INFERNO : Tuesday 18th October 2016

'INFERNO' which I saw this week was written by Dan Brown, and he has so far had two other Robert Langdon adaptations committed to the big screen - 'The Da Vinci Code' in 2006 which made US$758M from its US$125M budget outlay, and 'Angels and Demons' in 2009 which returned US$486M from its US$150M budget. 'Inferno' is the third movie outing for Harvard Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon and the fourth book of the series. 'The Lost Symbol' - the third book in the series was skipped over as it was thought by those all knowing Studio Exec's that 'Inferno' would make a more compelling transition to the cinema screen. The Langdon character is reprised once again by Tom Hanks and with Director Ron Howard at the helm. David Koepp wrote the screenplay. The film was made for US$75M and has so far made US$50M ahead of its US release date on 28th October.

The film opens up with a lone man being chased on foot by three assailants. He disappears up a bell tower and upon reaching the top with no where to turn he steps out on to the ledge overlooking the cobbled streets below of Florence. The three men chasing after him emerge, the man is caught, he turns inwards to face the men, some words are exchanged, and the man leans back and plummets to his death onto the street below. We then cut to a hospital bed where a semi-conscious Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is hooked up to a drip, heart monitors and his head bandaged. He is having visions of Hell, the plague, ravaged bodies, violence and death and rivers of blood but all in a modern day setting. He comes around and is greeted by Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) who advises him that he was admitted muttering the words 'very sorry' over and over again and with a bullet wound to the head that is likely to have caused temporary amnesia. Langdon has no recollection of the events that caused him to end up in the hospital bed, and in Florence of all places which he recognises instantly from his bedroom window.

Whilst Langdon is still in pain from his head wound and experiencing ongoing visions which he is seemingly caught in the middle of, Vayentha (Ana Ularu) an assassin, arrives at the hospital in police uniform and makes for the room where Langdon is in recovery. A hospital orderly is gunned down, and in the melee Brooks acts upon her survival instincts and gets herself and Langdon out of the hospital just in time to evade the rapid gunfire at the hand of the disguised assassin. The pair flee to Brooks' apartment where Langdon sleeps. When he wakes he freshens up but still has little memory of the events that brought him to Florence. Rummaging through his old bloodied clothes he comes across an object that he has never seen before, that requires his thumb print to open the stainless steel tube. Reluctantly the pair agree to open it revealing a 'Faraday Pointer' - a miniature projector - which reveals an image of Botticelli's late 15th Century Map of Hell which is based on Dante's 14th Century epic dark masterpiece 'Inferno'. But within the map on closer inspection are certain adjustments, hidden letters and a clue pointing to Betrand Zorbrist (Ben Foster) - the man who fell to his death at the beginning of the film.

Zorbrist it turns out was a billionaire geneticist who believed that the world is overpopulated and that rigorous measures are necessary to reduce the ever increasing population, which he sees as a modern plague. Through his seminars he has captured the interest of a group of followers around the world, and Langdon deduces that Zorbrist had created a virus capable of reducing the global populace by more than 50% - sustainable levels for a fresh start! By now the pair have been traced by the local authorities and the assassin once again, but again Langdon and Brooks manage to evade capture on foot. With Langdon's intimate knowledge of Dante, and of Florence the two embark on a cat and mouse game across the city's secret passageways, hidden vaults and network of tunnels and chambers all the while unlocking other clues as the clock counts down to the release of the virus in some hidden and secure place.

The pair are pursued at every turn by both Christoph Bouchard (Omar Sy) who claims to be working for the World Health Organisation, and Elizabeth Sinskey (Sidse Babett Knudsen) who heads up the WHO and is well known to Langdon. All the while Langdon's memory is coming back to him in flashback. In the meantime, Harry Sims (Irrfan Khan) heads up 'The Consortium' - a very special and secretive interest group who conduct dirty deeds for vast sums of money for the worlds wealthiest clients, no questions asked and confidentiality guaranteed. Sims is in possession of a video recorded by Zorbrist to be played only after the virus has been released, but since his client is dead, Sims plays the video recording, revealing the magnitude of what his client was planning. Sims approaches Sinskey with the knowledge of Zorbrist's final message, and the pair agree to work together to track down Langdon who is the only one capable of uncovering the puzzle and locating the virus stash before it is released. Bouchard however, gets to Langdon and Brooks first and wins them over with tall tales of Sinskey and how she has her own agenda for the virus.

