Moxie's Movie Reel

[Fiero425]

How is a fantasy movie being used as a vessel for political means.. ? That's like saying Wonder Woman is for the new women's movement or Black Panther is for Black Lives Matter.

Are you kidding? That's the MO of Hollyweird; political content not to look as political content going back 100 yrs.! Look at "Star Trek" created in '66 along w/ Batman series! "ST" was all about politics, race, & individual choice! The Federation was represented by us, then the Romulans & Klingons from evil empires; Russia/China m/b! The storylines of 3 seasons were riddled w/ political content; 1 ep. had a people pledging allegiance to an American flag! Come on, you know this already!

 

[Murat B.]

See that means that you are cherry picking your movies casting.. 20 years ago noOne who had stated anything about what is highlighted above.. Did Nolan, Matt Damon or even Ludwig state that there's political reasons for the casting?

Yeah, that was 20 years ago...Hollywood has changed quite a bit. They used to be in the entertainment business. Not so much anymore.
And no, those guys would never admit their political reasons. You just have to decide for yourself. Look at Hollywood's leanings, that should give you a clue.

 

[Federberg]

well I went to watch The Odyssey. The good news is that I didn't fall asleep in the theatre which would be a sign that a movie is just pure trash. As we walked out, I asked the folks I watched it with what they thought.. two said..."ok", and the other said "alright". I think that's fairly accurate. It's a fairly long movie, and the fact that it sustained my attention is definitely in its favour. But I heard so much propaganda before I watched it, with folks raving about it that I expected to see something at least on par with Gladiator. It wasn't on that level. Sometimes a movie just lacks charisma, even if the ingredients are there. I thought Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, John Leguizamo were good. But...right at the first scene... I think it was Travis Scott as the Bard.. gave local theatre vibes.

As my friends said.. it was alright. But I'm not going to a cinema to watch that again. If it comes on tv, if it's near a scene I enjoyed I might stay and watch for a bit, but my time is too valuable to invest in sitting through that again. A movie can be long, it can have good actors in it. But sometimes it just lacks grandeur, sometimes it's just not.... epic

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

well I went to watch The Odyssey. The good news is that I didn't fall asleep in the theatre which would be a sign that a movie is just pure trash. As we walked out, I asked the folks I watched it with what they thought.. two said..."ok", and the other said "alright". I think that's fairly accurate. It's a fairly long movie, and the fact that it sustained my attention is definitely in its favour. But I heard so much propaganda before I watched it, with folks raving about it that I expected to see something at least on par with Gladiator. It wasn't on that level. Sometimes a movie just lacks charisma, even if the ingredients are there. I thought Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, John Leguizamo were good. But...right at the first scene... I think it was Travis Scott as the Bard.. gave local theatre vibes.

As my friends said.. it was alright. But I'm not going to a cinema to watch that again. If it comes on tv, if it's near a scene I enjoyed I might stay and watch for a bit, but my time is too valuable to invest in sitting through that again. A movie can be long, it can have good actors in it. But sometimes it just lacks grandeur, sometimes it's just not.... epic

Thanks for your thoughts on Odyssey, I have been getting wonderful reviews from friends etc
Also heard that it sustained attention and people didnt feel like it was 3 hours long
Hopefully I can go in the next week or so

 

[Federberg]

Thanks for your thoughts on Odyssey, I have been getting wonderful reviews from friends etc
Also heard that it sustained attention and people didnt feel like it was 3 hours long
Hopefully I can go in the next week or so

definitely sustained attention. No regrets watching it. I just won't be adding that to the catalogue of movies I would describe as a rewatchable

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

definitely sustained attention. No regrets watching it. I just won't be adding that to the catalogue of movies I would describe as a rewatchable

No worries thanks for your comments and thoughts

 

[Jelenafan]

I just watched “The Odyssey” on an IMAX screen in the Bay Area ( waaay overpriced but that’s another story about movie-going these days) but I enjoyed it.

Always been a Greek Mythology buff so was anxious to see Nolan’s spin on it, as he is one of my fave directors. The Trojan horse flaskbacks were among the best, leave it to Nolan to convey the grittiness & claustrophobia/danger of the plan.

Forgetting the (IMO) fatuous criticisms of casting the gorgeous Lupita Nyongio as Helen of Troy, I did like Nolan’s depiction how she did not come out “unscathed” by the war she supposedly started. As in Homer’s the Odyssey it’s aptly conveyed her marriage to Menelaus is not an ideal happily ever after.

The scenes with both Cyclops & Circe were great, conveying the horror of powers beyond human control.

On a side note, does Charlize Theron have a portrait of her aging in her attic, because her depiction of Calyso was as beautiful as she’s ever looked to me.

