IT : CHAPTER TWO - Tuesday 10th September 2019.

'IT : CHAPTER TWO' is Rated MA15+  and here it is - the sequel to the hugely popular and successful 'IT' supernatural horror film of 2017 based on the 1986 Stephen King novel of the same name, which I saw earlier this week. That first instalment raked in US$701M at the global Box Office off the back of a production budget of US$35M making it the highest-grossing R-Rated horror film of all-time, the highest-grossing horror film internationally and the highest-grossing horror film of all time. The film also received positive reviews, with many Critics calling it one of the best Stephen King adaptations, and along the way it picked up eight award wins and a further 43 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit. This film saw its Premier screening in Los Angeles at the end of August, and went on general release in the US and here in Australia last week. Off the back of a Production Budget of circa US$70M, the film has so far grossed US$221M and has generated for the most part positive Press. Both instalments have been Directed by Argentinian Andy Muschietti.

It is 2016 and we open up at the Derry Carnival at night, with fair ground rides, side stalls and attractions aplenty to occupy anyone and everyone. At the carnival we are introduced to Adrian Mellon (Xavier Dolan) and his boyfriend Don Hagarty (Taylor Frey) who are attacked by a group of homophobic youths on their way home. Beating the pair up on the street out of view from the general public, the youths man handle a semi-conscious Mellon over a bridge and into the fast flowing river below. Hagarty, distraught, gives chase to his struggling boyfriend only to see him rescued from the river by Pennywise, who in turn kills him. Hagarty looks on helpless and horrified from the opposite riverbank. And so, twenty-seven years after the Losers Club defeated Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgard), IT returns to terrorise the town of Derry, Maine once again. Later that same night Mike Hanlon (Isaiah Mustafa) overhears the incident on a Police scanner of a dismembered body found down by the riverbank, and rushes to the scene.

Mike quickly realises that 'IT' has returned. He calls the other members of the Losers Club who have now all gone their separate and independent ways and have carved out successful careers for themselves away from Derry, all except Mike who has remained in Derry throughout all the passing years. He calls Bill Denbrough (James McAvoy) now a successful mystery thriller writer based in LA and married to a famous Actress; Richie Tozier (Bill Hader) now a successful stand-up comedian also based in LA; Ben Hanscom (Jay Ryan) now a successful architect living in Nebraska and having slimmed down and toned up from the fat kid that he was; Eddie Kaspbrak (James Ransone) who is now a successful risk assessor working for a major firm in New York City; Stanley Uris (Andy Bean) who is now a successful accountant working in Atlanta; and Beverly Marsh (Jessica Chastain) who has become a successful fashion designer working in Chicago. They all take Mike's call, although need prompting to remember who Mike is as most are forgetful about their childhoods and disturbed by the calls, but agree to return given that they all swore a blood oath to reunite in Derry if Pennywise ever resurfaced. Stan, however, commits suicide after his call by slashing his wrists while taking a bath at home. Without knowing of Stanley's recent death, the Losers reunite at a local Chinese restaurant in Derry and slowly begin to remember their past over a few beers and a meal together, but then become terrified by a relentless onslaught of disturbing visions and horrific taunts implanted in their sub-conscious but seemingly very real, created by IT.

Once outside the restaurant after the horrifying visions have subsided, Beverly tries to connect with Stanley only to reach his distraught wife who informs her that he committed suicide. Richie and Eddie have already seen and heard enough, and decide to leave while Mike reveals to Bill that he met with a Native American tribe who showed him a vision of IT arriving to Earth from the stars decades ago, and informed him of the 'Ritual of Chud', the means to destroy IT forever. Bill and Mike are able to convince Richie and Eddie to stay and finish what was started. Henry Bowers (Teach Grant), having survived his apparent death, had been confined to a mental hospital for killing his father and two friends back in 1989, and with the help of IT, he escapes, intent of seeing off the Losers Club finally, one by one.

