IN THE GREY : Tuesday 19th May 2026

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'IN THE GREY' earlier this week, and this American action thriller film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Guy Ritchie, best known for his feature films including 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' his 1998 Directorial debut, then 'Snatch' in 2000, 'Sherlock Holmes' in 2009 and 'Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows' in 2011, 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' in 2015, 'The Gentlemen' in 2019, 'Operation Fortune : Ruse de Guerre' in 2023, 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' in 2024 and 'Fountain of Youth' in 2025. This film was released in the USA and Australia last week, has so far grossed US$5M, and has generated mixed or average critical reviews. 

The film opens up with a SUV driving down a road hugging the side of a mountain, before it pulls off. Inside the car is Braxton (Darrell D'Silva), his henchman and Axel Olsson (Kristofer Hivju). Braxton takes a call and asks the two to leave the vehicle and step out side momentarily. Braxton says to the caller that he has the signed paperwork, and that Salazar agreed to pay the US$1B debt that he owes. Axel then shoots dead the henchman, and Braxton who by now now has exited the SUV in a panic. He too is shot dead, and Axel leans over his corpse, retrieves the letter, and calls Salazar, who tells him to destroy it. In the meantime, Rachel Wilde (Eiza Gonzalez) a street smart, tough as nails specialist lawyer, whose particularly adept at recovering large sums of money from those who aren't supposed to have it, visits New York banking Executive Bobby Sheen (Rosamund Pike), whose employer is wanting to recover the US$1B it loaned to criminal dictator Manny Salazar (Carlos Bardem), who has successfully evaded capture over recent years by adopting numerous aliases. Rachel says she can do the job, but wants a commission for her troubles of 20%, but Bobby negotiates her quickly down to 15%, with US$10M upfront payment in addition bargains Rachel, which Bobby accepts. 

Rachel has at her disposal a crack team of other lawyers, plus various other experts in surveillance, computer hacking, cyber security etc. plus a pair of assets in Bronco (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Sid (Henry Cavill) who in turn have a team of mercenaries for hire at their disposal. They are armed to the teeth with the latest gadgets, vehicles, weapons, covert surveillance gear and the wherewithal to take out a small country - which is exactly what they need to do, as Salazar owns and rules over a small island off the coast of Portugal, which they need to infiltrate. 

And so Bronco travels to Salazar's island with his team, while Sid travels to Jeddah and is met by his contact there with the aim of shutting down Salazar's construction of a major hotel development. And so Sid bribes the building engineer to the tune of US$25K, and in the process laying off some 400 Saudi construction workers and costing Salazar millions each week in lost productivity. Next up Rachel targets Salazar's private jet and then his ocean going super yacht which she has forfeited, and then a giant oil rig waiting dockside to be imminently commissioned. Meanwhile, Salazar's own lawyer William Horowitz (Fisher Stevens) is beside himself at Rachel's doggedness at pursuing Salazar and has to front up to his boss every time there is another development to explain away her actions. Needless to say Salazar is becoming increasingly frustrated and anxious, and unusually demands a face to face meeting with Rachel. 

And so Rachel flies onto the island and is flanked by Sid and Bronco who join her at her cosy little meeting at Salazar's private villa. Salazar says that he is prepared to pay US$400M of the debt and not a penny more, and if she doesn't agree she can fuck off. The meeting ends there with Rachel walking away. The plan was then to extract Rachel off the island by using one of three planned escape routes which Bronco and Sid had meticulously planned and rehearsed multiple times over the previous several weeks, and covering off on all possible scenarios. 

As a consequence Rachel digs in hard and goes after Salazar's business interests by having court injunctions taken out on all of his known company's, thereby having them effectively closed down with the front doors chained, padlocked and guarded. This naturally causes Salazar more financial pain and anguish, so he calls another face to face meeting with Rachel, at which he offers her US$800M to pay off his debt. Rachel won't budge however, and replies that she knows every last detail of every shell company he has dotted all around the world, and will happily expose his nefarious deeds to the very long arm of the law. Salazar relents and agrees to pay back the US$1B on the condition that all of his assets are returned to him and that his various business interests are freed up. Rachel agrees.

