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Universal's J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER & THE ATOM BOMB directed by Christopher Nolan (TBD)
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Started by Bosco685,

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Gatsby77

Gatsby77

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Saw this last night.

A+ - Easy contender for best film of the year.

Better than it has any right to be.

Through tight Aaron Sorkin-style writing, editing, time jumps & score, it fuses a dramatic biopic with the pacing of a thriller.

It’s the film biopics like Steve Jobs, The Aviator & J. Edgar tried to be but failed.

Best analog I can think of is The Social Network.

The cast is so stacked I had trouble keeping up with the parade of A-listers who popped in for 2-minute cameos - and Cillian Murphy and RDJ give arguably the performances of their careers.

And, entertainment aside, it has some important things to say about the curse of genius, antisemitism, ethics, legacy and the demonization of scientists for political gain.

Negatives?

Despite strong work by Emily Blunt & Florence Pugh, Nolan still hasn’t figured out how to give women agency except in relation to their men.

And the movie is so strong it risks being seen as the definitive, factual version of events despite any inaccuracies or “changed for dramatic purposes” deviation from the truth (see also Oliver Stone’s JFK and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton).

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Cat

Cat

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On 7/22/2023 at 7:58 PM, Bosco685 said:

Where moviegoers are wearing pink to the Barbie movie, they need to dress in red with an appropriate hat for this one.

1118262_1_s.jpg.66719cdc53974ad2e2d0e3ecc259e178.jpg

Come on man, spoiler warnings! 

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jcjames

jcjames

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On 7/23/2023 at 8:19 AM, Bosco685 said:

 

I always wonder if they account for the ~25%+ increase in movie ticket prices between "Inception" (2010) and "Oppenheimer" (2023) when comparing gross sales. 

 

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Gatsby77

Gatsby77

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On 7/24/2023 at 7:32 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

There's only 1 scene that'll standout between seeing this in theaters and at home. It's an overrated movie, albeit still good to some degree. Can't say it's as good as what Nolan did pre-Dunkirk. Too much political embellishment for me.

This is fair.

90% of it is basically a stage play - that won't lose much seeing it on the small screen.

I saw it a 2nd time last night - this time with a different set of friends.

Still think it's amazing - but a few additional minor criticisms:

  • There are frustrating points where the music drowns out the dialogue -- not nearly as pervasively as in Tenet, but still disrespectful of the audience.
  • Zero mention of Richard Feynman, who was still a grad student at the time, but later became one of the most renowned physicists who had worked at Los Alamos.
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theCapraAegagrus

theCapraAegagrus

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On 7/24/2023 at 8:53 AM, Gatsby77 said:

Still think it's amazing - but a few additional minor criticisms:

  • There are frustrating points where the music drowns out the dialogue -- not nearly as pervasively as in Tenet, but still disrespectful of the audience.

Agree with you there. I think it was purposeful in Tenet, but I didn't see anything visually that would have been more important than any of the character dialogue.

Additional thought: I don't feel like the R rating was earned. I don't think that the nudity added enough to limit the audience, somewhat padding the runtime. 2c

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jcjames

jcjames

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On 7/24/2023 at 6:35 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Agree with you there. I think it was purposeful in Tenet, but I didn't see anything visually that would have been more important than any of the character dialogue.

Additional thought: I don't feel like the R rating was earned. I don't think that the nudity added enough to limit the audience, somewhat padding the runtime. 2c

It checked a box and satisfied the pervs who need to see boobies and sex in everything. xD

ETA: I agree with the sound issue. 

Edited by jcjames
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theCapraAegagrus

theCapraAegagrus

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On 7/24/2023 at 10:59 AM, jcjames said:

It checked a box and satisfied the pervs who need to see boobies and sex in everything. xD

I don't recall Nolan ever pandering to that before, though. I guess he seized the opportunity with Pugh and Blunt...

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Gatsby77

Gatsby77

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Eh...it might have gotten an R-rating even without the nudity.

Example: Matt Damon's character drops two F-bombs (only one is allowed to keep to PG-13). I don't recall if RDJ's character did so later as well.

Also - it certainly had mature themes/disturbing images, including

Spoiler

the reference to to the gay scientists in Chicago, suicide and visual of the skin flaking off the woman at the pep rally.

Either way - kudos to Nolan for  keeping to his vision.

If he's truly getting 20% of first dollar gross, he could personally have made millions more by editing it to a PG-13.

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