Birthday's to share this week : 1st - 7th November 2015

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Tilda Swinton does on 5th November - check out the tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 55 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 1st November

• Toni Collette - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actress | Producer
• Lyle Lovett - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter
• Robert Luketic - Born 1973, turns 42 - Director

Monday 2nd November

• David Schwimmer - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Producer | Director  
• Stephanie Powers - Born 1942, turns 73 - Actress | Producer 

Tuesday 3rd November

• Kate Capshaw -  Born 1953, turns 62 - Actress | Producer 
• Roseanne Barr - Born 1952, turns 63 - Actress | Producer | Writer  
• Gary Ross - Born 1956, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Dolph Lundgren - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Dylan Moran - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Writer

Wednesday 4th November

• Matthew McConaughey - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor 
• Sean 'Puff Diddy' Combs - Born 1969, turns 46 - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actor 
• Ralph Macchio  - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Loretta Swit - Born 1937, turns 78 - Actress

Thursday 5th November

• Tilda Swinton - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actress | Producer | Writer  
• Famke Janssen - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Director
• Tatum O'Neal - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actress
• Robert Patrick - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Sam Rockwell - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actor | Producer
• Sam Shepard - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor | Writer 

Friday 6th November

• Ethan Hawke - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Vince Colosimo  - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor
• Adam Devine - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Lori Singer - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actress
• Thandie Newton - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actress
• Sally Field - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Emma Stone - Born 1988, turns 27 - Actress

Saturday 7th November 

• Morgan Spurlock - Born 1970, turns 45 - Writer | Producer | Director 

Katherine Matilda 'Tilda' Swinton was born in London, England to mother Judith Balfour, an Australian, and father Major General John Swinton, and Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire. Her family history can be traced back to The Middle Ages, and hers is one of only three families able to track their unbroken land rights and ancestry dating back to the time before The Norman Conquests. Swinton was privately educated at the independent schools of Queen's Gate School in London, West Heath School in Sevenoaks (where she was classmates with Lady Diana Spencer [aka Princess Diana]) and at Fettes College in Edinburgh. In 1983 she graduated from New Hall College at Cambridge University with a degree in Political and Social Sciences. Whilst at College she joined the Communist Party and then the Scottish Socialist Party, and she began stage acting too in college productions.

In 1984 she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in 'Measure for Measure'. Her small screen break came in the mini-series 'Zastrozzi : A Romance'. That same year she worked on her first film with gay experimental Director and Cinematographer, Derek Jarman in what would become a nine year personal and professional relationship starting with 'Caravaggio' in 1986 and taking in 'The Last of England', 'War Requiem', 'The Garden', 'Edward II', 'Blue' and 'Wittgenstein' up to the point of his death in 1994 from AIDS complications.

His premature death left a massive void in Swinton's life from which it took her a long time to fully recover. During that time however, she made 'Orlando' in 1992 for Writer and Director Sally Potter, for which both the Actress and the Director won numerous Awards on the international film circuit. 'Orlando' allowed Swinton to explore her interest in gender presentation and androgyny and from that point onward and throughout her career to the present day, she has dipped in and out of small independent film fare and those more main stream, worked on foreign language offerings, with new emerging Directors, and across multiple genres as old, young, male, female, immortal and otherworldly characters.

1996 saw 'Female Perversions' with 'Conceiving Ada' in 1997, Tim Roth's Directed 'The War Zone' in 1999 with Ray Winstone and Colin Farrell, and 'The Protagonists' that same year, which saw out the decade.

As the new decade turned over there was Danny Boyle's 'The Beach' in 2000 with Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cameron Crowe's 2001 'Vanilla Sky' with an all star cast lead by Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz. Spike Jonze Directed Swinton thereafter in the 2002 'Adaptation' with Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper. The following year brought Norman Jewison's 'The Statement' with Michael Caine, Alan Bates, and Jeremy Northam. 2005 saw the supernatural horror fantasy comic book telling of 'Constantine' with Keanu Reeves, Shia LaBeouf and Djimon Hounsou.

2005 also saw Swinton's first outing as 'The White Witch' in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' series with 'The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe'. She reprised her role in 2008's 'Prince Caspian' and again in 2010 for 'The Voyage of the Dawn Trader'.

In between there was her Oscar winning role alongside George Clooney in Tony Gilroy's 'Michael Clayton' in 2007. 2008 was a busy year with 'Narnia' as well as 'Burn After Reading' with George Clooney again, and Brad Pitt for the Coen Brothers Directing, and 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' with Brad Pitt again too, and Cate Blanchett and Directed by David Fincher. 'Limits of Control' and 'I am Love' saw out the decade with the last (so far) 'Narnia' instalment in 2010.

