Episode 1 · September 10, 2026 · 58 min
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Brothers Jeff and Matt Ward kick off The Filmward Podcast. This week they review Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, then each count down their top five Best Picture winners of all time.
Jeff: Alright, we're recording. Hello and welcome to episode one of the FilmWord Podcast. Here we are. I'm Jeff Ward.
Matt Ward: I'm Matt Ward.
Jeff: Good to be here. Good to talk movies a little bit. I guess I guess the intro to the podcast is that we're we're brothers and we like movies and so we grew up watching a lot of movies. So we're gonna talk about some new releases, we're gonna talk about some old stuff that we like and and kind of give our reviews, our thoughts and see where it goes, see where the conversation takes us. I guess quick intros. well we both grew up in Dallas, Texas. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah now, and I have a son who is 10 going on eleven and wife as well and and I work in software and trying to think, yeah. I mean I I pretty much Matt and I were discussing this, but I pretty much watch you know any movie. generally that's recommended to me. Although I think we both have like some some moral stands. If you're if you're a big fan of like pretty things or, you know, something like that, like probably don't look to me or Matt for guidance on that one. so I definitely, you know, don't watch everything. but sometimes I do. So anyway, I do watch a lot of movies. But I'm also not You know, it's funny, I I thought that I I thought I was really into movies and then have found out they're like they're major junkies who are watching like multiple movies a day. But I will say I do the like most years I watch most of the Oscars movies, like best picture nominees and and the other categories as well. So I mean I watch watch most of those. and you know, trying to trying to watch more and more, but probably again try to be a little a little more judgmental. of which movies I watch moving forward. So Matt, you wanna introduce yourself?
Matt Ward: Yeah. Yes, I'm Matt. I I'm still in the Dallas area. father of four boys, all boys, that are teenagers down to just a little guy, a five year old. And so looking at movies from a lot of different perspectives, grew up loving lots of movies, lots of variety of movies. Really try and get into and and review watch a lot of the classics. I still enjoy watching movies. I I don't I don't feel like I'm as up on all the new latest and greatest ones that are out there, but have a huge appreciation for film and have have loved film my whole life. The you know part of just to, you know, get into you know how I like to watch movies, a lot of times, especially with with my boys, I I try and watch a lot of stuff using tools like Vid Angel. we use that to filter any content language, sex, excessive violence from from these movies. And I've I've used Vid Angel, I've used ClearPlay. I used to have the old Jeff, I don't know if you remember the the the ClearPlay D V D players where you'd you'd watch you'd like
Jeff: But
Matt Ward: whenever Netflix was big into their DVDs, right? You'd order the you'd get the D V D and then they would you'd load the filters onto a USB stick and that's where you'd you had to insert that. You'd load them on your computer. plug it in and that's how you'd watch your filter your your movies filtered. But now VidAngel has done a great job making with their app and and some of their online tools to have a pretty seamless viewing and that's available for a lot of different let's on Netflix and Prime and a lot of the different streaming services, just not Disney because of some issues they had years ago that maybe we'll talk about some other time. But just just to you know growing up we watched a lot of movies on TV. that were edited for television. That's kind of the that's my preference. if I'm gonna watch a movie, I I like watching it cleaned up a little bit, especially if I'm if I'm sitting next to my boys and just trying to make sure that that we're not introducing too much of the junk while while watching them. And so that that's the preface. I won't mention that every time whenever we bring up a movie, but just give me the benefit of the doubt typically that that's how I how I'm trying to watch these these shows.
Jeff: didn't the did the did the clear play D V D thing also come under fire? Like the like they couldn't do that anymore or did they just stop that because of like the D V D's going out of style?
Matt Ward: I don't know what what caused that to wrap up. But I'll tell you my my clear play experience recently, they maybe they just decided to s to pause the innovation a while ago because it's it's not terribly friendly for doing anything but watching movies on your laptop or on desktop. Like it doesn't it's not compatible
Jeff: Hmm. Interesting.
Matt Ward: with with Chromecast. They don't have an app. It was it was a rough experience. but that does give you more options on Disney Plus and and streaming platforms like that, because they they don't have the the vid angel boycott.
Jeff: Yeah. okay, I see. And and is ClearPlay also a is it a subscription? Or is it a like device?
Matt Ward: Yeah. Yeah, subscription also. You can get a free trial,
Jeff: Okay.
Matt Ward: I think, for a for a month, which I forgot to cancel, so I got charged for an extra month on it, but
Jeff: We were doing so you're talking about doing Vid Angel ki mostly after talking to you. because Oscar's getting into the age where he really likes all sorts of movies. Oscar's my eleven year old son, ten year old turning eleven soon. And he really is he like he downloaded like the Marvel list of movies. I don't know if I told you this, but like he downloaded that list and like wants to watch every single Marvel movie. And some I mean most of the Marvel movies are like pretty clean. but for his age, I'm like, you know, Iron Man as a as an example is like top of the list on the Marvel because that that was like one of the first franchises that was released. And Iron Man is not like the most you know, ten year old friendly guy. Tony Stark, I guess, is not like the you know. So it's like, maybe we should do Vid Angel, but then again. Vid Angel doesn't work with Disney, so it doesn't work with all the Marvel movies. So it's just one of those things, which I think maybe could lead us into our our Spider-Man brand new day discussion. because funny story, you know, he he was like catching up on all the Spider Mans and he watched them all and then he went to see it with his grandma out in California, and and then he went to see it. And I was like, okay, that's fine. You know, age appropriate, I think Spider Man. And then I went to see it in Indonesia and I was like kind of blown away. Well, especially with the Punisher character. I was like blown away, like, whoa, this is little like more than I was expecting from you know, from a kind of family perspective, family friendly perspective. So, You know, they they really I I'll say that for all of media in general. You know, they they definitely do not care about the language thing anymore in movies. So I don't know. Maybe what are your thoughts on on Spider Man? Not just from a, you know, language moral perspective, but how what do you think of the movie and and you know what are your thoughts?