Sims, using his own very particular set of skills tracks down Langdon who has now been captured by Bouchard, and Brooks has made off, but not before Brooks has revealed to Langdon that she was in fact Zorbrist's lover and his accomplice in the plan to release the virus, but the whereabouts of it were not known even to her. She needed him to reveal the location by following the clues and using his expert knowledge, and has since made off, evading capture by Bouchard, so ensuring the virus will be released as planned. In a run down building Sims quickly dispenses with Bouchard freeing Langdon to continue the chase for the virus. After an explanation of how Sims fits into the equation, Langdon reveals that the virus is in fact in Istanbul in the Hagia Sophia, and so the pair make off with  Sinskey in a private jet. We further learn that Langdon and Sinskey have romantic history and that she in fact asked Langdon with help in deciphering the meanings hidden in the Faraday Pointer. Langdon was kidnapped by The Consortium and given a memory loss drug and the whole hospital episode was a ruse, aimed at keeping Langdon off the scent.

The virus is hanging in a plastic bag dangling in the waters of the 6th Century Basilica Cistern close by to the Hagia Sophia. With a once a year music festival taking place within the Cistern and the gathered orchestra in place and well dressed on lookers filling the Basilica, the WHO Team, Sims, Sinskey and Langdon head down to search out the virus bag. So too do Brooks and two other enlisted foot soldiers intent on detonating two bombs in close proximity to the bag that when ruptured with aerosolize the virus. Needless to say its get pretty hairy in the closing minutes as bodies flay about in the shallow waters of the ancient Cistern and the virus is contained. It doesn't end well for the antagonists or Sims, leaving Langdon and Sinskey to return to the respective lives wondering what might have been if they had their time over again, and leaving the world's population in tact at almost eight billion and counting!

For me, after the novelty of seeing Robert Langdon in 'The Da Vinci Code' and then 'Angels and Demons' which were far better introductory films to the world of symbols, imagery, and iconology, I went in to the theatre with higher expectations and came out underwhelmed! In 'Inferno' we have a pedestrian, predictable, popcorn offering that sees the same old same old regurgitated again for the sake of some historic ancient landmarks whilst making light work of Langdon's particular set of skills to thwart a dead mans evil plot. There are too a number of liberties with the story as written by Dan Brown in his book, which I guess is Hollywood's poetic license at work here, but those that have read his page turning unputdownable novels as I have, are likely to pick up on this too. The story here takes a while to get into gear and then when it does it takes its foot off the peddle and meanders along in a by the numbers offering that make this the least engaging of the three films so far. Disappointing, particularly for another Hanks/Howard collaboration, but maybe for half the budget of its predecessors therein lies your answer? Wait for the DVD or BluRay to watch in the comfort of your own home and save yourself the price of a ticket.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 13th October 2016.

Dan Brown is an American author of thriller adventure fiction, who has sold over 200 million books and had his works translated into 52 languages. His first book was released in 1998 - 'Digital Fortress' a stand alone novel about government surveillance of electronically stored information on the private lives of citizens, and the possible civil liberties and ethical implications of using such technology. This stand alone novel was followed up in 2001 by 'Deception Point' another stand alone story of a meteorite found within the Arctic Circle that may provide proof of extraterrestrial life, and attempts by the antagonists to prevent the evidence against it from becoming public. In 2000 Brown first introduced us to the character of Robert Langdon - a Harvard Professor of Symbology and Religious Iconology in 'Angels & Demons' which was subsequently made into a film in 2009, interestingly after the second novel in the Robert Langdon series 'The Da Vinci Code' which as a book was released in 2003 and as a film in 2006. Brown penned 'The Lost Symbol' next and that book was published in 2009 but was overlooked for the Hollywood treatment in skipping to 'Inferno' - the fourth novel in the Robert Langdon series, which is released this week and Previewed as below. So far all three instalments have been Directed by Ron Howard, with Tom Hanks in the lead role as Robert Langdon. A fifth book in the series is due for release in September 2017 titled 'Origin'. Brown's Robert Langdon books have been international best sellers, and the first two films in the series have grossed over US$1.2B.

