Stubs - The Odyssey (2026)

The Odyssey (2026) starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Charlize Theron Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Christoper Nolan. Based on Homer's Odyssey. Produced by Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas. Run time: 173 minutes. Color. USA/UK Epic, Action, Fantasy, IMAX

As a follow up to his Academy Award winning Oppenheimer, director Christopher Nolan chose a text that dates back to the 8^th century B.C. attributed to Homer, a Greek poet. It is a sort of sequel to The Iliad, which centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. It’s follow-up, The Odyssey, chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy.

It seems a little surprising that such a film based on a 2,800-year-old poem would arrive with such anticipation. Most tickets for its opening weekend sold out months in advance. But that is the pull of Christopher Nolan, the director behind Oppenheimer but also such films as Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017), and Tenet (2020). He has a following few modern directors have, save, perhaps, Steven Spielberg.

Stubs - Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer (2023) starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Christopher Nolan. Based on the book: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. Produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan. Run time: 180 minutes US/UK Color Biography, Thriller

In mankind, there have been moments when things seemed to change. Most of us would say 9/11 was such a day. Life in the US has not been the same since. Another such moment was the birth of the atomic bomb in 1945 and its creator, J. Robert Oppenheimer, is the subject of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, the bottom half of Barbenheimer, a duo of films that hit US cinemas on July 21, 2023.

Stubs - Dunkirk

Dunkirk (2017) Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Christopher Nolan. Produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan. Run Time: 106 min. The United Kingdom, the United States, France, and the Netherlands. War, Drama

Like most years, 2017 shows that Hollywood loves sequels and remakes and the box office rewards them with such. Of the top ten films, most are either remakes: Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Spider-Man: Homecoming or sequels: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Logan, The Fate of the Furious and Despicable Me 3. Even Wonder Woman and The LEGO Batman Movie are sequels of sorts.

One thing you rarely see these days are big budget war films. That was one of the reasons I was intrigued about seeing Dunkirk, this year's highly anticipated Christopher Nolan film, based on the Battle of Dunkirk, which is the evacuation of the Allied Forces from France at the beginning of World War II and before the U.S. became involved in the conflict. From May 26 to June 4, 1940, nearly 400,000 troops of the armies of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands were trapped by 800,000 Nazi troops at the beaches of Dunkerque, France waiting for rescue.

There is a real sense of hopelessness as the Nazis own the sky and rain down terror on the beach as well as the British Navy ships that try to get the troops home. But there is only one pier, the Mole, that can handle transport ships and the Navy is not willing to commit all of their vessels, wanting to save them back for the bigger fight coming. So, when the British Navy either couldn't or wouldn't come to their rescue, the call was put out for civilian boats which formed an Armada to get their soldiers off the beach.

That is not to say the soldiers are completely abandoned. A few British Air Force planes are sent to secure the skies, though their effort seems somewhat futile as they are far from their base and outnumbered in the skies.

And this is where Nolan plucks us down at the beginning of the film. The battle as such is already raging by the time we join a group of British soldiers as they walk through the streets of the French village looking for signs of life and anything to drink, smoke or eat. As they are pillaging, the group comes under fire and only one of them manages to survive. Viewing this sequence summarizes the film quite succinctly. While the film squarely places you in the action and you feel for the soldier's predicament, you don't really have any connection to them as individuals and thus no real empathy for them.

An extreme example, but so many of the actors look alike in Dunkirk.

There are several reasons this connection never truly gets made. To begin with, many of the characters look like each other, a partial byproduct of military life where everyone has roughly the same appearance and wardrobe. When everyone looks alike, they become one in a sea of people rather than an individual. It's harder to empathize with a faceless group.

Kenneth Branagh is one of the few recognizable actors in the film.

There are only a few recognizable actors, Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton, a fictious character based on James Campbell Clouston, the actual pier master who died in transit leaving Dunkirk. Mark Rylance plays Mr. Dawson, one of the civilian rescuers. Tom Hardy plays Farrier, one of the spitfire pilots, but you don't see his face until the very end. Finally, Harry Styles, ex from the group One Direction, plays one of the British soldiers, named Alex. If there is a lead, and that's sort of a question mark for me, it would be Fionn Whitehead, as Tommy, another British soldier. He's the sole survivor of the Dunkirk group from the beginning of the film. We keep coming back to him, but no more than we come back to Mr. Dawson or to Farrier.

Barely recognizable Harry Styles plays Alex on the left.

