Andy and Ammon's Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!)

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!

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.

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.

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'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!

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 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.

An overview of Christopher Nolan, his career, and films. 00:00 OpeningCorrections, 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, bio26:00 - Following30:15 - Memento37:10 - Insomnia40:45 - Batman Begins50:30 - The Prestige52:15 - The Dark Knight54:37 - Inception1:03:30 - The Dark Knight Rises1:05:20 - Interstellar1:11:20 - Dunkirk1:18:30 - TENET1:25:00 - Oppenheimer

Welcome to our campfire, our amphitheater, our place for communal storytelling: it's the beginning of our Excellent Odyssey, during which we'll discuss the Homeric epic and Christopher Nolan's work at adapting it. The podcast is a sort of chimera. Why do we still care about The Odyssey? Why does Nolan choose THIS as his big project? What do we think of Nolan as a filmmaker? In some ways, is he perfect for The Odyssey? Introducing ourselves a little. How we'll do these episodes in 3 episode cycles: an Odyssey, a Nolan, and a "Venn Diagram" topic. See you on the next island!