Christopher Nolan’s Oscar ‘Odyssey’: Can Matt Damon, Monsters and Mythology Deliver Another Best Picture Statue?

The last time the sword-and-sandal epic truly conquered the Oscars, Russell Crowe stood in the Colosseum and asked, “Are you not entertained?” Ridley Scott’s 2001 blockbuster “Gladiator” won best picture that season, briefly reminding Hollywood that ancient-world spectacle could still capture the Academy’s imagination.

Since then, the genre has largely retreated to the multiplex, where […] ...