There’s endless fuel for the fire blazing around Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” On this week’s episode of IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast, co-hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio review translator Emily Wilson’s “review” of Nolan’s movie, which takes issue with the colloquial elements of the screenplay but mostly the bad food and lack of sex scenes and supposedly bland mortalization of Matt Damon’s Odysseus.
Wilson’s takedown emerged as a classic case of “I didn’t see the movie I wanted to, so therefore I am going to take it down,” but she has undoubtedly benefited from the platform provided by Nolan’s movie. It’s grossed just under $700 million worldwide since opening two weeks ago.
“The Odyssey” stars Zendaya and Tom Holland will be crowned queen and king of the box office this weekend, between ongoing returns for Christopher Nolan’s IMAX epic and the expected $465 million worldwide box office opening for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” It’s the latest Marvel and Sony mash-up, which Anne finds “riveting but exhausting and confusing” “as the lonely and isolated Spider-Man is having trouble managing his abilities.” She notes that “the reason these movies are so successful is they combine young romance with superhero action. They have the characters worked out well, and Holland and Zendaya make a great team.”
We also react to the past weekend’s news out of Comic-Con’s Hall H, in which Ryan Gosling and “The Long Walk” and “Industry” breakout David Jonsson became the latest to join the Marvel pantheon of superheroes: in “Ghost Rider” and “Black Panther,” respectively. We hope that the indie days for Gosling, who should expect a Best Actor Oscar nomination this year for “Project Hail Mary,” aren’t behind him. Amy Pascal produced that Amazon MGM box-office blockbuster as well as “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
Is Marvel paving a path to integrity after a patchy Phase 5 and Phase 6? They need smart, serious actors to move the needle at this point — not just bankable I.P.
We also share devastation at the passing of musician and actor Glen Hansard, of The Frames, who starred memorably in the Dublin musical romance “Once.” The Searchlight Pictures Sundance pickup became a sleeper hit in 2007, and he’ll be remembered for his emotive singing that turned him into a highly capable screen actor, courtesy of the John Carney-directed film.
Elsewhere on the podcast, we catch you up to speed on the latest noise surrounding the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, which is in litigation and on hold right now, and the Golden Globes’ antitrust suit. We also review Matt Johnson’s A24 movie “Tony,” a breezy Provincetown-set coming-of-age comedy starring Dominic Sessa as a young, cocksure, pretentious Anthony Bourdain on the heels of becoming a great writer. It’s opening on August 7 in theaters.
Listen to the episode below or on your preferred podcast platform.