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Friday Fun Thread for July 17, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I saw one good review say it was “Bracingly modern”. With that, I agree.

Are all Nolan movies this bad? I know he’s got some detractors out there, but I recall telling people I liked Oppenheimer.

This movie kinda was Oppenheimer. Matt Damon single-handedly caused the Bronze Age Collapse,that event with a famously singular cause, and the movie is wrestling with that.

I heard about that bit, and I can only think it is supposed to refer to "I solved the problem of how to conquer Troy and have Greece win the war, which meant the Greek fleet all heading home at the same time, and then they (like myself and my ships) had to invade islands for food and supplies, and killed the inhabitants, woe is me, the Bronze Age Collapse is all my fault".

Funnily enough, reviewers whose tastes often align with mine (we all agree Rings of Power is terrible) saw the movie and really liked it, so it must come across way better on the big screen when you watch the entire movie, because the trailers were dogshit.

The movie does posit that the Sea Peoples are returning Greeks for that reason.

But that isn't even the main problem. The movie outright states that the thing that caused the collapse of the entire civilization was the breaking of xenia/Zeus's law because of the Trojan horse gambit and the attendant sack (no mention is made of the much more unambiguous violation of hospitality that kicked off the war).

The movie makes an outcome whose cause so uncertain we debate the causes today into a pretty straightforward monocausal event.

Funnily enough, reviewers whose tastes often align with mine (we all agree Rings of Power is terrible) saw the movie and really liked it, so it must come across way better on the big screen when you watch the entire movie, because the trailers were dogshit.

It's much better than I thought from the trailers. Trailers were awful and bland and I suspect that's part of why the antiwoke stuff was able to dominate. The PR just didn't give you much.

TBF they didn't have to. The story is the story and Nolan is at the peak of his powers in terms of box office draw.