Film Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer'

[Jim Beam]

Impressive how every time Nolan manages to make me not care about the main character or his sidekicks. Still improvement on Batman where I just wanted Jocker/Bane to kick the shit out of him I guess.

Good movie otherwise.

 

[Salt Bailly]

Impressive how every time Nolan manages to make me not care about the main character or his sidekicks. Still improvement on Batman where I just wanted Jocker/Bane to kick the shit out of him I guess.

Good movie otherwise.

I too was Team Jocker.

 

[Jim Beam]

I too was Team Jocker.

Find people who weren't a bit weird tbh

 

[Salt Bailly]

Find people who weren't a bit weird tbh

Agreed

Jocker > Batmun

 

[calodo2003]

Isn't it evident? Both the first and the second half of the film look at how capitalism and its political level face US look at and treat first its sworn enemy socialism and socialists, and then how ruthlessly it treats humanity on the whole.

To each their own.

 

[Jim Beam]

Jocker > Batmun

Will tatoo that one.

 

[Jev]

Impressive how every time Nolan manages to make me not care about the main character or his sidekicks. Still improvement on Batman where I just wanted Jocker/Bane to kick the shit out of him I guess.

Good movie otherwise.

Surprised about that in relation to Oppenheimer, thought he was one of the most fascinating characters Nolan has created.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Impressive how every time Nolan manages to make me not care about the main character or his sidekicks. Still improvement on Batman where I just wanted Jocker/Bane to kick the shit out of him I guess.

Good movie otherwise.

Interesting review, and I totally agree regarding your Batman / Jocker points.

Do you think the character Oppenheimer himself is one of Nolan’s better creations overall?

 

[Shakesy]

Interesting review, and I totally agree regarding your Batman / Jocker points.

Do you think the character Oppenheimer himself is one of Nolan’s better creations overall?

What a weird question.

As for how he was portrayed, Nolan did well. But everything was already there.

 

[Jim Beam]

Surprised about that in relation to Oppenheimer, thought he was one of the most fascinating characters Nolan has created.

Do you think the character Oppenheimer himself is one of Nolan’s better creations overall?

He is certainly one of the most fascinating characters that Nolan brought to the screen (fictional or not) and tbf to Nolan the race against the time and the whole postwar hearing fully deserved be at a center stage of the movie. With both subjects being done really good.

But, the main things regarding his approach to characters and flaws while he does it (in my book) remained. Them being distant or cold throughout the whole movie. Now, Oppenheimer may as well be exactly that considering there is enough footage and material on him. Still, other relationships (wife, mistress, etc...) that were touched upon in the movie don't add much, or anything, to the whole story, nor do I particularly care about them. As usual when it comes to Nolan work.

In this instance, that doesn't take away much because the main story is still fascinating one with obviously added intention to make huge parts of the movie almost documentary like. It is just my general gripe with Nolan throughout the years in the sense that I mostly don't give two fecks about his characters. Which, as a result, probably stops me to be fully invested in the end product/be blown away (no pun intended).

A genius, nevertheless. Will still have one eye on his next project.

 

[Raoul]

To each their own.

Just shows how audience members often interpret films in a way that aligns with their own political views.

 

[calodo2003]

Just shows how audience members often interpret films in a way that aligns with their own political views.

Rose tints & all that.

Good to see ya back! Was worried there a bit!

 

[The Corinthian]

I saw this last night.

On the whole - I thought it was good. Not groundbreaking or anything, but a good movie overall.

The good bits -
- The two leads were phenomenal - Cilian Murphy and RDJ really nailed their roles. Murphy in particular carried the gravity of Oppenheimer's decisions superbly. Great to see actors nailing their roles.
- In fact, much of the supporting cast were great - and it was good fun to spot familiar faces in the secondary roles.
- The countdown/trinity blast scene, and the subsequent scenes of Oppy 'seeing' the blast were done really well. It could have been too on the nose but keeping it subtle made its impact more...umm...impactful.
- I'm in two minds of the last hour - I get why it was included, and enjoyed much of it, although I think it did change the movie from a existential/moral drama to a political drama, and I definitely enjoyed the former rather than the latter as a viewer. This is such an interesting period of history, concerning some of the most interesting men in history, and the conclusion of the whole thing ends with whether a security clearance should be given, or if Strauss should be given a seat on the senate. I get that is part of the story, but it's also fairly anticlimatic. I think the movie ending with the Truman scene could have / would have left the viewer with a more poignant and blunt ending. Instead it was a little bit meh (although Nolan did circle back to the convo with Einstein which was nice).

