The Odyssey - My Take (Spoilers)

 

I had to put the spoiler tag even though this isn't something that can really be spoiled. Let's face it.

I'm also going to state I'm not a Nolan fanboi. In fact this is the first Nolan film I've ever seen.

I'm also also going to state that I think every "real critic" of this movie pulls out their Christoper Nolan(tm) kneepads when he puts out a film. If his name is on it, they're putting on those kneepads before they even see the thing.

I was lucky enough to see it on 70mm film IMAX. It's print 15 of 41. So I'm one of the tiny minority of people who got to see it "as the director intended it to be seen". I have a feeling you won't be surprised by the rest of my review.

Let's start with the whole IMAX thing. I get it. It's Nolan's signature move to film for IMAX. He uses the IMAX cameras. He's all about the aspect ratio. The projectors had to be physically modified to play his last movie. He needed a 200 pound metal surround (the blimp?) to reduce camera noise so the dialog could be heard. Woo IMAX man.

This film did not make good use of that sweet, sweet aspect ratio. There's so few scenes that truly lend themselves to it that there was no reason to film the whole thing on IMAX cameras, except that it's Nolan. Even the scenes that were not too bad in IMAX are getting chopped down for general release.

Let's talk about general release. All this effort and money to make a full-on IMAX movie will have everything that he put into it lost for general release. The cropping is going to be ass when it goes from a more square aspect to the rectangle. There's really no way to fix it when the image is too tall for the screen. Something's getting cut. Generally the sides aren't as important but there's a hella lot of face time on this movie and by framing it for the square it's going to be weird in the rectangle.

So yeah. This movie didn't need to be IMAX. It was because it's Nolan and he loves IMAX. That's a failure on him as a director. It's a big failure. Because this movie wasn't going to be big enough to warrant what he insisted on doing.

But let's get into the story itself. Luckily I don't have to go into much detail because, well, it's the Odyssey.

How many times does this make rescuing Matt Damon? Three? Four? Does this one count because he kind of rescued himself? He's getting typecast as the guy who gets lost, maybe?

There's been talk about the more modern language in the film and I think it works for the tone that was being set. Changing "dad" to "father" would have made it faux highbrow stilted for no good reason. Keeping the dialogue more loose kept things accessible.

I didn't like Tom Holland as the son. The only way I can describe it is that he's too clean and soft, kind of like a puppy. Yeah, yeah. I get the story. But when he's supposed to act like the prince he is he's still too soft. It's not something he can help. It's how he looks. I couldn't take him seriously when he was trying to be serious.

The time stretch of twenty years away didn't work well with Anne Hathaway. She's not looking bad in the part but they didn't let her age enough. She didn't have a single grey hair. That sounds like a small gripe but it's consistent with style over substance. She's been on her own and in a time when life was hard. That woman would have had grey hair. Or maybe they just let you assume she dyed it. It might seem a small thing but those add up.

I can't remember how many time "Zeus's Law" of hospitality was brought up. Seriously. It was explained exactly once that you treat your guests well because any of them could be a god in disguise. It's a variant of the tradition of guestrights, where they weren't supposed to be worried for their safety. It's used as a plot device as to why they couldn't shiv and dump all the suitors and why Odysseus walked into various places without concern. Of course not everyone abided by it but that also became part of the point.

Robert Patterson was a slimy suitor and played it well without playing it up too much. He brought up good points to Penelope as to why she should marry him, even though he is slimy. For the time he was actually doing the right things. They were the slimy right things, tho.

Anyway. Lots of people talking. Lots of swordfights. Lots of boats going up and down on the water. Lots of incorrect armor. An ending that would fit nicely in any generic action movie. And pretty much a movie you'll forget when you walk out the door.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing, memorable about this movie for me. It wasn't too much of a hardship to sit and watch for three hours because the story was epic that way. Epic in scope, not in quality. I couldn't get invested in any of the characters because we all know what's going to happen so what's the point? The actors did their part but no one was exceptional in any way. It's like the color scheme of the movie - a smear of blah.

There's my review. It goes against the grain of all the movie critic reviews. It's lining up with the "real person" reviews, when those people didn't buy their own sets of Christopher Nolan(tm) kneepads. Even my Nolan loving movie buddy wasn't impressed by this. There was sporadic applause at the end from a sold-out show that had about half of the people from freaking out of state in attendance.

Mayhaps Mr. Nolan is wearing out his welcome when it comes to trying to make grand sweeping epics on IMAX and should take a step back from it for a decade or so. Maybe try his hand at making a movie meant for general release instead of ego stroking.

