NOCTURNAL ANIMALS : Tuesday 22nd November 2016.

'NOCTURNAL ANIMALS' which I saw in the week was written for the Screen, Co-Produced and Directed by fashion designer Tom Ford whose previous fashion credits include time as the creative brains behind Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and then his own label Tom Ford. This is only the second Directorial outing for the man who is already making a name for himself in the world of cinema. Ford set up his own Production Company, Fade to Black, in 2005 and his debut as Director came in 2009 with 'A Single Man' with Colin Firth in the lead role. That film picked up 34 award wins and another 52 nominations including an Oscar nod for Firth in the Best Lead Actor category and it made US$25M from its US$7M budget outlay. Now Ford is back with his second film that has already been widely acclaimed having won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival in early September this year. The film was made for US$22M and so far grossed US$6M and is based on the 1993 novel 'Tony & Susan' by Austin Wright.

'Nocturnal Animals' tells the story of successful Los Angeles art gallery owner Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) who at the beginning of the film is seen hosting the launch of a new display in her gallery attended by all of LA's beautiful people, movers & shakers and people that matter. The opening sequence over which the credits roll is particularly 'revealing' and for some possibly confronting, but it's all in the name of 'art'. After the end of the evening we see Susan drive up to the gates of her private estate - all glass, concrete and stainless steel - very austere, very wealthy and quite lifeless. Susan lives there with her husband Hutton (Armie Hammer), and an entourage of maids, a butler, a driver and all the trappings of success. But underneath this facade lies a struggling businessman whose financial fortunes are dwindling and he needs to secure a deal in New York to keep their heads above water. He's booked on a flight out to New York the next day, a Saturday - putting paid to plans for Susan to have a quite weekend away at their beach house. Already there is a sense that all is not well between them.

That morning, a package is delivered to the Morrow household marked for Susan's attention. Opening the brown paper wrapping Susan gains a paper cut, and has the Butler finish off the unwrapping, then orders the household staff to take the weekend off - all of them. The contents of the package are seen to be a manuscript from her long estranged ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) - a man whom she left nineteen years earlier after just a couple of years of marriage. Edward has typed a note asking her to read the yet unpublished novel which he has titled 'Nocturnal Animals' and dedicated it to her. He always used to call Susan a nocturnal animal on account of the fact that she hardly ever sleeps - a habit she has to this day, and he calls for her opinion when she has finished reading. He states that he will be in Los Angeles later the following week and would welcome the chance to meet up over dinner to renew acquaintances and gain her opinion of his manuscript.

With Hutton flying off to New York, Susan settles down and cautiously opens the manuscript and starts reading. The story centres around Tony Hastings (Jake Gyllenhaal) - an easy going unassuming mild mannered everyman who is heading off to West Texas in the car with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and teenage daughter India (Ellie Bamber) for a few days R&R, and they have chosen to drive through the night. On a deserted stretch of highway late into the night, Tony is forced off the road by three young local hoons out to cause some trouble, resulting in two badly dented cars and a blown front tyre to Tony's Merc. The hoons - Ray (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Lou (Karl Glusman) and Turk (Robert Aramayo) come on strong saying that it was Tony's fault, and demand that they exit the car so that they can replace the blown tyre with the spare, trying to lull the family into a false sense of security. At first Ray plays the tough guy, then he winds down showing sympathy for their predicament, then ramps up his anger again, and so it continues as Laura and India get roughed up, and Tony is punched and kicked. Tony is defenceless against the might of three hoons and powerless to do anything when Ray and Turk drive off in Tony's car with a screaming Laura and India bundled against their wills into the back seat. Tony is ordered into Ray's car with Lou and told to drive down an old dirt track and out into the desert where he is abandoned.

