What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 2nd November 2017.

In October, the world bid a fond farewell to a number of stars of the silver screen, the small screen, stage, and music industry. Most notably these were Tom Petty, Roy Dotrice, Brent Briscoe and Rosemary Leach, may you Rest In Peace. Featuring a fine body of collective works across cinema, television, theatre and music, below is a brief passing Tribute by way of our last respects.

* Tom Petty - Born October 20th 1950, died October 2nd 2017, aged 66 - Singer | Songwriter | Musician | Record Producer and Actor. Founder of 'Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' that released numerous hit singles and albums from 1976 through until 1987 and then subsequently released six albums with the band between 1991 and 2014. In between time he played with George Harrison's 'The Travelling Wilburys' partnering with Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison. Earlier this year Petty toured with 'The Heartbreakers' in a 40th Anniversary Tour of the US culminating on September 25th - one week before his death. As an Actor, he appeared in cameo in 1978's 'FM', in a bit part in 1987's 'Made in Heaven' and in 1997's 'The Postman' with Kevin Costner. He also appeared in several episodes of 'It's Garry Shandling's Show' and 'The Larry Sanders Show', as well as an episode of 'The Simpson's' and as a regular over the years on 'King of the Hill'.

* Roy Dotrice - Born 26th May 1923, Died 16th October 2017, aged 94 - Actor. With 120 Acting credits to his name he was a star of radio, stage, television and film with his more notable big screen appearances being 'The Heroes of Telemark', 'Lock Up Your Daughters', 'Amadeus', 'Swimming with Sharks' and 'Hellboy II : The Golden Army'. Among his small screen credits are television series appearances on 'Treasure Island', 'The Wars of the Roses', 'Space 1999', 'Dickens of London', 'Magnum P.I.', 'Hart to Hart', 'Remington Steele', 'The A-Team', 'The Equalizer', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Going to Extremes', 'Picket Fences', 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith', 'Spider-Man', 'Life Begins' and 'Game of Thrones'. He won the BAFTA Television Award in 1969 for Best Actor in 'Misleading Cause' and was nominated for a Grammy Award and two others. He also gained an entry into the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records for the highest number of character voices by a single Actor for providing the voices for 224 characters in the first instalment of the George R. R. Martin series 'Games of Thrones' from the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series for which he voiced all audiobooks in the series. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.) by H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II in 2008.

* Brent Briscoe - Born May 21st 1961, died October 18th 2017, aged 56 - Actor | Writer. With 91 Acting and three Writing credits to his name, Briscoe had appearances in such noted films as 'Sling Blade', 'U Turn', 'A Simple Plan', 'The Green Mile', 'Man on the Moon', 'Mulholland Drive', 'Spider-Man 2', 'In the Valley of Elah', 'Jayne Mansfield's Car', and 'The Dark Knight Rises'. There were also numerous small screen appearances too over the years including more popular television series including 'Deadwood', '24', 'House', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Bones', 'Medium', 'Desperate Housewives', 'Parks and Recreation' and most recently 'Twin Peaks'.

* Rosemary Leach - Born 18th December 1935, Died 21st October 2017, aged 81 - Actress. Appeared in numerous film, television and stage roles over her career gaining five BAFTA nominations. Her film roles included 'That'll Be The Day', 'Room With A View', 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', 'The Baroness and the Pig',  and on many television series and episodes including 'The Prince of Denmark', 'Rumpole of the Bailey', 'The Jewel in the Crown', 'The Charmer', 'The Buccaneers', 'The Tomorrow People'. 'Berkeley Square', 'My Family', 'Holby City' and 'Casualty', plus, numerous made for television movie too over her career spanning six decades.

This week we have five new films to Preview kick starting with the eighth instalment in a hugely successful games of life and death horror film franchise; then a sequel featuring unruly mothers getting up to all manner of mischief over the festive season; followed by a West Australian music festival RomCom featuring an eclectic mix of characters. We then wrap up with two very different animated features - one a biographical drama about a world renowned painter whose death in 1890 is shrouded in mystery, and the other a musical fantasy aimed squarely at young kids featuring characters from a well known television series.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release films 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 warmly 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 in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon experience during the coming week.

'JIGSAW' (Rated MA15+) - based on the hugely popular and commercially successful American horror film franchise 'Saw' which burst onto our screens back in 2004, here we have the eighth instalment released just in time for Halloween (as have all the others that have gone before). That initial film spawned sequels year on year through until 2010, culminating in 'Saw 3D' that year that was intended to be the closing chapter in the series. Whilst the franchise received mixed Reviews by Critics, it was nonetheless financially viable, posting a worldwide Box Office take from the first seven films of a combined US$874M off the back of a Budget total of just US$78M making it one of the highest grossing horror film franchises of all time. Originally conceived by James Wan and Leigh Wannell, who together wrote the story for 'Saw', 'Saw II', and 'Saw III' with Wan Directing the very first film, this eighth film is Directed by the Australian Spierig Brothers - Michael and Peter whose previous Directing credits include 'Daybreakers' and 2014's excellent 'Predestination'. The film cost US$10M, was released in the US last week and has so far taken US$29M at the Box Office.