Upon leaving, Salazar orders Axel to hunt them down and kill them. And so begins an all guns blazing chase as Sid and Bronco and their four mercenary colleagues attempt to extract Rachel off the island, against Salazar's team of Police and his own militia of about fifty men try to thwart their enemy. Needless to say it doesn't end well for Salazar's small army that may have the numbers of boots on the ground, but they don't have Sid and Bronco's latest technical wizardry, military grade weapons, specialist vehicles or pre-set booby traps which are all used to great effect, including taking down Alex with a bazooka as he fires on our two likely lads and Rachel from a helicopter. 

As Rachel is taken off the island by boat, Sid and Bronco remain behind to attend to some last minute business, saying that they'll catch them up. And so the pair return to Salazar's villa posing as maintenance men. Salazar appears and orders them to leave, but Bronco steps up behind him and injects him with a serum that knocks him old cold. Wrapping him up in cling film leaving only his mouth and nose exposed, they load him into a shipping container and send him off to Miami, Florida. There, the FBI converge on the container to find a battered and bruised Salazar sat on the floor sucking on a cigar. The FBI Officer calls out Salazar's name to which he responds, my name is Smith. 

In the opening voiceover Rachel comments that she and her team exist somewhere between what is legal and illegal, between what is moral and immoral, and between what is black and what is white - in the grey! And so it is with scribe and film maker Guy Ritchie who has crafted a film which is full of exposition like he's spoon feeding the audience with his on-screen graphics of what's about to play out. The action sequences are all reasonably well staged but offer up nothing we haven't seen a hundred times before; the banter and the quips between Sid and Bronco come thick and fast with some landing and others falling by the wayside; and the cast are all beautifully coiffed and kitted out in designer wear that wouldn't look out of place in 'The Devil Wears Prada 2'. As for the plot, well you can leave your brain in neutral and go along for the ride, which exists 'in the grey' - it's neither that good, nor that bad either, and at a brisk 98 minute run time doesn't outstay its welcome.

'In the Grey' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

NOW YOU SEE ME : NOW YOU DON'T : Tuesday 25th November 2025

I saw the M Rated 'NOW YOU SEE ME : NOW YOU DON'T' earlier this week, and this American heist film is Directed by Ruben Fleischer, and is the sequel to 2016's 'Now You See Me 2' which was Directed by Jon M. Chu and is the third instalment in the 'Now You See Me' film franchise. Those first two films in the series grossed worldwide US$687M off the back of combined production budgets of US$165M. Ruben Fleischer's prior feature film output takes in his 2009 debut with 'Zombieland' which he would follow up with the likes of 'Gangster Squad' in 2013, 'Venom' in 2018, 'Zombieland : Double Tap' in 2019, 'Venom : Let There Be Carnage' in 2021 and 'Uncharted' in 2022. The film was released here in Australia and the US on 13th and 14th of this month respectively, has so far grossed US$150M off the back of a US$90M production budget and has generated mixed critical reviews. It has been reported that a fourth film is already in development, and is set to be Directed by a returning Ruben Fleischer.  

Set some ten years after the events of the second film, a trio of young magicians - Charlie (Jutice Smith), Bosco LeRoy (Dominic Sessa), and June Rouclere (Ariana Greenblatt) put on a fake Four Horsemen magic show via deepfakes and holograms, where they drain the mobile phone wallets of the corrupt owners of a cryptocurrency exchange and distribute the stolen funds among the attendees. After the show when they have decamped back to their secret loft apartment, they are unexpectedly approached by J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), one of the original Horsemen. He recruits them in a plot apparently given to him by the Eye, the secret magic society, via a tarot card. Their mission, simply to steal 'the Heart', the largest diamond in the world. The diamond is in the possession of Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), the ruthless head of a South African diamond company started by her father, a former Nazi who uses the business to launder money for war criminals. Soon after, while preparing for a private viewing and auction of the diamond in Antwerp, Veronika receives a phone call from an unknown man using a voice changer, who threatens to expose her company's illegal activities if she does not give him the diamond. Needless to say she brushes him off but is nonetheless left a little rattled.

