Was going to see Barbie tonight but I’m exhausted so we’re going to go on Sunday. Looking forward to it!
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Extremely minor spoilers ahead!
Having had some time to think about the film Oppenheimer, this is my verdict:
- The film is long, but it kept me interested the whole time.
- It’s not about physics or the bomb, it’s 80% in Oppenheimer’s head and in dialogue and dialogue and, you know, more dialogue.
- Cillian Murphy does an excellent job, all the female actors are underused with no real space to show their abilities. Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves is far more interesting than Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), whose role feels pumped up for the actor and not for the importance of the real person.
- It is a slow burn and the first hour is confusing and the worst of it. Do not watch this when tired or stressed, especially if you have trouble remembering names, which is a problem of mine. There are so many people that you wonder which actors did not take part. There are time jumps and all sorts of Nolan shenanigans that made the first hour too complicated for me, but I am a dummy, so it might be better for you.
- Some short flashbacks are great, like Oppenheimer being in Göttingen and talking to Heisenberg, or in Cambridge with Nils Bohr.
I don’t think the film uses IMAX to such an extent that you can’t have a great experience in a standard cinema.
All in all, I don’t regret having seen it, but after the movie we as a group didn’t feel much need to talk about it, and that’s not the best sign. We just looked at each other: “Yeah, that was a thing” and that was it. I expected more, but I got my money’s worth and my time’s worth. It’s not Nolan’s best film by far.
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I’m curious about how this film resonates with different audiences, and so I’ll ask, which films do you think are candidates for his best film?
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Interesting read for those who have watched Oppenheimer
“Cry baby scientist”: What Oppenheimer the film gets wrong about Oppenheimer the man
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I have not seen the Batman movies. When it comes to Super hero stuff I am completely lost and would not know where to start. I basically know a handful of names of super heroes and that’s it. Never watched a movie, series or read a comic, played a game in the genre except the first Deadpool movie by accident which was neat. I probably should at least try, but where do you even start at 57 with that?
I am a huge fan of Prestige. It is the movie I have seen multiple times now and will probably watch again. It is weird, but just clicks with me although I think Memento and Inception are the better movies overall and I will definitely rewatch them.
I dislike Dunkirk (watch All Quiet on the Western Front instead). Edit: Or read the book, it’s even better.
I had a good time with Interstellar, but I have no desire to see it again, it’s too much overcomplicated fluff with a handful of exceptional scenes.
If there are other movies, I do not know about them.
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It’s really the only film by Nolan I like and it’s because of all his gimmicks turned into a cinematic event (that’s not a dig, Nolan is all about honing in on a gimmick or trick for each film, similarly to Fincher) I think it’s the most masterfully executed. The film is a magic trick and I love it for it. Memento is an interesting experiment, but I find it less compelling as a film a second of third time around. I find the rest of his films less compelling and that the majority of them are certainly eye candy, but little more.
Suffice to say, I now know how to read your comment about Oppenheimer not being his best film from a personal perspective. I’ll watch it at some future date but am in no rush.
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Yes. 
The trickery of Nolan and the story in perfect symbiosis.
I could see that happening for me too, but I don’t know yet. The story itself might be deep enough for me to find things that I didn’t “get” the first time I saw it, and the same might be true for Inception. Both themes of memory/memory loss and dreams are of great interest to me, so potentially both films have the more important theme for me compared to a story about magicians, and that makes me very interested in them.
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Oppenheimer features many of Nolan’s filmmaking trademarks executed at a higher level than we’ve seen before. It is also (obviously) missing some of the more fantastical sci-fi elements that he is best known for. With that in mind, Oppenheimer is Nolan squeezing himself into a biopic format. I believe he does so successfully. The movie is an audiovisual feast only matched by its world altering story. Performances are solid all around, but the characters outside of Oppenheimer do not have arcs. This includes the women in the film which I would say are better written than previous films but are still underdeveloped. There are also two scenes that feel undercooked, but in a movie full of powerful scenes, their presence doesn’t amount to an overall effect. The sound mixing is haunting. The casting choices which felt like stunts before the film’s release now feel inspired. Is the movie Nolan’s best? No. That would be the Prestige. But Oppenheimer is an excellent film that hopefully shows studios that audiences are ready for mature dramatic blockbusters.
Some Metatextual Reading of Oppemheimer
Nolan seems to be reckoning with the impact he has had on the filmmaking industry. With the protagonist playing a politician, coming off a lot more conservative than he actually is, being used by larger entities to accomplish goals which he is morally opposed to. I like this element of the film because Nolan does have a series of more conservative messages that can easily fit his films. It makes him a harder director to like because is he defending surveillance in the Dark Knight or defending accelerationism in Interstellar? You can make the argument. This film, however, is explicitly anti-war and full of regret. Oppenheimer regrets the way the bomb was used seemingly in the same way Nolan regrets how his Batman films catapulted Superhero movies to the top of the box office- changing the film making industry (forever (for the worse?)). If my interpretation is correct, it makes RDJ’s casting as the antagonist who wants to further weapon production all the richer as RDJ has his own, more lucrative and impactful, part to play in the changing film landscape as he is literally Iron Man. It feels a bit grandiose to make the comparison between yourself and Oppenheimer as far as impact, but remember that Nolan is Snyder lite.
Anyway it was great but not impactful for me personally as I don’t need to build a bomb to know that is a wrong thing to do.
4/5
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But-but I need a bomb for home defense!
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The world is safest when everyone has a bomb. It’s only fair. This is sarcasm for the neurodivergent.
