Miranda) to the premier of his latest film. Afterwards over a drink, he notices the briefcase used by Mannix to stash the $100,000 cash in is being carried off by Burt Gurney and follows him to the beach house where Whitlock is being held. It turns out that Gurney is defecting to the Russian side and has rowed off shore with the other Writers to rendezvous with a Russian submarine. Hobie makes off with Whitlock while the others are distracted in their row boat, just as a convoy of police cars descend on the beach house.

With Whitlock returned to Capitol Pictures he is confronted by Mannix who orders him in no uncertain terms to stop messing with ridiculous Communist ideologies and concentrate of the concluding scenes of 'Hail, Caesar' with a career defining performance, otherwise the world may just learn of the part he played in his own abduction. As the film draws to a close we find Mannix back where it all started - 27 hours later in the confessional box seeking divine guidance about an offer too good to refuse to head up the 'Lockheed Corporation', but will he accept?

The film also stars Jonah Hill as Joseph Silverman - a surety agent working for the Studio, Frances McDormand as film Editor C.C.Calhoun, Clancy Brown as Whitlock's Co-Star in 'Hail, Caesar' and Christopher Lambert and Dolph Lundgren in bit-parts.

'Hail, Caesar' is a nostalgic look back at the Studio System of movie making during Hollywood's golden era, and in that respect the film hits all the notes and has a lot of fun in doing so. This doesn't of course mean there is any historical accuracy in the film, but it is loosely based on the drama, the spectacle, the scandal, the angst, and the personalities of that era. The film is fun, moves along at a good pace and has plenty of distractions to maintain the interest. Clooney delivering yet another numbskull turn for the Coens does so with aplomb, Brolin shows restraint and control over the roadblocks seemingly thrown in his way day by day as Mannix is reinvented for this film compared to how he may have been in real life, and Fiennes is first rate as the stiff-upper lipped English aristocratic Director Laurentz, with more than a hint of Laurence Olivier here.

For all of that, the film in this Reviewers humble opinion, is not up there with the Coen's finer, more memorable works. With four films in one all surrounded by a day in the life of a Studio linchpin there is maybe too much going on around the edges that is not necessary to the plot (two lavish productions numbers in particular for Moran & Gurney) - time perhaps better spent on other areas that would have created more depth & meaning to the central characters or given us a little more back story. It's enjoyable enough, has high production values, some strong performances, visually is engaging but lacks that final ingredient to elevate it to truly memorable. 'Hail, Coen's' - perhaps not so much this time!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 25th February 2016

This coming Sunday 28th February at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre the 88th annual Academy Awards will be presented across 24 different categories honouring the best in film entertainment from last year. Hosted by Chris Rock for the second time the glitterati and the glamourati will be out in full force on this, Hollywood's night of nights. The main category nominations look like this : Best Film - 'The Big Short', 'The Martian', 'The Revenant', 'Spotlight', 'Room', 'Brooklyn', 'Bridge of Spies' and 'Mad Max : Fury Road'. Best Director nominations are for Adam McKay, George Miller, Lenny Abrahamson, Tom McCarthy and Alejandro Inarritu. Best Actor runnings are for Matt Damon in 'The Martian', Bryan Cranston for 'Trumbo', Michael Fassbender for 'Steve Jobs', Eddie Redmayne for 'The Danish Girl' and Leonardo DiCaprio for 'The Revenant'. Best Actress nominations go to Cate Blanchett for 'Carol', Brie Larson for 'Room', Charlotte Rampling for '45 Years', Jennifer Lawrence for 'Joy' and Saoirse Ronan for 'Brooklyn'. Best Supporting Actor nods have gone to Mark Rylance for 'Bridge of Spies', Christian Bale for 'The Big Short', Tom Hardy for 'The Revenant', Mark Ruffalo for 'Spotlight' and Sylvester Stallone for 'Creed' with Best Supporting Actress nominations going to Rooney Mara for 'Carol', Jennifer Jason Leigh for 'The Hateful Eight', Kate Winslet for 'Steve Jobs', Rachel McAdams for 'Spotlight' and Alicia Vikander for 'The Danish Girl'. Without going into more detail of the individual categories which you can easily check out on line, in summary 'The Revenant' is in the running with twelve nominations, followed by 'Mad Max : Fury Road' with ten, 'The Martian' with seven', 'Bridge of Spies', 'Carol' and 'Spotlight' each with six, 'The Big Short' and 'Star Wars : The Force Awakens' with five apiece, 'The Danish Girl' and 'Room' with four each, and 'The Hateful Eight', 'Brooklyn' and 'Sicario' each with three. You can check out my Reviews of many of the aforementioned films here at Odeon Online.

Coming closer to home, this week we have five new offerings arriving fresh and wholesome at your local cinema complex. Kicking off from acclaimed dynamic Directing duo is a historical Hollywood romp that is part fact part fiction and all entertainment with a big name cast and a throw back to the golden age of the studio system. Then there is an intense modern warfare offering based on true life events in the very recent past from a loud & proud Director used to blowing shit up for the mindless amusement of teenage boys the world over, with an Egyptian epic swords & sandals save the world gods and mortals battling it out for supremacy and the chance to rule victorious forever, following. From here we go back to WWII for a more sombre, harrowing and confronting foreign language film that has to be the must see film of its kind this year; before wrapping up with a modern take on a classic English novel mashed up with the flesh eating undead.