For the Ritual of Chud to be successful, each Loser must find an artifact of some personal significance from their past. Beverly goes to her old home and finds the love letter Ben wrote for her, though she still believes Bill wrote it. A Mrs. Kersh (Joan Gregson) now lives there - a seemingly sweet and gentle old lady who invites Beverly in for a nice cup of tea, but minutes later it turns out that Mrs. Kersh is anything but, as an insidious monster manifests itself and rampages through the house attacking Beverly who hallucinates other visions of Pennywise before finally escaping.

Bill meanwhile comes across a second hand shop where in the window is his old bike from when he was a kid. He goes into the store and is greeted by the shop keeper played in cameo by Stephen King who sells Bill back his bike for US$300 - steep, but as a successful author he knows that he can afford it. Bill then cycles back to his former house and goes to the storm drain where his younger brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) was killed in October 1988 and recovers his paper boat before meeting a boy named Dean (Luke Roessler), who tells Bill that he lives in Bill's old house and often hears voices coming up through the drain in the bath. 

Ben goes to the town's high school and finds his old yearbook page, which Beverly was the only person to sign. Eddie goes to a pharmacy and recovers an inhaler. Richie goes to an abandoned arcade where he finds a game token, but afterwards is confronted in the town's park by Pennywise whose taunts him with threats to reveal his dirty little secret to the world. After all have managed to evade individual encounters with IT, the Losers use a shower cap retrieved from their secret forest childhood clubhouse for Stan, and Mike finds the rock that started their fight against the Bowers gang all those years ago.

Back at the guesthouse where all but Mike are staying, Bill and Beverly share a kiss before a skateboard caked in blood and with a message written on the underside comes rolling down the staircase. Bill recognises the board from his earlier encounter with young Dean, and realises that IT is going after Dean, and chases him to the carnival in an attempt to save the boy. He sees Dean disappear into the Clown Funhouse, and into a maze of mirrors and glass panels. There he comes across Dean but on the other side of a glass panel and therefore out of reach, as Pennywise appears on the other side of Dean, also separated by a glass panel. Pennywise repeatedly slams his head against the glass panel so cracking it and so giving him access to the boy, who then devours him. 

Traumatised by his failure to save both Georgie and Dean, he returns to the run down abandoned house at 29, Neibolt Street, to murder IT alone. Bowers attacks and wounds Eddie by stabbing him in the face with his knife, but survives and in turn pulls the knife from his severely bloodied cheek and stabs Bowers in the chest. Mike is at the library waiting for the other Losers to rendezvous with him there, and is attacked by Bowers but is killed by Richie arriving just in time. The rest of the Losers depart for the Neibolt house to aid Bill, as they had always vowed to stick together to thwart IT.

Once inside the house, it is seen to have fallen further into a state of disrepair and seemingly horrors awaiting at every turn and in every decrepit room. After confronting various horrors all conjured up by IT, the group descends into an extensive cavern buried deep beneath the house and through the sewers in order to complete the Ritual. 

In forming a circle, holding hands and repeating a chant directed by Mike, the group seem to have early success, until IT reveals that he is able to withstand the Ritual, unaffected. IT takes on a giant, spider-like form with Pennywise's head, and pressures Mike into revealing to the Losers that the Natives who attempted the Ritual in the past all died in the process. 

The Losers are then all individually thrown into nightmarish scenarios that they must endure, but from which they all manage to escape from before arriving back inside the cavern from whence they came. Richie is hypnotised and elevated by IT's hypnotic 'deadlight' eyes and is about to be killed, but Eddie comes to his rescue and is immediately impaled by IT's razor sharp spider legs in the process. 

The Losers regroup and come to the realisation that IT can be killed if they stand up to IT, face their fears, show IT that they are no longer afraid and make IT feel smaller than he actually is. They surround and berate IT repeatedly with a barrage of insults making IT shrink physically and weaken mentally until they are able to tear out IT's heart and crush it so extinguishing all life from IT. At this point, the cavern begins to implode and Eddie dies from his injuries despite Richie's attempts to save him. The remaining group now need to race against time to exit the rapidly crumbling cavern and get back to the surface before it all comes crashing down around them and on top of them. They do so just about, and exit through the front door of 29, Neibolt Street, before the house collapses in on itself in a heap of old timbers and dust. 

