Abu Turab

Watching it from afar.

[Cinema Tweets @CinemaTweets1]

BREAKING: The Odyssey has recovered its entire budget in two days. The film’s worldwide box office already brought in an estimated $257.8 million globally in its opening weekend. Domestically, Nolan’s latest is looking at a $120.5 million three-day debut, setting career records for both Nolan and Matt Damon.

[Cinema Tweets @CinemaTweets1]

The Odyssey is officially the biggest opening of Christopher Nolan’s career- bigger than The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight opened to $248 million worldwide its opening weekend. The Odyssey just opened to $257.8 million. We are witnessing perhaps the single biggest film of Nolan’s storied career. History in the making.

[Cinema Tweets @CinemaTweets1]

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟) is an unequivocal masterpiece & might be one of the best films I’ve ever seen in a movie theater. Part of an artist’s job is to use the power of past success to take creative swings & push boundaries. That is exactly what Nolan just did: he used all the money & all the Oscars he earned from Oppenheimer & took perhaps the biggest swing of his career. In doing so, he made one of the best films of his life. The Odyssey is worthy of being mentioned with Inception, The Dark Knight & Oppenheimer as one of Nolan’s best films. This is also the best work of Matt Damon’s career & Tom Holland’s. Together, Nolan, Damon & Holland lead us down a 3 hour journey that represents everything Cinema has stood for over the last 100 years. This exceeded my stout expectations. 

The parallels between the regret Oppenheimer & Odysseus go through are impossible to ignore. Both men face a “what have I created?” scenario that defines their lives. In Oppenheimer, it was creating nuclear warfare & destroying a way of life we as humans all knew how to navigate. In The Odyssey, it’s Odysseus’ destruction of Zeus’ law.

Obviously, those of you familiar with The Odyssey know that Zeus’ law is the driving theme throughout this story: treat as you would be treated. The regret/pain/heartbreak Odysseus suffers throughout his journey home comes from his breaking of Zeus’ law when he helped destroy Troy with no honor through the Trojan Horse, an idea originated by Odysseus. By destroying a code of honor & an accepted way of the life so as overthrow Troy (destroying Zeus’ law), Odysseus essentially gives others an excuse to defy the gods & act with no restraint, such as the suitors pining for Odysseus’s thrown in Ithaca. 

Nolan had to have recognized this common denominator between Oppenheimer & Odysseus & that commonality must have colored so many of Nolan’s creative decisions, specifically editing. Editing- which is the way a story is told- was masterfully executed in this film by Jennifer Lame. The way in which the story bobs & weaves between Telemachus (Tom Holland) & Odysseus, or the way Nolan cuts back in time to actually show us the invasion of Troy, as told by Jon Bernthal’s Menelaus, is so well-done because it keeps the pace of the film moving & eventually ties the entire story back to the driving theme- which is Odysseus’s destruction of Zeus’ law. 

But while the editing really caught my attention, the most obvious & undeniably best part of this film are the visuals. You literally feel the weight of every last shot. Just wow. The color. The scope. The realism. At multiple points, I asked myself “how did Nolan do this?” How did Nolan recreate Hades like this? How did he recreate the falling of Troy like this? Hell, how did Nolan recreate the Cyclops like this?? When I say The Odyssey is one of Nolan’s best films, it’s because of the filmmaking & practical effects. You might have nits with the performances or script, but no one on planet Earth can question the filmmaking achieved by Nolan in this movie. Just the scenes shot on water in a boat or Odysseus on a raft in the middle of the ocean alone…they are all breathtaking. It’s the filmmaking that is the biggest reason this movie will be remembered for decades to come & it’s the biggest reason I want to see this again immediately. 

All of Nolan’s mastery with themes, editing & overall direction are combined with an ensemble of actors who deliver across the board one by one. John Leguizamo could not have been better in this movie. As Odysseus’ loyal servant Eumaeus, Leguizamo is a the definition of scene-stealer. And while Robert Pattinson & Anne Hathaway are also excellent, I truly think Tom Holland just gave the best performance of his career. He absolutely holds serve throughout & shows a tempered emotional range that suites this film’s tone.

But man…this movie is about Matt Damon. For all the amazing films & all the amazing performances Damon has given

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Israel is bombarding, literally bombarding, two Middle East capitals, Beirut and Tehran, killing 100s of civilians, and yet the US and UK media continue to portray Iran as the threat to the region.