The last five years have been equally busy in which we have seen 'We Need To Talk About Kevin', 'Moonrise Kingdom' for Wes Anderson with whom he would work again on 2014's 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'. Then there was 'Only Lovers Left Alive' with Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska and for Director Jim Jarmusch, and then the excellent 'Snowpiercer' and 'The Zero Theorem' in the meantime before this years 'Trainwreck' and 'A Bigger Splash'.



Next up is 'Hail, Caesar' for the Coen Brothers once again and also starring George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes and Josh Brolin and a whole heap of big name talent, and currently in post-production for a 2016 release. In pre-production for 2016 too is 'Okja' for Korean Director Joon-ho Boon for whom she worked on 'Snowpiercer' and the further expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 'Doctor Strange' also for 2016 and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Swinton has 71 Acting credits to her name, six Producer credits, three Writing credits and one for Directing for the documentary 'The New Ten Commandments' in 2008. She has an Academy Award and a BAFTA win for Best Supporting Actress for 'Michael Clayton' and a further 56 award wins and another 121 nominations including three Golden Globes and two other BAFTA's.

Swinton has worked with performance art in a live installation in London; with fashion designers and houses and has been often lauded as one of top world's best dressed women; and she has sat on the Jury of the Berlin, Venice, Moscow, Cannes and Sundance Film Festivals. She also founded her own, in and around Scotland; has appeared in music video clips for Orbital and David Bowie and now lives in Scotland with her partner of eleven years Sandro Kopp with her twins Honor and Xavier born in October 1997 to her former partner, Scottish playwright John Byrne.

Tilda Swinton - diverse acting range, unpredictable, experimental, quirky, daringly different, ageing beautifully and gracefully and very much in demand - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 29th October 2015.

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock, this past week has seen the 30th Anniversary since Marty McFly and Doc Brown went 'Back to the Future' and arrived in the Californian town of Hill Valley on 21st October 2015 from back in 1985. Arriving in 2015, Screenwriter Bob Gale and Director Robert Zemeckis imagined a world for us in 2015 that saw 'Jaws 19' playing at the local multiplex, hover boards had replaced the more manual skateboards, self-lacing Nike's were the latest fashion footwear, Princess Di was now Queen and cars could fly. Not quite the reality that was envisioned although there were future things too that have become commonplace from that movie and some that just might be in the next 30 years. That date, 21/10/15 is now history already, and if you haven't seen those movies you can do so in the newly released 30th Anniversary Trilogy Blu-ray and DVD and the book - 'Back to the Future : The Ultimate Visual History'. Go forward into the past, and check these out!

This week five new movies are coming to an Odeon near you with a raft of talent, a mix of genres, and hailing from near and far. There is a 50's outback revenge drama where the locals are likely to get stitched up, in more ways than one; then an intelligent screwball comedy of a couple of newly acquainted Noo Yawk chicks who paint the two red, live it up, go large, try to launch a restaurant and try to get payment on a debt amongst other things; then an immortal slayer of witches who in the present day needs to save the world from a long time dead revengeful foe. Next up two non-committal folk hook up in a purely platonic relationship to reform each other and in the process fall for each other with romantic comedic consequences . . . maybe; and finally an acclaimed foreign language black comedy of two hapless salesmen reflecting on life, love and our very reason for being.

When you've made your weekly trip to the local cinema, don't forget to share your thoughts afterwards with your own personal critique in the Comments Box directly below this or any other Post. At Odeon Online, we'll be pleased to hear from you. In the meantime, enjoy your movie.

THE DRESSMAKER (Rated M) - This Australian film features drama, revenge and comedy as Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse with the Screenplay written by her too and based on the 2000 released novel of the same name by Rosalie Ham. The film was shot in Melbourne and out & about in country Victoria and is set in the 1950's with influences in the classic Western with Moorhouse describing her film as Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven' . . .  with a sewing machine! The film had its world premiere at TIFF on September 14th was screened at the Adelaide Film Festival on 16th October and is released this week. It has an all star cast that reads like a Who's Who of Aussie acting talent.

The story centres around Myrtle 'Tily' Dunnage (Kate Winslet) who after years away returns to her outback home town of Dungatar having worked for a famed seamstress in Paris. He mother Molly (Judy Davis) is sick, hence why Tily has returned home for the fist time since being sent away at age ten by her mother, because of false accusations surrounding a murder.  Now as an expert dressmaker herself Tily delights the locals with her haute couture creations and transforms the townsfolk whilst exacting her revenge on them for their sins of the past. Also starring Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving, Sarah Snook, Rebecca Gibney, Barry Otto, Kerry Fox, Gyton Grantley and Shane Jacobsen.