The remaining Losers return to the quarry where they once swam together and jump in from the cliff top high above the lake to wash off the dust, the dirt, debris and blood. Sometime later, the Losers all individually receive posthumous letters from Stanley, detailing that he thought he would've held them back, but knew they could defeat IT if they were brave enough without him. Mike is seen to be packing up his belongings into his car as he decides to move out of Derry to start a new life.

Also starring as their younger selves are Jaeden Martell (aka Jaeden Lieberher) as the younger Bill,  Sophia Lillis as the younger Beverly, Jeremy Ray Taylor as the younger Ben, Finn Wolfhard as younger Richie, Chosen Jacobs as younger Mike, Jack Dylan Grazer as younger Eddie and Wyatt Oleff as younger Stanley. All those portraying their younger selves reprise their roles from the first film.

I did enjoy 'IT : Chapter Two', but not quite as much as Chapter One and felt that it meandered somewhat and at a running time of two hours and 49 minutes could have done with  little more scrutiny in the editing suite I thought. That said, Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise remains as menacing and as devilishly dastardly as he did in the first instalment, and the now adult members of the Losers Club are well cast and seem to share a nervous chemistry that just heightens their on-screen presence, interspersed with flashbacks to their younger selves that serves to recapture the essence of the first film. Director Andy Muschietti doesn't hold back on the gore, the monster effects, and the horror scares that you can see coming from a mile away but still deliver the necessary jolt to maintain the interest throughout. Certainly worth the price of your movie ticket to see the conclusion to the story that comes full circle, albeit a little too long, melodramatic at times and just a tad predictable in places.

'IT : Chapter Two' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

IT : Tuesday 12th September 2017.

'IT' which I saw earlier this week is the Stephen King penned remake of the 1990 two part television mini-series, based on his acclaimed and best selling 1986 horror story 'It'. Since 2009 this film has been in development, with Cary Fukunaga first announced to Direct and Co-Write the film, but subsequently dropping out in 2015 due to disagreements with Production Company, New Line, over the direction that he wanted to take the film in. Subsequently Argentinian Director, Andres Muschietti was announced to Direct, whose previous credit was his debut feature with 2013's supernatural horror offering 'Mama' with Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. 'It' was released in the US last week too, and cost a budgeted US$35M, and has so far grossed US$218M breaking numerous Box Office records in the process too. The film has been critically acclaimed as perhaps the best and most faithful to the source material of all Stephen King's works thus far committed to celluloid. As the end credits tell us, this is 'IT - Chapter One' - the first instalment in a two part series.

The film kicks off with a rain soaked day in October 1988 in the small community of Derry, Maine with young teenager Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) making a sailboat out of note paper and waxing it to make it waterproof, for his young seven year old brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) to go and play with in the pouring rain. Georgie releases the boat into the gutter and it sails away at a rate faster than he can keep up, eventually washing down into a storm drain.

As young Georgie peers after his lost boat into the narrow drain inlet, he is startled by a man dressed as a clown who introduces himself as 'Pennywise, the Dancing Clown' (Bill Skarsgard). The clown states that the storm washed the circus, and him, down into the sewers, and he offers the young lad his boat back, saying that he should reach in to take it. As Georgie reaches in to the drain to retrieve his boat, his arm is bitten off at the shoulder by Pennywise. Falling backwards out of shock, and scrambling around in the pouring rain, Georgie is dragged backwards by his legs into the storm drain . . . never to be seen again, with his blood quickly being washed away by the torrents of rainwater.

Fast forward to June 1989 and its the last day of term at Derry High School. Bill and a few of his best mates Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer) and Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff) run into school bully Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton) and his gang, who are intent on picking on the much younger lads and making their life a misery. At the same time Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis) is picked on for being the school slut and has a confrontation in the female toilets with another highly opinionated ringleader of a pack of girls. Recovering from this and exiting the school building she runs into Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), a new kid at school, who is also bullied because of his weight problem, but he harbours a secret crush on Beverly. The pair chat for a while, she signs his year book, and they go their separate ways.

