Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-Man: Brand New Day has a lot on its plate. It has to follow the excellent and crowd-pleasing Spider-Man mashup No Way Home, and it’s the last movie before Avengers: Doomsday releases this December. Plus, it still has to be a standalone Spider-Man story while also allowing time for the Punisher, the Hulk, and other characters to drop in. It all sounds pretty messy, and it is, but it’s also the most entertaining Tom Holland Spider-Man movie.

Brand New Day is meant to be a darker entry in the series after all the losses Peter Parker suffered in No Way Home: the death of Aunt May and the Dr. Strange spell that made the entire world, most notably his girlfriend MJ and best friend Ned, forget about him. Spider-Man and dark don’t exactly go together (see the hilarious Tobey Maguire “edgy” montage in Spider-Man 3) since the character is typically the most light-hearted in the MCU. So this is easily the most dour of the four films, but there’s still plenty of goofiness. 

It’s not really a dark movie so much as a lonely one. Peter has nothing but his work as Spider-Man. The only socialization he gets is talking to a police captain and stalking his former friends on social media. Aside from that, he leads a hermetic life in a small apartment, completely consumed with crime-fighting. But he’s still joking around while he does it. 

The early montage of Spidey fighting various deep-cut comic book villains while recreating classic covers is one of my favorite parts of the film. The Iron Man, Jr. suit is gone, and he is on his own. This is what I’ve wanted from these movies. The first three films kept Peter so busy and connected to other movies that he never seemed to find time to just be Spider-Man. Brand New Day gives him that chance…for a little bit. 

I don’t want to get into spoilers and summarizing the plots of MCU movies is as boring to write as it is to read, so I’ll just skip all that. The important thing is that Spider-Man is not on his own in this movie. He has a conflicted relationship with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher (a toned down PG-13 version of the character), Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk, and a few other surprise characters meant to set up Doomsday a bit. 

Normally, the inclusion of all those characters as well as a subplot about Peter’s “arachnid hormones” overtaking his human hormones would make this far too messy of a movie to enjoy. But it worked for me for a couple reasons. First, I don’t think the Punisher or the Hulk are interesting enough characters to warrant their own movie, so I’m happy to get these small doses of the characters. And there’s an action sequence in the middle of the film featuring all three characters that will make any comic book fan feel like a little kid. Second, the action and general look of this film is a huge improvement for the series.

I like the first three films in this run, but I honestly don’t find the action all that memorable. It’s not bad; it’s just serviceable. In Brand New Day there are multiple sequences that I am excited to revisit as soon as I can. And the POV web-swinging sequences look amazing. 

Brand New Day is definitely one of those movies that falls apart a bit under scrutiny. But when a comic book movie can deliver enough fun action and engaging characters, then I’m not going to start nitpicking it. But I get it if others feel differently. 

I’ve become lenient with comic book movies, especially since a couple of my kids have started watching them with me. So when a movie like this (that clocks in at nearly two and a half hours) keeps them interested, then it gets a pass from me. And I’ve made my peace with the fact that Marvel hit a high point not likely to be reached again with Endgame. I hope Doomsday is amazing, but it’s not going to be a big deal to me if it isn’t. I’m still going to watch these as long as my kids want to, and hopefully they are all as fun as Brand New Day. 

Random Thoughts (SPOILERS)

Okay, so the Jean Grey stuff. I didn’t mind her being the “villain,” although it just sets up so many more questions for how the X-Men fit into everything going forward since they’re re-casting some roles but having the original actors for others. I’m just assuming it will all be explained at a later date. 

The biggest issue I had with the film was the arachnid hormone stuff. I’m okay with him developing the Tobey Maguire ability to jizz out his own wrist goo, but it just seemed a little tacked on. So he’s getting burnt out which makes him more of a spider? Once again, hopefully this is explored more later since he stops using the inhibitor chip at the end.

I guess I need to watch the Punisher short film and the Daredevil show now. Though I’m reading some complaints about Punisher in this being different from the TV-MA version. I guess I’ll see, but I really enjoyed Bernthal in this. Easily the funniest moments in the movie featured these two bickering at each other. 

