I think Christopher Nolan is a brilliant filmmaker, and especially gifted on the technical side of the ledger. A lot of influencers and accounts on the conservative side of the spectrum have tried to pre-judge his take on The Odyssey which releases widely this weekend. They cite casting Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, or Elliot (formerly Ellen) Page in some other role. Or they criticize Nolan for relying on a modern, somewhat deflated translation. None of this is enough to dissuade me from going.

Can we just wait and see? Most of the cast is absolutely top notch. Nolan seems to have navigated some choppy waters in which he portrays the gods and the supernatural. I don’t love every film he has done, but he is the last director whose films immediately conduct and command audiences to the box office. This hasn’t been true of Steven Spielberg in decades.