Matt Ward: Yeah. I mean just yeah, just to introduce it a a little bit, I mean the fourth fourth Tom Holland Spider Man movie. And
Jeff: Got further than Toby Maguire, right?
Matt Ward: yeah, that was definitely
Jeff: Tony Gray he just did three, right?
Matt Ward: yeah, he did the f he did the first three. with was the same Raimi that directed those and did did the original three. I never watched the ones with with Garfield and J and Garfield in there and but
Jeff: yeah. Yeah, I forgot they'd made those.
Matt Ward: But the Amazing Spider-Man with Emma Stone. I I didn't I've only watched a little bits and pieces, I guess, enough to try and understand the the the the third Tom Holland Spider-Man. But but yeah, I mean I I thought it was good. What one of the things I really liked about it as as one who post end game in the Marvel movies have n has not really enjoyed the new phase of the multiverse all that much. And and I really enjoyed Infinity War and I really enjoyed Endgame. I enjoyed a lot of the Iron Man movies and Captain America ones leading up to it. but posts, you know, I and I enjoyed some of the Spider-Man, the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies that have been that have come out since Endgame. But you know, some of the other ones haven't been haven't been my favorites, have been I I don't think I've probably given them nearly as much attention as I did before. And so I I thought Brand New Day was fun because it it started getting away from the multiverse a little bit more. I mean it certainly deals with more of the consequences of the multiverse, but the focus is really on other things. And I I felt like the the story moved along very well. I think it it was probably for for me, there were parts that were a little darker than I was expecting. I think to your point, you know, I have a I have a 12 year old boy and he did not appreciate whenever Punisher came on to the scene, definitely felt like the language got a little extreme, especially if you just look at the tone of the previous three movies, right? Like nobody expects Marvel movies not to have any foul language in and you watch like Guardians of the Galaxy, that has lots of parts that that have pretty strong language
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Ward: as well. But but whenever he came on, I mean it was almost distracting. It was distracting for me. And that's that's as one who has not gone through and watched all the Punisher series and and things like that and Daredevil. that that were certainly more of the the T VMA level shows on Netflix. But you know, having him come into these to the Holland Spider-Man films was just a was a was a tons of I don't know if it bothered me as much as my son, but that was one of the first things he came home and said, was just, well, it was kind of well took me took me by surprise. otherwise, you know, I I thought the story was good. I like the more mature Peter Parker stories and I thought that it was it was a well made. It was fun to have Hulk in the in the movie and and have some of his have have some of the drama of of his character in there as well. And I enjoyed honestly just the expans like some of the new characters that were coming in, which we'll hopefully see again here in in some of the the upcoming Marvel films that are coming out. What were your thoughts on it?
Jeff: well, I will say it took me quite quite a while into the movie to figure out I I actually didn't this is like this is gonna really like age me, date me a little bit. First of all, I didn't realize it was Punisher in the movie. I was just like there's this guy named Frank who like I guess I just didn't notice it. Yeah, I just
Matt Ward: Did he have this big skull, you know, on the ch I don't think he had that.
Jeff: I guess I just didn't I mean if I definitely would have seen this skull, it would have Clicked for me, but then I was reading some reviews after and I was like, yeah, that makes that makes a lot more sense actually. and I haven't
Matt Ward: Yeah, they maybe they assume a little too much. give us too much credit as as movie viewers here.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah, like I and and Oscar was mad at me too because I hadn't caught up on all the movies. I mean, I think I'd seen the Spider the other Spider Man movies, but like not like not fresh memory at all. so and then I saw I noticed also like very late in the movie, I was like, I think that Gene character is from Stranger Things. So So our expertise here.
Matt Ward: Yeah. We're really we're really building up our our level of expertise here, Jeff.
Jeff: Yeah, I know. Maybe we can get a little better in the future. Probably in the future when when a new Spider Man movie comes out, I'll actually look it and like look at who the cast is and be like, yeah, I know those people. but again, I think part of part of the cast thing is that I just I think like in general know a lot of the older actors and like am not as fresh with, you know, some of the the young folks, unless it's like the really big names, right? but yeah, overall I found the movie to be pretty entertaining, you know, easy to follow again as someone who hasn't seen all of the other movies recently. And yeah, as someone who's been a little bit turned off to Marvel movies in in recent years, found this one to be like pretty entertaining, pretty engaging. and again, not hard to pick up on. Quite the cliffhanger there at the end, though, you know, just kind of wondering what's gonna happen with. Peter Parker and and the girlfriend, the friend, you know, like what's gonna happen kind of more in his personal life. but yeah, I found found the movie to be pretty entertaining. I'd I'd probably give it, you know, overall, give it a give it a four out of five. I think for me it's it's kind of it's hard to like I think for me you'd we'd probably have to be a bit more of a well maybe a little bit more plot depth or dramatic film or something to have it be a five out of five. maybe like an Oscar worthy kind of film. But I I found it to be very entertaining and just kind of a a good, fun movie for sure.
Matt Ward: Yeah, would you would you say that you'd wanna rewatch over and over again or anything like that?
Jeff: Well, that that's I guess that's another place where maybe we should have given said in our intros, I don't really know I mean, I will rewatch movies from like a long time ago, but I it might be another like twenty years before I like sit down and like rewatch a movie, like a modern movie. so I'm just not like a big rewatcher. that said, again, Oscar's going through the Marvel phase. I w it wouldn't surprise me if we sit down and watch it again. kind of like rewatching a lot of those Marvel movies right now. certainly one that I'm not opposed to rewatching. I'm just not a big rewatcher because,
Matt Ward: Yeah.
Jeff: you know, time's limited. There's so much out there, so much content, it's it's hard to sit down and and want to rewatch. But I know you're a big rewatcher. So what's your what yeah, what's your take
Matt Ward: Well
Jeff: and what's your score?