MISTRESS AMERICA (Rated MA15+) - No, this is not Captain America's bit on the side (although there is a Superhero[ine] angle here) but rather a screwball comedy Directed by Noah Baumbach, Co-Written and Co-Produced by him and Greta Gerwig, and also starring Greta Gerwig too. Here, Tracy (Lola Kirke) is a lonely college freshman in New York's Columbia University struggling to discover the cosmopolitan party lifestyle she imagined, or connect with those who would allow her to experience adventure and the hi-life she envisioned. Soon enough however, she is taken in by Brooke (Greta Gerwig) as her soon to be step-sister and pretty soon the two have hit it off and are getting on like the proverbial house on fire! Greta lives in the heart of NYC in Times Square and is outgoing, adventurous, well networked and hi-spirited and Brooke becomes intoxicated by the life she is now experiencing and which she imagined for herself. Baumbach Directs here with the aplomb that he demonstrated in 'Frances Ha' in 2012, and already Gerwig could be an early Oscar contender here.

THE LAST WITCH HUNTER (Rated M) - With a production budget of US$90M it would be reasonable to assume great things from this epic sword swinging, shotgun shooting witch slaying offering from Director Breck Eisner and starring Vin Diesel in the lead role as 800+ year old Kaulder. Our hero here has been hunting down witches for centuries who walk amongst us, but we just don't know it, and he is the last of kind, so no pressure there to save the known world! He was cursed way back in the 14th Century when he took down the Witch Queen (Julie Engelbrecht) who moments before popping her clogs by his hand cursed him with immortality and an existence out of reach of his loved ones in the afterlife. Accompanied by his friend the 36th Dolan (Michael Caine) who is cursed by an unknown foe, Kaulder must team up with Chloe (Rose Leslie) to help break his curse and to thwart the resurrected Witch Queen who has her own plans for the future of humanity . . . and it ain't good! Elijah Wood also stars as the 37th Dolan . . . whatever that means?

SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE (Rated MA15+) - This RomCom is Directed and Written by Leslye Headland and stars Jason Sudekis as Jake as well mannered good natured ladies man about town who teams up with serial cheater and non-committal Lainey (Alison Brie) who both help each other to reform their no good, failed romantic ways with a purely platonic relationship. Naturally, yes you've guessed it, at the same time they fall for each other, but, can their relationship prosper and survive while they are sleeping with other people? This is a story that there is every chance you have seen a hundred times at least before, and will find predictable to the Nth degree methinks!

A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE (Rated M) - this Swedish black comedy film Directed by Roy Andersson is his third in his 'life trilogy' following his 2000 released 'Songs from the Second Floor' and 2007's 'You, The Living' and was released a year ago in September 2014 at the Venice International Film Festival where it picked up the Best Film Award, and in November 2014 in Sweden. It is also Sweden's entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at next years Oscar Ceremony. The story here surrounds two hapless novelty salesmen Jonathan (Holger Andersson) and Sam (Nils Westblom) as they contemplate the human condition through a series of real and imagined ramblings and wacky episodes that explore what makes us the same and what makes us all so different.

Five very different films once again in the week ahead that are sure to offer something even for the most discerning appetite, except for the younger audience maybe! When you've made you choice, paid your money, finished your popcorn, sat through your film of choice, remember to share your thoughts and tell a friend what you saw at the movies!

See you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BRIDGE OF SPIES : Saturday 24th October 2015.

Steven Spielberg has been making films for over forty years now and over those years he has developed his mastery of the craft to such an extent that you know you are going to be solidly entertained with his movie making prowess, in every detail, at its best. His films may not always be Box Office sensations, but they are winners in just about every other respect, and so it is with 'BRIDGE OF SPIES' which I saw over the weekend. Made for US$40M the production values of this film suggest a far greater budget as we are taken back to Cold War era Berlin in this film Directed and Co-Produced  by Spielberg and Written by Mark Charman with Joel and Ethan Coen. So far the film has recouped US$26M having been released at the New York Film Festival on 4th October and on general release Stateside on 16th October.

Here we see Spielberg team up once again with Tom Hanks as he has done so notably before in 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'The Terminal'. Hanks plays Jim Donovan a partner in a New York law firm with his speciality being in insurance law. The film opens with Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance on excellent form) painting in his Brooklyn apartment when the phone rings - he answers, there is no exchange of words - but it prompts the artists to pack his easel, his paints and his palette and walk down to the river side to paint one of the city's bridges. In doing so he surreptitiously retrieves a dollar coin from under the bench at which he sits, packs up his things and returns to his apartment. There he prizes open the coin and inside is a folded piece of paper containing a message which he views under a magnifying glass. Soon afterwards his apartment is busted by the F.B.I. and Abel is quickly arrested on espionage charges as a Soviet spy. It is 1957. This is a true story that will unfold over the next two hours.

