Latest / Nashville Movie Dispatch / The Cinema Chronicles, Vol. 42: 'The Odyssey' and More!

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The Cinema Chronicles, Vol. 42: 'The Odyssey' and More! · Nashville Movie Dispatch

0:21
Speaker 1: Welcome back to another volume of the cinema Chronicles right
0:26
Speaker 1: here on Nashville Movie Dispatch. I'm your host, Sir Brandon Vick.
0:31
Speaker 1: I'm a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and
0:34
Speaker 1: a board member of the Music City Film Critics Association.
0:39
Speaker 1: And send of the Monk. It's that time. I got
0:42
Speaker 1: four good ones for you today, including a huge, massive
0:47
Speaker 1: movie that you may have heard of, but I'll save that.
0:53
Speaker 1: It's hot. It's end of July. I can't wait for fall.
0:58
Speaker 1: I wish it was here today. The good news about
1:02
Speaker 1: having hot weather here in Tennessee at least is that
1:06
Speaker 1: I cooked breakfast outside on my driveway today, so that
1:11
Speaker 1: was nice. Didn't use anything in the house, so that's good.
1:15
Speaker 1: Ask anybody. I'm pretty outdoorsy anyway, but the heat, the
1:19
Speaker 1: heat really really helps. I want to kick things off
1:26
Speaker 1: by sharing some pretty big news with everybody. I have
1:29
Speaker 1: a son. He is three and a half years old,
1:32
Speaker 1: and he has I officially got to take him to
1:36
Speaker 1: his very first movie at a big movie theater. We went,
1:42
Speaker 1: I think it was the day after the fourth of July,
1:46
Speaker 1: and there's this whole build up where he was gonna
1:48
Speaker 1: go with my nephews, his cousins, and we're all gonna
1:52
Speaker 1: go see minions and monsters. However, that slowly changed into
1:56
Speaker 1: where we ended up just me, my wife, and him
2:02
Speaker 1: going to an eight thirty in the morning showing to
2:06
Speaker 1: Toy Story five. And he has seen the first one.
2:10
Speaker 1: We've watched that at least a couple times. He watched
2:15
Speaker 1: Toy Story two. We watched that outside on our projector,
2:20
Speaker 1: and then while he was up with his we call
2:25
Speaker 1: them grammy and Granddad's, he watched Toy Story three and
2:28
Speaker 1: Toy Story four. So I had made a joke like
2:32
Speaker 1: a week or two before that Tom about like, well,
2:34
Speaker 1: he can't go see Toy Story five. He's not caught
2:36
Speaker 1: up yet, but I'll be domn. He got caught up
2:39
Speaker 1: before we went to see Toy Story five, and so
2:43
Speaker 1: obviously it was not very crowded. I enjoyed it. I
2:48
Speaker 1: got him a little booster seat. I even didn't even
2:50
Speaker 1: realize I even had those, but even though I probably
2:53
Speaker 1: won't buy them a thousand times, and he did so good.
2:58
Speaker 1: He enjoyed it. He has now here we are less
3:02
Speaker 1: than a month later, and he has Buzz Lightyear pajamas.
3:06
Speaker 1: He has Buzz Lightyear action figure, Woody figure, Jesse. Big
3:10
Speaker 1: fan of Jesse and Bullseye. But now he's starting to
3:14
Speaker 1: just be Buzz and I've been. I've been Woody, I've
3:20
Speaker 1: been I think maybe he let me be Buzz once.
3:23
Speaker 1: I've definitely been Bullseye, and I've been Jesse every now
3:27
Speaker 1: and then. And then if we really want to get crazy,
3:31
Speaker 1: he will be Buzz light Year and I'll be Rhino
3:33
Speaker 1: from Spidey and his Amazing Friends. So there's a lot. Yeah,
3:37
Speaker 1: there's a lot that we like to do. But I
3:41
Speaker 1: was really impressed. I was a bit nervous because of
3:44
Speaker 1: the sound and kind of the lights going out, and
3:47
Speaker 1: he's not used to that, but he had he had
3:50
Speaker 1: no problem whatsoever. And it was a very proud moment
3:54
Speaker 1: for me to share with him because I was eight
3:57
Speaker 1: or nine when the first toy story came out. And
4:01
Speaker 1: I have loved all of them. I even have a
4:05
Speaker 1: ranking up there on Nashville Moovie Dispatch dot substack dot com.
4:10
Speaker 1: I think all of them have at least received four
4:13
Speaker 1: stars and above. But so I've grown up with them.
4:18
Speaker 1: I've seen them several times. I sort of walk away
4:22
Speaker 1: feeling different each time. One as a kid. One is
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Speaker 1: just a grown up watching it, and one is a
4:27
Speaker 1: dad watching it, and so, truth be told, it wasn't
4:33
Speaker 1: my intention, but I'm kind of glad his first movie
4:36
Speaker 1: was one of the Toy Story franchise and not nothing listen,
4:41
Speaker 1: nothing against the minions, and I'm going to get into
4:43
Speaker 1: that their new movie in just a minute, but I was.
4:47
Speaker 1: It was sort of a full circle moment, and Toy Story,
4:51
Speaker 1: of course, changed the way animated movies will would forever
4:54
Speaker 1: be made with Pixars. So anyway, really cool, I he really,
5:02
Speaker 1: he really was. I remember he was asking about Jesse
5:05
Speaker 1: doing it. But the one thing that made my wife
5:08
Speaker 1: and I laugh the most is while we were there
5:11
Speaker 1: waiting for the movie, we all there's these previews and commercials,
5:14
Speaker 1: and rather you are forty years old or you're three,
5:19
Speaker 1: you have the same question. He least did this two
5:22
Speaker 1: or three times. Before the movie started. He would just
5:25
Speaker 1: say it is very like, not whisper nothing. He would
5:29
Speaker 1: just ask, when's the movie starting? When's the movie gonna
5:34
Speaker 1: come on? And I thought, buddy, I've been asking that
5:37
Speaker 1: for years and years and years, So I think the
5:41
Speaker 1: next movie we're gonna try and go see, is this
5:43
Speaker 1: new Paul Patrol movie that comes out next month, because
5:46
Speaker 1: it also has something that my son really enjoys, and
5:48
Speaker 1: that's dinosaurs. So I'll keep you posted. But let's let's
5:54
Speaker 1: get this thing. Let's get this thing going before we
5:56
Speaker 1: get into it, Remember, check out all of our work
5:59
Speaker 1: on Nash Movie Dispatch dot substack dot com and obviously
6:03
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your podcasts such as this one.
6:08
Speaker 1: Check it all out. Just search National Movie Dispatch you'll
6:11
Speaker 1: find you'll find it all. So now let's find into
6:15
Speaker 1: these yellow tic TACs that are getting buck wild. Next,
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Speaker 1: the Minions are back with minions and monsters. This one
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Speaker 1: on it's It's really quite unexpected in its amount of
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Speaker 1: affection and heart. This latest Minions movie, I dare say,
6:47
Speaker 1: is the best of the franchise, and truth be told,
6:50
Speaker 1: it's better than most of the Despicable Me movies too,
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Speaker 1: and I like them, but this one, this one really
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Speaker 1: delivered in ways that I don't think. I don't rather
7:03
Speaker 1: your fans of the Minions are not. I don't think
7:05
Speaker 1: you saw this one coming. And I think it's mostly
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Speaker 1: relies on the story that it tells because it kind
7:11
Speaker 1: of ventures off from the other Minions stuff. But per
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Speaker 1: Rotten Tomatoes, this is the This is the rambunctious, ridiculous
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Speaker 1: and totally true story of how the Minions conquered Hollywood,
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Speaker 1: became movie stars, lost everything, unleashed monsters onto the world,
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Speaker 1: and then banded together to try and save the planet
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Speaker 1: from the mayhem they had just created. So this is
7:34
Speaker 1: directed by Patrick Delage and Pierre Coffin, who not only
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Speaker 1: co wrote this, but has been the voice or voices
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Speaker 1: of the Minions since the beginning. This latest installment changes
7:46
Speaker 1: things up like I was talking about, and is an
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Speaker 1: endearing love letter to cinema and especially the old Hollywood
7:54
Speaker 1: that has come and gone. It's a fun time watching
7:57
Speaker 1: these yellow hellions create their own film history with of course,
8:01
Speaker 1: utter Chaos and Charm. Also includes a fantastic friendship between
8:06
Speaker 1: two new Minions I don't believe we've ever met before,
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Speaker 1: James and Henry, who both share a rebellious spirit. Via
8:14
Speaker 1: New York Times, the piece Minions as a tour's question mark.