At that private party in Antwerp, Daniel and the three recently recruited young magicians execute the heist through a combination of disguises, switching props, and misdirection to seize the diamond from Veronika. Her security and Police fail to pursue them as Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), and Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), the remaining members of the original Four Horsemen, arrive to assist them in evading capture by the local Police and Veronika's own security team. Having escaped capture by exiting from the roof via a zip line down to a waiting boat, the other three Horsemen explain that they have also received messages on tarot cards from the Eye. The Horsemen later reveal that a heist had gone wrong that resulted in their leader, Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo), being arrested and held in a Russian prison, resulting in the group's split and subsequent disappearance until now.

The group travels on to an estate owned by the Eye in France, where they meet Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman), the former grandmaster of the Eye, who also received a card telling him to assist the Horsemen. Thaddeus says that Veronika's secrets were hidden within the estate and implores them to find it. The Police, who are on Veronika's payroll, arrive to raid the estate, forcing the group to split up and use the illusory rooms within the estate to disorient and take down the Police. Charlie and Bosco manage to find a set of seemingly secret documents exposing Veronika's client list and her company's illegal activities, and escape with Daniel and Henley, while Merritt, Jack, and June are captured by the Police. While trying to escape, Thaddeus is fatally shot and dies inside the escape tunnel with Charlie, Bosco, Daniel and Henley bidding him a tearful farewell before fleeing the scene.

Inside the local Police station, Veronika questions Merritt, who turns the tables and rattles her by deducing that, after her father's affair with their housekeeper resulted in her mother's suicide, Veronika planned the murder of her housekeeper and half-brother. Lula May (Lizzy Caplan), another Horseman, arrives heavily disguised and helps Jack and June escape, but Merritt is recaptured. The group, now reunited, begins planning to rescue Merritt, as Veronika receives another phone call from the unknown man, pressuring her to retrieve the diamond.

Veronika and the Horsemen agree to arrange a meet in Abu Dhabi at the Yas Marina Circuit, where a party is being held for the Formula 1 team Veronika owns. During the swap - the Heart Diamond in exchange for Merritt, Bosco and Charlie create a distraction by stealing the F1 car on display at the party and driving off, starting a Police chase. Meanwhile, having swapped Merritt for the diamond, Veronika traps the Horsemen in a completely sealed glass cube. Veronika reveals her plans to bury them alive as sand fills up the cube. Veronika leaves with the diamond and arranges to meet with the unknown man in her vault, located out in the depths of the desert. The Horsemen manage to escape by breaking a water pipe directly above the cube and flooding it, and using Henley's diamond ring to ultimately shatter the glass. 

Veronika arrives at her vault and takes a gun from a guard. Upon entering, she learns that the unknown caller is Charlie, who is actually Veronika's long-lost half-brother, and that his mother saved him from the drowning orchestrated by her some fifteen years ago. A tearful Veronika apologises and hands Charlie the diamond, then walks away a few paces, turns and shoots him. As Charlie lays on the ground seemingly dead, she motions to take the diamond, but as she does so, Charlie moves, rises to his feet uninjured, revealing a bullet caught in his teeth. Veronika attempts to shoot again, only to discover that she was firing blanks. The vault walls open, revealing that Veronika is actually on the Horsemen stage with a live audience back at the Yas Marina Circuit. It is revealed that the car Veronika got in was driven by Charlie, the security guard whom she took the gun from was Bosco, the car went into the rear of a truck driven by June, and that the elevator ride in the vault was actually the Horsemen rolling a box onto the stage. 

Charlie tells the gathered audience that he in fact orchestrated and planned every aspect of the heist, including bringing the Horsemen together in the first place. He also admits that he created every clue to exact revenge on Veronika, ultimately leading to her arrest. Charlie tells the crowd that every client of the Vanderberg company involved in its illegal activities will be arrested, and that the proceeds of the diamond mining and the Heart itself will be given back to the people of South Africa. Some time later, the Horsemen gather at Charlie, June, and Bosco's hideout. A package arrives at the door containing a hologram of Dylan, having faked his imprisonment, who officially inducts Charlie, Bosco, and June to the Eye, and tells the group that there is more to be done. 

