Latest / Cigars and Cinema Podcast / "The Long, Long Journey Of Odyssey" Ep. 117 8/6/26

Transcript

"The Long, Long Journey Of Odyssey" Ep. 117 8/6/26 · Cigars and Cinema Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to another episode of Cigars and Cinema.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Grab a cigar, something to pair it with, and let's be journey into another episode of Smoke and Scream.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode of the cards and cinema is coming to you from the ODT cigar side.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Customs cigarette each month at an undeniable fight.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Join the community and smoke with us on the Oakland Tobacchinist YouTube channel as we delve into the rich experience of OT Craft Cigars and many cigars and vitolas custom made just for our membership.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: If you're interested and if you want to find out more about the subscription and the whole host of DT cigars, visit us at www.com or find us on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok at OGT Cigars.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everybody and welcome back to another episode of Cigars in Cinema Podcast.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: If you're unfamiliar with it, this is the podcast where we smoke cigars, unabashedly commentating, in some cases giving extreme opinions on film and entertainment.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I am one of your hosts coming to you from North Carolina on the East Coast, a very humid East Coast, Eric Drazen from OGT Cigars, and with me my co-host on the West Coast, much warmer climate, Curtis Bailey.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Curtis, good to have you back on.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Good to be back on another show.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and um I don't know.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Uh hopefully uh talking about this movie tonight won't be an odyssey unto itself.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: I guess we're gonna find out.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, who knows?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: It could go, we could be talking for three hours.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you just don't know.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you guys so much for jumping on tonight.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have a lot to talk about as we begin a new series.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And as I have mentioned, if you're new to the show, we normally hang out, we smoke a cigar, we analyze the cigar and the movie, whichever we're talking about, but the same is extended to you.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are you smoking tonight?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: What are you enjoying tonight?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you're enjoying a cigar, please drop it down, or maybe even an interesting pairing.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Curtis is normally the one who's doing the pairing, normally a uh an old-fashioned or something.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: What are you going with tonight?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh same as last time.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: I got a little bit of rye left in that bottle, so I'm just gonna have it.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I someone in the Facebook, the OGT Facebook group, uh, had posted uh pairing a charter oak with an aard bag, and can never go wrong with aard bag.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, love it.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um okay, a few comments here.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go ahead and pull up.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: First of which we have Chris saying, My cigar never goes out unless I set it down and walk off for 15 minutes or so.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: If your cigar is going out, you need to smoke it instead of just looking at it.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: That is true.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: That is true.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, I do find it really funny sometimes how people are like, Yeah, cigar keeps going out and it won't stay lit.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, when you hold it in your hand and you talk a lot, that normally happens.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: So it is pretty common.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we got Jason on saying, Hey Eric and Curtis, great to see you two, likewise.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he says, I see Eric and I got a memo about wearing our Stallone shirt today.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Boom boom.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, rep and Stallone.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so this is the final chapter, final cigar we're gonna be smoking in this last month's variety pack.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and this is the lineup that we went with.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, depending.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see, we'll see if everyone gets theirs in time.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have the cavalry and the attenuation, which we're smoking through, but I have to take a moment to say what we have coming next, like at the end of this week.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: If you are on the OGG variety, you've got this coming.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: I I think it's another banger pack.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is our lineup coming forward.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: We have uh on the far right, Cryptid from Big Sky, which is one of my personal favorites from Big Sky cigars.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, next to that is a brand new company we brought in known as Volokari Cigars, and that is the Astronomia.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is not the uh the most affordable within their line, but it is a very good Connecticut broadleaf, so I had to put that in there.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: In the middle is our third and perhaps final for a while installment from the Shadow Factory.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: This is called Deep Cover.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful 6x52 box press torpedo.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Then we have the Bishop's blend, which is a limited, and then we also have a limited Viaje.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a stellar pack.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: I advise you guys, jump on it so it doesn't sell out like last time if you miss out.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let's see here.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Mike Ross is smoking an El Triumphor, which I believe might be El Mago, I believe, which is a really good cigar.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: So awesome.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: Enough going on.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: I know that we've uh taken up a lot of time, so uh I don't want to just keep on going.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh tonight we're gonna be smoking the Calvary from El Mago.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Curtis, have you smoked a cigar yet?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, sorry.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I don't know.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think somehow your mic got muted.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: One second here, folks.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think it got muted because I was talking so much.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: As as Curtis I see it still muted on your side.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it's something you might might have to hit a setting, perhaps.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: There we go.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: There we are.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: It probably did that.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: I was getting a notification that like my mic got unplugged, so I was fussing with this, and it might have like gotcha auto-muted me or something.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yes, I have smoked this once before.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna be going through it.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is a really interesting cigar, once again from the tin series, box pressed, five by fifty.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's just a few of these laying around left.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this sports a really good Corojo wrapper from Nicaragua.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Nicaraguan binder, and then the filler is both from the DR and Nicaragua, released only in a 5x50, like one and done.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So uh let's get a let's get a cold draw going on with this cavalry.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, okay.