I beg to differ. I think he is a very clever writer but has, of course, priorities, and female characters are not his. Which is fine, no writer or director is focused on everything.
A lot of expository dialogue in Nolan‘s films is, I believe, needed since the concepts need explanations which otherwise could not be given.
They need to figure out a way to squeeze Tom Holland’s Spider Man into Avengers: Doomsday so he can have a shot at being in 3 films in a year to make a billion dollars.
Post credit scene of him in Secret War.
Two seconds of him turning his head with a cgi backing…it counts.
I think you may enjoy her work. She is an interesting talent in film and television.
Agreed. And while I know that Nolan can adapt as he chooses, some of the adventures seem off-kilter with Odysseus as trauma survivor–especially as he is the one who inflicts the harm/pain that leads to him being subsequently traumatized.
It is okay to have priorities, and when you do–avoid the areas/characters you deprioritize. But if Nolan is going to have female characters in his movies, he should give them the same degree of thought and nuance as his male characters.
Once in a while, but not at the level or frequency at which he does narrative data drops.
This is something that I would be interested to keep in mind on a second viewing of the film. He might have gotten more mileage out of leaning more into the hubris of the character considering the glaring absence of the gods in the story. The PTSD angle might be more effective if they were actually there, a physical entity upon which Odysseus could cast his blame for his shortcomings and their devastating effects on the world around him. Without them there, he almost needs to shoulder all of the blame because, at least in the way I took it, Poseidon and Zeus come across more as abstract ideas in Nolan’s story than they do actual entities that are to be feared or worshipped.
There is an interesting take by a NYT columnist picking up on the trickster persona Nolan used to smuggle in Judeo-Christian beliefs (Leviticus) which exposes the basis of the right wing hatred against the film. In that regard Nolan really has made a film version which speaks to these times.
And that’s what’s needed, not a scholar proof visualization.
Still just a film with pretty pictures with bad dialogue and worse dialects…imo of course. Fits perfect in the line of Blade Runner 2049 and Dune 1 and 2 where I could not beat myself to watch them for a second time
Re: watching films a second time, I used to do this - of course - with every new Bond film as a kid, and later often with the films that impressed me or somehow suggested a second, slightly shifted rewatch knowing the beats and the end. However, over the years I found I myself profit most from a rewatch if the film in question already settled down in my recollection for some time.
Maybe I can only change my perspective ever so much - or I simply don’t expect to find new, previously un(der?)appreciated readings of scenes and stories so often any more. I distinctly remember having watched for example THE BATMAN at least twice, yet nothing of import stayed with me. Which begs the question if both those times were wasted?
Movies had another impact on us when we were younger. Probably because they were not that easily available. Watch it a second time? Only if you make it to the theatre again as long as it is shown.
Now, it is either on my shelf or in my digital library or on a streamer, and I really have to look through all of them to find out (sometimes whether I actually have already bought a copy).
And with the onslaught of new stuff I often watched that rather than rewatch my library.
However, this is changing. Too often I was let down by the new filmsand shows. So I return to those, reconnecting and finding out things I had forgotten or not picked up on.
I deploy the rewatch sparingly these days, too.
I also can’t be alone in feeling like seeing movies advertised in the little rectangles on a streaming service diminishes their allure in a way seeing a case on display at a video/dvd rental store didn’t. Something about having these films on streaming makes them feel smaller, maybe because they’re advertised in boxes that are the same size as boxes advertising Guy Feiri’s Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.
It’s also hard with the YouTube algorithm constantly autoplaying favorite scenes of mine from movies I love (In Bruges lately), as that can make things overly familiar and therefore less enjoyable. Unless there’s a theatrical rerelease or 35mm/70mm screening, I tend to be one and done with most films these days. Dune 2 floored me when I saw it but I haven’t seen it since opening weekend.
Thankfully it seems like the theatrical distribution of quality films is ramping up again. In the next few weeks I’ll be seeing “Tony”, Cayote v Acme and the Lala Land rerelease, and we still have Wild Horse Nine, Cliff Booth, I Play Rocky, Dune 3, Doomsday, and a bunch of other stuff on the horizon. So I guess not unlike Diner’s, Drive Ins and Dives, we’re eating good in the neighborhood!
I’m not sure it’s necessarily “making history” for a director to best his previous-best box office total for a film, but an impressive milestone nonetheless for Nolan.
It´s funny…since the 50´s it was almost expected from famous directors to best their box office with new films, today it´s making history…
It has become his most successful film ever, so that is a record most directors have never achieved with their 12th movie.
And who would have thought that it tops two of his Batman adaptations?
Yep, that is making history.
It’s not even the highest grossing film released in the the past calendar month.
It’s an impressive box office achievement, there is no doubt. A history making one? I don’t really think so. The media, and society in general, is too quick these days to say something is unprecedented, history-making, and other such platitudes. They get used far too often that we sometimes don’t recognize when something that truly is unprecedented is happening.
Well, his first 6 together made less than Odyssey, so Spielberg he is not…
No, and since Spielberg is my favourite director I would never call Nolan that.
However, and this is no statement on quality, it is hugely impressive that a director in this business climate can mount an adaptation of THE ODYSSEY and reach over 1 billion dollars at the box office.
This is stellar.
The amount of Christian response to the film has been impressive–both for and against. People are finding a lot in Nolan’s film.
Don’t hate on scholars. Scholarly rigor is one of the last bastions to Trumpism.
Regarding rewatching:
Without formal complexities and pleasure, a rewatch can be a bore. I know the story, so there are no narrative surprises. But there is always the possibility of finding a new aspect of formal craft, creating links and allusions that I missed before. Right now I am rereading Macbeth in preparation for the upcoming visit of the Druid Company to New York City. I already know that Duncan dies and Macbeth is beheaded, but digging down into the intricacy of the verse makes it seem as if I have not read the play before.
Most movies/television/streamed product today cannot withstand such scrutiny since they are made more for consumption that appreciation/contemplation.
This looks interesting…
It was already shown over here in America, and it was good. Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, and Chris Messina are all entertaining in it. A piece of little known history, it’s well worth watching.