This week then we have five new movies coming to your local Odeon, kicking off with the third big screen adaptation from a series of books by an acclaimed author featuring an acclaimed character portrayed by an acclaimed Actor at the hands of an acclaimed Director involving ancient mysteries, curious symbols, a game of cat and mouse, and a life or death situation confronting half the planet. This is followed up by a true crime telling of a late 90's heist that is just too far fetched to be believed - but it really happened, perhaps with a little comedic poetic licence thrown in for good measure here. We then turn attention to an Asian action adventure featuring an unlikely buddy pairing brought together to thwart an evil foe and rescue a maiden in distress, before returning home to our own Aussie backyard and another true crime telling of a pre-meditated partially publicised murder that went ahead when those that could have prevented it . . . chose not to! We then wrap up with a Spanish foreign language film from another acclaimed Director, about a mothers quest to reconnect with her estranged daughter.

When you have sat through your film of choice this week, feel free to drop us a line or two here at Odeon Online, by leaving your own critique in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your movie experience.

'INFERNO' (Rated M) - Dan Brown, the author upon which this film is based, has so far had two other Robert Langdon adaptations committed to the big screen - 'The Da Vinci Code' in 2006 which made US$758M from its US$125M budget outlay, and 'Angels and Demons' in 2009 which returned US$486M from its US$150M budget. 'Inferno' is the third movie outing for Harvard Professor of Symbology, Robert Langdon as reprised once again by Tom Hanks and with Director Ron Howard at the helm. David Koepp wrote the screenplay.

This time we see Langdon waking up in a hospital in Italy with no recollection of how he got there or where he is. He also has no explanation for the origin of a macabre object found stashed away in his belongings. Eventually he teams up with young doctor, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) whom Langdon hopes will help him recover his lost memory, but when a threat against his life eventuates the two are propelled into breakneck chase across Florence. Armed with the just a few meagre clues pointing to Dante's 14th Century epic dark masterpiece 'Inferno', Langdon and Brooks race against time to solve the puzzle which may or may not help them save the world from they threat of a virus capable of wiping out half the global population - as planted by transhumanist scientist Betrand Zorbrist (Ben Foster). Also starring Omar Sy and Irrfan Khan.

'MASTERMINDS' (Rated M) - based on the real life North Carolina Loomis Fargo Robbery that occurred in 1997 netting a haul of US$17.3M for its band of misfits (the second largest cash robbery in US history at that time), this crime comedy caper film is Directed by Jared Hess and features a strong cast for its US$25M budget. Here David Scott Ghantt (Zach Galifianakis) is a truck driver for armoured security company Loomis Fargo. Ghantt is stuck in a dead beat job, driving around other peoples hard earned cash for living. He strikes up a relationship with co-worker Kelly Campbell (Kristen Wiig) who persuades him that there is more to life that driving an armoured truck and to think about the possibilities of what lies inside the truck. Pretty soon, a harebrained scheme is devised with the aid of Steve Chambers (Owen Wilson), and lo and behold Ghantt pulls off the heist of a lifetime with over US$17M to show for it. Handing over his stash of cash to his accomplices who have turned the tables on him, Ghantt is double crossed while his former no-good partners in crime go on a wild spending spree leaving a trail of evidence for the authorities to follow. Evading the authorities and the intentions of hit man Mike McKinney (Jason Sudeikis), Ghantt now needs to turn the tide against those he once trusted. Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones also star so reuniting three of this years 'Ghostbusters' ensemble.

'SKIPTRACE' (Rated M) - this Hong Kong/Chinese/American Co-Production is Directed by Renny Harlin who knows how to create an action movie (think 'Die Hard 2', 'The Long Kiss Goodnight', 'Driven', 'Cliffhanger' and 'Deep Blue Sea') and here he teams up legendary Jackie Chan as Hong Kong Detective Bennie Chan who has been on the hunt for notorious underworld mobster Matador, believed to be Victor Wong (Winston Chao) for over ten years now since killing his young partner. When his partners daughter Samantha (Fan Bingbing) lands herself in hot water with Wong's syndicate, Chan must seek out American gambling con-man Connor Watts (Johnny Knoxville) who aside from gambling his way through China's casinos, was witness to a murder in Wong's Macau casino. What follows in a web of intrigue and a race across various countries that sees the pair travel from Russia, to Mongolia, to the Gobi Desert and back to Hong Kong with both the Russian and Chinese mob on their tails. The film opened big in China and has since taken a haul of US$134M.