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Speaker 1: The newest entry takes an old Hollywood approach, it says,
8:22
Speaker 1: Millions and Monsters has given Coffin a different perspective on everything.
8:27
Speaker 1: The fifty nine year old Frenchman who is as integral
8:30
Speaker 1: to the franchise as the color yellow, did not want
8:33
Speaker 1: to make another feature with a minion tired and burned out.
8:36
Speaker 1: He wanted to try something new while he still could. Then,
8:39
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, Chris Meledandry, chief executive of Illumination Entertainment,
8:44
Speaker 1: pitched him a new idea, A minion wants to make
8:48
Speaker 1: a monster movie. Coffin sparked to the concept immediately, specifically
8:53
Speaker 1: placing the minions at the start of Hollywood when Slapstick Rain,
8:57
Speaker 1: That's where they come from. Coffin said, of the beloved characters,
8:59
Speaker 1: while Dentics that was all the background. I needed to
9:02
Speaker 1: find creative ways to have the minions fit into that
9:05
Speaker 1: world where they didn't really belong. So Minions of Monsters
9:10
Speaker 1: has several references or homages to the old Hollywood, as
9:15
Speaker 1: we talked about in kind of that beginning of the
9:20
Speaker 1: of cinema. There's references homages to Citizen Kane, Casablanca, the
9:26
Speaker 1: Day the Earth Stood Still. There's the fifties sci fi,
9:30
Speaker 1: the classic monster movies of course, and then also some
9:34
Speaker 1: great tip of the hats with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
9:40
Speaker 1: Minions of Monsters is also it's silly, and it's sweet
9:43
Speaker 1: and it's funny. The voice cast consists of obviously Coffin,
9:47
Speaker 1: who does the minion's voices, but there's also Jeff Bridges,
9:51
Speaker 1: Zoey Deutch, Christoph Watts, Trey Parker, Alison Chaney, and Jesse Eisenberg,
9:57
Speaker 1: who's getting a specific shout out because he my personal favorite.
10:01
Speaker 1: He voices a robot named Dort who falls in love
10:04
Speaker 1: and is dragged into saving the world by the minions
10:07
Speaker 1: instead of invading it, so again goes back to obviously
10:12
Speaker 1: the day the Earth stood still for anybody that's familiar
10:14
Speaker 1: with that. The animation is splendid, it's vivid, vibrant, and
10:18
Speaker 1: the story is super smart while still fully writing. And
10:22
Speaker 1: the persistent insanity and delirious fun that these minions and
10:27
Speaker 1: the younger audiences have have always thrived off of. And
10:31
Speaker 1: while Minions and Monsters does eventually return to the Minion's
10:35
Speaker 1: usual stick, I think Coffin and crew do more than
10:38
Speaker 1: enough to make this feel fresh. I'm gonna revert back
10:43
Speaker 1: to Sean's review that's on Nashville Movie Dispatch. He says,
10:48
Speaker 1: while the iconic Yellow Henchmen and their beloved bananas have
10:52
Speaker 1: been pop culture staples for over a decade. Keeping the
10:55
Speaker 1: magic alive required a pivot of sorts, and that is
10:58
Speaker 1: exactly what the seventh entry provides. It's such a good
11:02
Speaker 1: time that cenophiles will rightfully argue it was made specifically
11:05
Speaker 1: for them if anyone thought this franchise was nearing its
11:09
Speaker 1: expiration date like three old, like three day old bananas.
11:14
Speaker 1: Minions of Monsters proves otherwise, showing there's plenty of fuel
11:17
Speaker 1: left in the tank for the franchise as a whole.
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Speaker 1: So Minions of Monsters is getting a vix Flix rating
11:22
Speaker 1: of three and a half out of five. And coming
11:26
Speaker 1: up next, it's another installment of that nasty whore that's
11:31
Speaker 1: gooey and gross. Next, did you guess it, it's Evil
11:47
Speaker 1: Dead Burn per rotten Tomatoes. Evil Dead Burn unleashes the
11:52
Speaker 1: franchise's most savage and terrifying ride to date, blazing onto
11:56
Speaker 1: big screens with an all new chapter of carnage and
11:58
Speaker 1: demonic mayhem. After the loss of her husband, a woman
12:01
Speaker 1: seeks solace with their in laws and their secluded family
12:04
Speaker 1: home as one by one they are transformed into dead heights,
12:08
Speaker 1: turning the gathering into a family reunion from hell, she
12:12
Speaker 1: comes to discover that the vowels she took in life
12:14
Speaker 1: live on even in death. So Evil Dead Burn unabashedly
12:21
Speaker 1: follows suit in being vicious, nasty, and gory, inflicting an
12:25
Speaker 1: inexhaustible supply of cruel, grueling and punishing violence. These new
12:30
Speaker 1: Evil Dead movies, starting back with Just Evil Dead in
12:34
Speaker 1: twenty eleven twenty twelve, they each have a different director,
12:38
Speaker 1: and I think this is I think it's pretty smart
12:41
Speaker 1: as it tends to keep things fresh and creative, allowing
12:45
Speaker 1: kind of this different vision and voice that get to
12:48
Speaker 1: go their own sadistic way and in their own style.
12:52
Speaker 1: Sebastian Ventchik Venicek directs this one with a new French
12:57
Speaker 1: extremity that meshes well with that familiar Evil Dead spirit. However,
13:02
Speaker 1: this one still feels like the weakest of the bunch.
13:06
Speaker 1: While the story does expand on the mythology and lore
13:09
Speaker 1: and showcases some pretty cool camera tricks, some gruesome set
13:13
Speaker 1: pieces that are quite riveting execution wise, and some much
13:17
Speaker 1: needed humor, it also lacks real depth in its characters
13:21
Speaker 1: as well as its themes of grief and abuse. It's
13:25
Speaker 1: all aggravatingly written, and a lot of stuff is too
13:29
Speaker 1: thinly created in order to kind of get this emotional
13:33
Speaker 1: connection to what's happening on screen. I'm gonna butcher this,
13:39
Speaker 1: butcher this, this actress's name. But so Hila yokomb yokub
13:46
Speaker 1: she is a great protagonist through all of it. She
13:51
Speaker 1: is put through the ringer in order to survive this bloodbath.
13:55
Speaker 1: So I really, I really liked what she was able
13:59
Speaker 1: to bring to it. I mean, really, these Evil Dead
14:01
Speaker 1: movies really you You don't If you can't root for
14:06
Speaker 1: the protagonist, then it's in trouble. And I don't think
14:09
Speaker 1: Evil Dead has ever had a had a problem with that.
14:12
Speaker 1: It also should come as no surprise that in this
14:16
Speaker 1: movie titled Evil Dead Burn, stuff burns and if you're
14:21
Speaker 1: gonna play with fire, it better be real damn it.
14:26
Speaker 1: Viacomicbook dot Com Evil Deadburn director details why he used
14:30
Speaker 1: real fire instead of cg the pieces. Since the Evil
14:36
Speaker 1: Dead series began with Sam Raimi's original in nineteen eighty one,
14:39
Speaker 1: there's been some consistency across the franchise. No matter if
14:42
Speaker 1: the main character is Ash, or it's Jane Levy's Mia,
14:46
Speaker 1: or one of the new faces that have arrived. It's
14:48
Speaker 1: been a series about capturing bloody horror imagery on camera.
