Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey will be released July 17, 2026. A philosopher and a critic are joined by their very own Rufus (and sometimes guests!) to talk about Nolan, modern studio filmmaking, filmed and adapted versions of The Odyssey, and why a 2700 year old epic poem is still culturally relevant. Join us on this epic adventure!
Our long trek at sea has landed us on the shores of Nolan's Odyssey. We tackled as much as we can in the time we have today and are going to have to come back several times to this film. THIS PODCAST IS FULL OF SPOILERS: We are assuming you have seen the film as we discuss it. It's a time of apparent magic. The sea people. Modernizing "Zeus's Law" to map onto Christianity and modern concepts. Are the actors just playing themselves? We'll be back with more, but we hope you enjoyed The Odyssey.
On the eve of The Odyssey opening in theaters, we talk Inception and all of our pre-screening final thoughts and takes. Nolan as a director who seems more interested in Logos than Pathos or Eros: does that mean his Odysseus is going to be a similar sexless problem solver like Cobb in Inception or Batman? Michael Caine as Zeus. Inception as a metaphor for filmmaking as a sort of "shared dream." The ontological mansplaining conundrum and misuse of Marion Cottilard, lack of agency for Mal. JB talks about the ending of "Savannah Smiles." Is Cobb the villain? Don't take away Andy's happy ending! All that and more! And we'll all get together this weekend to talk The Odyssey and have our thoughts up ASAP.
We're joined by Andy's eldest kid, Vi (they/them), his very own Telemachus, to talk about their favorite Odyssey adaptation, EPIC the Musical by Jorge Rivera-Herrans. Begun as a concept album as a senior college thesis project, it has become a viral fandom on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. We watched a version of the album with accompanying fan animatics and have a lot to say about the art of adaptation, musicals, and GenZ. We also talk about some of the most recent Odyssey news drops, including early reviews, its R rating, and the identity of Eliot Page's character Sinon. Up next we'll go deeper into our dreams with Inception and then get to Nolan's The Odyssey itself.
(Reuploading because we lost the last episode!) Some podcasts just want to watch the world burn! Ammon's in person reportback of his trip to Greece and views of Lupita Nyong'o's casting. Ammon has never seen The Dark Knight! The Joker as unreliable narrator and relation to Odysseus.
We've washed ashore on the island of the 1997 made for tv miniseries of The Odyssey starring Armand Assante, Bernadette Peters, Vanessa Williams, and Christopher Lee. But first we talk the news out of CinemaCon about Christopher Nolan's film before diving headfirst into very 90s cheesiness. We talk the history of the director, the other shows it was playing against in June of 1997, and talk through all the ways this "wife guy" version of Odysseus stacks up against his peers. Next episode we ask "Why So Serious?" as Ammon journeys into The Dark Knight for the first time. Thanks for joining us!
We came here to talk about magic in Nolan's movies and The Odyssey and instead it turned into a broad conversation about life, skepticism, science, and yes magic! We start the show with Michael Caine by Madness, we amble on with magic in The Prestige and in the world of Nolan's other films, especially the Batmans. Do we believe in magic? Is Oppenheimer about magic, too, even though nuclear fusion is technology? It's just Iron Man vs Scarecrow instead of Batman vs Wolverine. How does this inform what we think we might get in Nolan's Odyssey? And so much more. Next time we're starting on the tv miniseries of The Odyssey from 1997! We'll see you on that next island!
