What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 25th July 2019.

This years Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) launches on Thursday 1st August and runs through until Sunday 18th August. According to the official website 'MIFF is a not-for-profit organisation that has been continuously running since 1952, making it the leading film festival in Australia and one of the world’s oldest film festivals, alongside Cannes and Berlin. Presenting a curated global program of innovative screen experiences and the world’s largest showcase of exceptional Australian filmmaking, MIFF is an accessible, iconic cultural event that provides transformative experiences for audiences and filmmakers alike'.

This years Opening Night film is the Australian Documentary Directed by Daniel Gordon 'The Australian Dream'. Charting the life and times of Adam Goodes, who for years was a beloved hero of the game of AFL (aka Aussie Rules - Australian Football League). Then the two-time Brownlow Medallist, two-time Premiership Champion and former Australian of the Year began to call out racism, and his Australian dream turned into a nightmare. And the Closing Night film is 'The Farewell' Written and Directed by Lulu Wang and stars Awkwafina in this Sundance hit about a Chinese-American woman reuniting with her family to farewell her dying grandmother – who doesn’t know of her deadly diagnosis.

This years Programme Strands falls into a number of categories ranging from Animation, to Documentaries, to Australian Films, International Films, Headliners, Experimentations, Restorations, Music On Film, Night Shift, Virtual Reality and MIFF Shorts.

Amongst these are the following :
Australian Films
MIFF is one of the world’s biggest supporters of homegrown talent, with over sixty local films screening this year, across shorts, features and VR. Telling the true blue ocker Australian story through documentary, drama, thriller, comedy, innovative Indigenous filmmaking and award-winning queer cinema, with approaching thirty World Premieres shown this year.

Among those are : 'Alice' Directed by Josephine Mackerras in the SXSW Grand Jury prize winner; 'Angel of Mine' Directed by Kim Farrant and starring Noomi Rapace, Luke Evans, Yvonne Strahovski and Richard Roxburgh; 'Animals' Directed by Sophie Hyde and starring Alia Shawkat and Holliday Grainger; 'The Australian Dream' Directed by Daniel Gordon and the opening night film; 'Below' Directed by Maziar Lahooti and starring Ryan Coor and Anthony LaPaglia; 'Hearts and Bones' Directed by Ben Lawrence and starring Hugo Weaving; 'H is for Happiness' Directed by John Sheedy and starring Miriam Margolyes, Emma Booth, Richard Roxburgh and Deborah Mailman; 'Judy & Punch' Directed by Mirrah Foulkes and starring Mia Wasikowska and Damon Herriman; 'Measure for Measure' Directed by Paul Ireland and starring Hugo Weaving; and 'The Nightingale' Directed by Jennifer Kent and starring Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr and Damon Herriman.

International Films 

Every year, MIFF brings the freshest global cinema back to Melbourne. These international films – from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Latin America – represent the cream of the crop of world cinema, and include award winners from the most prestigious film festivals, your new and old favourite Directors, famous faces and far-flung places.