Matt Ward: I probably you know, I one one thing I I should have added, just with the overall review is just it was a little sad just not to have so much of the presence of the the kind of the establishing cast from the original three movies and who brought a lot of the I guess the more you know, enjoyable dynamics into the movie, some of the humor. and they were in they're in there, right? Don't get me wrong. They're they're in the movie. They're just not very prevalent in the movie. They only they only have a you know a number of scenes versus, you know, you s you get a lot of Punisher in the second act and third act. and you just don't get too much of the those those original characters, which I just thought was a little unfortunate, just because they have been such a a solid foundational piece of the original three movies. I would say, yeah, also overall, probably four out of five. very enjoyable, easy to watch, fun movie. rewatchability, you know, I'd probably put a three out of five. You know, I'd I'd put it on. You know, if it's on Disney Plus, I'd put it on in the background and work on other things. And that
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: which which I would say a lot of my rewatching, it probably falls into that category where I'm not studying it. I'm I need something on in the background for noise or something like that, which is probably in general how too many of us watch films for the first time right now. But I think it's It was it was good. It was it was a good solid solid entry in the the Marvel universe.
Jeff: Yeah, I'm just I was just wondering, were you were you really mad that they didn't bring back Marissa Tw Teme for a for a bigger role?
Matt Ward: Yeah, mean she's in there, right? I mean she's in there enough. So the I I yeah, it's you know, you can only do so much with what you with the the decisions you make.
Jeff: It's it's funny, they must have called her in for like they must have called her in for like a day. And they were
Matt Ward: Yeah, yeah.
Jeff: like, Hey, just come in and like film this bedroom scene. It's like this one time. And then we got like this one other scene.
Matt Ward: Yeah, that's right. Just sit down. They this film around the tail end of the last film. They're like, We'll just go ahead and do this one.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah, we just pre record this. all right, well let's let's jump to the next movie that obviously was super and I guess we should point out, you know, I've just been seeing headlines about Spider Man brand new day, and the and the income. I don't know what the what the current count is, but I think it's like number three. let me see if I can find it here. in terms of the box office numbers. two point four one billion. I think it's the third largest. no, the second largest domestically at least, behind Star Wars The Force Awakens, which you know, Star Wars The Force Awakens that was a like a good movie, you know. But then after that, like what happened? I don't I don't wanna get too too far off on Star Wars, but
Matt Ward: Yeah, I mean we we should we should dive into the trilogy some the new trilogy at some point and just talk about the disappointing aspects of that.
Jeff: I I heard they were gonna remake it.
Matt Ward: Yeah, I heard that. I don't but I don't know. I sometimes I see those headlines and I feel like they're just they're they're not legitimate.
Jeff: I mean probably just a rumor, but Yeah, yeah. Probably just a rumor, but every rumor has a little shred of truth, right? sometimes so maybe. But yeah. We were all like super excited. And The Force Awakens was a fun movie and then man, those last two
Matt Ward: Yeah it was.
Jeff: though, eight and nine, like what was going on? I don't even know. That was terrible.
Matt Ward: you you do a trilogy without a unified plan from the beginning, maybe you should sit back and say,
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: Do we r should we really should we really do this? But should have made a plan. Make
Jeff: Should have made a plan. Should've made a plan, from the outset. Not
Matt Ward: sure everybody sign a paper, say we all agree on the plan before they they go too far.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. We're just gonna go we're gonna go one by one. And
Matt Ward: Yep. Yep. Let let the director just kinda carry it wherever they want to go.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah. We're just gonna kill off certain characters and then oops.
Matt Ward: If they
Jeff: Like I just I I guess sorry, I'll I'll I'll move on from this topic, but just like the I don't think they should have killed Hanselba. Yeah, I don't think they should have killed any of really. Like
Matt Ward: You didn't even you didn't even preface with the spoiler, Jeff.
Jeff: Everybody knows. Everybody knows.
Matt Ward: Yeah, they probably shouldn't. I wasn't that part of the agreement? I thought that Harrison Ford went in with that being part of the agreement. That he would do one and they were gonna kill him off.
Jeff: Yeah, but I guess well, that's fine, but I'm not like he could have just done one anyway. And like they didn't have to kill him off. So anyway.
Matt Ward: Good up. Yeah, yeah.
Jeff: Alright, let's talk about the Odyssey. the other
Matt Ward: Yeah.
Jeff: big movie for the summer. I thought moving into the Odyssey, everyone was talking like I guess I kinda got the impression like it was gonna be like the big one at the Oscars. And now I'm kind of seeing headlines that There's some other movies out there. Wild Horses Nine, I think I I think is what it's called, or Wild Horse Nine, with John Mokovic and Sam Rockwell that like I was just
Matt Ward: I mean
Jeff: reading some headlines about this movie and like how everyone loves it.
Matt Ward: That duo. Yeah, that duo seems like they could pretty much run away with anything, so
Jeff: Yeah. but yeah, I mean, I think, you know, expectations were sky high on the Odyssey. certainly when I went into it and seeing how every movie theater seemed to be sold out, and we couldn't get the IMAX 70 millimeter, and it was just like this movie has to be like absolutely mind blowing because you know, it it was just a it was a lot of hype. and It was I guess you could say it was a bit of a cultural moment this summer. it was a pretty hot movie. And
Matt Ward: yeah.
Jeff: w I think we're both really big fans of Christopher Nolan. So yeah,
Matt Ward: Huge, yeah, huge fans.
Jeff: I mean I think we can start there, but like, I don't know, maybe you could give maybe your your preface maybe even before before going into the movie. I mean, what what was your what were your expectations? What were your thoughts?
Matt Ward: Yeah. Well, here in Dallas, I mean we have, I believe, one IMAX, legitimate IMAX theater in Dallas, and the tickets, I mean, you know, I I keep on seeing on Cinemark that they'll pop up and be like, you know, purchase your tickets in advance. And I'm like, I don't need to do that. I mean, it's it's unnecessary. Well, the IMAX theater, they're run they were running twenty four seven and everything except for the front row or two, which I'm not I'm not gonna do that, right? But the every row Yeah,
Jeff: Yeah, who's who's watching this at three AM?
Matt Ward: apparently they they were selling out the house.
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: and it was going sold out showtime after showtime, week after week. And so expectations were very high. Everybody was very excited. I mean, it's not every day you get an IMAX movie coming through unless you wanna watch like the F fourteen fighter movies that they put in there.