14:52
Speaker 1: At first it was a point of necessity as practical
14:56
Speaker 1: visual effects where all filmmakers had at their disposal, But
14:58
Speaker 1: when twenty eleven's Evil Dead came along, it was a
15:01
Speaker 1: point of pride about how much of the gore and
15:03
Speaker 1: violence wasn't created exclusively with the computer. Speaking with Comic
15:09
Speaker 1: Book for the upcoming film Evil Dead Burn, they asked
15:13
Speaker 1: Sebastian about carrying on that tradition with one major facet
15:17
Speaker 1: of the film its immense use of fire, which he
15:20
Speaker 1: maintained had to be done with real flames. For Veniceck,
15:24
Speaker 1: it wasn't just about paying homage to the diy and
15:26
Speaker 1: practical nature of the entire Dead series, entire Evil Dead series,
15:31
Speaker 1: but also because faking fire is even tougher than trying
15:35
Speaker 1: to fake blood with computer visual effects. The director says,
15:40
Speaker 1: as soon as I knew the title was burned, I
15:41
Speaker 1: was like, I will need real fire on set because
15:44
Speaker 1: Evil Dead is all about practical effects. It's not even
15:46
Speaker 1: about respecting the legacy. It's because that's why they work
15:49
Speaker 1: so well. Things are done on set and things are
15:52
Speaker 1: real even if people are not like, oh that's cg
15:54
Speaker 1: right away, they can feel something is a little bit
15:57
Speaker 1: odd or something is less physical. There are a lot
16:00
Speaker 1: of imperfections in reality, and those imperfections are really hard
16:04
Speaker 1: to recreate in Cgene. He goes on to say, so
16:07
Speaker 1: I wanted all this imperfection. My movie is full of
16:10
Speaker 1: those imperfections. It's talking about imperfections, so I needed the
16:13
Speaker 1: whole movie to have this camera that is handheld, to
16:16
Speaker 1: have dust and dirt on the camera. That's how I
16:18
Speaker 1: think the movie is physical and visceral. So look, I
16:22
Speaker 1: like that kind of thinking and it makes sense. However,
16:26
Speaker 1: it is kind of funny because there are other elements
16:28
Speaker 1: that feel pretty CG heavy, especially in its finale that
16:35
Speaker 1: honestly has Evil deadburn ending on somewhat of a whimper.
16:39
Speaker 1: I think devoted longtime fans, you know, won't They can't
16:43
Speaker 1: get enough, and I think Vinnichek gives them plenty to
16:47
Speaker 1: smile about. It's intense, brutal, disturbing shit for all to
16:51
Speaker 1: a door, but to me, the story doesn't really have
16:54
Speaker 1: enough juice to back up the bloodshed. This is the
16:59
Speaker 1: first time where Evil Dead has kind of felt more
17:01
Speaker 1: like Saul, where most of the characters are pretty much
17:06
Speaker 1: forgettable and its only purpose is to see how like
17:10
Speaker 1: fucking savage and disgusting it can be at killing people.
17:13
Speaker 1: Hopefully that's not the path we're headed down. For those
17:18
Speaker 1: that don't know, there is already a new Evil Dead
17:20
Speaker 1: on the Way titled Evil Dead Wrath that comes out
17:23
Speaker 1: in April of twenty twenty eight. It's directed by Francis Galluppi,
17:28
Speaker 1: and it's actually a prequel, a prequel taking place in
17:32
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, so looks like we' we'll be catching
17:36
Speaker 1: the Dead Heights on the flip side sooner rather than later.
17:40
Speaker 1: But as far as Evil Dead burn it gets a
17:43
Speaker 1: vixflix rating of three out of five. And coming up
17:47
Speaker 1: next Little Talking a lot of music and Ben Foster
17:53
Speaker 1: being a heartless bastard. Next, starring Alan Richison, it is
18:09
Speaker 1: a film called motor City that just came out this
18:12
Speaker 1: past Friday per Rotten Tomatoes. In nineteen seventies Detroit, a
18:17
Speaker 1: working class romantic is framed by a ruthless gangster after
18:21
Speaker 1: falling for his girlfriend. After years in prison, he returns
18:25
Speaker 1: with only one mission revenge. So motor City is a
18:30
Speaker 1: beefed up, blood soaked revenge thriller by Pazzi Poncherali. He
18:36
Speaker 1: fun fact directed a movie called Oldie Henry, which we
18:41
Speaker 1: got to see at the Nashville Film Festival a few
18:43
Speaker 1: years ago. It is a little Western gym with a
18:47
Speaker 1: terrific tim Blake Nelson, so go check that out. Set
18:50
Speaker 1: in Detroit in the late seventies and is soaked in
18:53
Speaker 1: that era's look and feel and mood, which I really dug.
18:57
Speaker 1: The biggest swing Patzi takes is having very little dialogue
19:01
Speaker 1: in this The music and performances are here to drive
19:04
Speaker 1: motor City. While it's definitely more of a slow burn
19:09
Speaker 1: than a non stop, can't catch your breath action movie,
19:11
Speaker 1: it still hits the gas pretty hard as far as performances.
19:16
Speaker 1: Alan Richinson, he's bringing his Reacher brutal force to a
19:20
Speaker 1: role that uses it well. He's unstoppable, He's unhoo, He's
19:24
Speaker 1: unstoppable and perfectly built for this role as a guy
19:28
Speaker 1: who's love got to Mendo prison and love got him
19:31
Speaker 1: out and oh, by the way, he is fucking fueled
19:34
Speaker 1: by vengeance. I also just love when they tried to
19:38
Speaker 1: make him have like this long hair and stuff it's
19:41
Speaker 1: a really gorgeous wig Ben Foster. Who doesn't love this guy?
19:48
Speaker 1: Is there anyone who plays a nastier villain than him?
19:52
Speaker 1: He is a bastard through and through on this all
19:58
Speaker 1: of his All of his are somehow whacked out, over
20:03
Speaker 1: the top, brutal, relentless. They're all quite captivating even in
20:08
Speaker 1: their over the top ways for some here he is
20:11
Speaker 1: a merciless gangster who gets what he wants, hyped up
20:14
Speaker 1: on the cheese mo and dripping in seventies fashion. Shyling
20:19
Speaker 1: Wood leaves another name I think that people be familiar with.
20:23
Speaker 1: It's in this film. Her character is obviously kind of
20:26
Speaker 1: in the middle of it all, as these two men
20:28
Speaker 1: love her in very different ways. I think personally, as
20:32
Speaker 1: with the character, she's not really given that much to do.
20:34
Speaker 1: She her characters kind of seem more as a prize
20:37
Speaker 1: than a person. The one issue that occurs when you
20:45
Speaker 1: want other aspects to do the talking for your film
20:48
Speaker 1: instead of the actual talking is the performances, and they
20:53
Speaker 1: it's almost a must that they have to pick up
20:56
Speaker 1: the slack and that does come hit or miss here.
21:02
Speaker 1: No matter how they look and how physical that they
21:07
Speaker 1: can be. These characters are still limited in what and
21:10
Speaker 1: how they convey their emotions. Now the music. The music
21:17
Speaker 1: can be overwhelming at times, but for the most part
21:20
Speaker 1: it kicks almost as much ass as our muscle bound
21:22
Speaker 1: hero Steve Jamblonski. Jablonsky composed the original score, while Detroit's
21:29
Speaker 1: own Jack White serves as the music director, curating mixes
21:34
Speaker 1: of not only his work but music from Fleetwood, Mac,
21:37
Speaker 1: David Bowie, Bill Withers in the Moody Blues. I mean,
21:40
Speaker 1: if you're going to build your movie around music, Patzi's
21:45
Speaker 1: got one of the best in mister Jack White. Now
21:50
Speaker 1: there is a realization that sets in that really, without
21:57
Speaker 1: these kind of cool components or you know, these appealing,
22:02
Speaker 1: attractive techniques, the story itself is routine stuff, but Potzy
22:11
Speaker 1: does keep things moving at a pretty entertaining rate. The
22:15
Speaker 1: soundtrack really rocks. The performances do get the job done,
22:18
Speaker 1: even if, like I said, they feel rather restrictive. It's
22:21
Speaker 1: highly stylized and gritty, with great action, set pieces and
22:24
Speaker 1: sound design. Overall, I would say Potzy achieves what he
22:29
Speaker 1: set out to do. Via Variety, he is quoted as saying,
22:35
Speaker 1: I think the audience is smarter than people give them
22:37
Speaker 1: credit for I heard one network was looking for two
22:41
Speaker 1: screen entertainment, which is something that you could watch and
22:43
Speaker 1: be on your phone at the same time. And I
22:46
Speaker 1: want to make the opposite of that. I want to
22:48
Speaker 1: make something that you have to watch. You haven't checked
22:50
Speaker 1: your phone in an hour, and you don't realize it.
