Oppenheimer (2023)

[The GOAT]

 

14 minutes ago, redfirebird2008 said:

The early part of the movie is where I was having some issues keeping up with the fast pace editing. 

Honestly, the editing made it feel like I was watching more of a 3 hour montage

[emoviefan]

Donald Trump ran for president because obama told a few jokes about him at a white house correspondents dinner. It's not far fetched at all that Strauss would do what he did because he felt insulted and belittled. 

[Dominic Draper]

57 minutes ago, redfirebird2008 said:

 

I dunno, I enjoyed the final 2/3rds of the movie including Downey's big scenes. The early part of the movie is where I was having some issues keeping up with the fast pace editing. Curious to see how it goes with another viewing. 

I don't know if it was intentional or just my reading of the film. It felt like the frenetic and fast pacing up to the trinity test/hiroshima and then the slowing down was thematic and purposeful.

 

The scientists themselves and the US were in a mad rush to build it, they rarely paused to think about it, it was a mad scramble to get it done.

 

Then afterwards everything slows down. Everyone is left to contemplate what they have done, be consumed by paranoia and angle for more credit for themselves/destroy each other.

 

I'll probably dig into some reviews and reactions to the film see how others feel.

[Dominic Draper]

11 minutes ago, emoviefan said:

Donald Trump ran for president because obama told a few jokes about him at a white house correspondents dinner. It's not far fetched at all that Strauss would do what he did because he felt insulted and belittled. 

Spent his whole Presidency asking everything Obama did so he could reverse it.

[redfirebird2008]

56 minutes ago, Dominic Draper said:

I don't know if it was intentional or just my reading of the film. It felt like the frenetic and fast pacing up to the trinity test/hiroshima and then the slowing down was thematic and purposeful.

 

The scientists themselves and the US were in a mad rush to build it, they rarely paused to think about it, it was a mad scramble to get it done.

 

Then afterwards everything slows down. Everyone is left to contemplate what they have done, be consumed by paranoia and angle for more credit for themselves/destroy each other.

 

I'll probably dig into some reviews and reactions to the film see how others feel.

 

You could be right. For me, I was running on 2-3 hours of sleep before seeing the movie. So the fast editing had me kind of disoriented in the early part of the movie. When Matt Damon showed up, that's around the time that I was able to start enjoying the film...and I enjoyed the rest of it all the way to the end. 

[lorddemaxus]

Those first 20 minutes were my favorite part of the movie. Some of the most stunning imagery in Nolan's whole career. First time in a long time I was in tears just from the grandiosity of the imagery.

[TalismanRing]

2 hours ago, emoviefan said:

Donald Trump ran for president because obama told a few jokes about him at a white house correspondents dinner. It's not far fetched at all that Strauss would do what he did because he felt insulted and belittled. 

 

Sure, though there were other reasons.   Strauss was hugely anti-Communist after his philanthropist and gov't work in post WWI Europe.   He was tougher on security clearances than the rest of the committee across the board.   He was also a very religious practicing Jew deeply enmeshed in the community (he strongly pushed for allowing in thousands of Jewish refugees pre WWII but lost) whereas Oppenheimer was more secular.    So much so Strauss was denied the request to serve as an intelligence officer in the Navy because he was Jewish. (even though he later became an Admiral)

 

Then there's the class issue.   Oppenheimer came from a wealthy family - so privileged  they could convince his university to not toss him out (let alone call the police) after he tried to poison a professor.  Meanwhile Strauss's family could not afford to send the valedictorian to college to study physics so at 18 he was a traveling shoe salesman who made his fortune.  Then to have Oppenheimer belittle him publicly - saying he didn't know what he was talking about - well ... fuck you - you adulterous commie loving privileged murderous bastard. 

 

I can see it.

 

Though it all happened within the context of McCarthysim and antisemitism.  Oppenheimer losing his clearance was one year after the Rosenbergs were executed.  Just as Strauss losing his confirmation hearing happened in a post McCarthy Senate where Democrats had just had a huge swing.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by TalismanRing

[Darth Lehnsherr]

"I believe we did"

 

I feel like this film takes the best of what Nolan did with Memento, The Prestige and Dunkirk into his best film maybe? Gonna need to see it again but it's right up there.

 

Also Nolan can definitely do horror.

 

[filmlover]

This was absolutely tremendous, and worthy of being mentioned alongside other Nolan masterpieces like The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. I saw this on an IMAX screen (almost saw the 70mm but ended up with the next best thing after the IMAX 70mm had completely sold out), and it was absolutely worth the extra dollars. Nolan has rightfully established himself as a filmmaker who envisions his movies as BIG SCREEN as possible and delivering imagery that will stay with you long after leaving the auditorium. The entire Trinity sequence was the highlight of the movie for me and represents the director's skills at their finest.

 

This is material that seems largely uncinematic upon first glance (it's easy to imagine this also working as a stage play without the extra "wow" factors that you can only get in a movie theater), but Nolan manages to make it feel as grandiose as possible and is a skillful enough filmmaker that he knows to avoid the tropes of typically staid biopics while effectively exploring the moral dilemmas at hand, allowing for the 3 hour long runtime to feel shorter than it is. This almost comes across as Nolan discovering a completely different side of filmmaking, which is a positive after finding himself too close to self-parody territory for my liking with Tenet.

