THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN : Wednesday 12th October 2016.

The psychological thriller drama 'THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN' which I saw in the week is based on the best selling book of the same name by British author Paula Hawkins. The book was Hawkins debut, and it remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 13 weeks upon release in early 2015, and by August this year had sold eleven million copies worldwide. Now coming to a big screen near you, the book has been adapted for the big screen by Erin Cressida Wilson and Directed by Tate Taylor (who most recently brought us the James Brown bio-pic 'Get On Up' and before that 'The Help') for a budget of US$45M, and having so far taken US$50M since its premier in London in late September and its US release on 7th October.

Starring Emily Blunt as Rachel Watson (the girl on the train!) - a divorcee with a drink problem who left her husband Tom (Justin Theroux) after she caught him cheating on her with their real estate agent Anna Boyd (Rebecca Fergusson). Before their marriage came to an end, we learn through various flashbacks that Rachel was prone to getting into the drink after which she would invariably black-out with little recollection of the events that occurred during her drunken stupor. It would take her husband to recount her antics after the fact, and she claims that this led to their separation, Tom drifting off the matrimonial path with another, plus the fact that she is unable to bear children.

She travels to and from work every day on a train, always sits by the window and gazes out as she passes her former home that Tom now occupies with his new wife Anna and their young daughter Evie. She is bitter, as she drinks from her water bottle that is secretly filled with gin or vodka, and doodles pencil drawings in her note book. Tom's neighbours are Scott and Megan Hipwell (Luke Evans and Haley Bennett respectively) who seem to have the perfect, loving, caring marriage that Rachel fantasises about to the point of obsession from the window of her passing train. The reality is however, something quite different, as Scott is controlling, aggressive and the typical Alpha male, whereas Megan is detached, resentful and carrying on with various other men behind Scottt's back - including her shrink - Dr. Kamal Abdic (Edgar Ramirez).

One day however, en route to work gazing out of her window seat she witnesses something suspicious and shocking - Megan and Abdic kissing and embracing on the balcony of her home, which turns her image of their prefect life into a tailspin. How could Megan do such a thing, how could she betray her loving husband, and who is that man she was with? After another day on the turps, she confronts Megan on the way home from work in a tunnel under the railway line, only to wake some hours later in her room covered in blood and with no memory of how she got there, the cause of the blood, the head injury she has sustained and the bruising to her upper body.

Subsequently it is made known that Megan is missing and is later presumed dead. Rachel is questioned by Detective Sergeant Riley (Allison Janney) who suspects that she may be covering something up because of her recent activity, including allegedly stalking her ex-husband and his new family, harassing them with incessant phone calls, and that she was actually fired from her place of work a year ago because of her drinking problem, despite the fact that she travels into 'work' everyday on the train, masquerading that she is still gainfully employed. Rachel claims she has no memory of any events surrounding the time of Megan's disappearance and whilst the Detective remains unconvinced, she needs evidence . . . which she doesn't have.

Rachel, approaches Scott under the guises that she and Megan were friends and that Megan confided in her about an affair, to which Scott puts two and two together and determines that the other man is Abdic. Rachel identifies Abdic as the man she saw on the balcony earlier with Megan. Rachel then schedules an appointment with Abdic and speaks to him of her failed relationship with Tom and her drunken actions at an office party hosted by his boss Martha (Lisa Kudrow) that resulted in him getting fired.

Later, having another martini before returning home, gradually Rachel has flashbacks of that evening in the tunnel. She returns to that same place and has visions of Anna and Tom in the tunnel and shouting abuse at Anna before being set upon and beaten up at which point she blacks out. Anna becomes increasingly suspicious of Rachel after seeing her in the neighbourhood several times and in close proximity to her former home, but the Detective dismisses these thoughts on the grounds again of needing hard evidence, and Tom too downplays that Rachel could have any involvement in Megans's disappearance.

Megan's partially decomposed body is found later on in the woods and it is determined in the autopsy that she was pregnant but the baby was neither Scott's or Abdic's. Scott therefore becomes a prime suspect and confronts Rachel with his knowledge that the two in fact had never met, and that Rachel was conspiring against him. He's not happy and he vents his anger on Rachel, but leaves before any real harm is done. Later, Rachel runs into Martha on the train and decides to confront Martha with an apology for her behaviour at that ill fated office party that led to her then husband Tom being fired. Martha is rather taken aback by her apology stating that her behaviour had nothing to do with it - she fell ill and was taken into a back room to recover - all perfectly innocent and acceptable. The reason why Tom was fired was because he 'couldn't keep his dick in his pants'. At this point it dawns on Rachel that Tom was manipulating her memories for his own gain and to cover up for his abuse of her, and not the other way around as she has believed all this time.