'JOE CINQUE'S CONSOLATION' (Rated M) - this film adaptation of the non-fiction book by Australian author Helen Garner was published in 2004 and tells the story of her presence at the trials of Australian National University student Anu Singh (Maggie Naouri), and her friend and fellow student Madhavi Rao (Sacha Joseph), who plotted to kill her engineer boyfriend Joe Cinque (Jerome Meyer) by lacing his coffee with Rohypnol and administering a lethal dose of heroine. Singh believed that Cinque had made her ill in the first place so she plots her revenge, which as time passes becomes more macabre and more public. The murder occurred in October 1997 at a dinner party at which some of the guests were aware of the plan to murder Cinque, but chose to do nothing about it, or to forewarn the victim. Directed by Sotiris Dounoukos, this true crime film will leave you asking questions and debating the subject matter long after the credits have rolled.

'JULIETA' (Rated MA15+) - marking Pedro Almodovar's 20th Directed feature film, 'Julieta' is a Spanish production also Produced and Written for the screen by Almodovar based on three short stories from the book 'Runaway' by Alice Munro published in 2004. This film is Spain's entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2017 Academy Awards, and was in competition for the Palme D'Or at this years Cannes Film Festival. Telling the story of Julieta (Adriana Ugarte as the younger, and Emma Suarez as the older) ) who is about to relocate herself from Madrid to Portugal, she runs into Bea (Michelle Jenner) unexpectedly - the childhood friend of her daughter Anita. Bea tells her that her estranged daughter is living in Switzerland and has three children. With this news she decides not to leave Madrid with her boyfriend Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti) but to rent another apartment in the block in which she raised Anita and commit to writing a ledger that explains the events that led to their separation and estrangement, in the hope that Anita will re-establish contact.

Five films this week to satisfy most tastes if you like action adventure, action comedy, true crime, foreign language and family drama then there is something to quench your film going thirst. When you have sat through your movie of choice in the week ahead, drop us a line here at Odeon Online by sharing your thoughts with your like minded cinephiles. In the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-.

SULLY : Tuesday 13th September 2016

'SULLY' which I caught at my favoured local independent movie theatre this week is the real life story of Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger who captained the US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15th 2009 that soon after departing New York's LaGuardia Airport bound for Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, hit a flock of geese crippling both engines of the Airbus A320 that he was piloting. Based on Sully's autobiography 'Highest Duty', this film is Directed and Co-Produced by Clint Eastwood and tells the against the odds story of how 'The Miracle on the Hudson' as it came to be known, unfolded. The film cost US$60M to make, premiered in the US on September 9th, and has so far taken US$57M at the Box Office since its wider general release. Both Eastwood and Tom Hanks in the lead role as Sully, have been highly praised as Director and Actor respectively.

The film opens after the fact with Sully (Tom Hanks) waking with a start in a hotel room having dreamt that the plane he was piloting crashes into a building in downtown New York in a ball of flame causing countless casualties and collateral damage. Of course we already know the story, but we are re-living the world inside Sully's head after he begins to doubt that he made the right decision in choosing to ditch his stricken aeroplane on the Hudson River. Those doubts have been cast by the air crash investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) who Sully and his Co-Pilot First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) have to front up to the very next day and explain away why they chose the course of action they did, when all the evidence so far available indicates that a much more safer option existed.

As the days following unfold, we see through flashback Sully's early flying lessons in a crop dusting bi-plane in his late teens, and then another example of his flying prowess in bringing down a partially stricken jet during his Air Force days. Sully has been flying for over forty years with a 100% successful track record having delivered over one million passengers securely during that time. He is a career pilot, looking at retirement and consulting in aviation safety. He speaks with his wife Lorrie (Lara Linney) often on the phone, as he has not yet been able to return home after the incident because of the prompt and ongoing investigations and the testimony that he and Skiles need to provide.

Sully has been hailed hero, but he doesn't really feel like one he says in a television interview given the hounding he is receiving and the questions raised over his decision making process. The media have set up camp outside his family home, and the news channels are full of reports of Sully's heroism and quick thinking that saved all 155 souls on board. Everybody loves a hero, and in Sully the people of New York and America were delivered one after the Global Financial Crisis late the year before, and New York's previous disasters involving planes. But despite this, Sully still has doubts when the NTSB claim that one engine was sub-idling and therefore Sully could have made safe passage to nearby Teterboro Airport at New Jersey, or return to LaGuardia.