Some have pointed out that it makes no sense that Frank would just be hanging out at the hospital at the end, and I honestly didn’t think about that at the moment (more on that later). I did wonder what people thought about him being there since he was the one, you know, who shot Peter. But apparently there was a cameo shot and cut featuring Rosario Dawson’s nurse character that explained how he came to be there. Who knows? But there was some quote from Holland (I’m not linking to any of this, so feel free to Google it to confirm or deny) about an edit of the film that he hated, and I’m wondering how much shit was cut from this. 

I was just on board for this movie all the way, which is why I didn’t think much about Frank hanging out at the hospital. Perhaps that’s the wrong way to watch these movies, but it is what it is. When it comes to comic book movies these days, if they are even mildly entertaining to me or my kids, I kind of give them a pass. Not very critical of me, I know, but I’m not exactly writing for the New York Times here. I’m writing for the few dozen weirdos who end up on this page after Googling something very specific I wrote about in my Random Thoughts section.

There was one scene that is a pet peeve of mine with the MCU. One of the worst moments in the MCU happens in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. There is a fight happening and one of the antagonists almost kills someone, and they all stop, and act like, “Whoa, what happened there? You hurt somebody!” Of course they did! Aren't these characters trying to kill each other? Or is it all just for fun? Anyway, when full arachnid Peter fights a Jean Grey-controlled Scorpion (yeah, this movie might have too much going on), he goes too far beating the shit out of him and wrecks a cop car, hurting the officer. It's seen as a horrific moment, but I'm pretty sure there must have been instances of this during the tank chase earlier in the film, but no one cared. Plus, it's okay to beat Scorpion's ass, but just not too badly? What's the line?

Glad to see full Hulk back in action. I'm not a fan of the half-Hulk thing they've been doing. Speaking of Hulk, they just left him high and dry in this. No follow-up to maybe get him out of jail or anything? The film just used him up and tossed him aside.

So glad the suit is just a normal suit. The first films just made him another version of Iron Man. He's still using the assistant shit, and I guess he's spying on the entire fucking city, but at least he looks normal again.

So he doesn't have Stark's suits anymore, but did he get some money from him? How is he affording anything? Did I miss the explanation for that in this or the last film?

I assumed the recurring Staten Island joke with Frank was a reference to something from one of the shows, but it’s not. It's just them letting us know they've had plenty of other interactions.

I know Peter is supposed to be a little naive and whatnot, but seriously, his Spidey sense never went off when meeting with the clearly evil head of Damage Control?

By the way, I've read very few comics, so I am no authority on what a Spider-Man “should” be. I just know what I like.

I like the Raimi version, and this is the closest the Holland movies have gotten to Raimi, for better or worse.

I saw that Bero front and center in the convenience store, Holland. Get your advertising in for your near beer. I was worried for a second that they were going to have him buy some, but it was just simple shameless product placement.

That shot of Spider-Man dragging Punisher as he shoots at the Hulk just makes me forget any nagging questions about this movie.

I didn't stay for the end credits scene (I just watched it on YouTube so I didn't have to make my kids sit through the credits). Apparently it sets up Secret Wars. Now I feel like I need to read some comics. Hopefully that feeling passes; I already do too much dorky shit.

Son of Sara - Gruesome Gore and Ground Beef

Son of Sara, available streaming now, deals with some familiar horror territory with just enough flourishes and oddities to make it worth checking out. That may sound like faint praise, but the horror genre is probably the most overloaded with low-budget cash grabs, so when an actually interesting low budget film comes along, it’s worth taking note.

The story is nothing ground-breaking as it deals with a young pregnant woman dealing with a possibly Satanic pregnancy. That may sound like a spoiler, but Son of Sara doesn’t waste time or insult your intelligence by dragging things out. If the cold open of a gory murder of a woman giving birth wasn’t enough to tip you off to some wild shit about to go down, the titular Sara is snarfing down some truly vile-looking raw ground beef within the first few minutes. 

Honestly, the plot of the film is the weakest element since any horror fan has seen it before and will see it again. Sara’s pregnancy gets weirder, and it turns out the guy who knocked her up comes from a family that has been dealing with fucked up pregnancies for generations, and of course they have a creepy farmhouse, and of course Sara goes there despite the fifty or so red flags. 