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: And And so it was, yeah, it was a big deal. I imagine it's still probably pretty booked out to see it in IMAX. but yeah, expectations were through the roof. And there was I mean, they were doing publicity tours. I mean, so far in advance, you know, you're watching interviews and you're like, Are we already talking Odyssey and you know, four months out or something? And huge amounts, right? And you see all the actors and the director, I mean, everybody's just doing so many press tours. And I mean and so yeah, huge expectations, you know, Homer's Odyssey, you know, that was clearly a you know, eighth grade eighth grade read, eighth grade favorite of mine. I made my amazing film on on the Odyssey, yeah.
Jeff: Matt made a movie. Matt made a movie about it.
Matt Ward: that was that was pretty pretty solid entry.
Jeff: Stacey was the cyc was Stacey Cyclops or
Matt Ward: Yeah, sister was Cyclops and you know, we use, you know, the bathtub a lot for the the water scenes. I mean it was high high value production. And I think
Jeff: That was good.
Matt Ward: we you know, some of the the sections had even the flushing toilet, I think, whenever there was the you know, certain parts of the the movie for that. But yeah, I mean I think I mean well why don't you you wanna go ahead with your your review, your thoughts on it?
Jeff: Yeah, yeah. I think just my take. I'm trying to think like I guess Christopher Nolan, you know, he I guess just a little more preliminary, you know, two years ago, I think it was two years ago, he did Oppenheimer and everyone loved Oppenheimer and and I think I I don't know what his mindset is right now, if he's kind of shifting to try to do more you know, more realistic type movies and lean away from kind of the interstellar inception kind of moments, you know, which you know, we love those movies and and those are great movies. But yeah, I don't know if he's like tr actively trying to lean in more to these, but kind of seems to be going bigger and bigger on his you know, filmmaking and obviously like This was a this was a trumping moment of with the IMAX thing. yeah, so anyway, going into the movie, huge expectations. and obviously we know the story really we know the story really well. I just I just never really I guess felt super I think like the biggest thing was probably the way that I felt about Matt Damon's character and and Odysseus himself. And I know this is one of your notes as well, but like, just never really like felt super invested in the protagonist, I guess you could say. kind of felt at certain points of the movie, like if he dies or survives, like do I really care? and unfortunately like I I will say the parts that of the movie that I found actually more compelling were probably the Like what's going on at home time. It was like the Tom Holland, the N Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, is that who's who's the the bad guy? I forget it was
Matt Ward: Yeah, he he's in there.
Jeff: Robert Pattinson or some other guy. but you know, like I found that I found that storyline to be pretty compelling, but when Odysseus was actually out there, I think one one thing we've already talked about in the past, like when like the sirens, like that whole sequence, it's just like Hey we're we're passing the island that has the sirens. Everybody put in wax in their ears and then they like put in wax and then they basically just like float by and Matt Damon's like Ugh Ugh
Matt Ward: Yeah.
Jeff: You know and and I guess like yeah, I mean there's probably not a ton of detail about that in the book. Like it's probably not a soup you know, it doesn't have to be a super huge thing, but I guess I just felt like the way it was presented was was just a little bit like it fell flat for me.
Matt Ward: Well, I I think maybe th it was just they assumed we understood what the sirens were a little too much. Not that they needed to get graphic or anything, but it was also just like like I mean it's so far the shot is so far back, right? That you really you're like, I I don't really have any idea. Like maybe on IMAX it was different 'cause I didn't watch it on IMAX, but but it's just like I don't really know. Like, yeah, is like they don't explain a whole lot about what the sirens are all about. And then there's like Throw that wax in your ears, and then one guy's like, I'm not gonna do that, you know? And
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: and then you're like, all right, well, and then they just they just kind of slide on by. You're like, all right, well, there, there's that, there's
Jeff: Sail on by
Matt Ward: that challenge, you know, and there are other challenges that they leave out altogether. And I I know, you know, you gotta make decisions, right? I I remember whenever they were talking about adapting Blood Meridian. I think Tommy Lee Jones had the rights for a while, I don't know if he still does, to adapt Cormac McDonald's. Carthy's Blood Meridian. And people were just talking about, well, it's just too much. Or when Billy Bob Thornton did All the Pretty Horses, right? And he he shot, you know, like a five hour film. And it's like, you have to make cuts, right? You have to bring it down to a shorter film, something that's a little more digestible for for audiences. But some of the things, some of the omissions that they chose to to do for the Odyssey just felt like it it ate into the the quality of the story a little bit. so yeah, no, no question that the production it was phenomenal. I mean just ex
Jeff: yeah. It was. It was.
Matt Ward: extraordinary, right? And is but the storytelling and how compelling it was, I just felt like was a little flat for me. I just you know, you want a little more, right? I mean, you look at at some of the Nolan hi films in the history, and even, you know, all of them to me have been compelling, to to some degree, right? Some of them I enjoy more a lot more than others. I think, you know, maybe a movie like Tenet wasn't quite as compelling in my mind from a character perspective, but but most of them have been very compelling. And for the for this one, it just felt like like, all right, well, I mean, this is very beautiful, very well shot, right? And but the the actual story and the progress of the story, like the pacing of it, just felt like there's another island. Yeah, here's another island. You're like, all right, well, let's it's good. And
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: and they left out. The whole discussion about nobody with the Cyclops, right? That that really well, which which is
Jeff: Yeah, well, yeah.
Matt Ward: fine. Probably didn't play too well. Maybe they you know, maybe they shot it and they're like, this doesn't really work on film. But it certainly showed a little bit more of the character of Odysseus and and some of his cunning, right? Some of it and and I don't feel like they really brought that out much in the character. They
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Ward: she just felt like a fairly flat character throughout the whole whole film.
Jeff: Yeah. I think that you know That that kind of scene with I don't know. A another another I agree with you about about the Cyclops and about how you know, there were just a few moments where it just fell a little bit flat. The the the other one I was gonna bring up is when they they meet the is it not wait, is it Calypso? It Calypso's Charlie's Therone, right?
Matt Ward: Yeah, on the island, yeah.