Meanwhile back at Donovan's office he is given the case file on Abel and told by his business partner Thomas Watters (Alan Alda) that the US Government is seeking for him to 'defend' Abel, even though the nation wants the death penalty for the Russian spy, as do the Government and as does just about everyone else, including Donovan's own family. Such is the level of paranoia at the time that it seems it is only the lawyer who believes in true justice, upholding the constitution, and giving the man a fair trail as an innocent until proven guilty. Even the presiding Judge wants the alleged spy dead and so for him too this is an open & shut case, and the court case is just a means to an already predetermined end. Lo and behold the Jury finds Abel guilty on three counts with the penalty to be handed down at a later date, with the nation and still everyone else wanting the spy put to death.

Abel meanwhile is stoic throughout, never admits to anything and does not divulge anything to anyone, including his lawyer Donovan who steadfastly upholds his ethics of Client/Lawyer privilege even when confronted by the C.I.A. Before final sentencing is past down Donovan attempts to secure a 30 years prison term for Abel instead of the almost foregone conclusion of the death penalty on the grounds that at some future date a prisoner exchange may be necessary with the Russians if the situation were ever to be reversed - then at least the US has something, or someone, to bargain with. When the day of sentencing comes, the Judge hands down a 30 years prison term amidst uproar in the court, the awaiting crowds and press outside, and the public at large.

Needless to say, at a not too distant date in the future and while flying a sortie over Russian territory in a U2 spy plane, US pilot Frances Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is shot down, captured, interrogated and convicted by the Russians in much the same way as the American's did before with Abel. Powers is sentenced to ten years with his interrogations continuing but he too gives nothing away. The USSR send a secret message to Donovan suggesting a prisoner exchange - the Russian for the Yank, but in the meantime another American citizen - economics graduate student Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers) is arrested trying to smuggle his German girlfriend across the newly built Berlin Wall from East into West, and is promptly arrested by Statsi Agents on trumped up communist spy charges.

With this unfolding Donovan is tasked with heading to Berlin to meet with Russian and East German power brokers to negotiate a deal that will lead to Powers being exchanged for Abel. But with the Berlin wall under construction, tensions running high between East & West, and the Russians intervening at every turn, this will be no easy task. And of course Donovan has to do this covertly - can tell no one, not even his own family, and his own Government will deny all knowledge if the brown stuff hits the fan. Into the fray too has come Pryor, so Donovan is seeking a 2 for 1 exchange, much to the dismay of the C.I.A. who assist Donovan from a distance while in Berlin, whose overarching aim is the retrieval of Powers.

As agreements are reached with the Russians and the East Germans and then breached, Donovan holds firm that it's both Powers and Pryor or nothing, and the negotiations escalate as the previously agreed date of an exchange approaches. Abel meanwhile is put on a flight but has no knowledge that Donovan has been negotiating this exchange now for months on his behalf and between the Governments of all three nations (albeit unofficially). When agreements are reached they are done so right up to the 11th hour and only a few hours before the agreed time and place of the exchange, but there is one last 'wrinkle'. Powers will be exchanged for Abel on the Gleinicke Bridge at 5:30am with the Russians, and simultaneously Pryor will be handed over by the East Germans at Checkpoint Charlie, with the C.I.A. taking receipt of the latter calling the former when Pryor is in safe hands so giving the go ahead for the exchange at the Bridge.

All's well that ends well as Abel bids farewell to his new friend for the last time at the Bridge and the two prisoners pass each other at the mid-way point. Abel at this point does not know what fate awaits him at the hands of the Russians but stoically and unemotionally he makes the crossing. With the exchange done and all successful in the final analysis Donovan returns home to his family believing that he has been on a salmon fishing trip to Scotland mixing business with a little pleasure. Only when it is broadcast on the television news that earlier that day a successful exchange was made between the prisoners, and that James Donovan was instrumental in negotiating that deal, does his family become aware of the role he had in brokering that successful outcome. Donovan is hailed a national hero, and subsequently we learn in the closing credits that Donovan was later tasked by President Kennedy to negotiate the release and exchange of 1,113 prisoners following the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. Donovan wrote of his experiences with the Abel/Powers/Pryor exchange in 1964 in his book 'Strangers on a Bridge, The Case of Colonel Abel'. Donovan died of a heart attack in 1970 having been awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.