Later we see Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs) making a delivery to a local Butcher's shop. He has a close terrifying encounter with Pennywise before nearly getting mowed down by Henry Bowers in his car. Bill meanwhile has a theory that Georgie was washed down into Derry's intricate sewer system and would have washed out in an area known as The Barrens. He enlists the help of his mates to check out the exiting storm drain at The Barrens to look for signs of Georgie. Ben visits the school library even though it is now officially the Summer Holidays and studies up on the history of old Derry, learning of the towns mystery with unsolved murders, unexplained disappearances, and strange goings on that have been occurring for centuries. He is lured down into the library basement by a dancing red balloon gliding across the floor and has a close encounter too with Pennywise in the form of a rampaging badly burnt headless boy.

Later Ben runs into Henry Bowers gang, and narrowly escaping them by tumbling down a steep embankment he runs along a riverbed and ends up at The Barrens where Bill and his mates are investigating the storm drain exit. With Beverly's help they get first aid supplies to help clean up Ben from his ordeal at the hands of Bowers. The next day, the group spend swimming in a quarry lake, and afterward while relaxing in the sunshine they recount their experiences with the mysterious and menacing clown. Afterwards Eddie passes by an abandoned ramshackle old house on Neibolt Street, and comes face to face with the clown carrying a bunch of red balloons who then manifests itself into the rotting corpse of a leper who gives chase after him.

Stan later has a terrifying ordeal with the clown who assumes the identity of an animated painting of a disfigured woman that has always given him the creeps; and Beverly hears the distant voices of children calling up to her from the plug hole in her bathroom sink. Upon closer examination she is held fast by her own cut hair as it wraps around her head, her arms and her legs and steadily pulls her in towards the plug hole before an eruption of blood coats her from head to toe and the entire bathroom too. Later that night Bill is awakened by strange noises elsewhere in the house and is lured down into the basement where he confronts Georgie lurking in a corner . . . but it's not Georgie, it's Pennywise from whom he narrowly escapes back up the stairs.

Some weeks later 'The Losers Club', as the now gang of seven affectionately refer to themselves as, have a moment of clarity as they realise that they are all being besieged by the same horrific entity, who seems to feed off their own fears, insecurities and anxieties, and turns these against them. While in Bill's garage viewing photographic slides of old Derry superimposed over a map of current Derry, Ben announces that there is a 27 year pattern going back to the turn of the century of unexplained and mysterious occurrences in their town resulting in death, destruction and disappearances. The slideshow they are watching of the old and new town maps indicates that Derry's Well is the central hub from which the towns sewer systems branches out. That Well is located in the ramshackle abandoned old house on Neibolt Street, and it is this conduit that allows Pennywise to move about town quickly and unseen.

Bill, Richie and Eddie venture upto the Neibolt Street house while the others stand guard outside. Pennywise attempts to pick the three boys off one by one, by luring them into different parts of the house with varying visions. Eddie falls through a hole in the floor to a room below, fracturing his arm in the process. Pennywise emerges from a fridge, and is about to kill Eddie when he is impaled through the head by a metal spike courtesy of Beverly, causing the clown to make a hasty retreat down the Well, but not before slashing Ben in the stomach with his clawed hands.

Outside the house Eddie's over protective and over bearing mother arrives and quickly whisks him way, horrified by the boys antics. Richie, Stan and Mike elect to have no more to do with Bill and his plans to locate Georgie and thwart Pennywise, because its all too dangerous and its the Summer Holidays and they are supposed to be enjoying themselves. Later on, Beverly is abducted by Pennywise, after she knocks out her father for fear of being raped by him. Bill visits the house to find her unconscious father on the bathroom floor with blood oozing from his head, and deduces that Pennywise has Beverly. He quickly rallies The Losers to mount a search and rescue mission.