When you have seen your film of choice in the week ahead, share your movie going experience with you friends here at Odeon Online by leaving a comment or two below this or any other Post - we'd love to hear from y'all! In the meantime, enjoy your movie.

HAIL, CAESAR (Rated PG) - the latest offering and the 17th film from those very talented Coen Brothers - Joel and Ethan bringing us a nostalgic Hollywood comedy with an all star cast. Directed, Produced, Written and Edited by the Coens with lensman Roger Deakins on camera duty the film premiered in LA on 1st February and went on general US release on 5th February and has so far made US$25M off its US$24M budget. 'Hail, Caesar' melds a fictional story with a real life character, that being Joseph Edgar Allen John 'Eddie' Mannix (played here by Josh Brolin) who died in 1963 having worked throughout the golden era of Hollywood's studio system as a film producer, studio executive and 'fixer' to the stars of the time.

Here we have hapless Hollywood heartthrob Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) shooting an epic Roman swords and sandals movie sometime in the mid-50's, when he is drugged and abducted by a group of screenwriters with Communist tendencies who demand a ransom of $100,000. Mannix must muster his every effort in an attempt to retrieve Whitlock whilst dealing with numerous other studio issues at Capitol Pictures including a talented and handsome dancer, Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum channelling Gene Kelly),  a gorgeous swimmer, DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson channelling Esther Williams) a singing cowboy, Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich channelling Kirby Grant), and an upset Director, Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes). Meanwhile there is Tilda Swinton playing identical twin reporters Thora and Thessaly Thacker, Frances MacDormand as film editor C.C.Calhoun, Jonah Hill as surety agent, Joseph Silverman with Christopher Lambert, Dolph Lundgren, Clancy Brown, and, Michael Gambon providing the narrative. 'Hail, Coens' - sounds like another authentic amusing romp that can be delivered as only the Coens know how to.

13 HOURS : THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI (Rated MA15+) - Michael Bay Produces and Directs this true account of a crack team of six security team members who must defend the American Diplomatic compound in Libya's Benghazi, following a series of terrorist attacks on September 11th 2012. At the time Libya was named as one of the most dangerous places in the world, and this film is based on the real life events as recorded in the 2014 book '13 Hours' by Mitchell Zuckoff. Working for 'Global Response Staff' - a team of private military contractors all of whom are former highly trained, weapons skilled and field experienced special op's personnel required to protect the US Embassy outpost known as 'The Annex', and must do so against overwhelming odds. You can count on the usual fast paced, blood splattering, limb tearing and explosive action that is trademark Bay.

GODS OF EGYPT (Rated M) - Directed and Produced by Aussie Alex Proyas, and shot in Australia too at Sydney's Fox Studio's at a cost of US$140M this is a swords and sandals fantasy epic of Egyptian Gods and mortals. Here we have the future of mankind hanging in the balance as Set (Gerard Butler) the God of darkness and all things nasty takes over Egypt's throne and plunges the  wealthy and glorious empire into conflict, chaos and calamity. A mere mortal is always on hand though when civilisation needs to be rescued with big ideas, a moral compass and a stiff upper lip to  save the world and win back his one true love. And so Bek (Brenton Thwaites) comes to the rescue forming an unlikely partnership with a powerful Egyptian God, Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to thwart Set and his band of goons that takes them across the heavens and into the afterlife in a fight to the death, supremacy and peace on Earth. Also starring Bryan Brown, Rufus Sewell and Geoffrey Rush.

SON OF SAUL (Rated M) - a harrowing account of the day and a half in the life of a Hungarian-Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz, this Hungarian production from first time Director and Co-writer  Laszlo Nemes has won much critical acclaim winning The Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Language Film and is nominated in the same category at the forthcoming Academy Awards, as well as picking up the Grand Prix at Cannes last year. Here Saul Auslander (Geza Rohrig) is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando - work units made up of death camp prisoners who were forced for fear of their own deaths to dispose of the bodies of gas chamber victims during the Holocaust. When Saul discovers the dead body of a young boy, he takes him for his son and seeks against all odds to find a Rabbi to give the child a proper Jewish burial, whilst protecting himself from the threat of death at any moment. 38 awards wins, 36 nominations and the highest critical acclaim, this is must see cinema that will shock, inspire, surprise and delight.

PRIDE + PREJUDICE + ZOMBIES (Rated MA15+) - just as it must be true (because Hollywood says so) that Abraham Lincoln was a vampire slayer, so it must also be true that Jane Austen knew a thing or two about zombies. And so it is in 19th Century England which is increasingly becoming overrun with the undead, that the Bennett sisters, recently returned from China where they each learned the skills of martial arts and weaponry, have to thwart the evil flesh eating foe with dashing young suitor Mr. Darcy in toe, also not afraid of dispensing with a pesky zombie or six! Directed by Burr Steers who wrote the screenplay of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel of the same name, and starring Lily James, Sam Riley, Suki Waterhouse, Charles Dance, and Lena Headey, 'PPZ' has so far made US$12M back of its initial US$28M budget.

With five new movie releases coming to a movie theatre near you in the week ahead, there is no reason not to get out in front of your favourite big screen. When you have done so, share your thoughts on your film experience with your like minded friends at this Blog.

See you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-