But none of that matters all that much when it comes to horror. What matters, at least to me, is the effectiveness and mood of the film. In that regard, writer/director Houston Bone (excellent horror director name), shows plenty of promise. He does what he can with the limited budget as far as locations and whatnot with the farmhouse making up for the clearly-not-a-bar bar set. But it’s the sound design of the film that worked on me the most. The refreshingly practical gore (honestly, if this had used a bunch of CG blood, I probably wouldn’t even write about this film at all) is nice, but the sickening spurts and whatnot are great. Even better are the eating sounds during the disgusting ground beef scene and the subsequent stomach noises later. The sound of this film had a visceral effect on me, and that can’t be said about most horror.

That written, a short run time (under ninety minutes) and gurgly gore don’t make for an automatic classic. Some of the odds and ends added to the film make it a tad more interesting, but no amount of queerness or incest can overcome such a tired storyline. Though the ending does give some promise, especially with it claiming to be “Volume One.” But I’ll have to get into spoilers for that. 

SPOILERS

So Sara has Satan’s baby and the incest family get satisfyingly killed by a glorious demon baby throat rip and a pitchfork right in the ass. And then Sara and her partner are left with a clearly demonic baby. This is no Damien. It’s a wonderfully practical devil baby. And they love the thing. The film ends with them happily walking out of the farmhouse. Who knows what happens next? Which is why I’m much more interested in what Volume Two might be than what Volume One was. How do you raise such a baby? There’s no explaining away those horns and bloodlust. How will that work? Hopefully, Bone gets a chance to show us. For now, we have this promising start.

Lionheart - MVD Rewind 4K

The Ultimate Van Damme Movie

One of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s classics, Lionheart, gets the 4K treatment from MVD Rewind this week. Any fan should add it to their collection as MVD always gives Van Damme movies the love and care they deserve. 

Lionheart has always been a fan-favorite due to its simplistic structure that retroactively feels like an adaptation of a fighting videogame (I have no doubt that this film influenced the creation of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat). I’ve always liked it, but I considered it middle of the road in the overall filmography. Watching it four times (I know, I need help) for this, it occurred to me that it might be the ultimate Van Damme movie due to the inclusion of so many mainstays in his films, and that could also explain why it’s a favorite of so many. 

The basic premise is certainly familiar as Van Damme is on a mission to help his brother. The brother is set on fire at the beginning during a drug deal, so the assumption would be that JCVD would be out for vengeance when he arrives. Surprisingly, aside from asking the doctor about it, he lets it go and instead focuses on helping his brother’s widow and child. But the catalyst of the story is still the familiar brother plotline used before and after this film in movies like Kickboxer and Maximum Risk. 

Of course, there’s the tournament-fighting aspect prevalent in many Van Damme classics. 

There’s also the AWOL plot point that was also used in Bloodsport, with two men constantly looking for Van Damme. This film also features him as a member of the French Foreign Legion, which he and writer/director Sheldon Lettich would revisit in Legionnaire.

Harrison Page provides the comedic relief as Van Damme’s guide in this world, which is similar to Kickoxer.

Speaking of Kickboxer, Tong Po actor Michel Qissi appears here (he was also in Bloodsport). Qissi’s brother Abdel plays Attila, and he would go on to play the big bad in The Quest, and show up in The Order, as well.

As Lettich gleefully points out in different special features segments, this is the first time Van Damme shows his bare ass on screen, and it certainly wasn’t the last.

Lettich is a Van Damme mainstay, too, working on Bloodsport (along with Frank Dux, whom Bloodsport is based on and who also worked on The Quest). Lettich went on to direct Double Impact, The Order, and The Hard Corps.

The Quest borrows a lot from this film beyond Dux and Qissi. That film also features Van Damme on a steamer ship (though it’s more period accurate in that one), and it also takes the “fighter from another country wearing a stereotypical outfit” gimmick from this with the Scottish fighter and fucking runs with it (the dude from Spain in The Quest is dressed as a bullfighter, for example). 