Nolan’s Odyssey is realistically dirty & messy, not picture postcard mythology the ways it’s usually depicted on screen ( though Kirk Douglas version will always have a fond place in my heart). The acting was top notch, and I found it interesting that all the actors including the English used a sort of mid Atlantic accent , I’m guessing again a Nolan touch.

I agree it didn’t quite jell completely but some passages were very powerful and it’s the first version that conveys what a colossal waste of human lives the whole Illiad/Odyssey was with how the poet(s) Homer depicted. The Gods in those Greek works are such spiteful petty beings.

Sort of a spoiler but I agree with how per this article the whole Trojan Horse was depicted in a different way…..

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/18/entertainment/odyssey-trojan-horse-scene-nolan

 

[Fiero425]

I just watched “The Odyssey” on an IMAX screen in the Bay Area ( waaay overpriced but that’s another story about movie-going these days) but I enjoyed it.

Always been a Greek Mythology buff so was anxious to see Nolan’s spin on it, as he is one of my fave directors. The Trojan horse flaskbacks were among the best, leave it to Nolan to convey the grittiness & claustrophobia/danger of the plan.

Forgetting the (IMO) fatuous criticisms of casting the gorgeous Lupita Nyongio as Helen of Troy, I did like Nolan’s depiction how she did not come out “unscathed” by the war she supposedly started. As in Homer’s the Odyssey it’s aptly conveyed her marriage to Menelaus is not an ideal happily ever after.

The scenes with both Cyclops & Circe were great, conveying the horror of powers beyond human control.

On a side note, does Charlize Theron have a portrait of her aging in her attic, because her depiction of Calyso was as beautiful as she’s ever looked to me.

Nolan’s Odyssey is realistically dirty & messy, not picture postcard mythology the ways it’s usually depicted on screen ( though Kirk Douglas version will always have a fond place in my heart). The acting was top notch, and I found it interesting that all the actors including the English used a sort of mid Atlantic accent , I’m guessing again a Nolan touch.

I agree it didn’t quite jell completely but some passages were very powerful and it’s the first version that conveys what a colossal waste of human lives the whole Illiad/Odyssey was with how the poet(s) Homer depicted. The Gods in those Greek works are such spiteful petty beings.

Sort of a spoiler but I agree with how per this article the whole Trojan Horse was depicted in a different way…..

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/18/entertainment/odyssey-trojan-horse-scene-nolan

I'm patient! Will wait for it to hit cable & see Tik Tok clips! The last mythological movie I can recall is w/ Henry Cavil; "Immortals!" Loved the Gods (Luke went from Apollo in "Clash Of The Titans" to Zeus), but the movie was wanting w/ how it was filmed! Mickey Rourke was at his end & John Hurt didn't do much!

 

[Jelenafan]

Been watching movies my whole life and directors/writers always have made “artistic decisions”, that are informed by their background, creative intent & yes political orientation. Among other things.

That is nothing new; it’s been happening, for I dunno, 6000 + years of recorded history. LOL.

Reducing a film to just the viewer’s political prism of the world seems a bit limiting to say the least, IMO.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I went yesterday to watch Odyssey,
Yes it is a film you need to watch on the big screen, it is a big spectacle and it is also much a Christopher Nolan film. I personally like really like Nolan.I very much like his early work. I liked Following. I liked Memento, since then he's received these huge budgets.
I dont think it's a complicated movie, and I dont think its even a about a complicated man, I think its a quite simple action hero movie about an action hero who feels bad about being an action hero. Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, played their parts well, still I loved Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting with Robin Williams, one of my favorite films.
Federberg,
I agree with your thoughts it definitely sustained attention, a movie critic friend of mine said he enjoyed it better when he watched it the second time, one thing was left out was the construction process of Trojan Horse, probably to keep the narrative tightly focused on the aftermath and flashbacks
I enjoyed the movie, personally I have preferred other Nolan's movies, I am glad I went, my husband probably enjoyed it more than me

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

BTW,
My movie critic friend suggests to watch "Ulysses" that Mario Camerini made in 1954 with Kirk Douglas. Seek it out., a complete opposite to Nolan's version of Odyssey.

 

[Kieran]

well I went to watch The Odyssey. The good news is that I didn't fall asleep in the theatre which would be a sign that a movie is just pure trash. As we walked out, I asked the folks I watched it with what they thought.. two said..."ok", and the other said "alright". I think that's fairly accurate. It's a fairly long movie, and the fact that it sustained my attention is definitely in its favour. But I heard so much propaganda before I watched it, with folks raving about it that I expected to see something at least on par with Gladiator. It wasn't on that level. Sometimes a movie just lacks charisma, even if the ingredients are there. I thought Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, John Leguizamo were good. But...right at the first scene... I think it was Travis Scott as the Bard.. gave local theatre vibes.