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Mike Ross is specifying the Triumphador is a Pete Johnson loot new lancero from Tatawahe.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: Very nice.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hope you enjoy it.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sounds good.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: I saw that that just got released, so I'm excited to hear what you think.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Excellent draw.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: I get a little bit of that that sort of typical Smarty's sweetness off of this one with uh some extra like almost like uh dusty component for lack of a better word.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm on I'm I'm right there with you with sweetness.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um for me, what came to mind is kind of like a berry type sweetness, a fruity type sweetness, which I can see kind of plays in that Venn diagram of Smarty.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I definitely see that for sure.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely a sweet cold draw.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe just like a hint of bitterness, too.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Alright, well, good open draw.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's light this up.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Every cigar leaves an impression.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: However, it's not until you take a moment and analyze the full experience from construction to flavor to profile that you can truly appreciate it.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: So enjoy your cigar as you light it up.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: Take the time to toast it, smell the room notes, and experience the first notes as they come alive.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: In the same way, movies can tell deeper stories or show us things we haven't noticed on the surface.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: So journey with us as we take a more detailed appreciation for the craft of cigar and movie making.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: That sweetness definitely translates into the cigar.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: At least for me, I'm definitely getting still a lot of sweetness on this first initial light.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm getting uh, at least on the the retrohale, something that is definitely putting me in the mind of like a a a cured meat, you know, like summer sausage or pepperoni kind of thing.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Something savory like that.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: I will say it's a really, really smooth I hate this word smooth.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's like but uh the retrohale is very smooth, it's not aggressive at all.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um a lot of times when you see Corojo from Nicaragua, a good percentage of the time it's coming from Agonorsa.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that's what this is.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um but Agonorsa Corojo normally has a fair amount of like pepperiness along with its like uh salivating sweetness, I which I get that sweetness part, but not really any pepper at all, which is really interesting.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm also getting uh something that I would just broadly categorize as earthy.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if I'm thinking that that's like um leather or slightly vegetable or maybe a little bit of both.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm still trying to figure that out.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um little bit of savoriness on that last puff for me as well.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, pretty interesting flavors altogether with that sweetness, savoriness.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Earthy I can kind of see there in two, and something that's like maybe like a cardamom or like a some kind of like spice like that.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Perhaps yeah, yeah.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: So a really interesting start.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: I know that we gave pretty high rating to its counterpart, the jug, which was the San Andreas, which I discovered.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: We have one more five pack of.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: I thought it was all gone.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um but uh the Calvary interesting to start off.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited to see where this goes.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um and really quick special announcement as we jump into a new series, because it is August.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is officially the month, the anniversary month of OGT cigars.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we have an anniversary cigar coming later, which will be announced.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: But to kick it off from the vault of the vault of AGT OGT, I had to put out this sampler pack.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, some of these have been aging for a very long time.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's kind of a way to celebrate some of the exclusives and favorites here at OGT.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: This just dropped.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: I am so excited for this because these are some really big picks like Renfield Remastered from Halloween last year, Tri Uphorium, which was our anniversary last year, some of the nights.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's jam-packed, and this just released.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we're celebrating the anniversary of OGT, which we're excited for.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm buying one of those.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's I I was super excited about it.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's like over 30% off.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if you guys have the opportunity, take a look.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: 11 pack fully jammed.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: But okay, that being said, we're starting a series of Chris Nolan movies.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like it was appropriate.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: His new movie out.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, before we get to the movie and stuff, I want to know, Curtis, what is your general opinion of Chris Nol Nolan's films?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like going into ones you haven't seen or even the ones you have, like overall.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think he's a really interesting filmmaker because, you know, uh easily over the last several years, you know, probably going back to at least him working on um uh Batman Begins and the Dark Knight.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um he's a guy who makes films that, you know, on the face of it, don't necessarily seem like they would be the sort of thing, at least in today's box office environment, um, you know, movies that would be like really huge financial successes because they're kind of weird, sometimes kind of long, you know, they're generally not even really action movies in any sense.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they don't they don't hit that sort of like you know, summer blockbuster checklist uh uh for the most part.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: But um somehow through, you know, some combination of uh, you know, there's probably a lot of you know, like guys in the demographic like our age that really like hype up, you know, uh thinky manly movies like the kind of stuff that he's he tends to make.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's a little bit crazy to me that the a guy who makes films like this has turned himself into his own brand, basically.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's true.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's very, very true.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh when it comes to his movies, I often have mixed feelings.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think that uh, you know, I applaud a lot of the stuff that he does as far as like his uh filmmaking ethos about you know trying to do stuff in camera as much as time, uh as much as he can.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh filming on film, uh, you know, that so many um filmmakers have gone to digital, and there's good reasons to shoot on digital.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's not I don't I don't dislike it or anything, but I think it's just cool that he's you know still kind of a champion of of a lot of that stuff, and because now he's so um uh powerful uh via his financial success, he can continue to get away with it on movies like the one we're gonna talk about tonight.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but uh I don't know that um all of his movies are emotionally successful when they are attempting to kind of you know tell deeper, more meaningful human stories.