Then there’s the obvious Van Damme mainstay of broken English (“He was not enough strong!”). But that can’t be helped in any of his films.

There are only a few things missing that would make this the perfect encapsulation of Van Damme. He doesn’t do the splits. He does a much more toned down version of the roundhouse kick. And his brother isn’t his twin. If JCVD had played his doomed brother at the beginning, and if he had done the splits before hitting that dude in the balls (another similarity: punches to the balls!), then this would have been perfect. 

This is all a bit tongue-in-cheek, but a movie featuring so many common elements from Van Damme’s films makes it a fun, nostalgic watch. It’s easy to see why this is the favorite of so many. As for me, I appreciated it more this time around, though it’s still not among my all-time favorites.

Transfer

The blu-ray already looked great, but this 4K transfer provides the best experience for the film, restoring some of the grain and giving it an ‘80s feel right at home for such a movie. I did notice some imperfections here and there, but this is still the best way to watch the movie.

Special Features

The only new special feature is a moderated commentary with Sheldon Lettich. Lettich is always nice and candid in these things and that’s the case here. It’s not revelatory or anything, and I think I prefer the one he did with Harrison Page for the previous release (which is also included on this release’s blu-ray disc), but it’s certainly better than most commentaries these days which consist of two bloggers fanboying out about the film.

The main takeaway from this new commentary is how much of the film was ad-libbed, like most of Harrison Page’s shit-talking and the “I don’t know if I want fight you or fuck you” line. And he talks about how producer Lawrence Bender ended up in the movie. Bender was meant to just be a rich prick extra, but (surprise, surprise) he ad-libbed some stuff and ended up being a small part of the plot. 

The rest of the special features are from the blu-ray release a few years back, but this is the first I’ve seen of them, so I’ll give my two cents. 

There is a making-of doc that is largely talking head interviews from Lettich, Van Damme, and others. The odd thing about it is that there are a couple more featurettes that are taken from the same interviews used for the making-of. It would’ve been better if they had just made the doc feature length and included everything in one place. Regardless, there are plenty of good stories about the film that any fan would be interested in.

Oh, and I always enjoy the settings the interviewees choose, but Van Damme takes the cake, sitting in front of a fireplace and inexplicably having a rocket on his desk. 

There are a few archival promotional featurettes, as well, that are always interesting just for nostalgia’s sake.

The aforementioned commentary is on this disc and it’s the one to listen to if you’re picking between the two.

Speaking of the commentary, the most unique special feature is an outtake from the recording with Lettich and Page kind of warming up before it starts. I liked this just to see what one of these commentaries looks like behind the scenes.

It isn’t exactly a special feature, but the theatrical cut is only available on the blu-ray disc as the 4K only includes the international cut. 

On the physical side of things, this gets the usual MVD treatment with a slipcover with a distressed poster look, a reversible cover for the plastic case, and a mini-poster.

Overall, casual fans will probably be happy with the previous release. But if you’re like me, and if you’ve read this far I’m assuming that’s the case, then the upgrade to 4K is worth it.

Random Thoughts

The “international cut” is better but it’s not night and day. There are some cuts that are less jarring with the original footage still intact. Overall, it’s the version I would prefer to watch.

Does Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat exist without Van Damme movies like this?

Especially that first fight under the bridge. Dudes wearing hardhats while watching a street fight is right out of Street Fighter II. 

I’ve never understood betting when it’s just a guy holding a fist full of cash taking bets without writing anything down. How the fuck does he ever pay out properly?

“Let’s do lunch some time” is not nearly as good a taunt as “I don’t know if I want to fuck you or fight you.”

The dude on roller skates taking bets during the Scottish dude fight is fucking hilarious. And you know Harrison Page ad-libbed that “Hey, don’t fall down on them skates, boy!” line.

Just saying “Scotland” does not justify a dude wearing a kilt for an underground prize fight.

Van Damme does a lot of cold acting in this. By that I mean he acts like he’s cold a lot, which usually just means holding his collar up (even though his sleeves are rolled up). It makes sense in the New York scenes, but he does it once in the L.A. segment, too, going jogging in the morning with a hoodie on and even blowing hot air into his hands. I’ve never been to L.A., but I just don’t think this is a thing, especially during the time of year in which he just had a fight in a half empty pool with most of the audience in bathing suits.