In this instalment we once again have bodies turning up littering the city with each one having met with a particularly gruesome and seemingly calculated end. As the investigation proceeds it becomes apparent from the gathered evidence that the grisly demise of the victims bear all the trademarks of one prime suspect - the infamous John Kramer, also known as 'Jigsaw' - but he died ten years previously. And so the hunt is on for a mystery sadistic madman who collects a bunch of unrelated but hardly innocent victims and subjects them to various games of life and death. Featuring an uncredited Tobin Bell as John Kramer/Jigsaw with Matt Passmore, Callum Keith Rennie, Cle Bennett and a bunch of hapless victims.

'A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS' (Rated MA15+) - the precursor to this film, 'Bad Moms', was released less than eighteen months ago, was Directed and Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore and grossed US$184M off the back of a US$20M production Budget. On the strength of that success a sequel was almost inevitable, and here we have it. With Lucas and Moore back on Writing and Directing duty, with this festive seasonal comedic sequel romp they are doubtless hoping to repeat the success of the first instalment. Here Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn reprise their roles from the first film as Amy, Kiki and Carla respectively. They are seemingly still under appreciated and over burdened mothers, but this time glaring down the barrel of an impending Christmas in company with their own respective mothers, and their own demanding families - as if this time of year isn't stressful and hard work enough. Starring Christine Baranski as Amy's Mom, Cheryl Hines as Kiki's Mom and Susan Sarandon as Carla's Mom I'm sure that there'll be enough festive cheer to go round for all comers.

'THREE SUMMERS' (Rated M) - this Australian RomCom is Written and Directed by Ben Elton and had its World Premier screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival back in August this year, and now goes on general release. Set during a fictionalised Western Australian summer music festival, known as 'Westival' over three consecutive years, the feisty lead singer of an Irish folk band (Rebecca Breeds) meets a folk-music-hating Theremin player (Robert Sheehan) and they fall in love. A bunch of characters and festival goers and performers sit on the periphery of their romance including a fiercely Aussie Morris Dancer (Michael Caton), an Indigenous dance act, a group of wine-guzzling empty nesters, a power happy security guard, a wannabe girl rock band and some musical asylum seekers. All of these stories collide under the watchful eye of community radio super star, Queenie (Magda Szubanski), who welcomes these characters back three summers in a row.

'LOVING VINCENT' (Rated M) - here we have a real labour of love, Directed and Written by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman this is a biographical animated drama film that is said to be the first fully painted animated feature film. Taking seven years to bring to the screen and using a team of 125 classically trained painters over more traditional modern day animators, each of the films 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas using the same technique as Vincent van Gogh - the subject matter of this film. The story here surrounds the mystery about the death of the famed painter in 1890 and how a loyal friend to Vincent, Postman Roulin (voiced by Chris O'Dowd) finds out that his friend shot himself somewhere up North. He has in his possession a letter from Vincent to his beloved brother, Theo, which was returned as undeliverable. On hearing the news about Vincent he sends his hot-blooded son, Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth), on a mission to deliver the letter by hand to Theo and find out what really happened to Vincent. Also starring the voice work of Robert Gulaczyk as van Gogh, Saoirse Ronan, Helen McCrory and John Sessions.

'MY LITTLE PONY : THE MOVIE' (Rated G) - this animated musical fantasy offering is likely to please the legions of young kids who have an appetite for such films while dragging their parents along because they have to, and so boosting the Box Office take which currently stands at US$43M. Released Stateside in early October, Directed by Jayson Thiessen this film is based on the animated television series 'My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic' developed by giant toy manufacturer Hasbro. Featuring an ensemble voice cast the story here surrounds a menacing force that conquers Canterlot, leaving the the Mane 6 to embark on an unforgettable adventure beyond Equestria where they encounter new friends and exciting challenges on their journey to use the magic of friendship to save their homeland. The voice talent takes in the regulars from the television series plus Emily Blunt, Zoe Saldana, Sia, Kristen Chenoweth, Michael Pena, Taye Diggs and Liev Schreiber.