As my friends said.. it was alright. But I'm not going to a cinema to watch that again. If it comes on tv, if it's near a scene I enjoyed I might stay and watch for a bit, but my time is too valuable to invest in sitting through that again. A movie can be long, it can have good actors in it. But sometimes it just lacks grandeur, sometimes it's just not.... epic

Totally agree. I saw it in IMAX Dublin City, and I’d seen a few reviews and was aware of the “controversies” regarding casting, but first of all with this, I wasn’t bothered by the casting they complained about, it’s only an issue to me if he followed modish political guidelines, which I don’t think he did. Anyways, that casting didn’t distract me. You know what casting did distract me?

Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland aka Spider-Man as his son, Anne Hathaway, Jon Bernthal doing a turn, all good actors but it felt like a 1950’s Hollywood Big Soundstage take on the ancient world. Matt Damon plays Charlton Heston playing Odysseus. Hunky American accents and gleaming teeth kind of disturbed the myth vibe. I didn’t feel it at all.

And the opening hour or so was lengthy and contrived exposition of the back story, which meant it dragged unnaturally until we got some action. This was another distraction. I know it’s always going to be a tough one to film but I disappointed by this. I didn’t feel like I was transported into a magical past. Maybe a cast of only Greek actors, with subtitles, would have done that?

There were some good action scenes but it was very episodic. I’d say, yeah it’s good, but I won’t be surprised if Nolan revisits this some later day and gives us a directors cut that improves it. Nobody really stood out for me, and even the whirlpool in the whirlpool scene was momentarily on screen but not filmed in a way that caused gasps of fright. I think the long opening took a lot of the wind from my sails. The horse was great, but at the end, Odysseus guilt tripping about the Trojan War made zero sense and came across as Hollywood virtue signalling. “We tricked them [sob].”

Well, yeah, that was the effing point of the horse.

And yeah, it’s not epic, it doesn’t transcend, it doesn’t really move us. And being based on one of the greatest long poems, it’s not poetic, or insightful.

I was disappointed. Lot of people left the cinema raving about it. I felt like I’d seen a different film than them.

You know what I did last night to detox? Watched clips of Jason and the argonauts on YouTube. Skeleton fighters with swords. That’ll always stay with me…

 

[Federberg]

Totally agree. I saw it in IMAX Dublin City, and I’d seen a few reviews and was aware of the “controversies” regarding casting, but first of all with this, I wasn’t bothered by the casting they complained about, it’s only an issue to me if he followed modish political guidelines, which I don’t think he did. Anyways, that casting didn’t distract me. You know what casting did distract me?

Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland aka Spider-Man as his son, Anne Hathaway, Jon Bernthal doing a turn, all good actors but it felt like a 1950’s Hollywood Big Soundstage take on the ancient world. Matt Damon plays Charlton Heston playing Odysseus. Hunky American accents and gleaming teeth kind of disturbed the myth vibe. I didn’t feel it at all.

And the opening hour or so was lengthy and contrived exposition of the back story, which meant it dragged unnaturally until we got some action. This was another distraction. I know it’s always going to be a tough one to film but I disappointed by this. I didn’t feel like I was transported into a magical past. Maybe a cast of only Greek actors, with subtitles, would have done that?

There were some good action scenes but it was very episodic. I’d say, yeah it’s good, but I won’t be surprised if Nolan revisits this some later day and gives us a directors cut that improves it. Nobody really stood out for me, and even the whirlpool in the whirlpool scene was momentarily on screen but not filmed in a way that caused gasps of fright. I think the long opening took a lot of the wind from my sails. The horse was great, but at the end, Odysseus guilt tripping about the Trojan War made zero sense and came across as Hollywood virtue signalling. “We tricked them [sob].”

Well, yeah, that was the effing point of the horse.

And yeah, it’s not epic, it doesn’t transcend, it doesn’t really move us. And being based on one of the greatest long poems, it’s not poetic, or insightful.

I was disappointed. Lot of people left the cinema raving about it. I felt like I’d seen a different film than them.

You know what I did last night to detox? Watched clips of Jason and the argonauts on YouTube. Skeleton fighters with swords. That’ll always stay with me…

I hear you. I actually didn't think Damon and Holland and Hathaway were bad per se. But I do agree with you, it wasn't epic at all. And I do strongly agree that the backstory was so long, I started worrying jeepers am I going to get out of here tonight?? And bear in mind I chose to watch the movie rather than the World Cup 3rd place match so there was some buyers remorse there

As I said in my post, this is not in the class of Gladiator. There are so few movies in this era that can claim the moniker of 'epic' and this one certainly wasn't it. But it felt like it was trying to be just that. Like you I wasn't bothered by the casting at all. Well.. apart from the bard, who I'm told is Travis Scott. I don't even really know who that is in the real world, but right at the start when he's calling out whatever he was calling out in Odysseus's throne room it gave me the ick. It had the sincerity of street theatre. It was... theatric.. it didn't evoke ancient gravitas. I felt embarrassed and reflexively looked at my friends who were with me, wondering if they felt the same. I actually thought Menelaus and Helen gave the movie an edge, it was a take on the story which was interesting to me.