A few hours later as dawn breaks Ray and Turk return to where Lou dumped Tony hoping to locate him under the pretence that his wife is asking after him. Tony cowers behind a rocky outcrop hidden form view and silent until the pair drive off, fearing for his own life. He sets off on foot across the desert scrubland, making it to a road which he follows until he reaches a house, and calls the Police. Sometime later Detective Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon) arrives on the scene having been assigned the case. He has Tony retrace his steps in the Police car down the highway back in the direction from where he came from, in an attempt to find his wife and daughter, and to confirm Tony's story, having already found his car in a creek. They come to an abandoned shack down a dirt track and discover the naked bodies of Laura and India - murdered and raped. Tony is overcome with emotion and guilt having not been strong enough to stand up to the thugs who did this.

At this point Susan stops reading shocked by the savage nature of the book and the raw emotion flowing through the pages. She remembers her meeting with Edward all those years ago and announcing to her mother their intentions to marry. Susan's opinionated, strong willed and forthright mother, Anne Sutton (Laura Linney) suggests that Edward is not her equal in so many respects and that it would be foolish for them to marry knowing that it will be short-lived. She does it anyway, rebelling against her parents wishes and for her love of Edward who has so many other qualities anyway. Susan speaks with Hutton upon his arrival at the hotel in New York at 4:00am in the morning. He is in a lift going up to his room on the 31st floor, when she overhears the lift attendant announce the floor number to a woman in the lift, and she surmises that Hutton is having an affair - a fact that she was already suspicious off. She continues reading.

Fast forward a year and Andes contacts Tony asking him to identify Lou who has been charged as an accomplice to the rape and murder of Laura and India. Tony makes a positive ID, and Lou is arrested. Turk was shot dead in a robbery gone awry leaving only Ray still to be brought in for questioning. Andes arrests Ray taking Tony along for the ride and to positively ID Ray.

They question the suspect in a car identical to Tony's Merc and drive along the same dirt track and pass by the shack to jog Ray's memory, but he pleads his innocence and claims to know nothing of Tony or any murder or rape. Later Andes calls Tony with the news that Ray has been released because the evidence against him is only circumstantial. During that same conversation, Andes asks Tony how far he is prepared to go to see that justice is served. As a result Tony drives over immediately to meet Andes in a roadside Cafe where Andes announces that he has a year to live having been diagnosed with acute lung cancer, and his early retirement is being forced upon him now. Andes wants to see this case closed and is prepared to take the law into his own hands no matter what the consequences are, but wants to know that Tony is in. Tony agrees, and the two perpetrators are bought to an isolated house handcuffed. Andes releases their handcuffs while Tony reluctantly holds them at gunpoint and in a moment of distraction the two run off. Lou is shot in the back by Andes making his escape, but Ray has fled. The two head off in opposite directions with the aim of closing in on Ray ultimately, believing that he would have gone back to his shack.

Susan puts down the book and recalls her troubled marriage to Edward and how she is desperately unhappy and wants out. Edward pleads with her not to give their love away, but it seems that everything her mother warned Susan about years before is now coming home to roost. Despite Edwards best intentions, Susan is already carrying on with Hutton, and in a final act of treachery against Edward she aborts her pregnancy of his child - a fact she tried to conceal from Edward, but which he all too soon afterwards discovered, and with which she has had to live all these years.

Susan continues reading the closing chapters where Tony tracks down Ray asleep in his shack. Tony again holds Ray at gunpoint, with Ray goading him that he doesn't have the strength to pull the trigger. Ray admits to killing his wife and raping his daughter. The two have a violent confrontation that sees Ray with two bullet wounds in his chest, and Tony getting thumped over the head with an iron bar. Tony comes around hours later with the sun glaring through the open door. His head is badly injured and he can barely see. He stumbles through the door tripping over Rays lifeless body. Outside Tony stumbles through the desert scrub and falls to his knees discharging a bullet into his own stomach from the gun he is still carrying.

Susan finishes reading the manuscript and sends an email to Edward congratulating him on his writing efforts and suggests that they should meet to discuss further, and meet for old time's sake. Throughout the film we are told of Edwards writing aspirations, and his desire to become an author but never quite having the right ingredients to make it - this was one of the reasons for their split years earlier. He responds later that night with a when and where. Susan arranges a meeting place at an up market restaurant and readies herself, seeing their meeting as a reconciliation perhaps and of better times ahead for them both. Susan arrives first and is seated at the table and orders a drink patiently waiting for Edward to arrive. And she waits, and she waits, and she waits, ordering more drinks until the last guests depart and the restaurant is empty. Fade to black!