You really have to go in to this film having suspended all belief in the magicians art, and by that I mean the ability to pull of such intricate heists, misdirections, and illusions in just a matter of a couple of days as is the case here, in what would otherwise take months for any other self respecting magician to pull off with such aplomb. And, who's funding these guys that they can afford to pull of these amazing feats, and travel from France to the UAE in a private Lear Jet. That said, 'Now You See Me : Now You Don't' is an enjoyable and entertaining enough romp back into the world of the Four Horsemen, that is made memorable by the strong cast, in which it is good to see three new young fresh faces join The Horsemen so paving the way for more of them in instalment #4. However, the film is let down by the heavy reliance on CGI spectacle, and a silly and convoluted plot that has so much going on on screen that you need to really lean into it to keep track. You can leave your brain at the front door of your local cinema, and just go along for the ride and be entertained for a couple of hours.

'Now You See Me : Now You Don't' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

SALTBURN : Tuesday 21st November 2023

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'SALTBURN' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this psychological thriller drama film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Emerald Fennell in her second feature film outing following the highly acclaimed 'Promising Young Woman' in 2020 which reaped 116 award wins and another 193 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. This film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Telluride Film Festival in late August and was released in the US, the UK and here in Australia last week having so far generated mostly favourable reviews and grossed US$1.7M at the Box Office. 

The films open up in 2006 with a collar, tie and blazer wearing Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) walking across the quad at Oxford University and into his ground floor dormitory as a first year freshman. He is looked upon with some disdain by many of the other jeans and T-shirt wearing students, some of which mildly abuse his attire. On his first night over dinner in the packed refectory he struggles to find a place to sit, and ends up opposite another equally displaced student Michael Gavey (Ewan Mitchell) who introduces himself as another 'Nigel Nofriends'. Oliver observes Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), a charming, handsome, popular and clearly very well off student, who is attending Oxford with his American cousin, Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe), and who happens to be attending the same college. 

One day just before the summer break of 2007 Oliver lends Felix his bicycle so Felix can attend a class to which he is already running ten minutes late, as Felix's own bicycle has a punctured wheel. Felix is extremely grateful. As a result of this gesture, the two become fast friends and is invited into Felix's and Farleigh's inner circle of friends, which sees Oliver turn his back on Michael. Oliver becomes increasingly obsessed with Felix. Oliver tells Felix he is an only child with an alcoholic mother and a drug dependent father, and grew up in Prescot, near Liverpool. One day he announces that his father has suddenly died. Oliver's story garners Felix's sympathy, and so he invites Oliver to spend the summer with him and Farleigh at Saltburn, his wealthy family's sprawling estate in the country. Oliver accepts, albeit reluctantly at first.

Oliver arrives at Saltburn where he is greeted by the Butler of the house, Duncan (Paul Rhys), and after a whistle stop tour of the household Felix introduces him to his father, Sir James (Richard E. Grant), his mother, Lady Elspeth (Rosamund Pike), and his sister, Venetia (Alison Oliver). Also at Saltburn is 'Poor Dear' Pamela (Carey Mulligan), Elspeth's friend, whom the family believes has now outstayed her welcome and actively encourage her to leave when she reveals that she has rented a new flat. Despite the family's initial eccentricities and over indulgent living standards, Oliver clearly relishes his time at Saltburn. Oliver begins lying to curry favour with the family so they can grow even more fond of him, firstly implying to Elspeth that Pamela made up her bizarre, tragic stories for the attention it brought her. Later in the summer, the family learns that Pamela has died, though Elspeth in nonplussed by the news.

Late one evening Oliver secretly watches Felix masterbating while taking a bath in their shared bathroom to which their bedrooms both adjoin. After Felix has brushed his teeth and bid his friend goodnight, Oliver drinks the last of the draining water from the bathtub and licks the plughole clean. Another night, he sees Venetia outside his bedroom window wearing a see through night gown. He performs oral sex on Venetia despite it being her time of the month to which Oliver retorts that its just as well he's a vampire. Farleigh observes this from his bedroom window overlooking the gardens. Farleigh tells Felix who is upset with Oliver, since a former friend of Felix's had also slept with Venetia last summer. Oliver convinces him that Farleigh was lying and that he was only comforting the moody Venetia, who he claims is interested in him. Later, Oliver overhears an argument between Felix and Farleigh over the latter milking Sir James' for financial support for his university studies. On another occasion during a party with a karaoke machine, Farleigh retaliates by tricking Oliver into performing the Pet Shop Boys song 'Rent' (whose lyrics mirror Oliver's current situation at Saltburn) to everyone. Later that night, Oliver threatens Farleigh and initiates a sexual encounter. The next morning, Farleigh is asked to leave Saltburn when he is said to have attempted to sell rare ceramic antique plates from Sir James' collection to Sotheby's. 