Increasingly we get a sense that the NTSB is holding Sully & Skiles guilty until proven innocent despite the fact that every soul on that plane survived. In the background the insurance company could be calling the shots claiming pilot error, which if found to be the case will see an end to Sully's career, his track record, his reputation and his retirement plan. The NTSB have loaded all available data into their flight simulators to exactly replicate the conditions and circumstances that Sully and Skiles described to them, and the overwhelming feedback after repeated tests is that safe passage could have been made to both Teterboro and LaGuardia. Sully however, is steadfast in his conviction that at an altitude of just 2,800 feet, three minutes into the flight and over a heavily populated metropolitan area that he simply did not have the time, the speed or the altitude to guide his aeroplane to a safe airport landing.

To ensure his voice his heard, Sully arranges for human pilot simulations to be conducted using identical conditions and circumstances and for these to be shown during a public hearing. These however, end with successful airport landings, which Sully counteracts again with an argument accounting for realistic human reactions, and the following of emergency protocols which would have caused a delay in reaction time not accounted for in these most recent piloted simulations. He also asks how many times those pilots had been allowed to 'practice' their landing of such an unprecedented emergency scenario, and was advised, up to seventeen times! Sully had one chance to make a split second decision in a life or death situation that didn't exist in any flight simulation programme under the set of circumstances that transpired that day.

The gathered Board at the public hearing concede the point and agree to run the piloted simulations once again for all to see, but this time with a 35 second delay before any emergency manoeuvres are instigated so approximately matching Sully's reaction time. Both flights to Teterboro and back to LaGuardia result in the plane crashing either into a populated area, or into a pier on the Hudson with catastrophic effects for all under both simulated scenarios. After a break in the proceedings, the Board announced that the left side engine had been recovered from the Hudson with preliminary reports saying that it had been completely destroyed by the bird strike, and could not therefore have sub-idled or provided the required thrust for a safe return bound landing, again bearing out Sully's earlier claims.

In the final analysis, the NTSB confirms that Flight 1549 was an unavoidable accident and that under such circumstances both Sully and Skiles undertook the best possible actions with the best possible outcomes to save lives. Sully concludes that the outcome was not just his and his First Officer's doing, but also that of the Ferry Boat operators, the Police, his on-board crew and all those who worked so quickly and diligently to have those evacuated off the stricken plane and out of the frigid Hudson River within 24 minutes of the aircraft going down.

Tom Hanks plays everyman Sully convincingly and with a stoic realism that is measured, considered, confident and grounded as a man just doing his job. Eastwood proves once again what a fine Director he has become, being a veteran of 35 feature films under his belt as Director alone. Here he has crafted a fine story around a remarkable brief incident that could have turned out considerably worse than it did, but for the skill, experience and fortitude of one man in control when the chips were down. An engaging, thought provoking film that is well told, well acted out, and an unravelling of what happened after that most of us, were hitherto unfamiliar with. This is Hanks film and as a reluctant hero he is once again very watchable and believable just as he was in Spielberg's 'Bridge of Spies' and Greengrass' 'Captain Phillips'. Certainly well worth the price of your ticket.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 8th September 2016.

This week sees the release of Clint Eastwood's 35th feature film as Director. Of those 35 films he has Co-Produced 27, starred in 23 of those and mostly in the lead role, composed the music score for six, and either performed the song or written the words and/or music for sixteen of them. Certainly multi talented and still going strong after seven decades in the acting business having gained his first credited acting role in 1955. For his efforts he won the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for 'Unforgiven' and for 'Million Dollar Baby' plus he has seven other Oscar nominations together with his total awards haul of 140 other wins and 143 nominations for Acting, Directing, Producing and music. A genuine movie making all-rounder. Below is a summary of his Directing credits to date :-