Back at the Neibolt Street house, The Losers gain entry down the Well and emerge in a labyrinth of sewer tunnels. Stan is separated from the others and Pennywise attacks, but is fended off when the others arrive just in time. They emerge into a huge cavernous underground cooling tower which is filled with what appears to be a mountain of rotting circus equipment, the clothes and personal belongings of Pennywise's victims going back centuries, and hovering mid way up the tower are the suspended floating corpses of missing children. They rescue Beverly from her state of Pennywise induced suspended animation, just as Georgie emerges saying to Bill that it's time to go home. Bill is at first taken in, but then realises that Georgie really is dead, and recognising the ruse shoots Georgie through the head with a captive bolt pistol brought along by Mike, temporarily on 'loan' from his Grandfathers sheep farm. The lifeless body of Georgie then transforms into Pennywise.

The group descend on the clown beating it with a baseball bat, sticks, metal rods and whatever they can find lying around. Pennywise overpowers them taking Bill hostage and offers to trade them Bill for sparing the lives of all the other Losers. Richie seemingly agrees and then turns the tables on Pennywise, which gives The Losers the opportunity to brutally attack the clown and free their friend. Pennywise is mortally wounded, and Bill states that they are no longer afraid of him, that he cannot turn their fears against them, and so he is powerless now against them. The clown backs into the lip of a deep pit and starts to dissolve before falling into oblivion. Bill discovers the yellow raincoat of his younger brother with his name etched on the inside and breaks down, with his friends all comforting him.

One month later when the dust has settled and a degree of normalcy has returned to Derry, The Losers gather and make a blood oath to return to Derry 27 years from now, if It comes back and terrorises the town, and that they will destroy it once and for all.

'It' reminded me to some degree of 'Stand By Me' and the recent popular Netflix series 'Stranger Things' with common themes running through them. This film has some genuine jump scares to keep the tension and the suspense ramped up, and equally some moments of levity with laugh out loud moments, largely delivered by the fast talking potty mouthed Richie Tozier. The young cast are well matched and deliver convincing characterisation, and Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise delivers on the maniacal menace with aplomb, although as the film progresses and we see more of The Dancing Clown, the more predictable he becomes and therefore less scary. At 135 minutes running time the film moves along at a good pace and maintains the attention with equal measure of frights and early teenage coming of age emotion. A solid horror offering that does not disappoint given the social media attention the early trailers garnered and the subsequent expectations. Bring on 'It - Chapter Two', which is set up nicely with a post credits audio teaser.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 7th September 2017.

Stephen King is a prolific American author of supernatural fiction, suspense, Science Fiction, horror and fantasy who has 240 Writing credits to his name, twelve television series and made for TV film Producer credits and 21 as Actor, and whose 1986 best selling horror novel 'It' is released in cinemas this week, and Previewed below. King has a substantial portfolio of film, television series, stage productions, comic books and even music adapted and inspired from his works and those penned under his pseudonym of Richard Bachman. In researching just how many, there are way too many to list here that go all the way back to 1976, consisting over sixty big screen adaptations, thirty for the small screen and fifteen or so for the stage. Here is a list of those more noteworthy Stephen King movie adaptations :-