With Oliver's birthday approaching Elspeth and Sir James plan a fancy dress party for two hundred or so guests to celebrate. On the morning of his birthday Felix surprises Oliver with a road trip. Upon nearing their destination Oliver panics when Felix tells him that they are going to see his mother in Prescot in an attempt to mend their fractured relationship. However, it is revealed that Oliver's family lives in the upper-middle-class suburbs, his father is alive and very well, both his parents are kind and not substance abusers, and he is not an only child and in fact has two sisters. Felix is mortified by Oliver's deception, telling him to leave after the party that evening, while Oliver states that he only lied so Felix would be his friend. That evening, the party commences at Saltburn with numerous guests in attendance, including Farleigh, who threatens Oliver. Inside Saltburn's maze, Oliver attempts to reconcile with Felix, but Felix outright rejects him. The next morning, Felix is found dead in the maze.

Oliver and the Catton family mourn Felix's death, but Elspeth and Sir James try to put a brave face on the matter. Sir James cuts Farleigh off from his financial support, saying that he will not inform the Police but that is the last thing he will do for him, and forces him to leave Saltburn for good when Oliver suggests that Farleigh doing lines of coke at the party last night contributed to Felix's death. After Felix's funeral, Oliver privately breaks down as he strips down and penetrates Felix's newly dug gravesite in the driving rain. When Elspeth demands Oliver stay at Saltburn, Venetia later confronts him when Oliver barges in on her while she is taking a bath. It dawns on her that he has successfully latched himself onto her family and that Felix's death was a result. Venetia is found dead the following morning having apparently slashed her wrists in the bathtub, leaving Elspeth and Sir James in further despair. Fearing that Elspeth is growing too attached to him and becoming suspicious of his insistence on staying, Sir James opens his cheque book and asks Oliver how much does he want to leave Saltburn. Oliver responds that he can't leave Elspeth while she needs him most, but Sir James is insistent, and Oliver leaves having agreed a price. 

A number of years later and Oliver reads about the recent death of Sir James in the newspaper. Sometime shortly afterwards and Oliver is sat in a cafe typing away at his laptop when Elspeth walks in to buy a takeaway coffee. They are both surprised to see each other and Elspeth comments to Oliver how grown up he is and how pleasing it is to see him again. Oliver gives his condolences to Elspeth over the passing of her husband to which she responds that he never really recovered following the death of Felix and Venetia. She urges him to return with her her to Saltburn. 

Soon afterwards and Elspeth becomes fatally ill. On her deathbed, looking very proud of himself, Oliver reveals that he was responsible for all the tragic events that have fallen upon Saltburn having orchestrated his initial meeting with Felix, Oliver then murdered him by poisoning the bottle of Champagne that he drank from that night in the maze. He also subtly manipulated Venetia into killing herself by placing razor blades on the side of her bath, and sent the email that resulted in Farleigh's fast exit from Saltburn. Finally, he planned his encounter with Elspeth in the cafe, with flashbacks revealing that she subsequently left all of her financial assets to Oliver, including ownership of Saltburn. Oliver then kills Elspeth by forcefully removing her life support tube. Having now taken over the Saltburn estate and the Catton fortune and seemingly dismissed the Butler, maids and footmen, Oliver dances naked around the house to 'Murder on the Dancefloor' by Sophie Ellis-Bextor. 

'Saltburn' is a slow-burn thriller about those born with not one but two silver spoons firmly planted in their mouths, and those hangers-on who aspire to such dizzy heights and those even fewer who make it - by fair means or in this case by foul. Writer and Director Emerald Fennell has here delivered us a film of modern day British aristocracy that is conflicted by the out-of-touch staid and overly quirky mannerisms of the parents versus the next generation keen to mark its place in the world, and on that note Richard E. Grant, Rosamund Pike, Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan are all expertly cast in their roles of old school versus new school. The very black and often bleak humour is rendered with a deft touch that if you blink you'll surly miss some of the zingers that come hurtling by. Barry Keoghan gives a fearless performance in every respect from the mild mannered unassuming student we first meet at Oxford University to the cold calculating murderer we see at the end who relishes in his ill gotten gains - one for the ages for sure. 