The Odyssey - Spoilers and Random Thoughts

My spoiler-free review of The Odyssey conveys the gist of my thoughts on the film, but I had a lot of stray branches I wanted to touch on that warranted its own post. So this will be much more disjointed and filled with SPOILERS.

IMAX 70MM

As a Nolan fan, I go into his films wanting to like them. Actually, I want to like everything I see, but with Nolan I’m willing to rewatch a film a few times if it isn’t clicking with me the way it is with others. This is what happened with Oppenheimer, which took me multiple viewings to fully enjoy. (I plan on revisiting Dunkirk again in the future, because I was very underwhelmed with that one while others consider it his best work.) Anyway, it’s something I’m aware of, and it’s why I usually like to put some time between watching his films and reviewing them. I take the format I watched them in into the equation, as well. In this case, it was 70MM IMAX.

The Odyssey is the first film I’ve seen in 70MM. The closest IMAX to me (in Evansville, IN) is standard. I was able to make the trip to Indianapolis for this film, however, finally seeing a film in 70MM. I was taken aback at first with the height of the screen, but I ended up loving the format. 

The point of all this is that there were factors at play that amplified my enjoyment of this film, and only time, and smaller formats, will tell if this one will keep its place among my favorites of Nolan’s filmography. But right now, I really fucking liked it. 

The Logical Follow-up to Oppenheimer

For most of the film, the only issue that was forming was Odysseus’s guilt and reluctance to go home. It didn't click with me what the problem was. He won the war, so what was the problem? The deception of the Trojan horse and the sack of Troy are so embedded in culture that I never even thought of the emotional impact of such betrayal and misery. So when he revealed all of this to Penelope and Athena (who is in the form of a priestess executed in front of him), it hit me hard. This is a man reckoning with the death and carnage brought on because of his plan, which he sees reaching beyond just Troy as he set the example that the rules of hospitality no longer need to be honored. This is just like the back half of Oppenheimer in which he takes indignity and indignity because he feels like he deserved it. 

Oppenheimer was criticized (most notably by well-known subtle person James Cameron) by some for not showing the effects of the bomb and instead focusing on Oppenheimer’s personal experiences. Since he was not there when the bombs dropped, the film would not show them. The focus is instead on his feeling of guilt which is manifested quite effectively in his victory speech (that isolated scream gives me chills no matter how many times I hear it) and his imagination of stepping through charred bodies. 

With The Odyssey, Nolan gives you the bomb and the guilt. We witness the sacking of Troy as Odysseus watches on in horror. I don’t think this is Nolan responding to Oppenheimer criticism. It’s just that this time he chose a story in which the creator of destruction personally witnessed it, as well. Anyway, there should be no bullshit complaints this time about literally showing what the main character feels guilty about. 

On a side note, I thought the casting of Benny Safdie as Agamemnon was interesting since he played Teller in Oppenheimer, who focused on surpassing the atomic bomb by developing hydrogen weapons. He’s the arbiter of destruction here, as well, wanting war with Troy no matter the reason. His characters also end their screen time in both films with a woman looking at them quite angrily, in both cases deservedly so.

Costumes and Casting “Controversy”

First off, I think the vast majority of people being bitches online about the casting and the costumes of this film are either bots, people who never planned on watching the movie ever anyway, and/or racists/transphobes. This is why I didn’t want to even acknowledge it in my actual review because it’s so fucking stupid. But I’m a creature of the internet, so I’ll get into it a little bit.

The Lupita Nyong’o shit is just racist, plain and simple. This is a modern film about a fictional epic, the cast is who it is. Beauty is famously in the eye of the beholder, so if she’s not beautiful enough for you, then fine, but don’t be a bitch about it. She’s great in the small amount of screen time she has, by the way. Nolan needed an actress in a dual role that could convey supreme sadness in one scene and righteous fury in another, and he chose well.