22:54
Speaker 1: So Motor City is getting a vix flick rating of
22:57
Speaker 1: three out of five. And coming up up next, it's
23:01
Speaker 1: the behemoth of a film that is sweeping the world,
23:08
Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about it after this. I'm
23:26
Speaker 1: talking about that gigantic Horsey movie, The Odyssey. This is,
23:31
Speaker 1: like I said, undoubtedly a behemoth of a film adapting
23:35
Speaker 1: an iconic poem that essentially established the foundation of Western
23:40
Speaker 1: storytelling that was written over thousands of years ago. So
23:44
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be full, full transparency here. It's just too
23:49
Speaker 1: damn daunting to dig into it all. That's homework for
23:53
Speaker 1: you listeners, if you would like to go and find
23:55
Speaker 1: out more about Homer and everything. But I do have
23:59
Speaker 1: a few things that I found interesting and you might too.
24:03
Speaker 1: Have read on history dot com that the ancient Greek
24:07
Speaker 1: poet Homer is attributed as the author of the Odyssey
24:11
Speaker 1: although scholars aren't sure whether he actually existed, Some have
24:15
Speaker 1: suggested he was rather a concept and the works were
24:18
Speaker 1: shared orally and then written down in poetic form for
24:21
Speaker 1: performance in the second half of the eighth century BC.
24:26
Speaker 1: There are also multiple ways to interpret Odysseus. The Odyssey
24:32
Speaker 1: has been interpreted in many different ways since it was
24:35
Speaker 1: published like over three thousand years ago. For some, it's
24:40
Speaker 1: about resilience and making it back to your family at
24:43
Speaker 1: all costs, as well as a story about loyalty, hospitality,
24:46
Speaker 1: and the role of gods. For others, though, the work
24:50
Speaker 1: speaks to the psychological impact and trauma of war. When
24:53
Speaker 1: Odysseus starts to tell people about what happened to him
24:56
Speaker 1: during the Trojan War, he begins to weep. There are
25:01
Speaker 1: I don't know, and I knew a couple of these.
25:05
Speaker 1: But there are more than a few versions of the Odyssey.
25:10
Speaker 1: But did you know that these Some of these movies
25:13
Speaker 1: are actually modern slash loose tellings slash inspiration that they've
25:19
Speaker 1: got from the Odissey there's the latest one has It's
25:24
Speaker 1: an English patient reunion called The Return with Ray Fines
25:28
Speaker 1: and Juliet Binochi bo is afraid the uh uh Ari
25:35
Speaker 1: aster film with Walking Phoenix. The one that I knew
25:41
Speaker 1: was Oh Brother where Arthel Coen Brothers with Clooney in them,
25:44
Speaker 1: and then uh the SpongeBob movie. There's also one. But
25:52
Speaker 1: now Christopher Nolan is here to bring it to an
25:56
Speaker 1: unimaginable scale and scope while taking such a grounded approach
26:02
Speaker 1: to this Greek mythology. And it's a glorious, staggering achievement,
26:08
Speaker 1: clearly extraordinary, bone and even enlightening. But Nolan also goes
26:13
Speaker 1: a bit darker here, and me personally, I've thought it
26:16
Speaker 1: was I thought it was thrilling to watch this is
26:19
Speaker 1: I mean, just Nolan being Nolan. Man Isaac Feldberg, who
26:25
Speaker 1: is a critic who writes for a lot of different things.
26:27
Speaker 1: I follow him on Twitter. On his letter box he
26:30
Speaker 1: put I'm struck on first viewing by Nolan's confidence and
26:34
Speaker 1: moving the audience through such an epic by the clarity
26:37
Speaker 1: with which he distills Homer's narrative to its despairing epical substance,
26:42
Speaker 1: grounding it in the mournful passage of a man whose
26:45
Speaker 1: life's work was a violent, brutal, mortal affair, who can
26:48
Speaker 1: only move forward through the shadows of history in hopes
26:51
Speaker 1: that the weapons of war he once forged will one
26:54
Speaker 1: day too be destroyed and leave space in their stead
26:57
Speaker 1: for something better. I really like that. As I was
27:02
Speaker 1: going across reading some stuff after I had seen it,
27:06
Speaker 1: the Odyssey is. I mean, there is phenomenal craftsmanship from
27:10
Speaker 1: top to bottom. It's incredibly immersive and jaw dropping, which duh.
27:16
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to see it in Imax seventy
27:19
Speaker 1: millimeter and it's it's almost indescribable of the type of
27:28
Speaker 1: theater experience that if that provides. I'm sure you have
27:32
Speaker 1: seen that this is the first film that is entirely
27:36
Speaker 1: shot with Imax cameras. I have heard so many different
27:41
Speaker 1: interviews with the whole cast, but specifically Nolan, where they
27:46
Speaker 1: could only shoot for up to three minutes and they
27:49
Speaker 1: had to shot and he and I don't know if
27:52
Speaker 1: you guys know this, but there's been some little gripes
27:56
Speaker 1: on Nolan's movies in the past where you can't really
27:58
Speaker 1: hear what they're saying. And he knew that he obviously
28:03
Speaker 1: was going to have some pretty intimate scenes, and so
28:06
Speaker 1: he went to Imax and they basically built these big
28:10
Speaker 1: ass boxes that would go over the cameras to quiet
28:14
Speaker 1: the sound and so, which I mean for those of
28:18
Speaker 1: us that have seen it, it actually did a great job,
28:21
Speaker 1: because there's not it was rare that I couldn't hear
28:23
Speaker 1: what someone was saying. So that alone is a huge accomplishment.
28:30
Speaker 1: From the costumes and production design and sound design to
28:35
Speaker 1: the cinematography and score Ludwig Gorenson Goronson, who's done Oppenheimer
28:42
Speaker 1: Center's Black Panther, all of it is immaculate. There's no
28:46
Speaker 1: denying that The Odyssey is a legit cinematic marvel, and
28:51
Speaker 1: what many may find surprising is just how effective the
28:54
Speaker 1: film is in dealing with its poignant themes that could
28:57
Speaker 1: have easily gotten lost within such which a hallacious journey
29:01
Speaker 1: filled with I mean obviously stunning set pieces. Sean wrote
29:07
Speaker 1: a review on Nationalmovie Dispatch dot substack dot com of
29:11
Speaker 1: The Odyssey, and in it he says, for all of
29:14
Speaker 1: its epic scale, what might not what you might not
29:18
Speaker 1: expect from the Odyssey is its surprising intimacy and exploration
29:21
Speaker 1: of the deeper themes behind the consequences of the main
29:24
Speaker 1: character's actions and their defiance of the gods we bear
29:27
Speaker 1: witness to the raw elements of the human condition, testing
29:31
Speaker 1: the limits of Zeus's law and demonstrating how such codes
29:34
Speaker 1: can ultimately corrupt the very mortals that God's look down upon.
29:38
Speaker 1: At its core, the narrative gives us a better understanding
29:41
Speaker 1: of who Odysseus is, highlighting how his decisions permanently impact
29:46
Speaker 1: both him and the people who surround him and his kingdom.
29:49
Speaker 1: And on the battlefield, the Odyssey has an out of
29:54
Speaker 1: this world cast. Matt Damon is leading the charge here
29:57
Speaker 1: as Odysseus. I thought he was great. I think this
30:00
Speaker 1: is one of his best performances ever. I've heard him
30:03
Speaker 1: kind of speak that this is like the most challenging,
30:06
Speaker 1: toughest thing he's ever done, and that he even ten
30:10
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago, he doesn't know if he would have
30:11
Speaker 1: been able to do it, but I'm glad that it
30:14
Speaker 1: came to him now because he is. He's phenomenal. Tom
30:18
Speaker 1: Holland does a great job. Anne Hathaway is amazing. She's
30:23
Speaker 1: having a hell of a year so far, and she's
30:24
Speaker 1: still got a couple of things to come out this year.