The bad bits -
- It's too fecking long - you could have stripped 30 mins from that and kept the movie being as good as it is. I definitely felt the time drag in parts. I was holding my piss in and it gave me flashbacks to LotR and being in the same position.
- For example, although it was great seeing her in the buff, I don't think the scenes with Florence Pugh added much to the story.
- I don't like Kenneth Branaugh, and I think he's the new Michael Caine for Nolan.
- It was a bit too jumpy, which meant every scene had to be worthwhile, which meant that Nolan had to have a 'gotcha' moment in terms of the script in every scene. When it's in literally every scene, it loses its gravity.
- I've never read the books, but it would have been nice to understand more of Oppy via his childhood - is his childhood covered in American Prometheus?
- The sound was a bit fecked - but I think it's because I was watching it in a normal cinema and not iMax.

Also, I went to see it with a mate who had seen it before. So big shoutout to him as he stopped me going for a piss part way through the movie and whispered to me to wait till the next scene. It was the Florence Pugh sex scene and he stopped me from missing it. Dude, you're a real one.

 

[berbatrick]

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[Sky1981]

I saw this last night.

On the whole - I thought it was good. Not groundbreaking or anything, but a good movie overall.

The good bits -
- The two leads were phenomenal - Cilian Murphy and RDJ really nailed their roles. Murphy in particular carried the gravity of Oppenheimer's decisions superbly. Great to see actors nailing their roles.
- In fact, much of the supporting cast were great - and it was good fun to spot familiar faces in the secondary roles.
- The countdown/trinity blast scene, and the subsequent scenes of Oppy 'seeing' the blast were done really well. It could have been too on the nose but keeping it subtle made its impact more...umm...impactful.
- I'm in two minds of the last hour - I get why it was included, and enjoyed much of it, although I think it did change the movie from a existential/moral drama to a political drama, and I definitely enjoyed the former rather than the latter as a viewer. This is such an interesting period of history, concerning some of the most interesting men in history, and the conclusion of the whole thing ends with whether a security clearance should be given, or if Strauss should be given a seat on the senate. I get that is part of the story, but it's also fairly anticlimatic. I think the movie ending with the Truman scene could have / would have left the viewer with a more poignant and blunt ending. Instead it was a little bit meh (although Nolan did circle back to the convo with Einstein which was nice).

The bad bits -
- It's too fecking long - you could have stripped 30 mins from that and kept the movie being as good as it is. I definitely felt the time drag in parts. I was holding my piss in and it gave me flashbacks to LotR and being in the same position.
- For example, although it was great seeing her in the buff, I don't think the scenes with Florence Pugh added much to the story.
- I don't like Kenneth Branaugh, and I think he's the new Michael Caine for Nolan.
- It was a bit too jumpy, which meant every scene had to be worthwhile, which meant that Nolan had to have a 'gotcha' moment in terms of the script in every scene. When it's in literally every scene, it loses its gravity.
- I've never read the books, but it would have been nice to understand more of Oppy via his childhood - is his childhood covered in American Prometheus?
- The sound was a bit fecked - but I think it's because I was watching it in a normal cinema and not iMax.

Also, I went to see it with a mate who had seen it before. So big shoutout to him as he stopped me going for a piss part way through the movie and whispered to me to wait till the next scene. It was the Florence Pugh sex scene and he stopped me from missing it. Dude, you're a real one.

I think the Florence Pugh bit is necessary to explain to people who doesn't know that Oppie was a womanizer and far from the stereotype nerd. I wasn't expecting him to be smoothtalking himself on a house party to the bed on the first scene. Plus Pugh was supposedly her first wife so it'll felt weird that they got married without explaining the sex

 

[Rooney in Paris]

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Not bad

 

[Raoul]

Impressive how every time Nolan manages to make me not care about the main character or his sidekicks.

