The 24th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is taking place right now between 20th August and 2nd September in Montreal, Canada. The official Fantasia website states that its Mission 'since its beginnings, has been to explore the diverse realms of genre cinema, creating bridges between the cutting edge and the mainstream, and providing a festive but professional environment where emerging artists are given exposure alongside their more established counterparts, both locally and internationally. We showcase the best in Canadian and world cinema, discovering and nurturing exciting new talents and offering a platform through which artists and audiences can connect'. 
This years festival is conducted entirely online with no in-person screenings, workshops or special presentations. Nonetheless, the virtual lineup includes one hundred feature films and one hundred and eighty short films accessible to movie lovers across Canada with an eclectic mix of screenings, panel discussions, and workshops. The festival opens with the screening of Neil Marshall’s 'The Reckoning' - a poignant and horrific period thriller set in 1665 against the backdrop of the Great Plague and the subsequent witch hunts in England. In addition, the festival is also presenting a masterclass with legendary film maker John Carpenter, as well as awarding him a Fantasia Lifetime Achievement Award. Amongst the World Premier movies showing at this years virtual festival is 'Undergods', 'The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw', 'Hunted', 'Kriya', 'The Undertaker's Home', 'Come True', '#ShakespearsShitstorm', 'Unearth' and 'Tiny Tim : King for a Day'. You can check out the full schedule of events, session times and a whole lot more at the official website, at : https://fantasiafestival.comThis week then there are four latest release new films coming your way at the local Odeon. We kick start with a highly anticipated film from an acclaimed Director that is reportedly going to re-launch the cinema going experience and convince the movie industry that there remains a healthy appetite for blockbuster films to be seen on the big screen. That film pits the fate of the world squarely on the shoulders of one man and his handler as they travel the world looking to overthrow a Russian Oligarch while playing with time itself. Next up we have a Chinese film about a war time siege on a warehouse as the Chinese Army seek to defend it from advancing Japanese troops. We then have a French film set in the aftermath of the 2018 World Cup and the escalation of Police violence especially amongst the poorer and younger ethnic communities of Paris, and we close out the week with an Aussie biopic of a famed songstress of the '60's and '70's who also became the poster girl for the second wave feminist movement.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.
'TENET' (Rated M) - here, finally, is the much hyped eagerly awaited spy drama film Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Christopher Nolan, who I'm sure needs no further introduction, other than his film Directing credits have amassed global Box Office returns of about US$4.7B and he has won 137 awards and been nominated 228 other times, so I guess he must be doing something right! Originally slated for a 17th July release, this was subsequently pushed back because of COVID-19 to 31st July, then 12th August and now gets a release in seventy countries from this week, before its release in the US and China next week. Costing somewhere in the region of US$220M to make, the film has garnered mostly favourable Reviews from Critics. Riffing off James Bond with exotic locations, extravagant action set pieces, international espionage, a Russian bad guy hell bent on bring about the end of the world as we know it, and the good guys working for a covert secret outfit this is sure to please . . . if you can get your head around the premise.
Here, going only by the moniker of The Protagonist (John David Washington) is working for a secret organisation known as 'Tenet'. His handler is Neil (Robert Pattinson) and between them they are tasked with over throwing a power crazy Russian Oligarch Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) intent on world destruction by starting WWIII. And so with the fate of the entire world hanging in the balance The Protagonist must journey through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that unfolds in something beyond real time, not time travel, but time inversion! Also starring Elizabeth Debicki, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Clemence Poesy, Michael Caine and Martin Donovan.
'THE EIGHT HUNDRED' (Rated CTC) - this Chinese historical war time drama film is Directed by Guan Hu who made his feature film debut in 1994 with 'Dirt' - a portrayal of Beijing's rock music scene. Since then he has made 'Cow' in 2009, 'The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel' in 2013, 'Mr. Six' in 2015, plus segments in the anthology films 'Run for Love' in 2016 and 'My People, My Country' in 2019. Initially slated for a July 2019 release, the film was subject to controversy and possible government interference, before being moved to a 21st August release date in its native China, and a limited release in Australia from this week. Off a budget of US$80M the film has so far grossed US$116M. The story here unfolds on 13th August 1937, as the Imperial Japanese Army invades Shanghai, Lieutenant Colonel Xie Jinyuan (Du Chun), of the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division of the National Revolutionary Army, leads more than 400 young officers, soldiers and draft dodgers to guard the Sihang Warehouse complex in Shanghai over a four day siege just as Japanese forces are beginning to overwhelm China.
'LES MISERABLES' (Rated MA15+) - here this French drama film has absolutely nothing to do with the famed 1862 novel by Victor Hugo other than the fact that this film is set in the commune of Montfermeil and Hugo's novel was written and partially set in that same place. This is the feature film Directorial debut of Ladj Ly and based on his short film of the same name from 2017. It had its World Premiere showing at the May 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize. It was released in France in late November 2019 and received critical acclaim, earning twelve nominations at the Cesar Awards and winning four including Best Film. All up the film collected nineteen award wins and a further forty-eight nominations including an Oscar nod for Best International Feature Film. The film has so far grossed US$19M and has generated largely favourable Reviews. Set during the aftermath of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and based on a real-life occurrence of Police violence which took place in the city on October 14th 2008, and was observed and filmed by Ly. The story follows several characters within the commune, as a theft from a teenager spirals into the threat of a larger crisis. The film depicts abuses against poor citizens, especially teenagers of sub-Saharan African or Maghrebi ethnicities, thus emphasising the ongoing plight of the poor in Montfermeil.
'I AM WOMAN' (Rated M) - is an Australian biographical film offering Directed and Co-Produced by Unjoo Moon that saw its World Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year, before its very limited theatrical release in Australia this week and before it streams throughout Australia from 28th August onward on Stan. In 1966 aged 24, Helen Reddy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) arrives in New York with her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and just US$230 in her back pocket. Promised a recording contract which the company then renegs on, she is left stranded in the Big Apple without a visa but she decides to stay and pursue a singing career. Then she meets with influential rock music journalist Lillian Roxon (Danielle Macdonld) and within five years she had become one of the biggest superstars of her time, with close to thirty number one US singles, her own hourly TV show and an icon of the '70's feminist movement, which adopted her power anthem 'I Am Woman'. She also meets Jeff Wald (Evan Peters), a young up & coming talent manager who ultimately becomes her agent and husband. Whilst Wald helps her get to the top of her profession, he also suffers from a drug addiction, which gradually turns their relationship toxic. The film has been largely praised.With four 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-