Jeff: Who's the other lady though that feeds all the people that turns them all into pigs?
Matt Ward: Yeah, I don't remember. I remember the scene. Yeah.
Jeff: The witch, the witch lady. and that was another one where I was just kinda like they're really hungry, so they eat bunch of food. And then he goes up to look for his men and he's like, Where are all the men? And he like almost falls for it, but he doesn't I don't
Matt Ward: Yeah.
Jeff: know. It's just it's just kind of again. The other thing I was gonna say, and I think we brought this up as one of our very first observations talking about this movie is It's just like his use of audio and sound and how we were expecting some kind of epic soundtrack to come out of this. Obviously we both love soundtracks a lot. but I would have expected that. not to say that po Christopher Olin n that Christopher Nolan owes us anything, but just would have expected some more audio. And so when when you get into the sirens or like a scene like that, I think that was part of the thing that like didn't work for me is like there was just he just went to like almost no audio so often, where really all you could hear is like the C or, you know, s the men yelling or, you know, something like that. and I feel like the sirens I think they all plugged their ears and so we like basically couldn't hear anything. I think that's that was how he did it. anyway. We don't have to we don't have to criticize every choice. obviously it Yeah. It's just I just felt a little bit like the audio the the lack of audio was a little bit of a letdown.
Matt Ward: Yeah, yeah, I agree. I mean I like having a new soundtrack to listen to and and I think some of his
Jeff: That's right.
Matt Ward: other ones, especially, you know, Inception I think is one my favorite soundtracks of from the Christopher Nolan Arsenal. And but and there have been there there have been a lot of great ones and and yeah, it's just it seems like a movie on the scale that's this epic. You you could have themes
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah.
Matt Ward: for different characters, you could have a lot of different amazing tracks and instead we don't We don't really have anything to to list and again, you know, but but as lovers of soundtracks, it's it seems like amiss for us to not have something to h also just help us remember these these movies, right? And that's that's probably another discussion too, of just the the power of these soundtracks, and and what they've meant to us and how nowadays you it is very rare over the past, you know, ten years or or longer to really have a soundtrack that's memorable that that's re know, that that's you know, bounces around your head for for years to come. That probably because John Williams is slowing down and James Horner is is no longer with us. That's that must be the the key key reason. But you have some amazing
Jeff: James Horner
Matt Ward: composers out there. You still have Hans Zimmer, you still have a lot of these guys that are doing amazing soundtracks. So
Jeff: Hans Zimmer has to be pretty old himself though. Let me see.
Matt Ward: Well he's still touring, right? He still goes around and and and tours all over and yeah.
Jeff: Yeah, he's sixty-eight. So I mean he's got a few more a few more years left in him, but he's done some great some great work. he must have been getting his hair done that weekend or something. I don't know why Christopher Nolan didn't call him up or somebody up, just like throw a little bit of a soundtrack together. Yeah,
Matt Ward: Just to beef it up a little bit. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: I think it would have it would have done something, but we're probably in the great minor minority the Odyssey, even criticizing it, because I think it still has like pretty incredible reviews. and and you know, I think we both
Matt Ward: Yeah. Yeah. Well and I guess
Jeff: appreciate the the film aspect of it for sure.
Matt Ward: Yeah, what all right, Jeff, what's your rating for the for the film?
Jeff: I'd give it a I'd give it a four out of five again.
Matt Ward: Yeah, well I'm four out of five also.
Jeff: yeah. Just like you know, obviously something that is super epic. No one's gonna be remaking the Odyssey anytime soon.
Matt Ward: Unless Musk and Mel Gibson come together. I heard that yeah, I heard that that rumor at one point. Yeah,
Jeff: Is that is that a thing? my gosh.
Matt Ward: that's
Jeff: Yeah, it was that movie was way too woke, the Odyssey.
Matt Ward: Yeah, you know, that was another one where it's like, I I understand, you know, people and those having those arguments, I guess, it's fine. It's just you know, it the film's a film and and
Jeff: I guess I just looked at it from way too hollow of a perspective. Like I didn't really see the politics in it at all. but that's just me. the the one of the saving graces, again, I I mentioned that I I enjoyed the kind of the drama at home while Odysseus was away. And I think I really enjoyed the the ending sequence. Obviously, anytime there's a big action scene where where Matt Damon gets to kill a lot of people, bring back the the born. Born identity. you know, it's all it's all good with me. So I enjoyed I enjoyed the ending sequence and I think that was like a really fun part and yeah, overall enjoyed the movie. again, probably wouldn't wouldn't necessarily sit down to rewatch it unless you know, unless Oscar really wants to or something.
Matt Ward: Yeah. Well I I feel like I'll I'm I'll certainly, most definitely put it on again, at times and and watch and I you know, and just to to point out some of the parental issues just briefly here, I think, you know, the violence, especially at the end, I think was a little more a little bit heavier than at other parts, and then they throw in the effort a few times. And
Jeff: Mm-hmm.
Matt Ward: which was complet I mean, completely unnecessary. But I mean that's Nothing on the unnecessary scale next to Oppenheimer, right? Which was kind of a different different discussion. But I think the you know, Odyssey, the violence for the most part, I I felt like was really wasn't terribly explicit or anything like that. I just it was still something where, you know, not gonna show my my boys the Odyssey for a while, but I didn't I felt like it was a fairly tame our rating as far as they go.
Jeff: Yeah, I think so. I think so. definitely not one that you know, that you really feel like that really deserved an R rating. but
Matt Ward: Yeah, yeah.
Jeff: yeah, I agree. And I also think that in period dramas like that, it's just like the profanity is a little unnecessary, but again, we're not the ones
Matt Ward: Whenever yeah, whenever it's it's not really the if it's supposed to be way back and to sit there and you throw out the F word a bunch just seems unne yeah, it's just you know, the story was supposed
Jeff: Yeah, yeah.
Matt Ward: to take place long ago. Anyway, whatever. That's that is what it is.
Jeff: I guess that's that's the way people express themselves these days. We're Yeah,
Matt Ward: Yeah, yes.