'Saltburn' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

RADIOACTIVE : Tuesday 10th November 2020.

'RADIOACTIVE' which I saw earlier in the week is an M Rated British biographical film Directed by Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian born French graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, children's book author and film maker whose previous feature film outings take in 2007's 'Persepolis', 2011's 'Chicken with Plums' and 2014's 'The Voices'. This film is based on the 2010's graphic novel 'Radioactive : Marie & Pierre Curie - A Tale of Love and Fallout' by Lauren Redniss, and saw its World Premier screening as the Closing Night film at TIFF back in September 2019, before its scheduled release due in March this year, which was subsequently cancelled due to COVID-19 and released digitally in mid-June, and in cinemas around Australia a couple of weeks ago now. The film has garnered mixed or average Reviews so far and taken just over US$2.5M at the Box Office.

The film opens up with an ageing Marie Curie (Rosamund Pike) collapsing in her Paris laboratory in 1934. Her lab assistants come to her aid and she is rushed to hospital. While being stretchered in she remembers her life going back to 1893 when she was studying physics, chemistry and mathematics at the University of Paris, France. Gabriel Lippmann (Simon Russell Beale) presided over the faculty and held the purse strings and the head strong and outspoken Curie often collided with him over funding for her research, for the interference in her laboratory, and probably because she was female in very much a mans world. She is ousted from her laboratory by Lippmann and his panel of colleagues, and so is forced to find alternative accommodation and a place to conduct her experiments and research. 

One evening by chance she literally stumbles into Pierre Curie (Sam Riley). In time the pair develop a close relationship, after Pierre invites Marie to share his own laboratory space which she agrees to albeit reluctantly, saying that she prefers to work alone without the distraction of others, or sharing the fruits of her experiments. However, she soon relents and in time the couple are married, ultimately having two children - Irene (Indica Watson as the six year old, and then Anya Taylor-Joy as the grown woman) and Eve, the younger sister (Cara Bossom).

Soon afterwards Marie announces her discovery of two new elements - radium and polonium and with it radioactivity which completely revolutionises physics and chemistry. Within a couple of years radium, which glows bright green, is being used in a number of commercial applications from matches, to toothpaste and playing cards. Pierre even takes Marie to a seance (under the guise that it's science after all) where radium is used to attempt to contact the dead, but Marie disapproves of spiritualism and any notion of a life after this one following the death of her mother in Poland

In 1903 Pierre is nominated to receive the Nobel Prize for Physics in Stockholm, and insists that it be shared in joint names with his wife Marie. On the occasion of his visit to Stockholm just before he is about to make his acceptance speech he coughs up blood, having developed a hacking cough in the lead up to the ceremony which he has been unable to shake off. Upon returning home Marie has become agitated that he attended without her (she didn't want to go) and accepted the prize in his own right (which he did not), and the pair fight. Later having made up, Pierre is becoming increasingly sick with anaemia as a result of his ongoing research into radioactivity, and one night, in the rain, while crossing the busy Rue Dauphine he slips on the cobble stones and falls under a heavy horse drawn cart. He is killed outright instantly when one of the wheels runs over his head, fracturing his skull. It was the 19th April 1906 and Pierre was 46 years of age. 

Marie is devastated by the death of her Pierre. She originally dismissed the idea that her elements are toxic, even though ever increasing numbers of people were dying from serious health conditions after exposure to radium. Depressed, she begins an affair with her colleague Paul Langevin (Aneurin Barnard). She is subsequently invited by Lippmann to apply for Pierre's Professorship at the Sorbonne, and tells the gathered panel that she will not apply and that if they choose to give her the position she will gladly accept on the basis that her work speaks for itself and that this should be their key decision making factor. She gets the job needless to say and is the first female Professor at the University of Paris. At around the same time the French nationalist press reports on the details of her affair with Langevin, including personal and intimate letters sent between the two. She is harassed in the street and at home by xenophobic mobs due to her Polish origins, with the press taunting her as a Jewish home wrecker even though Langevin had been estranged from his wife during their affair. Langevin caves into the pressure and goes back to his wife ending his year long relationship with Marie.