The acting is good, but not great. Everyone, including Branagh, appears to be playing a different sort of stereotype. He's the tough but fair commander; Tommy is the sort of everyman soldier who just wants to get home, etc. They are more like set pieces than actors, being moved about to tell the story, like furniture being moved about on a stage set.

Fionn Whitehead (Tommy) in his first film, plays the lead if there is one, in Dunkirk.

Just as there is no exposition, there is barely any dialogue in the film. As a result, for most of the characters, we know as much about them at the end as we know at the beginning. Of course, there are some exceptions, but they are few and far between. The characters that we do see engage in dialogue are not so much the soldiers but three of the rescuers. Theirs is the only backstory we get and even then it's not detailed, even the relationships between the three are not clearly defined.

What also doesn't help is that when there is dialogue the sound is muddied as if the recordings were done in another room, or that's at least how they sound. As a long time viewer of British television shows, I don't have a problem with accents, but I still have to be able to hear what's being said.

While I applaud Nolan for taking on a real-life adventure story, he doesn't quite get everything right.. And I'm not just talking about bending reality for the sake of drama. We are led to believe that only a fraction of the 400,000 soldiers made it out. The film floats 35 to 45,000, when in fact it was over 338,000 who did make it out. 60,000 lost souls would still be a great tragedy.

All of this is not to take away from the spectacle that Nolan presents. There is an enormity to the battle scene, the immense beach, the lines of soldiers waiting for relief, the sea that keeps them from their home and the sky, which, like the water, presents more of a barrier to salvation. Everything is big and menacing, bringing death from out of nowhere, sometimes from sights unseen. While we are definitely drawn into the action, the viewers own senses are led to anxiety by Hans Zimmer's sustained orchestrations that never let us off the hook with its constant beat.

But Nolan takes us out of the action by his non-linear storytelling style. Instead of a cohesive timeline, the story is broken into three main stories told simultaneously, but with one lasting a week, one lasting a day and one an hour, meaning that you go from one story taking place during daylight to another taking place at night to third being told during the day, then you go back to the continuation of the first story back in the day followed by a continuation of the second at night and so on and so on. This technique definitely takes you out of the story and reminds you that you are watching a movie and that you're being manipulated. It's a little like seeing the man behind the curtain, the magic gets lost.

The film looks great (I saw the 70mm presentation) and it tells a big story in a big way. The only thing missing are the people. I was the one in my family who most wanted to see this film, but I came away feeling a little disappointed. Sorry to say, I can't recommend it. There may be a sea of soldiers, but little humanity to be found on the beaches of Dunkirk.

The Dark Knight Rises

With the release of the very highly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises on Friday, what has become known as The Dark Knight Saga is now complete. Over the course of the past seven years, Christopher Nolan has been able to make Batman into a box office hit, creating new hype for and awareness of the comic book movie. Being the box office hits that they are, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have been highly praised by both critics and moviegoers alike and have reached some memetic status across the internet, especially the latter film. After watching the previous releases again, I was able to view the final installment this morning; while the end result is a well made movie, I did end up finding some problems with it.

Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has retired his identity as Batman and the Dent Act has significantly lowered the crime rate in Gotham City. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) meanwhile keeps the conspiracy created at the end of the previous film to himself, believing that Gotham is not ready for the truth, also promoting officer John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in order to gain his assistance. However, Bruce's retirement and Gotham's peace are about to come to an end thanks to the appearances of the master thief Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and a mysterious terrorist named Bane (Tom Hardy).

To get my praises out of the way, I'd like to first speak about the acting. Christian Bale and Gary Oldman continue to put out great performances that show exactly why they were picked for the role, Batman voice aside. In the film they are both shown at first as being in a state of crisis, which they portray really well while continuing this level of acting throughout their recoveries and later roles. Morgan Freeman is also still great as Lucius Fox, providing Batman with new gadgets that end up helping him greatly in overcoming his latest nemesis. This character is still a good source of lightheartedness, giving a little balance to the otherwise dark picture.

The new actors also give solid onscreen performances. Anne Hathaway is a good fit for Selina Kyle, playing the character's cunning and charm with enough grace that makes her screen time very satisfying to watch, backed by great chemistry between her and Bale. I also thought that Joseph Gordon-Levitt did well enough for his character, though I'm not sure I feel the same way about Tom Hardy as Bane. While his acting wasn't bad at all, there were some outside problems that prevented him from shining through completely; more on that a little later.