30:28
Speaker 1: Zindaya is great. Robert Pattinson again having a fantastic year.
30:33
Speaker 1: He still has a couple of things coming out, including
30:35
Speaker 1: a little movie called Doune Part Three. But I really loved,
30:39
Speaker 1: I really loved what he was doing. And then there's
30:43
Speaker 1: John Luguizamo, There's Lapita Nyango, There's Charlie's there, and there's
30:46
Speaker 1: Elliott Page. I feel like the list can go on
30:48
Speaker 1: and on. There's some per performances all around, even though
30:52
Speaker 1: I think you could argue that some are definitely underutilized.
30:57
Speaker 1: But again, I think Pattinson, Hathaway, and definitely Leguizamo, they
31:05
Speaker 1: are all truly magnificent for a variety of reasons. Interpreting
31:11
Speaker 1: such a classic as this is always a difficult one
31:14
Speaker 1: for any filmmaker, even if you're the Christopher Nolan. So naturally,
31:19
Speaker 1: I think he he sort of bumps up against that
31:23
Speaker 1: as he's telling this fantasy epic, and I think the
31:26
Speaker 1: first half feels a bit wobbly at times. It's never
31:29
Speaker 1: not boring or fascinating, though the pacing I felt was
31:33
Speaker 1: a bit off and the film lagged a little. And also,
31:38
Speaker 1: and I've seen I've seen a couple of people mention
31:41
Speaker 1: this as well, but I think there's some truth to
31:44
Speaker 1: Nolan's storytelling feelings somewhat restricted due to just the like
31:51
Speaker 1: the technical restraints of Imax. It because he shot it
31:58
Speaker 1: all in Imax cameras, it had to be under three hours.
32:03
Speaker 1: So I know at some point I think he was
32:06
Speaker 1: going I think it was going to be over three hours.
32:09
Speaker 1: But then come to find out that there's a piece
32:13
Speaker 1: on the projectors that physically, that like physically holds the
32:16
Speaker 1: Imax film print, but it can only fit so many
32:21
Speaker 1: reels and so longer films, meaning over three hours would
32:27
Speaker 1: require a whole new system. So I think as a
32:31
Speaker 1: result of all of that, it sort of made it's
32:36
Speaker 1: to me, it kind of forces Nolan to have less
32:39
Speaker 1: build up to certain parts of of the classic poem,
32:44
Speaker 1: or sort of having to race through them at times.
32:49
Speaker 1: And and for what it's worth, and I and I mean,
32:53
Speaker 1: I think people were all in no matter what, but
32:56
Speaker 1: I think it could have been more fantastical and in
32:58
Speaker 1: parts I think he could have gone a little wild
33:01
Speaker 1: with it. But you know, I think again, I think
33:05
Speaker 1: I think we would have I think the audience could
33:07
Speaker 1: have handled it. But I must say, when Circe, played
33:13
Speaker 1: by the divine Samantha Morton shows up, there is this
33:17
Speaker 1: sort of like seismic shift in the Odyssey. For me,
33:20
Speaker 1: that elevates it to breathtaking new heights. Her few minutes
33:25
Speaker 1: on screen are nothing short of remarkable. In a Vanity
33:30
Speaker 1: Fair interview, she's asked, She's asked, Circe is such an
33:35
Speaker 1: iconic character, what was the approach that you pitched to him?
33:38
Speaker 1: Talking to Morton on pitching it to Nolan after he
33:44
Speaker 1: asked her to to do this, she said, first of all,
33:47
Speaker 1: I didn't know that I was going to be reading
33:48
Speaker 1: the Odyssey. I hadn't read the book at school. I
33:51
Speaker 1: didn't study the classics. So for me, it was just
33:54
Speaker 1: a character in a script, and my interpretation of this
33:56
Speaker 1: character was what it was. Once I was given the
34:00
Speaker 1: I did a bit of a deep dive into Surcea
34:02
Speaker 1: and found it quite extraordinary. I very very quickly pulled
34:05
Speaker 1: away because I didn't want to be burdened by that responsibility.
34:09
Speaker 1: It's there, but forget about it because I'm there to
34:11
Speaker 1: make this movie. And then they ask if you're approaching
34:15
Speaker 1: her as a character, how did you relate to her?
34:18
Speaker 1: And Morton says, I don't overanalyze. I don't put my
34:22
Speaker 1: characters in psych therapy ever, But the one thing I
34:24
Speaker 1: did take away from it, and what I discovered as
34:26
Speaker 1: I was playing her, was that she felt so familiar,
34:30
Speaker 1: She felt so contemporary. She felt like my mom, like
34:33
Speaker 1: my sister, like my daughter, like my friends. She felt
34:36
Speaker 1: like she could be anybody's mother's sister, daughter, grandma, lover,
34:40
Speaker 1: great aunt. She just felt very very of every woman
34:45
Speaker 1: and all women, and that she's carried the pain of
34:48
Speaker 1: all women throughout history. I got to say, starting with her,
34:54
Speaker 1: the Odyssey enters the rim of greatness and stays there.
34:59
Speaker 1: The last hour is phenomenal. It's a it's it's not
35:06
Speaker 1: only a massive crowd pleaser, but it's just everything that
35:11
Speaker 1: you have either been anticipating or waiting for. Not only
35:16
Speaker 1: does it happen, but it happens on such a it
35:20
Speaker 1: happens on such an exceptional level that you won't be disappointed.
35:28
Speaker 1: It's well, the whole, the whole damn movie is well
35:30
Speaker 1: worth the journey. But that last hour, Nolan really really
35:34
Speaker 1: brings it as as he says, as Odysseus says in
35:38
Speaker 1: the Odyssey, I'll bring it all, and Nolan does so.
35:43
Speaker 1: Before I wrap this up, obviously, this is I mean,
35:48
Speaker 1: could be the biggest summer the biggest movie of the summer,
35:51
Speaker 1: the biggest movie of the year, the biggest movie of
35:53
Speaker 1: the decade. Who knows. So all of us at Nationville
35:58
Speaker 1: Movie Dispatch have have seen it, and I just kind
36:03
Speaker 1: of wanted to kind of share some thoughts, share some
36:07
Speaker 1: of their thoughts. Now, obviously I've I've read a little
36:10
Speaker 1: paragraph from it, but Sean has a full written review
36:14
Speaker 1: of The Odyssey that's on Nashville Movie Dispatch dot substack
36:17
Speaker 1: dot com. Kevin saw it. He gave it four and
36:21
Speaker 1: a half out of five. Our buddy Brett, Well, hang on,
36:25
Speaker 1: if I may just oh, yeah, you're in studio.
36:28
Speaker 2: I'm barging in the door here. You have to explain
36:31
Speaker 2: why Kevin gave it a four and a half.
36:33
Speaker 1: To Yeah, okay, that's cause yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.
36:37
Speaker 2: He says he never gives movies a five out of
36:40
Speaker 2: five upon.
36:40
Speaker 1: First I never give perfect fives to contemporary movies on
36:44
Speaker 1: the first watch unless they gave me a viscerally emotional
36:48
Speaker 1: reaction by the end.
36:51
Speaker 2: So it's a four and a half for now.
36:54
Speaker 3: For now a second watch.
36:55
Speaker 1: That's true. So our buddy Brett has seen it twice.
37:01
Speaker 1: He saw it at the Bell Court and thirty five millimeter. Yep,
37:05
Speaker 1: that's happening right now as we speak. So Bellcourt is
37:09
Speaker 1: showing it like that. And then he took his oldest
37:14
Speaker 1: son and I don't know if he bought it from
37:16
Speaker 1: a scalper or what, but he got two tickets and
37:19
Speaker 1: recently saw it like I'd say, maybe a week ago.
