Dear Chris Nolan

Clear the way, it’s Odyssey time. JK, first, we need to talk about a couple things….

A friend posted a meme on Sunday. It was something to extent of “yada yada need to tell a sports joke to fit in during the World Cup yada yada.” And I stopped. 

Friend, you do not need to fit in anywhere. You’re good as you are. But I get it! The need to be included in the zeitgeist-y moment. To be a part of what people are talking about. Let me tell you - if you aren’t a sports person, that’s okay! If you aren’t a music person, it’s okay! If you don’t watch movies, it’s okay! And you don’t need to mold yourself into something that others might like. Not worth it.

While we’re on the topic, don’t forget not to yuck someone’s yum. You don’t like soccer? Keep it to yourself. Or don’t. Whatever. 

But yea… friend, I hope you know it’s okay to not know how soccer works, or baseball, or Tom Cruise. You don’t need to fit in. You’re perfect. Be you. 

horn of Gondor sooooounds 

Let’s talk Odyssey. Actually, let’s talk Nolan. Reader, Nolan isn’t my favorite director. I think his movies are insanely flawed and pretty stiff. They, in my opinion, don’t hold together on rewatches… going to so far to say that the only reason The Dark Knight is held in such high regard is cause Nolan struck gold with Heath. To clarify, I think Nolan is one of the best. No argument from me. He’s just not my favorite. (Tenet, Interstellar, TDK, The Odyssey, TDKR, prestige, Batman begins, memento, insomnia, dunkirk*** haven’t seen Oppenheimer. haven’t seen following.)

*** I don’t like ranking stuff. Dunkirk is Nolan’s “best.” I’m just never gonna watch it again. and I’m aware I’m saying The Odyssey is great but I can’t rank it in the top 3, yet. TDK, despite my critiques, is my favorite film going experience of all time.

Some of you unsubscribed after that paragraph. Good. Just kidding. 

Odyssey - I haven’t been this properly hyped for a movie in a whole. I knew it was going to be one of the best movies ever made. And guys… holy moly. it’s so good. I caught it twice this past weekend. Once in digital imax and once in imax 70 mm. Here’s a YouTube of Ryan Coogler explaining it all so I don’t have to. 

If you have a chance to go to an IMAX70, I highly recommend it. It’s massive. It’s almost like a Disneyland ride. But it’s almost too big which is why I saw the smaller version first. Instead of catching up with the image on 70, I was able to be carried away by the Nolan masterpiece. I’m gonna avoid spoilers so yall have a chance to watch it. 

The Pendulum - I caught the hype on Nolan’s desire for on set locations. Practical sets. Stunts. Real coats. And my brain starts to hurt thinking about why building real boats would make a movie better. They’ve been building movie boats for a hundred years. Yea… well … they stopped. And they started making a quarter of a real boat with the rest filled in with cgi in post. CGI waves, mist and birds. There’s a shot of dolphins in TO and as the lore is told, that wasn’t planned. And that’s the sauce right there. Why does filming on location make a movie great? cause they stopped filming on location and instead of traveling to New Zealand and building the Shire, they just built it all digitally. You make Sir Ian McKellen cry and you’re doing something wrong, little green tennis balls.

I think the pendulum…. In this case, Computer Effects and graphics…. might be swinging back towards a more tactile and practical movie. It swung too far in the direction of marvel super heroes not even being on set AT ALL together cause they would just cobble the shots together in post. There’s a reason Tom Holland was shaken by his odyssey experience. He grew up with green screen. Why does Jurassic Park hold up so well? Most of Lord of the Rings (OG trilogy) look so great? Cause CGI was used as a tool, as part of the ensemble of movie magic working together to make something special. CGI is a great tool! Its necessary!

Nolan knows how to work that ensemble. The score, the specific music queues, the lack of sound, the sound creatures make, the sound weapons make (the bow strummmmm), the imagery. It’s all working together to tell a very specific story with a very specific tone. 

Our pendulum will swing back the other way in a few years and technology has advanced again. But until then, I’m enjoying what Coogler and PT Anderson and Nolan are doing. I think I can toss Villeneuve in that bunch too.

The pendulum works in the music industry too. Church. Economy. It’s always swinging. What type of musics hot right now? Early 2000 core and numetal. Welcome back Y2K. 

Long story short - like what you like. it’ll come back in fashion in 20 years. 

The Odyssey rules. It’s massive. The cast crushes. The visuals are top tier. The score is amazing. Go see it. Oh! This is important. Go support your local theater. Even if you don’t have IMAX near you, go find a showing. It’s worth it. You’ll kick yourself in a year when you’re watching the Siren scene on your iPhone while cooking some soup. Actually soup won’t be appetizing cause you’ll have just watched the Circe scene. Anyways, see you at the movies!

*Dear Chris, Thanks for making a rad movie every 3 years. Its important work. Keep it.

Love, The Undertaking!*

OOOOOOH SHOOT - I forgot. Yo. If you’re hesitating cause of some casting news that you didn’t like…. um… respectfully, I don’t know what to tell you. Other than, that’s kinda dumb. and the cast is amazing. If you don’t know what I’m referring to, please do not log on to Twitter. Its gross.

Band. I’ve got little for you today. We’re trying to finish some songs. They’ll be done soon. There’s 13 songs in the Samply right now. We will finish them. And release them.

We have a show on August 1. Come to it.

Good bye for now

Song of the Day