Also, if you’re pissed off about Nyong’o, but you’re okay with Matt Damon or any of the other non-Greeks playing Greeks, then that says it all. It’s a fucking movie about a mythological story, so it’s not going to be “historically accurate,” whatever the fuck that means anyway. I fucking hate the internet sometimes.

The other target of online bullshit is the casting of Elliot Page. At first, people thought he was cast as Achilles, but it turns out to be Sinon, the soldier left behind to convince the Trojans the horse was a gift. I’ve seen some people post things in defense of the casting along the lines of “Calm down, he’s not playing Achilles.” I get that since Achilles was supposed to be a huge warrior (my Humanities professor complained about Brad Pitt being too small for the role back when Troy was coming out). But even if he was Achilles, who gives a fuck? It’s not like Achilles would have a big role in this film if he was featured in it, so I don’t get the outrage. It’s all just transphobic bullshit, and it’s exhausting. For the record, I thought Page was great in the role, especially in the speaking dead sequence. 

Travis Scott is another inclusion that has bothered some, but not so much for his role. The end credits feature a Scott song. Once again, so what? I saw one clickbait post saying it would be like “if Schindler’s List ended with an Imagine Dragons song.” First off, the comparison makes no fucking sense; at least pick an artist from that time period if you’re going to make that joke. Second, the film doesn’t “end” with the song; it plays over the credits. You know, the same way Tenet had a Travis Scott song play over the credits? I’m not even a fan of Travis Scott’s music, but I don’t care if his music plays over the credits. 

There were also plenty of complaints about the costumes. Most recently a picture of Jon Bernthal was released in which he was wearing a simple leather doublet. Dipshits online were complaining that this would be more suited for hunting than for war. Well, he wears it while hunting pheasants (or some other such bird). It’s just a perfect example of “Wait until you see the movie before you criticize it.” 

The other costume that caught shit was Agamemnon’s exaggerated armor. I thought it looked odd myself in the first trailer, but in the film it’s used to great effect. Agamemnon is the real reason behind the war, so the armor works as this imposing dark image a few times in the film, and it’s a powerful visual each time. It’s my favorite costume choice in the film.

“Who is your daddy, and what does he do?”

Some of the dialogue from the trailers has been scrutinized, most notably the use of “dad” and “daddy” and Matt Damon yelling “Let’s go!” as the soldiers run seemingly into battle. This is the only pre-release stuff that did give me pause. It didn’t take me out of the movie or anything, but yeah, couldn’t we just go with “father”? Although Pattinson uses “daddy” to mock Holland, so I guess that works. But if there was one thing I’d change, it would be that. But, again, it did not bother me at all during my viewing.

The “let’s go” moment is another example of not knowing the context. The scene is not a battle charge; it’s Odysseus and his men fleeing the dead. I think it’s okay to yell “Let’s go!” in that scenario. I think people were assuming it was more like a Deadpool and Wolverine “Let’s fucking go” kind of moment, but that’s not the case. For me, I didn’t even know people had an issue with it until after I saw the movie, and it certainly didn’t stick out to me while watching it.

More importantly, the daddy issue in this film is interesting to look at in regard to Nolan’s filmography. Cobb in Inception is trying to get back to his kids. Cooper leaves his children for (nearly) their entire lives, and seems especially indifferent to his son who he just thinks will be fine without him. Oppenheimer has to have someone else keep his child, and his children don’t factor into his life seemingly at all in the film. And Batman…well, we all know about his father since we’ve seen his death committed to film a half a dozen times at this point. 

And now we have The Odyssey, the ultimate coming home story. Telemachus barely remembers his father yet his life is dominated by his absence. And when Odysseus finally makes it home, they get one bonding slaughter and it’s, “See you later, son, I’m sure you’ll be a great king.” Some have theorized that this is Nolan’s way of conveying his own guilt for being away from his own children while making films. I don’t know about that, but one thing is for sure: he’s making it loud and clear that he doesn’t think fathers are all that necessary in the raising of children. Something tells me he has a real “hand’s off” approach to parenting. 

We Live in Annoying Times

As I stated above, I go into all movies wanting to like them, so it annoys the fuck out of me when people seem to want to hate something, especially out of racism or transphobia or any other misguided hatred. I didn’t comment on any of that crap in my review because I want this film to be judged by watching it.

