Craig Gibson

Jedi Knight in the making, a Hobbit at heart, an Avenger when the mood strikes.

[M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray]

Disney: "We are suspending all references and merchandising involving Slave Leia. We are sorry for what was a deeply problematic..."
George Lucas:

[Joanne Mason @JoanneMason11]

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C. S. Lewis

[Miles Smith IV @IVMiles]

My wife, who has had some voice training, explained to me that this is basically the singing equivalent of a perfect game in baseball. Stunning.

[Craig Gibson @tx_pilgrim]

@LoneStar_PAC These are truly ignorant statements. All three believe very different and irreconcilable things about God.

[Dr. Michael J. Svigel @Svigel]

Theology 101: Surely, we can at least agree on the first two ecumenical councils—Nicaea I and Constantinople I—like literally every other historic Christian theological and ecclesiastical tradition include—let me checks—all confessional Protestants! 🤦

[Craig Gibson @tx_pilgrim]

@RoKhanna @mcuban More money is the LAST thing any government in the U.S. needs.

[️️️️ ️ ️️️️ ️ 𝑯 @hlghprst_]

In a resurfaced interview, Hugh Jackman spoke openly about one of the biggest problems he sees in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

When asked about the emotional deaths of characters like Gamora, Tony Stark, Avengers: Endgame, and whether those sacrifices ultimately helped or hurt the franchise. He said:

“Marvel keeps killing major characters for these big emotional ‘sacrifice’ moments. It works in the moment the audience feels it, people cry, it’s powerful. But then the stories suffer afterward because those deaths lock the characters out of future movies. Or they have to force messy multiverse and time-travel workarounds just to bring some version of them back.
This isn’t new. It’s been a recurring problem since Stan Lee’s era. They love the big dramatic death, but they don’t always think about the long-term damage it does to the overall quality and potential of the universe. Once you kill someone as important as Tony Stark or remove a character like Gamora in that way, you limit what the stories can do later. I think it’s hurt the MCU more than people want to admit.”

[Craig Gibson @tx_pilgrim]

@DallasTexasTV @MarkDavis Um yeah. It’s summer.

[Craig Gibson @tx_pilgrim]

@PlumbNick And yet it’s racist to require an ID to vote. 🤔

[Craig Gibson @tx_pilgrim]

@Sksj002 The entire MCU Spider-Man arc has not been traditional Spider-Man. That has never what they are doing.

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

First trailer for ‘EBENEZER’, a new film based on ‘A Christmas Carol’ starring Johnny Depp.

In theaters on November 13.

[Craig Gibson @tx_pilgrim]

@MattWalshBlog Um. Have you read the original poem?

[Dr. Michael F. Bird @mbird12]

My exact thoughts too, Nolan’s Odysseus has no hunger for glory, instead he has this weird introspective “I-can’t believe we were the baddies after all” epiphany. Even pagan heroes get revamped in the ethics of Western (Christian) civilization.

[Daniel Friedman @DanFriedman81]

The tragedy of “The Iliad” is that nearly all the Greeks think what is happening is bad, none of them want to be fighting that war, but they’re still going to sack the city, put every man to the sword, throw the male children off the walls and rape and enslave all the women.

Hector and Priam both know Paris did something monumentally stupid and selfish. They don’t agree with it, and they know all the same that it can’t be undone. There is no diplomatic solution; it’s time for blood and that’s the way things have to be. They know from the moment the Achaean ships pull up that they are probably dead.

When Patroclus dons Achilles’s armor because Achilles won’t fight, he knows everyone is going to be aiming for him, and he knows he won’t be able to survive it, and when Hector faces the enraged demigod in single combat, he knows the result is a foregone conclusion.

The futility, the pointlessness and the inevitability is why this is a story that has endured through the ages. It is a story about what it means to be a man — to be brave in the face of a hopeless situation, to have your life thrown away by people who don’t care about you for a cause you don’t agree with, to be strong and heroic and to be swept away anyway by history.

This is a story about how we’re all gonna die, and it’s a story about what it means to be a man in a world of inevitability. Hollywood and the publishing industry have largely stopped telling stories about what it means to be a man, and that is why it is good that Nolan — whatever the flaws of his adaptation — has made a movie out of “The Odyssey.”

