Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, July 21, 2023) Movie • Page 31

These are good

 

I need to watch grave of the fireflies

 

Hiroshima (1953) is a great film on it. Not only the bombing itself but the stigma the Japanese culture had on survivors of the bomb.

 

$80.5 million domestic opening is pretty astounding, considering that predictions only had it around $50 million.

 

sound of freedom making more than a mission impossible movie is a travesty

 

Paramount fucked up big time with the release. They knew for a very long time Nolan would be getting those imax screens

 

So much of that is astroturfed though

 

Really enjoyed this last night, with a few caveats. Forgive the longer post, but for any interested I jotted down a few thoughts:

Nolan's penchant for cerebral grandiosity may have gotten the better of him in this titanic depiction of the man behind the Manhattan Project. The film weaves together the journey to the Trinity Test, when the atomic bomb would be demonstrated in the New Mexico desert, juxtaposed with the intrigue surrounding Cillian Murphy's Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, whose quiet arrogance and suspect Communist associations cast doubt on his loyalty to the United States.

As a depiction of the bomb's conception and development, the movie works beautifully. Nolan deftly guides the audience through Oppenheimer's education as his genius blooms, until we watch him assemble and conduct an incredible team of physicists to deliver a miracle, as he reminds Matt Damon's General Groves. Both the writing and visual storytelling deliver in spades, and I especially enjoyed the glimpse inside Oppenheimer's mind as he imagines neutron orbital behavior. Quite effectively, we're brought to believe his brilliance.

After the bomb's creation, we watch an Oppenheimer haunted by his crowning achievement, now horrifically deployed in the waning days of WWII. Determined to leverage his mind to aid his country to victory, he finds himself tortured by the destructive force he helped unleash on the world. As Robert Downey Jr's Lewis Strauss remarks about Oppenheimer, "Genius is no guarantee of wisdom." Nightmare visions of blinding light intrude on Oppenheimer's daily life as he wrestles to justify his life's work, admonishing his countrymen to bargain for peace under its ominous shadow.

Unfortunately, the story stumbles a bit under its own weight, as we watch Oppenheimer endure an appellate hearing when his security clearance renewal is denied following the war, while Strauss seeks a cabinet appointment in the Eisenhower administration. We watch as Nolan attempts to pack these moments with all the dramatic thrust of the bomb's development, but the relentless pacing and intensity of Ludwig Goransson's score never give the movie a chance to breathe. It's a pity, as RDJ delivers a terrific performance amid welcome comic relief from Alden Ehrenreich.

The movie also suffers from gratuitous nudity as we witness Oppenheimer's disastrous personal life. While perhaps accurate to history, the scenes come across as excessive, and restrained allusions to his sexual conquests would have more than suited the story. On the topic of women in Oppenheimer's life, however, Emily Blunt plays an excellent Kitty Oppenheimer, Robert's complex but calculating wife.

In summary, the film is likely a near-perfect execution of Nolan's vision, with all the strengths and flaws that entails. With each movie he releases, he strives to exceed his prior work: the most cerebral plot mechanics spiral in sustained dramatic tension, sprawled across the dominating IMAX canvas, laced with palpitating musical scores, all enacted by a tremendous ensemble cast. Despite these elements, the director seems to take no thought for the midrange, as the story oscillates between absolute silence and devastating crescendo. Certainly, the nuclear warhead deserves its visual and sonic thunderclap, yet Nolan will finally make his masterpiece when he learns that even without blaring accompaniment, dialog between such memorable men remains just as explosive.

 

This was so tightly paced and tense, and man, what an accomplishment. A smidge too long, maybe. So many great performances, but RDJ owns this movie.

 

No full frontal, maybe that’s in the unrated dvd version

 

David why

 

if people want to see his junk so badly why not just go watch 28 days later it’s literally the opening shot

 

No dong, but there are moments of big dick energy from Cillian.

 

I keep seeing this about that movie. What does astroturfing mean in regards to a film? People buying out all the seats of a theater but no one actually going?

 

prrtty much yeah. There was some big movement from a few groups to “pay it forward” aka buy a bunch of tickets and leave them at “will call” or whatever for people to get in for free

 

I musta got early access to Twitter X

 

Doesn’t explain the last six months of horny posting.

 

He got very early access.

One could even say… premature.