This gripping, beautifully rendered story within a story offers the viewer two carefully interwoven genres - that of a shiny privileged people melodrama and a gritty modern day Western as the two distinct tales go back and forth with an interconnectedness that speaks of revenge, betrayal, love, loss,  loneliness and sadness. Amy Adams is excellent as the detached soulful Susan, Gyllenhaal equally so in his dual roles as the try hard Edward and the intense Tony, and Shannon too as the cancer riddled laconic seen it all rural Cop coughing up a lung whilst determined to see justice served in his last case. Tom Ford despite his only two cinematic offerings to date has proven himself as a master of the craft with a stylish, haunting and distinctive film that will leave you pondering over the ending long after the credits have rolled. It's as though his experience in the world of fashion has morphed to the world of cinema in two easy straightforward seamless strides with beautiful people giving a faultless performance clothed up in a visually stunning story.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ARRIVAL : Tuesday 15th November 2016

And so the aliens have landed, in the form of first contact offering 'ARRIVAL' which I saw earlier this week based on the 1998 short Sci-Fi story 'Story of Your Life' by Ted Chiang. But make no mistake - this is no 'Independence Day', no 'War of the Worlds', no 'District 9' or 'The Thing' but more akin to the thinking mans 'Contact', 'Interstellar', 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', and 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. The films already highly rated adaptation is Directed by Denis Villeneuve, was made for US$47M, has taken US$39M at the global Box Office so far, and Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in early September where it won the Future Film Festival Digital Award, and was nominated for a Golden Lion.

Here, twelve vast and mysterious alien spaceships touch down in various seemingly random locations around the world. Termed 'Shells' by the Americans because of their elliptical shape they measure about 1500 meters tall and hover motionless about ten meters off the ground, not emitting any sound, any gas, any radiation and constructed of a solid black stone like material the like of which is unknown to us. One such Shell has touched down in Montana, and this is where the action plays out in a hastily set up Army camp close by to the alien craft.

Every eighteen hours a hatch opens at the base allowing a small delegation of humans in to explore the anti-gravity interior where they emerge in a chamber with a huge rectangular window - the other side of which in a swirling white mist appear two 'heptapods' - seven legged beings towering over the humans, that bear no resemblance to anything we have seen before. Their 'finger tips' at the end of each limb opens up like a starfish from which they are able to emit an ink like substance thats swirls around and clings to the window like a coffee mug stain on a table. It then fades away and disappears once the humans have been able to capture it on film before another circular symbol is formed. This is the language of the aliens, and it is this language that renowned linguist professor Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) has been brought in to rather hurriedly decipher.

Joining Banks is theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) who now head up a team of other so called 'experts' endeavouring to communicate with the aliens and learn of their intentions. They report through to US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whittaker). Weber is under pressure from Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is more than gung-ho to let loose on the aliens with a can of Uncle Sam's whoop-ass, particularly when progress with communicating is painstakingly slow, and tensions are mounting at the other eleven locations around the world. Communicating with each nations leaders via a bank of live feed monitors, it soon becomes clear that each has a different agenda on what action to take, and all are learning different things about their respective Shells as time progresses, but are not prepared to share their discoveries.

Around the world there is rioting and looting in the streets and the social fabric of our planet is quickly falling into decay as it is realised that we are not alone in the universe, and according to the media and the doomsayers the end is nigh, and the aliens have come to attack and wipe out all known civilisation. In the meantime, the Chinese  and the Russians join forces and are quickly preparing to mount a full scale attack on the Shells located in their parts of the world if they don't haul ass soon and get the hell outta Dodge!