Israel has nukes, but Iran is the nuclear threat.

We live in Orwellian times.

[Abu Turab @turabbaboo3]

What a bowler
@Jaspritbumrah93
#INDvsENG

[salman akram raja @salmanAraja]

سہیل خان آفریدی کے وجود میں پاکستانی قوم کو جناب عمران خان کی جھلک نظر آئی ہے۔ لاہور کی سڑکوں پر جوش و ولولہ تھمنے والا نہیں۔

[Ahmad Noorani @Ahmad_Noorani]

صحافی ارشد شریف کی والدہ اپنے مقتول بیٹےکیلیےانصاف ملنےکا انتظار کرتےکرتے آج اس دنیا سے ہی چلی گئیں۔
بیٹے نے اسلام آباد میں تیس سال سے زائد صحافت کی۔
فوج کے قریب ترین سمجھے جانے والے صحافیوں میں تھے۔
ماں تین سال تک اپنے بیٹے کے قتل کی ایف آئی آر تک نہ درج کروا سکی۔
الوداع ماں جی۔

[ℕ𝕚𝕟𝕚 𝕄𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕜 (ℙ𝕋𝕀) @NiniYmz]

محمود خان اچکزئی 🔥

[Javed Akhtar @Javedakhtarjadu]

I hang my head in shame when I see the kind of respect and reception has been given to the representative of the world’s worst terrorists group Taliban by those who beat the pulpit against all kind of terrorists . Shame on Deoband too for giving such a reverent welcome to their “ Islamic Hero” who is one of those who have completely banned girls education. My Indian brothers n sisters !!! what is happening to us .

[Anwar Lodhi @AnwarLodhi]

Dear World !
The man who was shamelessly praising Donald Trump in Egypt and declaring him worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize does not represent Pakistan. He was installed as PM through a rigged election by his handlers. We Pakistanis don't endorse what he said.
Thank you.

[Ch Fawad Hussain @fawadchaudhry]

آئین سے نون لیگ اور پیپلز پارٹی کا تعلق اتنا ہی رہ گیا ہے جتنا نیتن یاہو کا انسانیت سے!!

[Sohail Afridi @SohailAfridiISF]

شکریہ میرے لیڈر جناب عمران خان صاحب۔

شکریہ پاکستان۔

[صدف حسین @khankicheeti1]

علی امین گنڈا پور نے جاتے جاتے وہ کام کردیا کہ ان کے اپنے چمچے کڑچھے بھی حیران رہ گے ان کے اس فیصلے سے۔۔
علی امین گنڈا پور کو اپنی عوام کا پتہ تھا خان صاحب سے غداری کرنے والوں کا قوم کیا حال کرتی ہے ۔۔!!

[Husnain Rafique @Husnainrafique_]

میں آج اعلان کرتا ہوں
اگر عمران خان کو فیملی سے پوچھے بغیر ادھر سے ادھر کیا
تو پورا پاکستان جام کر دیں گے : سہیل آفریدی

[Ahmad Noorani @Ahmad_Noorani]

This marks one of the darkest moments in the history of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) since its founding in 1967.

I could never have imagined the PPP reduced to a puppet of the army generals in GHQ Rawalpindi.

A black day for democracy.

It is painful as DG-ISPR has already announced about this.

I feel like crying when I see a good journalist, a good politician, or a good political party become a tool of oppression for the Pakistan Army.

[ہارون الرشید @haroon_natamam]

تاریخ کا سبق یہ ہے کہ تشدد بانجھ نہیں ہوتا ۔ اپنے جیسی ہی اولاد جنتا ہے، جوابی تشدد ۔تحریک لبیک مضمحل تھی۔ آپ دیکھ لیں گے کہ اب وہ برسات کے سبزے کی طرح پروان چڑھے گی۔ مذاکرت واحد راستہ تھے اور آسانی سے ممکن مگر افسوس ۔۔۔۔۔!

[Ahmed Ali Khan @ahmedalikhan01]

کئی ویڈیوز دیکھنے کے بعد جذبات پر قابو پانامشکل ہے۔ ہم سب کو لبیک والوں کا ساتھ دینا چاہئے، جہاں تک ممکن ہو۔ اختلاف کے باوجود یہ ہمارے بھائی ہیں۔ جو ان کے قتل کی حمایت کرے وہ بھی جانور ہے۔