Among these are : 'American Woman' Directed by Jake Scott and starring Sienna Miller, Christina Hendricks and Aaron Paul; 'The Art of Self-Defence' Directed by Riley Stearns and staring Jesse Eisenberg; 'The Beach Bum' Directed by Harmony Korine and starring Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Jonah Hill, Zac Efron, Snoop Dog and Martin Lawrence; 'Beanpole' Directed by Kantemir Balagov this Russian feature won both the coveted Best Director award and the FIPRESCI prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section earlier this year; 'Bellbird' Directed by Hamish Bennett; 'Dirtry God' Directed by Sacha Polak; 'Frankie' Directed by Ira Sachs and starring Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinear, Isabelle Huppert, Jeremie Renier and Marisa Tomei; 'Happy New Year, Colin Burstead' Directed by Ben Wheatley and starring Bill Paterson, Charles Dance, Hayley Squires, Richard Glover and Sam Riley; 'The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao' Directed by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz which took out the Cannes’ prestigious Un Certain Regard prize; 'The Kill Team' Directed by Dan Krauss and starring Adam Long and Alexander Skarsgard; 'Kursk' Directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Matthias Schoenaerts, Lea Seydoux, Colin Firth and Max von Sydow; 'Monos' Directed by Alejandro Landes and winner of the Sundance Special Jury Award; 'The Mountain' Directed by Rick Alveston and starring Jeff Goldblum, Tye Sheridan; Udo Kier and Denis Lavant; 'Skin' Directed by Guy Nattiv and starring Jamie Bell, Danielle Macdonald, Daniel Henshall, Vera Farmiga, Mike Colter, Bill Camp and Mary Stuart Masterson; 'The Souvenir' Directed by Joanna Hogg and starring Tilda Swinton, Honor Swinton Byrne, Richard Ayoade and Tom Burke this film picked up the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic category, and a sequel is already in the works; 'Swallow' Directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis and starring Haley Bennett and Austin Stowell; 'Them That Follow' Directed by Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage and starring Alice Englert, Kaitlyn Dever, Lewis Pullman, Olivia Colman and Walton Goggins; 'Tommaso' Directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Willem Dafoe, Anna Ferrara and Cristina Chiriac; 'The Tomorrow Man' Directed by Noble Jones and starring John Lithgow and Blythe Danner; and 'Vivarium' Directed by Lorcan Finnegan and starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots.

Headliners

Headlining the festival’s wide-ranging program, these films include some of the most anticipated new works from some of the world’s most revered auteurs and exciting new filmmakers – many screening at MIFF direct from Cannes.

Among these are : 'Bacurau' from Directors Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Madonca Filho; 'The Day Shall Come' Directed by Chris Morris and starring Anna Kendrick and Marchant Davis; 'The Dead Don't Die' Directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Caleb Landry Jones, Carol Kane, Chloe Sevigny, Danny Glover, Iggy Pop, RZA, Rosie Perez, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton and Tom Waits; 'Official Secrets' Directed by Gavin Hood and starring Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode and Rhys Ifans; 'Pain and Glory' Directed by Pedro Almodovar and starring Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz; and 'Sorry We Missed You' Directed by Ken Loach.

For more news, views and the full programme details on the upcoming Melbourne International Film Festival, you can visit the official website at : https://www.miff.com.au/

Turning attention back to this week, we have four new release movies coming to an Odeon near you. We kick off with not so much a new movie but one that is celebrating its 40th anniversary and has been remastered visually and audibly to bring you a classic epic Vietnam War story pretty much as the Director had originally intended. Maintaining the war theme we go back further in time to post WWII that sees this true story of a German POW held in Lancashire, England go on to become a highly acclaimed goalkeeper for Manchester City culminating in his side winning the 1956 FA Cup Final. And keeping with the football theme we have a documentary about the rise and fall of an Argentinian soccer playing legend that represented his country in four World Cup tournaments, winning one; and in closing out the week we have a documentary about Japanese whaling ships hunting down whales in the Southern Ocean all in the name of scientific research as their attempts are  often thwarted by the anti-whaling vessel The Sea Shepherd, and then of course there is the plight of those hunted whales themselves.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'APOCALYPSE NOW : FINAL CUT' (Rated R18+) - this 1979 and now a classic American epic war film about the Vietnam War was Directed, Produced and Co-Written by Francis Ford Coppola and now gets it's 40th anniversary re-release in the manner that Coppola had perhaps always intended. Starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Harrison Ford, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Scott Glenn and Dennis Hopper with the Screenplay, Co-Written by Coppola and John Milius was loosely based on the 1899 novella 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. 'Apocalypse Now' was honoured with the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered unfinished before it was finally released on August 15, 1979. The film is today considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. It was nominated for eight Oscars at the 52nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Duvall, and went on to win for Best Cinematography and Best Sound among its total awards haul of twenty wins and another 31 nominations. The film took US$150M at the global Box Office off the back of a US$32M Budget.

