Dates may be subject to change. For up-to-date details and showtimes, see odeonfirenze.com.
TOMORROWLAND ***
June 4–7
Cynical former boy-genius Frank (George Clooney) and bright, optimistic teen Casey (Brittany Robertson), embark on a dangerous mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space known only as “Tomorrowland.” What they must do there changes the world—and them—forever. Adventure sci-fi from Disney with script by Lost writer Damon Lindelof. ‘Bird and Lindelof have thrown everything they have at this film and, aside from a pause for breath at the end, they’ve made something funny, surprising and packed full of wonder’ (Empire). ‘When it puts down its copy of ‘Political Philosophy for Dummies’ and focuses on character and action, Tomorrowland is a blast’ (Time Out London). ‘The glaring failure of Tomorrowland is that its central premise — children are the future — is almost completely negated by the preachiness of the execution and the clumsiness of the storytelling’ (Variety).
FURY ***June 8–10
April, 1945. The last days of the war. Battle-hardened Sherman tank commander (Brad Pitt) Wardaddy and his five-man crew are on a deadly mission behind enemy lines, facing overwhelming obstacles along the way. With the odds stacked against them, experience teamed with innocence is not the best formula for dealing the final blow to the Nazi war effort. ‘Loud, intense, violent, relentless, Fury doesn’t stop until the credits roll, thanks to Ayer’s cracking direction and a committed cast. The best WW2 movie in some time’ (Total Film). ‘Fury is literally visceral— a kind of war horror film, which is, of course, what good combat films should be’ (New Yorker). ‘World War II was a historical event, but also a movie genre, and Fury occasionally prints the legend. The rest of it is plenty grim and grisly. Audience members may feel like prisoners of war forced to watch a training-torture film’ (Time). ‘The film itself is a lumbering tank of a movie, chunky, loud, and clumsy, mulching down men into meat as proof of its dramatic seriousness and gloomy worldview’ (Slaant Magazine).
Odeon Cult Series
THE PARTY ****June 18, 9pm
Blake Edwards’ comedy digression from the Pink Panther movies, and surely as funny as Inspector Clouseau’s antics in those. Its sixties Hollywood setting is an engaging backdrop to the real action provided almost single-handedly by the genius of Peter Sellers, an inept extra who is accidentally invited to a high-flyers’ party. Sellers captures the comedy as well as the pathos of Hrundi V. Bakshi’s various slapstick predicaments brought about by excessive bonhomie and an unfamiliarity with gadgets a la Jacques Tati. ‘Veteran slapstick fans may get a kick out of the free-form antics, and the party’s chaotic ending is suitably memorable, but empathetic viewers are likely to be as uncomfortable with Sellers’ improv as the partygoers he leads into havoc’ (The Onion). ‘Both classic farce and trenchant satire, a self-sufficient fantasy about the fantasy of Hollywood life’ (Film Comment). ‘Quite a few very funny moments, but one doesn’t laugh so much as admire the ingenuity’ (Time Out).
Odeon Cult Series
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS *****June 2, 9pm
His scars run deep. ‘In this modern fairy tale, Edward is a gentle, naive creation with razor sharp scissors for hands. When he is taken home by a kindly Avon lady live with her family, his adventure in the pastel paradise of Suburbia begins!’ (20th Century Fox). Tim Burton’s great romance, with long-time collaborator Johnny Depp in one of his most affecting roles. Weird and wonderful. ‘Like a great chef concocting an exquisite peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich, Mr. Burton invests awe-inspiring ingenuity into the process of reinventing something very small’ (New York Times). ‘Edward Scissorhands isn’t perfect. It’s something better: pure magic’ (Rolling Stone). ‘Great to look at but not much fun to watch… An emotionally uncommitted picture that’s smirky and mawkish, by turns, and at heart, empty’ (San Francisco Chronicle) ‘With its skewed vision of suburbia, Burton’s film… is a visual treat, complete with pastel bungalows, surreal shrubbery and grotesque outfits, but it remains curiously hollow’ (Time Out).