Having read the Iliad, Odyssey and the Aeneid I was all up for this, but also resigned to the fact that it was going to be very difficult for me to enjoy it the way others might. Sometimes ignorance in these things is a great aid. As I said.. I won't be watching this again in full. Some clips maybe. For the life of me I don't understand the folks who've seen it and said they're going to watch it again.. multiple times! I'm like... did we watch the same movie??

 

[Fiero425]

I hear you. I actually didn't think Damon and Holland and Hathaway were bad per se. But I do agree with you, it wasn't epic at all. And I do strongly agree that the backstory was so long, I started worrying jeepers am I going to get out of here tonight?? And bear in mind I chose to watch the movie rather than the World Cup 3rd place match so there was some buyers remorse there

As I said in my post, this is not in the class of Gladiator. There are so few movies in this era that can claim the moniker of 'epic' and this one certainly wasn't it. But it felt like it was trying to be just that. Like you I wasn't bothered by the casting at all. Well.. apart from the bard, who I'm told is Travis Scott. I don't even really know who that is in the real world, but right at the start when he's calling out whatever he was calling out in Odysseus's throne room it gave me the ick. It had the sincerity of street theatre. It was... theatric.. it didn't evoke ancient gravitas. I felt embarrassed and reflexively looked at my friends who were with me, wondering if they felt the same. I actually thought Menelaus and Helen gave the movie an edge, it was a take on the story which was interesting to me.

Having read the Iliad, Odyssey and the Aeneid I was all up for this, but also resigned to the fact that it was going to very difficult for me to enjoy it the way others might. Sometimes ignorance in these things is a great aid. As I said.. I won't be watching this again in full. Some clips maybe. For the life of me I don't understand the folks who've seen it and said they're going to watch it again.. multiple times! I'm like... did we watch the same movie??

ITA about expectations due to my history watching, reading, & discussing this subject matter! B4 10 yrs. old I classified myself a mytholgy expert; knowing all the names comparable across Greek, Latin, & Norse stories! Normally I'd be all over this movie, but will wait until it hits cable! I'm patient! I'd rather watch the old movies from my childhood that were made quite well for the times w/o CGI, etc.!

 

[Kieran]

I hear you. I actually didn't think Damon and Holland and Hathaway were bad per se. But I do agree with you, it wasn't epic at all. And I do strongly agree that the backstory was so long, I started worrying jeepers am I going to get out of here tonight?? And bear in mind I chose to watch the movie rather than the World Cup 3rd place match so there was some buyers remorse there

As I said in my post, this is not in the class of Gladiator. There are so few movies in this era that can claim the moniker of 'epic' and this one certainly wasn't it. But it felt like it was trying to be just that. Like you I wasn't bothered by the casting at all. Well.. apart from the bard, who I'm told is Travis Scott. I don't even really know who that is in the real world, but right at the start when he's calling out whatever he was calling out in Odysseus's throne room it gave me the ick. It had the sincerity of street theatre. It was... theatric.. it didn't evoke ancient gravitas. I felt embarrassed and reflexively looked at my friends who were with me, wondering if they felt the same. I actually thought Menelaus and Helen gave the movie an edge, it was a take on the story which was interesting to me.

Having read the Iliad, Odyssey and the Aeneid I was all up for this, but also resigned to the fact that it was going to be very difficult for me to enjoy it the way others might. Sometimes ignorance in these things is a great aid. As I said.. I won't be watching this again in full. Some clips maybe. For the life of me I don't understand the folks who've seen it and said they're going to watch it again.. multiple times! I'm like... did we watch the same movie??

Few things here, did we see Helen in the film, or her twin, Clemnestra? Or was Helen passing herself off as her twin? Does she have a twin in the Homer books?

Also, which translation do you recommend for reading these books? I’ve heard Fagles is highly recommended? Some of the culture war scares about the film suggested Nolan has gone woke by using the Emily Wilson one, which is allegedly a modern values take on the tale? But in yesterday’s Sunday Times Wilson more or less dismissed the film. “It didn’t land emotionally for me at all,” she said, “partly because, unlike Homer, it’s not very well written.”

Ouch!

But of course, if we want gravitas - and you’re right, there was none - then that’s conveyed especially well through use of language. “The characters don’t have the kind of depth the Homeric characters have. I felt, do I really care if this guy gets back to his wife? You haven’t given me any reason to.”

She’s highly critical of the film, and says that Odysseus never showed signs of anxiety or trauma in the book, which I’ve read elsewhere too. He’s cunning, devious, famously hubristic, but none of that was in the film.

The more I think about the film, my thoughts are more about what it wasn’t, than what it was. Little of it resonates with me today.