[W @_common_W_]

Argentina are the only team out of all 48 participants not to have a single VAR intervention against them, despite committing the most fouls in the tournament. Do you even realize how insane that is?

[Ben Shapiro @benshapiro]

I wanted to hold my opinion on “The Odyssey” until I’d seen it. I know, weird. So, here it is: it’s grand spectacle with a fascinating moral core. It’s extraordinary.

Also, the actors shouldn’t have said “Dad,” and the casting of Elliot Page is a pebble in the shoe - irritating and bothersome and unnecessary.

All my thoughts here, including my Zendaya and Lupita Nyongo takes. Check it out.

https://t.co/gFSaEWOTzC

[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

[Cinema Tweets @CinemaTweets1]

My rewatch of Troy (🌟🌟🌟🌟) left me totally stunned. The scale, scope, and significance of every last shot from Wolfgang Petersen & the performances from every last actor (minus Orlando Bloom, get him out of this film) left me floored. It’s been a while since I revisited this film, but one week before Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey hits theaters, I wanted to revisit the story that precedes Odysseus’s journey home, and my God, is this good. I don’t understand the criticism this film faced upon its release back in 2004. I think Troy is a near-masterpiece. 

One of the many reasons why Gladiator is such a success (and why Gladiator 2 is such a failure) is the film’s ability in the opening scene to establish that Maximus is an impenetrable leader: you believe based on everything that happens in the opening 10 minutes that every last soldier on that battle field would run through a brick wall for Maximus. Troy achieves this exact sentiment. The very first 15 minutes are totally breathtaking, with Achilles (Pitt) killing Boagrius on Agamemnon’s (Brian Cox) behalf. With one stroke of Achilles’ spear, this film establishes Achilles’ status. You believe from everything beyond this very moment that he’s capable of anything. 

“Enemies are forged by war.” Obviously, The Iliad, which this is based on, and The Odyssey, have many meanings to many people. Upon rewatching Troy, my takeaway from this story is that in order in become great, you have to pursue conflict head-on. You can’t run from battle or war, or else how will anyone ever remember you? “That is why no one will remember your name” Achilles scoffs to a boy. The idea is that if you don’t face the hurdles before you, you can never be a true man. The flip side to that coin is Paris (Bloom), who runs from the fight & never earns anyone’s respect. Rather, he is remembered for the shame he brings Troy. 

Petersen’s direction shouldn’t be understated. He properly captures not just the scale of this entire film, but the violence. I love that he’s faithful to the original story and doesn’t hold back on how ruthless Achilles was or how brutal this war over Troy turned out. But that doesn’t mean this film isn’t without flaw. I think the romance scenes really slow the film’s pace down & hold it back from its absolute full potential. I also think Orlando Bloom is so bad, he takes me out of the film every time I watch. Especially when you consider that Bloom shares a handful of scenes with Peter O’Toole, who is excellent & gives a classically expressionist performance. Bloom is just so out of place in that context. 

Lastly, a word of the film’s two leads- Pitt & Eric Bana, who plays Hector. I will always say this whenever Bana comes up but what the Hell happened that stopped this man from making more good movies after the ‘00s? He’s utterly outstanding in this film & holds his own against Pitt. There’s definitely a parallel universe where Bana has a more fulfilled career. Then there’s Pitt. Every time I revist this film, Pitt’s performance surprises me more and more. His physicality is an essential component to a performance that packs a strong redemptive core. Pitt honestly gives a performance I didn’t think he’s capable of considering the period this takes place. I think between Pitt & Bana, the film’s leads could not be better. 

Rewatching Troy got me even more excited for The Odyssey next week. If Nolan’s next film is even half as good as this, we’re in for a treat.

[Tom Holland @holland_tom]

Wondering if those who have spent months lambasting a film they haven’t seen will now, confronted by 5 star reviews for The Odyssey, reconsider their boycott, or whether they will dismiss the positive reviews as evidence of a woke conspiracy to overthrow Western civilisation?