Jeff: we can admit we're in a bit of a probably a bubble compared to the rest of America or the rest of the world in terms of profanity usage, but still
Matt Ward: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: a little surprising at times that they decide to throw that out. So
Matt Ward: Yeah. Well, I think with the with the time that we have here, we were gonna do a throwback to to maybe a revisit, but maybe we can save that for next week and we can get to our top five lists. What do you think? All right.
Jeff: Let's do it. Top five.
Matt Ward: So so to frame this one, this is top five best picture winners. So Academy Award for Best Picture Past Winners, anytime since they started in the twenties till now, huge list. Lots of amazing films on there. It was strangely much more difficult than I thought. And I I'm trying not to give a million caveats as to why another movie deserves to be in the top five, because you could probably convince me of a lot of them, because I love so many of these movies, and and so man have been very impactful in terms of films that I just greatly appreciate, that I'll watch again and again. That I just think they've done so such amazing things with. And so, so again, very difficult. A lot more difficult than I said. We we should almost do by decade or something would make this probably a lot easier for me. but with that being said, yeah. Yeah, yeah, hi.
Jeff: If you maybe if you include the nominees. 'Cause I do feel like some years the Academy gets it wrong, but
Matt Ward: yeah, definitely. And they they definitely do. And and yeah, the nominees would make it make it even more interesting. But so the point that we would never be able to put together the list, Jeff. but
Jeff: We just we'll keep recycling this top five prompt. Yeah, we'll just do twenty nineteen nominees revisited.
Matt Ward: Yeah, that's right. Here's another week. Twenty tens with nominees. Yeah, that's right. Ever that that would really that boost the viewership a lot on on these. yeah, all right. Well that being said, Jeff, you go You can start with number number five.
Jeff: Well, yeah, why don't you you do wanna do you want me to start with number five? Alright, my number five that I put is is Rocky.
Matt Ward: All right.
Jeff: I love Rocky. and love Sylvester Stallone in in that movie and I think I also love you know it's hard to not love the story behind Rocky and the You know, obviously the movie itself is great, but I love Sylvester Sallone just like knocking doors, like trying to get this thing made and it's a classic. All right, what's your Yeah.
Matt Ward: Yeah, well, and so that's just he's be he's been so open about the the process that he had to write it. He's been open with fans, he's talked about it so much. I mean, it's really something that you have to appreciate, Rocky. We just watched Rocky again with the family, or with a lot of the family just a few weeks ago. And it's it's amazing and it's it has so much depth to it. I love when Mickey's walking out and Rocky's yelling at him, you know, but you don't like my house? My house stink. And just so many wonderful moments of of acting in addition to just an amazing story.
Jeff: Yeah, yeah. And again, just like the down and out, like total bum who gets his chance and makes something of it. So pretty pretty awesome inspirational story. May maybe a theme. We'll see. All right, what's your what's your number five?
Matt Ward: Maybe. All right. I'll I'll actually surprisingly, because we didn't coordinate beforehand, mine I swapped Rocky for Chariots of Fire. and Chariots of Fire, great film. If you're not familiar, have you watched Chariots of Fire? Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: Yeah, I have, but it's been a long time. Yeah.
Matt Ward: So from the story of the the British Olympic team from the nineteen twenties. And really great story about refusing to compromise your principles. even even when you're faced with so much pressure, right? And the the story of of Chariots of Fire, at least part of the story, there's there's religious pressure on the runners. there's and one is a is a Jew and is fighting a lot of the anti-Semitism that's going on around that time. the other one has has made promises not to not to compete. He treats the the Sabbath as a as a holy day and his event in the Olympics is on the Sabbath. And so he chooses not to run. And I've always loved it. I think it's a it's a great story about these people who who have sacrificed so much over so many years, right, to get to where they are and get to that that crowning moment and and realize that that their faith and their religion is is more important than than some sort of gold medal around their neck. And there's a there's a happy ending after it, with it still and 'cause they they're able as as often as the case, they're they find a way to to to work things out and and still give those opportunities. But it's just a great movie. Well acted, really compelling story.
Jeff: Yeah, and well well maybe we'll have to talk offline about spoilers on that one because I'm trying to remember, but I don't want to spoil it for for our broad listening audience here.
Matt Ward: Yeah, the br everybody that'll be an overwhelming number that are like, Hey, what's going on here?
Jeff: Yeah. Well I I have I have to number four I gave to some recency bias and I gave to Coda. I really, really enjoyed Coda.
Matt Ward: yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: I think looking back, like maybe a bit of a hollow film, like maybe not like the absolute strongest plot. well yeah, no, no. I I love I
Matt Ward: What? I love Coda. It's not in my top five, but I support you, Jeff. I think it's great.
Jeff: love Coda. and I have I have no issues with it whatsoever. I'll watch it over and over again. but yeah, you know, it's again, like I'm not gonna say that it's the depth of maybe some of these other movies on here, but Loved loved it as a story. And I I also think when we were watching the Oscars, pretty much everyone had counted Coda out. And I was like, I watched all the movies this year, Coda was the best one that I saw. And I was glad that I was glad that Coda got the award. So it does go as far. It does.
Matt Ward: Yeah, it's got so much heart, right? I mean, I just I feel like and I watched it on an airplane and I w I rewatched it at home, but I remember on the airplane just bawling my eyes out, which I
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: often do on airplanes, but I just it was it's just so good. And just this family family dynamics. anyway, I I loved it, so I'm I'm with ya. all right, number four on mine is Gladiator.
Jeff: Classic.
Matt Ward: Which I I almost left off altogether. But you know, it's just yeah, I I I just respect the story. I think Ridley Scott did an amazing job as a director. I think Russell Crowe di gave a phenomenal performance. And I just like the I I I like the story. I know that it's is I'm not looking for authenticity, in terms of like historical like that is historically accurate for the t like of what actually happened to Rome.
Jeff: Right, right.