 * 1971 - 'Play Misty for Me' - starring Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter and Donna Mills
 * 1973 - 'High Plains Drifter' - starring Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom and Marianna Hill
 * 1973 - 'Breezy' - starring William Holden
 * 1975 - 'The Eiger Sanction' - starring Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy
 * 1976 - 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' - starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke
 * 1977 - 'The Gauntlet' - starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke
 * 1980 - 'Bronco Billy' - starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke
 * 1982 - 'Firefox' - starring Clint Eastwood and Freddie Jones
 * 1982 - 'Honkeytonk Man' - starring Clint Eastwood and Kyle Eastwood
 * 1983 - 'Sudden Impact' - starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke
 * 1985 - 'Pale Rider' - starring Clint Eastwood and Michael Moriarty
 * 1986 - 'Heartbreak Ridge' - starring Clint Eastwood and Marsha Mason
 * 1988 - 'Bird' - starring Clint Eastwood and Forest Whitaker
 * 1990 - 'White Hunter, Black Heart' - starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Fahey
 * 1990 - 'The Rookie' - starring Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen
 * 1992 - 'Unforgiven' - starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman
 * 1993 - 'A Prefect World' - starring Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner and Laura Dern
 * 1995 - 'The Bridges of Madison County' - starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep
 * 1997 - 'Absolute Power' - starring Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman and Ed Harris
 * 1997 - 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil' - starring John Cusack and Kevin Spacey
 * 1999 - 'True Crime' - starring Clint Eastwood, James Woods and Isaiah Washington
 * 2000 - 'Space Cowboys' - starring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland
 * 2002 - 'Blood Work' - starring Clint Eastwood, Jeff Daniels and Angelica Houston
 * 2003 - 'Mystic River' - starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins
 * 2004 - 'Million Dollar Baby' - starring Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman
 * 2006 - 'Flags of Our Fathers' - starring Ryan Phillippe and Barry Pepper
 * 2006 - 'Letters from Iwo Jima' - starring Ken Watanabe
 * 2008 - 'Changeling' - starring Angeline Jolie and Amy Ryan
 * 2008 - 'Gran Torino' - starring Clint Eastwood and Bee Vang
 * 2009 - 'Invictus' - starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman
 * 2010 - 'Hereafter' - starring Matt Damon
 * 2011 - 'J.Edgar' - starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Judi Dench
 * 2014 - 'Jersey Boys' - starring Christopher Walken and John Lloyd Young
 * 2014 - 'American Sniper' - starring Bradley Cooper
 * 2016 - 'Sully' - starring Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart.

Turning to the week ahead, we have six new movie offerings coming to an Odeon near you. Kicking off with a superhero film of a different kind that sees a mere mortal father with strong beliefs living well & truly off the grid with his six kids in remote woodland that eventually have to confront the real world with lasting consequences on them all. Then another hero story based on real events surrounding a quick thinking pilot, a flock of geese and the chilly waters of a major waterway; a quirky Australian coming of age drama; and then a couple of documentaries - one into a weird and wacky Church that seems swathed in secrecy and hell bent on covering up its antics, and the next about a campaign to bring about equality and gay marriage rights in a country that you would least expect to blaze such a trail. And then we wrap up with an animated feature of domestic animals doing their own thing when their owners and human friends are out from 9-5.

With another big selection of diverse cinematic content to choose from in the coming week, plus those other films as Reviewed and Previewed between these humble pages that are still doing the rounds on general release, you are invited as always to share your thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your own Comments below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your film.

'CAPTAIN FANTASTIC' (Rated M) - no, this is not a Marvel or DC Extended Universe offering up there with 'Captain America' or another reboot of 'The Fantastic Four', but instead an independently produced comedy drama film Directed and Written by Matt Ross that has garnered much critical acclaim since its release. Having premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year, screened in competition at Cannes in May in the 'Un Certain Regard' category and won the Best Director Prize, and released in early July in the US, this film now arrives at a cinema near you and calls for your attention.

Starring Viggo Mortensen as father of six Ben Cash who lives with his family well and truly off the grid in the Pacific Northwest in remote Washington State. His wife Leslie (Trin Miller) has a history of mental illness and is hospitalised with bipolar disorder and then he receives news that she has committed suicide. Having brought up their six children Bodevan - 18 (George Mackay), twins Kielyr - 15 (Samantha Isler) and Vespyr -15 (Annalise Basso), Rellian - 14 (Nicholas Hamilton), Zaja - 8 (Shree Crooks) and Nai - 6 (Charlie Shotwell) in isolation of the outside world, schooled at home in the ways of critical thinking, physical training, mental agility, being an one with nature and living without any 21st century conveniences or technology, he must embark on a road trip to New Mexico to attend the funeral. This however, means taking his children into the outside world for the first time,  and confronting Leslie's parents who threaten him with arrest if he attends the funeral. Their journey of discovery and the ways the children respond differently to it and what they encounter en route, causes Ben to re-evaluate the choices made in their upbringing and his own beliefs. Also starring Frank Langella and Anne Dowd as Leslie's parents, and Kathryn Hahn and Steve Zahn as Ben's sister and her husband respectively.

