Moxie's Movie Reel

[Jelenafan]

I looove when literary people battle each others opinions, one of my fave writers Joyce Carol Oates on X response to Emily Wilson’s criticisms of the film.


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Author Joyce Carol Oates came to the defense of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” after translator Emily Wilson wrote a viral review attacking the film.

“Rather than disagreeing with interpretations of Homer in a collegial manner, this person, who has benefited enormously from Nolan’s film, speaks in the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers,” Carol wrote on X. “One would expect a translator, of all people, beholden to a text, in service to a text, to be just a wee bit more thoughtful & respectful of others who are acting in good faith just as (she would claim) she is.”

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[Kieran]

I looove when literary people battle each others opinions, one of my fave writers Joyce Carol Oates on X response to Emily Wilson’s criticisms of the film.


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Author Joyce Carol Oates came to the defense of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” after translator Emily Wilson wrote a viral review attacking the film.

“Rather than disagreeing with interpretations of Homer in a collegial manner, this person, who has benefited enormously from Nolan’s film, speaks in the crude language of MAGA folks attacking someone with ideas that differ from hers,” Carol wrote on X. “One would expect a translator, of all people, beholden to a text, in service to a text, to be just a wee bit more thoughtful & respectful of others who are acting in good faith just as (she would claim) she is.”

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Yeah Emily Wilson definitely is benefiting from Nolan’s early mention of her translation. Now she’s everywhere expressing her authority over the project. I don’t know if she’s doing this to distance herself from Nolan’s recommendation, or if she feels so strongly that he did it all so badly. I’m not a fan of what he’s done, but it’s great to see her called out, I love a good spat…

 

[Kieran]

I think this pretty much matches the experience that @Kieran @MargaretMcAleer and I had with the movie...



AMENDMENT, well.. actually he's more critical of Tom Holland, Matt Damon and the Menelaus character. I did think they played their parts well, but on reflection I think Critical Drinker is correct

Yeah that’s very good, and I like his channel, don’t always agree with him, which is natural, but he’s stating it clear here, the emperor has no clothes. The Charlton Heston biblical epic schtick is alive and well in Hollywood. Interesting discussion about movies of the past too, including Top Gun which came up here on the forum. The seventies was an insane decade for great films. Quentin Tarantino’s book, Cinema Speculations, is great on this, you just realise how generic and safe filmmaking has become…

 

[Federberg]

Amen!

 

[Kieran]

Amen!

Absolutely. They ruined Bond under Craig, with the last film being not only a movie-related blasphemy, but they didn't even understand the genre they're working in. This isn't some Marvel-verse shite, it's spy and action thriller stuff. You do NOT kill off Bond.

Keep that Fleabag girlie away from the script. Get Aidan Turner in the role and have him play Bond back in the sixties, swaggering and womanising and smoking and looking like he loves his job...

 

[Federberg]

Absolutely. They ruined Bond under Craig, with the last film being not only a movie-related blasphemy, but they didn't even understand the genre they're working in. This isn't some Marvel-verse shite, it's spy and action thriller stuff. You do NOT kill off Bond.

Keep that Fleabag girlie away from the script. Get Aidan Turner in the role and have him play Bond back in the sixties, swaggering and womanising and smoking and looking like he loves his job...

These people live in a bubble, and even economic results (movies bombing) doesn't seem to shake their conviction. I honestly don't know what will eventually destroy the delusion. All I know for sure is that there will be a turn, as is always the case with art. What's sad is that even the money people are mostly ideologically captured. Otherwise a director like Mel Gibson would be far more prolific. It's not so much that he's anti-woke, it's that he remains true to the artform in a way that so few of these so called artists are these days. They don't even realise that they're not artists anymore, just mediocre political activists. Sad..

 

[Kieran]

These people live in a bubble, and even economic results (movies bombing) doesn't seem to shake their conviction. I honestly don't know what will eventually destroy the delusion. All I know for sure is that there will be a turn, as is always the case with art. What's sad is that even the money people are mostly ideologically captured. Otherwise a director like Mel Gibson would be far more prolific. It's not so much that he's anti-woke, it's that he remains true to the artform in a way that so few of these so called artists are these days. They don't even realise that they're not artists anymore, just mediocre political activists. Sad..

Absolutely. And one thing the old Bond franchise got spot on is that he’s in a high stress job, sex is both a release and a perk for him. He womanises like the next day isn’t a given. He enjoys himself in the face of terrible things. He’s not a nice uncle, he’s a dangerous man with a target on his back chasing dangerous men who have targets on their back - and high risk women who are his target to be on their back!

 

[Jelenafan]

Only one Bond: Sean Connery.

 

[Federberg]

Only one Bond: Sean Connery.

I think Connery was the best Bond.

I think Casino Royale was the best single Bond movie

I think Timothy Dalton played the role most realistically

I think the On Her Majesty's Secret Service was perhaps the most underrated Bond movie

 

[Jelenafan]

I think Connery was the best Bond.

I think Casino Royale was the best single Bond movie

I think Timothy Dalton played the role most realistically

I think the On Her Majesty's Secret Service was perhaps the most underrated Bond movie

And of course the tennis connection to James Bond was the fact that George Lazenby ( from HMSS, his one movie as 007) once was married to the WTA’s Pam Shriver.

 

[Jelenafan]

These people live in a bubble, and even economic results (movies bombing) doesn't seem to shake their conviction. I honestly don't know what will eventually destroy the delusion. All I know for sure is that there will be a turn, as is always the case with art. What's sad is that even the money people are mostly ideologically captured. Otherwise a director like Mel Gibson would be far more prolific. It's not so much that he's anti-woke, it's that he remains true to the artform in a way that so few of these so called artists are these days. They don't even realise that they're not artists anymore, just mediocre political activists. Sad..

The thing about movies is that they can accommodate a wide gamut of film makers, all with their strengths & limitations.

I like Gibson as a film maker or at least some of his films ( the Passion of the Christ, Apokalypto) but to me he’s almost like the anti-Nolan. Nolan is coldly conceptual at times while Gibson is viscerally emotional in his approach, IMO each is different & refreshing.

Paul Thomas Anderson is another interesting directors, still think “Boogie Night” is one of the great films of the last 30 years and the crazy brilliant Quentin Tarantino is never boring.

I enjoy Wes Anderson, but dam he can be almost too quirky & precious, and Dennis Villanueve is amazing with His visual style. No one can match his pictorial sense IMO.

 

[Federberg]

The thing about movies is that they can accommodate a wide gamut of film makers, all with their strengths & limitations.

I like Gibson as a film maker or at least some of his films ( the Passion of the Christ, Apokalypto) but to me he’s almost like the anti-Nolan. Nolan is coldly conceptual at times while Gibson is viscerally emotional in his approach, IMO each is different & refreshing.

Paul Thomas Anderson is another interesting directors, still think “Boogie Night” is one of the great films of the last 30 years and the crazy brilliant Quentin Tarantino is never boring.

I enjoy Wes Anderson, but dam he can be almost too quirky & precious, and Dennis Villanueve is amazing with His visual style. No one can match his pictorial sense IMO.

Boogie Nights is a great movie! When Scotty exposed his feelings for Eddie... ugh! The cringe level.

From that moment on, I kept an eye out for Phillip Seymour Hoffman movies. I always find it strange when people talk about DeCaprio, Pacino or whoever else. For me in the last 20 years I don't think there's an actor that can lace PSH's boots. The man was a phenomenon. There are movies he did, that weren't particularly well known, but each in their own way were platforms to expose his genius. I cannot speak highly enough of him. May he rest in peace