{"podcast":{"title":"Critical Darlings","slug":"critical-darlings-7771666","podcast_index_feed_id":7771666,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/THI7214278819","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/b70a2598-2185-11f1-9391-2f87e0e925cc/image/4c25862893adddea3f0c270dc90ba01c.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Blank Check Productions","episode_count":39,"summary":"Welcome to Critical Darlings: a podcast about the movies everyone is talking about, one new release after another. Every week, critics Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore cover the latest film driving the conversation—from big summer blockbusters to festival favorites, buzzy streamers, and major awards contenders. New episodes every Thursday. We’re a Blank Check Production! To catch up on our first miniseries covering the 2026 Oscars season, check out Blank Check on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Stick around on this feed for new episodes going forward. Produced by Benjamin Frisch Subscribe to Richard's newsletter, ⁠⁠Premiere Party,⁠⁠ and read Alison's work ⁠⁠at Vulture. Follow @blankcheckpod on ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠!","last_synced_at":"2026-09-17T16:18:27.969877+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666"},"episode":{"title":"“The Odyssey” And Christopher Nolan’s Sad Dad Triumph (With Fran Hoepfner)","slug":"the-odyssey-and-christopher-nolan-s-sad-dad-triumph-with-fran-hoepfner","published_at":"2026-07-23T08:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666/the-odyssey-and-christopher-nolan-s-sad-dad-triumph-with-fran-hoepfner","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI7132109656.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THI7132109656.mp3","summary":"Daddy, tie us to the mast, we’re off to see The Odyssey! Christopher Nolan’s epic about a dad going out for cigarettes has vanquished all foes, critical, commercial, and discourse-able. To unpack it all, we’re joined by Vulture’s Fran Hoepfner. Nolan’s Oppenheimer follow-up both revisits and expands the director’s thematic palette. Among many aspects of the film, we discuss Nolan’s controversial choice to reject many of the signifiers of sword and sandals epics, his thematic quirks, the massive scale of the film, and how the ultimate hero’s journey is also a reflection of Nolan’s own filmmaking journey. We also get into spoilers (with warning), the movie’s possible political aims, and where Nolan might go from here. Finally, we do our Nolan rankings. Next week, we’re swinging with Olivia Wilde’s The Invite.  You can email us now! We’re doing an upcoming mailbag episode, so feel free to drop us a line at criticaldarlingsmailbag@gmail.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"Daddy, tie us to the mast, we’re off to see The Odyssey! Christopher Nolan’s epic about a dad going out for cigarettes has vanquished all foes, critical,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5626,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/critical-darlings-7771666/episodes/the-odyssey-and-christopher-nolan-s-sad-dad-triumph-with-fran-hoepfner/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/critical-darlings-7771666/the-odyssey-and-christopher-nolan-s-sad-dad-triumph-with-fran-hoepfner.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}