Meanwhile Banks and Donnelly are inside the shell every eighteen hours as the days, weeks and months pass by, with little progress being made. The alien language is very complicated, but through perseverance and applying what they both know, some progress is made. The aliens scroll a message that translates to 'offer weapon', and this is also seen in the other eleven Shells around the world. The world leaders are fearful upon seeing 'weapon' that they are under likely attack and begin mounting an offensive campaign. Banks however, interprets 'weapon' as 'tool' - a device to aid and assist, and perhaps the aliens are attempting to trade something of value, and important.

Throughout all of this Banks is having flash-backs about her daughter growing up and passing away from a rare disease while in her late teens - images we saw at the beginning of the film. She is haunted by these memories and bringing up her child alone, without the father who left for reasons that are unknown. However, as she comes closer to the aliens and begins to understand their language, she realises that in their time, time is non-linear and she too is now experiencing this through them. In communicating with one of the aliens up close and personal as best she can, she learns that the flash-backs she has been having are in fact flash-forwards and that her future daughters father will leave her after the child is born because he made 'the wrong choice'. The alien reveals that they are here to help mankind by sharing their language, and therefore their perception of time also, so that humanity can in turn help them 3,000 years from now. This is the 'offer weapon/tool' that the aliens were referring to in their scroll. The alien visitors mean no harm at all.

Returning to the base camp which is now being evacuated for fear of alien attack, Banks has another vision of eighteen months hence, when all is good in the world, the aliens have departed and the global leaders are united in celebration marking a new era of sharing, caring and togetherness. Banks siddles up to General Shang (Tzi Ma) of China who originally wanted to nuke 'em out of existence, but he thanks her for changing his mind. When Banks asks him how, he says she called him on his private number, which he then proceeds to give her for the first time. Coming round from her vision, she steals a satellite phone and calls Shang on his private number, and relates to him in fluent Mandarin the very same words that his wife said to him on her death bed - he told her these words in the future and she repeated them to him in the present. At this Shang orders his military might to stand down, prompting all other nations to do likewise, and together all nations share in their learnings gleaned from their respective Shells. At this, all Shells dematerialise and vanish into thin air.

Following this course of events, Donnelly declares his love for Banks, and in a flash-forward vision we learn that he will be father of Banks' daughter, and that he will leave her over 'the choice' she made to have a child even though she knew beforehand that the childs life would be cut short by a rare disease. Banks' motives are that now knowing that time is not linear, that it is better to have a child even for a short time, than never have that child come into existence.

This is a clever, thought provoking film that shares an underlying message of the importance of communication, unity and acceptance. Highly praised also for its stunning visuals, gripping story and great performances, especially from Amy Adams who carries this film, 'Arrival' is the thinking mans Sci-Fil movie that has something to say in todays world and turns the tables on the generally hostile alien contact genre with emotion, passion and a grounded realism that does not rely on heavy CGI, big guns, explosions and rousing end of the world speeches. Well worth the price of your ticket, and you'll need to concentrate on the storyline every step of the way.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 10th November 2016.

A few weeks ago an article in the tabloid press over here caught my eye, about a subject I hold close to my heart. Written by James Wigney the article was titled 'Games up for online pirates : Movie boss' warning to downloaders' and surrounds the illegal downloading of movies and television content with Australia being 'one of the worst offending countries for online piracy, with 1.24 billion visits to illegal pirate sites last year'. With a population of approaching just twenty-five million, that's a statistic not to be taken lightly methinks! The boss in question here, Graham Burke, heads up Village Roadshow and he was addressing the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast earlier in October. The plan is to shut down with immediate effect up to one hundred illegal download sites the moment the courts hand down the decision on the movie industry's war on piracy, which will see an immediate and dramatic drop in piracy as a result. He went on to say that 'many people think this is a victimless crime' 'It's not, and if this were to continue, there will be no 'Red Dog', there will be no 'Mad Max', there will be no 'Star Wars', there will be no creativity'. The worrying trend seems to have emerged among younger people, with 31% of 12-17 year olds pirating movies . . . and thinking it is OK to do so. Well said on all of the above! I am a firm advocate of paying your $20 and seeing a film at the full retail price on the big screen as the Producers, Directors, Actors, Screenwriters, and film crew intended, and all who have to be paid out of the proceeds from that small investment in two hours of entertainment. Do the right think Australian and movie lovers of the world, and pay the price of a ticket and go see a movie at the Odeon instead of illegally downloading a film from a pirate site and committing a crime! You know it makes sense!

