Odyssey Fever! | SVU

28 Jul 2026 · 1 h 32 min · 36 chapters

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In short

FilmSpotting SVU discusses Odyssey Fever—Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (not yet widely streamed), why it’s resonating with audiences, and how it fits Nolan’s broader themes. They also recommend Odyssey-related streaming titles, run down new streaming releases, and play a game (not included in the transcript excerpt).

Guests

None. The hosts are Jordan Hoffman and Matt Singer.

Guest backgrounds

Not applicable (no guests beyond the hosts). Jordan Hoffman and Matt Singer are film-focused podcast hosts who review movies and streaming.

Key claims

  • The Odyssey is a major theatrical event (shot on 70mm film; traditional color timing; big-screen spectacle).
  • Online backlash (including racist/anti-trans discourse) is dismissed; the film is performing well and driving sales of the Odyssey/Iliad.
  • Jordan argues the movie is the “ur text” of fantasy/sci-fi and satisfies his completionism; Matt is more mixed but impressed by specific sequences.
  • Nolan adds an anti-war emphasis (war haunts you; “use your words, not your fists”), followed by a cathartic action payoff.
  • The hosts compare Nolan’s style to Kubrick-level filmmaking and discuss Nolan’s “art vs spectacle” tension.

Notable examples

  • Giant chase sequence; final shipwreck/loss to Poseidon.
  • Odyssey-related book buying (e.g., Emily Wilson translation).
  • Nolan’s filmmaking craft (70mm negative hand-cutting; 60 Minutes feature).
  • Their Nolan “top movie” picks: The Prestige (Jordan) and Tenet (Matt).

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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Introduction to The Odyssey

0:45 to 2:01

Discussion about the film The Odyssey and its significance.

“They recommended Electrolux and we love it.”

Introduction to The Odyssey

2:05 to 2:15

Discussion about the film The Odyssey and its significance.

“the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits.”

Introduction to The Odyssey

7:21 to 8:03

Discussion about the film The Odyssey and its significance.

“And it's thanks to a really cool movie shot in a very difficult way.”

Audience Reactions and Expectations

8:03 to 9:21

Hosts discuss audience reactions and expectations around The Odyssey.

“It was written by some other guy named Virgil.”

Personal Connections to The Odyssey

9:21 to 12:51

Exploration of personal connections and feelings toward the film.

“But we do see movies that maybe are not quite to this level of crap, but we see a lot of great movies every year.”

Final Thoughts on The Odyssey

12:51 to 14:00

Hosts share final thoughts on The Odyssey and Christopher Nolan's direction.

“And I don't know if you even quite realize what you just said.”

Inspiration from Successful Figures

14:00 to 15:40

Discussion on how successful figures like Tom Cruise inspire those around them.

“I mean, you know, people who are very, very successful, that's their thing.”

Mixed Feelings on Nolan's Cinema

15:40 to 17:40

Exploration of personal views on Christopher Nolan's films compared to popular opinions.

“And that, yes, it has a ton of movie stars.”

The Odyssey: A Mixed Reception

17:40 to 19:00

Debate around the impact and emotional reaction to 'The Odyssey' film.

“you know, the, the, the wingman, the Riker to, uh, to Odysseus' Picard is lost.”

Themes of War in The Odyssey

19:00 to 22:40

Analysis of the anti-war themes present in the new adaptation of 'The Odyssey'.

“We're going to extend it as long as we can.”
Show all 36 chapters

Nolan's Contradictions in Filmmaking

24:46 to 28:00

Discussion on Christopher Nolan's ability to blend intellectual themes with popular action.

“I think it speaks to the thing that I do like about Nolan, which is that he's both like an intellectual and he has all of his movies have fascinating themes and bold ideas.”

Exploring Christopher Nolan's Filmography

28:00 to 29:20

Learn about Christopher Nolan's film achievements and discuss favorites.

Deep Dive into The Prestige

29:20 to 31:28

Unpack the layers and themes of The Prestige and why it resonates.

“I saw things in it that I had never noticed before.”

Comparing The Prestige to Its Source Material

31:28 to 34:16

Discuss the significant differences between the movie and the novel.

“I'm assuming people listening to this have seen the movie.”

Artistic Sacrifice and Interpretation

34:16 to 37:18

Examine the themes of sacrifice and artistry in Nolan's films.

“even though the he that is there is going to drown him.”

The Connection Between Directors and Their Art

37:18 to 39:53

Explore how directors relate to their creations and audience reception.

“I mean, we haven't even explained the plot.”

The Illusionist and The Prestige: A Comparison

39:53 to 41:25

Discuss the release and reception of The Illusionist compared to The Prestige.

“and one's doing a lot better than the other one.”

The Prestige vs. The Illusionist

42:00 to 46:30

A discussion about the similarities and differences between two magician movies.

“but I don't know the specific one you're talking about.”

Watching Tenet During COVID

46:30 to 47:56

A personal recount of the experience of watching Tenet at home and the challenges faced.

“And now, another appliance triumph from our friends at Grand Appliance.”

Watching Tenet During COVID

48:27 to 50:11

A personal recount of the experience of watching Tenet at home and the challenges faced.

“I have spent time on Reddit looking at tenant threads, trying to follow the graph of where they're moving.”

Dissecting Tenet's Complexity

51:02 to 56:00

A deep dive into the confusing but captivating elements of Tenet.

“There are people making out to the Tenet pre-show at a random Cinemark in Connecticut.”

Exploring Hercules in the Haunted World

56:00 to 1:00:20

The hosts discuss the 1961 film 'Hercules in the Haunted World' and its unique qualities.

“It's the second film ever made by Mario Bava after Black Sunday.”

Search for Odyssey-Inspired Films

1:00:20 to 1:02:51

The hosts share their experiences searching for films related to The Odyssey.

“good enough anyhow what's your rec seg recommendation for the Odyssey Jordan I'm just going to let the I'm going to let the readers know that that is the second of the five Reg Park films Okay, I haven't seen the others.”

Reviewing Ulysses (1954)

1:02:51 to 1:08:50

A detailed discussion on the Italian film 'Ulysses' and its relation to The Odyssey.

“Like Goldilocks, I found it on the third try.”

Recap of Recommendations

1:09:30 to 1:10:01

The hosts recap their movie recommendations and where to find them.

“I guess we should acknowledge that we did also talk about our favorite Nolan movies.”

Greek Epics Discussion

1:10:01 to 1:11:51

Explore various ancient Greek epics recommended for viewing.

“I found it on YouTube, but it's also available on prime video, plex and canopy.”

Introduction to Game Segment

1:11:59 to 1:12:44

Hosts introduce the weekly game and its concept related to films.

“It's right at the top of your favorite streaming apps.”

First Game Round: Guess the Movie

1:12:45 to 1:14:19

Participants guess movies based on clues related to actors from the Odyssey.

“And what it is, it's not that dissimilar from a game that I concocted several weeks ago related to the West Wing because we had a movie with Allison Janney.”

Second Game Round: More Clues

1:14:20 to 1:18:40

Continuation of the guessing game with more challenging clues.

“This movie made$900 million at the global box office.”

Final Game Rounds: Movie Challenges

1:18:41 to 1:23:58

Hosts tackle more film clues, discussing actors and their roles.

“sequence shot at Grand Central Terminal in New York City.”

Woody Allen and Charlize Theron in Film

1:24:00 to 1:25:04

Discussion about Woody Allen's film featuring Charlize Theron and its reception.

“but at least I made it a little more interesting.”

Game Show Trivia Round

1:25:04 to 1:27:37

Participants engage in a trivia game related to movies and their connections.

“This movie was released by the Weinstein Company.”

More Movie Trivia: Control and Suspiria

1:27:37 to 1:30:05

Continuation of the trivia game, focusing on films like 'Control' and 'Suspiria'.

“This movie has original music by Tom York.”

Pieces of a Woman and Its Cast

1:30:05 to 1:31:40

Discussion on the movie 'Pieces of a Woman' and its notable cast members.

“That lead actress's name is Vanessa Kirby.”

Streaming Recommendations and New Releases

1:31:40 to 1:36:20

Hosts share thoughts on new streaming releases and recommendations.

“It's available on VOD and on Crunchyroll.”

Listener Appreciation and Feedback

1:38:00 to 1:40:05

The hosts express gratitude to their listeners and share feedback they've received.

“I'm at superpulse on Instagram and Letterboxd.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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2:12See any standard 2D movie anytime with no blackout dates or restrictions. Sign up now on the Regal app or at the link in our description and use code FILMSPOT26 to receive 15 % off.

2:30A man comes up with an ingenious solution to end a stalemate of a war that's been raging for a decade. And it works. But will he spend the rest of his life regretting it? It's the Odyssey. And it isn't streaming anywhere, But it may just be the year's best movie so far. I'm Jordan Hoffman. And I'm Matt Singer. With more movies, more series, more stuff going straight to streaming than ever before. It felt like the right time for a podcast to keep track of it all. And that podcast is usually film spotting SVU. But we're talking about a new movie this week. We violate singer's law. We are being hubristic toward the gods.

3:17We're chopping off Athena's head right here and doing it. We are not going to talk about a streaming movie for one week. Jordan Hoffman cannot not talk about The Odyssey, and we're indulging him by talking about Christopher Nolan's Odyssey. Plus, we're going to give you some Odyssey-related streaming recommendations that you can watch at home. We will run down the week's new streaming titles, and we will play a game. And it is all coming up on FilmSpotting SVU.

3:52Welcome to Film Spotting SVU. I'm Jordan Hoffman. And hey, Matt Singer, is this a very special episode of SVU? Are we svelling it up in a special way? I think we are. We're ignoring the prime directive and we're talking about a film that is not streamed. It will stream eventually. Which of the services? I guess Peacock. Peacock would be the obvious choice. Because in the U.S., it's being distributed by Universal Pictures. It'll go to Peacock, but you can also, you know, I think Amazon for three bucks. And people are going to want to do that because the Odyssey, it's all anybody's talking about.

4:29Even my parents, who never go to the movies, are thinking about going, but they're very concerned. They haven't seen it, but they're thinking about it. Yeah, they're like, maybe we should go see the Odyssey, but it's three hours. Because I'm like, yeah, but it flies by. And I say, it's only three hours to you. It's 20 years to Odysseus. I mean, come on. They're thinking about it. It's so loud. Why are they shouting? So listen, The Odyssey is a big-ass movie. I mean, Christopher Nolan coming off of his a billion-dollar box office hit and Oscar win. Oppenheimer, could he up it? He went in. He put in all of his chips on The Odyssey, a movie that, by the way, he kind of has always wanted to make because originally he was tapped to do Troy, which was, I guess, now, how long ago was Troy?