In 1911 she is nominated to receive the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She defies the Committee's instructions not to travel to Stockholm because of the bad press surrounding her affair, and is greeted enthusiastically by the local dignitaries and audience in attendance at the awards ceremony, many of whom are women. 

In 1914, with the outbreak of the World War, her daughter Irene convinces her to run X-Ray units from the back of ambulances on the Western Front in order to determine whether or not amputation is needed for wounded soldiers. Marie offers to fund the X-Ray diagnostic units by selling her gold Nobel Prize medals to the government, but they reject this notion and reluctantly agree to put up the funding following a very persuasive argument. 

Irene begins dating Frederic Joliot (Edward Davis), but Marie disapproves of their relationship because they have been researching artificial radioactivity and warns Irene not to see him or research radioactivity anymore because it is so life threateningly dangerous. Although she refuses to obey her, they go to the Western Front together to run the X-Ray machine.

Throughout the film we see scenes of the negative impact of her discoveries upon humanity. First off there is the dropping of the two Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 effectively ending WWII, then there is experimental external beam radiotherapy on a young lad in a hospital in Cleveland in 1956, then a nuclear bomb test in the Nevada desert in 1961, and finally the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. Fast forwarding to 1934 we see Marie in hospital coming round with visions of her cradled in her dying mothers arms in Poland as a young child, and the events played out in flash-forwards to those negative impacts. Pierre arrives to collect her and they leave the hospital together. She died on 4th July 1934 from aplastic anaemia from exposure to radiation in the course of her scientific research and in the course of her radiological work at field hospitals during WWI. She was 66 years of age. 

As the closing credits roll, we learn that the Curies' X-Ray unit saved over a million lives during the war, that their research would be used to create radiotherapy, and that the Joliot-Curies would discover artificial radioactivity in 1935 for which they would both receive the Nobel Prize for Chemistry that year. 

Having read the very mixed Reviews of 'Radioactive', I went into my local multiplex with my expectations set none too highly. That said, I was pleasantly surprised when the final credits rolled. Rosamund Pike gives a compelling performance as Marie Curie with her staunchly opinionated view of the world, her ahead of her time feminist beliefs and her outspoken fearless and highly educated manner with just about anyone and everyone. Sam Riley is equally on fine form here as the foil to Pike's Marie - as the put upon scientist who cannot believe he's bagged a woman more intelligent, more educated and perhaps more committed to science than he is, and is prepared to stand up for what she believes in. Whilst Marjane Satrapi has crafted a film that looks great and on the surface does contain many elements that played out in the real lives of the Curie's, there are some obvious moments of poetic license and dramatic effect that dilute the impact of the film and relegate it from what it truly could have been to what it simply is. In the final analysis the film serves as an important reminder of what a great scientist Marie Curie was, and how the influence of her groundbreaking work still radiates to this day. 

'Radioactive' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

    

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BEIRUT : Tuesday 31st July 2018.

'BEIRUT' which I saw earlier in the week is an American espionage thriller offering that received its Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January this year and was released Stateside in early April. Directed by Brad Anderson whose credits include numerous television series episodes and feature films including 'The Machinist', 'Transsiberian', 'The Call' and 'Stonehearst Asylum', and is Co-Produced and Written by Tony Gilroy of the 'Bourne' series fame amongst many other notable scripting credits including 'Rogue One', 'Michael Clayton', 'Duplicity' and 'State of Play'. The film has received generally favourable Reviews and has so far taken US$7M at the Box Office. This release has also received much online and press criticism for its stereotypical portrayal of the Lebanese people, Arabs and Muslims; depicting a confusing misrepresentation of the history of Beirut; ignoring the political complexities of the region; and for not using any Lebanese Actors in the Production. The Lebanon has called for its boycott on social media channels. I guess you'll just have to decide for yourself.

Set in 1982, in Beirut, Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) was a former U.S. diplomat to Lebanon who ten years previously was living in Beirut with his Lebanese wife, Nadia, who was killed in a gunfight during a party at their home. That gunfight involved Rami Abu Rajal, the older brother of thirteen year old allegedly orphaned Palestinian Karim (Yoav Sadian) who had been taken in by Mason and his wife and who were in the throes of arranging sponsorship papers for him and his full time education. Rami it transpires was linked to the recent Munich Olympics massacre and was believed to be in Beirut although unconfirmed. Mason's good friend CIA Agent Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino) interrupts the party stating to Mason that he wishes to question Karim about his brother, whom Mason nor Nadia had no knowledge of, and about whom Karim was very evasive. Just at that point, all Hell breaks loose during the party resulting in the bloody carnage.