Anna meanwhile has become increasingly suspicious of her husband Tom, and tries to hack into his computer but fails repeatedly. She finds an old mobile phone in his brief case with voice mail messages and text messages to and from Megan. Anna deduces that Tom was in fact having an affair with Megan, who used to babysit for Tom and Anna until a short time ago before Megan broke off the arrangement rather abruptly, much to Anna's surprise at the time. Rachel comes to realise that Megan was in fact pregnant with Tom's baby and that Megan had told Abdic this news in confidence, and what she saw on the balcony that day was misinterpreted by her. More memories come flooding back to Rachel who now has clarity of vision about what happened in the tunnel that evening.

It seems that Rachel mistook Megan for Anna that evening in the tunnel, as she was walking towards Tom's car parked at the other end. It was Tom that beat up Rachel, which fuelled with alcohol caused her to black out, before driving off with Megan in his car. At this point they drive to the woods where Megan confronts Tom with the news that she is pregnant with his child. Tom is enraged and commands that Megan aborts the pregnancy as not only does he not want another child but can also ill afford another child, and he does not want the news of their affair surfacing. Megan is perplexed at this news and they argue, resulting in Tom physically shoving Megan off her feet causing her to fall backwards knocking her head on a rock. In a state of semi consciousness, Tom finishes off the job with a few well aimed blows to the head with another rock. To see how Tom gets his comeuppance you'll just have to see for yourself.

I was expecting more from this film I have to say. It jumps around all over the place, which I understand is the format of the book, but it makes for disjointed viewing here. Aside from Emily Blunt's performance, the remaining cast as strong as they are, are very one dimensional and difficult to warm to. There are parallel's here to be drawn with 'Gone Girl' which is a far superior film. If you have read the book then doubtless you'll flock to the movie theatre to see how the pages transfer to the big screen, but, you can wait to see it on your own small screen in the comfort of your own home on a Friday night with a pizza and a bottle 'o' red and save yourself the price of a ticket. The film has some redeeming features, most notably Blunt's performance as the downtrodden alcoholic neurotic fantasising voyeur, but the rest is fairly predictable and ho-hum!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 6th October 2016.

What is it about real life drama and true story disaster films that make them so compelling? Perhaps it is because we see everyday people thrust into extraordinary circumstances competing against all the odds to rise victorious, overcome adversity and conquer their fears in order to survive in situations that we may remember from television and media reports in the recent past, or yesteryear. As such they are relateable, memorable, and believable stories grounded in reality no matter how much poetic license or big budget expense Hollywood can throw at them, think 1997's 'Titanic' as the mother of them all! And even disaster epics based on fictitious circumstances can be as equally compelling - think 1974's 'The Towering Inferno', or 1972's 'The Poseidon Adventure' or 1962's 'The Day of the Triffids' to name but a few classics.

This year alone we have had six big screen renditions of real life disasters that I can think of quickly - those being :-
* 'The 33' - based on the 2005 Chilean gold and copper mine collapse leaving 33 men buried underground for 69 days,
* '13 Hours : The Secret Soldiers of the Benghazi' - based on the 2012 Islamic militant attack on the US Embassy in Libya, and how six soldiers engaged in fierce firefighting to protect the lives of American diplomats and operatives,
* 'The Finest Hours' - based on the 1952 voyage of the SS Pendleton which was ripped in two by a huge storm, and the US Coastguard rescue mission to retrieve 30 sailors stranded in the ships sinking stern section,
* 'Sherpa' - based on the 2014 Mount Everest expedition and told from the Sherpa's perspective when an avalanche killed sixteen Sherpa's, and the actions taken as a consequence,
* 'Sully' - based on the 2009 emergency landing of a US Airways Flight on the Hudson River by Flight Captain Chesley Sullenberger that saved every one of the 155 passengers and crew on board,
* 'Deepwater Horizon' - based on the 2010 oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that killed eleven people and caused an unprecedented oil spillage and environmental and social disaster, and as Previewed below.