5:15That was almost 25 years. He was originally in talks. Wolfgang Peterson was going to do it. Then Peterson stepped out. Pre-Batman, Nolan was going to do it. And he wanted to do what he did here with the Trojan horse. He said, let's not do the typical Trojan horse we've seen on wheels. Let's do it where people are drowning. They're in there for days, shitting all over each other and being miserable. And then Peterson's like, hey, guess what? I can make Troy again. And they're like, Chris Nolan, take your crazy horse and get the hell out of here. And he went and made something else instead. It all kind of worked out in the long run.

5:53So, yeah, it's a big movie. And, you know, there was a little bit. I don't want to give this too much oxygen, but there was a lot of pre-feedback, mostly for dumb reasons. A lot of these bozos, it's funny because the origin of these right wing bozos online kind of had their roots in Batman, which is where Nolan made his bones, so to speak. A lot of these bozos were very upset about the movie that they hadn't seen yet. And it turns out that they were wrong about what they thought was absolutely going to happen in the movie. And they were like, we're boycotting it. It's going to bomb. And it did not bomb.

6:29It's doing quite well. And the joke's on them. But more importantly, it's just, I got to say, if you ignore that side of the quote unquote online discourse about the Odyssey, just ignore all the sort of the racist stuff and the anti-trans stuff and all the nonsense. most of the conversation has actually been pretty good. Like people are kind of excited about a book they were assigned to read in ninth grade. And if they're anything like me, they didn't actually read. They just kind of paid attention in class to do well on the test. And sales of the Odyssey and the Iliad on tracking like Amazon, 40 % up on people buying the Odyssey.

7:06I'll admit that includes myself. I went and bought the Emily Wilson translation, which now sits on a shelf and I'll probably never actually open, but now I have it. No, I'm going to try to read it before the end of the year. So it's kind of cool. America has Odyssey fever. The globe has Odyssey fever. And it's thanks to a really cool movie shot in a very difficult way. Matt, did you see the 60 Minutes episode with Christopher Nolan showing off how they hand cut the 70 millimeter negative and the way they do the old-fashioned color timing without computers. It's kind of like a home. It's a modern movie, modern circa 50 years ago.

7:47It's a very homespun, crafty thing that's out there right now. I did not see that, but I'm sure that sounds interesting, I guess. But yeah, it's a good movie. I'm glad you're this hyped for it. You do not have Odyssey Fever. no I liked it and now life goes on I will endure I have not bought a copy of the Odyssey I will not be re-reading the Odyssey why would anyone want to re-read it after watching I feel like a lot of people are going to buy that book and it's going to sit on that shelf and they're going to read like one page they're going to see how dense and Greek it is well there's a lot of stuff that's not in the movie that's in the tale and the movie itself also is a hodgepodge of it's mostly the Odyssey, some of the Iliad, and even a little bit of the Aeonid, which wasn't even written by Homer.

8:44It was written by some other guy named Virgil. That's a lawsuit. That's a lawsuit right there. There's going to be a... So there's a nice hodgepodge there. And I don't know. Well, despite your lack of enthusiasm, I have Odyssey fever. I know you do. Can't stop talking about cyclopsies and lotus eaters and bad weather on the Aegean Sea. Lack of GPS is a problem. Sure. I'm still trying to get to the root of what it is about this movie. Obviously, it is, you know, very handsomely made, beautifully crafted. It does have spectacular images and the cast is really good. But we do see movies that maybe are not quite to this level of crap, but we see a lot of great movies every year.

9:31And not all of them inspire you, Jordan Hoffman, to be messaging me at all hours and making memes and everything. And I asked you this question last time and then I listened to the episode and I don't feel I got a satisfying answer. I just like want to I really want to know what is it that you love about this? Forget about, oh, I didn't like this book in English. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is it about this version that you are so captivated by? I'm going to give you an answer. And I will say that when Oppenheimer came out, I got a little bit obsessed with that, too. But and I did read that book. I read that book before the movie.

10:06the specific Oppenheimer biography that's very, very lengthy. And that did kind of get me primed for why I felt that it was just such a very important story and what it represented to modern living. I think what I like about this so much is that it is like the ur text of like all fantasy and all science fiction. I mean, I don't know. Maybe there is something older in non-Western traditions. Maybe there's a text, an ancient Chinese text or something that's older. It's possible. But I mean, from, you know, I grew up in the USA. So the Western Civ classes are what we took. And, you know, this is kind of where, not where history starts, but like crazy ass stories about exciting worlds.

10:51And, you know, I love Star Trek. And every week they go to a different planet. Play the red alert sound here, Sam. every week they go to a different island and it's the island of the giants or the island of the woman who makes you stew that turns you into a pig or the my favorite island that charlie's will feed you flowers island and wearing a fishing net or i i think what it is is like as someone with a streak of like i like i like completionism i'm giving you a little window into my neuroses. That's what I want. That's what I want. Lay down on the couch. Tell me you're trouble. I like completionism and I like knowing something top to bottom, which is why when I, at age 14, said I am going to get into Star Trek, I have...

11:38Play the red alert sound here again, please, Sam. Red alert. I have read every Star Trek comic. I've read a lot of the Star Trek books. I know Star Trek in and out, and so I feel like I've conquered Star Trek a little bit. So with this, it's like Christopher Nolan, who's been making really cool movies, very inventive movies, Inception, Interstellar, very creative. It's like he realized it all starts, it all starts, we all got to go back to one. Where did this all start? It all started with the Odyssey. I'm going to put my imprimatur on it. I'm going to make it my way. It has his formalist tricks, the way he uses editing, the way he uses music, the way he cuts on the timeline, the way he uses a big IMAX camera, which you'll notice even if you see it in non-IMAX as I did, it still looks big somehow, the close-ups and whatnot.

12:27So I just feel like he's a guy who's saying, I am going to go back to the beginning and understand everything about fantasy and sci-fi and do it my way. And this is kind of where it all starts. So I think that scratches an itch for me of understanding things from the beginning. That's a better answer. Now I feel like I've gained a little bit more of a window. And I don't know if you even quite realize what you just said. You also just kind of compared yourself to him. You just said that you felt like he is going back to the beginning and trying to be completionist as much as you are. So you're saying essentially that you like this one in part because you feel a kinship with him.

13:09People confuse me and Christopher Nolan in public all the time. Yes, I've seen that happen. I mean, I am a tall, blonde British man with a scarf in 80-degree weather. I always drink a cup of tea. have you met Mr. Nolan ever? Have you ever been like at a thing where? I mean, I hosted the New York Film Critics Circle Awards where he was given an award. So I don't think we, other than exchanging maybe a word of congratulations, we didn't really meet. But I have been in his presence. He's a very handsome man. Yeah, I've been, not to brag, but I've been, I think on one, two, three occasions, has kind of been at a thing where it's like, Hoffman, you're up, go talk to this man.

13:50And I've been alone with him for a few minutes. And one time he truly was just drinking English breakfast tea in a little cup. It was wonderful. And he always wore a scarf. But like, he's a very relatable dude. I mean, you know, people who are very, very successful, that's their thing. They make everybody feel at ease, you know? Yes. I have a friend of mine, very good friend of mine. He used to work at Paramount for a long time in the marketing department. and they would periodically get the Tom Cruise visit to pump him up before it was time to start releasing that first trailer to whatever Mission Impossible movie.

14:26And he said, he joked, he and his friends joked, he's like, oh, here comes Tom Cruise to give us all the pep rally. And like, no kidding, all irony just dropped. When he left the building, like they were ready to climb a mountain. They were ready, like, I will do anything for that man. I could rip apart a bear. He is giving me so much adrenaline right now because there's something about certain people that they really just inspire something. And I think that Nolan is one of the very different from Tom Cruise. Obviously, he's not jumping out of airplanes, but he's just an inspiring dude. So I don't know.

14:56I guess that's it. I guess I have a little bit of a crush on the guy. What can I say? That's all right. I think a lot of people do. I mean, that's part of the reason I'm asking is that, you know, I admire his work. I've enjoyed a lot of his movies. I've loved a lot, a few of his movies, but I just, people revere him in a way that I don't quite, you know, like, I just, I guess I wish I felt as passionately about all of his movies the way that you feel about The Odyssey and that a lot of people feel about it. And I guess I love that we have a big hit movie in theaters right now that was shot, as you said, shot on big film cameras and that is being sold as a theatrical experience.

15:44And that, yes, it has a ton of movie stars. It has almost every movie star on the planet in it. But it's also, OK, well, I guess it is the original IP, as you said. But this is not a superhero. Well, it is kind of a superhero movie. But it is, but that it is a, it is literally good old fashioned storytelling. And I love all of that about it, but I don't know. I feel like it's not that much better that people should only get excited for Christopher and old movies. I wish people got this excited for the five other masterpieces we get every single year. You know what I'm saying? What are the masterpieces of this level?

16:22Of this level? I don't know. Also like action adventure. There are great movies. After Son is a great movie that touched me and moved me emotionally, but that's about a little girl crying on her vacation because her dad's a mess. It's not about giants and whirlpools. The Odyssey is about an older woman crying because her husband is a mess. I mean, it's a - Plus, whirlpools and giants and things like that. It's got that action. No, I don't - Let me ease you this way, Matt Singer. You are not alone. I know a few other people that are in your camp that are like B plus B plus, you know, my friend, Mike Miller and Entertainment Weekly.

17:01He's he's the the Nolan, the nuanced Nolan man for years. We had this argument after Oppenheimer came out. He was just like B plus. And there are other people, too. But for me, I will say there were moments when I watched the Odyssey when I and this is going to sound obnoxious and make make me sound like the film broiest of film bros. but there were two moments where I was like, this, this is the living Kubrick. You know, he is as good as we're going to get. It was the moment when they were running away from the giants and just the way that was put together and just the, the, you know, the, the mix, the way it was edited and the, just the look of fear on their faces.

