I tried to go back through the blog to see the last time we were in an actual cinema. Is it possible February 2024 was our last time buying tickets and popcorn?
Quite possible. Probable even.
But we had "date afternoon" the other day. We still took Shep to daycare and we went out to lunch and then to go see the Odyssey.
I am reluctant to say I never read the book, as some might think my uncultured (I am). I know the story - or stories, if you will - but not in great detail. I'd like to say I knew more of it than I would guess the average movie-goer. I could be wrong - I usually am.
The movie a solid B+.
Of course, I have notes.
It clocks in at almost three hours in length, but I gotta hand it to Christopher Nolan, it didn't feel like it. His three hour Interstellar felt like three lightyears (even though I know that a lightyear is measurement distance and not time......but the joke works for those who don't know that).
It's difficult to translate a 400 page poem into a three hour film (I'd assume). Somethings have to go and a lot of the story background is done via exposition. Mostly provided with Charlize Theron as Calypso and Matt Damon as Odysseus. Exposition, done correctly - like here - is a good tool.
Casting is a bit hit and miss, perhaps. Damon is great - though at the end, it could have easily been Ethan Hawke present day. Save some interviews, I've never seen a thing Tom Holland has been in, but he's a personable chap and did well here.
710 liked Anne Hathaway more than I, but that's always gonna be the case. And I could look at Jon Bernthal all. day. long. While I've never seen any of the Twilight series, you've never wanted to see Robert Pattinson succumb to death more.
They say Nolan doesn't do CGI, but I'm not sure how Bill Irwin pulled off the cyclops without it. Perhaps really great angles and costuming. But with no CGI comes some flaws too - like the super cameras that shot this: I could not not see Hathaway's Bausch + Lomb Daily Wearable Contact Lenses ™. I mentioned it after the movie and 710 said he noticed the same thing.
I also didn't realize two possible things: Tolkien taking some things from the Odyssey for his work; somethings that Nolan took from Peter Jackson's Middle Earth look for this movie. It's not heavy handed for either, but it's there.
The actions scenes were good and well done. One was a little Jason Bourne-esque. I don't think Nolan needed to resort to that necessarily.......especially with Jason Bourne playing the lead role.
All the 'thriller' previews didn't get my pulse up once. But even knowing how the story ends, Nolan got my, and kept my, attention for the full three hours. ......and that's not nothing.
The Odyssey is totally worth a viewing - and I'd say in the theatre. I don't think your television - no matter how large - will suffice.
One other "complaint': the sound. the music. Some of the music was extremely interesting. But at the end, the music was so RIGHT THERE than you just couldn't hear the dialogue. .....and you really kind of wanted to hear the ending dialogue.
As we were watching the credits, some elderly women got up from the row in front of us. I turned to 710 and said: I'm going to ask them how accurate this was, since they probably lived through it.
They were probably 4 years older than I.
Song by: Suzanne Vega
2 comments:
Making money hand over fist
I loved the movie - yet had several disagreements about it. I remind myself the story has been interpreted and rethought throughout time. Mr. Nolan did a very good job on his spin of it. I plan on rereading the book soon.
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