With five new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, taking in another instalment in a horror franchise, a festive season comedy about mothers and their mothers; a Aussie music festival RomCom; a painstakingly painted animated drama feature for the adults, and another animated feature for the little people amongst us. Remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephiles afterwards here at Odeon Online, and in meanwhile, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 11th August 2016.

With this weeks release of yet another 'Bad . . . ' movie, I got to thinking that surely those Screen Writers in Hollywood must be able to come up with some more original titles rather than those that seem to plague our cinemas with ever increasing regularity. So, I searched through the archives, to see how far back 'Bad . . . ' movies go, and it does seem to be a more recent phenomenon, although there are plenty of earlier films too with 'Bad' in the title, as the below list will demonstrate. Check them out if you will, and they're not all bad either! Let's us know too if there are some that you think have been missed off this list.

• 'Too Bad She's Bad' - 1955, starring Sophia Loren
• 'Tribute to a Bad Man' - 1956, starring James Cagney
• 'The Bad Seed' - 1956, starring Nancy Kelly
• 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' - 1966, starring Clint Eastwood
• 'Badlands' - 1973, starring Martin Sheen
• 'The Bad News Bears' - 1976, starring Walter Matthau
• 'Bad Blood' - 1982, starring Jack Thompson
• 'Bad Boys' - 1983, starring Sean Penn
• 'Bad Taste' - 1987, starring Peter Jackson
• 'Bad Influence' - 1990, starring James Spader
• 'Bad Lieutenant' - 1992, starring Harvey Keitel
• 'Bad Boy Bubby' - 1993, starring Nicholas Hope
• 'Bad Girls' - 1994, starring Madeline Stowe
• 'Bad Boys' - 1995, starring Will Smith
• 'Bad Day on the Block' - 1997, starring Charlie Sheen
• 'Bad Company' - 2002, starring Anthony Hopkins
• 'Bad Boys II' - 2003, starring Will Smith
• 'Bad Santa' - 2003, starring Billy Bob Thornton
• 'Bad Eggs' - 2003, starring Mick Molloy
• 'Bad Education' - 2004, starring Gael Garcia Bernal
• 'The Bad News Bears' - 2005, starring Billy Bob Thornton
• 'Superbad' - 2007, starring Jonah Hill
• 'Bad Lieutenant : Port of Call-New Orleans' - 2009, starring Nicolas Cage
• 'Bad Teacher' - 2011, starring Cameron Diaz
• 'Bad Words' - 2013, starring Jason Bateman
• 'Bad Grandpa' - 2013, starring Johnny Knoxville
• 'Bad Neighbours' - 2014, starring Seth Rogen
• 'Bad Neighbours 2 : Sorority Rising' - 2016, starring Seth Rogen
• 'Bad Moms' - 2016, starring Mila Kunis
• 'Bad Santa 2' - 2016, starring Billy Bob Thornton
• 'Bad Boys III' - 2017, starring Will Smith
• 'Bad Blood' - 2018, starring Jennifer Lawrence
• 'Bad Boys IV' - 2019, starring Will Smith

This week then to tease you out to your local Odeon, we have five new filmic offerings, starting with a trio of Mum's going off the rails to escape the routines of their seemingly otherwise perfect worlds with dramatic and comedic consequences for all, and those closest to them. Then an animated feature aimed squarely at the fifteen and above demographic that sees our humble grocery store supplies take on a life of their own as they wage war against mankind for fear of being eaten! Following on from this is a family reunion brought about by the death of the family wife and mother leaving the grieving father and sons to relive past memories and confront their feelings for each other. We then move to an Aussie dramedy set amidst the back drop of racial tensions in Sydney's south and the aftermath in the day that followed between two rival gangs on a collision course hellbent on retaliation . . . sounds hilarious! Then we wrap up the week with a foreign language film and one mans journey to get his affairs in order before he succumbs to cancer, aided by a mans best friend, and his best friend.

Remember too that when you have sat through your film of choice in the week ahead, that you are warmly invited to share your views and opinions of your movie going experience by leaving a Comment below this or any other Post. We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, enjoy your film.

'BAD MOMS' (Rated MA15+) - over the years Hollywood has churned out plenty of 'Bad . . .' films of which only some have been 'good'! The likes of 'Bad Girls', 'Bad Boys', 'Bad Lieutenant', 'Bad Teacher', 'Bad Santa', 'Bad Neighbours', 'Bad Grandpa', and now we have the next offering in a long line of 'Bad . . . ' films with 'Bad Moms' made for US$20M, Directed and Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore and so far returning US$57M since its Stateside release towards the end of July.