This is a well paced, entertaining Cold War dramatic thriller with Tom Hanks delivering another reliably measured performance the like of which we have seen so many times before, and Mark Rylance on top form as the unassuming, steady, and unshakable spy. Spielberg's Direction is top notch once again which we saw too in 'Schindler's List' and 'Saving Private Ryan', the performances he eeks out of his cast, his attention to detail, and the angst he captures from the era on all sides make for a highly entertaining offering that is well worth the price of you ticket.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 25th-31st October 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Gale Anne Hurd does on 25th October - check out the tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 60 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 25th October

• Gale Anne Hurd - Born 1955, turns 60 - Producer | Writer 

Monday 26th October

• Emilia Clarke - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actress
• Rosemarie DeWitt - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actress
• Jaclyn Smith - Born 1945, turns 70 - Actress
• Cary Elwes - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Dylan McDermott - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor
• Seth MacFarlane - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter

Tuesday 27th October

• John Cleese - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Roberto Benigni - Born 1952, turns 63 - Director | Producer | Actor
• Ivan Reitman - Born 1946, turns 69 - Director | Producer | Writer  

Wednesday 28th October

• Joaquin Phoenix - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actor | Producer 
• Dennis Franz - Born 1944, turns 71 -   Actor | Writer
• Kevin Macdonald - Born 1967, turns 48 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Julia Roberts - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress | Producer 

Thursday 29th October

• Winona Ryder - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actress | Producer
• Kate Jackson - Born  1948, turns 67 - Actress | Producer 
• Robert Hardy - Born 1925, turns 90 - Actor 
• Ben Foster - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actor | Producer
• Rufus Sewell - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor
• Richard Dreyfus - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor | Producer

Friday 30th October

• Kevin Pollak - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer  
• Henry Winkler - Born 1945, turns 70 -  Actor | Producer | Director | Writer

Saturday 31st October 

• Peter Jackson - Born 1961, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Stephen Rea - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor  
• Rob Schneider - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Dermot Mulroney - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Director
• Piper Perabo - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress | Producer

Gale Anne Hurd was born in Los Angeles, California to mother Lolita Espiau and father Frank Hurd, an investor. Growing up in Palm Springs, she graduated from Stanford University with a BA Degree in economics and communications in 1977. She joined New World Pictures which later came to be owned by 20th Century Fox and although now effectively defunct it exists in the dim & distant recesses of 21st Century Fox. That said, back in the day she joined as an Executive Assistant to Producer. Director and Actor Roger Corman who was also President of the Company. Progressing through various administrative roles, eventually she became involved in Production.

Resulting from this she created Pacific Western Productions from which she Produced a number of Box Office classics including 'The Terminator' in 1984 which she also co-wrote with James Cameron, then 'Aliens' in 1986 and 'The Abyss' in 1989. The common denominator here was James Cameron who Directed all three films, and who she was married to from 1985 to 1989.

From there she went on to Produce the likes of 'Tremors' in 1990, 'Terminator 2 : Judgement Day' in 1991, 'The Ghost and the Darkness' in 1996, 'The Relic' and 'Dante's Peak' in 1997 and 'Armageddon' in 1998 to largely see out the decade.

The new decade brought more Sci-Fi and action fare including 'Clockstoppers' in 2002, 'Hulk' and 'Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines' in 2003, 'Punisher' in 2004, 'Aeon Flux' in 2005, 'Welcome to the Jungle' in 2007, 'The Incredible Hulk' in 2008 before the first season of the positively excellent landmark series commencement of 'The Walking Dead' in 2010.








With first husband James Cameron she is responsible for bringing us one of the most recognised film characters in popular culture and cinema history, as well as launching the career of one Arnold Schwarzenegger into the stratosphere  - and for this alone Hurd deserves recognition. 'The Terminator' franchise which she wrote the original screenplay for with Cameron has endured for over 30 years and lives on after five successful films already and a television series, with two further 'Terminator' films announced for release in 2017 and 2018 to follow up this years 'Terminator : Genisys'. The first five films have raked in a global Box Office haul of a combined US$1.84B with 'T2' being the most successful to date, followed by this years 'Genisys'.

