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Last week, you voted on the horror movie community watchlist. The votes are in, and now you can see the final results. Congratulations to our winners, Adam B. & Alba S.

Odysseus faces monsters, gods, and the sea on a years-long journey home from the Trojan War.

→ Non-linear storytelling. Like much of Christopher Nolan’s work, The Odyssey shines new light on the long-told story with non-linear storytelling and the good kind of exposition.

→ Anne Motherfucking Hathaway. If she doesn’t leave awards season with some gold, call me Miles Davis.

→ Matt Damon beating people up. Odysseus is Batman. And Jason Bourne. And also that super smart, slightly troubled janitor from Boston.

→ Refrains. Spoken words echo and take on new, more significant meaning as the film progresses. Nobody likes a dialogue refrain more than Nolan.

I’m in constant fear of losing my credibility. It’s only natural, given what I do.

A long time ago, Drew and I made a choice. To exclusively publish pieces about films we deeply admire (even our sponsored picks). We asked ourselves, what value are we providing if we publish articles about what not to see? Though, write enough of these and you’ll no doubt be asking yourself: how valuable is the critic who never says bad things?

To that, I’ll remind you, I’m not a fucking film critic. I’m a guy. With a laptop. And I just want to watch movies with my brother (and write).

The film event of the decade is upon us. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is here. And I’m pleased to report, it lives up to every last expectation.

It’s big. It’s loud. It’s poetic. It’s long. You’ll never want it to end. It’s just so, so good.

Nolan adapts the original text for the modern era. He asks new, thoughtful questions about what the epic tale of Odysseus really represents.

Performances from Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and the full ensemble are all marvelous. The score is a worthy companion.

Several scenes were so remarkably beautiful, my eyes began welling with tears. One time, I swear it, I levitated clear above my seat due to the sheer magic of film. And I’m still trying to understand my own nearly sexual reaction to seeing Matt Damon string a bow and arrow. Is it Matt, or the bow? Studies will one day be conducted on the involuntary kink this film incited in the population at large.

Go see it in theaters. IMAX. 70mm. Book it in advance, and get yourself some good, centered seats. And as I tell my son before every film, go pee-pee beforehand.

A fact or two about the production that makes you say "oh, neat."

→ It's the first feature film shot entirely on 70mm IMAX film. IMAX built a new, quieter camera nicknamed “the Keighley” to make it possible. They shot over two million feet of 70mm IMAX film across a six-country shoot. The cameras each had a soundproofing “blimp” rigged around them. This allowed Nolan to film intimate scenes closer to the actors without losing sound.

→ The “blimp” camera system was so big they blocked the actors' sightlines to each other. The crew used mirrors to allow performers to maintain their eye contact, intimacy, and timing with each other.

→ The ship they used in the film is real. The production team acquired the Draken from Stavanger, Norway. The ship's hull and rigging matched Mycenaean-era historical research, and it is actually seaworthy. Aboard the ship in the film is a crew of half actors and half actual sailors.

→ They practically constructed a Trojan Horse for the film. Actually, multiple horses, for use in different locations. Nolan’s words on the 35-foot tall structure: “Big enough to stuff enough guys that can accomplish the mission at hand, but not crazy oversized, and, most importantly, no wheels,” Nolan says. “That felt more credible to me.” For more on Nolan’s practical effects wizardy, check out this article from NoFilmSchool.