Money

Profit

Let's start catching up with what I've seen recently.

The Odyssey

A retelling of Homer's story by Christopher Nolan. Starring (deep breath!) Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, John Benthal, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Charlise Theron, Elliot Page...  and so many more I forget!

The film covers various events from the Trojan Horse to events in Odyseus' (Damon) journey home and the many fantastical events he encounters. Meanwhile, Penelope (Hathaway) hides away from the many suitors (led by Pattinson's devious Antinous) who would have her choose one to replace Odyseus who has been away for 20 years. Her som Telemachus (Holland) does his best to protect her and find word of his father's return.

Full disclosure; I'm not familiar with Homer's work beyond what has previously appeared in popular culture. What I do know though is that this film is effing amazing! The practical effects (because Nolan uses as little CGI as possible) really work well, I doubt any of the set-pieces (Trojan horse/Troy, cyclops, the giants, the witch etc) would have been better with computer effects. I'm not surprised it's 2 hours 52 minutes in length, but there is very little "filler*, maybe a couple of slower moments between action sequences could have been trimmed.

The only drawback about the film -- and it is a minor one -- is that Tom Holland perhaps wasn't the best casting as Telemachus, while not actually bad he perhaps doesn't have the gravitas for the role.

People seem to like the film, it's the highest grossing R rated film and far and away Nolan's highest grossing film, it's currently at $1.7 billion. 9.5/10



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Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Talking of Tom Holland, here we have the actors 4th outing as the arachnid super hero. The cast again includes Zendaya and John Bernthal along with Mark Ruffalo, Jacob Batalon, Sadie Sink, Liza Colón-Zayas, Florence Pugh and Marisa Tomei.

After Spider-Man (Holland) gets Dr Strange to wipe everyone's memory of him in the previous film, we start with a reclusive Peter Parker fighting crime with no friends and few contacts. MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Batalon) are obsessed with Spider-Man but do not remember that he was once their friend. When a new threat enters the city with strange powers that can control peoples minds, Parker finds he is muting into an actual spider and needs to contact Bruce Banner (Ruffalo) about controlling the change, all the time trying to work out what the new threat to the city might be.

I've never been a huge fan of the Spider-Man character but I do like this film, this is where Tom Holland shines, he was the perfact age when he took the role (Captain America: Civil War in 2016), and has aged as the character has aged. This film has links to the wider Marvel Universe bringing in a well known X-Men mutant (Sadie Sink as Jean Grey) as well as the Hulk. He has at least one more film as S-M to come.

Again people seem to like the film as it has hit $2.45 billion and is now the 3rd highest grossing film of all time... I don't think it's *that* good, but good nonetheless. 8/10

Anyone who's ever done actual teaching would know that we don't go into a classroom and start assigning blame to people who weren't involved in something.

   I didn't see or hear anybody assigning false blame to anyone else.  But babying students by not telling them true historical facts leads to weak-minded over-emotional adults.

DETECTIVE KNIGHT TRILOGY

Rogue:

When the partner of a veteran detective Knight is shot by a crew of bank robbers he and his new partner go after them to New York where events of the past interfere with the present investigation.

Bruce Willis appears on screen maybe 15 minutes of the 1h 45min running time and has very few lines. Main focus is on the bank heist crew lead by Beau Mirchoff who actually doesn't do a half bad job.

But the movie is not very good, not a whole lot of action and the production has a cheapish feel to it.

*  ½

Redemption:

After the events of the first movie Detective Knight finds himself in prison with the heist crew he was after soon he finds himself in a middle of a prison break orchastrated by a madman who wants to hurt the 1%. Knight is asked to go after them in exchange for his release.

This one is actually better than the first one. Willis gets more air time and he even has a few funny one liners but the ending shoot out isn't all that exciting and it's clear Bruce isn't is old self. The bad guy actor Paul Johansson stands out, as he over acts just right and makes quite the role.

*  *  ½

Independence:

Detective Knight has returned home to LA and is facing a former paramedic gone insane and impersonating a police officer and trying to rob a bank.

Again focus isn't quite on the main character played by Bruce Willis but he gets enough air time and again shoots of guns and one liners, but it's quite clear he quite isn't what he was.

The production values here are even less than on the previous two...sadly.
BUT the bad guy is played by one Jack Kilmer, the son of one VAL KILMER who looks almost just like his dad when he was young!

*   *


The reason why I even watched these knowing all too well they aren't exactly cinema masterpieces is that these 3 were the VERY LAST movies Bruce Willis ever filmed before retiring after the Aphasia turned Dementia diagnosis. And that means an end of an era. Bruce Willis was without a doubt one of the best everyman action heroes of all time.

These were all filmed in less than one month period back to back in late 2021.