DC Film Girl reviews 'The Odyssey'

[00:00:00]very much. 9:15 is the time. It is time to set sail for the movies. Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated film The Odyssey officially hits theaters today.

[00:00:06]>> Set sail, I get it. Set sail.

[00:00:08]>> Yeah. Yeah. Odyssey.

[00:00:09]>> Yeah.

[00:00:10]>> Okay.

[00:00:10]>> The uh star-studded cast features Matt Damon, Tom Holland, and Hathaway, Zendaya, and DC native Jon Bernthal in the epic adaptation of Homer's classic.

[00:00:21]And it's got fans lined up across the nation in anticipation.

[00:00:24]>> to tell us what all this hype is about is acclaimed film critic Lauren Veneziani.

[00:00:28]>> Yes.

[00:00:29]>> Uh Lauren, thank you very much. Good to see you.

[00:00:31]>> good to see you guys.

[00:00:32]>> Yeah. So, Christopher Nolan, we know he's a he's a big name and he's, you know, when you put his name on something, people have an expectation.

[00:00:38]So, is that what's driving all the excitement here?

[00:00:40]>> Definitely. I mean, when you put Christopher Nolan in front of a movie, like there's going to be a lot of hype.

[00:00:44]And there's been so much hype for this movie for a literal year. Does it live up to the hype? I think it definitely does.

[00:00:51]>> wow.

[00:00:51]>> Yes, absolutely. I I definitely loved it. I mean, this is like the classic Homer story of, you know, Odysseus coming, doing a 10-long journey home after the Trojan War to get back to his kingdom of Ithaca. And Matt Damon, the entire cast is absolutely fantastic. The fact that Christopher Nolan literally shot this entirely on 70 mm IMAX cameras. This is the first time it's ever been done. So, we definitely And we definitely have some great theaters, you know, in the DC area to to check it out in. But, I mean, the the film absolutely lives up to the hype. I It's 3 hours long. It goes by so insanely quickly.

[00:01:25]The IMAX Yeah, it's just a very immersive experience. And the whole entire cast is just so, so good.

[00:01:31]Zendaya, oh my god.

[00:01:32]>> Okay, so you talked to Zendaya. Let's take a listen. Let's [laughter] take a listen to that.

[00:01:36]>> Seeing her first just as like the goddess Athena and then having a greater understanding of why she's appearing the way she's appearing. Um and her intention and how she's how she comes to him and when she chooses to come to him, I think is a has like a deeper meaning towards the end and and and really kind of kind of changes um at least for me how I wanted to like try to portray this like goddess or whatever, from a really like human perspective and really think of it that way, you know.

[00:02:09]>> Yeah, so Athena's character, I mean, Zendaya's screen time is not that much, I will say, but her the presence of Athena is very, very important. This is the Greek goddess who helps guide Odysseus back and kind of make him face his own demons, but she's so fantastic.

[00:02:23]Obviously, our DC local native John Boyega, he's definitely a standout. Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Samantha Morton, Robert Pattinson are all standouts. But I think just like the score and the visuals, the fact that he shot this so in six or seven countries, it took them so, so long to film to film this movie.

[00:02:39]And I will say, you know, I'm giving the movie a four and a half out of five, which is an insane score. People are like, "Why are you not giving it a five?" And I'm like, "Well, [laughter] you know, like I'm not, you know, it has to, you know, I I'm not just going to give away a five a five stars, you know, all the time, but I think it's absolutely epic, worth the hype, and if there the theaters to see it in are we have the Lockheed Martin Theater here in the Smithsonian. That's the full seven-story IMAX, also the Airbus IMAX Theater in Chantilly, Virginia. But you will get that that digital IMAX screen on AMCs and Regals as well. Definitely recommend seeing it on the biggest screen possible. It's absolutely epic.

[00:03:12]Travis Scott's has a really good part in it, too. And he's in it or he has a sound track? He has a little part in it.

[00:03:18]He plays He plays the bard who is a traveling poet who tells people about Odysseus in the story. And then the end credit scene ends with his song. And he's worked with with Nolan on Tenet before. So yeah, it's definitely an epic masterpiece. And my full interviews are on on my YouTube DC Film Girl.

[00:03:33]>> So we got to we got to talk about this big boy.

[00:03:35]>> I know. Here's the Trojan popcorn bucket. And you can I mean, hopefully there'll be still some available, but here you go.

[00:03:43]I know. I'm like, "Is Matt Damon in here, y'all?"

[00:03:45]>> [laughter] >> It's But yeah, it's it's uh for $69.99.

[00:03:50]This is like probably the biggest and most expensive popcorn bucket I own to date. Yes.

[00:03:57]Absolutely. And then we have the IMAX This is Yeah, this is the beloved IMAX, you know, camera popcorn bucket. And it's actually It's actually cool, Wisdom. Look, you can like you can see a little You can really see a little something in there.

[00:04:10]>> [laughter] >> IT HAS AN EYE YEAH.

[00:04:13]This one is 50. And then this one is 70.

[00:04:15]Yeah. It's a bargain.

[00:04:18]>> [laughter] >> But definitely worth the hype. I love Christopher Nolan. I I'd say like my favorite movies are, you know, Interstellar, Inception. I love Tenet, The Odyssey. I'm definitely going to be seeing it again, you know, in theaters, you know, with my family. So >> Well, we expect some costuming?

[00:04:31]>> I don't Maybe.

[00:04:33]>> [laughter] >> I TRIED TO DRESS like a Greek goddess, you know, for the first and then and then so >> DC Film Girl on Instagram, correct?

[00:04:41]>> Yes, DC Film Girl on Instagram, on social media, and YouTube, where you can find my full interviews with the cast.

[00:04:46]>> Lauren Benedetti, thank you very much.