Joe Bandy

@joebandy

Dad, leftist, cinephile and some other stuff. Here for the vibes and solidarity. Opinions my own. he/him

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Joe Bandy@joebandy· 26d

people on here will tweet anything.
"Charlie Brown had hoes." No he didn't. That isn't true.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· 27d

Odyssey time (Not my bike)

Joe Bandy@joebandy· 28d

Got blocked for pointing out that Christopher Nolan does not believe it's wrong to watch his movies in a non IMAX setting. So just for posterity, here's four different times through the years where he's said that. The whole snobby British director schtick is an internet invention.

'Well, do you have a problem with people seeing
'Dunkirk' on my phone or whatever?'' Nolan asked himself before answering, "No, I don't. But the reason I don't is because it's put into these big theaters as its primary form, or its initial distribution. And the experience trickles down, to the extent where, if you have an iPad and you're watching a movie, you carry with you the knowledge and your understanding of what that cinematic experience would be and you extrapolate that. So when you watch a TV show on your iPad, your brain is in a completely different mindset."

The truth is, I'm a child of the home video age. I grew up with VHS, and the birth of VHS, and watching films at home. And I discovered some of my favorite films... like Blade Runner, I first watched a grainy pirate VHS tape. There was a terrific article that M. Night Shyamalan wrote some years ago in one of the trades where he was talking about the theatrical experience, and how it filters down to every version of the film that people see. So yes, the economics of the movie business - my entire life, and before I was born - have been that more people, numerically, may wind up seeing your film on television. And these days, you know, right down to phones and things like that. But the equation doesn't change, which is, you shoot the film in the best way possible. You present it in the absolute best way possible. And that experience trickles down to these other formats.

Christopher Nolan approves of people watching his films on tiny screens. "I'm very much in favor and in awe of the easy access that we have now to films to be able to immerse ourselves in films and film history," he told 60 Minutes.

If it's possible, that's the best way to see the film. But yeah, I mean, I started making films.
I mean, I'm a child of the VHS era.
You know, videotapes at home and
everything. And so most of the films I've seen in my life have been at home or on a TV or a computer or whatever. So it's not that, you know, an enormous number of people are going to see the film that way.
And we take a lot of care about transferring the film and making all those versions as good as they can be. But I think for any film, particularly for the Odyssey, really, you know, it's about trying to have an experience. And the best way to have that experience is to try and find a movie theater and go and enjoy it.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· 28d

Setting aside that sound mixing has little to do with your original claim about his sentiments, your article is cutting off the full quote from IndieWire, which doesn't seem to have published the full context of his statement either. But he's clearly talking about "substandard" as poorly maintained.

"We made the decision a couple of films ago that we weren't going to mix films for substandard theaters," said Nolan in an interview with IndieWire last week. "We're mixing for well-aligned, great theaters."
Nolan applauded theaters owners for responding to the challenges he's thrown their way, but reiterated he's more concerned with the theaters doing it correctly.

"At a certain point, you have to decide if you've made the best possible version of the film and you're trying to account for inadequacies in presentation," said Nolan in the same interview.
"That's chasing the tail. It doesn't work. I will say, with our sound mixes, we spent a lot of time and attention making sure that they work in as predictable a way possible."
Nolan and his sound team tries to keep more of the sound information in the main channels, which are less variable than the subchannels in most theaters. The result in greater consistency theater to theater. Yet, in his interview with IndieWire, Nolan also bemoaned that it's hard to have consistent presentation in theaters with the disappearance of an attentive projectionist from theater booths. His advice to audience members?
"It's important to complain if you don't like something you hear because theater owners need to step up," said Nolan.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jul 10

I appreciate that this round of Nolan PR has had a more candid admittance of VFX use. Nolan's framing here is still a bit annoying but it's at least more fun to take the position of a magician not revealing his secrets than one pretending he has actual magic.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jul 9

The whole critic vs influencer convo from a few weeks ago can be summed up in these two Letterboxd reviews. One has an actual perspective and is speaking to the artistry they responded to in the film. The other is talking about the movie like its an ice cream flavor.