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes I think that his approach there is a little bit weird.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll be into that, but that's kind of my general, I think, take on Nolan.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, yeah.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot there I want to agree, I I will agree with you.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um the question is also to you guys watching, like overall Chris Nolan film.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: If he makes one, are you going to the theater to watch it?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Are you waiting for it to come out stream, or do you try to just skip it?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, put that in the comments.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and speaking of which, we have a few comments jumping down here.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Mob718 just jumped in saying hello, what are you guys smoking?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Jason says, I'm getting mine too.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Happy anniversary, OGT.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: David is smoking an Onyx Knight, and that new sampler is stacked.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate it.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: And the Onyx Knight is amazing.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I'm I'm I'm gonna agree with you on that.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like he walks the line.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: He can either do something to where I'm like, wow, this is amazing.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I love this movie, or I feel like he errs on the side of almost self-indulgent in a way.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think that a prime example, and I know we're gonna be going through a lot of his movies, so I don't want to like give my opinion too early, but in to use two examples, I think the movie The Prestige is a good example of the right amount of like brain power it takes to watch this movie, how challenging it is, and even on what you touched on emotionally, it's got some really good moments.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um the flip side of that for me is something like um Inception.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like that movie, very emotionally stunted, very self-indulgent, um, not my cup of tea.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: So uh did you did you see Tenet yet?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: I have not.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: I have man, that's that's that's the one that really went off the rails for me with the self-indulgence.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's maybe we'll talk about this month.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know yet if we're gonna line up that one.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: It might be a chore to get me to rewatch that movie, but um yeah, yeah, he's um uh not exactly consistent for me in terms of like what I really take away from what he seems to want to communicate with the stories that he's telling.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and um that being said, like there are movies like I had mentioned, Batman Begins, I think is good.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the prestige is so solid that I love that movie.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like one of my favorites.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: So he does have some winners, but it really is case by case, and that brings us to his latest creation that we're gonna be talking about tonight.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: That we both went to the theater on the other side of the country to go see uh Odyssey.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh this was his most recent release, just came out last month.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: It is a pretty hefty two hours and fifty-two minutes radar, uh, big names, of course.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Travis Scott, Ann Hathaway, Robert Pattison, Corey Hawkins.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I just keep I could keep going.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we went and saw this movie.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys saw it, what is your opinion of it?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I will say that I'm excited to talk about it tonight.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what are your kind of like prodstroke opinion?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think the theme for tonight is gonna be like one of mild frustration because a movie that's this big and dense is gonna be really hard to get a full accounting of my thoughts about it after only one viewing, and I have only seen it once.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, because this is dense.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, m my kind of overall take is that um, like I said, I like the fact that he's doing so much cool stuff uh visually with you know, you know, any other directors uh you know, you put this movie in their hands and it's gonna come out, you know, um with a lot of CG and uh you know, even if you had like a Ridley Scott doing this, you know, this would be the kind of movie that he would make.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um too bad we didn't have Zack Schneider do it.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: I mean um I I I think it looks great.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: Generally, I think the performances in the movie are very good.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I like the way that it uses music sometimes.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: And uh you know, for me, uh doing an adaptation of something, especially a story that's this old and kind of ingrained in the Western fiction canon, like you know, there's not really a whole lot of point in just you know trying to uh exactly recreate the source material as faithfully as possible.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, if you're gonna dig up this thing, you know, it it should be with some some some reason.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: You should have some kind of take or interpretation.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll get into the details of it, but I kind of like what he's doing with this story and kind of talking about um you know things like uh PTSD and uh you know how um the uh yearning for you know success or achievement can kind of you know eat at us when we make decisions that are you know against our better nature and stuff like that.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of the stuff like that going on in this movie.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: So um initially I think I like it, but there's so much, and uh you know, it's definitely not um I think uh a movie that you know um I I like universally.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, there'll there'll be stuff I'm sure we'll talk about tonight where I'm like, eh, I'm not so sure about that.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: But uh it feels like it's almost impossible to say how I feel about it because like I said, so much of so muchness.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: So no, I agree.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think that the best way I can kind of form it is like, okay, let's talk about some high points and then we'll get to some low points.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because it definitely is not a movie that I'm a hundred percent in, but I didn't a hundred percent hate either.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um for so for its high points, I do think first and foremost, I do appreciate the fact that CGI is somewhat minimal in comparison to a lot of movies out there.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um I appreciate the way it is filmed.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: I know it was filmed on IMAX cameras.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: He had to apparently like even like um insulate the cameras because they're so loud, like close act moments that actors are talking, like just to have acting happening that he had to really like dampen the music.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, the the sound of it.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_01: So there's stuff like that that I really appreciate from an artistic standpoint.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um honestly, too, in terms of like performances, I thought it was really well uh done, and I think too, for two hours and 52 minutes, it could have been a lot longer, like it could have felt so much longer.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I will give it high points where I didn't feel the moments, the minutes as bad as I thought I was going to for a three-hour movie.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree with that.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um go ahead.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, go ahead.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, I mean, I think right off right off the bat we should talk about um uh you know Matt Damon as our titular character, not just uh Damon.