17:36And then the final, uh, C, uh, final shipwreck when Haimish Patel is lost to Poseidon, you know, the, the, the wingman, the Riker to, uh, to Odysseus' Picard is lost. And when that moment, and I've seen a million shipwrecks in movies before, and this wasn't even like a particularly, like on the page, it was like, and then there was a shipwreck, but the way it was put together, the look on the faces, the music, I was just like levitating from my seat. I don't know. It's just, what can I say? It was my reaction and I'm glad I had it. If you're stuck in B plus, Phil, I can't rescue you. If you're eating lotuses with Charlene's Theron on B-plus Island, you have to— I'm trying to remember why I love the Odyssey so much.

18:26You need to— As I'm being force-fed lotus flower by Charlene's. You need to throw yourself—take the leap of faith yourself and get off of B-plus Island. But I don't know. I'd be curious to know from the listeners, because I'm imagining that most listeners have seen it by now. Am I nuts? Am I blowing smoke? Am I drinking the Lotus Kool-Aid here or a little bit of reservation? Let us know at feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. And maybe we'll read some Odyssey-related letters on the podcast next time. You are just not going to let this movie go. We're going to extend it as long as we can. Even though it's not a streaming movie, we're going to do Odyssey feedback.

19:05That's right. We'll do a revisit. Right. We will travel. We're going to go to Greece and visit the famous sites of the Odyssey. There's money in the budget for that, Sam, right? To take a staffed tour of the Odyssey locations. I've never been to Greece, but I have been to Italy. And twice I've been to spots that are like, at least in the ancient world, I've been to Pompeii. I've been to Herculaneum, which is actually in some ways even cooler than Pompeii. and I've been to like, I don't know. I've taken a boat from where like Sorrento to Capri. You take a little boat. It's very lovely. And if a tour guide's worth his salt, he'll say, ah, over there, that is Hercules' mountain.

19:50Or like he'll throw some mythical shit at you, whether it's true or not. I mean, I used to be a New York City tour guide. So I used to make stuff up all the time. But I remember like being on the boat and he pointed at some rock formation. It's like, that is Hercules rock. and like it sent the chill down my spine. I'm like, yeah, that's her. And like I took a picture like that rock. That's Hercules' rock. Like Hercules probably, I don't even think Hercules is a real person, but I don't know. I bought it. What can I say? I guess I just like this shit. You know, another rock I saw was Andromeda's rock, which is in the Mediterranean.

20:24I remember a tour, like that's Andromeda's rock. It's supposed to be the rock where Andromeda was saved by Perseus in Clash of the Titans when they, you know, so very exciting. I got all excited and it was a rock. It was a rock in the middle of the water. It was nice weather. You could get a good pomegranate juice nearby. I mean, it was certainly pleasant, but I don't know. I bought it. What can I say? I'm just thinking back about the two. You mentioned two moments that in the Odyssey that you that were like, I'm watching the living Kubrick. Those were your words. That's right. And neither of those moments made any impact on me whatsoever.

20:59There were parts of this movie that I did respond to very strongly. I love the ending, which I don't know how much we want to spoil. Yeah. But I did feel like it built, the movie does build up a nice bit of closing speed. Yeah. It was very powerful the last 20 minutes or so. Oh, for sure. What I love about the ending is it's Christopher Nolan having his revisionist cake and eating it too. There is an element that he added to this film of making the Odyssey something of an anti-war text, which does not really exist in previous iterations of translations. I mean, I've been reading up about it a lot.

21:36And if you look at it, most people interpret the original Odyssey as the Greek saying, war is hell, but you got to do it. It's a man's nature to be at war and it's not fun, but it's necessary. And the Odyssey and Oppenheimer are very, very similar movies. The premise is you may be brilliant and you may be able to do a thing, either create an atom bomb or figure out the Trojan horse, but it's going to haunt you and war is not good and use your words, not, not your fists. Right. That's not really, that's new. So what happens is that big conclusion happens in a very touching scene with very Catholic elements of like, you know, he's confessing to Penelope through a great and it gets it out there and it's like, wow, the Odyssey new 2026 is anti-war.

22:20Wow. That's new. And then once that's been established, there's a kick-ass fight scene that goes on for 15 minutes and all the suitors get slaughtered and he's just war is horrible but fighting is awesome so it's kind of like all right we we just satisfied all the pacifists in the audience now let's go kick some ass and be tough guys and i did find that very amusing i mean i don't know what that says about it any about nolan about life in general But I did recognize the irony in that whole bit. Keep us straight!

23:02And now, another appliance triumph from our friends at Grand Appliance. I love hosting summer parties, but dread reaching over a hot oven door to juggle appetizer trays. So I asked the experts at Grand Appliance for advice, and they recommended a Bosch wall oven with side swing doors for easier access. It's amazing. No reaching over the heat, and they installed it in no time. Post like a pro with expert advice from Grand Appliance. Shop grandappliance.com. Amazon Health AI presents Painful Thoughts. Why did I search the internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze.

23:49I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that. Don't go down the rabbit hole. Amazon Health AI gets you the right care fast. Healthcare just got less painful. If your best finance people are doing expense reports, chasing receipts, or spending time on month-end clothes, it's time to get Brex AF, a gentic finance that eliminates that work before it starts. Learn more at brex.com slash AF. Wait, I came in for two things. How is this$47? All right, we're going to need a plan here. Just start simple with Bank of America Advantage Safe Balance Banking. No overdraft item fees, no monthly maintenance fee if you're under 25.

24:32Plus, as a new checking customer, you can earn$100 when you open an account and make qualifying Zeller debit transactions. Oh, that's actually really simple. Safe balance banking. One less thing to figure out. Learn more at bfa.com slash earn100. Terms and conditions apply. Bank of America and a member FDIC. I think it speaks to the thing that I do like about Nolan, which is that he's both like an intellectual and he has all of his movies have fascinating themes and bold ideas. And he's always saying something in them. But he also loves a good punchy, kicky scene. I mean, this is the man who made three Batman movies that were hugely successful on a mass level.

25:12They weren't, you know, you could say, well, in some way they were a deconstruction of Batman, I suppose. Maybe when you place them alongside like Batman and Robin, they look like a deconstruction. But they're ultimately action movies about a guy who dresses like a bat to beat up criminals. like they were thoughtful movies but they did not violate the rules of a mass entertainment batman here's the thing when you watch any of the three of his batman movies particularly the third one which is the worst one but still very good you'll be watching with that you'll be watching the dark knight rises which i have done several times and you'd be like oh this is deep this is this is you know intellectual this is thought provoking and you'd be like it's ridiculous Why does that guy have that mask on?

25:59Why is he talking like, Catwoman, stop being Catwoman, just be normal. What's the matter with you? It does happen to be that like, there's a great, again, there's a little bit of this contradiction in his work. It's like, I want to be smart, but I got to please the people and stick Anne Hathaway in a very tight Catwoman suit for which I say. He gives the people what they want. You know, he's like, he seems as, you know and maybe this is i don't know if this is kubrick or not just the fact that he seems to recognize that at a certain point he would not be allowed to make a 200 million dollar odyssey movie if it didn't in some way please the person who just wants to see you know yeah he wants to see the odyssey the spectacle the cyclops the the you know the whirlpool the you know crazy action like if it's all gonna be matt damon eating lotus flowers and you know paying homage to Memento, that's, you know, eventually he's not, you know, somebody's going to close up the purse strings.

26:58That blank check will eventually bounce, is what you're saying. I mean, even Oppenheimer, and Oppenheimer is not an action film, but there is, there's a lot of yelling. It's a biopic. It is a very boldly structured one, but it ticks just about every box you would want from a biography of a great man. It does it in a very intelligent way and a formally interesting way, but it still works on that basic level. Are we saying there's a chance that when we push that button, we destroy the world? Nothing in our research over three years supports that conclusion, except it's the most remote possibility.

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27:38How remote? Chances are near zero. Near zero. What do you want from theory alone? so um let's now close the 3 000 year old tome that is the odyssey but we've been talking a lot about christopher nolan so let's just again plant a flag here the man has made many feature films not a million but many he's our kubrick kubrick didn't work that much that frequently either but um christopher nolan has made i'm going to tell you how many feature films he's made by going and opening this uh he has made one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen feature length films that's if you include following which is only 70 minutes but i do why you have why would you not include it i don't know because it's not that many people have seen it i'm gonna ask he made it he made it he made it he paid for it himself he he opened he didn't ask for any money he said i'm paying for this it cost him six thousand pounds to make it back in 1990 whatever matt let's just cut to the chase what is your favorite there can only be one what is your favorite christopher nolan movie and why well for me i mean there's no i don't even have like this is not a tough decision i mean to me there's an obvious answer okay again i don't think he's made a bad movie no he's made good movies and great movies and masterpieces um but my favorite the singular one the one that i have definitely watched the most well maybe i've seen the dark knight more it's not the dark knight um it's the prestige the prestige is my favorite christopher nolan movie by a wide margin i have watched it countless times i re-watched it uh last week as I was preparing to go see The Odyssey.

29:38I loved it just as much as I ever have. I saw things in it that I had never noticed before. That's part of the reason I love watching it, is that every time I watch it, I see things that I have not seen in it before. But yes, I find it is a movie, to me, that has no bottom. There's no end to the amount of things you can think about and discover in this movie. It is a movie that validates the very thing that they say, I think, first in the movie and just about last. And they say it a million times, which is, are you watching closely? It asks that question of the audience. And then it rewards those who are watching closely.

30:20It's a movie with a lot of twists and turns. And at the end, it has a surprise, much like The Odyssey. There are some surprises at the very end of the movie that reward you for having sat through the whole thing. But it's also a movie that when you go back and revisit it and you know what's going to happen, it doesn't lose anything just because you know some of the secrets that are going to be revealed. You kind of get it more. It took me until the second watch to maybe just because I'm a moron. But I didn't quite put together that Nikola Tesla really did nothing for Christian Bale. Like I still, even though Christian Bale sends Hugh Jackman out to Colorado as like a get out of my hair, like I fooled you.

31:06I still thought he had, I didn't know what was going on with the crazy machine. Like I didn't realize that. I didn't understand. I remember watching it the second time and understanding a lot more. Here's something interesting that I want to talk about with you. Because I too watched it again recently because I hadn't seen it in a while. and then I opened up my favorite website called wikipedia and I was reading about the book the book of the of the the prestige yes it's based on a novel I have not read but very different like really Nolan took the book and threw it like just changed changed facts to his credit he he said I'm taking the essence of this I like the idea of warring magicians in this Victorian setting and I like Nikola Tesla and I like the box thing, but took out many characters and also just pretty much changed the ending because the way I interpret the ending and I think the way most people interpret the ending is this.