I think that's largely down to how Nolan structures his scenes with fractured timelines, a fair bit of mildly disorienting handheld shots, and in the case of Oppenheimer, mixing black and white with color scenes to divide objective and subjective story elements. Through that process, audiences tend to wind up caring less about the usual protagonist/antagonist dichotomy and more about how the story as a whole unfolds.

 

[ScholesyTheWise]

I'm a bit late to the party it seems- but...

It felt like 3 different movies that tried to convince you they were actually one movie
(This is me trying to say "IT'S WAY TOO FECKING LONG", but not only too long... it's more than that).

There were some very good bits, wonderful scenes, great acting in some parts, and impressive visual effects.
But I'm never ever watching this movie again.

 

[Snow]

I saw this last night.

On the whole - I thought it was good. Not groundbreaking or anything, but a good movie overall.

The good bits -
- The two leads were phenomenal - Cilian Murphy and RDJ really nailed their roles. Murphy in particular carried the gravity of Oppenheimer's decisions superbly. Great to see actors nailing their roles.
- In fact, much of the supporting cast were great - and it was good fun to spot familiar faces in the secondary roles.
- The countdown/trinity blast scene, and the subsequent scenes of Oppy 'seeing' the blast were done really well. It could have been too on the nose but keeping it subtle made its impact more...umm...impactful.
- I'm in two minds of the last hour - I get why it was included, and enjoyed much of it, although I think it did change the movie from a existential/moral drama to a political drama, and I definitely enjoyed the former rather than the latter as a viewer. This is such an interesting period of history, concerning some of the most interesting men in history, and the conclusion of the whole thing ends with whether a security clearance should be given, or if Strauss should be given a seat on the senate. I get that is part of the story, but it's also fairly anticlimatic. I think the movie ending with the Truman scene could have / would have left the viewer with a more poignant and blunt ending. Instead it was a little bit meh (although Nolan did circle back to the convo with Einstein which was nice).

The bad bits -
- It's too fecking long - you could have stripped 30 mins from that and kept the movie being as good as it is. I definitely felt the time drag in parts. I was holding my piss in and it gave me flashbacks to LotR and being in the same position.
- For example, although it was great seeing her in the buff, I don't think the scenes with Florence Pugh added much to the story.
- I don't like Kenneth Branaugh, and I think he's the new Michael Caine for Nolan.
- It was a bit too jumpy, which meant every scene had to be worthwhile, which meant that Nolan had to have a 'gotcha' moment in terms of the script in every scene. When it's in literally every scene, it loses its gravity.
- I've never read the books, but it would have been nice to understand more of Oppy via his childhood - is his childhood covered in American Prometheus?
- The sound was a bit fecked - but I think it's because I was watching it in a normal cinema and not iMax.

Also, I went to see it with a mate who had seen it before. So big shoutout to him as he stopped me going for a piss part way through the movie and whispered to me to wait till the next scene. It was the Florence Pugh sex scene and he stopped me from missing it. Dude, you're a real one.

The bit about you holding in your piss isn't an issue with the movie but the movie culture where you live. There's always an intermission in movies here. Theaters have one, why shouldn't movies?

Agree about Branaugh. There are many, many capable Danish actors.

The Pugh scenes were a big part of the communist plot and also showed him in a different way with her than with Blunt. The two relationships were very different. His relationship with Pugh was like a journey of his emotions and conscious.

Another good to add was the sound mixing and effects. Been a problem on some Nolan movies due to his views on how they should be used in film but in this one it added a lot of tension to scenes without cluttering dialog or anything like that.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

The film I had looked forward to most since I watched the first trailer. It’s been such a hectic summer that I’ve only just had the opportunity to watch it last week.

I think my favourite film of all time. The ending is utterly perfect.

 

[MDFC Manager]

I saw it on Sunday too. Loved it, though not sure I'd watch it again soon.

 

[roseguy64]

Yeah the movies here (Switzerland, but I think it's common across a lot of the region) have a 10 minute break in the middle.

Oh intermission. Wondered what you meant by half time.

 

[calodo2003]

Just snagged a ticket to the SCAD Savannah Filmfest showing of 'Oppenheimer' followed by a Q & A with the Director of Photography Hoyte van Hoytema. He is picking up a cinematography award.

Hoyte van Hoytema - Wikipedia

It's amazing a film festival that started in sleepy Savannah in 1997 has grown so much. It's an amazing time here in the city.