• 19:33
  unknown: Yeah.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh not just his performance, but um, you know, how he has to you know play this character in what is definitely a more um uh ethically or morally complicated version of him than that was in the source material, you know, because uh uh so much of what uh Homer or you know writers of that era, I know there's like some contention whether or not Homer even actually wrote this.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um but uh you know they they looked at the world very differently.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, so much of uh you know what was viewed as um uh uh laudable or honorable was you know this kind of idea of you know chasing glory and uh uh you know the way that they viewed um relationships, you know, uh Odysseus has several lovers throughout the story in uh the source material, whereas here they portray him as being very faithful to Penelope.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: So um uh I don't know where I was going with that, but yeah, there's there's there's stuff happening in this with Odysseus where they're definitely styling him as a uh a more modern, sort of cleaned up interpretation while also giving him this sort of uh you know regret uh uh and uh uh trauma, emotional trauma storyline that never would have been something they would have considered in in this way in the classical era.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: So um I think it's an interesting approach, but I'm curious how you feel about Odysseus or Matt Damon.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I mean I guess full disclosure in terms of source material, like we I was talking to Mallory about this.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: I I had gone over like a synopsis of it multiple times and analyzing that synopsis when I took like a screenplay class, but I haven't actually gone through the source material all the way.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I like understood it fundamentally.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but from what I understood, Odysseus's character in the source material is far more like on the edge of like uh prideful and glory seeking.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I even I was reading somewhere uh as well as where the also he was edging on the side of like hubris almost.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um this definitely has him like this remorseful, profound moral compass, which I don't think it's necessarily wrong in the context of this movie, but I do think it's It's a big liberty that Chris Nolan took.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so it fundamentally really changes his character overall.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I agree with that.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, I do think that he still portrays um some of that uh hubris, at least a little bit, because you know it it's meaningful that he has those moments where he makes um you know poor decisions because it ties directly into how he reflects on them and feels about them at the end of the movie when he has that conversation with Penelope, his wife, through that screen where he hasn't revealed who he is yet, but he's he's kind of talking about all of this um you know stuff about how uh you know almost like that he's turned into the villain of the story in a in a way.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um for example, there's the bit after they are um leaving uh the Cyclops cave, uh Polyphemus, uh and you know, they've basically gotten away and he turns and shoots another air at him, and the guys are like, What are you doing?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's you know, and you know, obviously that ends up being a thing that causes them trouble because Pol Polyphemus is Poseidon's son, and Poseidon rules over the sea, and he basically is responsible for it taking 10 years for him to get home.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so I think there's still some of those elements to his character, they just make it more complicated through the whole arc of the thing.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: Trying to get to the end of the story.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I did appreciate the moments.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: I felt it was more fitting when he's like kind of like trying to defy the gods in terms of like, no, no, no, no.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: I just I'm still angry at them.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of want to do it my way.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I did enjoy that.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, overall it was interesting to have like the aspect it come full circle with uh Athena's character and how it reflects the face of someone that was murdered.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so definitely a modern take.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: Whether it worked, whether or not, I'm kind of indifferent about it.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not like having strong of feelings either way, but I definitely think that it is a different way to take it.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: And in his kind of character story arc, how do you feel like it was when relating to Penelope?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do you think that their situation worked?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Is that something that you were drawn into, or were you turned off by like how they portrayed it?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, just kind of like you know, the the way that they you know kind of thought about each other during this massive period where he's gone, you know, she's trying to hold on and she's faking out the suitors because she keeps hoping that he's gonna be home, but nobody knows where he is.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, um I it's one of those things that I think in this movie I just kind of accepted it at face value.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I don't know that it's like, you know, a a good or bad thing.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: I think it functions for the the way that they're trying to tell the story.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: So um okay.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: I like Anne Hathaway.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um I don't know that this particular uh screenplay for this story necessarily gives her a whole lot to do.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's a couple of interesting scenes where she gets contentious with her son, uh Telemachus, played by Tom Holland, and some of those moments are really good.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, I she's maybe just like one degree too much into that sort of thankless, you know, everything will be better when my husband gets home kind of thing.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, on at face value in the story, that is true because she's sort of beholden to the rules of this society where you know, if she's uh, you know, unwed and she's a queen, then she's supposed to have a husband so that the whole dynasty thing can go like, you know, it all kind of makes sense, but it still makes her feel maybe just a little bit less a little bit less agency, maybe and and whatnot.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: But I maybe there's no way around that with this story.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: True, true.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I I honestly think that out of the moments that I felt felt slower in this movie, mostly revolved around her and her character arc.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I don't know if that's I don't know what it is.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like it just it did I didn't really find it intriguing, and then with the interaction she has with like Robert Pattison's character and Tom Holland's character and such like that, it just kind of was like it felt like well, this has to be told because it's a part of the story, and less to do with actually drawing you in and being like, okay, this is an interesting facet to this.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: For me, it was just kind of like, well, it needs to happen, so this is why it's here.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely felt that for that.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I mean, then you have in the midst of this, uh you have that relationship going on, and then you have the relationship with Odysseus and his men, and some of them in contention with him, some of them on board with him.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: I did appreciate like his relationship with I don't know his right-hand man's name.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: I I forget it off the top of my head.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you know who I'm talking about.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um by the way, that that that that actor who's in that role, I like him in this movie.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: He's he's good.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: He was good, and I liked how there's a push and pull there.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's enough to be like he wants to follow him, but also this is the only guy that's actually listening to the crew, his men, his troop, and so he's kind of playing this duality of back and forth.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that those exchanges I found intriguing.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um I I I guess that maybe leads me into one thing I want to talk about um before we get too far into the show, because it's definitely one of the things that this movie is doing to sort of you know adapt the material.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: Where um you know, there's this long period where uh Odysseus is trapped on this island with Calypso, a nymph played by um uh Charlie's Therone.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it seems to imply that partly that she's got him captured there, right?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_02: Because she's sedating him with these lotus flowers or whatever it is that he keeps eating.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and uh uh you know, in the in the source material they were lovers and you know the all that kind of thing, but like they seem to be going for, you know, some kind of thing where, and she even says it, I think, at one point, like you know, when he's kind of like waking up and realizing, like, you know, what the heck, how long have I been gone?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um that he's afraid to go home because he feels shame for um you know doing the stuff that he did to defy the gods.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, I I kind of saw it coming a mile away when they started talking about what is it, they say the sea people, you know, there's like this, you know, band of people roving around the area that are like you know, defying Xenia, you know, Zeus's law, and you know, uh kind of you know, being defilers and stuff like that.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it it ties into how you know he feels about himself and you know, is he worthy to return home to his wife and all that kind of thing?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I I feel like I'm a little uncertain on how um how clearly the film kind of delivers all of that stuff.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, there's a few of those scenes with Calypso uh on the island that feel just maybe a little bit I don't know, wishy-washy or um spin its wheels a little bit.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think I agree with you.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: I also think there's a reason for that, and because that is where we get kind of, I feel like in the movie, the farthest stretch from source material.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a lot of Chris Nolan making up, filling in those transitions, those gaps to fit the narrative at the end.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it does feel almost you can feel that modern pull against the original story, and in that warring itself, kind of seems a little disjointed, or it leaves a little more like okay.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_02: That might be what I was feeling.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it's uh to me, I agree with you.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's it was happening more on a self-conscious level.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, there's you kind of get the sense that Nolan had to do things like that, and they're ambitious moves, they're not incredibly bad, but at the same time, if they're noticeable like that, then you're not meshing the way you should.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so sorry, we got let's see here.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Mike Ross says, maybe on my end, but no sound.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys can hear me or Curtis, put a thumbs up.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm getting sound on either end here, and I can actually hear Curtis.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: So let me know.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: Sitting here in my room, I hear me just fine.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: Mallory, can you check that?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: She's Mallory's in studio, so she's gonna go ahead and check that real quick.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Temporal Knights is definitely hubris in original.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um real quick, let's uh let's let's take a quick break and talk a bit.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're midway through uh Calvary.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Really good flavor, but I will say this it does have to be touched up a little bit.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you're experiencing it.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: I've done it a handful of times.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I think maybe it's because we've been spoiled in the past.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: There hasn't been so much of a situation, but perhaps uh definitely more than it has to be.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: And oh yeah, Mallory's saying we still got sound, so Mike, maybe yeah, we're getting thumbs up as well.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: Mike, maybe uh something on your end.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe check out the case.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: Are the speakers plugged in, Mike?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Or the microphone?