It's Batman vs Wolverine in a battle over magic! Christopher Nolan's The Prestige feels like a thesis statement about how he feels about storytelling and filmmaking, and we brought in our very own David Bowie special guest, Jon Madsen from the Yours Mine & Theirs podcast . We start off with an important correction about anime. And then it takes us basically the length of the movie itself to dissect the plot. Andy doesn't do his Michael Caine impression but we talk about it anyway. JB out himself as the world's biggest Gavin Rossdale/Bush fan while Andy gets on his "grunge is a fake marketing term" rant. And do we think Tesla's machine was real, or was this all a fake? A supposed definitive guide to which twin is which from reddit. Which Depeche Mode / The Cure albums map to which Nolan movies? Hey, remember that time Andy was on Yours Mine and Theirs and they talked about movies where the title was a question and we talked about O Brother Where Art Thou ? Also the time Ammon talked about 3 Claude Rains movies and JB talks about Depeche Mode 101 and other movies with numbers in their titles and when Andy and Ammon talk Kirk Douglas, Clash of the Titans and Disney's Hercules while Andy is high on painkillers . We're not sure what we're podcasting about next week! It'll be a magical reveal! Join us then.
The earliest feature length adaptation of The Odyssey is this 1911 silent film created for the Turin World Fair. What do we think of this very straightforward adaptation and what does it say about our expectations for The Odyssey? All this and more-- and next week we're taking on Christopher Nolan's The Prestige !
What makes an Odyssey adaptation an Odyssey adaptation? What baseline elements does it have to have to count as telling the story of The Odyssey? BUT FIRST, we discuss the recent (stupid) "controversy" over the rumored casting of Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Sparta/Troy. Why we think this is actually good casting... but we all thought she was playing Calypso? Andy apologizes to all the Batman fans for misnaming Mr. Freeze. And then we reveal what we want in our fantasy version of The Odyssey. What elements we think Nolan is likely to use and why. (JB's version is the best) We want the Agamemnon spin-off. Next week we do the 1911 silent film L'Oddisea which you can find on youtube! If you'd like to set up your version The Odyssey, see the spreadsheet Andy set up of different Odyssey elements , plot points, etc. And you can still play our casting game here .
It's our first of three Batman movies with Nolan at the helm-- 2005's Batman Begins. The history of Batman from comics to tv to film and the background of the 2005 film. A brief history of Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" and also Allan Moore and the nebulous politics of this movie. We're not surprised about Liam Neeson and Ras al Ghul. We all love Tom Wilkinson. JB's and Andy's top 3 favorite character-driven superhero movies (we have the same #1!) and next time we'll cover what the essential elements are of an Odyssey film. For more, listen to Andy guest on the In Memoriam podcast to talk about Tom Wilkinson .
Is Contempt really an Odyssey adaptation? Well, not exactly, but Goddard's story of a writer and his wife (Brigitte Bardot!) and Fritz Lang's attempt to film a version of The Odyssey for the most American film producer ever (Jack Palance) is a classic for a reason. We discuss Bardot's complicated legacy, the film and what it says about The Odyssey, and one of Ammon's favorite poets, Hölderlin. Next episode we talk Batman Begins .
We have a ton of news and a holiday discussion, as we tackle the concept of shared universes. We wish you all a happy all the holidays-- the only podcast brave enough to wish everyone io, Saturnalia. Odyssey news: first 5 minutes revealed in theaters, new poster, new trailer. They're... ok. Casting! New announced casting-- and play our casting game along with us! Cinematic universe-- what are they, why do they matter? We talk about the MCU vs. Star Wars vs. Star Trek. Is there a Vince Gilligan shared universe? We take the Clickhole quiz "Does Master Like The ‘Which Marvel Superhero Are You?’ Quiz I Have Prepared For Him? Does It Please Master?" Our next Odyssey-related film is Contempt, and the Nolan episode after we'll tackle Batman Begins. Io, Saturnalia and happy all the other holidays!
We're back with another Nolan episode to talk about his 2002 film Insomnia starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hillary Swank. We compare it to the original Norwegian film, the addition of the very American subplot about the LAPD and internal affairs and Andy has a lot of cancelable takes on police misconduct! Also do NOT watch the Norwegian version if you don't wat to see Stellan Skarsgard shoot a stray dog, molest a 17 year old, or hate a box of kittens. We really explore the morality of Pacino's character and whether he's engaging in good problem solving or not (and how he just really needs to take a nap!) All this and more as we talk Insomnia!