And all this isn’t to say if you dislike The Odyssey then that means you’re racist or whatever. It’s perfectly fine to dislike it for legitimate cinematic reasons. But if you hate it before you even watch it, you’re just wrong. 

For me, even the thought of these "issues" left my mind as I watched the movie because I found the whole experience so immersive. And hopefully, that's the case with anyone else distracted by this nonsense.

Final Randomness

I’ve rambled enough, but I did want to mention a couple other things briefly. 

This isn’t exactly a comedy. In fact, I was kind of surprised by how dark the story was in content and tone. But there are a couple very funny moments. First, Corey Hawkins taking an arrow right to throat as he tries to say “Odysseus” really got me. And John Leguizamo (who was the surprise of the movie for me) has the funniest line when he asks, “Did we win?” (or something like that; I’m awful at remembering exact lines) after the battle with the suitors. It was just the perfect moment of levity after such a prolonged sequence of righteous violence.

Speaking of violence, I didn’t know this was R-rated until I heard the third “fuck.” There was certainly more blood than other Nolan films, but it wasn’t gratuitous or graphic enough to assume an R-rating. I suppose that pig sequence played a factor because those transformations were fucking gnarly. 

That’s it for now. I hope to watch this film again soon, probably in standard IMAX. And who knows, once I’ve had a chance to watch it three or four more times, maybe I’ll write some more nonsense about it.

Soylent Green - Arrow 4K

Arrow certainly has a theme going with their July releases because this and Falling Down are very sweaty movies that look great in 4K. Soylent Green (out on July 28) is a film I’ve known about for as long as I can remember but this is the first time I’ve seen it. I didn’t bother with it for years because I knew the twist before I knew the movie thanks to an SNL sketch about Soylent Green sequels with Phil Hartman, which culminates with them going back to the well and Hartman ending the film with: “Soylent Green is still made out of people! They didn’t change the recipe like they said they were going to! It’s still people! Argh!!!”

Between that and jokes about it in Futurama, I figured it was a one-trick pony of a movie, and I could skip it. But with Arrow releasing a new 4K, I felt like it was finally time to check it out and see if it was still worth it even though I knew the big surprise.

In short, it is. I always enjoy old sci-fi dystopia movies that take place in what is now the past. In this case: 2022. It’s amusing to see what they thought the future technology was going to be like. With Soylent Green, though, technology took a backseat as the food and water supply dwindled, leaving only city hellscapes left filled with desperate, starving people and a handful of corporate elites still profiting despite the grim circumstances. 

That all sounds miserable, and it is, but this movie doesn’t wallow in it. People are used to these conditions, so the whole thing is more of a murder mystery / buddy movie with Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson in his final role.

The scenes with Heston and Robinson are the standout and provide the emotional core of the film. The best scene in the film is when Robinson cooks a meal with real food that Heston took from a murder victim’s apartment. They both convincingly convey that this is the best meal they’ve ever had, and it’s simply delightful. 

As for the aforementioned twist, I imagine modern audiences would pick up on things pretty quickly even without already knowing about it because we’ve been conditioned to look for such things, especially in dystopian movies. The powerful are always hiding some awful secret in such films. But I can see how this worked over fifty years ago. 

Transfer and Special Features

This movie looks amazing. The environmental conditions have led to extreme heat, and you can see each bead of sweat in 4K. It amplifies the miserable world of the film. I’m glad this is the first format in which I saw this. 

As for the special features, there are a lot of interesting archival options and a newly recorded commentary. 

The old promo for the film was interesting, and the stuff celebrating Robinson’s 101st (and final) feature was nice.

There are lengthy interviews that are more career-spanning than Soylent specific with the director and Heston. Heston’s is interesting because it’s audio-only. So it plays over the movie like a commentary, but it’s not as long as the film, so it ends when Robinson’s death sequence begins. Not sure if that was intentional, but I found it interesting.

I think it’s safe to say this is the definitive version for fans of this film.

