Let's Talk Movies #36 - 2020 - Yep it is a new decade

ilovepaydays said:
Behemoth! - Official Teaser Trailer

It’s Pedro Pascal! And he’s playing the cello?! 🤔
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Looks good. I always find it fascinating seeing actors playing musicians, particularly the cello because that is what I played. Found this article about him learning to play.

www.classicfm.com

Pedro Pascal on playing cello: “The hardest thing I’ve ever learned to do”

The Chilean-American star will play a professional cellist in his next big role.
www.classicfm.com www.classicfm.com

I do think the best actor to do cello playing on screen was Emily Watson in Hilary and Jackie. She really worked to get it right.
 
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Buzz said:
No way is this movie that bad. Truly unfortunate.
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Given what Supergirl looks like right now and the subpar reviews, I think the film was likely always going to lose money ($170M production budget * 2.5 needed for marketing and theater cut = $425M probably needed to break even). But it was probably stupid for them to release it the week before the 7/4 🇺🇸 🎂 🎇 🥳 holiday weekend.

Box Office Mojo - U.S. Domestic Box Office Weeklies for 2026

And internationally, there’s the World Cup. That probably made this worse.

Even The Odyssey and Spider-Man aren’t being released until later in July and early August.

IMHO, if DC/Warner Bros wanted to lessen the financial pain, they probably should have released it in either May 15, August 22, or sometime in September.
 
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ilovepaydays said:
IMHO, if DC/Warner Bros wanted to lesser the financial pain, they probably should have released it in either May 15, August 22, or sometime in September.
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Yes. The timing was awful. I don't think the film is nearly as bad as its box office would suggest, but it came in with a big handicap, going against the juggernaut that is the Toy Story franchise (not to mention having so much ground to cover just to break even, as you pointed out). And the so-so reviews certainly didn't help. It ended up being quite the dumpster fire for DC.
 
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It's certainly not a good look to delay The Batman Part 2 AGAIN. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with Supergirl's crashout at the box office?
 
vgerdes said:
It's certainly not a good look to delay The Batman Part 2 AGAIN. I'm wondering if it might have something to do with Supergirl's crashout at the box office?
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It's part of a big shuffle of Warner Brothers movies starting with JJ Abrams first movie since he wrecked made Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The Great Beyond is moving to The Batman II's release date of October 1st 2027. It was previously scheduled to come out this year in November. Moving that resulted in a bunch of other movies being shuffled around.

I wish this meant they were finding a way to bring back Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and introducing Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone from the Penguin show, she was amazing and I would love to see her in the movies. But I know that's just wishful thinking.

I've seen people mention that it could also be a side effect of the several lawsuits being brought against Warner Bros. and Paramount regarding the buyout but I'm not sure if that's PI territory or not so I'm going to leave it at that.
 
Just left the AMC after seeing The Odyssey. Being that it’s the opening weekend, I will put my review in spoiler.

Did you love reading The Odyssey? Then you’ll like this film enough to ignore what Nolan changed as well as what he left out. But I’m afraid that those that aren’t completely aware of the story aren’t going to understand the events and themes enough to like the film.

Also, I got to see the “Trojan Horse” popcorn bucket. It’s HUGE!!!!! How would someone sit in their seat with it without looking obnoxious?

I overall give this film a 9.0/10 - but I’ve loved reading the story (especially the more recent Emily Wilson translation).

I highly recommend watching this film in Dolby if it’s available - the visuals and sound effects were incredible.