Christopher Nolan's adaptation of THE ODYSSEY is as epic as movies get with some of the most breathtaking set pieces he's ever attempted. A colossal achievement of scale, even by Nolan's standards, its commitment to capturing as much as possible in-camera using new IMAX cameras is a staggering technical feat worthy of this sprawling yet intimate story of one man's journey to return home, the burden and consequences of leadership, and the eternal struggle between mortals and gods. Matt Damon's screen command and glimpse into Odysseus's soul brings waves of enormous power to a larger-than-life and complex role. Anne Hathaway turns in an equally powerful and emotional performance as the steadfast Penelope. And Tom Holland's coming-of-age portrayal of Telemachus signals an exciting new era in his evolving career as a leading man. The cast is massive but the supporting turns from Robert Pattinson, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, and John Leguizamo impressed me the most.
Ludwig Göransson turns in another bold and memorable score that brings classical and modern music together into something wholly unique. And the soundscape is thunderous, knowing exactly how and when to dial the overwhelming sound back for maximum dramatic effect. I grew up loving grand, sword and action dramas such as "Gladiator,"
"Braveheart," "The Last Samurai," and yes, even "Troy." I'm beyond thrilled to say Nolan's ambitious dissection of myth and legend looms large over them all. Whether you experience it in IMAX or a standard theater, this is the kind of filmmaking and storytelling that we rarely see anymore and deserves to be honored.

after watching it for the first time it immediately entered my top 3 Nolan films
after watching it for the second time, I really think it's my #1

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jul 9

Doing homework before The Odyssey next week and watched Helen of Troy last night. Robert Wise sure knew how to frame a shot. Gotta love that midcentury Hollywood CinemaScope look.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jul 8

This tweet nearing its 10 year anniversary and still somehow applicable.

A tweet dated 1 oct 2016

Well, I'd like to see ol Donny Trump wriggle his way out of THIS jam!
*Trump wriggles his way out of the jam easily*
Ah! Well. Nevertheless,

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jun 29

Interesting they're trotting Safran out to deliver the talking points. Also total corpo speak, doesn't mention Milly, the creative team, any sense of pride in the movie. Weekend hasn't even finished and they're already apologizing. Just a terrible look for any studio. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/b...

While 'Supergirl' didn't meet our box office expectations, it's just one component of a broader, long-term strategy at DC Studios that we remain confident in," Peter Safran,
co-chairman and co-chief executive of DC Studios, said by telephone.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jun 29

The NYT completely buying into the idea that the reason female super hero movies flopped is because of the fan base. Even if it calls them misogynists, it still legitimizes the idea that they're a remotely large group.

Still, box office analy 's on Sunday noted an uncomfortable truth: Female-led superhero movies have been rejected almost uniformly over the past five years or so, perhaps reflecting a resurgent misogyny among the core fan base, which is largely male.!
Before its release,
"Supergirl" became caught up in a now-familiar cycle of online abuse, with some fanboys attacking Milly Alcock's casting and appearance. Warner Bros. executives said they were surprised by both the ferocity of the backlash and its reach, believing the culture had evolved past that sort of campaign.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jun 27

When Gunn and Safran came in, it was very deliberately framed as a page turn for the genre and would usher in a new era of DC with high standards of quality and a unified brand. Two movies in and that's completely collapsed.

"As everyone here probably knows, the history of DC is pretty messed up. There is the Arrowverse. There as the DC EU which then split became the Joss Whedon Justice League at one point, became the Snyder-verse at the other point. There was Superman and Lois, there's the Reeves-verse. There's all these different things," Gunn said at the top of the session.
"Even us, we came in and did Suicide Squad and that became Peacemaker and all of a sudden Bat-mite is real guy that's never been set up," said the Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker and Marvel Studios vet.
"No one was minding the mint," Gunn criticized, "they were just giving away IP like they were party favors to any creators that smiled to them."

