logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2024
1h 2m

Epic Fail: My Review of the Return

Spencer Klavan
About this episode

I wanted to like this movie. Really, I did. I tried to like it. But modern realism is just totally unsuited to the Homeric epics and like, also...maybe to telling a coherent story at all? Ralph Feinnes and Juliette Binoche are both terrific actors, but The Return failed for me at every level and here's why. Plus: read more at The New Jerusalem

Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/

Join in the Rejoice Evermore Advent Calendar: https://rejoiceevermore.substack.com/p/coming-soon-light-of-the-world-the

Order Light of the Mind, Light of the World (and rate it five stars): https://a.co/d/2QccOfM

Up next
Aug 15
Augustus to Virgil: Are you Mad at Me? 🥺
It's time we finally talked about the elephant in the room: does Virgil actually like Augustus? Or is he just pretending? This doesn't seem to have been much of a question in the ancient world--the commentator Servius wrote quite bluntly that "Virgil's intention was to imitate Ho ... Show More
1h 8m
Aug 1
Is There Life Out There?
Everyone, everywhere, thinks about the afterlife. If you think you don't, you're wrong: you do. Because what you believe about life after death is an expression of how you think the universe is ordered, and whether you believe there's such a thing as ultimate justice. That in tur ... Show More
1h 6m
Jul 18
Do You Even Prophesy, Bro?
One of the West's great recurring characters, the Sibyl of Cumae, takes center stage today. Deranged, holy, prophetic, and apparently totally jacked, she guided Rome throughout its history and now teaches Aeneas what he must do to become the man who can found Rome. She may have b ... Show More
1h 7m
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2021
Untimely Reflections #4: At the Movies! Reviewing, “When Nietzsche Wept” (2007) Featuring, my wife.
This is the twentieth episode of the podcast! Maybe the smallest of milestones, but we decided to celebrate. It's a bit unusual for me to do two Untimely Reflections in a row, but hopefully it'll be as fun for everyone else as it was for me. Today, I'm sitting down with my wife A ... Show More
57m 42s
Jul 2024
Good Bye, Lenin!, un film à voir ?
Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour !Aujourd'hui, j'ai envie de revenir avec vous sur un film qui a marqué mon adolescence, "Good Bye, Lenin !". À l'époque, je ne pensais pas qu'il m'aurait marqué, et pourtant… Alors, film à voir ? Eh bien oui, et je vais vous dire pourquoi main ... Show More
15m 41s
Sep 2024
110: Bonne rentrée et bonnes résolutions
Après l'été et les vacances 🌴, les plus jeunes se préparent à retrouver leur routine à l'école 👩‍🏫, et les autres, leurs habitudes au travail. Cette période de rentrée scolaire, bien qu'elle n'ait plus le même sens en tant qu'adulte, reste l'occasion de ... Show More
31m 14s
Mar 2024
Spectacle: «Roméo et Juliette» revisité au Châtelet
Pleins feux sur la jeunesse ! Dans son adaptation très libre de Roméo et Juliette, le chorégraphe britannique Matthew Bourne fait renaître le drame de son compatriote William Shakespeare (XVIe siècle), en résonance avec les enjeux des jeunes d'aujourd'hui. Réputé pour ses réinter ... Show More
2m 52s
Feb 2019
248: 12 French or (Set in France) Feel-Good Films I Love (having premiered in the past 10 years)
Over the years I have recommended, reviewed and shared a long list of French films or films set in France either as Petit Plaisirs in previous podcast episodes, in the weekly This & That under the Francophile Finds category or during the annual TSLL French Week the past three yea ... Show More
1h 1m
Aug 2024
197: A Bad Time
MAILBAG HERE A little different episode this time around, as we take a look at Battlefield Earth (2000), notorious for being one of the worst movies ever made. Find out what we thought of it, some of our opinions on what makes a movie bad, and much more here in this episode. Intr ... Show More
55m 30s
Apr 2025
Improve Your French with Le Malade Imaginaire by Molière
I’ve created a FREE guide with 7 cultural stories from France, designed to help you make real progress in French —not through boring drills, but through powerful, inspiring stories that immerse you in French culture. 👉 Download it here And don’t forget to leave your comments and ... Show More
12m 52s
Oct 2024
103: Euripedes - The Bacchae
The Bacchae is a parennially popular Greek tragedy that portrays the coming of Dionysus to Greece. The Dionysian strikes Hellas like a wave of madness, and the play is full of miracles, illusions and other violations of the natural order. Often interpreted as a play about the con ... Show More
1h 58m
Dec 2024
Fashion Neurosis with Karl Ove Knausgaard
Karl Ove Knausgaard is a Norwegian author. His autobiographical novel ‘My Struggle,’ released in six volumes, was heralded as a masterpiece all over the world. It has a huge appeal to both intellectuals and young people examining the existential purpose of life. During this conve ... Show More
59m 47s
Apr 2025
Flop Or Cult Classic? Tortured Poets One Year Later
GET TICKETS TO EOAS LIVE: https://www.evolutionofasnake.com One year ago, Taylor Swift dropped her messiest, most divisive album yet: The Tortured Poets Department. Critics rolled their eyes. Fans fought in the comments. But what really happened? And why does this era still haunt ... Show More
1h 25m