As well as acting as Executive Producer on so far 70+ episodes of 'The Walking Dead' and this years spin off series 'Fear The Walking Dead', there has been 'The Wronged Man', 'Last Man Standing', 'Very Good Girls' and 'Horizon' before her latest television offering 'Hunters' currently filming for its 2016 release. Hurd has 45 Producer credits to her name and nine Writer credits with twelve award wins and two other nominations. She has had an esteemed career which includes accolades for the 'Women in Film Crystal Award' for helping to advance the role of women in the entertainment industry 'The Telluride Tech Festival Award for Technology', she is a governor of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She is described as the 'First Lady of Sci-Fi' and her company Valhalla Entertainment is very active in both big and small screen production with 'The Walking Dead' topping many ratings worldwide and has received critical acclaim. After divorcing James Cameron in 1989, she was married to Brian De Palma from 1991 to 1993 with whom she has a daughter Lolita born in 1991, and she is presently married to Director and Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh and has been since 1995.

Gale Anne Hurd - successful, influential and respected movie and television business woman; responsible for creating a huge film, and, television franchise; entrenched in the Sci-Fi and horror action world and shows no sign of letting up, and, we love you for it - Happy 60th Birthday to you - from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 22nd October 2015.

Adelaide is the city of festivals, markets, community events, charity fundraisers and being relatively new to the city I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this city also holds it's own unique 'Annual Zombie Walk' and has done so for a number of years. Now in 2015 this event has grown to in excess of 15,000 undead walkers parading through the streets taking their zombiedom very seriously with gruesome grotesque manifestations of their macabre fascination with the walking dead through their bloodied make up, dishevelled clothing, and lumbering gait as they paraded the streets of Adelaide on October 10th. This has grown to be one of the largest of its kind now - gotta love a Zombie, gotta love a charity fund raiser and when you combine the two then you gotta be on to a winner. 'The Walking Dead' descended on Adelaide, and maybe a city near you too - be afraid, be very afraid! Check out the website for more insights into the living dead.

So getting back to the living, this week there are five new movies coming to a theatre near you that first up feature a cold war drama that ticks all the boxes from its Director, Writers and lead Actor all doing what they do best and delivering a peacetime tense taught thriller of prisoner exchange, intrigue, mistrust and Uncle Sam against the Ruskies. Then there's a kitchen drama of celebrity chefs, food porn, acclaimed restaurants, Michelin stars, broken dreams and high hopes; and then a futuristic dystopian world where a relationship or reincarnation are the choices to be made that become a matter of life and death. From here it's a culture clash comedy romance of divided loyalties, affairs of the heart and the attraction of opposites, and finally yet another instalment in a low budget but hugely successful supernatural horror franchise that might just all end here . . . maybe, until next time, perhaps, so they say!

Quite a choice with genre's galore, and when you have sat through your film of choice, share your thoughts with your like minded movie mates here at Odeon Online in the Comments Box below this or any other Post. In the meantime, enjoy your movie.

BRIDGE OF SPIES (Rated M) - the winning team of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are at it again with this retelling of a 1960 Cold War incident involving a Soviet Union shot down U2 pilot captured behind enemy lines and at the mercy of their political system as a result. Written by Joel & Ethan Coen and Mark Charman this film was released Stateside on 16th October having cost US$40M to bring to the big screen and so far it has recouped US$18M. The story centres around the subsequent events that unfold following the 1957 arrest by the FBI of KGB spy Rudolph Abel (Mark Rylance) in New York. James Donovan (Tom Hanks) an insurance lawyer specialist is asked by his firm to take on Abel's defence, even though it is not his ordinary line of work. Whilst a nervous US wants Abel sentenced to death, Donovan lobbies for a 30 year jail term and is ultimately successful, thinking that one day Abel may serve a greater purpose.

Meanwhile, flying a sortie over Russian territory in a U2 spy plane, pilot Frances Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) is shot down, captured, interrogated and convicted. The USSR send a secret message to Donovan suggesting a prisoner exchange - the Russian for the Yank, but in the meantime another American citizen - economics graduate student Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers) is arrested trying to smuggle his German girlfriend across the newly built Berlin Wall from East into West, and is promptly arrested by Statsi Agents.  Seeking now a 2 for 1 deal, Donovan must use all his powers of persuasion and strength of character to negotiate his way out of a fragile and dangerous position for himself, the prisoners he cares about and his country. Also starring Amy Ryan and Alan Alda.

BURNT (Rated M) - Directed by John Wells this comedy drama film will satiate those with a hunger for food porn, celebrity chefs, fine dining and the world of top restaurants. Featuring an all star cast headed by acclaimed two Michelin Star Chef Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) who lives the rock star life whilst cooking up a storm for his Parisian patrons. When it all goes awry and he loses his beloved restaurant and his lifestyle, he makes a decision to clean up his act head to London and spearhead a restaurant and take it to the pinnacle of dining and gain three Michelin stars. Going along for the ride are Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman and Alicia Vikander. If you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen!