What’s great/good:
  • The production design. Thank you, Christopher Nolan, for refusing to use CGI and showing how the use puppetry, actual seas, and building sets should be done.
  • The cinematography, film editing, and sound effects (battles/seas) were insanely good.
  • Odysseus (Matt Damon), Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and Antonius (Robert Pattinson) were really good.
  • The Cyclops 👁️ was probably the best use of a HUGE puppet I’ve ever seen used in a film.
  • Nolan did a great job of showing the themes of the story (loyalty, honor, the problem with breaking “the code”).
What’s MEH:
  • Telemachus - Tom Holland is a much better actor than the script he was given.
  • Athena (Zendaya) and Helen of Troy/Clytemnestra (Lupita Nyong'o) were a bit 🥱.
  • I’m not sure what the reaction will be to the big reveal, and it’s not in the actual story: Sinon (Elliot Page), who’s not in Homer’s The Iliad or The Odyssey, but in Virgil’s Aeneid, was exchanged for Antonius to fight the Trojan War and ended up being sacrificed for the Fall of Troy.
  • I was a little 😒 about some of the “Batman” looking armor, especially on Agamemnon (Benny Safdie).
  • The “sirens” part was WAY too short - like only five minutes max. And it was one of my favorite parts of The Odyssey. 🫤
  • The “wedding bed riddle” isn’t in the film. BOOOO!!!!!
What’s bad:
  • I hate to say this, but the score (Göransson) is subpar. It’s probably at the bottom of my list of scores of Nolan’s films
 
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Buzz said:
Looks like we got ourselves a hit!!!
deadline.com

Box Office: 'The Odyssey' Opening to $124M+ U.S., Record for Matt Damon

Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' is off to excellent start with $124M+ 3-day opening, breaking all sorts of records.
deadline.com deadline.com
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ilovepaydays said:
I’m thinking that The Odyssey is probably going have to get to around $375M in the these first two weeks before Spider-Man is released.

The break even for The Odyssey is probably around $625M.
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Update: Here’s the estimated U.S. Domestic Box Office Daily for Friday, July 17, 2026.

We’ll see about today, tomorrow, and international ticket sales.
 
ilovepaydays said:
The break even for The Odyssey is probably around $625M.
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The global (North America and international) opening weekend is looking to be around $325M, so it's likely to recoup its costs. It would have to have extreme drop offs at the box-office to not hit the $600M+ mark. And I seriously doubt that's going to happen since the reviews and publicity have been so tremendous.

I have to admit I will probably wait to see it. I can't say I've ever been very impressed with with Christopher Nolan as script writer (except "The Dark Knight," which he only was partially responsible for scripting) as compared to his ability to bring amazing visuals to the screen. I talked with a couple of people who saw it today. One liked it a lot but thought the characterizations and dialogue weren't always good (especially the female characters, and she specifically hated Jon Berenthal's performance in this). The other person wasn't familiar with the general story at all and found it a bit confusing (I gather the story isn't always being told in a linear fashion?), and thought it was decent but wouldn't run out to see it again.

Still... I'm heartened that the movie looks to be a big success after the idiocy of people who hadn't seen it claiming it was "woke garbage." :rolleyes:
 
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peibeck said:
The global (North America and international) opening weekend is looking to be around $325M, so it's likely to recoup it's costs. It would have to have extreme drop offs at the box-office to not hit the $600M+ mark. And I seriously doubt that's going to happen since the reviews and publicity have been so tremendous.

I have to admit I will probably wait to see it. I can't say I've ever been very impressed with with Christopher Nolan as script writer (except "The Dark Knight," which he only was partially responsible for scripting) as compared to his ability to bring amazing visuals to the screen. I talked with a couple of people who saw it today. One liked it a lot but thought the characterizations and dialogue weren't always good (especially the female characters, and she specifically hated Jon Berenthal's performance in this). The other person wasn't familiar with the general story at all and found it a bit confusing (I gather the story isn't always being told in a linear fashion?), and thought it was decent but wouldn't run out to see it again.

Still... I'm heartened that the movie looks to be a big success after the idiocy of people who hadn't seen it claiming it was "woke garbage." :rolleyes:
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I'm planning to see in a couple of weeks. The movie has a lot of actresses I really like in it and I've watched worse movies in theatre for actresses I like just as much. I got a skin infection on my leg after seeing Fast X*, I'm hoping seeing a better movie with more actresses I like in it that are still playing under-written characters will rebalance the universe lol.