"The bar is going to be very high for projects outside of the
DCU," asserted Safran.
Winking at the history of previous DC films, read David Ayer's Suicide Squad and Snyder/Whedon's Justice League, productions were known for their reshoots, Gunn promised, "People have become beholden to dates, to holding dates, to getting movies made no matter what. At the end of the day, I'm a writer at my heart, and we're not going to be making movies before the screenplay is finished.
And if that means our plan has to shift a little bit-it's going to happen, we know it's going to happen...we're not going to be making movies and putting hundreds of millions of dollars in a film where a screenplay is only two-thirds of the way done and we have to finish it while we're making the movie. I've seen it happen again and again, and it's a mess. I think it's the primary reason for the deterioration in the quality of films today versus 30 years ago." Gunn mentioned how on Suicide Squad he did no reshoots, and on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 he did a day of picking up "and it's because of having screenplays prepared before we shoot. I don't want to get into this massive spending of hundreds of millions of dollars on reshoots."

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jun 23

Donald Trump in "All Quiet on the Frontal Lobe"

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jun 14

I don't think I can really distill the themes into a few sentences after only seeing it once, but I think what JA Bayona wrote on Letterboxd is the closest I've seen someone get. It's really not about the spectacle at all.

JABayona Letterboxd review of Disclosure Day that reads.
A monumental work that distills half a century of scientific, philosophical, and cinematic imagination, reminding us once again that the extraterrestrial was always an excuse to talk about ourselves-our fears, our desires, and empathy as the only tool capable of ensuring our survival. A masterclass in classicism, a synthesis, a celebration, and a living testament to the very best of Hollywood cinema.
LIKED 559 likes

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jun 10

Just to add to this, since I've seen people criticizing the look all day: if this actually looked like Fincher's Social Network everyone would be windmill dunking on it for looking flat, dim, and dreary. (I love the look of this movie. People online are just terrible at discussing cinematography)

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jun 10

Agreed. Sorry to the "Sorkin can't direct!" crowd, but these are v nice big screen compositions! Cronenweth's lighting is great, but its building on staging that has a lot of depth and scale which is hard for a movie that will clearly be a lot of scenes of people talking in rooms.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jun 3

Got mine the other day! So pumped to dig into it! Ordered in September 😆

Joe Bandy@joebandy· May 4

Star Wars is famously a sci-fi world that has never had any sleek, rounded aesthetic and monotone colors…. (This is a seriously embarrassing circlejerk, even by Bluesky standards)

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Apr 27

I don’t see how your description matches the definition at all. Goodfellas is incredibly layered in its social and cultural commentary, and was very groundbreaking in form. Nothing about it strikes me as conventional. You seem to be using the term as if it is about accessibility?

mid•dle•brow |'mid(a)I,brou | often
derogatory
adjective
(of art or literature or a system of thought) demanding or involving only a moderate degree of intellectual application, typically as a result of not deviating from convention:
middlebrow fiction.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Apr 23

Mr Beast in the workplace

Tim Robinson in I Think You Should Leave saying “We should be able to look at a little porn at work.”

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Mar 29

Sign I saw at a protest in Kentucky yesterday

Sign at protest “Stephen Miller went to Duke” with a big red X on the duke

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Feb 12

??? The compositions are plenty wide and have depth. It’s just a half-baked aesthetic. You can see exactly what they’re going for. It’s just sorely lacking in atmosphere. bsky.app/profile/core...

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jan 27

Frozen field at golden hour, and the road home. Taken yesterday evening.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jan 11

A frigid afternoon, but the crowd was in high spirits. Very encouraging to see a turnout like this!

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Jan 11

Signs from the ICE Out For Good Rally in Lexington today.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Oct 18

Signs at the No Kings Protest in Lexington, KY

“No sign is big enough to list all the reasons I’m here”

“If you’re not antifascist then what are you?”

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Sep 23

To what quote are you referring? He says clearly he initially refused but Kennedy pitched him the story of it as an origin for this female Jedi and he said yes. I don’t see any qualifier here that he just said yes to doing one.

Joe Bandy@joebandy· Sep 22

Arndt most definitely signed an NDA. This was the line I was referencing in the THR article linked above. Kennedy and Lucas brought him in before the Disney purchase.