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but good notes for me, baking spices, a little bit of cinnamon going on as well, that sweetness is on the back end, and then also really like intense earthy tones that were there at the front are coming forward.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say that.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's the biggest change since we started up, is that yeah, there is this kind of like big um, you know, it's I I think it's like I I can't parse it all out.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a combination of leather and earth and vegetation.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now I am curious though, you said you're pairing it with bullets, uh that being the bullet rye, I think.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: So is one overpowering the other?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, um the bullet rye is not like outrageous in terms of its uh flavors, but you know, one of the big differences between bourbon and rye in these big American whiskey categories is there is a bit of uh spiciness uh to rye's, and sometimes there can even be like a little bit of a licorice flavor and stuff like that in there.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: This one not quite so much, but okay.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh it's a it's it's a nice counterbalance.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think there's anything like magical, magical happening pairing-wise, but there ain't nothing wrong with it either.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, Mike says, I went uh out and back in.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: All is good.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, glad you're here because I I know we're gonna talk more about characters, uh, but I this is gonna be its lowest point for me, and I have we have to talk about it.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Go for it.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: I understand we are taking a very ancient story and we're making it in 2026 with modern day filmmaking, modern day actors.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: However, was it so necessary to make the dialogue and the pattern of speech sound like people are in coffee shops?
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: This this was I knew like watching, I watched one trailer going into this movie, I knew it was gonna be partly of the issue.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and part of me is like, no, I don't I know that trope in Hollywood is like when you're making movies like this, put an English accent on it and it's all good.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying necessarily go that route, but I'm talking about even just the dialogue itself was aiding in this sense of like, I mean, Matt Damon is supposed to be this Greek warrior, and he's come on, men, let's go.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it's yeah, uh, I I remember hearing some scuttlebutt online that you know people were upset that Telemachus uses the word dad as opposed to father.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: That was one of the examples I wanted to bring up.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: You had this, like, we have suitors at this banquet, and these spectacles amazing, and he's like, just wait for my dad to come home.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh my, why would you put dad in your script and then think this is gonna work?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, that was the part where it was very difficult for me.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I understand being put off by that.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: Personally, I don't really care.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think that what he's doing is trying to make the um uh the manner in which the characters speak as accessible as possible for a modern American film audience, and arguably the film achieves that.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, whether it feels appropriately uh, you know, archaic, you know, I can understand why that would feel like, you know, hey, this is supposed to be, you know, from a long time ago, and it should have a particular feel with the way they talk and stuff.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that if he had made the movie that way, I it wouldn't have bothered me either.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, you know, there's a degree to which, you know, when you get into you know accents and word choice and stuff like that, uh it starts to become a little bit silly and moot because these characters wouldn't even have been speaking English to begin with.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, true.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: And and the the version of the language they would have been speaking, you know, would have been very different to the modern version of it that people in that region speak now.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: So like just you know, for me, you know, all that stuff is so, you know, kind of nebulous that um I'm not particularly upset about um you know the choices he made.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I do, I you know, I I have seen from interviews that like he was very conscious about that.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: He did it on purpose.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: You know, these guys are gonna speak in sort of plain language with American accents because that's the audience that this movie is being made for.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: And um yeah, I don't know.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, I understand you know why it can feel disconnecting um for uh certain people, but for me, I I I didn't bump up against it.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: So well, and I think where really I find the issue is there's some actors and actresses in this movie that it didn't I didn't find distracting.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it was the way that they their their pattern of speech or the way that they would deliver line, and then some I found very difficult.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh one of which, and it's not like he did a horrible job, but uh John Leguzamo, it's hard to remove like the other roles that this guy has played to like now he's a he's a servant of Odysseus and he just has that same like look.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what are you on the streets of New York?
