In my estimation, stories exist, in part, to help inculcate people into modes of desired behaviour.
So, in your estimation, as a storyteller, how much do particular movie/show tropes (rich bad, woman super warrior, the MESSAGE good) affect overall behaviour of people?
Besides the recent success of the “Odyssey”, it appears that the Hollywood model for producing movies, ie “creative” casting, shoehorning ideology into storylines, is failing. My question to you is why hasn’t the ship course corrected yet? I would think Hollywoods inherent greed would have already pushed them in the right direction or is it that the ideology just really have a stronghold over cinema?
With the advancements of AI creating better and better video do you think there is a chance we might see the next big movie coming from someone outside of Hollywood?
Which movies from the last 10 years do you think people will still be watching and talking about 20 years from now? I find myself seeking out films from the ’80s and ’90s that I never got around to watching, rather than newer releases. Why do you think so many older films seem to have that kind of staying power?
Christopher Nolan’s [The Odyssey] is being hailed as a cinematic masterpiece, but underneath its sprawling IMAX visuals lies a profound thematic failure. In his attempt to modernise Homer’s foundational text, Nolan has stripped the epic of its grandeur, trading the timeless tension of heroism and hubris for a fashionable, anxiety-ridden victim culture fest. The film’s fundamental flaw belongs to its characterisation. By denying Odysseus his dynamic, arrogant peak of heroism at Troy, his subsequent ten-year punishment carries no tragic weight. The gods are not punishing a man for challenging the cosmos; they are simply bullying an already broken soul. Back in Ithaca, the damage is equally severe. Penelope is stripped of her legendary intelligence and agency, reduced to a weeping, neurotic bore. Telemachus is cast as a whiny, perpetual victim, entirely robbing the story of his vital coming-of-age journey. Visually, Nolan’s signature claustrophobic, intense close-up camera work suffocates the narrative. Instead of the sweeping, mythic expanse of the Mediterranean, the audience is subjected to a relentless barrage of sweating, stressed faces. The blinding beauty of Greece, the vibrant nature of its people, and the sacred law of Xenia (guest-friendship) are completely absent. To truly honor the Western canon, this project required the operatic, morally heavy lens of a director , paired with an all-Greek cast to anchor the story in its rightful heritage. Greek myth teaches us that humanity must adventure and push boundaries, but we must also accept the crushing consequences of reaching too far. True heroism is about accountability and endurance, not modern angst and self-pity. Nolan missed the morality that is the whole point of the stor
Hollywood is a walking corpse, substituting premise rejection for actual imagination. In 20-30 years it will be similar to a museum with more in common with Roman ruins than being a place of creativity. Do you see anything replacing Hollywood as a center for mass media, or is the continued atomization of culture inevitable?
One of the things we've seen this year is some major successes by independent, young voices who are not part of the broader Hollywood machine (Backrooms, Obsession, etc.). And we've seen some hits/potential hits that represent new stories (non-established IPs) like Project Hail Mary and Digger (which I have questions about, but looks intriguing and is at least, original).
Do you think Hollywood will take the right lessons from these successes and FINALLY start taking risks on original ideas again?
Hi Will, i really didnt like the fact that "they" agreed for James Bond to effectively kill himself in the last film, in my view the character is not theirs to kill, its their turn to write and act another story for the audience to enjoy. Good to see you on Trig. PS i think Clive Owen would have made a good Bond
Hey, thanks for the content you make, its nice to see people still calling out bad movies for what they are. I was wondering, if you had to say the last great year for film making, especially in Hollywood, what would it be and what was the standout in that year? Thank you so much! Big fan of your channel!
I had one of these when I retired at 58. The outcome was serious changes to my lifestyle and I would save 5yrs off my life. The doctor could not tell me which five. I am now 80 and very glad I did not take their advice. It still the same and never changes. I drink too much, don’t take enough exercise, eat the wrong foods and don’t have enough sex. Nothing changes. I still have enough in the bank to enjoy life.
Hi Will, great to see you on Trig, do you think that franchises such as Dr WHO and Star Wars could or even should be saved if it had a "normal" set of writers and actors? - i expect this will come up in the interview! love the film reviews.
It sometimes seems like the YouTube commentariat on culture (mostly movies, but also games, e.g. Mauler, The Little Platoon, your own open bar, all of which I like, and a bunch of leftists I would disagree with) produces more and longer videos on culture than noteworthy culture itself is being produced. Do you think this is a problem, why/why not?
Hollywood has put "the message" in so many films over the past decade, that I fear this is becoming the new normal, where the public just accepts things like race swapping and over-powered women dominating men. Do you think the success of Nolan's Odyssey proves this?
If you had to make a pie chart of what has gone wrong with movies over the past 15 or 20 years, how would you divide it between the digital revolution with streaming, smartphones and changing viewing habits, or ideological or ‘woke’ storytelling, or simply weaker filmmaking and screenwriting? Which of those has actually done the most damage to cinema?
Will, is there any point in anyone new getting involved in pop culture discourse online, considering all you get is hate for the smallest opinion?