The Odyssey - Adding to the Nolan Hype Pile

Christopher Nolan is one of the only filmmakers whose every project is a cinematic event. If filmmakers are the modern equivalents of the ancient poets, then who better to bring the definitive version of The Odyssey to the big screen (preferably in 70MM IMAX)? That may sound like hyperbole, but Nolan has exceeded the highest expectations so many times that greatness should be expected, and Nolan has delivered once again.

The story of The Odyssey is basically common knowledge, but I’ll still keep this as spoiler free as possible. It’s the classic tale of Odysseus (Matt Damon) returning home from the Trojan War and all the obstacles that keep him from doing so. The film hits all the highlights you’d expect (the cyclops), and includes some of the lesser known moments (the Laestrygonians). The Trojan War obviously looms over the entire film, as well. In other words, this film is as big as it gets; in story, in budget, in scope, in camera (the entire film was shot with IMAX cameras), etc. Nolan condenses it down to just under three hours, though it seems to fly by despite the film’s subject being a seemingly never-ending journey. 

The Odyssey has almost everything except the gods…kind of. Nolan went with something between featuring the gods as active participants and eschewing them entirely (as done in Troy). While Odysseus sees Athena (Zendaya) in visions throughout the film, no actual god makes an appearance. Despite that, The Odyssey still features plenty of supernatural elements. It’s a nice balance that allows for extraordinary sequences without getting too silly (there’s no bag of wind here to blow them off course). 

The realistic presentation of the supernatural elements is vital because this is a dark, R-rated adaptation. Rather than tell the simple story of a war hero trying to get home, Nolan presents each obstacle as a manifestation of guilt keeping Odysseus from his home. This is no triumphant return, and his home, now crawling with evil suitors (led by Robert Pattinson at his sleaziest), doesn’t seem like the home he left anyway. Death and misery follow Odysseus, and it affects his entire family and kingdom, even without him there.

That darkness makes The Odyssey a surprisingly emotional film. Nolan has been (wrongfully, in my opinion) described as a cold filmmaker, more focused on spectacle than emotion. Even if that was the case (and it isn’t), The Odyssey would be the perfect subject matter for such inclinations. Instead, Matt Damon, in arguably his best performance, portrays Odysseus as a man wracked by guilt who is slowly broken down throughout the film. It’s certainly a physical performance, but Damon keeps it grounded, and he makes you care about this man, even with his faults. 

Beyond Damon, this is the story of Telemachus (Tom Holland) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway), Odysseus’s son and wife. Their story with the suitors could have easily felt pedestrian in comparison to Odysseus’s supernatural exploits, but they provided the heart of the film, pushing familial loyalty to its limits. Holland and Hathaway are great, and there isn’t a weak spot in the cast. The standouts were John Leguizamo (who also has the funniest line), Ryan Hurst, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton, Himesh Patel, and…look, there are a lot of great actors in this and it’s silly to list them all when you can just check the IMDb page if you’re curious. 

The performances and action are expectedly great, and Ludwig Göransson has cemented his place as my favorite working composer. Perhaps the most surprising and important element is the pacing of the film. Of course a film about The Odyssey is going to be long (but good for Nolan keeping under three hours), but it never feels long. Every moment feels necessary, even when a lot of it is just there to reinforce the themes of loyalty and loss. No scene or sequence goes on too long, and the moments that could feel ponderous (such as the long stay on Calypso’s island) are smartly broken up as framing devices to keep things moving.

The pacing provides an electric energy to the film. The buildup to certain sequences is so intense that even when I knew what was going to happen, I was left jittery by the end. The score, sound design, emotion, and action all come together in a special way that left me feeling excited in a way few movies ever have. Or maybe it was just because it was my first time watching a movie in 70 MM IMAX, but I think it was more Nolan than IMAX.

This is more than I could have ever hoped for from an adaptation of The Odyssey. It made me wish this movie had been around back when I was still teaching high school English (though I would have had to show it in carefully edited clips). It has the tone, scope, emotion, and pure entertainment worthy of a classic epic. Perhaps I’m only adding to the Christopher Nolan hype pile with this review, but The Odyssey is the kind of film that reminds me why I love movies so much in the first place.