Was that last bit too much? Maybe. But this movie feels kind of like Spielberg and "Disclosure Day". Something that shouldn't have been given so much money by the studio just because of who wanted to make it.

The Invite - My Take (Spoilers)

 

I was looking forward to seeing this based on the trailers. I knew it was going to be more than what they hinted at, or it was going to be something different, and I was intrigued.

I was also (mostly) right.

For clarity and ease of writing this thing I'll refer to the Downstairs Neighbors (DN) who are Seth Rogan and Olivia Wilde, and the Upstairs Neighbors (UN) who are Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. I won't be using their character names because quite frankly I don't remember those things most of the time.

The trailers show the DN inviting the UN to dinner, and heavily imply that swinging shenanigans will be part of the narrative. It looks like there's fun misunderstandings and such, as typically occur. Great. I like that kind of thing. The story. Not the swinging shenanigans. Just to be clear.

The DN are an early middle age couple who are not exactly in accord. He's a snarky, miserable, wet blanket. She's concerned more about appearance than substance. She invited their upstairs neighbors for dinner as an apology of sorts for the noise that they made while renovating their apartment. While they're getting ready he vents his frustration at their upstairs neighbors having very loud sex pretty much every night. She's in agreement but doesn't like confrontation.

They're bickering when the upstairs neighbors arrive at the door and they immediately ask if it's a good time because they heard the arguing before they knocked. DN husband is more than willing to reschedule, wife won't.

The couple dynamics are a study in contrasts. The DN, as noted, are uptight and a bit awkward. The UN are relaxed and more solidly a couple. The difference between them is done well with the DN wife showing off the nibbles spread she spent the entire day assembling and the UN girlfriend not being able to eat any of it. Panic ensues. She's also caught out on lying to her husband about him forgetting about the invitation when in fact she didn't tell him. She kinda did by sending him a text on his way home from work. Not the same when she accused him of not listening when she told him the night before. Anyway. That kind of shows dynamic.

DN husband keeps trying to tell the UN that their sex is too loud. DN wife keeps taking steps to stop him. The UN solve it by apologizing themselves, and that's where things take the turn implied by the trailers.

Yes. They showed up to extend an invite for the DN to join them in sex games. When explaining the noise they bring up that there's the said parties and other guests. This intrigues the DN couple and the conversation quickly turns to that.

The UN are open and honest about what they're doing. They're responsible about it and not at all ashamed. The DN are fascinated and the wife especially asks questions. Explicit questions. They get answers. The DN say they're interested, after running off to talk about it in private.

The DN jump on the idea that it could happen that same night. There's discussion about who and how, then they separate into mixed pairs. Turns out the DN wife has been doing some things her husband doesn't know about when it comes to the pair of windows that look into each other's apartments.

Both the DN are nervous, as one would hope, but the UN work at making them comfortable. Or at least as comfortable as they can be. Then the DN husband trips and hurts his back.

This is the moment when the narrative shifts.

He's now in pain and has no filter. He's loudly miserable and lets his unhappiness flow freely. UN wife/girlfriend is a therapist and sex therapist so she takes the lead in asking questions. She gets the DN to talk about their relationship and what's happening in it. For the first time the cracks in the UN's relationship show too.

After several very good gut punches to the audience the DN couple is left realizing that there's nothing left to their marriage. They go into the kitchen to get a container the UN's brought, come back, and they're gone. The movie ends with the DN husband doing something he hasn't done in years and the DN wife sitting and assimilating the whole evening.

The thing turns on a dime from fun sexy comedy to the harsh reality of what makes or breaks relationships. It doesn't let up once it makes that turn either.

This is a very good movie. It does an excellent job of setting you up before yanking the rug out from under you. Anyone who's been in a long-term relationship that morphed into low-key dislike will see themselves in the DN couple. The UN couple is at the beginning of their relationship so they're still in the phase where things are working.

I really don't know what else to say about it. It's a good character study. The twist doesn't come out of nowhere - it was building the entire time. Then it leaves you there with the DN's pain and no resolution.

It's been a while since I saw a movie like this. It's believable from start to end, has fleshed out characters, and doesn't rely on cheap tricks to pander to the audience. I do like that the trailers were kind of a fake out with where the movie goes. Too many trailers give away the whole thing.

Anyway. If you're in or have been in a relationship I'd say go see this but be prepared to have some wounds reopened.