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like what I don't know.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: That was difficult for me, John Bertherall, as well as he's kind of like talking about some of the exploits.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what Mallory had nailed down a really key moment that that was kind of like flop-sided.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: So you have this pattern of speech happening, and then you have a different type of way when they go to Hades, and yes, still American accents, but the the words and the cadence of their speech is far more poetic sounding, to me, a lot more fitting.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I understand that, like, yes, if you look at a movie like Lord of the Rings, English translation, yes.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's still a a cadence to the dialogue and a way that Peter Jackson was able to direct it to where some of it might come at cost a little bit corny, like legaless sometimes, but some of it is beautiful and it's and it doesn't pull me out of the action.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas some of the dialogue in this, I was like, This is this is difficult, like for me to get beyond.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, in the in the case of the Lord of the Rings, they were often able to pull dialogue straight from Tolkien's writing, which you know oftentimes is quite good.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think pulling dialogue from the Odyssey, uh, you know, the source material would have been kind of difficult just because you know it's written as a poem, you're like, there's so many things that just like you know, adapting that exact uh um uh you know, I don't want to say prose necessarily, but yeah, little little funky translation thing going on there.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh but I I like I said it it didn't bother me, but I get it.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um although one of the things you were just talking about there did make me think about uh one of the performances in this movie that I I don't think it's bad.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: I was just like, I feel like they're also not really bringing anything, and maybe it's the fault of the script, the way that the character's written and stuff that he's got to do in it.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: But uh I like Tom Holland, you know, Spider-Man movies are fun, but Telemachus is kind of a bland dude in this.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: I know I agree.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um and and I I think that part of that happens with like he's complaining with the suitors, he's complaining with his mom, he's complaining with like like he's kind of a one-dimensional type deal where and it even the the his story arc is a little flimsy to me with the exile thing, where it's like, okay, so we're dealing with that, but as long as you do it in secret, and I don't know, like what at the end when they're like no no no you can't fight, you'll be exiled, and then he goes upstairs and like kind of helps without anyone seeing him.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, that's kind of a work around and make certain that like he has a heroic moment.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I I agree, it's it's kind of a flat type of arc for sure.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh sort of relating to that idea that you know, like he's not he's not allowed to fight, you know, there is a lot of content in this movie about propriety, right?
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what you should or shouldn't do based on um you know the society's rules, and one of those big ones that they touch on is Zeus's Law or Xenia, and this idea that uh you extend utmost hospitality to strangers because um one of them could be a god in disguise and you don't want to offend the gods, right?
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've never clocked Christopher Nolan as being a particularly topical or politically minded uh filmmaker, but it's hard not to see that content in this movie about you know being welcoming to the stranger and how it's sort of a decline of society when you stop doing that.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard not to relate that to Curtis.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, no, a hundred percent.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_01: And and and it's funny you bring up that point because you have that, you have the accents that we were talking about.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um I am curious to see how this movie ages because you're taking such a timeless tale and you are infusing it with your own narrative and very topical things, and very much like this is an American-made film with its like I don't know, I wouldn't say it's a major agenda of the movie, but it's definitely a through line part of this movie.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then at the same time, like the way he chose to do dialogue, all those things.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I this will be interesting.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: Is it going to age as a timeless movie or is it just going to be like, yeah, that was a movie of 2026?
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh filming-wise, I think it's pretty spectacular, but yeah, well, uh on that note, um, before we get too late, I do want to mention just like a few moments or scenes in this movie that I think are pretty rad.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um and uh you know, the whole sequence with Polyphemous, the Cyclops in the cave, the design of Polyphemous, the way that they you know do that weird, like half-twisted eye and nose on his face, like super unsettling looking.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, uh, you know, the way that they portray his behavior and stuff like that, you know, all that stuff I think is pretty darn effective.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_02: And then maybe my favorite, but also the creepiest scene in the movie is when um they meet up at Cersei's cabin, that's Samantha Morton.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's the maniacal eating, yeah, which goes on too long in a good way, yeah.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then the way that she turns them into pigs is not just like waving a magical wand.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: She's in there, like you know, manhandling their bodies and forming them like it's creepy, but really good.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm I'm glad you touched on those two points because they're definitely two points I want to talk about.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the Cyclops, what helps make that work so well, it is a combination of CGI, but also puppeteering.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: That is that is a lost art in modern movies, so I do appreciate that.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but also the way that it's filmed, there are so many moments in his lair in his cave when he's either sleeping or he's gone or whatever, and they're trying to figure out let's formulate a plan, let's get out of here.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: But the way that it is filmed, you feel like how small they are in comparison, and that's all perspective, that's all camera movement and such that I really appreciate.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: And especially too, like that is a situation where you have a giant that's maybe like three times their size.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: I know we talked about this movie last year, but if you take the new Fantastic Four and you see something like Galactus, oh yeah, still not impactful like that.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: And this guy's supposed to be massive, so that type of thing shows the difference between like knowing what to do with the camera to really force the perspective you want for your audience.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I do give it high marks for that.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, and so much of the polyphemous stuff was filmed with an actual actor.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: I forget his name, I've seen him in a bunch of stuff.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_02: He's one of those background guys that shows up in so many things.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, uh he you know, they they shot live action stuff with him and like uh exactly how they did the face distortion to create this one eye and stuff, you know.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know exactly what the process was there, but um just the fact that you know they used an actual actor as the basis for the whole thing.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: Thumbs up, yes.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: And in terms of uh the pig scene, I like again, I I remember uh there being a witch, and I remember them being like lured onto an island, uh, but I didn't remember what actually happened to them.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: So when that was happening, I was like, what is going on?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's a really unnerving shot when she is like transforming them, and they did a really good job with like prosthetics and such, but like the eyes of the actors while it's happening, like they're registering what is happening to them.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it went from like like I don't know, wartime film to creepy film to like straight horror.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: It is and like back.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I thought it was good execution, yeah, very unsettling.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a cool scene, yeah.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think for those reasons, those moments that happen, I'm like, I I can't.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jason actually.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Dropped a comment down here saying, uh, so was the film worth seeing?