Fast forward to 1982 and Skiles has crawled inside a bottle and is working as an industrial relations arbitrator in New England. However, out of the blue, as he is rounding out another tough day at the office at some local dive bar, he is approached by a former client acting on behalf of the US Government. After quickly renewing acquaintances the man states that he is on official business and that Skiles has been asked to attend an academic lecture in Beirut. The man then hands over an envelope containing US$6,000 cash, a first class plane ticket, hotel reservation and a new passport. Mason states that he would never step foot inside Beirut again. The man leaves, so allowing Mason the chance to ponder his decision.

Needless to say, Mason doesn't need much convincing and he travels to Beirut. There he meets a select number of State Department officials - Donald Gaines (Dean Norris), Gary Ruzak (Shea Whigham), and Frank Shalen (Larry Pine) together with CIA Field Agent Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike) and learns that Cal Riley has been abducted in Lebanon, and his kidnappers specifically asked for Mason Skiles to negotiate his release.

Now the gathered group of negotiators meet with the kidnappers where they discover that Karim (Idir Chender), now approaching his mid 20's, is leading the group. Karim demands the release of his brother Rami, whom he believes is being held captive by the Americans, in exchange for Cal Riley. Skiles protests that they do not have Rami, but suspects that he is being held by the Israelis. So Skiles and Ruzak travel to meet with an Israeli governmental official, who also announces that they do not have Rami.

The next day, while Skiles is finalising the lecture that was his 'official' business reason for visiting Beirut, a car bomb explodes directly outside the building. In the carnage that follows immediately afterwards, Skiles is bundled into a truck and blindfolded and taken to a secret location to meet Karim. Karim takes him to Riley as proof of life. Riley, beaten, bruised but not down, covertly tells Skiles that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) that he refers to in code as 'Peace, Love, Only', is holding Rami, and that Gaines should not be trusted, and a photograph back in his apartment will provide the evidence. Before releasing Skiles, Karim gives him an ultimatum for later the same night to return Rami by 2:30am, or he will sell Riley to Iran. Skiles goes to Riley's apartment to search for the photographic clue, where he encounters Crowder. After a brief standoff, she reveals that Gaines had been stealing money from the US Embassy, and that Riley had been preparing to draft a report shortly before he was kidnapped. Crowder had located the photograph previously and removed it, knowing that Gaines would also be searching for it.

Skiles convinces Crowder that the PLO is holding Rami. She steals US$4M from the CIA office in order to trade Rami for Riley. Skiles sets up the trade for Rami having parted company with US$3.9M to buy Rami from the Israeli's, and at 2:30am brings him to the exchange with Karim. After exchanging Riley for Rami, Rami is shot and killed by a Mossad sniper from a nearby bombed out building. The Americans narrowly escape with Skiles sustaining a non life threatening shot to his arm courtesy of Karim's henchmen, who needless to say are none too pleased with the sudden turn of events.

Before leaving Beirut, Skiles learns that Gaines has unexpectedly retired, and Ruzak has left Beirut. Crowder announces her intention to apply for the newly-vacant jobs, and Skiles offers his services as a negotiator. Riley and Skiles part company with a smile and a handshake saying that they should not leave it so long next time between drinks. 

'Beirut' is a well crafted old school type thriller that shows a war ravaged city at its knees and the governmental wranglings on going between the US, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine as each vie for a piece of the action and to gain the upper hand through almost any means necessary. Jon Hamm is well cast in the role as the leading man for once, and delivers Tony Gilroy's script with a world weary alcohol fuelled realism and believability that keeps the story grounded, and very much of the era in which it is set. Rosamund Pike, whilst having a lesser role is no less convincing as the undercover agent tasked with keeping Skiles alive and ensuring the mission is a success - she's one of the good guys here, and she doesn't turn corrupt at the end either which is a bit of a refreshing twist. At times the film drags its heels a little, but this is only a minor criticism and this is certainly worth the price of cinema entry.

'Beirut' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-