And so to this week where we have just two new release movies coming to your local picture house and both are very different and both have already been highly acclaimed widely by critics and movie goers. First up is a second Directorial outing for this fashion guru turned movie maker featuring an all star cast in this psychological romance and revenge story within a story thriller; and this is followed up by a Sci-Fi drama from a Director of repute of first contact and learning to communicate with otherworldly visitors whilst our world leaders squabble amongst themselves and take us to the brink of war. Both films feature the highly acclaimed and awarded Actress Amy Adams in the lead roles.

Remember, that when you have sat through your film or films of choice in the week ahead as either Previewed below, or as Reviewed and Previewed previously amidst these humble Blog pages, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions of your movie going experience with our other readers by leaving a Comment below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and enjoy your movie in the meantime.

'NOCTURNAL ANIMALS' (Rated MA15+) - written for the Screen, Co-Produced and Directed by fashion designer Tom Ford whose previous fashion credits include time as the creative brains behind Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and then his own label Tom Ford, this is only the second Directorial outing for the man who is already making a name for himself in the world of cinema. Ford set up his own Production Company, Fade to Black, in 2005 and his debut as Director came in 2009 with 'A Single Man' with Colin Firth in the lead role. That film picked up 34 award wins and another 52 nominations including an Oscar nod for Firth in the Best Lead Actor category and it made US$25M from its US$7M budget outlay. Now Ford is back with his second film that has already been widely acclaimed having won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival in early September this year. The film opened in the UK last week, in Australia this week and in the US next week, and was made for US$22M.

Based on the 1993 novel 'Tony and Susan' by Austin Wright, 'Nocturnal Animals' tells the story of successful Los Angeles art gallery owner Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) who is now married to Hutton Morrow (Armie Hammer) but all is not well in that camp. One day unexpectedly Susan receives a manuscript from her long estranged ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) - a man whom she left twenty or so years earlier. Edward asks Susan for her opinion of his story. Reading through the manuscript there are elements that resonate with her past life and that of her present too, as memories and emotions of her first marriage coming flooding back. The as yet unpublished novel is called 'Nocturnal Animals' and is based on a story of a family holiday that turns violent and deadly. With the line between fact and fiction, reality and make believe becoming more obscured Susan must face her past life, some hidden truths and the meaning behind her ex-husbands novel in which she imagines the lead character Tony Hastings (Jake Gyllenhaal) playing out the husband and father figure on that ill fated family holiday. Also starring Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Sheen, Laura Linney, Isla Fisher and Andrea Riseborough, this psychological romantic revenge thriller story within a story is a must see.

'ARRIVAL' (Rated M) - based on the 1998 short Sci-Fi story 'Story of Your Life' by Ted Chiang, this already highly rated adaptation is Directed by Denis Villeneuve, was made for US$50M and Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in early September where it won the Future Film Festival Digital Award and was nominated for a Golden Lion. The film is released Stateside also this week. When twelve vast and mysterious alien spaceships touch down in various strategically placed locations around the world, an elite team of experts is mobilised to establish contact and determine what the extra terrestrial visitors want from our little blue planet. Linguist Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), mathematician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) and US Army Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) join forces to find the answers and communicate with the alien beings while the rest of the world and its quarrelling leaders reside on the brink of war. But, amidst this will Banks be prepared to risk her own life and that of humanity to uncover the answers sought? Highly praised also for its stunning visuals, gripping story and great performances, especially from Amy Adams.

With two highly acclaimed films newly released this week, and both starring Amy Adams in very different roles and genres, my recommendation is to catch them both! I don't think you'll be disappointed by either outing, and when you have sat through these two films you can share your views with your like minded cinephiles here at this Blog. In the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon, in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-