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: I do have a lot of issues with this movie, but I'm at the same time, I am happy I saw it.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't think it's a complete failure flop, or I had a major problem with it so much that I just couldn't watch it, but it definitely has some trip-ups along the way.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, I mean, generally, my rule of thumb on this kind of thing is that any film that you're personally kind of you know potentially interested in is worth seeing just for the sake of finding out what your feelings are about the movie are.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_02: Never mind what Eric and I have to say.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_02: Like go go see it for yourself.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I mean, for one, you know, this is gonna be one of the biggest movies of the year, and I don't don't just mean like box office, but just in terms of like cultural impact and stuff like that.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, you know, if you're interested in you know, just kind of like being in the know about what's going on with movies in 2026, yeah, go see Odyssey, absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one of the big things that was advertised, probably one of the most historical uh like accounts of the story is the Trojan Horse.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, and there is a depiction of the Trojan Horse in this movie.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what did you think about how their Nolan's version of it was?
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um I had mixed feelings on it.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like one of the things, you know, the the movie Troy from 2004, yeah, with uh Brad Pett, Eric Banno, etc.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, had kind of a cool design for the Trojan horse because it really did look like it was cobbled together from broken pieces of ships.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the Trojan horse in this one looks like a finely crafted thing.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, how did they make that?
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: Not really a big deal, but still I was like, I don't know.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: But um, one of the things I did like is that in this version they depict the um time that Odysseus and his men have to spend inside the horse as harrowing, you know, because in most versions of the story, it's like, oh, we're chilling in here, it's comfortable, it's cool, we're just waiting for the right time to open the hatch and you know go kill some Trojans.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: In this, they make it like a challenge for those guys.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of liked that.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of cool.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'd never I don't know, I would have thought to do that on my own.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: It is a cool, yeah, creative aspect to it, like how it's on the beach and the tide's rolling in and they have to survive that few days.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I also appreciated the fact that like the way the movie opens on the Trojan horse, and then we get back to it later.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because it's so impactful, so like it was able to, I guess, harness the power of how impactful that scene is supposed to be and use it through the entire narrative, which is really good.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just all right, we're building up, we're building up K.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: This is the crisis of the movie or the climax, and now we're moving on.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it takes on Omens' own persona and represents so much to Odysseus's journey.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and the the the film ends with a shot of the Trojan horse as well.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and I think it's on fire, right?
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I feel like that's directly related to this thematic thing that he seems to be doing about you know how um because you know the Trojan horse is basically a dirty trick that um subverts Zeus's law, right, so that they can achieve military victory.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_02: And um it seems just very pointed that he's see you know, with with those bookends of the Trojan horse and knowing the story that Odysseus goes through in this version of the the story, then like, yeah, that he's I feel like he's saying something.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right, right, right.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then the last big thing I want to kind of touch on.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: While I didn't hate it, I was not really impressed with the score of this movie.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like it was kind of an afterthought and very sedated.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: And sure, that I would prefer that over something so melodramatic it's annoying.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I do feel there's a little bit of a missed opportunity in in the score.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, what do you think?
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think I have mixed feelings on it because it's definitely one of those scores where, like, if you were to ask me an hour, like, hey, hum a few bars of one of the themes that was played in the Odyssey.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_02: But I do remember just experientially sitting in the theater, you know, there were some moments like uh the bit where they're clamoring to get the uh gate open in Troy so that uh uh Agamemnon and all the Greeks waiting outside can come in, and the music is just building and building and building, getting more intense, more drums, more noise, more everything.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, okay, like for the feeling that this scene is supposed to have, that works, right?
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so yeah, yeah.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, I have mixed feelings on it.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, maybe I I was a bit disappointed because while Dunkirk is not my favorite movie that he's done, the score is fantastic, right?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it takes on its character of its own.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: It really is like, oh, by the way, if you don't feel stressed out, let me make you stressed out by this background music.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I kind of wanted some of that in there.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: And you're right, there's nothing I can think of that's like, oh yeah, that's the sound, the music from the Odyssey.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess for an epic film like that, I would have expected a little bit more.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it wasn't horrible, but I really wasn't impressed with it.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let's see here.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: Jason says, on third of the cigar, flavor still holds up, flavor's still there.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: What are your thoughts?
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, which is a good, I think, transition.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go to the final third of Calvary.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I definitely think more medium, it's a bit more subtle than the jug that we smoked uh yesterday.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm I'm I am liking the flavor.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_01: I am really liking the the sweetness and that that earthy tone.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I'm also getting, and it might be more of a sensation thing than a flavor thing, but I am definitely experiencing you know, sort of a a bright, sharp uh uh almost uh bitterness or bite, if that makes sense.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: But uh it's not it's not unwanted, like it, you know, the same way you'll get, you know, uh you know, like uh bitter bite, uncertain alcoholic drinks or whatever, you know, and that's kind of what you want.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's it's not too dissimilar for me on this.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_02: I I kind of like how that's complicating the flavor profile a little bit.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, especially for more subtle, more medium strength uh cigars.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: I I was talking to a blender last week, and I was like, there's nothing more boring to me than like that kind of medium habano, just kind of general sweet, a little bit of nuttiness, and there you go.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like that initial what you're talking about, that bite or that bitterness or that sensation on the end is what makes the cigar interesting.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I appreciate layers like that, and I do think that this has it towards the end.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and I will say I just took a swig of my drink, and I think that that bite in the cigar is creating a contrast where I taste something almost buttery on this whiskey that I normally would not.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of cool.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, super cool.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, any final thoughts before we go to to voting on either?