37:22
Speaker 1: In iMac seventy milimeter. He rated it four and a
37:27
Speaker 1: half out of five, stating on his letter box, says,
37:32
Speaker 1: the big moments are as powerful as anticipated, but the
37:34
Speaker 1: small moments carry equal weight. Ultimately, odysseus story settles well
37:39
Speaker 1: with the siren song as he carries a desire for
37:41
Speaker 1: the one thing he can never achieve to undo, which
37:45
Speaker 1: he's already done. And then he says, and I think
37:49
Speaker 1: this is true, and I've kind of heard other people
37:51
Speaker 1: references too. It says. The question has been posed of
37:53
Speaker 1: how many more films like this will be made in
37:55
Speaker 1: this way, rising to such grandeur of story locations and
37:59
Speaker 1: use of real actors. Were this one of the last
38:02
Speaker 1: epics made with such practicality, it would be a worthy finale.
38:06
Speaker 1: Hopefully that will not be the case, but either way,
38:08
Speaker 1: I expect this one to loom large for years to come.
38:13
Speaker 1: So he gave it four and a half. Kevin gave
38:15
Speaker 1: it four and a half. Sean gave it five out
38:18
Speaker 1: of five. And now, as you heard, Stony is in
38:21
Speaker 1: studio with me. Uh he saw it in the Dolby.
38:25
Speaker 3: I did theater.
38:26
Speaker 1: Yes, what were your thoughts on h on the epic Odyssey?
38:31
Speaker 3: It is?
38:33
Speaker 2: It is a five five out of five for me
38:35
Speaker 2: as well. And there were moments when I was sitting
38:39
Speaker 2: in the theater thinking it's probably four and a half.
38:43
Speaker 2: And because there is a point. It's kind of funny
38:48
Speaker 2: how you said, like the last hour for you was
38:51
Speaker 2: just it takes it to another level because.
38:53
Speaker 3: Cercy, well, yeah, from sir.
38:56
Speaker 1: It starts with Circe, because that's when things get dark.
38:59
Speaker 1: That's when we're getting stuff that I don't think Nolan
39:02
Speaker 1: has quite done. But also that scene is just so
39:08
Speaker 1: mesmerizing that I like, and the fact that there is
39:12
Speaker 1: no they're not they're like a magician, they're not giving
39:15
Speaker 1: away the trick. But they said there was no CG
39:18
Speaker 1: in all.
39:18
Speaker 3: Practical effairs, and I'm like, practical effairse.
39:21
Speaker 1: That's why can't why can't people do that? And then
39:25
Speaker 1: I think, oh, that's right, because Nolan's made Batman and Oppenheimer.
39:29
Speaker 2: And and I I believe it was Anne Hathaway that
39:33
Speaker 2: I saw an interview with where she said like she
39:37
Speaker 2: had to know, like how and she said Nolan told her,
39:42
Speaker 2: but that she's not telling.
39:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Nolan's like that, but that's the that's the
39:48
Speaker 1: magic of the movies. And I wouldn't want to know either.
39:50
Speaker 1: It's but when you see it, it's it's astonishing, it's
39:55
Speaker 1: unbeliev uh.
39:57
Speaker 2: For me, it's when they make it to Hades that
40:00
Speaker 2: I did kind of check myself or catch myself like
40:03
Speaker 2: checking my phone, like, Okay, we still have a ways
40:06
Speaker 2: to go here, what time are we at? And so
40:10
Speaker 2: I was kind of thinking there is a moment. I
40:12
Speaker 2: don't want to say that it's ever really strenuous at
40:18
Speaker 2: a certain point, but there was a part of me
40:21
Speaker 2: that was thinking, man, like it dives in and it
40:27
Speaker 2: and it just goes from the start. And I mean, granted,
40:31
Speaker 2: you have to with a story of this magnitude. People
40:34
Speaker 2: throw around the word epic a little too nonchalantly these days,
40:39
Speaker 2: but you want to look at like the origins of
40:43
Speaker 2: where that word even came from. It is the Odyssey
40:47
Speaker 2: so I don't feel I don't feel too. I don't
40:54
Speaker 2: feel like it's hyperbolic to say this is genuinely an epic.
40:58
Speaker 2: And even though I did catch myself checking my phone
41:02
Speaker 2: to see as we got into the film, like what
41:04
Speaker 2: time it was, it wasn't necessarily a thing of boredom.
41:09
Speaker 3: It was just like, damn, how much like we still have.
41:13
Speaker 2: A long way to go and do it? Like how
41:15
Speaker 2: are we gonna wrap this thing up?
41:17
Speaker 3: Kind of deal.
41:18
Speaker 2: So the more I thought about it, the more you've
41:23
Speaker 2: talked about, like the performances in this, they're fantastic for me.
41:28
Speaker 2: I really loved Robert Pattinson in this. And listen, you
41:34
Speaker 2: weren't here for our drinking with recordings on Saturday. Our
41:39
Speaker 2: good friend Brittany Fernandez of danger Zone Video said something
41:42
Speaker 2: that I think a lot of people will think sounds crazy,
41:45
Speaker 2: but I'm kind of with her. I think by the
41:48
Speaker 2: time it's all said and done, there's I think there's
41:50
Speaker 2: a chance Robert Pattinson is considered the greatest of all time.
41:55
Speaker 2: And you see it and like everything that he touches
42:00
Speaker 2: and the.
42:00
Speaker 1: Gold he's making really smart choices on the roles he takes, Yeah,
42:09
Speaker 1: and the people he works with now, working with Nolan
42:12
Speaker 1: previously intendant, working with Denie and Doom Part three. Yeah,
42:16
Speaker 1: those are easy choices, but there's also things like the drama,
42:21
Speaker 1: which on our Best of twenty twenty six so far
42:24
Speaker 1: was one of your top ones. And I think Brett's too, yeah. So,
42:28
Speaker 1: and and he's still got Doom Part three and it's
42:34
Speaker 1: he plays what's the guy's name, but it's it's it's
42:36
Speaker 1: a movie based on How to Catch a Predator.
42:38
Speaker 3: Chris Hansen.
42:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Chris Hansen. So he he's not he's
42:42
Speaker 1: not even done for this year. And Anne Hathaway, who
42:45
Speaker 1: is brilliant and mother Mary, she's fun and Devilwar's product too,
42:49
Speaker 1: and she still has what the end of Oak Street?
42:52
Speaker 1: And there's something else I think that's hitting.
42:56
Speaker 2: Yeah book and it has uh Dakota Johnson and john Yeah.
43:01
Speaker 3: I can't remember the name of.
43:01
Speaker 1: It, but I know it starts with an I because
43:04
Speaker 1: an I or a V or something because the poster
43:07
Speaker 1: is up outside at opry Mill's Theater and I'm like,
43:11
Speaker 1: out of all the movies, I'm shocked at, like that's
43:14
Speaker 1: it's right next to Paul Patrol Dino's I think that
43:16
Speaker 1: it was about. But but I've also and it made
43:20
Speaker 1: me think of you and Sean. But I've heard a
43:22
Speaker 1: lot of people reference where the Odyssey feels like a
43:28
Speaker 1: throwback to Lawrence of Arabia as far as the scale
43:32
Speaker 1: and like and like what basically I think the term
43:35
Speaker 1: is kind of like and Matt Damon has said it too,
43:38
Speaker 1: which I mean, I'm assuming with IMAX cameras it must
43:40
Speaker 1: but like everything is in camera. He's there's not a
43:45
Speaker 1: there's not a horse or a soldier that's outside of
43:47
Speaker 1: that frame that whatever it is, it's all in Yeah,
43:50
Speaker 1: And I'm like, and I get the comparisons. I'm not
43:53
Speaker 1: a huge fan of Lawrence of Arabia, but as far
43:55
Speaker 1: as the way films used to be made, and kind
43:58
Speaker 1: of to Brett's point is like this feels like a
44:02
Speaker 1: return to that type. But not every filmmaker can do
44:07
Speaker 1: it just just talent technical wise, but also to have
44:11
Speaker 1: the money to make a cave a sound stage and
44:16
Speaker 1: have a big ass puppet cyclops. There's not too many
44:20
Speaker 1: that can do it.
44:21
Speaker 2: And like people are giving patents and his flowers, right, yeah,
44:25
Speaker 2: So in my opinion, and Hathaway rightfully, So I felt
44:30
Speaker 2: like people.
44:31
Speaker 3: People are being a little.