What always impresses me is Batman's gear. His ever-expanding arsenal gets a couple of upgrades this time around, including a brand new vehicle that fills the shoes of the Batplane very nicely. The additions to his combat weapons and disruption tactics are impressive and his fighting prowess is improved by what he now has. What gets me every time though is seeing the Batpod, a motorcycle originally ejected from the Batmobile previously, in action; I'm delighted whenever I see the wheels spin to the side for the extra maneuverability. Overall, the designs and implementation of each vehicle or gadget is of very high quality and excellence.

At this point, I should acknowledge again that while the film was good, there were some things that held it back from perfection. One contributing factor comes from the film's running time. Clocking in at nearly three hours, making it the longest theatrically-released English-language color superhero movie in history, this movie is long and feels that way too. The pacing could get a bit slow, almost to a crawl at some points, causing me to look at my watch and wonder when the next scene would happen. With all the dialogue and stuff going on, I'll also admit to zoning out for a few seconds in a couple of scenes and thinking about something else. I feel that if the movie was paced a little bit quicker, I might have had a tighter focus on the events.

This brings me to my next point, which would be the sound. While the sounds themselves, including music and dialogue, were all good, there was a bit of a problem with the mixing. Sometimes the music would be mixed too high, causing me to miss some potentially important dialogue from the various characters. This problem I believe hit Bane the hardest, which is that outside problem I previously mentioned. While Bane at times can already be incomprehensible, whoever was in charge of the sound must have decided that Hans Zimmer's score was more important, thus sometimes rendering the character completely inaudible. This affects other characters as well, but it really robs Tom Hardy of some of his superb acting ability, and thus Bane of some of his power.

While I'm still talking about Bane, I also believe that he may have been a little mishandled in the final product.  I almost didn't really see the point of giving him a ventilation mask, seeing as how in at least the Arkham games he does not possess this handicap. To top it off, the film focuses on him to be a major threat to the dark knight, with truly twisted ideals that make him worthy of Christopher Nolan's vision. However, his character arc near the end is concluded in a way that felt very anticlimactic to me, though the reasons are particularly spoileriffic (if you've seen the film already: it's the part where he is suddenly replaced by Talia al Ghul, thus demoting him to just another mook, and then having both of them be killed off rather unceremoniously, Bane with Batpod missiles and Talia through a car crash).

Then there's the transition from the events of The Dark Knight to this movie. While I understand that The Joker is not in this one out of respect to Heath Ledger, the fact that he doesn't even get a passing mention almost makes the entirety of the previous movie completely pointless, save for the fact that Harvey Dent is somewhat pivotal here. In fact, there are so many call backs and references to the first movie that going from Batman Begins to this one feels like a much better transition (I also say this due to the fact that, due to circumstances outside my control, I watched The Dark Knight and then Batman Begins when catching up).

This next point relates a little to the pacing, but the movie is good at introducing some plot points and scenes and then leaving them hanging. While not quite as bad at it as The Amazing Spider-Man, I did feel that a couple of scenes could probably have been cut without affecting the overall build of the movie. Even then though, the ending felt a little rushed and still left some things unexplained while simultaneously hinting at future adventures that may never be filmed. In some ways the film suffers from the same problem that affected The Dark Knight: it had too much plot. The only difference this time of course is that it also manages to reduce the caped crusader himself to a bit part in his own movie, since he has very little screen time compared with literally everyone else.

Before I end my review, I feel it necessary to mention a recent tragedy that now unfortunately is forever connected with this movie. At the midnight premiere in Aurora, Colorado, a man went into a theater armed with sophisticated armor and weaponry and proceeded to massacre some of those in attendance. While he has been arrested, the pain of this awful turn of events cannot be erased so easily. I initially thought about this event during my showing, not helped by the fact that the exit door was open most of the movie, but as it went on, I was able to feel safe where I was and enjoy the movie itself. Still, my thoughts go out to the families of the victims of the shooting and I wish them a brighter tomorrow.

In the end, The Dark Knight Rises, while having the qualities of a good Batman movie, does not reach over the bar set by its predecessor. The sound mixing and overall pacing are more of a detriment and it could have been better about not only tying the trilogy together, but also its own loose ends. Fans of The Dark Knight Saga are encouraged to watch this for some (somewhat mishandled) closure, as well as those who want to see what all the hype is about. It's not on the same level as The Avengers, but it's a movie worth watching nonetheless.

Stubs - The Dark Knight

THE DARK KNIGHT (2008) Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan. Based on characters by Bob Kane. Produced by Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven. Run Time: 152. Color. U.S. Action, Adventure, Comic Book.

I will admit while I’ve seen this film at least three times, I’m a little at a loss to explain why this was such a runaway hit when it was first released, bringing in more than a billion dollars worldwide. It is very dark and a little long for my tastes, but obviously not for a vast majority of moviegoers.

