Yesterday morning I was up bright and early as I am most mornings, but it was a little different. I was about to hit the road to come to a friend’s birthday party. The only problem was that it didn’t start until 5:00 PM and if I left at a time to just go to it I would hit tunnel traffic and there is nothing a resident on the southside hates more than tunnel traffic. That meant I had to leave bright and early as well.
It was a great success. i got on the road at 8:00 AM and because of the nature of where my friend lives I got off of 95 right before hitting the worst of Northern Virginia traffic and ended up at Potomac Mills Mall.
Now I also ended up parking at the exact wrong end of the mall and having to walk its entire length to get to the movie theater and when I arrived my worst fears came true. The movie theater was now an arcade and bowling ally. I was confused for roughly 15 seconds as I had seen AMC listed on the sign, but obviously the movie theater was now a bowling ally. I remembered seeing Fight Club there how many ever years ago.
I walked outside, looked right, then looked left, then pulled out my handy map from the world’s premier cartography firm, Google, and it told me the movie theater was indeed nearby. I started walking to the right and didn’t see it so turned around and there it was. Big, shiny, and moderately newish.
Now, it had been a long time since I had simply walked into a movie theater with no idea of what I was going to watch or what was even playing, and this movie theater didn’t make it easy with a private touch screen where I could touch all by myself. I had to talk to a person. I told them I was hoping for a touchscreen and they apologized and directed me outside to the marquee.
I saw that The Odyssey was still playing and that was it. I was in and luckily it was starting right then. I headed into the theater, sat down, and previews started. I am so happy they are making shitty movies again. The previews for Other Mommy, Whalefall, Digger, and Werewulf look absolutely insane and the types of movies that only get made if studios are just throwing whatever at a wall and hoping it sticks.
The Odyssey was fucking amazing and I am unsure of how many people got the social commentary of it, but with everything going on in the world it seems extra fitting. The long arc of history showing the end of a golden age due to one man’s arrogance through the lens of another man’s long journey home where he loses everything and realizes he had all that and more before any of the events unfurled.
It makes a good companion piece with Interstellar with the focus on a father on a journey, a child left behind, and a world crumbling to ash. It might be Nolan’s best work and a movie I already want to watch again.
David Huzzard Writes 