THE LOBSTER (Rated MA15+) - this film is hardly genre specific - science fiction, futuristic, comedy, romance and drama all interwoven in the first English language film for Greek Director, Producer and Writer Yorgos Lanthimos. Set in some near dystopian future world, or perhaps even a parallel universe the premise here is that the single, unattached men are required by the laws of The City to check into a hotel wherein they are given 45 days to find a match, or be killed and reincarnated into an animal of their choice and then sent into the woods surrounding the hotel facility to live as your chosen beast in the wild. Colin Farrell plays David who arrives at the hotel with his dog which is in fact his reincarnated brother who was unsuccessful before him. David has determined that should he be unsuccessful in his hunt for the perfect match, that he wants to be lobster because of his love for the sea. Also starring Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw and John C. Reilly this film might be as disturbing as it is funny. It won the Jury Prize at this years Cannes Film Festival, and is showing too at the current Adelaide Film Festival.

ALEX & EVE (Rated M) - this Aussie comedy is Directed by Peter Andrikidis and started its life as a series of three successful stage plays, now finding its way onto the big screen. Here we have Alex (Richard Brancatisano), a Greek Orthodox school teacher who falls for a Lebanese Muslim legal eagle Eve (Andrea Demetriades) and of course within the cross cultural divide this union is severely frowned upon by both families. It is here that the emotional dilemma is created from the get go as Eve's family have plans for an arranged marriage already to someone much more suitable and of their own kind. Needless to say opposites attract and so we have it here as the turbulence created by both families will test the two star crossed lovers as they combat with their families, their cultures, their expectations and the path they should take.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY : GHOST DIMENSION (Rated M) - When the first film in this franchise came out it was groundbreaking stuff, resetting the tone for found footage horror, and sure enough that first film was made for just US$15K on the smell of an oily rag and it raked in over US$190M and set in place a burgeoning series that has since gone off in various directions and perhaps a little off the rails too - although there is an inkling of mythology that binds them all together. The first and second instalments had genuine scares, were well conceived, delivered on the cheap and did incredibly well, and this sixth offering is supposedly where it all ends. Here a video game designer moves to a new home with his brother, wife and child and not before long they uncover a video camera and number of video tapes that reveal two young girls, Kristi and Katie, being inducted into the demonic coven of their grandmother. No doubt it will get ugly, scary and things will go bump in the night as they fight back to protect their own daughter from a supernatural entity with its own plans for the young girl.

What a choice - so many movies and so little time! You can laugh, you can cry, you can scream and you can possibly sit on the edge of your seat in the week ahead, so do yourself a favour and catch a movie in the next seven days and then give us all some feedback.

See you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

LEGEND - Sunday 18th October 2015.

Back in 1990, Peter Medak, Directed a film called 'The Krays' about the life and times of notorious London crime brothers Ronnie & Reggie Kray starring real life brothers Gary & Martin Kemp (aka half of the hugely successful Brit Band of the 80's Spandau Ballet). I loved that film and saw it more times that I can remember. It also starred Billie Whitelaw, Tom Bell and Steven Berkoff and it picked up a handful of award wins and nominations too. Now 25 years later, and that story has been resurrected again for the big screen in the shape of 'LEGEND' which I saw over the weekend, and this time by Director and Screenwriter Brian Helgeland and based on the 1972 book by John Pearson 'The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins'. The film was made for US$25M and so far has made $28M having been released in the UK in early September with its US release not until late November.

The story of the Kray Brothers is steeped in British folklore and their criminal exploits in the 1960's East End of London is indeed the stuff of legend. This film brings together both Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy in the lead roles of Ronnie and Reggie Kray respectively and charts their rise as gangland kingpins of organised crime in their native East End. Tom Hardy is clearly the star of this show playing the two characters at once and sharing plenty of screen time together in what is a seamless and faultless delivery. After the first few minutes you'll forget you're watching the same actor portraying two different characters as you sink into the film and get carried along by their duelling personalities, emotional turmoil and increasing violence as the brothers establish themselves and made their mark on the criminal underworld.

Their violent profiteering is well depicted here as they conducted their business through their gang, The Firm, and commit acts of arson, racketeering, assault, armed robbery, and murder which ultimately led to their arrest in 1969 and life imprisonment at the hands of Detective Superintendent Leonard 'Nipper' Read (Christopher Ecclestone). He dutifully remains on the case over the years watching, waiting but despite all of their crimes seems unable to clinch them until murder is committed by them both on separate occasions in rooms full of eye-witnesses who in the end are prepared to give evidence despite the threats against them and their loved ones.