* 'Carrie' released 1976, supernatural horror, Directed by Brian de Palma, starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Nancy Allen, and John Travolta.
* 'The Shining' released 1980, horror, Directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd. The book was also adapted in 1997 into a three part television mini-series.
* 'Creepshow' released 1982, black comedy horror, Directed by George A. Romero, starring Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Hal Holbrook, Ed Harris and Stephen King in this anthology of five short stories within the film.
* 'Cujo' released in 1983, psychological horror, Directed by Lewis Teague, starring Dee Wallace, Danny Pintauro, and Daniel Hugh-Kelly.
* 'The Dead Zone' released in 1983, horror thriller, Directed by David Cronenberg, starring Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Tom Skerritt and Herbert Lom. A television series of the same name ran for eighty episodes over six seasons from 2002 through to 2007.
* 'Christine' released in 1983, horror, Directed by John Carpenter, starring Keith Gordon, Harry Dean Stanton and Kelly Preston.
* 'Children of the Corn' released 1984, horror, Directed by Fritz Kiersch, starring Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton.
* 'Firestarter' released 1984, Science Fiction horror, Directed by Mark L. Lester, starring David Keith, Drew Barrymore, Martin Sheen, Heather Locklear, George C. Scott and Freddie Jones.
* 'Stand By Me' released 1986, coming of age drama, Directed by Rob Reiner, starring Keifer Sutherland, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, John Cusack, Jerry O'Connell and Will Wheaton.
* 'Maximum Overdrive' released in 1986, Science Fiction action horror comedy, Directed by Stephen King, starring Emilio Estevez.
* 'The Running Man' released 1987, Science Fiction action, Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yaphet Kotto, Jesse Ventura, Maria Conchita Alonso and Richard Dawson.
* 'Pet Sematary' released 1989, horror, Directed by Mary Lambert, starring Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynn, and Denise Crosby.
* 'Misery' released 1990, psychological thriller, Directed by Rob Reiner, starring James Caan, Kathy Bates, Lauren Bacall, and Richard Farnsworth.
* 'The Dark Half' released 1993, horror, Directed by George A. Romero, starring Timothy Hutton, Michael Rooker and Amy Madigan.
* 'Needful Things' released 1993, horror, Directed by Fraser C. Heston, starring Max von Sydow, Ed Harris, Amanda Plummer, and J.T. Walsh.
* 'The Shawshank Redemption' released 1994, drama, Directed by Frank Darabont, starring Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, Clancy Brown, William Sadler, Bob Gunton and James Whitmore.
* 'Dolores Claiborne' released 1995, psychological thriller, Directed by Taylor Hackford, starring Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Christopher Plummer, David Strathairn, John C. Reilly and Bob Gunton.
* 'The Mangler' released 1995, horror, Directed by Tobe Hooper, starring Robert Englund and Ted Levine.
* 'Thinner' released 1996, horror, Directed by Tom Holland, starring Robert John Burke, Joe Mantegna, Lucinda Jenney, and Michael Constantine.
* 'Apt Pupil' released 1998, thriller, Directed by Bryan Singer, starring Brad Renfro, Ian McKellen, David Schwimmer, and Bruce Davison.
* 'The Green Mile' released 1999, fantasy crime drama, Directed by Frank Darabont, starring Tom Hanks, David Morse, James Cromwell, Sam Rockwell, William Sadler, Barry Pepper, Gary Sinise, Harry Dean Stanton, Michael Clarke Duncan and Patricia Clarkson.
* 'Dreamcatcher' released 2003, Science Fiction horror, Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, starring Morgan Freeman, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Donnie Wahlberg, Tom Sizemore, and Thomas Jane.
* 'Secret Window' released 2004, psychological horror thriller, Directed by David Koepp, starring Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello and Timothy Hutton.
* '1408' released 2007, psychological horror, Directed by Mikael Hafstrom, starring John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark McCormack and Tony Shalhoub.
* 'The Mist' released 2007, Science Fiction horror, Directed by Frank Darabont, starring Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, William Sadler and Toby Jones. Also made into a 2017 television series of the same name, having aired for the first season of ten episodes at the time of writing.
* 'Carrie' released 2013, supernatural horror, Directed by Kimberley Pierce, starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Ansel Elgort and Julianne Moore, and a remake of the 1976 film.
* 'Cell' released 2016, Science Fiction horror, Directed by Tod Williams, starring John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Stacy Keach and Isabelle Fuhrman.
* 'The Dark Tower' released 2017, science fantasy western, Directed by Nikolaj Arcel, starring Matthew McConaughey, Idris Elba, Tom Taylor and Jackie Earle Haley. A television series is also in production for release in 2018.
* 'It' released in 2017, horror, Directed by Andy Muschietti, starring Bill Skarsgard and Jaeden Lieberher. The book was first adapted into a two part television mini-series in 1990.
* 'Gerald's Game' due for release in late 2017, Directed by Mike Flanagan, starring Bruce Greenwood and Carla Gugino.
And aside from these, worthy of an honourable mention too are the television series and mini-series including 'Salem's Lot', 'The Tommyknockers', 'The Stand', 'The Langoliers', 'Bag of Bones', 'Under the Dome', '11:22:63', 'Mr. Mercedes', and the upcoming 'Castle Rock'.

