Yesterday was Christopher Nolan day!

Yes, it was that wonderful time of year when that rare event happens and I end up heading to the theaters for a special screening of a Christopher Nolan film. The last time I did this was for the IMAX re-release of Interstellar (which is a perfect film for IMAX) and yesterday it was for a 70mm showing of The Odyssey, a film that film bros and internet-wannabes have been going into convulsions over for the last year.

Not everyone really cares about my opinion, but guess what! I’m going to offer it here!

No need to drag things out. It was an excellent film. Usually, I walk away from Christopher Nolan films with a bit of hesitation. I usually walk out of the theater liking them, but with reservations. That has happened with every single film that he has done. But that didn’t happen with this one. I liked it! I really did!

It hearkens back to films from a different time; epic films that told massive stories over a wide-ranging time period and with a huge cast. And while I had my problems with parts of this film, a lot of those problems stemmed from structural issues from the source material (thanks, HOMER, for having a weird structure to your 2700-year old poem, you loser!) and, of course, from some of the odd casting choices (No, I’m not a right-wing dork who is flipping out over the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen...people who are mad about that are straight up losers in life). The bottom line is that the movie was exactly what it needed/intended to be…a spectacle full of things that we’ve never seen on screen before. Really, that’s all anyone wants from a movie nowadays.

But once you’ve seen the movie, it’s time to learn about the movie, so here are a few things for you to peruse…

Here’s a breakdown on how it was filmed!

Here’s a classicist on what the film got right and wrong.

Here’s a good interview with Christopher Nolan on the making of the film.

Here’s an interview with Samantha Morton, who plays Circe in the film.

Here’s what it’s like projecting the film…

And here’s something you should all watch in regard to what was happening behind the scenes…

I link all of these things because I went into the film blind. I had watched the trailers, but I knew next to nothing about the movie, so that I wouldn’t have anything spoiled and/or wouldn’t have my views on the film tainted beforehand. People love to offer their opinions on movies before those movies come out and it ends up warping opinions. I prefer to know nothing about things nowadays so that I am happier walking out of the movie.

Then, when I come out of the movie, I want to absorb information about it. These are just a few of the things that I’ve been reading today about The Odyssey.

But one thing that I found striking about the whole movie was this…it made me want to re-read the poem.

I read this thing several times in my life, but it all happened in my teens and early-twenties. Now, I’d like to revisit the material, so I’ve gotten a few versions of the story by Robert Fagles and Emily Wilson. I’ve also downloaded their versions of The Iliad as well and I hope to absorb those things as well.

All in all, a good day for cinema.

Now, here’s Part 2 of my Maurice Comic. You can find Part 1 here (subscribers only!).