Along the way we see Reggie's blossoming romance with Frances Shea (Emily Browning), the girl next door almost and down the street whose brother Frank Shea (Colin Morgan) is a driver for the brothers. As their relationship grows so Frances learns more of Reggie's criminal activities and tries to distance herself from his gangster dealings but her love for him keeps her coming back. They marry in a church in Bethnal Green in 1965 against the wishes of her mother (Tara Fitzgerald) but Frances has become accustomed to the lifestyle that her nightclub and casino owning husband and his brother have built, and the celebrity status that has grown around them. Reggie however, keeps spinning a yarn that he can change, that they can live 'above board' and that he's not a gangster but a nightclub owner. She can only take so much and so over the following years as the two grow apart she becomes more reliant on drugs to escape from his criminal activities. She is also under the constant gaze of a disapproving Ronnie and mother Violet (Jane Wood) which she finds unsettling & disturbing whilst playing second fiddle to their dear Reggie - no girl would ever be good enough!

The relationship between the two is also explored here, and the ties that bound them so closely together that made them a force to be reckoned with . . . for all the wrong reasons. Blood is thicker than water, even as Reggie sought to rein in the psychotic inclinations of his twin brother Ronnie, and even as the two clash on several occasions as Ronnie's unhinged often erratic and unpredictable behaviour threatens their livelihood, their quasi-celebrity status, his marriage to Frances, the fabric of The Firm, and police scrutiny. All of this is interwoven with Ronnie's homosexuality that is laid bare here in this film and which caused a scandal back in the day that had ramifications on the highest echelons of political office.

On the periphery of all of this sits Lesley Payne (David Thewlis) as the book-keeper, accountant and financial advisor to the brothers and The Firm and who has the trust and respect of Reggie, but not so of Ronnie who has a deep mis-trust of the man and whom he believes knows too much. It is this mis-trust that ultimately causes the undoing of the Krays that led to their arrest in 1969 and life imprisonment. There is also Edward 'Mad Teddy' Smith (Taron Egerton) a psychopathic gay that seemed always by Ronnie's side and doubtless a lover on many occasions. Paul Bettany also stars as Charlie Richardson the leader of the South London Gang known at the Torture Gang who grew up with the Krays but by the 60's had become fierce rivals - he was arrested in mid 1966 - the day England won The World Cup. Chazz Palminteri stars at Angelo Bruno the head of a Philadelphia crime family who strikes up a relationship with the Krays and becomes a business associate through the nightclub and casino ventures which brings in greater wealth to the Krays and allows the Americans to get in on the London action - a fruitful arrangement that Reggie embraces but Ronnie is once again suspicious and untrusting of.

We learn in the final analysis that Ronnie is arrested and convicted for the murder of George Cornell (one of the Torture Gang) at the Blind Beggar Pub in Whitechapel in March 1966, and Reggie for the murder of Jack 'The Hat' McVitie in October 1967 at a house party. His body has to this day not been recovered. Both deaths were witnessed by several onlookers and the landlady at the Pub, and the other party guests at the house to which many would eventually come forward and testify. In May 1968 the brothers and 15 others members of The Firm were arrested, and Ronnie & Reggie were sentenced each to life imprisonment in 1969 with a 30 years non-parole period. In 1979 Ronnie was certified insane and spent out his last years until his death in 1995 in Broadmoor Psychiatric Prison. Reggie saw out his sentence in Wayland Prison in Norfolk and was released in 2000 on compassionate grounds, just weeks before his death from bladder cancer.

There is no doubt that the lives of these East End likely lads is the stuff of legend - nightclubs; casinos; music and film stars that included Shirley Bassey, Diana Dors, Joan Collins, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and photographer David Bailey; the politicians, the police and the locals in their pockets; and their own celebrity status all underwritten by crime, violence, revenge and underworld activities glued together by an immense never to be broken bond of family loyalty. It is these ingredients that make this such a compelling story.

Tom Hardy shines in his dual role as Ronnie and Reggie and it is his performances that carry this film when there are gaps and flaws in the storytelling that may well leave you wondering. That said, the 60's are crafted well enough here, the acts of violence when they come are brutal and won't be for everyone, but there are moments of humour and a great soundtrack that gloss over these to help lessen the impact.

This film is a worthy contender to stand beside 'The Krays' from 1990, but does it surpass it - no, and will it stand proud as a great British gangster flick - also probably not, but is it worthy of your attention and your $20, yes it is! If nothing else go and see it for Tom Hardy's brilliance as both Ronnie and Reggie Kray - both sides of the same coin but for which he gets the gong for his confident, swaggering, suited & booted, lovable and notorious man about town Reggie more so than what he does for the unhinged, unpredictable, unnerving Ronnie who ultimately was the downfall of the family.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-