32:04I'm assuming people listening to this have seen the movie. It came out a long time ago, nearly 20 years ago. The Spoiler Zone

32:18When you fall through the trapdoor and Nikola Tesla's machine zaps you, it creates a double, and the double is a few yards away. But when you fall through, if you're Hugh Jackman, who has given up all, has put everything into being a showman, and all he cares about is his craft, you're saying to yourself, I am prepared to die right now. and you fall into a tank and you drown. That is how most people interpret that. In the book, apparently, when the Tesla machine zaps you, it creates a double and puts your consciousness in that double and the first Hugh Jackman just becomes like an empty shell, like a zombie.

33:03And that's not in the movie and that changes everything to me. I will say, Matt Singer, in the very first Star Trek novel called Spock Must Die written by James Blish. It is positive that when you go through the transporter, the prestige Tesla machine from the book is what happens. You die, but your clone lives. And this is not discussed much in canon. If you really parse some of the things Bones has said over the years, You might think he believes this. I asked Mike Okuda about this once. Mike Okuda is a very important guy in Star Trek lore. And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't really talk about that much.

33:48I guess we got to go through a transporter first to see. But it makes sense. So there are some strains of Star Trek fandom who believe that the prestige and the transporter are very, very similar. I just want to put that out there. How do you interpret that ending, though? Because he says, Hugh Jackman says, you never know. So nobody cares about the man in the box. They only care about the man they could see. But it's like he's still holding out hope that he is going to live, even though the he that is there is going to drown him. And when we see him drowning, he's not having a fun time. He's not like it is accomplished or the end of Black Swan where she's happy.

34:26He's going, get me the hell out of this tank. I hate it here. I'm about to drown. It's no fun. To me, I just see this all as a movie about art. To me, the magic and the sci-fi elements of it are there as an allegory for being an artist. And the idea of sacrificing for art. And how far are you willing to go to become the greatest of them all? And I think when you watch Nolan's movies and you read about him obsessing over, you know, 70 millimeter cameras and he's on 60 minutes showing how they cut the film and all this. If he doesn't necessarily believe these things, he's sure done a great job of building this mythology around himself.

35:17That's right. As like the two guys. As like the two guys. And so I think every time I watch it, I see more about art and filmmaking in that movie as this kind of, you know, Rosetta Stone of his entire career. There's a lot of themes that pop up in other movies. You mentioned like there's doubles, there's duplicates. There are secret identities, which is like Batman. It is like the Odyssey. You know, Odysseus comes home and puts on a disguise. He wears a cape. He practically wears a mask, and he has a new name. He's Batman, basically, or he's Angier, or he is Lord Caldwell. There are dead wives.

36:02There are all of these elements that you can find throughout Nolan's filmography. But the stuff that I continue to find fascinating is just, you know, there's these great lines in it that are all about magic, but all kind of work as being about art and filmmaking. You know, the secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything. You know, like, yeah, it's great that Christopher Nolan shoots on film and it's cool to see him cutting physical celluloid. But if the movie was a piece of dreck, nobody would care about all of that. And this happens. I'm not going to say who, but there's a very, very low budget British filmmaker who makes movies on 16 millimeter that occasionally show at festivals.

36:46and a lot of people who are just into tech are like, oh, he's the guy who's doing it. He's the guy who's doing it. And I've seen his movies. They're boring as hell. There's nothing going on. He's made three movies. I've seen two of them. Enough with this guy. I'll tell you who he is later. I don't want to. But yeah, again, like every little thing, like the line, he's a wonderful magician. He's a dreadful showman. Sounds like a statement that could apply to a lot of directors, including the one you were just vaguely alluding to, right? And you asked about how I interpret the element of the movie involving Hugh Jackman's character.

37:20I mean, we haven't even explained the plot. I assume most people do know it. But it is about Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as these warring magicians both trying to outdo one another. And they both have versions of a trick that involves transporting, seemingly transporting themselves magically from one place to another. I cannot claim this next feat. as illusion. Watch carefully. You'll see no trickery. No trickery is employed. Merely a technique familiar to certain citizens of the Orient and various holy men of the Himalayas. It's called in both versions with various alterations, it's called the transported man.

38:05And I think that comes from the book. But I also love that because what does every filmmaker hope to do when they make a movie. They hope to transport people. They hope to take them out of their lives and send them back to ancient Greece or to Gotham City or to the, you know, to outer space or whatever it is. That's another kind of weird little quiet little resonance. But the whole aspect of Hugh Jackman's trick, the transportation, as you mentioned, as you spoiled, it creates a double and one person gets to be on, you know, in front of the crowd basking in adoration and one person winds up you know uh murdered but ultimately like originally it's under the stage and not getting to you know like kind of away and he's taking it for the team he's got to take one for the team and not right and his ego his ego will not allow him to be not soaking in the applause and so that is why he creates and creates and ends up doing this horrible thing that you were alluding to but i but i mean directors make beautiful things that delight and astound people.

39:09And 99.9 % of the time, they're not in the room to appreciate that. This is art that is, you know, created to be shown elsewhere. You know, they're at the premiere. They're at a screening. Yeah, when they're at the premiere, they're also there with the studio invites. You know, when they go to the Cannes Film Festival, everybody's there to give them the standing ovation. And then, you know, they got to go to a theater in Idaho to see how people really respond is what it is. So all of these little things, That is why I find myself going back and back. And yes, it has great performances. It has a beautiful screenplay written by brothers, which is an interesting element for a movie that has twins.

39:49Let's be honest here. One brother is, they're both in the same business and one's doing a lot better than the other one. Not that Jonathan Nolan is out there shilling for work, but he's not Christopher Nolan. He's very much the other brother. The Coen brothers are equals. The Nolan brothers are not. No disrespect. Right. So again, we could do a two-hour episode just on The Prestige. I could do it right now with no further preparation. But that's my pick. Jordan. Oh, and I do want to say, let me just say, if you have not seen or wish to revisit The Prestige, streaming right now on Hulu and Peacock.

40:28So there you go. What about you? What's your top Nolan? humorously enough last week's episode we talked about the movie redux redux and you mentioned how you hate the trope which is the walk hard trope of like you don't want this you got to get off this train you got to stop and that happens in the prestige uh david bowie as nikola tesla cool casting he's not in it that much but when he's on screen he kills it he tells yes hugh jackman your obsessions will destroy you yeah as they have destroyed me yeah it's the same beat but it's a little different like you said last week i don't mind the beat so much i hate i don't i need a little spin on it and this 20 year old movie has the spin my my uh tragedy about the prestige is thus but it has a happy ending uh the prestige came out in 2006 20 years ago and i heard it was great, but I didn't see it in the theaters for two reasons.

41:30One, back in 2006, I was not working yet in the movie-related biz, and every time I wanted to see a movie, I had to shell out a few bucks. So I was a little more discretionary about what I saw. I was not made of money. But the real reason I didn't see it was there was a movie that not many people remember that came out two months before The Prestige. Do you know which movie I'm talking about? Either of you? I would imagine there's a bunch of movies that came out two months before The Prestige, but I don't know the specific one you're talking about. Sam knows everything. He's going to put it in the chat.

42:06I can see Sam typing right now. He knows my brain. A few months before The Prestige came out, there was a movie called The Illusionist. And Edward Norton as The Illusionist. And it is an okay movie. It is a B minus. It's not bad. It's not bad. It's a B minus. It's a B. It's a B minus. It's a B. It's okay. And it's set, it's not set actually in Britain, but it's set, I don't know where it's set, Austria-Hungary, it says here, in Vienna back in the day. And it's just like a very similar type of movie just from the poster and the trailer. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, from the furthest corners of the world, where the dark art still holds sway.

42:50I present to you a man who has unlocked these mysteries. So I saw The Illusionist. I shelled out. And then it was like, you got to see The Prestige. I'm like, I just saw a magician movie. And it wasn't that great. I'm not made of money. Forget The Prestige. I'm not interested. And then I never saw it. And then later, after the Batman movies, and people are talking about Christopher Nolan as our living Kubrick, I'm like what really where did this guy come was it Insomnia wasn't that I mean I remember Memento Memento's cool but you never saw The Prestige no I never saw this I had to schlep over to the blockbuster watch it on VHS so I've never actually seen it in a theater but the happy ending is that it actually is getting a re-release um later this year for the 20th anniversary so I don't know that it's going to play every multiplex but I will have the opportunity to go see The Prestige in theaters, and that will be the happy third act for me.

43:46My favorite Christopher Nolan movie also is one that I really don't need to think about too much. Prior to this film, I would have said Interstellar, not just because I love outer space. I find the central premise touching. I just love the music. I listen to that soundtrack all the time. I just really, really really enjoy interstellar and i think inception is cool too and i like the i like them all i even like following it's a little i like the one with al pacino it's even not that great but i like it but i'll tell you i remember where i was when i first saw the movie tenant i was home because it came out during the covid remember the covid and there was a home thing yes i remember the covid there was a whole thing about should it be released in theaters and actually Tenet was released in a few theaters, but not in New York City where I was living at the time.

44:40And some people actually did schlep out to Connecticut or wherever to see it. And I was given by the studio, much against Christopher Nolan's wishes, by Warner Brothers. He was a Warner Brothers man until this happened, and now he's a Universal man. They did let critics watch it on a link, but it was a very, very short window because of piracy and because of Christopher Nolan's dismay about all this. So the link was good for like 12 hours. You could watch Tenet in 12 hours. So I turned it on. I hit play. I was transported into a universe I did not know existed. It was over. It was late at night already.

45:20It was now already 11 o 'clock. And I said, this link is going to expire. I must watch this again right now. And I did. And I stayed up till 1.30 in the morning. I watched Tenet twice in a row, back and front. If only I'd watched it once backwards and once forwards. Um, I have seen Tenet five or six times. I don't really understand it. Every time I watch it, I start to think I understand it. And then I go, no, I don't. I'm taking it on faith. I think it makes sense. Um, of course it can't make sense because these things don't exist. You cannot make a temporal pincer move because that's not a real thing.

