Birthday's to share this week : 5th - 11th April 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Patricia Arquette does on 8th April - check out the tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 47, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 5th April

• Hayley Atwell - Born 1982, turns 33 - Actress
• Mitch Pileggi - Born 1982, turns 63 - Actor
• Roger Corman - Born 1925, turns 89 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Peter Greenaway - Born 1943, turns 73 - Director | Writer | Editor
• Pharrell Williams - Born 1973, turns 42 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor

Monday 6th April 

• Paul Rudd - Born 1965, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Michael Rooker - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actor
• Zach Braff - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Billy Dee Williams - Born 1937, turns 78 - Actor
• Barry Levinson - Born 1942, turns 73 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Roy Thinnes - Born 1938, turns 72 - Actor

Tuesday 7th April

• Russell Crowe - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Jackie Chan - Born 1954, turns 61 - Actor | Producer | Stuntman
• Andrew Sachs - Born 1930, turns 85 - Actor
• Francis Ford Coppola - Born 1939 - Director | Producer | Writer | Winemaker | Restauranteur

Wednesday 8th April

• John Madden - Born 1949, turns 66 - Director | Producer
• Taylor Kitch - Born 1981, turns 34 - Actor
• Robin Wright - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Patricia Arquette - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actress

Thursday 9th April 

• Kristen Stewart - Born 1990, turns 25 - Actress
• Elle Fanning - Born 1998, turns 17 - Actress
• Jay Baruchel - Born 1982, turns 33 - Actor | producer
• Dennis Quaid - Born 1954, turns 61 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Hugh Heffner - Actor | Producer | Publisher

Friday 10th April

• Max von Sydow - Born 1929, turns 86 - Actor | Director
• Steven Seagal - Born 1952, turns 63 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Hayley Joel Osment - Born 1988, turns 27 - Actor

Saturday 11th April

• John Milius - Born 1944, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Jennifer Esposito - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actress

Patricia T. Arquette was born in Chicago, Illinois to mother Brenda Olivia Nowak and father Lewis Arquette, an Actor. Mother Brenda was an an acting coach and therapist who died in 1997 and father Lewis dies in 2001. Her parents had four other children all of whom have moved into the acting business - Rosanna (born 1959), Richmond (born 1963), Alexis (born 1969) and David (born 1971). At the age of 15 the early teenage Patricia ran away from home to live her her 24 years old sister Rosanna - that was 1983.

Arquette's film acting break came a few years later after she had overcome her insecurities and grown in confidence and self-belief. She had three films released in 1987 - 'Pretty Smart', the TV film 'Daddy' and the third instalment in the 'Elm Street' franchise with 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 : Dream Warriors'. In 1989 her son Enzo was born to father Paul Rossi, and as the 90's approached so her acting career began to take off.

The early 90's especially were marked with more independent fare, such as 'Prayer for the Rollerboys', Sean Penn's Directorial debut 'The Indian Runner' in 1991, the made for TV movies 'Dillinger' and 'Wildflower' also in '91, and then a year later 'Inside Monkey Zetterland' before she came to greater prominence and critical acclaim in 1993's 'True Romance' Directed by Tony Scott. Another TV film followed a year later with 'Betrayed by Love' and the Tim Burton's bio-pic 'Ed Wood' with Johnny Depp which gave way in 1995 with 'Beyond Rangoon' which received generally positive reviews.

The latter half of the 90's delivered a mixed bag of films from 'Flirting with Disaster', 'Infinity' and 'The Secret Agent' in 1996 to David Lynch's 'Lost Highway' and then 'Nightwatch' to 'Goodbye Lover', 'The Hi-Lo Country', 'Stigmata' and 'Bringing Out The Dead' with then husband Nicolas Cage in 1999 for Director Martin Scorsese.

As the new century clicked over, Arquette starred with Adam Sandler in 'Little Nicky' in 2000, and then 'Human Nature' in 2001 Directed by Michael Gondry. Then came 'The Badge', 'Tiptoes' and Disney's 'Holes' in 2002 and 2003. Her next film was Richard Linklater's 'Fast Food Nation' in 2006 - her three year absence between films due to her early production commitments on 'Boyhood' that would not yet get released for another eight years.

In 2005 Arquette made her move into mainstream television serialisation with 'Medium' as psychic Alison DuBois which ran for six years and garnered the Actress further critical acclaim and several awards including Golden Globe wins in 2005, '06 and '07; an Emmy in 2007; and The SAG Award in 2006, '07 and '10. In the meantime she released 'A Single Woman' in 2008 and the 'Girl in Progress' in 2012. From there she appeared in ten episodes of 'The Boardwalk Empire' in 2013 and '14, and more recently a regular slot on 'CSI'. There has also been 'A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III' with Charlie Sheen, 'Vijay and I', 'Electric Slide' still due for release, then the highly acclaimed 'Boyhood' last year and most recently 'The Wannabe' due for release later this year.