SCAD Savannah Film Festival

 

[Berbaclass]

Finally sat down to watch it this evening and I loved it. I thought it was exceptional.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Watched it last night, too.

I did enjoy it, it looked spectacular, top notch performances from Murphy and RDJ, but it did suffer from the usual Nolan problems; empty characters, overbearing soundtrack, non-linear for the sake of it rather than as a meaningful way to tell the story, and the film was too damn long. Probably his best film in a while, though. The whole sequence leading up to the test explosion was brilliant, too - but the last hour dragged a bit for me.

By the end though I couldn't really figure out if it wanted to be a character study on him, a political drama, an anti war film, or maybe all of those, and it got a bit too muddled?

 

[Scandi Red]

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Why is this still an improvement though?!

Someone should do a Danny Boyle version with Oppenheimer cold sweating alone in a room whilst Bomby the Bomb taunts him for his hubris.

 

[christy87]

Watched it tonight and it was fantastic, one of the few movies I didn’t take my phone out and scroll random shit, it did drag in the last half hour though.

 

[Yorkeontop]

How did folks sit through 3 hours of this! I'm an hour in and I need to stop. I'll watch it in chunks, the science leaves me delirious. Ben-Hur felt like an awesome breeze, and it was 45 minutes longer.

 

[Raoul]

How did folks sit through 3 hours of this! I'm an hour in and I need to stop. I'll watch it in chunks.

Just treat it like a 3 hour Netflix series and you'll be fine.

 

[Yorkeontop]

Just treat it like a 3 hour Netflix series and you'll be fine.

You're on to something there. I'd love to know how many folks sat through the whole movie, it made so much money.

 

[Jev]

You're on to something there. I'd love to know how many folks sat through the whole movie? It made so much money.

You think it's boring, or what? I was enthralled for the entire runtime.

 

[Yorkeontop]

You think it's boring, or what? I was enthralled for the entire runtime.

It's interesting, but it is demanding to watch. I think the alcohol in my system doesn't agree with it.

 

[Solius]

Watched this tonight. Thought it was really good overall.

Had to put subtitles on in the beginning due to the usual Nolan overbearing soundtrack but after (what I felt was probably necessary but jarring) pacing at the start it settled down. The whole build up to the test was fantastic.

I like Nolan. He knows how to put together a film in a way that once it clicks it really works. At least he doesn’t make generic shite.

 

[evil_geko]

How did folks sit through 3 hours of this! I'm an hour in and I need to stop. I'll watch it in chunks, the science leaves me delirious. Ben-Hur felt like an awesome breeze, and it was 45 minutes longer.

Aye, I also watched it in chunks, I have no problems with long movies or heavy dramas but this was just all over the place for me. I also expected more of the actual atomic bomb race and science instead than the political drama it mostly turned out to be.

 

[mitChley]

How did folks sit through 3 hours of this! I'm an hour in and I need to stop. I'll watch it in chunks, the science leaves me delirious. Ben-Hur felt like an awesome breeze, and it was 45 minutes longer.

We did an hour and a half, had a Sunday lunch, watched the second hour and a half. Did the same for Dune.

 

[Yorkeontop]

Aye, I also watched it in chunks, I have no problems with long movies or heavy dramas but this was just all over the place for me. I also expected more of the actual atomic bomb race and science instead than the political drama it mostly turned out to be.

I ended up watching it in 3 chunks. The movie is also lost on me, I think it came with too much hype. I'm not that interested in the making of the bomb.

We did an hour and a half, had a Sunday lunch, watched the second hour and a half. Did the same for Dune.

Like Dune a lot and have watched it twice just because it looks so good in 4K, no issues with the length.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

I ended up watching it in 3 chunks. The movie is also lost on me, I think it came with too much hype. I'm not that interested in the making of the bomb.

Then why would you watch it? It's such a strange comment to make.

 

[Yorkeontop]

Then why would you watch it? It's such a strange comment to make.

I only realised it whilst watching the movie. Even recently I started to watch these two TV series, (Gaslit and White House Plumbers,) and realised I don't care that much for the Watergate scandal. Didn't finish those series, but I decided to give this movie a full go just in case it got somewhat interesting.

 

[calodo2003]

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[Raoul]

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Should push it over the 1 billion mark