45:53So it makes as much sense as you want it to. but I am just so enthralled by it and captivated by it and even Kenneth Branagh doing the must catch moose and squirrel Russian accent works for me I just every molecule this movie brings me joy maybe it's because I first saw it not in the theater where I should but it was during these COVID times which were very bleak and just this cool thing I did eventually see Tenet in a theater They did a re-release around Oppenheimer, and I saw that in IMAX, and it was just so good. How would you like to die? Old. You chose the wrong profession.

46:42And now, another appliance triumph from our friends at Grand Appliance. I love hosting summer parties, but dread reaching over a hot oven door to juggle appetizer trays. So I asked the experts at Grand Appliance for advice, and they recommended a Bosch wall oven with side swing doors for easier access. It's amazing. No reaching over the heat, and they installed it in no time. Post like a pro with expert advice from Grand Appliance. Shop grandappliance.com. Amazon Health AI presents Painful Thoughts. Why did I search the internet for answers to my cold sore problem? Now I'm stuck down a rabbit hole filled with images of alarmingly graphic sores in various stages of ooze.

47:30I can clear my search history, but I can never unsee that. Don't go down the rabbit hole. Amazon Health AI gets you the right care fast. Healthcare just got less painful. If your best finance people are doing expense reports, chasing receipts, or spending time on month-end clothes, it's time to get Brex AF, a gentic finance that eliminates that work before it starts. Learn more at brex.com slash AF. Wait, I came in for two things. How is this$47? All right, we're going to need a plan here. Just start simple with Bank of America Advantage Safe Balance Banking. No overdraft item fees, no monthly maintenance fee if you're under 25.

48:12Plus, as a new checking customer, you can earn$100 when you open an account and make qualifying Zeller debit transactions. Oh, that's actually really simple. Safe balance banking. One less thing to figure out. Learn more at bfa.com slash earn100. Terms and conditions apply. Bank of America and a member FDIC. I have spent time on Reddit looking at tenant threads, trying to follow the graph of where they're moving. No, I'm not smart enough for it. I even saw an interview with Nolan where he even confessed sometimes that he gets confused and doesn't know what's going on. But it is just so cool. The look, the music, the editing, the camera movement, the plane smashing into the thing, the guys running around backwards, John David Washington stabbing himself in the arm and then healing and then bleeding and you don't know what the hell is going on, talking into the thing.

49:02Why would talking into the thing go backwards? And then they understand each other. It's great. Everything about it is great. There's no other movie like Tenet. There's so many cockamamie, crazy science fiction movies out there. there's none that's quite so crazy but also so big and polished with a production design and a budget like this it's a one-of-one nothing else out there is like this um and and it is my favorite and it will always be my favorite and there's nothing you can do to stop me that is my answer wow wow i don't understand it but i like it i don't know what's going on but it's the best stuff he's ever made this is how i feel about a lot of things sometimes my wife gets upset with me.

49:43I go, I don't understand you, but I love you. I mean, that's just the way it is. That's, that's what life is all about. She has the patience of a saint. I certainly couldn't do it. God bless that woman. Uh, yeah, my, I, I, first of all, I want to know who, what I did wrong. Cause I did not get a link to tenant. Nobody gave me a screening link to watch at home during the COVID. I, I did the thing during the COVID that a lot of people did. Yeah. Well, I rented, I did the whole thing where you could rent a theater. Do you remember? Do you remember that? That became a thing. They like, they made them relatively inexpensive.

50:16That's right. Yeah. And I went, I actually went with my brother-in-law. We hadn't been to the movies in a very long time and I, he wanted to go to. So the two of us went to a theater in Connecticut. I was, we were hanging out with my in-laws at the time and I rented out this multiplex and the, the, you know, the whole punchline is, is the first time I've been in a movie theater in what was it like six months at that point something like that which the guys like us is a long time to some people it's like right i know to most people that's that's normal but to us that's like you know yeah that's a that's a drought of all droughts and uh the whole idea was oh there's the there's the covid you don't want to be in an enclosed this the movie theater is the worst place you could be right yeah okay but we'll rent a private screening room and it'll be private and you won't have to worry about that fantastic i'm doing it i gotta see tenant and we show up to the movie theater and we have our tickets and we go to our private theater and we walk inside and the movie hasn't started yet but there's two people inside who are furiously making out not just in there like just going at it the opposite of the germ-free surgical operating room-like environment you want in the age of the COVID.

51:35Yeah, wow. There are people making out to the Tenet pre-show at a random Cinemark in Connecticut. How did they sneak into your theater? That was the Singer Theater and they snuck in. We had to like go out, find a person. Yeah, with masks on and gloves. Yeah, exactly. We're wearing masks, all of this stuff. Excuse me. There are people brutally making out. They're round and third. Right. Yes. They're engaging in a temporal pincer movement. So what did it happen? They kicked him out? Eventually, yeah, we found someone. They went in. They politely asked them to depart. They left. And then we went in.

52:21And we sat in the theater. And I held my breath for two hours. Right. I mean, you probably were very nervous. You're like, geez, this is supposed to be a clean room. Right. It was already ruined immediately. It didn't matter what happened after that. But in terms of the movie, like all of Christopher Nolan movies, it is beautiful. It is interesting. It has provocative ideas. It has a great cast. It has great performances. But I think even as I said last week on the show, the more I watch it, and I have watched it a few times now, the less I understand it. It is the only movie, I think, where trying to get deeper into it and to put it together only makes it more confusing.

52:59That's why it's perfect. And that's why you love it. All I have for you is a word.

53:10Tell it. All right. Well, you know, we're running late. It's a long episode already, but let's just very quickly do a Rexag for people who - The Odyssey. The Odyssey. The movie that you love so much that you can't recall the name of it, The Odyssey. Do you, Matt Singer, want to tell people what the name of this segment is called? I know you like to do it. Oh, it's the recommendation segment. Is that what you mean? It's also known as... Rexag! Rexag! Rexag, Rexag, Rexag, Rexag, Rexag. Oop, oop, oop. Awooga, awooga. Not to be confused with bazooka. No, no, but let's do a lightning round Rexag because we got to get to the game.

53:53It's a good game this week. What is... Would you like to Rexag first or shall I? I can go first. I can go first. Let's make it happen. I will confess something here that I probably should have mentioned during our discussion of the Odyssey, as it might be a mitigating factor for my opinion. I think swords and sandals movies are generally not interesting. I think they're kind of boring. I associate them with all of the most boring classes I had to take in college. It's not a genre that I love. I like an airplane. I like movies about gladiators, like in Rocky Horror. I like to see a good Steve Reeves movie.

54:35I'm a big fan of the peplum genre. Continue, continue. So I'm not an expert in it, but I thought I would use this as an excuse to watch some stuff that I hadn't seen. The Odyssey, which I did like, did make me think, well, maybe I need to give this another shot. I watched Troy, which we already mentioned. I didn't like it. I thought it stunk. Just bad. It made me appreciate the Odyssey even more. And I was, somebody told me, oh, you got to watch the director's cut. It's four hours long and it's a lot better. I ain't watching a movie that's twice as long as the crummy version. No, thank you. I'm going to pass on that for now.

55:11So instead, I was thinking about what I could recommend possibly or what I could see. And it gave me the opportunity to scratch a cinematic itch I have never scratched. Oh. Which is that I, as I'm sure Jordan and Sam and longtime readers and listeners of mine will know, am a obsessive and fascinated by the films of one Arnold Schwarzenegger. And Arnold Schwarzenegger's obsession with movies and bodybuilding can be both traced back to the exact same thing. A series of Italian Hercules movies starring bodybuilder Reg Park. he saw these movies as a teenager in Austria and he was mesmerized by them now mostly he was mesmerized by Reg Park's physique but nonetheless I've never seen any Reg Park Hercules movies and I decided I would watch I would watch one and try to understand what it was that so inspired the last action hero of my own youth and on YouTube I found Hercules in the Haunted World from 1961 which to my surprise was directed by Mario Bava.

56:22It's the second film ever made by Mario Bava after Black Sunday. And honestly, I really liked it. It was full of surprises. It is a bit schlocky at times. The version I watched was dubbed and it is not the most beautiful print in the world, but it does have a kind of, this movie has a kind of oddball artificial sort of beauty. In terms of its depiction of ancient Greece, it might not be possible to make one that's more different than Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. It is like a fever dream of ancient Greece that's also Italy. And it kind of looks at times like the 1960s Batman TV show with all the colored gels and lights and like kind of psychedelic atmosphere.

57:09I've never seen anything quite like it, but it is a little like The Odyssey. Hercules, Reg Park, he returns home from a long journey to the woman he loves. Later, to save that woman, he ventures into Hades. Although, again, it's a very different look to Hades in this film. He has to locate this object that will cure her of this mythological sickness. But there's all kinds of practical effects. There are monsters, some of them very striking looking, not as impressive, not as realistic as The Odyssey, but kind of nightmarish in a fun way. I feel like I kind of mentioned this movie or quote it, reference it way too much on this podcast.

57:58But it struck me as the sort of movie because Christopher Lee is the villain of the film. Yeah. It struck me of like a kind of movie that Leonardo DiCaprio's character from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood might have made, you know, at this time. He could have played that character or Hercules' sidekick if his career got really bad. Because boy, does Christopher Lee look not happy to be in this movie. He is bummed out. He just looks very sad. The forces of evil dominated this land before the father of Eurytis defeated them and banished them forever to the kingdom of the dead. And their curse shall hang over us and over all this land until such time as the last descendant of him who banished them shall be destroyed.

58:43But surely there must be some way to combat them. How? As for the Arnold connection, Reg Park, I don't know that he's the best actor I ever saw. He's not that great as a presence, but boy, does he have a great physique. I'll give him that. He does look like... I can do him one better. I will also be funny. That's right. He does look like he could have been the model for the Hercules that shows up in Marvel Comics as a member of the Avengers. I mean, he just looks like a Greek demigod. Well, I'm looking at Reg Parks. He only made five movies between the years of 61 and 65. Four of them are Hercules movies.

59:22One of them is a Machista film. Machista, I don't know how it's pronounced. That's another character that actually Steve Reeves did a lot of his. I've seen some Steve Reeves. Sure. He's another very famous Hercules. Yeah. But Arnold was, I mean, I'm sure he liked those too. But Reg Park, that's the guy. If you read his memoir, which I have read, that's the guy he talks about, Reg Park. I'm inspired by Reg Park. His pectoral muscles are phenomenal. And maybe, for him, maybe that's all it was. But honestly, I liked the movie for the bhavaness, for the atmosphere, for the direction, the sets, the costumes.