The Return the Re-Re-Reupload. Sorry, our files keep getting Zucked by the powers that be. Hopefully this passes muster. And in this episode we discuss The Return with Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus washing up on the shore of Ithaca and having to deal with the parasitic and violent suitors who have taken up residence in his home. Thanks again to Ben for coming along for this boat ride! Did any of you see The Return? What did you think?
We remind Andy that we DEFINITELY did a Memento episode already as we welcome our first castaway-- Ben! He's here as an expert on Nietzsche (and Foucalt!) AND he has opinions about Christopher Nolan, too! In the episode we delve back into active forgetting and what Nietzsche wrote about the genealogy of morals, the Greek gods, and other issues and how they relate to the ways we think of both Memento and The Odyssey. Is this a revenge tale? Next week we're delving more into that last question by watching 2024's The Return starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche-- join us as Ben returns to discuss more Odyssey!
It's Christopher Nolan's breakthrough film Memento, in which protagonist Lenny can't create new memories and searches for the elusive John G, who according to a tattoo on his chest raped and murdered his wife. This episode has lots of bits. In this podcast we run through the plot and filmmaking of Memento, Remember Stephen Toblowsky, discuss the origins of some of Christopher Nolan's film tropes, un-cancel John Locke (oh my!!), try to make Inception happen early, stop making sense, discuss nihilism and Nietzsche, put the peeps in the chili pot and add the M&M's, and restart the podcast at least twice. The closing song is NOT by Loggins and Messina (nee Claudius and Messalina) but by Loggins-adjacent sometime Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, the apt for this episode "I Keep Forgetting" Programming note: check out Andy on an upcoming episode of Yours, Mine, and Theirs talking about O Brother Where Art Thou? in an episode about movies that ask questions?
It's our first cinematic take on The Odyssey with 1954's "Ulysses" starring Silvana Mangano and Kirk Douglas. We discuss the film but also The Cold War, erotic Soviet tractor movies ( here's some examples ), 1950s crushes, JB finds us a sexy tractor calendar , Dino de Laurentis, and ultimately settle that this is more of a CW/Lifetime version of the epic. Here's the episode of Yours, Mine, and Theirs where Ammon and Andy discussed this movie along with Disney's Hercules and the original Clash of the Titans . Next week we're starting on Nolan's filmography with his breakthrough Memento . So get tatted up and watch it to be ready to discuss with us.
What exactly is an Epic! We follow Ammon down some of his favorite rabbit holes as we discuss Homer, Hegel, and Hollywood. Also, we start with some Nolan news: it's gonna be ALL IMAX! And the production filming in places "that have never been filmed before"! Next episode we're watching the 1954 Kirk Douglas film Ulysses as our first cinematic take on The Odyssey. It's all in Italian! And you can watch it for free right now on Tubi if you want to watch along with us.
An overview of Christopher Nolan, his career, and films. 00:00 Opening Corrections, errata -- shipwrecks? INCLUDING a very special announcement about future guests. A discussion of auteur theory (and its limitations but why we're using it anyway). NOLAN: 24:30 - Intro to Nolan, bio 26:00 - Following 30:15 - Memento 37:10 - Insomnia 40:45 - Batman Begins 50:30 - The Prestige 52:15 - The Dark Knight 54:37 - Inception 1:03:30 - The Dark Knight Rises 1:05:20 - Interstellar 1:11:20 - Dunkirk 1:18:30 - TENET 1:25:00 - Oppenheimer
SPOILER ALERT: the first 6 lines of The Odyssey tell us the entire story. We go through the entirety of The Odyssey (so this is the episode to listen to rather than do the reading!) Also why Athena is the best, how to pronounce Telemachus, and SEX CAULDRONS! Andy forgets the stupid, sexy Oppenheimer scientist (it was Josh Hartnett). Next week it's an overview of Nolan and Nolan's filmography.