In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) a veteran U.S. Army special operations officer takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces officer with the 5th Special Forces Group who has gone rogue and supposedly completely insane at an outpost in Cambodia. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer Lieutenant Colonel William Kilgore (Robert Duvall), 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment commander, and a crazed freelance photojournalist (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness. With a running time of 183 minutes, backed up by a 4k restoration and all the technological advancements in sound design, Coppola reportedly said that it now 'looks better than it has ever looked, and sounds better than it has ever sounded', and that he's 'thrilled beyond measure to present the best version of the film to the world.' A must see on the big screen - catch it for a limited time only at limited theatres.

'THE KEEPER' (Rated M) - this British and German Co-Produced biographical drama offering  Directed and Co-Written by Marcus H. Rosenmuller saw its World Premier screening at the Zurich Film Festival back in early October 2018, before going on release in Germany in mid-March this year and in the UK in early April. And so, 'The Keeper' tells the almost unbelievable true story of Bert Trautmann (David Kross), a German soldier and POW interned in Lancashire, who, against a backdrop of British post-war protest and prejudice, secures the position of Goalkeeper at Manchester City, and in the process becomes a footballing legend. Struggling for acceptance by those who regard him as the enemy, Bert's love for Margaret (Freya Mavor), an Englishwoman, sees him overcome this adversity and he wins over even his harshest critics and opposition by winning the 1956 FA Cup Final, even playing on with a broken neck to secure his teams victory. But fate of course will soon takes a turn for the worse for Bert and Margaret, when their love and loyalty to each other is put to the ultimate test.

'DIEGO MARADONA' (Rated M) - continuing with the soccer theme, this British documentary film is Written and Directed by the British film maker Asif Kapadia whose previous notable doco's were 2010's 'Senna', based on Ayrton Senna the famed Brazillian Formula 1 motor racing ace, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and Best Editing and the World Cinema Audience Award Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2011. He also filmed 2015's 'Amy' based on singer Amy Winehouse, which has become the highest grossing documentary of all time in the United Kingdom, and also won him an Academy Award and Grammy Award in 2016. Constructed from over five hundred hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centres on the career of celebrated Argentinian football player Diego Armando Maradona, who played for Barcelona and then Napoli in the 1980's, with both teams scoring a record beating transfer fee at the time. In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups, in 1982 in Spain, in 1986 in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, then again in 1990 in Italy and in 1994 in the US. The film saw its World Premier screening out of competition at this years Cannes Film Festival, went on release in the UK in mid-June and has so far made just over US$1M at the Box Office.  Maradona is now 58 years of age and is/was coach of Mexican side Dorados de Sinaloa.

'DEFEND, CONSERVE, PROTECT' (Rated PG) - Produced in Australia and financed successfully through a global crowdfunding effort, 'Defend, Conserve, Protect' is a documentary film that took over four years to make, and was shot across France, The Netherlands, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. Directed by Stephen Amis and narrated by Dan Aykroyd, this film pits the impassioned marine conservation group, Sea Shepherd against the Japanese whaling fleet, in an epic battle to defend the majestic Minke Whales of the Southern Ocean. These noble, curious Minkes are easy prey for the Japanese, who claim to kill in the name of science aboard their 'Research Vessels' – an assertion that has been widely discredited outside Japan for many years. At the helm of the Sea Shepherd is 28 year old Captain Peter Hammarstedt who hunts the whaling ships, not the whales. The documentary clearly depicts what happens when a small group of determined people stand up against an aggressive corporation flagrantly defying international law.

With four new release movies this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 22nd February 2018.

The 71st Annual BAFTA Awards (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) were held on Sunday evening 18th February at London's Royal Albert Hall, and hosted for the first time by film and television personality Joanna Lumley (taking over from Stephen Fry who enjoyed a twelve year period of tenure). Awards are given for best feature length film and documentary, and for those that make them happen both behind and in front of the camera, for any nationally screened across Great Britain throughout 2017. The winners and grinners, in case you missed it, are as given below, in the main categories :-