1:00:00kind of practical but kind of plastic monsters I had a good time with it it had a little bit had a little bit of money behind it I don't know if it has a lot of money but it has a little bit of artistic flair so Hercules in the Haunted World available on YouTube it wasn't streaming anywhere else but the full movie was on YouTube that's my pick good enough anyhow what's your rec seg recommendation for the Odyssey Jordan I'm just going to let the I'm going to let the readers know that that is the second of the five Reg Park films Okay, I haven't seen the others. You don't need to see anything else.

1:00:34I promise you. Okay, so I was thinking like you, I would do something similar and try to find something in the same vein. And it took me three tries. And I wasn't going to watch 2001 A Space Odyssey. I wasn't going to watch Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? There also is a movie called Ulysses Gaze, which I maybe saw 100 years ago that is loosely based on The Odyssey with Harvey Keitel. But I remember that being a little dull and I wasn't in the mood. So the first thing I did was I found there is a movie called Helen of Troy. And Helen of Troy is from the year. It's from the 50s. And it's kind of like a mishmash of all these, you know, it's a little bit of the Iliad and a little bit of the Odyssey.

1:01:19And it's got all these characters. And it was directed by Robert Wise. so I was like this is gonna be good right it's directed by Robert Wise who of course made you know I mean he made The Sound of Music right I mean that was that's his biggie and he made he was an editor on Citizen Kane he made by any chance did he direct a Star Trek motion he directed Star Trek the motion picture the motion picture he did do that which I think is a very good movie and he also did the Andromeda Strain, which I love. I love the Andromeda Strain. So here's the punchline. Helen of Troy kind of blows. It's really boring.

1:02:01I liked the look of it, but it was not that good. So I went back to the well, and then I found something very arty from the year 1989 called Nostos The Return. And what I loved about this is that it is in a made-up language. There is not a lot of dialogue in it, but when they do speak, it's just gobbledygook with no subtitles. So I like that. It was meant to be ancient Greek that you're not supposed to understand. It is a very arty, naturalistic depiction of Odysseus's journey that is probably beautiful to see. It's kind of like a very art film, great to see in a theater, a lot of sweeping shots of Greek islands and whatnot and caves, but not a lot of action.

1:02:43It's a very short movie and I liked it, but it's really not what I was looking for. So then I found it. Like Goldilocks, I found it on the third try. There is a movie from 1954 called Ulysses. And Ulysses, of course, is the Latin version of Odysseus, the Latin name. And it is an Italian production, but an Italian Hollywood production. So it's an Italian director by the name of Mario Camarini. Mario Bava, by the way, you mentioned him earlier. He was involved in the production. He did some of the special effects. but it stars Kirk Douglas as Odysseus slash Ulysses and Anthony Quinn as Antinius who is the Robert Pattinson character and it it's swashbuckling it's pretty damn good marvel at the tremendous spectacle of the Trojan War Ulysses and his warriors springing from the mammoth wooden horse to overwhelm the walls of Troy see Ulysses live his fantastic adventures again, filmed where they actually happened 5 ,000 years ago.

1:03:48The thousand and one thrills of Ulysses, the greatest of all adventurers. There's a lot of commonalities with the Odyssey, the new one, in terms of what they cover. I mean, the Cyclops' cage, Penelope at the loom, Telemachus being a whiny little boy. It's all in there. But there's also a lot of stuff that's in this movie that's not in Nolan's version. Like there's a whole chapter in the book about adventures on an island with Nausicaa and Nausicaa is not in the Nolan version at all. And Nausicaa is a big character in this and she's wearing a very beautiful dress and whatnot. It's very alluring.

1:04:27So I would say more so than Helen of Troy, which does the movie version, Helen of Troy by Robert Wise, which does have the Trojan horse in it pretty prominently. And that's a pretty cool scene. this has the Trojan horse in it for just a moment or two but I gotta say I kind of dug this Italian Ulysses like you said it's got the big poppy colors um as with the Hercules film I guess that was how they did it in Italy back then and um you know because Nolan's version is a little washed out at times there's a lot of whites and grays and tans and whatnot and this has got poppy color but what's funny is that because it was an Italian film of the era the actors just spoke the language that they spoke in real life and they dubbed it all after.

1:05:09And that's how it was done back then. There were two streamable versions of this Ulysses that I found. And the first one was on Tubi, which we love, right? We talked about Tubi a couple of weeks ago. And it was all in Italian with subtitles, including Kirk Douglas speaking Italian. And it was a very washed out, bleached out VHS. And I said, ah, this kind of looks not so hot. Let me see. It was also on Pluto TV. Let me see what Pluto's version looked like. And Pluto's version was also all Italian with subtitles, but the print was pristine. So I would say go to that one. I don't know where the English dub is.

1:05:47I couldn't find it for free anyhow. But Pluto, man, did they slam dunk on Tubi with their Ulysses. Hats off to Tubi. But I will say, hats off to Pluto. But Pluto has more ads than Tubi. I was getting pummeled by ads. It was more than. So there's no winning. You're going to lose either way. But anyway, that's my pick for like a good kind of, you know, Ray Harryhausen was not involved, but it had that Ray Harryhausen feel, that Clash of the Titans feel. You know, some of these right-wing bozos that wanted a more quote-unquote traditional odyssey, you know, maybe they would want this because it's pure Hollywood schlock, although Italian, But pure 1950s schlock of just like, you know, all the girls are got their they're all, you know, it's a man.

1:06:36A man watches up on shore. They're all giggly. And the men are all a lot of wrestling, too. There's a scene where Ulysses and the man is it's schlocky. Good fun. I liked it a lot. But it is not an intellectual pursuit into the into the degree that that the Odyssey was. One funny thing was because it's Italian, I guess, and the movie is called Ulysses, which has nothing to do with James Joyce, obviously. but it used all the Latin versions of things. So they didn't talk about Odysseus. They talk about Ulysses. They didn't talk about Poseidon. They talked about Neptune. But when it came to Zeus and Zeus's law, they stuck with Zeus.

1:07:13They didn't change him to Jupiter or Jove, which I thought was very funny. I wish I could ask. Nobody that made this movie is still with us, I'm sure. But I'm like, what was the thinking there? Why did you Latin all the Greeks except for Zeus? just because Zeus is a cool sounding word more than Jupiter. I don't know. But anyway, that's what's going on on Pluto TV right now. Give me back my men, goddess demon. And now another appliance triumph from our friends at Grand Appliance. With three kids, I'm always cramming the washer full. So when we needed a new laundry set, I asked the experts at Grand Appliance for a big capacity washer with a dryer that could keep up.

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1:09:15Safe Balance Banking. One less thing to figure out. Learn more at bfa.com slash earn100. Terms and conditions apply. Bank of America and a member FDIC. It's or whatever you are. Okay, so let's recap here our Rex Egg. I guess we should acknowledge that we did also talk about our favorite Nolan movies. The Prestige was on Peacock, and it was also on Hulu. That was my favorite. Jordan's was Tenet, which is not streaming anywhere right now, which is kind of bizarre. but you can rent it for three bucks or so. You can rent it for three or four bucks in a variety of places. And then in terms of our recommendations for, uh, the Odyssey supplemental viewing, I recommended Hercules in the haunted world.

1:10:03I found it on YouTube, but it's also available on prime video, plex and canopy. And then, uh, Jordan went through a whole potpourri of these ancient Greek epics, Helen of Troy, which he said stunk. Yeah. on VOD. Nostos the Return was on VOD. That's on YouTube also. That was kind of interesting. Yeah, there are numerous prints of Nostos the Return on YouTube and I clicked on one and it was kind of shoddy. I tried a second one and it was much cleaner and I think people might find that intriguing. It's also pretty short. It's intriguing. And then Ulysses, the Kirk Douglas movie, you said the best version you found was on Pluto but also it was on Tubi and it's also on VOD and if people want to find out more about all of the recommendations on this and every episode of SVU, we always recommend go to Letterboxd, look for the list called Now Streaming on Bazooka, the made-up streaming service that we coined on our first episode.

1:11:01We have a running list that's curated and updated by the great Sam Van Halgren of all the movies that we've recommended on the show. If you click the Read Notes option, you can also read what we said about all of them. Sam puts in all of the pluses and minuses we say about the movies, and I'll also tell you where we found them. And we didn't do a personalized recommendation this week. We're trying to make a shorter episode. Ha! Good luck with that. But we're going to get back to that on our next episode. If you want us to recommend a title for you and you alone, you can send us a note, feedback at filmspottingsvu.com.

1:11:39We will give you a recommended something or other that watch on streaming if you tell us what kind of movie you're looking for and what kind of streaming services you use. Bazooka, when you gotta stream. Bazooka, it's cream of the crop. It's right at the top of your favorite streaming apps. All right, it's time for our weekly game here on FilmSpottingSVU. And after the drubbing three weeks in a row that I gave Jordan, the former games master, who could not be defeated, now he's on a losing streak, he's like, I don't want to play anymore, I'm hosting this week. So Jordan, you're in charge. What is our game this week?

1:12:33The game this week is called, because it is Odyssey week, it's called My Big Fat Greek Film Spotting Game. My Big Fat Film Spotting Game. And what it is, it's not that dissimilar from a game that I concocted several weeks ago related to the West Wing because we had a movie with Allison Janney. I am going to give clues to the name of a film that has an actor or actress in the Odyssey in it. The first person to get it based on the clues will go, and you will have an opportunity to win two points. You got to say the name of the movie, and you got to say the performer and who it is that, you got to say the performer that's in the Odyssey.

1:13:23So if you figure out the movie but don't know who's in the Odyssey, you only get one point. And the other person gets a chance to steal. Okay. All right? Okay. So these are all movies starring people who are also in the Odyssey. Correct. Correct. So I'm going to start. And you said if we know the movie but not the actor, then we can answer for one point, but the other person can get the other point if they know the person. Right. If you say, oh, I know that movie, it's The Wizard of Oz, but you can't. It's Jim Cotta. Yeah. But then you don't know the actor, then I could come in and be like, that was Kurt Thomas, you moron.

