‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made the Hard Way | This year's breakouts like 'Project Hail Mary' and 'Obsession' were made by filmmakers who sweated. While CG-stuffed franchise disappointments such as 'Supergirl,' 'Moana,' and 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' looked lazy.

[u/ChiefLeef22]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/odyssey-box-office-2026-practical-effects-1236652219/

[u/longjumpingtote]

Yes. PHM was a great story, adapted by one of the best screenwriters in Hollywood, one of the best director (teams), with great characters and the perfect actor for the role. That's the "hard way" part, getting all that talent together.

[u/PaleInTexas → u/longjumpingtote]

PHM?

[u/captain919 → u/PaleInTexas]

Project hail mary

[u/PaleInTexas → u/captain919]

Ah. Duh. Thanks.

[u/NeuHundred → u/PaleInTexas]

It's all right, I was watching the movie and say PHM on the spacesuit and thought "what does that stand for?"

[u/arachnophilia → u/NeuHundred]

"pretty hate machine"?

[u/DisastrousMango4 → u/PaleInTexas]

porn hub mate

[u/PaleInTexas → u/DisastrousMango4]

Sounds like an app Mike Johnson would install on his son's phone.

[u/imail724 → u/PaleInTexas]

Pretty Hate Machine

[u/TerayonIII → u/PaleInTexas]

Project Hail Mary

[u/Dismal_Engineering71 → u/PaleInTexas]

Project hail mary.

[u/castlite → u/longjumpingtote]

And the music/score was incredible.

[u/kiwigate → u/longjumpingtote]

Is there a story? The big criticisms of Weir's work is he's more interested in sequence-of-events than he is able to write compelling characters.

It's the same criticism of Nolan. Audiences seem to think a story is when you withhold information rather than dramatic irony of watching characters change. But a character with growth is bad for sequels so I guess we're just done with that outside the indie scene.

[u/NepoKitty → u/kiwigate]

The production team and performers managed to mould Weir's work into something entertaining, though, I agree, lacking in story or character, let alone growth. Ortiz in particular was delightful -- love a skilled puppeteer! Wish they had cut it into something tighter.

[u/Rxasaurus → u/longjumpingtote]

👎

Edit- guess you folks didnt actually watch PHM.

[u/pastrynugget → u/Rxasaurus]

Fist my bump.

[u/DOOMFOOL → u/Rxasaurus]

?

[u/Rxasaurus → u/DOOMFOOL]

Did you watch the movie?

[u/Mrbeefcake90 → u/Rxasaurus]

Easily one of the best movies of the year

[u/Rxasaurus → u/Mrbeefcake90]

Then you should know what the upside down thumb means in context of the movie.

[u/Mrbeefcake90 → u/Rxasaurus]

I absolutely do but at the same time it just looks like you are thumbing the movie down with an emoji and not a rock hand haha

[u/Rxasaurus → u/Mrbeefcake90]

I dont have a rock hand emoji unfortunately.

[u/Mrbeefcake90 → u/Rxasaurus]

It's a shame for us all

[u/capincus → u/Rxasaurus]

I thought we fixed this representation in emojis thing years ago. This is bullshit.

[u/delkarnu → u/longjumpingtote]

Oh, it's PHM now? We need an abbreviation for Project Hail Mary? That's how fundamental it is!?

[u/pumpkil → u/delkarnu]

Okay delkarnu, you are CLEARLY in a bad space today, but longjumpingtote is our friend, and Project Hail Mary is a blockbuster, are you??

[u/Stephanie_itsmecandy → u/[deleted]]

i thought that movie was going to end for like 40 mins straight lol.

[u/ReptarInParis → u/Stephanie_itsmecandy]

To be fair the book felt like it was finishing multiple times just to rev back up again

[u/Scoobydewdoo → u/longjumpingtote]

Except the story in Project Hail Mary, for the most part, is terrible; with the premise being laughably bad. What makes the movie good is Ryan Gosling's fantastic acting performance, good cinematography (for the most part), and the movie being fairly short and fast paced.

[u/MadHiggins → u/Scoobydewdoo]

people liked the book long before it was a movie. i've heard people on podcasts raving about it for years. so it's not just Gosling fans