 

He's also assembled one heck of an ensemble cast here in which even the smallest roles are filled by notable actors, but the entire movie is carried by Cillian Murphy in an excellent, nuanced, and haunting performance that is sure to earn him his first Oscar nomination. Just as on his level is Robert Downey Jr., shedding his movie star persona to portray a complicated figure. I'd be all in favor of him having his Oscar moment with this. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are also strong in pivotal supporting performances, and Florence Pugh adds more dimensions than otherwise might be the case to an underwritten character. Speaking of the ensemble, I really dug how random some of Nolan's casting choices were. I could see giving the spotlight to actors who haven't enjoyed this much prominence in a while (Josh Hartnett, David Krumholtz) but never expected he would cast alumni from Drake & Josh and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies in one of his flicks . As if there was any doubt that he's just as much a pop culture connoisseur as the rest of us!

 

It's a towering achievement that explores "the father of the atomic bomb" and will stand as one of the best movies of the year, and further confirmation as to why Nolan is among the most celebrated filmmakers working today.

 

A

[Killimano3]

One of the best films I've seen in a long time. The trinity sequence in particular is truly spectacular. This film is made for the big screen like no other, and you can just feel the anxiety and your heart pounding the entire time they're waiting to detonate the bomb.

[hasanahmad]

Universal used CGI to cover up Pugh in countries like India, Indonesia

this was not Nolan's decision.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by hasanahmad

[excel1]

the nudity was totally unnecessary frankly, there was connection or chemistry between them 

[ThePhasmid]

7 hours ago, lorddemaxus said:

Those first 20 minutes were my favorite part of the movie. Some of the most stunning imagery in Nolan's whole career. First time in a long time I was in tears just from the grandiosity of the imagery.

From a technical standpoint, the first chapter was a poetic fusion of sound and imagery similar to Malick. However, it still feels slightly disconnected from the overall narrative. I have to revisit it, because it seemed like Nolan was just flexing his technical prowess.

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by ThePhasmid

[hasanahmad]

1 minute ago, ThePhasmid said:

From a technical standpoint, the first chapter was a powerful fusion of sound and imagery. However, it still feels slightly disconnected from the overall narrative. I have to revisit it, because it seemed like Nolan was just flexing his technical prowess.

 

you can clearly telling seeing Nolan's direction history that he used the first 20 minutes to establish who the protagonist his from the protagonists own perspective.

[sabrecmc]

9 minutes ago, excel1 said:

the nudity was totally unnecessary frankly, there was connection or chemistry between them 

I agree with that take. It took me out of things a bit, tbh.

 

I thought it was good, but definitely not something I feel any need to watch again. The first 1/2 or maybe 1/3 felt a bit like a pretty clip show where I couldn't really get much of a connection to the characters. I couldn't really get into it until later in the movie and by then, it wasn't really connecting for me. I don't know, it felt like it was a Good Movie (tm), but not one that particularly resonated with me, personally, though I did really love RDJ's scenes and it was well acted.  The actresses didn't have much to do, but they were good. Guess that was a sign of the times.  That feels like a critical review, but it was very good overall. Just not really...enjoyable, I guess. I feel the same about The  Godfather movies, lol. I can recognize they are good movies, well made, etc., but they don't really grab me, personally.

[ThePhasmid]

14 minutes ago, hasanahmad said:

you can clearly telling seeing Nolan's direction history that he used the first 20 minutes to establish who the protagonist his from the protagonists own perspective.

I still stand by that the only major moment of that chapter was Oppenheimer's moral compass involving the apple. Of course, it has incredible surreal space imagery and sound design. It just feels like not much is informed on the character beyond that.

Edited July 24, 2023 by ThePhasmid

[redfirebird2008]

1 hour ago, hasanahmad said:

Universal used CGI to cover up Pugh in countries like India, Indonesia

this was not Nolan's decision.

 

 

You don’t think he approved it? Seems hard to believe Universal would do anything behind his back. They’ve been kissing his ass for the last 2+ years to keep him happy. 

[Celedhring]

16 hours ago, Dominic Draper said:

I disagree entirely. It's some of the strongest parts of the film and ties everything together. The entire narrative structure is centered around it. 

 

Throwing it in a montage doesn't really make sense. The last hour is the strongest part of the film and centered everything that came before it.

 

The movie is about his life, and what happened to him after the bomb is made is such a massive part of it.

 

I concur. One of my main gripes of The Imitation Game is how briefly it dispatches all the grief Turing had to endure after the war - it soured me on the film quite a bit. 

 

I'm glad Nolan made the conscious decision of explaining his downfall once he became a nuisance, and making it such an important part of the movie. Only showing Oppenheimer at the height of his glory would have diluted his story.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Celedhring

[solaris]

I cannot get Ludwig Goransson's score out of my head. 'Can You Hear The Music' is pretty much on repeat on my Spotify.

 

I love Nolan+Zimmer but one of the many reasons that Oppy feels like such a step up for Nolan is how different and varied the score is.

 

 

[mldardy]

2 hours ago, solaris said:

I cannot get Ludwig Goransson's score out of my head. 'Can You Hear The Music' is pretty much on repeat on my Spotify.

 

I love Nolan+Zimmer but one of the many reasons that Oppy feels like such a step up for Nolan is how different and varied the score is.

 

 

It hits different, doesn't it?