Damage Control isn’t just the site of much of the action in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s an all-too-obvious metaphor for a movie with a lot riding on its shoulders, coming after so many disappointing comic-book films — in the DC and Marvel cinematic universes — and an over-reliance on the multiverse and fan-pandering novelty.
The good news is that this hero is up to the task.
Brand New Day gets things back on track, delivering an emotionally rich and action-packed spectacle that’s bigger than previous outings and hugely satisfying, even if it feels a tad overstuffed.
Christopher Nolan has spent the last quarter-century doing something very few filmmakers can do: Making audiences think while simultaneously blowing their minds.
His movies have recurring themes — time, memory, identity, obsession, sacrifice, and moral ambiguity — and they’re populated with people who could really benefit from a good therapist.
Nolan loves practical effects, giant IMAX screens, nonlinear storytelling, and asking viewers to do a little homework after the credits roll.
He also loves working with the same people again and again. Christian Bale, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, Robert Pattinson, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Marion Cotillard, and Morgan Freeman are just some of the actors who have appeared in multiple Nolan films.
Most importantly, Nolan never thinks small. Whether he’s exploring dreams, Gotham City, World War II, outer space, or ancient Greece, his films feel like events. Because they are.
I’ve seen 12 of Nolan’s 13 films, every single one of them on the big screen at least once, and I consider him to be one of my favorite filmmakers. So, with The Odyssey now in theaters, I thought it was a good time for a ranking of those movies.
Sure, ranking Nolan’s movies is both fun and slightly misleading. Even his less satisfying work is still more ambitious and more impressive than many other directors’ best films.
In short, Nolan is a writer/director who doesn’t settle for “good enough.”
With all that in mind, here are my picks, from worst (a word I’m using in relative terms) to best.
UPDATE July 26, 2026: I have now seen The Odyssey twice, the second time in IMAX 70mm (the way God intended), and that second screening made a significant difference in what I think about the film.
Wow! to everything — particularly the cinematography, the score by Ludwig Göransson, and the storytelling. Watching the film a second time, without my sky-high expectations and anticipation, I was able to simply watch the movie and appreciate its commentary about the costs and sacrifices of war on a deeper level. That said, the scene late in the movie showing the attack on and destruction of Troy resonated with me yet again. Given the events of the last three years, I’m still thinking about whether Odysseus is a hero to be respected or a leader of bad men who has a conscience about what he unleashed. That line about turning “a fight into a hunt” says it all. He’s complicated, that’s for sure.
The IMAX 70mm presentation allowed me to be fully immersed in the action, to see how amazing the cinematography really is, and to enjoy scenes like the confrontation with the Laestrygonians even more. Those scenes on the high seas with the waves crashing and the ship rocking, and the volume turned way up so you can be overwhelmed by the sound … It’s all breathtaking. In short, if you have the chance to see this movie in IMAX 70mm, you shouldn’t miss it. Even regular IMAX is preferable. Yes, even if you’ve already seen it once before.
After seeing The Odyssey a second time, the way it was intended to be seen, I’m raising my grade to an A–. It’s still not a perfect movie, but it’s really great, and I look forward to seeing it again — but only in similarly ideal conditions.
The celebrity “hall pass” is a fun little game many couples play. (Or so I’ve been told.)
The scenario is simple: Each partner gets to name one celebrity who, were they ever to have the chance, they could have sex with, and the other partner would be totally okay with it. It’s complete fantasy, of course, but that hasn’t stopped people from making their choices over the years.
This concept of a “hall pass” has inspired multiple storylines in pop culture. For example, you probably remember the season-three episode of Friends (“The One with Frank Jr.”) where Ross and Rachel create lists of five celebrities they’re allowed to sleep with if they ever have the chance. Ross’s list, which he laminates, includes Isabella Rossellini, but Chandler convinces him she’s “too international” and suggests replacing her with Winona Ryder because she’s “more local.” And then, at the end of the episode, Rossellini herself walks into Central Perk, but she dismisses Ross because she’s not actually on the list.
Before every installment of Jackass, whether on the small or big screen, there’s a warning, explaining that what you’re about to see are stunts performed by “professionals” and you shouldn’t try them for yourself.
Actually, the first and still-iconic warning said that “neither you nor your dumb little buddies should attempt anything” they see. That language has now been updated to be a bit more politically correct and legally protective (fingers crossed!), but the point remains: Jackass is the cinematic equivalent of watching your dumbest friends make catastrophically bad decisions — and then laughing because somehow everyone survives. No one should try to replicate what they see.
That, of course, is a tall order in these days of social media and endless “content,” when everyone is competing for eyeballs, and everyone is copying from other creators when they see something work. But so far, so good. For the most part.
Jackass, which first debuted as a TV show on MTV in 2000, pre-dated social media. Which means we’ve been laughing along with Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Wee Man, Dave England, Danger Ehren, Preston Lacy, director Jeff Tremaine, and company for more than 25 years now.
Their latest big-screen installment — Jackass: Best and Last— serves as a gleefully stupid victory lap, a retrospective, and possibly a valedictory for this lovable gang of idiots.
When you go to a dinner party, you never quite know what to expect. One thing is promised, but the night can take unexpected turns — menu-wise, people-wise, conversation-wise, or otherwise.
In other words, when it comes to dinner parties, you should always expect the unexpected.
Such is the case with Olivia Wilde’s excellent new film, The Invite, which follows that kind of scenario.
Adapted from Cesc Gay’s Spanish film The People Upstairs (Els veïns de dalt), with a screenplay by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, The Invite centers on Angela and Joe (Wilde and Seth Rogen), a long-married couple whose relationship is falling apart. Tensions are already high between them when they decide (or, rather, they feel pressured) to host their mysterious upstairs neighbors, Pina and Hawk (Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton), for a dinner party.
So, the idea of another movie about a cape-wearing savior saving the world didn’t exactly fill me with anticipation — and Supergirl’s trailers didn’t have me feeling optimistic, either.
Well, I needn’t have worried. Not as much, anyway.
Nearly 31 years after the original film hit theaters, Toy Story 5 proves there’s still plenty of life left in Pixar’s signature franchise. And thank God — or Disney, anyway — for that.
This latest installment may not be the best film in the series, but it’s all relative, which means it’s still a funny, heartfelt film that speaks to both kids and adults, and it’s better than most other offerings at your local cinema right now.
Steven Spielberg has spent much of his career asking us to look up at the sky in wonder. From Close Encounters of the Third Kind to E.T. and even the darker War of the Worlds, his best alien stories have balanced spectacle with genuine human emotion.
His latest film, Disclosure Day, is clearly trying to join that club. Not surprisingly, given its pedigree, it’s an entertaining, ambitious ride. That said, it never quite reaches the heights of Spielberg’s other extraterrestrial adventures.
In Daniel Roher’s Tuner, Leo Woodall plays Niki, a talented young piano tuner whose life is complicated by hyperacusis, a neurological condition that causes everyday sounds to be perceived as painfully loud or overwhelming. To cope, he wears a hearing aid. When things are less predictable, he wears special noise-cancelling headphones.
The film is hitting theaters at the start of the summer movie season, a time of year when loud and overwhelming are kind of the trend, and when more delicate sounds — the kind Niki helps clients preserve — require a more trained ear.
In that same spirit, Tuner is counter-programming for moviegoers with slightly more refined tastes, a film that stands out among the usual summer offerings at the multiplex.
Martin's Musings 