Supergirl - My Take (Spoilers)

 

I don't know why this movie is catching so much hate. There's far worse ones in the MCU and yes, people hate on them, but this is more. I hate to say it but I do feel that a good chunk of it is having a female lead who doesn't have anime boobs.

This isn't a great movie. It's an okay movie. But that's OK in and of itself because it's an origin story and those tend to be .. not so great. There's an occasional outlier but the weakest movies in franchises tend to be the origin stories.

I like Supergirl being messy. She should be messy. She's had horrible things happen to her and she has to learn how to cope with being the only person they saved. Superman doesn't count in this moment. She had to watch the people she loved die before being hurled into space to where her cousin, who she's never met, was sent. She wanted to die with her family. She was forced to live.

She's also young. She's in her early 20s in this movie. She's spent maybe half her life to this point on another planet. She has to learn the language, the customs, and learn how to deal with powers that only one other person on the planet has. That's a lot and anyone who doesn't think running away from it all is a coping mechanism is lying.

Having said all that they show her living her life. She's not growing up in Superman's shadow. He got the prize. He was sent off before he knew anything, landed with loving parents, and knows everything about his home. Of course she's going to be resentful of him and of course she's going to flame out.

The inclusion of Clark here is good. It's not too much. It's him trying to be a good cousin and being the dweeb he is. And she gets to say what everyone has been saying for too long - asking why Superman runs around in his underwear.

Having the movie set in space isn't a bad thing. It gets a little Star Wars with the sheer number of alien races but I'm not going to ding them for that because it generally swings the other way with too many human-types. We don't know when she decided to head out on her own. We find her there. She's comfortable in space.

The plot of the girl looking to avenge her family may be the plot of a comic book (I dunno) but it's kind of insulting here. Of course the family is Oriental. (If that's no longer a polite term I apologize.) Of course the family makes swords. Of course the bad guys kill the family for no reason because they'd cooperated fully. And we find out later of course the girl can do sick fight moves. Honestly I'd rather they chose any other ethnicity than they did for that part because it doesn't age well.

I adore Lobo. You can tell Jason was having a field day in that role. I love his fangs. I love his glowing red eyes. I love his absolute sheer confidence and joy in life. I'm going to find out the best comic books to read to get to know more about the character. He's honestly the spot of sunshine in this movie. He's not actually integral to the story, they could have done it without him, but I'm glad they didn't.

Here's something. Supergirl kills. Oddly enough she only does that once she's on her way to dealing with her trauma. My guess is that it was something Clark stressed with her when he was teaching her how to live on Earth. When she left she kept that part. When she got past it she chose her own way. It's refreshing to see a superhero that kills on the big screen and who doesn't angst about it. She just does what needs to be done.

OK. Here's something that peeved the ever-loving heck out of me. They're dealing with the BBEG. The girl wants to kill him to avenge her family. Supergirl wants the antidote he carries to save her dog, which he poisoned. Um. She probably could have gotten that antidote from others in his group but we'll skip that, shall we?

Oh. The "ever-loving heck" part. When she's fighting the BBEG there's lots of weapons and punchy-punchy. She's Supergirl. Put the guy in a headlock, head straight up, leave him as orbital debris. Problem solved. I hope I'm not the only person who thought of that solution. It would have been refreshingly different.

There's also something about her being on a planet that has a binary yellow and green sun. A brief internet dip has that as a comic book relevant thing. So she's stuck there and the green sun is killing her. The dark veins under the skin to show it's killing her thing. Of course the yellow sun dawns to save her. It's a metaphorical saving as well.

During the last big battle she finally talks the girl out of killing (she'd been doing that the whole time), then she kills the guy instead after sending the girl away. Like I said, refreshing. Before that she was doing a bunch of killing saving the girl but I guess that's irrelevant. They had her hanging out with the girl after but luckily she's left with what's left of her family.

After she exorcises her demons, mostly, she heads back to Earth to be with Clark.

The thing is I wasn't invested in this movie in the slightest. It's a tough thing to get emotional investment when it's clear that there's no danger to any of the characters. It's even tougher when the story is a redemption arc so you know things will turn out well in the end. I think the movie was necessary to bring her into the DC universe, whatever it's called.

Hopefully they won't chop the idea of having her around for future movies. She may not be able to carry another solo movie but then again she doesn't have to do that. She's fine as an ensemble character. The superheroes work best as ensemble casts, which is why origin stories are so difficult. She contrasts nicely with Superman's wholesome thing because no matter how healed she is this girl is messy.

Anyway. I don't plan on ever watching it again. I did. I'll know why things happen in future movies. I'm good.