Rick Brough

“The Odyssey” is bound to be an Oscar favorite. Clearly, it’s an epic—with angry seas, forbidding landscapes haunted by the gods, and battles sparking with brutality. As a bonus, writer-director Christopher Nolan reveals that when a troop of warriors hides for hours inside a giant wooden horse, the results can be nasty, unhygienic and even fatal. But aside from that, what kind of hero is at the center of this heroic tale?

“Obsession” is written and directed by Youtube filmmaker Curry Barker, who begins with an almost mundane dilemma. Bear (played by Michael Johnston) an employee in a music-store, has a crush on his co-worker Nikki (played by Inde Navarrette), but time after time, in those fleeting quiet moments with her, he chokes up—to the point that he’s almost more annoying than sympathetic. Finally, he resorts to a One Wish Willow, a novelty item sold in occult stores.

“Disclosure Day” is directed by Steven Spielberg, who gave us alien contacts in the fabled “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E. T.” nearly half a century ago. The new film, written by Spielberg and David Koepp, is in large part a fast-paced intriguing thriller. Behind the action, the message of the movie is well-intentioned, but so-so. As the film starts, data analyst Daniel Kellner (played by Josh O’Connor) is in hot water.