It was Arquette's role in Linklater's epic 12 year 'Boyhood' journey that garnered her huge critical acclaim in this landmark film, She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at this years Award Ceremony, as well as the Golden Globe, The BAFTA, the AACTA and a raft of others. All up Arquette has 46 award wins and another 40 award nominations from her career of 53 acting credits so far.

Her son Enzo was born in 1989; she was married to Oscar winning Actor Nicolas Cage from 1995 - 2001; she gave birth to daughter Harlow in 2003 and married the child's father Thomas Jane in 2006, but divorced in mid-2011. She has actively supported aid programmes after the Haiti earthquake tragedy in 2010; has worked with the Libby Ross Foundation, The Art of Elysium, The Heart Truth, and recently P.E.T.A (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals); and after the death of her mother in 1997 to breast cancer she has worked to raise awareness and funds in support of this cause too.

Patricia Arquette - daring, colourful, varied and always entertaining; now possibly at the height of your career; always watchable and with a rich history both on and off camera - Happy Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 22nd - 28th March 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Quentin Tarantino does on 27th March - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 52, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 22nd March

• Reece Witherspoon - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• William Shatner - Born 1931, turns 84 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Matthew Modine - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• M. Emmet Walsh - Born 1935, turns 80 - Actor
• Bruno Ganz - Born 1941, turns 74 - Actor
• Stephen Sondheim - Born 1930, turns 85 - Composer | Songwriter | Writer
• Andrew Lloyd Webber - Born 1948, turns 67 - Composer | Songwriter | Writer | Producer

Monday 23rd March

• Michele Monaghan - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress
• Catherine Keener - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actress | Producer

Tuesday 24th March

• Jessica Chastain - Born 197, turns 38 - Actress | Producer
• Lara Flynn Boyle - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actress
• Kelly LeBrock - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actress
• Keisha Castle-Hughes - Born 1990, turns 25 - Actress
• Curtis Hansen - Born 1945, turns 70 - Director | Producer | Writer

Wednesday 25th March

• Paul Michael Glaser - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Elton John - Born 1947, turns 68 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Producer
• Aretha Franklin - Born 1942, turns 73 - Singer | Actress | Producer
• Sarah Jessica Parker - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actress | Producer

Thursday 26th March

• Keira Knightley - Born 1985, turns 30 - Actress | Singer
• Martin Short - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• James Caan - Born 1940, turns 75 - Actor
• Alan Arkin - Born 1934, turns 81 - Actor | Writer | Producer

Friday 27th March

• Quentin Tarantino - Born 1963, turns 52 - Writer | Director | Producer | Actor
• Michael York - Born 1942, turns 73 - Actor

Saturday 28th March

• Vince Vaughn - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Nick Frost - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor
• Brett Ratner - Born 1969, turns 46 - Director | Producer
• Richard Kelly - Born 1975, turns 40 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Michael Newell - Born 1942, turns 73 - Director | Producer
• Lady Gaga - Born 1986, turns 29 - Singer | Songwriter | Writer | Producer | Actress
• Dianne Weist - Born 1948, turns 52 - Actress

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee to mother Connie McHugh a nurse - aged 16 at the time of Quentin’s birth, and father Tony Tarantino - an American/Italian Actor and Musician. Quentin’s parents separated before he was born. At age four the young Quentin relocated to Torrance, California with his mother . , . and later to Harbor City - a Los Angeles neighbourhood. Here he attended Flemming Junior High School and then Narbonne High School in Harbor City for the first year but ultimately dropped out of school at age fifteen to attend full time acting classes at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake. After two years, however, he became bored with the acting school and so left, landing a job at ‘Video Archives ’in Manhattan Beach where he met fellow colleague, movie geek and future collaborator Roger Avery.

Later on while attending a Hollywood party he met Lawrence Bender who encouraged Tarantino to write a screenplay which led to his Directing debut in 1987 with ‘My Best Friend’s Birthday’. The final reel of film stock was mostly destroyed during editing in a fire that ripped through the lab, but the screenplay was later further adapted to create the foundation for ‘True Romance’.






Fast forward to 1992, and Tarantino’s first Hollywood film ‘Reservoir Dogs’ was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. It was an overnight sensation and the stuff of movie legend which instantly propelled QT into the limelight. Having written the dialogue heavy screenplay in less than four weeks, his friend Bender dispatched it to Director Monte Hellman who assisted in the funding process to bring the story to the big screen with Harvey Keitel jumping on board as Co-Producer and taking an Actor credit too.