* Best Film : 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'.
* Outstanding British Film : 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'.
* Best Animated Film : 'Coco'.
* Best Documentary : 'I Am Not Your Negro'.
* Best Film Not In The English Language : 'The Handmaiden'.
* Best Director : Guillermo del Toro for 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Actor in a Lead Role : Gary Oldman for 'The Darkest Hour' as Winston Churchill.
* Best Actress in a Lead Role : Frances McDormand for 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' as Mildred Hayes.
* Best Actor in a Support Role : Sam Rockwell for 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' as Jason Dixon.
* Best Actress in a Support Role : Alison Janney for 'I, Tonya' as LaVona Golden.
* Best Original Screenplay : Martin McDonagh for 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'
* Best Adapted Screenplay : James Ivory for 'Call Me By Your Name'.
* Best Cinematography : Roger Deakins for 'Blade Runner 2049'.
* Best Original Music : Alexander Desplat for 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Production Design : 'The Shape of Water'.
* Best Costume Design : 'Phantom Thread'.
* Best Special Visual Effects : 'Blade Runner 2049'.

* The Rising Star Award : Daniel Kaluuya.
* The BAFTA Fellowship Award : Ridley Scott.

Turning attention then to the films of 2018, and specifically those released this coming week, we launch with a true story of a turn of the 20th Century haunted house, but this is no ordinary house and these are no ordinary hauntings. We then move on to time repeating itself like its 'Groundhog Hog Day' all over again, but this is a Sci-Fi thriller involving an air traffic controller, his girlfriend and a wrinkle in time. Next up is a Chilean Foreign Language offering about a transgender woman, her dead lover, and being ostracised by just about everyone who suspects she had a hand in his death. Then there is a black comedy action film about a friends weekly game night taking on more than a touch of realism when one gamer decides to Host a Murder! This is followed up with a feel good tale of a true blue Aussie and his love for all things barbecue, that leads him to an international barbecue show down to win back his reputation and his honour. We then wrap up with a New Zealand film about two girls in their last year at University - one maintaining the straight and narrow pathway of no boyfriends and no going out and the other charged with looking after her best friend so she doesn't succumb to temptation.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the six new 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 week ahead.

'WINCHESTER' (Rated M) - this based on a true story supernatural horror film is Directed by the Australian Spierig brothers - Michael and Peter - whose previous credits include the excellent 2014 'Predestination'. The 'Winchester' in question here refers to one Sarah Winchester who was the widow and recipient of her late husbands fortune - William Wirt Winchester - the firearm magnate of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 43 in 1881. After his death, Sarah rose to notoriety for building the property in San Jose, California, that came to be known as the Winchester Mystery House - a Queen Anne Style Victorian mansion that was/is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities, and its lack of any master building plan. Since its construction began in 1884, the property and mansion were claimed by many to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. Under Sarah Winchester's day-to-day guidance, its 'from-the-ground-up' construction proceeded around the clock, by some accounts, without interruption, until her death in early September 1922, at which time work immediately ceased. The house today stands as a tourist attraction, is privately owned, and is a Californian registered historical landmark.

History lesson over and so to the film. Said to be the most haunted house in the world, the Winchester House sits on an isolated stretch of land that's about fifty miles outside of San Francisco on about 160 acres. Built by Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren starring in her first horror film in her illustrious forty+ year career) heiress to the Winchester fortune, it stands seven stories tall and contains some 160 rooms including forty bedrooms, two ballrooms as well as 47 fireplaces, over ten thousand panes of glass, seventeen chimneys, two basements and three elevators. To an outsider, it looks like a monstrous monument to a disturbed woman's madness. But Sarah is constructing a prison, an asylum for hundreds of vengeful ghosts and the most terrifying among them have a score to settle with the Winchesters. The Winchester company is fearful for Sarah's state of mind and her ability to run the company so they engage Doctor Eric Prince (Jason Clarke) to assess Sarah's state of mind. What follows is a tale of things that go bump in the night, visions of nether worldly spirits, and sightings of ghouls & ghosts that is sure to make any turn of the century sceptic hide under the bed sheets. Also starring Sarah Snook, the film was made for a very modest US$3.5M, has so far recouped US$22M but has garnered generally lacklustre Reviews.