Matt Ward: But I thought that the story of Russell Crowe's character, Maximus doing everything that he did out of honor, right? Out of he gave his word to do something and he followed it through to the end. I think it's just just phenomenal. Great, great film, very, very violent film. definitely one that that I had, you know, I I showed my kids on Vid Angel. We cut out a lot of of some of the violent parts of it, but just very well done. and and lives up, you know, twenty, twenty five years later, still awesome film.
Jeff: Yeah, I didn't realise until going through the list that Russell Crowe movies won back to back. Gladiator and then the next year was Beautiful Mine, it's crazy.
Matt Ward: Yeah. Beautiful mind. Yeah.
Jeff: he had his moment. I don't know if he I don't know if he's still in that moment anymore. Russell
Matt Ward: Yeah.
Jeff: Crowe. But I don't know. I don't follow him too closely. yeah.
Matt Ward: He's still you know, I I like his his interviews are great though. Like he's still I think he I he comes across as one who still I think he had Nuremberg, right? And that'd be a good one to to take a look at also but
Jeff: Hm. I did watch part of Nuremberg.
Matt Ward: Yeah. But but yeah, the it's it's nice that he's still he's upfront about it. I mean he but he had a moment there in the early two thousands with just phen phenomenal
Jeff: Yeah, he did. He did.
Matt Ward: films. Insider was another one that was just great. All right, number three.
Jeff: Alright, my number three, yeah, my number three, I'm going with Titanic on this one.
Matt Ward: wow. Yeah.
Jeff: just yeah, yeah. Just I don't know. I I guess I just apart from you know being extremely shocked at the Kate Winslett nudity scene when I was like thirteen or however old. I I remember sitting there like Surely they're not gonna show in a P G thirteen movie. Whoa, hello. but no, I you know, I I love this movie. I love the I think the Titanic just captures a moment in history that for whatever reason, you know, a lot of ships sank. But Titanic is just one of those stories that kind of s sticks with me. Now granted, I haven't watched Titanic in a minute. Me and Oscar love to watch you know, like Disney Plus and and other shows about the Titanic and we've been to like Tit the Titanic Museum and so like I guess maybe I find the story extremely compelling. Maybe I should rewatch it and be like, actually that's not my number three because the the love story is like ridiculous. but it's definitely the one that that stuck out to me in this in this lineup here and you know just a compelling story that I that I've always kind of That I've always kind of really enjoyed. So
Matt Ward: Yeah, yeah. That's well, I definitely wanted that you could throw some filters on if you're gonna show your son your son these days. But but yeah.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah, that's for sure. Oscar keeps he keeps asking me and I'm like, Oscar, like, let's not you know, you're ten, you know yeah, definitely definitely throw a filter on it.
Matt Ward: Yeah, give us a little give it a little time there, buddy. but but I agree. I mean, a ma amazing soundtrack. James Cameron
Jeff: Amazing subject.
Matt Ward: you know, has has such an amazing list of films that he's made. And and Titanic was no no different. I mean, just the the production of that, you know, we talked about Odyssey for a while, like Titanic was another one where it's just like amazing production. And and yeah, it just kinda it it does stick with you and it has so many cultural references that we still use today. So
Jeff: Yeah, yeah. And we even watched the whole show about never letting go and like would the door actually hold Jack and Kate and Rose's weight and anyway. It does. Never ends. All right, number three, Matt. What you got?
Matt Ward: Yeah, that's right. That's the debate this still goes on. Yeah, that's Yeah. I think yeah, number three. I've had Lawrence of Arabia. The you
Jeff: Hmm. Interesting.
Matt Ward: watched that one, Jeff?
Jeff: I think I did, but my memory has definitely failed me, on it,
Matt Ward: Very
Jeff: so
Matt Ward: very fun you know, it's a it's it's one where at times maybe feels like a little more of a chore to watch. It's a long one. but you know, David Lean directed and just really so they have just these beautiful it's just beautifully shot, very well done. You know, you sit in the you listen to Lor Lawrence in the movie and you're like, Man, this guy like I can see why people have struggled with him. I mean this is one of those guys like you'd have in a meeting and be Man, this guy's really on my nerves here. But really interesting story, very well developed. It you know, it's kinda got the same same vibes kind of along the David Lean thing of, you know, Dr. Shivago, Gandhi, just beautifully done, but very long. You have to be patient with it, but Perfectly acted, amazing sweeping scenes, epic battles, and really tells an amazing amazing story.
Jeff: Yeah. Well there's definitely something to be said for you know, that that era in Hollywood as well. I
Matt Ward: yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: just love I love watching some of those old movies that have just the the epit you know, where they didn't even have computer technology and they were just like, We're gonna get six thousand extras in here, you know, it's just like crazy, crazy stuff.
Matt Ward: Yeah, yeah. And and for for a fraction of the modern budgets, right? And it's like just go out there and film out there again and make these movies. I mean I I just anyway.
Jeff: Yeah, should we bring up how should we bring up again how much money they paid Zendaya to be in the Odyssey for like seven seconds? Give me a break.
Matt Ward: Her her role was compelling, Jeff. Her role's compelling. All right, number two.
Jeff: Number two for me. going with going with Braveheart.
Matt Ward: Very nice.
Jeff: Loved it since I was a kid. Now, looking at this list, man, it's like a list of movies. So many movies that I need to watch and so many movies that I need to rewatch. so maybe maybe instead of Oscar working on the Marvel list, I can get him to work on the best picture list. it'd probably be more cultural experience for him to you know, to root to watch a bunch of these movies. But But yeah, I love love the story. even if it's, you know, not tight tightly tied to history. Mel Gibson in his moment. And yeah, just a a classic that I probably watched when I was younger. Man, I I watched that movie so many times. I think I even had like the first ten minutes of the movie memorized. So just just a a good classic that I was enjoyed. Epic movie, you know, they
Matt Ward: Well, a beautiful soundtrack, James Warner soundtrack, Sons
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: of Scotland speech, I mean just really memorable moments. You know, his betrayal, like there are some greatest parts.