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um uh one other thing I I want to comment on.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I I generally uh oh well, thank you.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I generally uh liked the um climactic action sequence as Odysseus has to uh attempt to kill all the suitors, you know.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um I I'm not a you know uh ancient warfare expert, so like you know, whether or not he's using the smartest tactics in the world with the bow and arrow, like whatever.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't really care about that.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's just um, you know, I I think they make it look uh appropriately challenging because you know, yeah, he's the only one in the room with a weapon, but he's still one man against you know dozens.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and um, you know, uh Matt Damon, of course, sort of made a a career uh as an action star with the born films and stuff like that.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think he equits himself pretty well here.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_02: Also, dude got yoked for this movie.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_02: What the heck?
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, I just know I I wonder what you thought about that sort of climactic fight kind of that he's gotta do there.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like uh it's a little confusing.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of things happening in it.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, wait, wait, wait, where are we?
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what's going on?
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in terms of like, is Od Decius actually hurt?
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: Is he actually hit?
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_01: Where is he in conjunction to Robert Pattison's screaming swords, shields, all those things?
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um that that was a little weird.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I honestly I like Robert Pattison as an actor.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if this was his best role.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_02: I I I I mean he's appropriately slimy and you know, dis dislikable, unlikable, whatever you want to call it in this, but yeah, um, it does feel like he's mostly there to to just like be that kind of grimy guy.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I I'm uncertain whether or not I think it's uh you know an effective commentary on his character or just kind of silly that he's cowering behind a column the whole time in that fight, yelling out stuff at other people like get the source, get the get my I don't know.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_01: So for for the yeah, those elements, uh I I don't know.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't I wasn't like whoa, like finally everyone's getting their come up.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's I was like, all right, this is happening.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I don't know.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't I didn't find it crazy impressive.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't hate it either.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was just it was a moment, definitely not one of the high moments of the movie, I'll put it that way.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: For me.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, one one thing that you know is uh highlighted in that scene, and they do it several times, and this does tie into the music in the movie, is that I do think it's a was a cool idea that they made it sort of uh part of the movie's musical identity that there's a almost a theme unto itself when he pulls that bowstring and there's that particular tone that they play.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh because that relates to like you know, there's this weird duality to it almost because you know Odysseus says he does that for a sense of fair play, right?
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, to warn the prey that you know, hey, I'm here, you know, this we're gonna put this on an even footing as possible.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_02: But there's almost a uh uh a cockiness to it as well, right?
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, and uh so I like the way that that was integrated.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, towards the end how he has his the prey of the suitors at the end.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was good.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so let's uh let's write down what we are blank paper, gonna vote uh the Calvary at the end.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_02: Still blank.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_02: This is a marker.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_01: This is happening in real time.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: Watch, we're like totally different today.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: All right, I have written down my score.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_01: One out of ten for Calvary.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, close.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_01: 7.5, 7.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's in that mark.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh one of those cigars that I've smoked, I think, three times right now.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this is where I will say I think it would have gotten higher marks if I had smoked it a bit earlier on in the day.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't necessarily classify this as a end of the evening type of cigar, um, but it is really good, like right out the gate.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like so that's where I find its place.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I do enjoy it a lot.
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and then for the Odyssey, uh, what is going to be your score for this movie?
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_02: I'm using the same sticky note.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, look at that.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_02: I I gave it a bit.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I was I was about to say, yeah, I'll just go with a seven as well.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: The one thing is I will say, there's a lot to be said about the uh ambitiousness of the movie, um, some of the scenes executed, the way it was filmed.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yes, it gets a 7.5 for me.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and uh, I think another component for me is, you know, like I said, even though there may be some clunkiness in the execution, I appreciate that he was like, all right, you know, we're gonna retell this extremely classic story, but it needs to say something about the people we are now.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it needs to be relevant to the times we're living in and to the audience that's gonna be watching this, and uh, you know, uh to the degree that he attempted to pull it off.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just glad that he tried, right?
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Jason says he gives the cigar an eight out of ten.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: Very nice, very nice.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that was the first movie of Chris Nolan films that we're gonna be talking about.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be back next Tuesday to discuss the next one, which Curtis is picking.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, Curtis, which is the next movie we're talking about?
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this is a movie that I saw only once back when it came out in the theaters, and with the you know, group of people in my life that I talked to with movies about, I seem to be the outlier.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I don't know that I like this movie a whole lot.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: I feel kind of a little distanced from it.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe I owe it a rewatch.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna do Interstellar.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and I have never seen it, so um it'll be an interesting movie for sure.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be another hefty film.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're we're not going for short films right now.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_02: So plus, you know, more more Matt Damon, more in Hathaway.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just keep the ball rolling.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_01: All right, guys.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: So next week we are talking Interstellar.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be smoking uh either the last cigar of the variety pack or potentially the new one.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, and lastly, if you guys have an opportunity, help us celebrate the month of uh anniversary for OGT cigars.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_01: Check out our anniversary sampler, it's a killer pack, super excited for it.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we'll see you guys next Tuesday, same time to talk about Interstellar.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks again, Curtis, and we'll talk.