'2:22' (Rated M) - here we have a thriller Directed by Australian Paul Currie that saw its cinematic release in the US back last June 2017 at a budgeted cost of US$3.5M pulling in a domestic gross Stateside of just US$422, making it the lowest grossing theatrically released film in 2017. The storyline here tells of two planes that almost collide in the skies above JFK International Airport after a blinding flash of light paralyses air traffic controller Dylan Branson (Michiel Huisman) for a few seconds at exactly 2:22pm. Suspended from his job, Dylan starts to notice a recurrence of sounds and events in his life at exactly the same time every day. With each passing day, the flash that hit Dylan at JFK begins to reveal itself as ripples in time, and an underlying pattern soon unfolds, drawing him into New York's Grand Central Station daily at 2:22pm. Now drawn into a complex relationship with a woman, Sarah (Teresa Palmer), Dylan must figure out a way to break the power of the past and take control of time itself. Also starring John Waters and Kerry Armstrong.

'A FANTASTIC WOMAN' (Rated M) - Premiering at the Berlin Film Festival back in February 2017 where it was in competition for the Golden Bear for Best Film, but walked away with the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay, it is also in competition for Best Foreign Language Film at this years upcoming Academy Awards. This universally acclaimed Chilean film is Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Sebastian Lelio and tells of Marina (Daniela Vega) and Orlando (Francisco Reyes) who are in love and planning for their future together. Marina is a young waitress and aspiring singer. Orlando is thirty years her senior and owns a printing company. After celebrating Marina's birthday one evening, Orlando falls seriously ill and dies shortly afterwards upon arrival at the hospital. Instead of being able to mourn her lover, suddenly Marina is treated with suspicion by Orlando's family, the Doctor's, and the Police who don't trust her and believe that she may have been involved in Orlando's death somehow. Marina is however, transgender, and is looked down upon by Orlando's family as a perversion, and so now she must also battle against these prejudices for the right to be herself.

'GAME NIGHT' (Rated MA15+) - this black comedy action film is Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and is about a bunch of couples who meet regularly once a week for a night of fun and frivolity - their game night. On one such night Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie's (Rachel McAdams) weekly game night moves up a dimension when Max's brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) arranges a murder mystery party complete with fake crims and officers of the law. So when Brooks gets kidnapped, it's all supposed to be part of the game, right? As the competitors set out to solve the case, they begin to realise that the game nor Brooks are what they appear to be. The friends soon find themselves in over their heads as each new twist leads to another unexpected turn over the course of one chaotic evening. Also starring Jesse Plemmons, Michael C. Hall, Jeffrey Wright and Danny Huston.

'THE BBQ' (Rated PG) - Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Aussie Stephen Amis, this Australian comedy offering sees true blue loveable Aussie suburban rogue everyman Dazza (Shane Jacobsen) who has a passion for the barbecue, give his neighbours an accidental dose of food poisoning at his regular Saturday barbie. With his reputation and dignity at risk, Dazza seeks to make amends by enlisting the support of a head strong and opinionated Scottish Chef known as 'The Butcher' (Magda Szubanski) that ultimately sees him entering an international barbecuing competition, where he comes face to face with some of the world best barbecue Chef's. With a guest appearance by Australian/French celebrity chef and co-host of the popular television series 'My Kitchen Rules' Manu Feildel as Dazza's barbecuing rival Andre Mont Blanc, this should get the tastebuds watering a you drool over some barbecue food porn.

'HIBISCUS AND RUTHLESS' (Rated PG) - Samoan Writer and Director Stallone Valaoga-Ioasa here offers us a comedy set in Auckland, New Zealand about two childhood friends who are both in their final year at University. The story focuses on Hibiscus (Suivai Autagavaia) as she struggles to complete her Engineering degree without any distractions. Her demanding and overbearing mother (Lafitaga Mafaufau) commands that there shall be no going out and no boyfriends and that her final year of study and her exams are the singular most important thing in her life and her focus on that needs to be her top priority. As guys start to come on strong to Hibiscus and her attention is drawn to their advances, Hibiscus enlists the support and guidance of her good friend Ruth (Anna-Maree Thomas) to keep her focused.

With six new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephiles afterwards here at Odeon Online, and meanwhile, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-