I agree with the general thrust of John Daniel Davidson’s article. BUT ....
He begins with an extended riff on The Odyssey, shifts into a shorter riff on the Little House on the Prairie remake, and then starts shotgunning what the left is doing.
That’s all fine and dandy ... except the he doesn’t seem to have actually watched either of the projects he is dissecting.
Scan some reviews. Cherrypick a couple that fit a fixed preselected narrative. Never check the projects being criticized. Rely instead on “I read it on the internet so it must be true.” Package the predetermined conclusion as red meat to be tossed into an online echo chamber.
This is how we end up with an internet driven culture of people trapped in echo chambers talking past each other.
We’re going to see The Odyssey on Thursday. I wasn’t particularly motivated to see it. I would probably have watched it at some point just to see what the fuss was about, on the theory that pretending to be a critic is a fraud if you don’t engage with the work being criticized. But the added incentive here is that Nolan made a fuss about shooting The Odyssey in 70mm film for true IMAX screens. That accounts for some of the high cost. Sure, it could have been shot a lot cheaper — and if you buy into that, be aware that the endpoint will be AI slop, which the studios will love because it will be cheap. Provided that viewers can be dumbed down and numbed down enough not to care.
Anyhow, given that Nolan jumped through hoops to provide the best possible cinematic experience — and that’s independent of whether or not I like his thematic treatment — I wanted to see it in the best theater available. Unfortunately, true IMAX theaters are rare, so we have to settle on a second best option, which here would be the IMAX theaters at the Air and Space Museum. But even the Smithsonian switched from true IMAX to laser projection, so basically digital 4k on a really big screen. I don’t know where the nearest true IMAX theater is, still using 70mm film projection, but if I had access to one, I would seek it out just for that.
I remember the first IMAX films, beginning with To Fly, as being the most stunning things I’ve seen onscreen. But that was back before the Smithsonian, during a remodelling, downgraded the quality of its projection. Because downgrading was cheaper.
The older my eyes get, the crankier I am getting about this. I thought I would never get another tv after we upgraded to a 4k OLED a few years ago. I may reconsider at some point. Color fidelity, brightness and upscaling have moved the bar enough for my eyes to notice. No one is making 6k or 8k content for commercial distribution, and no ISPs are streaming it. 4k is becoming the standard, but that’s still a work in progress. But tv’s upscaling native 4k content are impressive enough to notice. If my eyes were better, I might not care, but I make concessions to age where vision is concerned.
I, I, I, me, me, me, my, my, my...please learn how to write without abusing the personal pronoun, indirect personal pronoun or possessive adjective.
Unfortunately no one cares about you, you, you.
We, on the other hand, are not. This fuss and feathers has had one salutary effect ... I just ordered a copy of the Iliad and the Odyssey ... you know ... actual books ... printed on paper ... I'm finally going to read it, after all these years.