'SULLY' (Rated M) - this is real life story of Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger who captained the US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15th 2009 that soon after departing New York's LaGuardia Airport bound for Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, hit a flock of geese crippling both engines of the Airbus A320. Three minutes into the flight, still at low altitude and with no airport to divert to quickly Sully (Tom Hanks) and his First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart) make the decision to ditch the stricken aircraft in the near freezing waters of the Hudson River saving every one of the 155 passengers and crew on board. This against the odds story tells how 'The Miracle on the Hudson' as it came to be known unfolded, how Sully is made a hero in the press and in the media, but soon afterwards an investigation unfolds that sees Sully's life turn upside down as he must defend his actions on that day, his family and his reputation. Directed and Co-Produced by Clint Eastwood with Lara Linney starring as Sully's wife Lorraine. This film is based on Sully's autobiography 'Highest Duty'.

'GIRL ASLEEP' (Rated M) - this little Australian coming of age drama was filmed in Adelaide, South Australia and premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2015 where it took out the Audience Award for Most Popular Feature Film being bestowed upon Director Rosemary Myers and Producer Jo Dyer. It also won the Grand Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival, and has garnered much critical praise around the festival circuit before arriving back home for a general, albeit fairly limited release. This tells the story of Greta Driscoll (Bethany Whitmore) who is about to turn fifteen sometime during the mid-70's in Australian suburbia. She is content to live in the shadows, be the underdog, and let life pass her by as she clings onto the last vestiges of childhood where there is familiarity, safety, belonging and all the comforts she is used to. She meanders around with her only friend Elliott (Harrison Feldman) until her parents throw a surprise birthday party and invite just about anyone and everyone within the school and whereupon she is flung into a parallel world where we journey through the whimsical, scary, beautiful mind of a young teenage girl.

'MY SCIENTOLOGY MOVIE' (Rated M) - quirky and brave documentarian Louis Theroux has sought for a number of years to make a doco about the Church of Scientology but was refused access, permission and any right to do so by Church officials. In 2011 Theroux and his Producer, Simon Chinn, got together with Director John Dower and started planning this film, but not in the traditional talking heads and archival footage sense. Here we see Theroux combine with former senior Scientologist Mark Rathburn to create dramatic reconstructions of incidents and actions using Actors as Church Officials. Here they portray claims of violent behaviour by the Head of the Church David Miscavige at its international headquarters at Gold Base in Riverside County, California. It is not long however, before the Church retaliates on Theroux and his film making crew with their own camera surveillance as though turning the film making tables on the film maker, in a kind of Mexican camera stand-off, which is all documented here, together with supposedly accurate and faithful reconstructions Directed by Scientology Whistleblower Rathburn for authenticity. The funny, revealing and absurd film premiered at the London Film Festival last October and is likely to leave you asking more questions than those answered into exactly what are they hiding?

'THE QUEEN OF IRELAND' (Rated M) - another documentary this time charting the life and times of world renowned Irish drag queen and LGBTIQ rights activist Panti Bliss aka Rory O'Neill, as Written and Directed by Conor Horgan. As Panti fights for equality in her native Ireland, we join her on the campaign trail which ultimately led to the country becoming the first in the world to sanction gay marriage as voted by the people in early 2015, which would have been an unimaginable concept ten years ago. As she becomes a passionate, powerful and persuasive public figure at a time that Ireland perhaps needed it the most, the message within this film is likely to resonate in particular with Australian audiences who are engaged in much debate about the very same topic. When the film opened in Ireland in October 2015, it had the highest grossing opening weekend for an Irish documentary film ever.

'THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS' (Rated G) - this animated feature from Illumination  Entertainment was Directed by Chris Renaud, released in the US in early July, cost US$75M to make and has so far grossed US$767M making it the highest grossing non-Disney original animated feature film, ever! In a nutshell, the film tells the story of the things our beloved pets get up to when us adults and kids are out at work or at school during the day. Featuring an impressive voice cast that includes Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Albert Brooks, Steve Coogan and Louis C.K. You can be sure that this includes the latest in animation design, sight gags, a witty script, loveable creatures, annoying critters,  pesky animals and adorable pets that is sure to please the child in us all.

With six very different films to choose from this week, there is something for just about everyone, so no excuses - get yourself out to your local movie theatre, watch a film, and share your views here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you at the Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-