44:32
Speaker 2: Too hard on Tom Holland in my opinion, do you
44:34
Speaker 2: think it's because he's actually supposed to be playing someone
44:37
Speaker 2: that's like twenty.
44:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe that's because his dad's been gone for twenty years,
44:43
Speaker 1: so like he's probably twenty three.
44:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, And like the defenders, his defenders kind of come
44:49
Speaker 2: out and say, like, hey, you know, I don't know
44:52
Speaker 2: that he gets the real screen time to effectively portray
44:56
Speaker 2: the depths of the emotions that he's feeling, because people
45:00
Speaker 2: are saying it's kind of dry, like it's not very reactive,
45:05
Speaker 2: not a very lively performance for a kid that doesn't
45:09
Speaker 2: know his father, that's trying to figure out if he's
45:11
Speaker 2: still alive out there. But I just I never got
45:14
Speaker 2: those vibes, Like I thought he was good in this role.
45:18
Speaker 1: I did to. I think that there's so many good
45:20
Speaker 1: people that I think his role is pivotal and I
45:25
Speaker 1: think he's good in it, but it and I mean
45:29
Speaker 1: it's almost a compliment. He's probably like fifth or sixth
45:33
Speaker 1: though because of others. But then you have like and
45:38
Speaker 1: this is not a fair comparison, but it's just like
45:41
Speaker 1: Samantha Morton walks in on one scene and I mean
45:43
Speaker 1: takes your breath away. But look at what she's able.
45:47
Speaker 1: I mean her scene and her talent do that. Yeah,
45:51
Speaker 1: but I thought Tom Holland, let's put this on. I
45:53
Speaker 1: think Tom Holland served the story well. Yeah, and that's
45:58
Speaker 1: really I think what in the end Nolan wants.
46:03
Speaker 2: But I think you raise a good I'm glad you
46:06
Speaker 2: said that about Matt Damon because I really feel like
46:09
Speaker 2: people are I don't know if it's not appreciating the
46:13
Speaker 2: performance or or what, but he is kind of the
46:16
Speaker 2: backbone of the story. Yeah, And I think we get
46:19
Speaker 2: so caught up in a lot of the supporting performances,
46:22
Speaker 2: and rightfully so, they're very good that it's easy for
46:25
Speaker 2: it to get lost in the shuffle of just how
46:28
Speaker 2: good Damon is in this.
46:29
Speaker 1: And I feel I think even at this stage with
46:32
Speaker 1: such this like monstrous role, I think we kind of
46:38
Speaker 1: just think like he we kind of take him for
46:41
Speaker 1: granted that like, yeah, he was Odysseus, yeah, but not
46:45
Speaker 1: really considering like I love the story and I think
46:48
Speaker 1: it's Pattinson. He was next door, their trailers were next door,
46:52
Speaker 1: and he thought something was wrong because he kept hearing
46:54
Speaker 1: Matt Damon's screaming young. He's like, oh, it's like someone's
46:56
Speaker 1: got in trouble. But it was it was Damon trying
47:00
Speaker 1: to break his voice so he would sound older in
47:02
Speaker 1: other scenes. So he's trying to crack his voice. And
47:05
Speaker 1: I'm just like, but I mean, I love it, and honestly,
47:09
Speaker 1: if he gets a nomination, I mean, so be it.
47:11
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't mind. And sometimes I think you
47:13
Speaker 1: kind of take some shit because you are the Odysseus.
47:18
Speaker 1: So everybody else, I feel like, can play around more
47:22
Speaker 1: than than maybe he's allowed. But yeah, I agree, he's great,
47:26
Speaker 1: and I in a way I understand where like I
47:31
Speaker 1: couldn't maybe ten or fifteen, twenty years ago, we wouldn't
47:35
Speaker 1: have accepted him as Odysseus. But yeah, he's he. I mean,
47:39
Speaker 1: I thought he nailed it.
47:41
Speaker 2: I don't think it's hyperbolic. Also to call this like
47:45
Speaker 2: one of the formative stories of Western civilization. There are
47:54
Speaker 2: entire courses in universities taught about Homer and the Odyssey
47:59
Speaker 2: and and all of its themes and what it means
48:03
Speaker 2: and analysis and the discussion that it spawned throughout the
48:09
Speaker 2: centuries at this point. And I think that while we
48:13
Speaker 2: do talk about the filmmaking aspects of what Nolan did
48:17
Speaker 2: to achieve The Odyssey. I think the greatest triumph of
48:21
Speaker 2: this it's not just how it looks and how it sounds, which,
48:25
Speaker 2: by the way, the Dolby is there were some of
48:29
Speaker 2: the scenes where they're at sea and I legit had
48:33
Speaker 2: to just like put my hands in my face because
48:35
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm gonna throw up. I'm gonna throw
48:38
Speaker 2: up if.
48:39
Speaker 1: If you step foot into that Imax seventy milimeter. I mean, yeah,
48:44
Speaker 1: there were times where I turned in thought, am I
48:46
Speaker 1: in this movie? Am I in a Nolan movie?
48:50
Speaker 3: Yeah?
48:50
Speaker 2: But that's all well and good. But I think the
48:53
Speaker 2: greatest triumph for me ultimately why I landed on the
48:57
Speaker 2: five out of five is how Nolan tells this story
49:03
Speaker 2: in a way that kind of to me. And I
49:07
Speaker 2: know this is a story that has been interpreted a
49:10
Speaker 2: million different ways throughout the years, but thematically, Nolan really
49:15
Speaker 2: honors the heart of what this story is saying. And
49:18
Speaker 2: to me, it is the change that we see in
49:22
Speaker 2: Odysseus by the end is without I don't want to
49:26
Speaker 2: give any spoilers if you don't for some reason, no
49:29
Speaker 2: the Odyssey, but seeing the change in Odysseus by the
49:34
Speaker 2: end kind of reflects this idea that yes, we may
49:39
Speaker 2: question the gods the existence of the gods, and what
49:43
Speaker 2: Nolan frames as Zeus's law in this telling of the
49:48
Speaker 2: Odyssey is like we get to the end of it
49:51
Speaker 2: and the heart is true. Is almost like it doesn't
49:54
Speaker 2: matter if you defy the gods or if you accept
49:57
Speaker 2: the gods. Zeus's law is still a good thing that
50:01
Speaker 2: should be upheld for the decency of humanity.
50:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's the thing where, you, you know, treat
50:07
Speaker 1: everyone like you want to be treated, because you never
50:09
Speaker 1: know if who might be a god walking among us.
50:12
Speaker 1: Kind of the thing of treat everyone equally, which who
50:15
Speaker 1: knew something like this would be so timely in this
50:18
Speaker 1: world now? But you know, some themes always but we.
50:21
Speaker 2: Kind of see we see both sides of it in
50:24
Speaker 2: Nolan's Odyssey, like we see the people that respect the
50:28
Speaker 2: gods and pray to the gods, and we see the
50:30
Speaker 2: people that question them, and it's still it still comes
50:34
Speaker 2: back to Zeus's law, which, as you said, is essentially
50:37
Speaker 2: treat people the way that you want to be treated.
50:39
Speaker 2: And by the time we get to the end of it.
50:41
Speaker 2: It is this very profound realization that it doesn't really
50:46
Speaker 2: matter whether you believe it or not. The principle of
50:51
Speaker 2: treating people the way you want to be treated is
50:55
Speaker 2: still something to uphold for society to evolve in continue.
51:01
Speaker 2: And to me, that was a very profound moment in
51:05
Speaker 2: the film when almost just said Matt Damon played by Odysseus,
51:11
Speaker 2: when Odysseus is kind of recounting the tale of his
51:15
Speaker 2: Odyssey and he kind of says like, I saw it broken,
51:20
Speaker 2: and I don't know. I left the theater thinking like
51:24
Speaker 2: man for all of for all of the talk about
51:27
Speaker 2: the iMac seventy millimeter, and I saw some people tweet
51:31
Speaker 2: like there is a sound in the Odyssey that I
51:34
Speaker 2: have never heard before and I will never hear it
51:36
Speaker 2: again talking about the cyclop scene.