Will,
In my estimation, stories exist, in part, to help inculcate people into modes of desired behaviour.
So, in your estimation, as a storyteller, how much do particular movie/show tropes (rich bad, woman super warrior, the MESSAGE good) affect overall behaviour of people?
Besides the recent success of the “Odyssey”, it appears that the Hollywood model for producing movies, ie “creative” casting, shoehorning ideology into storylines, is failing. My question to you is why hasn’t the ship course corrected yet? I would think Hollywoods inherent greed would have already pushed them in the right direction or is it that the ideology just really have a stronghold over cinema?
With the advancements of AI creating better and better video do you think there is a chance we might see the next big movie coming from someone outside of Hollywood?
Which movies from the last 10 years do you think people will still be watching and talking about 20 years from now? I find myself seeking out films from the ’80s and ’90s that I never got around to watching, rather than newer releases. Why do you think so many older films seem to have that kind of staying power?
Christopher Nolan’s [The Odyssey] is being hailed as a cinematic masterpiece, but underneath its sprawling IMAX visuals lies a profound thematic failure. In his attempt to modernise Homer’s foundational text, Nolan has stripped the epic of its grandeur, trading the timeless tension of heroism and hubris for a fashionable, anxiety-ridden victim culture fest. The film’s fundamental flaw belongs to its characterisation. By denying Odysseus his dynamic, arrogant peak of heroism at Troy, his subsequent ten-year punishment carries no tragic weight. The gods are not punishing a man for challenging the cosmos; they are simply bullying an already broken soul. Back in Ithaca, the damage is equally severe. Penelope is stripped of her legendary intelligence and agency, reduced to a weeping, neurotic bore. Telemachus is cast as a whiny, perpetual victim, entirely robbing the story of his vital coming-of-age journey. Visually, Nolan’s signature claustrophobic, intense close-up camera work suffocates the narrative. Instead of the sweeping, mythic expanse of the Mediterranean, the audience is subjected to a relentless barrage of sweating, stressed faces. The blinding beauty of Greece, the vibrant nature of its people, and the sacred law of Xenia (guest-friendship) are completely absent. To truly honor the Western canon, this project required the operatic, morally heavy lens of a director , paired with an all-Greek cast to anchor the story in its rightful heritage. Greek myth teaches us that humanity must adventure and push boundaries, but we must also accept the crushing consequences of reaching too far. True heroism is about accountability and endurance, not modern angst and self-pity. Nolan missed the morality that is the whole point of the stor
Hollywood is a walking corpse, substituting premise rejection for actual imagination. In 20-30 years it will be similar to a museum with more in common with Roman ruins than being a place of creativity. Do you see anything replacing Hollywood as a center for mass media, or is the continued atomization of culture inevitable?
One of the things we've seen this year is some major successes by independent, young voices who are not part of the broader Hollywood machine (Backrooms, Obsession, etc.). And we've seen some hits/potential hits that represent new stories (non-established IPs) like Project Hail Mary and Digger (which I have questions about, but looks intriguing and is at least, original).
Do you think Hollywood will take the right lessons from these successes and FINALLY start taking risks on original ideas again?
What should Disney do once they’ve live-actioned all their animated films?
Hi Will, i really didnt like the fact that "they" agreed for James Bond to effectively kill himself in the last film, in my view the character is not theirs to kill, its their turn to write and act another story for the audience to enjoy. Good to see you on Trig. PS i think Clive Owen would have made a good Bond
Hey, thanks for the content you make, its nice to see people still calling out bad movies for what they are. I was wondering, if you had to say the last great year for film making, especially in Hollywood, what would it be and what was the standout in that year? Thank you so much! Big fan of your channel!
I had one of these when I retired at 58. The outcome was serious changes to my lifestyle and I would save 5yrs off my life. The doctor could not tell me which five. I am now 80 and very glad I did not take their advice. It still the same and never changes. I drink too much, don’t take enough exercise, eat the wrong foods and don’t have enough sex. Nothing changes. I still have enough in the bank to enjoy life.
Hi Will, great to see you on Trig, do you think that franchises such as Dr WHO and Star Wars could or even should be saved if it had a "normal" set of writers and actors? - i expect this will come up in the interview! love the film reviews.
It sometimes seems like the YouTube commentariat on culture (mostly movies, but also games, e.g. Mauler, The Little Platoon, your own open bar, all of which I like, and a bunch of leftists I would disagree with) produces more and longer videos on culture than noteworthy culture itself is being produced. Do you think this is a problem, why/why not?
Hollywood has put "the message" in so many films over the past decade, that I fear this is becoming the new normal, where the public just accepts things like race swapping and over-powered women dominating men. Do you think the success of Nolan's Odyssey proves this?
If you had to make a pie chart of what has gone wrong with movies over the past 15 or 20 years, how would you divide it between the digital revolution with streaming, smartphones and changing viewing habits, or ideological or ‘woke’ storytelling, or simply weaker filmmaking and screenwriting? Which of those has actually done the most damage to cinema?