The story here is such that Amy (Mila Kunis) has a happy marriage, a loving husband, kids doing well at school, a great home, a successful career and the looks as well, but, behind all of that there is stress, exhaustion, anxiety and overbearing responsibilities. Something's gotta give! And it does when she discovers her husband cheating on her and promptly throws him out. Then she quits the school PTA in which she was an active member and heads off to a local bar for some well needed refreshment. There Amy meets up with two other mothers in a similar state - Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn) and the trio of new friends hang an all night bender which leads them to reassess their lives, commitments and priorities in favour of a more relaxed easy going approach. Along the way there are tussles with the PTA's domineering head and near perfect mother Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and her followers Stacy (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Vicky (Annie Mumolo). Clearly there'll be messages in here about the power of friendships, parenting, forgiveness, doing the right thing with a few comedic laughs in there too no doubt. Bad . . . you decide!

'SAUSAGE PARTY' (Rated MA15+) - this computer animated adult feature film is based on a story by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Jonah Hill, Written for the screen and Produced by the former two, is Directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon and stars an ensemble voice cast. Here we have a supermarket called 'Shopwell' in which reside groceries of all kinds dreaming of the day they will be handpicked and taken home by humans. However, one fine day the terrible truth will come crashing down on those groceries that they are destined to be consumed by those humans, and it falls at the feet of humble hot dog sausage, Frank (Seth Rogen) to forewarn his many grocery friends at the store of their frightening future outlook, and declare war on humans. Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Paul Rudd, Edward Norton and Salma Hayek amongst others lend their considerable voice talents.

'LOUDER THAN BOMBS' (Rated M) - this French/Danish/Norwegian co-production was entered into competition at Cannes in May 2015, shown at TIFF in September last year, and released in France, Norway and Denmark in December before the end of last year. Now eight months later it lands on Australian shores having cost US$11M to make, and so far having recovered just US$602K. Directed by Joachim Trier in his English language debut, it stars an impressive cast and has been positively received by critics despite its mediocre Box Office results so far. We join the Reed family as father Gene (Gabriele Byrne) prepares for a retrospective exhibition of his dead wife, Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert) acclaimed work as a war photographer, three years after her untimely death.  In so doing his two sons Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg) returns home and is forced to spend more time with dad and younger brother Conrad (Devin Druid) than he has in many years. In turn the three of them must reunite as new details surrounding Isabelle's death come to light, and they are forced to confront their differing feelings and memories that each of them hold for their departed wife and mother. Amy Ryan and David Strathairn also star.

'DOWN UNDER' (Rated MA15+) - back at Christmas 2005 the Cronulla Riots were beamed across the world as true blue Aussies clashed violently with largely Lebanese locals at the beachside suburb of Cronulla in southern Sydney. It was bloody and ugly with Riot Police in full force, drunken brawls, insults, jeering, flag waving, smashed up cars, homes attacked and roadside arrests. Hardly the best image of our beloved Sydney that we want beamed across the world's media, and at Christmas time too. Now, Abe Forsythe has turned that dark episode into a black comedy drama that he has both Written and Directed. Set the day after the riots two separate gangs in different parts of the city are preparing themselves for retaliation. In the Shire, the 'Skips' and in Lakemba, the 'Lebs' - two gangs of bumbling half arsed dim witted no hopers prepare to man up, boot up and tool up for a night of unadulterated violence amidst questions from gang members as to why, what and when with comedic overtones and the cost of racism and discrimination on human lives when the two groups do inevitably clash. Starring Lincoln Younes, Rahel Romahn, Michael Denkha, Alexander England, Damon Herriman, David Field, Fayssal Bazzi and Chris Bunton.

'TRUMAN' (Rated MA15+) - and so to our foreign language offering this week - that of Spanish/Argentian co-production 'Truman' as Directed and Co-Written by Cesc Gay which was shown at TIFF in September last year, the San Sebastian International Film Festival and the winner of five Goya Awards at Madrid earlier this year including Best Director, Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. The story here centres around Tomas (Javier Camara) who visits his long term friend Julian (Ricardo Darin) in Madrid. Julian is dying of cancer and has limited time left, and has resigned himself to his fate, refusing further treatment. Over the course of Tomas' visit the pair travel around Madrid as Julian seeks to put his affairs in order. One such detail is that of Julian's boxer dog, 'Truman' who is to be put up for adoption post his death, and for whom Julian seems to bestow much grater importance than on his own situation. Needless to say for the pair it's an emotional rollercoaster of a ride who along with loyal hound Truman will share moments of emotion, pathos, and reckoning brought on by Julian's complicated situation. The film has received positive reviews and has won 28 awards with a further 28 nominations from around the circuit, and also stars Dolores Fonzi and Eduard Fernandez.

With five more great reasons to get out to your local cinema in the week ahead, what's not to like here? Remember to share your cinematic thoughts when you have done so, and as always, I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-