Turning attention then to this weeks latest release movies, first up we have a horror offering involving a small country town, seven young kids and an evil Clown; then a family predicament discussed over dinner; and next a true story of a dysfunctional family raised on the poverty line by their nomadic parents. We then go on to a comedy romance story of an estranged couple living separate lives but under one roof who unexpectedly fall in love with each other again; and then a comedy of identical twin sisters - one a successful Actor and the other a struggling Actor, and how the latter secretly leverages the former for her own gain; before wrapping up with a historical biographical retelling of the making of the game of golf and how a Scottish father and son shaped the modern game.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six new release 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 here cordially invited 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 meanwhile, enjoy your big screen cinematic experience during the coming week.

'IT' (Rated MA15+) - and here we have the Stephen King penned remake of the 1990 two part television mini-series, based on his acclaimed and best selling 1986 horror story 'It'. Since 2009 this film has been in development, with Cary Fukunaga first announced to Direct and Co-Write the film, but subsequently dropping out in 2015 due to disagreements with Production Company, New Line, over the direction that he wanted to take the film in. Subsequently Argentinian Director, Andres Muschietti was announced to Direct, whose previous credit was his debut feature with 2013's supernatural horror offering 'Mama' with Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. 'It' is released in the US this week too, and cost a budgeted US$40M. This film is said to be the first instalment in a two part series.

The story here is set during the Summer of 1989 in small-town Derry, Maine where a small group of seven pre-teenagers known as 'The Losers Club' come across an immortal shape shifting entity that manifests itself to them in the form of an evil clown like figure known as 'It' or Pennywise the Dancing Clown or Bob Gray (Bill Skarsgard). It, wreaks horror on the town once every three decades and whose history of disappearances, murder and violence most foul dates back centuries, mostly against children, but adults too, and at a rate of six times the national average. When seven year old George Denbrough (Jackson Robert Scott) goes missing, his brother and leader of The Losers Club Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) together with his friends vow revenge on the monster. Meanwhile, the seven young Club members all have their own personal demons to overcome as they fight against their own inner fears and insecurities to overcome Pennywise. Also starring fellow Losers Club members Jeremy Ray Taylor, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, and Jack Dylan Grazer.

'THE DINNER' (Rated M) - this dramatic thriller is Written for the screen and Directed by Oren Moverman and based on the 2009 Dutch novel of the same name by Herman Koch. The film Premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February this year, was released in the US in early May, has so far taken just US$1.1M at the Box Office and has received mixed Reviews. The film takes place over the course of a dinner involving two couples in a swanky upmarket restaurant. Here we have Paul Lohman (Steve Coogan) a former high school history professor and his wife Claire (Laura Linney) meeting up with his long time estranged older brother, Stan Lohman (Richard Gere) a popular congressman running for Governor and his wife Katelyn (Rebecca Hall). Over dinner the two couples plan to discuss how to handle a crime committed by their respective teenage sons that was caught on CCTV cameras and shown on the television news, but, so far, no one has come forward and identified the two lads in question. The crime was of a violent nature, and the footage captured shocked the nation. The parents have to decide on what to do, and over the course of their dinner meeting relationships are tested, the individual beliefs of each family member is thrown into question, and each reveals just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.