1:13:59That's exactly right. So there are going to be 10 of these. So there is the potential for somebody to win 20 to zero, or you could each time. Oh, boy. Okay. That might just happen. Here we go. We're starting first on the My Big Fat Greek Film Spotting SVU game. It's a good name. It's a good name. Number one. Clue number one. This movie made$900 million at the global box office. It's not Jim Cotta. I'm moving on. Clue two. This movie is fourth in a series of eight.

1:14:41Really? I thought that would have done it. Okay. This movie includes... I'll throw it in there. I'll just say Avengers Endgame. No! Are there eight of those? There's only four Avengers so far. Oh, I know what it is now. Oh, shoot. I was just thinking of all of the... How many clues are there here, Jordan? We got more. Okay, keep going. Keep them going because I don't know what it is yet. This movie co-stars Shirley Henderson.

1:15:11This movie co-stars Timothy Spall. oh oh oh okay so it's oh it's the fourth one what's that one called it's harry potter and the goblet of fire correct matt singer gets one point okay now which of the million people in that movie is one of the million people in uh in this one gee that's the obvious person i've so so obvious I'm sure everyone in the listener, I have not rewatched this movie. Count to three and then Sam could steal. I'll steal it. One, two, three. Go ahead, Sam. I don't know. I could guess, but you just go ahead. It's Pattinson. It's Robert Pattinson. Of course. He plays, what's his name?

1:15:59Cedric Diggory. That's right. I was not thinking of him, so I wouldn't have gotten it. That's fine. There you go. All right. Robert Pattinson. Does that mean is Pattinson's off the board? Or there might be? I have yet to reveal whether or not there can be repeats we don't know but Pattinson was the answer to number one alright number two this movie is distributed by 20th Century Fox who would possibly get it based on that that really is just to let you know that this is X amount of years old because it's not brand new 20th Century Fox doesn't exist anymore to be at least six years old. Okay. Thank you.

1:16:40Now you get where I'm going. Fine, fine. This movie is distributed by 20th Century Fox. This movie has a worldwide gross of$472 million. This movie had its debut on The Queen Mary 2. This movie has music written by Benj, Pasek, and Justin Paul. I think I... Greatest Showman? Greatest Showman? Yeah, the Greatest Showman! With Zendaya! With Zendaya! With Zendaya! Nicely done! Nicely done! Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. I don't know. I have no idea. I don't know. More importantly, why would you use that as a clue if it makes no sense? It's just kind of interesting. I don't know. It's a Buckingham Palace production?

1:17:31I don't remember. I found it intriguing that they were watching Hugh Jackman ride an elephant on the Queen Mary, too. I thought that was kind of cool. Wow. Sam, with the lead, three to one. Let's move on to clue number three. This movie co-stars Chuck Zito.

1:17:53This movie co-stars Adrian Pazdar. this movie co-stars vigo mortensen all right this movie was written by david kepp what you're gonna know it kept sam's almost got it all right he's gonna get it on this one this movie includes a sequence that was shot on location at grand central terminal in new york city the one that i'm thinking of i don't think figo was in figo was not oh time oh he was not famous at the time oh no okay then it's definitely not the one i'm thinking of do you need one more you're gonna get it on this one this movie was directed by brian de palma who had brian de palma movie has chuck zito oh uh is it bonfire the vanities no destroyed matt this movie has a sequence shot at Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

1:18:53I mean, is it the Untouchables? No, that's a Chicago movie. You both get a zero. You both get a zero. The movie is Carlito's Way. Oh, I haven't seen Carlito's Way in a long time. It's so good. It's so good. The last 15 minutes is Al Pacino running around like a crazy person in Grand Central, and then he dies at the end. Spoiler, and do you know who shoots him? Benny Blanco from the Bronx, played by John Leguizamo. Ah, yes. You're right. Oh, wow. I thought that was you guys. You get the points. Jordan gets the points. No one gets the points. All right. We're moving on. That always wins. We're moving on, staying at 3-0.

1:19:31You both fail at Carlito's Way, a great movie. Movie number four. This movie debuted at the South by Southwest Film Festival. Clue number two. This movie has co-stars including Tim Heidecker. Clue number three. the last scene in the movie features the song les fleurs by mini riperton and i'm gonna guess is this is this us yes it is very good okay and who from the movie us is this is uh lupita good job sam is killing matt with five to one you got us on the mini riperton cue i like that that's impressive it wasn't that it was it was putting together the i was i was thinking because it was get out that debuted at sundance right but it was yes so i was thinking of like the festival start for a big movie okay heidecker i remembered yeah anyway okay okay oh that's right all right we're moving on we're moving on now this actually one of these facts i did not know about this movie this movie has original music by marvin homlish who i quite frankly thought was dead by the time this movie came out.

1:20:41So this might be his last name. There's a clue. Yeah, it's a clue. This movie co-stars Melanie Linsky. Oh, I like Melanie Linsky. Yeah, she's good. This movie co-stars Scott Bakula, also known as Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise. God. I think I got it. Yeah, do it. The Informant? Yes! Yes, Steven Soderbergh. The Informant exclamation point, right? That's right. That was my next clue was this movie has punctuation in the title. Who in the Odyssey? Oh, of course, it's Matt Damon. It stars Matt Damon. It's a great movie. It's very good. It's Stoderbergh's last good movie. Oh, wow. That's bold.

1:21:24That's bold. Dropping bombs. I would have to consult the stats. Sam just broke Zeus's law. Wow. Okay. All right. Throwing that one in there. Matt, you got to start catching up. I think you might do it. This is not, I am not good at like, you know, these two random character actors appeared in a film that premiered eight years ago at a film festival. If you tell me the name of the movie, I could tell you who's in it. But yeah, this is not my. I remember thinking like, what is Bakula doing in this movie? I would not have remembered that he was even in it. I have not seen it since it came out. I liked it.

1:21:58And it makes sense that Soderbergh would go to Hamlet. She'd want like this paranoid thriller, 70s kind of. It's a good movie. It is a good movie. The informant exclamation mark. I like it a lot. We're moving on. Next, this movie debuted at the New York Film Festival. Clue two. This movie has cinematography by the great Darius Kanji. Clue number three. One of the many producers slash executive producers of this film is Brad Pitt. Clue number four. This movie is based on a book by David Gran. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. You're both making the I know it face. I'm watching your faces. What was that Fakakta movie?

1:22:44This movie has co-stars including Sienna Miller. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, wait, there could be more than one, couldn't there? This movie has co-stars including Robert Pattinson, ironically enough. Yes. Oh, what is the name of it? Oh, oh, ah, ah. Do it. It's the Lost City of Z. That's right. That's right. Say it, British, though. The Lost City of Zed. Matt's back on the board. Lost City of Zed. Who from the Lost City of Zed is in The Odyssey? Oh, Tom Holland is in it. Very good. I didn't know that until I started putting this game together. I didn't know Tom Holland at the time. I guess he plays probably the son, I suppose.

1:23:27He plays Zed. But who is? Why am I blanking on who? Because Pattinson's like the helper. He's like the assistant. He's the second banana. Yeah, Charlie Hunnam. Charlie Hunnam is the lead. So I was never going to come up with Hunnam. So Colin plays Hunnam's son? He's Telemachus, I think. Or is he the young version of Hunnam, maybe? Because they're like, the dad goes on the... Anyway. I read the book and didn't see the movie. I couldn't believe it. Oh, the movie's great. Yeah, I think he's the son. Yeah, he's the Telemachus, for sure. We're moving on. And it's seven to three. It's not hopeless for Matt.

1:23:59I mean, I'm not going to win, but at least I made it a little more interesting. Next, this movie was written and directed by Woody Allen, which there's a lot of people in the Odyssey who are in a Woody Allen movie. So that doesn't nail it down too much. Woody Allen's character in the film is named C.W. Briggs. Okay. I know which. Okay. Well, I think I know what movie that was. This movie was set in the 1940s. Yeah. I know the movie. It's the curse of the Jade Scorpion, right? That's correct. But which person from this movie, but from the Odyssey was in it? Oh, oh, was Charlize in that movie? She was.

1:24:47Is that your final answer? Well, I mean, you're nodding, so I guess it is. It's Charlize. Now, Charlize was in two Woody Allen movies. She was in Celebrity and she was in the curse of the Jade Scorpion. I believe that the curse of the jade scorpion is probably Woody Allen's worst film it's terrible it's not very good it's unwatchable well there's some funny that I did watch on YouTube there is a pretty funny scene between he and Charlize she's playing sexy Veronica Lake she's in high heels powering over him and he's like um excuse me uh maybe we could uh you know he's doing that shtick it's it's pretty it's pretty not so it's bad it's bad it's pretty bad but anyway Charlize is in it Matt, suddenly it's seven to five.

1:25:29You're in the game. Wow, this always happens. At least it's a game. How many questions are there? We have three more. We have three more. Three more. Three more. Next up, next up. This movie is in black and white. This movie is based on a true story. This movie was released by the Weinstein Company. Okay. I'm here, Max, the Weinstein Company. Okay. This movie is based on the story of a rock musician. Oh, okay. Not what I was thinking of. Black and white. Black and white. This one, Sam's going to get it here. I'm just trying to come up with the name of it. I think I got it. Let's do it. Control?

1:26:16It is Control. She's lost control. Now, who is in Control? That's what I was thinking, too, but I don't know who was in that. Me neither. who didn't we touch yet in the haven't we mentioned in control she's lost control three two one give a guess incorrect Matt try to steal it I'm trying to think who we haven't mentioned that seems the most likely Mia Goth was a good guess what about Logan Marshall Green was he in control incorrect the answer is Samantha Morton she actually She played what some could say the main character. The main character was Ian Curtis, but it's all from her point of view.

1:26:59The movie is based on her memoir of her dead husband. So, yeah, Samantha Morton. Can I tell you, Logan Marshall Green, my roommate, during a college program I did at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O 'Neill Theater Center. And did you constantly confuse him with Tom Holland when you were his roommate? I can tell you that the fact that he became a movie actor, a very handsome movie actor, did not surprise me. There you go. The charisma was there from the beginning. He had it. Samantha Morton, of course, also in Woody Allen movies. She was in Sweet and Lowdown. Terrific in that. Okay, next up.