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I’ve watched a couple anime lately (been a while since I’ve done that):
One Punch Man – Watched the first season of this on Netflix. I think there’s a lot that can be delved into for this series, but IMO the most important thing is that it’s just really funny. As someone who’s not that into superhero stuff or battle shounen series, I still found a lot to enjoy in this. I think it clicks with me most as a wannabe author, as the premise of this feels very much like a writing challenge.
The hero can defeat any monster with one punch, effortlessly (and he’s effectively invulnerable to boot) – how do you make that interesting? It turns out there are lots of ways, but I think a big part of the secret is to make the story just as much about the people who are affected by this superhuman protagonist, as much as said hero himself. How do others react, and how are they changed? In turn, how does the hero react to them, and how does he grapple with his place in the world in general? Though this is first and foremost a comedy, I’d still like everyone in Hollywood who says “interesting Superman stories are too hard” to give this a look. (Or not, I don’t care lol.)
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners – Watched this on Netflix. It’s a complete ten-episode story set in the world of the Cyberpunk 2077 game, but stands on its own perfectly fine. Extremely stylish and packed with Studio Trigger energy, I’d say this is a must-watch for anyone who is a fan of the cyberpunk genre in general. It’s apparently also very true to the setting of the game aesthetically, so I look forward to playing that sometime and exploring the world the anime showed off so vibrantly (and so grimly).
This is a hard one to talk much about without getting into spoilers, but suffice to say I was a bit surprised by the overall direction the story took, and its willingness to throw the lead characters headlong down a very dark and unforgiving road. It gave more for me to mull over than I was expecting.
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but where do you even start at 57 with that
What are you interested in? There’s is a LOT more to comics than superheroes. However, the easiest way to start is to read one; go to a library, book or comic store, find a graphic novel that says it’s volume one, or a standalone (they generally don’t have a volume listed) that looks interesting and try it out.
I’m you want recommendations I’m more than happy to help 
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I loved OPM. Is season 2 available yet?
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It looks like there’s a season 2, over on Crunchyroll. I’m thinking of just hopping over to the manga though, since I like the artwork a lot for it.
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Ugh I just cancelled my Crunchyroll subscription. Just as the show I had it for has gone to premium only. Oh well, I’ll find it someday.
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Every year, at least in America, Criterion goes for half off in July. Here was what I picked up this year.
I see purchasing a Criterion as a little adventure. The only one of these films I’ve seen before is Parasite (Bong Joon Ho rocks) with the other four only being movies I’ve only heard the praises of. Excited to watch them all.
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Judging only the anime, I think One Punch Man has an interesting premise but by the second season I felt like it kinda overstays its welcome. I don’t know how the story evolves after that point though, I’ve heard that it gets a lot better in the manga.
If you liked One Punch Man, I recommend you Mob Psycho 100, it’s from the same author and has a similar premise but it’s handled differently. Whereas Saitama is mostly a comic relief character, Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama is way more relatable (he’s a teenager with realistic struggles) and has a more complex character development (he’s an overpowered individual like Saitama but his power is greatly affected by his emotions).
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Hah, you might regret that!
I made my first contact with comics and manga last year exactly as you said, I went to my library and picked up the first One Piece manga (which was fun, but I’m not the audience it’s for) and struggled so much with reading it backwards 
and I picked up The Wolf Among Us Volume One as a comic, which was neat and I’ll definitely read another one of those. When I’ve finished playing The Walking Dead I might also check out volume one of the comic, but that’s in the future as I’m still stuck in Gothic 3.
So access to comics as a whole is one thing, but oh boy, the superhero genre is like three walls of comics (which my library owns, I guess it would be endless if you counted all that exist) and I feel lost to even choose. Is there such a thing as a hero you have to know? A comic that is “the comic”?
I had my contact with Deadpool in the cinema with his first film and they explained well who he is and how he became what he is now.
If there are films or comics like this for other heroes, where I can just understand the basics of the character (I understand that some of them might have different basics because they were “restarted” at some point), that would be nice. I probably won’t be able to keep up with all of them and all of their arcs in this lifetime, but I’d like to get some basics on different major characters in the genre if possible.
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I’m not into manga at all, so I can’t really help with that.
As for there being “the comic,” well…no, not really. However, if you want to get a decent grounding in Superheroes then go for one of the DC Trinity - Batman, Superman and/or Wonder Woman. For Marvel, similar titles would be Spider-Man, Captain America or Iron Man (and possibly Thor and Fantastic Four).
I’m not a huge Superman fan, but I would highly recommend All Star Superman. For Batman I’d suggest The Court of Owls as a good indicator of the current take on the character. Outside of that I’d recommend either Long Halloween or Hush (there is an animated Hush movie but it’s quite different to the comic.)
For Wonder Woman, I think the absolute best example of the character is George Perez’s run. The first volume collecting his issues is titled God’s and Mortals.
Ok, Marvel books. Spider-Man has so many to choose from it’s hard to pick just one, so collected editions I’d suggest would be Brand New Day, Kraven’s Last Hunt and/or Big Time.
With Iron Man, the best introduction IMO is Extremis. It’s a great self-contained story that really leans into the “futurist” aspect of the character.
Cap, again, I’ve never really gravitated towards personally but The Winter Soldie" is probably a good place to start.
Hopefully that will be enough to get you started. If there is anything else you wanna know, and spercific characters you’re intereste,d in please feel free to ask. I love comics, so talking abou them is no bother for me at all!
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Thank you so much. I will see what my library has or what I can otherwise get my hands on!
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