'THE GLASS CASTLE' (Rated M) - this drama film is Co-written for the screen and Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and is based on the real life memoirs published in 2005 of the same name by Jeannette Walls. Released in the US in early August, the film has so far taken US$14M at the Box Office and has received mixed Reviews praising the cast, but coming down on the transformation from page to screen. Here four siblings - oldest daughter Lori Walls (Sarah Snook), second daughter Jeannette Walls (Brie Larson), youngest daughter Maureen Walls (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and only son Brian Walls (Josh Caras) must learn to take care of themselves as they live a nomadic life moving from squat home to squat home and on the poverty line, as their responsibility-averse, free-spirited parents both inspire them and hold them back in life. When sober, their brilliant and charming father Rex Walls (Woody Harrelson) sparks their imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to live life to the full with talk of unrealistic hopes and dreams for a better life. He was optimistic and positive if nothing else! But when he drank, he turned dishonest and destructive. Meanwhile, their mother Rose Mary Walls (Naomi Watts), an eccentric artist, detested the idea of a domestic life and shied away from raising a family. This is a coming of age story of a dysfunctional family, as seen from Jeannette's POV.

'THE LOVERS' (Rated MA15+) - this comedy romantic film is Written and Directed by Azazel Jacobs and was released Stateside in early May and has so far taken just US$2M but has received critical praise. Telling the story of husband and wife Michael (Tracy Letts) and Mary (Debra Winger) who live together but are effectively estranged from each other. They are both in long standing extra-marital affairs - Mary with Robert (Aiden Gillen) and Michael with Lucy (Melora Walters). However, their respective relationships and their feelings for one another take on a sudden twist when they fall for each other as a result of single kiss that leads to sex, and the two of them falling for each other all over again. As the same time, their respective lovers start to become more needy of their attention and their affections and therefore more demanding, making them less and less appealing to both Mary and Michael, only helping to cement their new found love for each other still further.

'THAT'S NOT ME' (Rated MA15+) - Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Gregory Erdstein in his full length feature film Directorial debut, this Australian independent comedy film shot on a shoestring budget saw its Aussie Premier at the Sydney Film Festival in June this year, and now goes on general, albeit limited, release. Here Alice Foulcher (who also Co-Produced and Co-Wrote) plays identical twin sisters Polly and Amy Cuthbert. Polly is an aspiring Actress who is mistaken for her successful celebrity Actress twin sister Amy at just about every turn. When Amy is cast in an upcoming HBO television series and then to add insult to injury starts dating Jared Leto which is posted all over social media, Polly decides to turn the tables in her favour and use Amy's celebrity to her own advantage - after all, who can tell them apart? Living it large as the life of a celebrity, Polly takes full advantage of free clothes, being wined and dined at all the best places, casual relationships, and the media attention, but ultimately with hilarious and disastrous consequences for them both.

'TOMMY'S HONOUR' (Rated M) - this historical biographical drama film is Directed by Jason Connery (the son of Sean Connery), and tells the story of the lives, careers and relationship between father and son - Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris as depicted by Peter Mullan and Jack Lowden respectively. The film is based on the 2007 book 'Tommy's Honour : The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf's Founding Father and Son' by Kevin Cook. History tells us that Thomas Mitchell Morris (Old Tom) was a Scottish golfer born in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland the spiritual and ancestral 'home of golf' and location of the famed St Andrews Links, where Old Tom was the greenskeeper and professional golfer. Old Tom lived from 1821 until 1908 and died at the age of 86 in the town of his birth. Young Thomas Morris (Young Tom) was a Scottish professional golfer. He is considered one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodigy in golf history. He won four consecutive titles in the Open Championship (which his father founded), an unmatched feat, and did this by the age of 21. Young Tom's first Open Championship win – in 1868 at age 17 – made him the youngest major champion in golf history, a record which still stands to this day. Young Tom died at the age of just 24 in 1875. This is their story. Also starring Sam Neill as Alexander Boothby, the Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, and Ophelia Lovibond as Meg Drinnen as Young Tom's future wife. The book upon which the film is based was highly acclaimed, picking up various awards, and the film won Best Feature Film at The British Academy Scotland Awards.

With six new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, taking in horror, historical biographical drama, romantic comedy, a coming of age memoir, an independent Aussie comedy and a dinner date, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephiles 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-