1:27:34We've got two more. It's still a game. It's still a game here. Next up. Clue number one. This movie is set in Germany. Clue number two. This movie has original music by Tom York. Not Radiohead, but Tom York. Number three, this movie is a remake. Not yet? Okay. This movie has co-stars that include Chloe Grace Moretz. Not yet. This movie has co-stars that include Dakota Johnson. Remake. Germany. Tom York. One more. This movie has co-stars that include Tilda Swinton. Oh, the big blank. The big blank on this. Remake. Germany. Is this Suspiria? Is that your answer? Suspiria is your answer. Sam, you are correct.

1:28:21This is the remake of Suspiria. Very good. Who in Suspiria is in the Odyssey? Who haven't we mentioned? Where is Suspiria set? Think logically here. Sure. Yeah, they're all at a what type of place? Like the dance studio thing? Yeah, a lot of... With the witches and the dancing. Yeah, the dancing, the young girl. Who would have been very young when this came out? Chloe Grace Moretz, isn't it? Who's her age? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Matt, you got to steal it in three, two, one. Give me a name. The answer is Mia Goth. You said her last time. Oh, God, Mia Goth. I crossed her off my list. Of course.

1:29:10Of course she's in that. I didn't know she was in it either. She had yet to really make it. She's one of the girls in the dance academy. That makes sense. All right, last one. Last one, and this is tough. This is the last question? This is the last one. Matt, you cannot win. I cannot win. Okay, well. For pride, you might get it. For pride. Number one, this movie debuted at the Venice Film Festival. Number two, the director of this movie is Hungarian. Number three, the co-stars include Sarah Snook. Number four, this movie includes a 24-minute uninterrupted take. Next clue. That take is 24 minutes and very difficult to watch as it involves a great deal of pained howling.

1:29:55Wow. The lead actress of this film was nominated for an Academy Award for the role in this film. That lead actress's name is Vanessa Kirby. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't you remember she made a movie i remember this movie i just i don't think i'm gonna i don't think i'm gonna come up with the the title i do know what you're talking about i i'm still blanking on what this movie also co-stars shia labeouf i've never that that tracks that wouldn't help me at all okay well you know what about that i'm out of clues now so i the movie's called pieces of a woman okay no remember and she has a she has a miscarriage yeah i remember yeah yeah yeah And so she's in the movie.

1:30:44So that was the movie. She got nominated for an Oscar. I thought that. And somebody else that was in the Odyssey is also. I'm going to let you try to steal the first person who can throw out a name at me. Someone who's not Shia LaBeouf or Vanessa Kirby. Who haven't we mentioned? All right. You got three. There's no way Anne Hathaway is not in it. No, it's not Anne Hathaway. Sam, you could steal it. Not Anne Hathaway. Bill Irwin showed up in that. It's not Bill Irwin. It was Benny Safdie. Benny Safdie. We haven't mentioned him. I did not know that he was in it, but he is. And the movie I did watch, and it's upsetting.

1:31:21I never saw this movie. I'm not too familiar with it. She deserved her Academy Award nomination for playing a difficult role. But the movie is not that great in total, and Benny Safdie's in it. And, of course, he plays King Agamemnon, the Darth Vader of ancient Greece, in the Odyssey. the winner of the game is sam by a wide margin well done sam thank you nine to five you beat a nine to five when the synapses are firing this was not my area of expertise all right uh well next time uh we'll do it differently so there you go uh sam's the winner and now it's time on the show to wrap things up by mentioning what's coming new to streaming um hey matt you want to tell the listeners what's coming sure some theatrical releases that are now available to rent or buy We have the new Demon Slayer movie, the anime film, which made$136 million globally in theaters.

1:32:20It's available on VOD and on Crunchyroll. And then we also have Leviticus. Did you see this one, Jordan? I haven't seen it yet. No, I saw the trailer and I know what it is, but I didn't see it. Two teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most, each other. Haven't seen it. Haven't heard a lot about it. It came out like right in between Obsession and Back Rooms. And it did not achieve the financial success of either of those two films, obviously. But I do know that it exists, yes. Okay, all of these, those titles are available. The day this show is live, which is Tuesday, July 28th.

1:33:00Also available, these are theatrical releases that are now on streaming. And I have seen most of these. First up, the big budget live action reboot of Masters of the Universe, which is going to be on Prime Video. I didn't think this movie was a stinker. I didn't think it was very good. It was a bomb. Honestly, this movie that made me a little angry. I felt slightly insulted by this movie. I'm going to be honest. I didn't go. I wanted to go. I didn't make it. And the next thing you know, it had already been out two or three weeks. And everybody said, don't bother. I think even you said don't bother.

1:33:38Watch it on streaming. I mean, if you asked me, I would have said don't bother because I didn't like it. Some people liked it. I was a little baffled by that. But yes, you can watch it on Prime Video if you already have Prime. It won't cost you anything except your time. Also on streaming, a theatrical release of the spring, Mortal Kombat 2 streaming on HBO Max. Did you see Mortal Kombat 2, Jordan? I don't think I did. No, I saw it. I didn't like this one either. I saw a recent. What's the other? I saw the Mortal Kombat right before this one, which was a Netflix debut, I think. No, it was on HBO Max also.

1:34:13Was that what it was? All right. Well, not my thing. Okay. I didn't see it. Yeah. I would pass on that one as well. But here's one that I did enjoy. The Devil Wears Prada 2. Nice. Which is going to be streaming on Hulu. This is, I thought, about as good as any sequel to this movie could have possibly been. It greatly exceeded my expectations. it was funny it was about something it was about the media it was about the internet it's about the death of the media um and also a romantic comedy and also lots of great costumes and fashion and also Meryl Streep is really great in it I liked it did you see the devil wears Prada too no I saw the first one though all right let's move on then and uh finally Jodie Foster in a French language film.

1:35:03This one I have not seen. Oh. A Private Life. Great movie. Great. Great. Yeah, very good. Now we're downgraded to very good. It's damn good. Now we're upgraded to damn good, but not great. Written and directed by Rebecca Zlatowski, who makes nothing but bangers. She makes these movies that not a lot of people see, and they're all really, really good. And this one's coming directly to Netflix, and one of her earlier films, which is called An Easy Girl. Un Fille Facile, en français, is also on Netflix. She made a movie called Other People's Children, which is phenomenal. She made a really good movie called Planetarium with one Natalie Portman and another really good movie called Grand Central.

1:35:46That was maybe like 15 years ago or so. I am a Stan. I am a Rebecca Zlotowski Stan. I'll have to check A Private Life out. It's going to be streaming on Netflix. All those titles are going to be available on Friday the 29th. And in terms of things going to direct to streaming, we don't got nothing. We got nothing. There's nothing really of note to discuss. It's a short, it's a mellow week, which is good because next week we're taking the week off, right? Yeah, we're going on summer vacation for one week. You can go back and re-listen to an old episode you might have missed. Go listen to The Origin of Bazooka.

1:36:26Find out how it started. find out how screaming rex egg started if you're a late comer go check out one of the early episodes it's the cream of the crop so go back and check an old episode we'll be back in two weeks we're discussing it's not definite but we're thinking because in two weeks there is a notable title to discuss on Netflix Louis Leterrier who I think Jordan may know as well yeah I don't know what's the what's the he's got a film called The Last House with Greta Lee and Wagner Mora what are the codes of if we if this were a podcast being distributed by the New York Times I would not be allowed to review it because I'm friendly with Louis Leterrier there's a conflict of interest a conflict of interest but I think maybe we can just if you acknowledge it I don't think anybody gives it it's not like I have hot dogs with him every week I just know him I went to college with him so we're old pals.

1:37:25And we keep in touch a little bit. And I've seen it already. It's good. I think it's good. So hopefully you'll like it too. There, I just spoiled my conflict of interest. I just... If I hated it, we wouldn't be doing it. Let's put it that way. But luckily I liked it. We're thinking about that. That's a possibility. That is streaming on Netflix on August 7th. So we'll see in two weeks if it's that or maybe we'll be doing something else. In the meantime, you can send all your feedback, including your requests for personal recommendations to feedback at filmspottingsvu.com. You can also find us online on social media.

1:38:02We're on Instagram. I'm at superpulse on Instagram and Letterboxd. Jordan is also on Letterboxd. We're both also on Blue Sky at Matt Singer at Jay Hoffman. Jordan, you can also listen to, is there a new episode of the Starlog podcast next week? There's always a new episode of the Starlog podcast. We got some good people lined up for that guest-wise. So listen to the Starlog podcast where you can. You should also point out that, of course, this episode of SVU is produced by Sam Van Halgren. He's doing his best, putting in all the sound effects. And I just want to say, in all sincerity, thank you to the listeners.

1:38:36You know, we do get nice emails from people who actually bother to listen to our show. I find staggering. I mean, I know you're stuck in traffic and, you know, you got nothing else to do. But I am quite pleased that anybody would bother to listen. those of you that are walking your dog you're stuck in traffic you're trying to do your work dishes doing the dishes laundry ignoring your work pretending to be filling out those reports instead of listening to the show ignoring your children that's right you're doing the right thing by listening to SVU thank you for doing it the most of the listener feedback is positive so so far so good I like when they remind you that you said redux redux wrong that's my most emails we got the most emails about that I pronounced it redo instead of redux and I'll never ever live it down.

1:39:24You'll never live it down. All right. Well, uh, I'm Matt singer and I'm Jordan Hoffman. Thanks for listening.

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From the publisher

Jordan and Matt break format - and Zeus’s Law? - for an Odyssey-themed episode, including thoughts on the new blockbuster film, favorite Christopher Nolan films, and streaming recommendations inspired by the Homeric epic. And then a game, which Jordan dubs "My Big Fat Greek Filmspotting Game."   

The Odyssey (00:00:00–00:23:33)

#1 Nolans (00:23:34–00:47:08)

Rec Seg: Odyssey-inspired recommendations (00:47:09–01:04:23)

Game: My Big Fat Greek Filmspotting Game (01:04:24–01:24:05)

New to Streaming / Credits (01:24:05–01:31:47)

Show Notes

Now Streaming on Bazooga - A Filmspotting: SVU Archive⁠ https://letterboxd.com/samvanhallgren/list/now-streaming-on-bazooga-a-filmspotting-svu/⁠

Pre-Order Matt's book "Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever" (Coming October 6th):⁠ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790241/funny-business-by-matt-singer/⁠

Feedback: Email us at feedback@filmspottingSVU.com

Follow Matt on Blue Sky: @mattsinger.bsky.social

Follow Jordan on Blue Sky: @jhoffman.bsky.social

Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠

Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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