Jeff: I was gonna say Yeah, I was gonna say for like a ten year span, maybe from twenty ten to twenty twenty or so, I just felt like, why don't they make movies like Braveheart anymore? And they just didn't. And you know, for a while we had all these movies that we used to really enjoy, like the Civil War movies, Braveheart, kind of these war epics. And they just stopped making them and then at some point someone was like, actually We could actually make some money off some of these movies. but you know, just just a great classic. Do need to rewatch it though. All right, what you got for number two?
Matt Ward: Number two, Unforgiven. Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman,
Jeff: Hmm. That was a good one. Yeah.
Matt Ward: Gene Hackman. Just a and that's a it's another one that a lot of it. I remember watching it the first time and being like, this is a this is a slow movie. Like it's a it's got a slow burn for a lot of it. Amazing payoff at the end. just a very interesting story, right? Un I love the title of Unforgiven of this guy who changes his ways, right? Marries a girl. kind of leaves his old life behind just to get to to choose to go back into it, right? And but just great dialogue. The script is amazing. And I love the story of the script, right? And it kind of bounced it sat around for for a long time before they actually made it. Clint Eastwood directed, did a great job. I just I really like they have some interesting discussions about accuracy with shooting, right? And and then Clint Eastwood's character has this amazing shot once he drinks a lot of alcohol and things anyway. It's just a very very well put together and be again beautifully done. And you know, they they talk about the story of why, you know, Gene Hackman was like, I don't want to do this movie. And Clintis was like, look, it's it's the anti Western, right? It's it's the movie that's that's is showing the reality, you know, the the the counterexample to the good of bad and the ugly and to to some of these other old high noon and the other westerns that they had, it's it's more the reality of it. Right. And I think they just did a phenomenal job with it.
Jeff: Yeah. Yeah. That's another one I need to go back and and rewatch for sure. Give me a lot of homework here.
Matt Ward: Right. All right, number one.
Jeff: number one. Well I have always been a really big fan of Forrest Gump. so gave Forest
Matt Ward: wow.
Jeff: Gump number one. I just love I mean, love the story, love the music, and just find it to be very touching. I think I think actually now I'm looking at my list, I'm like, well, four of those five movies are movies about an underdog story. but I do love an underdog. You should watch me rooting for college football on a Saturday, you know.
Matt Ward: Right.
Jeff: but love the underdog story of Forrest Gump. Again Tom Hanks in his moment probably my favorite Tom Hanks movie ever made. and just You know, find the different well, it's it's a journey of life, it's a time of life that we didn't live through. and so to kind of see it through that lens, probably a little bit glor glorified or what what do you call it, like maybe watered down in in many ways. not the reality of of how everything was, but just kind of fun yeah. Vietnam was
Matt Ward: Especially probably the Vietnam era portions of it. Yeah.
Jeff: Pretty fun actually.
Matt Ward: Yeah, yeah.
Jeff: but no, I just really have always enjoyed that movie and actually one that I'll I'll go back to over and over. So
Matt Ward: Yeah. Yeah, well I love I love his whenever he runs, you know, ocean to ocean and things. I just you know, it really it was great there's great moments in that.
Jeff: yeah. Yeah, I mean it's just like it's almost like it's almost like a big fish kind of like it's just so far fetched, you know, but but you find him to be such an endearing character that you're you know, you're just into it. You just go with it, so
Matt Ward: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Number
Jeff: All right, what you got? Number one.
Matt Ward: one, Casablanca. Throwing out.
Jeff: Okay, yeah, yeah.
Matt Ward: Hello, Humphrey Bogart. The and I I'm a little torn on it because I look at some of the other films and let me immediately undercut my decision. But you know, it's it's I think just because I felt like the story was so taut and it's interesting, you know, it's that And and anything kind of in the the the framing of World War Two and you know, the the Nazis are in Morocco and people are having to run to flee. And I mean there's just there are so many elements to it that I really enjoy. And I just think that Humphrey Bogart does such a wonderful job in in his role and just kind of the stoic, you know, uncompromising, like making them the making certain decisions based on what's best for the girl that he loves. and and and I always think Humphrey Bogart's an interesting actor because, you know, he's this leading man in all these movies and and you know, you just
Jeff: Yeah.
Matt Ward: and you look at it and you're like, I don't I don't see the appeal for the all these girls are just falling over him and you're like, It's have you talked to him? But but it's I I just love the story. I think it was so well done and it's again, it's very it's very tight and has a lot of different different layers to it. So that's that's my number one for this week at least.
Jeff: speaking of the leading man, and I do love Casapolina because that's classic. But I was gonna say speaking of the leading man, Lisa was watching some old Clark Gable movie. That's another one where he just kinda like No, no, it wasn't Gone with the Wind, but it like you know, it was a more obscure one. I forget what it
Matt Ward: Yeah. Gone with the wind? Different one. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff: was called, but maybe I'll look it up. He was it was definitely like in his older years. and but he was still like, you know, the kind of the woman the the man that all women are fawning over and he's like you know
Matt Ward: Yeah, like Carrie Grant, right? Yeah.
Jeff: yeah, he's like fifty years old. Clark Gable is like, from my perspective, like not that maybe in his younger years, but as a fifty year old, like not the kind of man like a twenty year old woman is, you know, fawning over. So it's just kind of like a little unbelievable. But Yeah, they they did that back in the day. It was just like, hey, grab that famous
Matt Ward: Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Different time.
Jeff: man and throw him in that movie and We did watch Singin' the rain recently, I don't know if I told you that, but that Gene Kelly man, he was something else. There's a guy
Matt Ward: Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
Jeff: there's a guy that could have been fifty and had twenty year olds fawning over him and I would have believed it. 'Cause he was Who wouldn't have fawned? I I was fawning over Gene Kelly.
Matt Ward: Who won who won Gene Kelly is a superstar? The way he dances, the way he moves. All right. Well Yeah.
Jeff: It's crazy. Well yeah, we should probably wrap it up. good first episode, good chat, and we'll carry on next week. I don't have any highlights for
Matt Ward: All right. Sounds great.
Jeff: next week, but we do have days of thunder too to discuss, so all right. Signing off. See ya.
Matt Ward: That's right. All right. Yeah, let's let's wrap. All right, talk to you. sign on. See ya.
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