Let me start out by acknowledging the obvious: Heath Ledger’s Joker was one of the highlights of the movie. It was not a performance I would have expected from Ledger, but it points to what should have been a remarkable career. Ledger’s death prior to the film’s release makes the loss of that potential even sadder.

But while Ledger’s performance is mesmerizing, the film isn’t always. And there are plot holes that you could drive a big yellow school bus through. The Joker is depicted as a loner against the well-established mobs in Gotham City, but he has to be one of the most well-organized of all criminals ever. His plans are always flawless, not just in their set up and execution, but also in the anticipation of how people will react to the obstacles he places before them.

A prime example of that is the sequence involving transporting D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who claims to be Batman, from the City to County Jail. That motorcade is doomed from the start as the police fail to secure the route and then make one dumb decision after another. But The Joker is ready with not only a willing legion of big truck drivers and rigs but also with machine guns and bazookas. And when the police decide to abandon the route, the Joker seems to have anticipated that as well, down to the street they would use, etc.

In addition to his prowess of planning, he seems to have an endless legion of minions, even after he kills off the first group of accomplices in the bank robbery that opens the film. Doesn’t word of that sort of thing spread through the underground of gangsters?

The Joker’s crew though isn’t limited to hoods but includes truck drivers and policemen. You have to wonder how someone that burns all their money can afford to keep such a criminal enterprise going. But apparently, a guy that claims not to plan things out is omnipresent. He knows which policewoman has a mother in the hospital, while at the same time has the time to plant explosives on two separate ferries leaving Gotham. And in addition to being everywhere, no one ever seems to see him doing any of that setup.

Take for example the opening. The Joker makes his escape on a school bus by driving it through the wall of a bank building and getting in line with other school buses which happen to have space enough for his. Either all the other school bus drivers are in on the heist or the bus driver behind him doesn’t think it’s worth calling in the incident that had taken place right in front of him. Either way I find it hard to believe, even in the context of a comic-based world that no one notices a guy with green hair, white face makeup, and red lipstick.

If anything, The Dark Knight suffers from almost too much plot. The battle between Batman and The Joker wasn’t enough, so they throw in, almost wedging it in, the story of Two-Face, Harvey Dent disfigured after being burned in a Joker plot that also kills off Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Someone who had been a crusader against criminals blames Batman and Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldham) for his losses, rather than the Joker, who he is even in a position to kill at one point, but off-screen doesn’t and for no explanation.

Another thing that perplexes me is the major change that Gotham has gone through between Batman Begins and this movie. Even though three years have passed since the first film’s release, Batman Begins ends by setting up this film, which suggests the action in Dark Knight is a continuation. In the meantime, Gotham City has gone through a radical change and doesn’t look like it used to. How can that be explained? And it bothered me that every public building seemed to be new and modern. Gotham’s big General Hospital seems too new and too small for the city it’s supposed to serve. 

Usually, old General hospitals are large, marble structures dating back from the WPA days. But Gotham’s is only about four stories tall and looks much more modern. Apparently, Gotham City doesn’t suffer from any of the infrastructure problems every other major city has, where public buildings are used until they fall down. Gone too is the mass transit system from Batman Begins as well as Arkham Asylum. I think what made these changes stand out for me so much was an extra on the Batman Begins Blu-ray that discusses designing Gotham and the care they took in doing so. In this movie, all that planning seems to have been thrown out. For me, at least, it was jarring.

Getting back to the acting, Christian Bale is a good choice to play Bruce Wayne and Batman, with the exception of being Batman’s voice. In this film, as well as in the first, the voice is so different as to be almost comical. Obviously, Bale is trying to distinguish his Batman voice from his Bruce Wayne, but when you see the effort being made, some of the magic is lost. What’s worse is that Howard Wollowitz (Simon Helberg) and Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) on TV’s Big Bang Theory can both make the same voice.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is an acting upgrade from Katie Holmes, who played Rachel in the first movie, but she is not as pretty as her predecessor. Michael Caine (Alfred Pennyworth) and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) put in solid performances as minor though important characters in the first two (and presumably the third film as well). The rest of the supporting cast, including Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon) all put in good showings.

The Dark Knight has all the makings of a good movie: An accomplished director, well-known comic book characters to build on and a great bit of acting from Heath Ledger. However, it goes on too long and tries to wedge in too much story. After a while, the viewer finds himself waiting for the movie to be over, which is never a good sign. Having not seen the third and final Nolan directed feature, I think this trilogy could have made five movies, rather than three.

The Dark Knight is available at the WB Shop: