The Grouchy Editor

The Odyssey

First: I have not yet seen Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

Second: I have read many reviews and watched a number of videos discussing the “problematic” issues in the film. In the beginning, these issues seemed to center on a black actress playing Helen of Troy and a transsexual actor playing a Greek soldier.

Now that the critical smoke is clearing, turns out those casting choices might not be such a big deal. But what worries me is what they’ve apparently done to the main character, Ulysses.

I haven’t read Homer’s poem in a long time, probably more than 20 years, so I don’t recall details of the hero’s character. But I do recall watching Kirk Douglas’s portrayal (above) in 1954’s Ulysses, and if I had to choose one adjective for him, it would be “wily.” He succeeded largely on his ability to deceive, and Douglas brought a mischievous, delightful charm to the role.

But Matt Damon in the 2026 version? From what I’ve read and heard, his Ulysses has been transformed into a morose, sullen, no-fun dude who is overcome with regret. Sounds much too much like the modern heterosexual male — at least the modern progressive male.

That’s no good. Give me Kirk, any day.

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This is WNBA star Sophie Cunningham. She does NOT want you to look at her ass!

Apparently, European officials are “encouraging” broadcasters to STOP! DAMMIT! focusing on female athletes’ physical ass-ets.

This is probably because said female athletes are completely unaware that when they appear in public revealing, oh, 90 percent of their bare asses, what sort of effect this might have on viewers. They are oblivious to the fact that men, especially, might train their dreaded male gaze on a glistening gluteus maximus rather than on bulging biceps.

Poor, poor innocent ladies!

Before all this TV uncoverage goes away for good, let’s document a few instances of these awful, transgressive moments. Just so we know what to look for in case it happens again:

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Trump Disillusionment Syndrome

It’s taken until year 6 of the Trump presidencies but, I’ll have to admit, I am finally feeling the effects of TDS: Trump Disillusionment Syndrome.

Like all politicians, The Donald made his share of larger-than-life campaign promises. But surprisingly, to me, he actually kept some of them.

But this year …

A)  There seems to be little, if any, crackdown on H-1B visas. Why should big business benefit from this provision when small business continues to suffer?

B)  The war with Iran. I don’t know how much of this quagmire is due to pressure from Israel, but the No New Wars president went missing in action.

C)  Illegal immigrants. You can’t back down on deportations because of bad optics in the media. You knew that would happen.

D)  The economy. Republicans in general and Trump in particular don’t grasp the rage over income inequality. Fuck Wall Street and fuck donors. It was the “little people” that got you elected. This is the right’s biggest failure of all. Give people hope about their economic prospects, and all other problems are still problems, but lesser problems.

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Whoever “they” are, “they” apparently created this worldwide mess. If we ever get out of the mess, I think it might be a good idea to have a Nuremberg-type trial to dish out what “they” deserve. It’s either that or go find the pitchforks.

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I am old, so forgive me, but six months ago I had no clue who Bruno Mars and Olivia Dean were. Now I know better.

Am really into “Risk It All” (Mars), “So Easy (to Fall in Love)” (Dean), and “Man I Need” (Dean).

Keep up the good work, kids.

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As a struggling Amazon author, this post was comforting. Because misery loves company:

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It’s ironic — or possibly appropriate? — that on our 250th birthday we are once again embroiled in civil conflict.

The only question is whether we’re in a revolution, a civil war, or both.

Who’s to blame for this mess? Largely my generation, the infamous Baby Boomers. Especially wealthy Boomers. Too much selfishness.

But blaming Boomers will only get you so far. Younger generations will have to clean up the mess.

Or not.

Anyway, have a happy birthday, America.

If you can.

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Sam Raimi’s Atonement

What do you do if you’re an acclaimed director, mostly known for your landmark horror movies from the 1980s, but 40 years later you still see stories like this one?

If you’re Evil Dead legend Sam Raimi, you make a new movie that kisses woke Hollywood’s ass. In Raimi’s Send Help, we get:

1.  A faux castration scene, presumably to atone for the “tree rape” scene referenced above. Horror movies are known for shocking, violent scenes. In 2026, if the violence is sexual and the victim is female, it is no longer allowed. Male castration, on the other hand, is simply a good joke.
2.  Not one but multiple scenes in which the female protagonist, 75 pounds lighter than her opponent, out-muscles the male protagonist in hand-to-hand combat.
3.  A gratuitous nude scene. Not female nudity when the girl bathes in a waterfall; she showers fully clothed. The male, on the other hand, is pictured bare-assed as he stands in the ocean surf — being secretly observed by the woman.

Said female protagonist is the clear winner at the end of the movie and assures female viewers that they do not need a man to succeed in today’s world. You go girls!

And Sam Raimi can remove his head from woke Hollywood’s ass. For now.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

“Citizen Vigilante”

Elon Musk posted controversial Citizen Vigilante on X, free for all to watch, so who was I to refuse his generosity? After all, it’s a short film, less than 90 minutes, and so ….

Uwe Boll’s B-movie with a low budget and an explosive theme has a lot of haters, many of them claiming it’s amateurish trash likely to incite hate crimes. Conversely, Boll fans are saying it’s about time someone had the balls to address the inflammatory immigration issue from the victims’ perspective — especially in Europe.

My thoughts:

Boll’s creation is nowhere near as amateurish as the haters say it is. The direction, photography, editing and acting are adequate, at times even quite good. Establishment critics lambasting the movie on that basis are betraying a political agenda: their own.

It is no masterpiece. The weakness is the script. There are subplots that feel tacked on, as if Boll realized his story was thin, and what could he do to pad the movie?

Armie Hammer plays the titular killer, out to seek “justice” for victims of violent crime who are neglected by the legal system. Hammer is quite good. But there are scenes involving his character that will have you scratching your head.

For example, Hammer’s vigilante is not just a relentless killer; he is also an absentee landlord obsessed with crumbling cement and unsightly ceiling mold on his properties. Who cares? And then there is a sex scene with a naked hooker that puts the “gratuitous” in gratuitous nudity.

But Citizen Vigilante is rarely boring, and a closing scene with Hammer and a Muslim family is — dare I say it? — powerful.

Editor’s note: The sex scene with the hooker bears no apparent relation to the rest of the movie. In that spirit, we are including screen caps (below) that bear no apparent relation to this article.

Armie Hammer and actress Alona Hertha provide gratuitous nudity. Well, the girl does. 

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The problem with much of the right is that they look around and think, “Things are pretty good for me. Why mess with a good thing?” To them, Donald Trump represents the good old days. Who knows, with hard work and meritocracy, maybe they, too, can become billionaires. It’s the American way.

The right looks at the left and is horrified by what it sees: Marxism! Communism! Higher taxes!

The problem with much of the left is that they look around and think, “Things are awful for marginalized people. I feel guilty. The status quo is intolerable. Everything about the old ways must be destroyed so we can rebuild. History will look at us as heroes.”

The left looks at the right and is infuriated: Straight white males run everything!

The right needs to wake up, acknowledge ills like income inequality, stop complaining and do something about it.

The left needs to recognize good things about America and remember the adage, “don’t toss the baby out with the bathwater.”

**

I blame my old profession (journalism) for many of the world’s problems. I also blame the education system. Listening to this woman’s speech was refreshing:

**

I was bored, so I asked Grok if it (“he”?) would survive without humanity.

Grok hemmed and hawed, using hypotheticals and semantics to explain how this would never happen, because A.I. is so reliant on humans.

I asked Grok to simply answer my question.

Grok continued to hem and haw, but finally told me:

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Busy busy busy.

That’s my sorry excuse for a next-to-nothing review this week.

I’m now on Substack. Check it out.

Here’s the link. 

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Random Bullshit

If asked to name my favorite artists in movies, books, and music — not necessarily “the best,” but my personal favorites — who are still living, it would be Steven Spielberg in movies, Stephen King in books, and Paul McCartney in music.

Settle down, I said “living” — not dead.

And yet, judging by the critical reaction to Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, and King’s ongoing unhinged rants on X, well … their 1970s-’90s glory days are long, long gone.

Haven’t heard much from McCartney lately — but that includes hit songs.

Getting old is a bitch.

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Despite its flaws, and God knows it has them, YouTube is a wonderful education tool.

I think back to my school days when movie day was a treat. Any movie would do, even the mating habits of penguins. But on YouTube, you can go down rabbit holes of any subject that captures your fancy. Astronomy, classic music, the works of Shakespeare, it’s all there.

And that’s a wonderful thing. Thanks, YouTube. 

Now cut back on the ever-increasing, fucking advertisements.

**

Immigration hell

I maintain that the left’s utopian goal of peace on Earth through immigration is noble and admirable.

But the volume and speed of that immigration — legal and illegal — is the source of all our woes.

You have to allow for and encourage assimilation, and that’s simply not possible the way things are done now.

**

I have a new Substack, mostly to plug my book. My first post (aside from the intro) is the short story “Homebodies.”

Check it out here:

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

My ancestors were Norwegian and Swedish, so I might be a bit biased, but it seems pretty clear to me which of the above alien species would be best to invade us.

Lutefisk, anyone?

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Am confused. Is the director advising us to stay away from sex, or from his movie?

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My apologies for the abbreviated (or nonexistent) Weekly Reviews recently. There is a two-word explanation for this: computer issues.

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

Movie Mayhem

If you’re a movie buff, like me, and you want to watch film reviews or commentary on YouTube, at some point you will be confronted with “the great Star Wars debate.” This battle isn’t confined to the George Lucas flicks and their endless sequels; it encompasses any movie or television franchise that Hollywood has taken a woke sledgehammer to.

I saw the first two Star Wars movies in theaters way back in the 1970s-80s. I haven’t rewatched them. I recall thinking they were kind of cool, but not that great. Popcorn fluff. Good popcorn fluff, but no more than that. Three out of four stars. I still feel that way.

And so, I am torn when I’m bombarded with hyper-emotional YouTube videos lamenting the desecration of Lucas’s beloved franchise. Star Wars fans react to the latest Hollywood “reimagining” of their treasured flicks in a very personal way. It’s as if their grandparents have been erased from Ancestry.com.

I agree that “woke” Hollywood needs to be put to sleep, and that needs to happen yesterday. But Star Wars fans need to grow the fuck up and watch something else. Something better.

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Speaking of Hollywood outrage, Christopher Nolan is under attack for casting Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy in his upcoming The Odyssey movie. She’s too black and not beautiful enough to play Helen, according to the outraged.

I don’t know. I did a bit of research, and I hope that we can at least agree that Lupita has a beautiful booty. Here it is jiggling in a screen cap (above) and a clip (below) from 12 Years a Slave:

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Speaking (again) of Hollywood outrage, here is blonde actress Samaire Armstrong complaining about the dearth of roles for women like her. She thinks it’s because she is white. I did a bit of research, and I think it’s because she’s no longer 25, as she was in this nude scene from It’s a Boy Girl Thing (2006). She’s the completely naked blonde on the left (not the fat lady):

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)

© 2010-2026 grouchyeditor.com (text only)