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PODCAST

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!)

Christopher Nolan"s The Odyssey will be released July 17, 2026. A philosopher and a critic are joined by their very own Rufus (and sometimes guests!) to talk about Nolan, modern studio filmmaking, filmed and adapted versions of The Odyssey, and why a 2700 year old epic poem is still culturally relevant. Join us on this epic adventure!

tv & film film history

All Episodes

01:28:39

Insomnia

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/11/11

We're back with another Nolan episode to talk about his 2002 film Insomnia starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hillary Swank. We compare it to the original Norwegian film, the addition of the very American subplot about the LAPD and internal affairs and Andy has a lot of cancelable takes on police misconduct! Also do NOT watch the Norwegian version if you don't wat to see Stellan Skarsgard shoot a stray dog, molest a 17 year old, or hate a box of kittens. We really explore the morality

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01:36:52

The Return

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/10/20

The Return the Re-Re-Reupload. Sorry, our files keep getting Zucked by the powers that be. Hopefully this passes muster. And in this episode we discuss The Return with Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus washing up on the shore of Ithaca and having to deal with the parasitic and violent suitors who have taken up residence in his home.Thanks again to Ben for coming along for this boat ride! Did any of you see The Return? What did you think?

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01:36:29

The Return

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/10/14

We've... um.... returned. With The Return, the story of Odysseus washing up on the shore of Ithaca and having to deal with the parasitic and violent suitors who have taken up residence in his home. Thanks again to Ben for coming along for this boat ride!We discuss the various fine points of Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche's cinematic history, which suitor was the worst, connections to Batman, and why Telemachus was the actual worst here. Jesus and Mary Chain ft. Hope Sandoval. Is Athena

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01:36:29

The Return

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/10/09

We're back... with Ben! And with 2024's The Return, a retelling of the final section of The Odyssey where Odysseus returns to Ithaca and murders the suitors who have taken up a parasitic and violent residence in his home. In this episode we discuss the finer points of Ralph Fiennes and Juliet Binoche's careers together, if Telemachus is the worst here, or is it Antonus... or Pisander? Why is he Clayface? Emmaus is the Italian Batman. And more! We're leaving Ben with Circe but will be

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01:29:38

Nietzsche vs. Odysseus vs. Memento

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/09/18

We remind Andy that we DEFINITELY did a Memento episode already as we welcome our first castaway-- Ben! He's here as an expert on Nietzsche (and Foucalt!) AND he has opinions about Christopher Nolan, too! In the episode we delve back into active forgetting and what Nietzsche wrote about the genealogy of morals, the Greek gods, and other issues and how they relate to the ways we think of both Memento and The Odyssey. Is this a revenge tale? Next week we're delving more into that last question

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01:13:18

Uno - Memento! We Keep Forgetting...

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/07/17

It's Christopher Nolan's breakthrough film Memento, in which protagonist Lenny can't create new memories and searches for the elusive John G, who according to a tattoo on his chest raped and murdered his wife. This episode has lots of bits. In this podcast we run through the plot and filmmaking of Memento, Remember Stephen Toblowsky, discuss the origins of some of Christopher Nolan's film tropes, un-cancel John Locke (oh my!!), try to make Inception happen early, stop making sense,

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01:23:20

Ulise (1954) is Italian for "Kirk Douglas in a...

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/06/16

It's our first cinematic take on The Odyssey with 1954's "Ulysses" starring Silvana Mangano and Kirk Douglas. We discuss the film but also The Cold War, erotic Soviet tractor movies (here's some examples), 1950s crushes, JB finds us a sexy tractor calendar, Dino de Laurentis, and ultimately settle that this is more of a CW/Lifetime version of the epic. Here's the episode of Yours, Mine, and Theirs where Ammon and Andy discussed this movie along with Disney's Hercules

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01:18:37

Epics!!!

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/05/26

What exactly is an Epic! We follow Ammon down some of his favorite rabbit holes as we discuss Homer, Hegel, and Hollywood. Also, we start with some Nolan news: it's gonna be ALL IMAX! And the production filming in places "that have never been filmed before"! Next episode we're watching the 1954 Kirk Douglas film Ulysses as our first cinematic take on The Odyssey. It's all in Italian! And you can watch it for free right now on Tubi if you want to watch along with us.

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01:35:07

Nolan Begins

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/05/08

An overview of Christopher Nolan, his career, and films. 00:00 OpeningCorrections, errata -- shipwrecks? INCLUDING a very special announcement about future guests.A discussion of auteur theory (and its limitations but why we're using it anyway).NOLAN:24:30 - Intro to Nolan, bio26:00 - Following30:15 - Memento37:10 - Insomnia40:45 - Batman Begins50:30 - The Prestige52:15 - The Dark Knight54:37 - Inception1:03:30 - The Dark Knight Rises1:05:20 - Interstellar1:11:20 - Dunkirk1:18:30 - TENET1:25:00 -

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01:31:16

We Read The Odyssey, We Promise! (aka Sex Cauldron)

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/04/27

SPOILER ALERT: the first 6 lines of The Odyssey tell us the entire story. We go through the entirety of The Odyssey (so this is the episode to listen to rather than do the reading!) Also why Athena is the best, how to pronounce Telemachus, and SEX CAULDRONS! Andy forgets the stupid, sexy Oppenheimer scientist (it was Josh Hartnett). Next week it's an overview of Nolan and Nolan's filmography.

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01:04:32

Episode 0 - In Medias Res

Andy and Ammon"s Excellent Odyssey (ft. JB!) ·

2025/04/21

Welcome to our campfire, our amphitheater, our place for communal storytelling: it's the beginning of our Excellent Odyssey, during which we'll discuss the Homeric epic and Christopher Nolan's work at adapting it. The podcast is a sort of chimera. Why do we still care about The Odyssey? Why does Nolan choose THIS as his big project? What do we think of Nolan as a filmmaker? In some ways, is he perfect for The Odyssey? Introducing ourselves a little. How we'll do these episodes in 3 episode cycles:

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