51:38
Speaker 1: Oh and it's just.
51:39
Speaker 3: Like this head rattling scream.
51:41
Speaker 1: Yeah.
51:42
Speaker 2: Like for all of that stuff, Matt Damon and Robert
51:45
Speaker 2: Pattinson and Anne Hathaway, to me, it was still the
51:48
Speaker 2: heart of what the story is about and the timeless
51:52
Speaker 2: nature of it that it has stood, that it has
51:54
Speaker 2: been something worth studying for I don't even know how
51:58
Speaker 2: long off the top of my head to me. That
52:01
Speaker 2: was where Nolan really put the icing on the cake,
52:04
Speaker 2: and I thought, all right, this is just I left
52:07
Speaker 2: and I was talking to my wife about it, and
52:10
Speaker 2: I kind of just felt like we just saw something
52:13
Speaker 2: that we're not going to see again for a really
52:15
Speaker 2: long time.
52:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if it is, it's probably gonna be from him,
52:19
Speaker 1: so fair. But yeah, no, I agree. And that's why
52:22
Speaker 1: I like. It's not just the action part of it
52:27
Speaker 1: and kind of like the revenge part of it. That
52:30
Speaker 1: last hour covers the whole the whole thing. It covers
52:35
Speaker 1: exactly why why it took this long, where he was,
52:40
Speaker 1: who he was, who he is now, and you know,
52:44
Speaker 1: God bless that dog. That hit me hard.
52:48
Speaker 2: That was my favorite scene of the movie.
52:50
Speaker 1: I also like that that's when the realization.
52:54
Speaker 3: Yes, Tom Holland was great scene.
52:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, he really. The thing is I would I would
53:00
Speaker 1: almost sort of understand, just because and Nolan loves nonlinear
53:04
Speaker 1: stories and that's where a lot of the i mean,
53:06
Speaker 1: the Odyssey is told in that way. But that last
53:09
Speaker 1: hour I think, really like, I think that's the justice
53:13
Speaker 1: for Tom Holland. That last hour alone is like, oh okay,
53:18
Speaker 1: you know, and he has the conversation with Anne Hathaway
53:20
Speaker 1: too about certain stuff. And then when Odysseus and what's
53:26
Speaker 1: what's his wife's name, Penelope, when their conversation is really
53:33
Speaker 1: it is a gut punch because it is that's what
53:37
Speaker 1: this was, like, that's what this was for whatever else happened. Sure,
53:41
Speaker 1: and again massive crowd pleasing moments. There were people that
53:47
Speaker 1: yelled and cheered when certain things happened. People were but
53:53
Speaker 1: do you remember, like I I don't remember a movie now.
53:58
Speaker 1: Granted this is something that's almost three hours, but I
54:00
Speaker 1: don't remember. I feel like it's in very rare company
54:05
Speaker 1: to have your hour, that last hour, be that rewarding
54:10
Speaker 1: and like that's satisfying where you left and like no
54:13
Speaker 1: notes like that. Yeah, yeah, again, the process getting there,
54:18
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, bit wobbly for me, but
54:21
Speaker 1: I really don't know of a of a I just
54:26
Speaker 1: don't know of a of like that last hour, like
54:29
Speaker 1: everything just fits in.
54:33
Speaker 2: And sometimes when you do get that where everything's kind
54:37
Speaker 2: of you're rewarded, the loose ends are tied up and
54:40
Speaker 2: all that stuff, Yeah, it can feel a bit contrived
54:45
Speaker 2: and I think we we get experiences that are kind
54:48
Speaker 2: of cheesy because of it, you.
54:50
Speaker 3: Know, yeah, yeah, but this was it's it's not that no.
54:54
Speaker 1: But and and and the thing is to have to
54:57
Speaker 1: and that's why I feel like on parts of it,
55:00
Speaker 1: I think we could have dug in a little more
55:02
Speaker 1: on certain lands that they encounter. But yeah, I would
55:10
Speaker 1: just I would. My gripe I guess is that Imax
55:13
Speaker 1: cameras need to just film four hours because then I
55:16
Speaker 1: think we would have maybe got it all. But also
55:19
Speaker 1: I mentioned him in here, but you were talking about
55:22
Speaker 1: with Hades Elliott Page. He brings, if anything, that he
55:28
Speaker 1: was worth the money for just that part of it.
55:33
Speaker 1: And John Luguizamo Oscar Nominee.
55:35
Speaker 3: I hope. So, man, he's really the I've seen he is.
55:39
Speaker 1: The heart of this whole thing, Like of all these characters,
55:46
Speaker 1: he's he's the heart, Like he is the one that's
55:49
Speaker 1: almost like he's not perfect, but it's a character that
55:56
Speaker 1: I don't know. Every time he was on screen, I
55:59
Speaker 1: was just amazed and in what his character brings to
56:02
Speaker 1: the story from telling almost both sides, is I hope So,
56:09
Speaker 1: I really don't. If it's between anybody, I feel like
56:15
Speaker 1: if there's a supporting actor Odyssey, I think leg goes first,
56:21
Speaker 1: then I would probably put Pattinson.
56:24
Speaker 3: That's how I would choose it, maybe even.
56:26
Speaker 1: Elliott Page and then Tom Holland. Yeah, I think I
56:30
Speaker 1: almost would do it that way. If it's all supporting
56:33
Speaker 1: actors stuff.
56:34
Speaker 2: I I feel like Pattinson would get it over Legiamo.
56:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know what's not the way I would
56:41
Speaker 3: choose it.
56:42
Speaker 1: I would choose and granted there's times where like they
56:45
Speaker 1: could both be nominated, you know, but then I don't
56:49
Speaker 1: know if that's where those campaigns come in.
56:52
Speaker 3: So but I hope they do it. I hope I
56:55
Speaker 3: do too.
56:56
Speaker 1: I really do. I'm rooting I am. I'm rooting for
56:58
Speaker 1: that whole cast. I mean, I'm the best casting. Yeah,
57:01
Speaker 1: that should be nominated with no shouldn't even have to
57:05
Speaker 1: fight for that. But so, there's a famous quote from
57:08
Speaker 1: the Odyssey poem that I wanted to end on because
57:13
Speaker 1: to me, I think it fundamentally speaks to one of
57:17
Speaker 1: the most tragic falls, and it's how specific actions can
57:20
Speaker 1: lead to one atrocity after another, unleashing absolute anarchy as
57:27
Speaker 1: a result of we talked about this kind of blatant
57:30
Speaker 1: defiance and also just this immense greed. It's short, but
57:35
Speaker 1: I'm like this is. I think at the root of it,
57:40
Speaker 1: it says, of all creatures that breathe and move upon
57:43
Speaker 1: the earth, nothing is bread that is weaker than man. Yeah,
57:51
Speaker 1: the Odyssey is getting a four and a half out
57:53
Speaker 1: of five vix Flicks rating. For me, I've not for
57:58
Speaker 1: the same reasons that Kevin has, but it could be
58:01
Speaker 1: a five. I mean, Project hel Mary could end up
58:03
Speaker 1: being a five. I don't have a five out of
58:05
Speaker 1: five this year yet, but I have I've seen some
58:07
Speaker 1: great films and again, we did a podcast best of
58:10
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six so far check that out. But the
58:13
Speaker 1: Odyssey is definitely up there. I would love if I
58:17
Speaker 1: can sneak in at some point next month to try
58:19
Speaker 1: and catch just some of it and IMAX again, I'm
58:22
Speaker 1: gonna try. Yeah, but that's it. That is. That'll that'll
58:27
Speaker 1: do it for this for this month's volume of these
58:30
Speaker 1: Cinema Chronicles. Again, find all of our work Nashvillemovie Diispatch
58:34
Speaker 1: dot substack dot com and obviously wherever you listen to podcasts, uh,
58:40
Speaker 1: look us up Nashville Movie Dispatch. We got a ton
58:43
Speaker 1: of stuff on there. There's the Cinema Chronicles move. If
58:45
Speaker 1: you rewind drinking with by Vixflicks podcast that we do
58:50
Speaker 1: so uh until next time, until next month, just go
58:54
Speaker 1: see it. Damn movie.