*Correlation does not equal causation it just amuses me to say.
 
I saw The Odyssey last Thursday. Here is a spoiler on my thoughts.

Sorry in advance if I offend anyone I seriously hated this. I found the American accents very disconcerting for what could be construed as classical literature. And when Tom Hollander's characters was referring to his parents as Mum and Dad it really bugged me. I will give it credit for the special effects and production. But it took such a long time to get the point. The only thing worth looking at was Matt Damon's abs. He really buffed up for this one. If anyone was convincing as any of the characters I thought Anne Hathaway did a reasonable job.
 
Aussie Willy said:
I saw The Odyssey last Thursday. Here is a spoiler on my thoughts.

Sorry in advance if I offend anyone I seriously hated this. I found the American accents very disconcerting for what could be construed as classical literature. And when Tom Hollander's characters was referring to his parents as Mum and Dad it really bugged me. I will give it credit for the special effects and production. But it took such a long time to get the point. The only thing worth looking at was Matt Damon's abs. He really buffed up for this one. If anyone was convincing as any of the characters I thought Anne Hathaway did a reasonable job.
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I agree on some of the language. I think if Telemachus (Tom Holland) had told Antonius (Robert Pattinson), “My father is coming home” instead of saying, “My dad is coming home.”, it would have had a better impact. As superb of a director that Christopher Nolan is and was on this film, I’m 🫤 that he would write that.
 
ilovepaydays said:
Apparently, IMAX 70mm is the perfect way to experience Nolan’s The Odyssey. But there are only 25 theaters that have it in the U.S.
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Well guess I won’t be able to ever see it the perfect way…

I saw it yesterday on an oversized screen but not IMAX and I wasn’t too impressed. I’m in Ohio for work, and I’ll try seeing it again on IMAX when I get back home. I actually did like the audio/soundtrack for some of the scenes for the dramatic effect it provided.
 
El Rey said:
Well guess I won’t be able to ever see it the perfect way…

I saw it yesterday on an oversized screen but not IMAX and I wasn’t too impressed. I’m in Ohio for work, and I’ll try seeing it again on IMAX when I get back home. I actually did like the audio/soundtrack for some of the scenes for the dramatic effect it provided.
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Here’s a list of IMAX 70mm screens showing The Odyssey in the U.S., Canada, and worldwide. It’s surprising that there isn’t one yet in the DC or Houston areas.

I hope that the IMAX 70mm screens will become more numerous in the future.

I plan on seeing The Odyssey again in the theater but probably in 70mm or maybe in IMAX (with Laser). I really enjoyed watching it in Dolby.
 
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I saw The Odyssey yesterday, not in 70 mm IMAX, but the visuals were still the best part IMO. I didn't love the score, but the script was weaker. I don't have any problem with American accented English vs British, but I just felt like the language was too colloquial and was jarringly dissonant with the epic narrative and visual scale. The performances therefore seemed like a lot of emoting without much weight. The main problem I had, which surprised me given that this is a Christopher Nolan film, was that I really couldn't figure out what his fresh perspective on this material was and why he felt that he needed to make this movie. I found this review afterwards, and it sums up my reaction. I guess O Brother, Where Art Thou? will remain my favorite movie adaptation. The film has inspired me to read The Odyssey again, though, so that's a success.
 
I don't plan on seeing The Odyssey. I read it in High School (or maybe college -- one was the Iliad and one was the Odyssey) for school and I wasn't that taken with the story. I didn't hate it. But had a lot of stuff that I found boring or could have been cut and not changed much. I just can't imagine why anyone would want to make a movie of that book. Or sit through 3 hours of the result. :lol:

I would say it's more a matter of taste, not that I think the book is poorly written. It just wasn't a book for school that stuck with me or changed me after reading it. And it's freaking LONG! :lol:
 
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