This week there are just three new releases that first up tells the true story of an off-shore disaster that came at a significant human, environmental and social cost just a few short years ago; then a best seller adaptation of the domestic psychological thriller type that is sure to leave you guessing and on the edge of your seat just as 'Gone Girl' did before it; and finally from an acclaimed Russian Director comes this historical drama at the museum as two opposing sides join forces to save an art collection.

As always, you are warmly invited to leave your own cinematic critique when you have sat through your movie of choice in the week ahead, by leaving a Comment below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your film.

'DEEPWATER HORIZON' (Rated M) - for those who don't know, the Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig owned by Transocean. Built in 2001 in South Korea the rig was leased to the British Petroleum Company (BP) from 2001 until September 2013. In September 2009, the rig drilled the deepest oil well in history at a vertical depth of 10,700m in the Tiber Oil Field at Keathley Canyon block 102, approximately 400kms southeast of Houston, in 1,300m of water. On 20 April 2010, while drilling at the Macondo Prospect, an uncontrollable blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed eleven crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 65kms away. The fire was inextinguishable and, two days later, on 22 April, the Deepwater Horizon sank, leaving the well gushing oil at the seabed and causing the largest oil spill in U.S. waters. The oil spill that resulted continued until 15th July 2010 when it was finally capped off. Subsequently, BP have made it known that they have had to pay of US$55B in clean up costs and fines and that aside from themselves, Halliburton, the services contractor, and Transocean as the rig operator were also at fault.

This film charts that story as Directed by Peter Berg and made for US$156M that takes place in the Gulf of Mexico with the events leading up to that massive human, social, ecological and financial disaster. Starring Mark Wahlberg as electrician and oil rigger Mike Williams (whom Peter Berg has Directed previously in 'Lone Survivor' and the upcoming 'Patriots Day') who returning from some family time with his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) and ten year old daughter Sydney (Stella Allen) is looking at a three week shift on the DWH. Arriving with other shift starters there is Gina Rodriguez as the only female on the crew, Kurt Russell as the rig's chief supervisor, Dylan O'Brien as the rig's youngest crew member, and John Malkovich as the BP engineer and rig supervisor. When a series of safety inspections don't yield the test results as expected or required, the worst fears of those on board the rig don't take long to become a horrifying reality. Here Wahlberg plays the grounded everyman thrust into extraordinary circumstances to help rescue some of his co-workers while his family and the world watch on as ultimately the DWH disappears into the ocean into a deep fiery grave. Featuring a top cast who do not overplay the heroics, top notch effects and a story that is a believable, authentic telling of human courage in the face of adversity writ large.

'THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN' (Rated MA15+) - this psychological thriller drama is based on the best selling book of the same name by British author Paula Hawkins. The book was Hawkins debut, and it remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 13 weeks upon release in early 2015, and by August this year had sold eleven million copies worldwide. Now coming to a big screen near you, the book has been adapted for the big screen by Erin Cressida Wilson and Directed by Tate Taylor (who most recently brought us the James Brown bio-pic 'Get On Up' and before that 'The Help') and stars Emily Blunt as Rachel Watson - a divorcee with a drink problem who left her husband Tom (Justin Theroux) after she caught him cheating on her. Everyday she takes the train to work and muses about the apparent perfect life of her neighbours Scott and Megan Hipwell (Luke Evans and Haley Bennett). One day however, en route to work gazing out of her window seat she witnesses something suspicious and shocking and subsequently Megan goes missing and is later presumed dead. What's a girl to do? Also starring Edgar Ramirez, Lisa Kudrow and Rebecca Ferguson.

'FRANCOFONIA' (Rated M) - premiering at the Venice Film Festival back in September 2015, this drama Directed and Written by Alexander Sokurov who brought us the highly acclaimed single take 'The Russian Ark' in 2002 is out on a very limited release here in Australia and you'll have to hunt it down to catch it in all its majesty on the big screen. Set in 1940 its tells the story of The Louvre in Paris and how its museum director Jacques Jaujard (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing) and German Officer the Count Franz Wolff-Metternich (Benjamin Utzerath) work together to protect the precious and priceless artworks from the Nazi's. Beautifully filmed and richly rewarding this film interweaves the ravages of war with the need to preserve our history and culture through art.

With three top films from which to choose your night out at the movies, you would be hard pressed not to find something to like here, or amongst those out on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed here at Odeon Online previously. Whatever you decide upon, share your views with us here, and in the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-