With ‘True Romance’ optioned for the big screen too, this arrived in cinemas in 1993, and next up his base story for ‘Natural Born Killers’ was further developed by a team of screenwriters and then Directed by Oliver Stone, with credit given to QT for the storyline. Already QT was flavour of the month, if not the year, and offers began flooding in, including the chance to Direct ‘Speed’ and ‘Men in Black’ but instead he decamped to Holland and wrote the screenplay for ‘Pulp Fiction’.

‘Pulp Fiction’ wowed audiences and critics the world over, and for his efforts he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and got the nod for Best Director as well as five other nominations including Best Picture. He also won the prestigious Palme D’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival to top it all off. After this came his collaboration with three other Directors including friend Robert Rodriguez on ‘Four Rooms’ which was met with less glowing reviews.

‘From Dusk till Dawn’ came next which was Directed by Rodriguez but for which QT wrote the script and took an acting role whilst launching the big screen career of one up & coming George Clooney. The film spawned two sequels and most recently a television series. As the 90’s closed out he Directed his next feature film - a tribute to the Blaxpoitation Films of the 60’s and 70’s with ‘Jackie Brown’ with those stars of yesteryear - Pam Grier and Robert Forster

As the new decade came in QT hunkered down to write his tribute to the Japanese/Western inspired revenge flick ‘Kill Bill’ starring at its lead - Uma Thurman. With an initial running time of over four hours he decided to release this over two volumes, and so ‘Kill Bill : Volume 1’ was released in the latter half of 2003 and ‘Kill Bill : Volume 2’ in the first half of 2004. He collaborated with Rodriguez again on 2005’s ‘Sin City’ for which he took a ‘Guest Director’ credit.

His partnership with Rodriquez continued in their dual project in 2007 releasing their tribute to 70’s and early 80’s ‘Grindhouse Cinema’ with the release of ‘Grindhouse’ - two films released as a single package with specially filmed movie Previews separating the two movies. ‘Planet Terror’ was Directed by Rodriguez and ‘Deathproof’ by QT. Not huge commercial successes but garnered positive audience reviews for followers of the genre(s). As the decade closed out, QT released his next film - an alternative take on the outcomes of WWII following the exploits of a rogue group of Jewish American guerrilla soldiers, with 'Inglorious Basterds' which at the time became QT's greatest Box Office success at a global take of US$321M and hit #1 at the Box Office worldwide. He garnered two Academy Award nominations here for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.

2012 brought his tribute to spaghetti westerns and the slave trade of the American deep south with a resurrection of the 'Django' character from the 60's and 70's with his release of 'Django Unchained', Starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and acting stablemate Samuel L. Jackson, this film superseded 'Basterds' as QT's greatest commercial success with a haul of US$425M and won him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which he also won at the Golden Globes and BAFTA's.

Coming toward the end of 2015 is 'The Hateful Eight', another Western, but not linked to 'Django'. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, Channing Tatum, and Walton Goggins with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Zoe Bell, this all star ensemble cast combined with a harsh Wyoming Winter, raging blizzards, bounty hunters, and a confined space are sure to give us a QT experience not to be missed.

Tarantino has so far 23 Writer credits to his name, thirty Actor credits, twenty Producer credits and sixteen Director credits as well as his credited abilities as Cinematographer and his control over the Soundtrack of his film which in themselves have become a touchstone. He has two Academy Award wins for his Screenplays for 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Django Unchained' and three other nominations, he has two Golden Globe wins for his Screenplays of 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Django Unchained' and three other nominations, and the same haul for the BAFTA's as for the Golden Globes. All up this amounts to 122 award wins and 103 other nominations.

He has been romantically linked to Mira Sorvino, Sofia Coppola, Julie Dreyfus and there have been rumours and speculation also about Uma Thurman whom he refers to as his 'muse'. He is not a believer in guns, violence and drugs even though his films feature drug use and often stylised violence with extreme acts mostly occurring off-camera. He does not believe that violence portrayed on film spills over into society. So much has been written and recorded about QT's rise to fame in the last twenty years and the undeniable impact he has had on modern cinema, that I cannot possibly do it justice herein.

And so, Quentin Tarantino - multi-talented cinematic auteur, always pushing the boundaries, trademark film maker, keeping it real, outspoken, wildly energetic, deeply passionate and a walking encyclopedia of all things film and television - we love what you do, await eagerly for your next offering and will keep watching as long as you keep writing and making movies - and long after that too! Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-