Am I alone in thinking Oppenheimer is a load of over-rated drivel?? The barrage of Oscars and Bafta’s heaped upon it seems to me to be a vast ‘Emperors New Clothes’ conspiracy. I mean it got the Oscar for Best costume design, best make-up and hairstyling - are they serious??? A bunch of middle aged men wearing off the peg suits with a short back and sides - gimme a break!
I went to see this over-ly long, self indulgent boring load of old twaddle at the cinema and came out pondering how Christopher Nolan had managed to turn one of the most remarkable technical achievements of the 20th century into such an utterly tedious film. Three hours of men in suits sitting in a room being shunted back and forth along the plot timeline seemingly at random doth not a compelling narrative make… If you want to see how to make a brilliant film about a real world technological achievement then watch ‘The Imitation Game’ or ‘Apollo 13’. Furthermore can somebody tell me why Nolan bothered to waste celluloid shooting small groups of men talking in small rooms on 70mm?? I mean if you’re Stanley Kubrick shooting 2001 with all its magnificent grandeur I get it, but for Oppenheimer it was totally wasted on everything bar the desert scenes and done purely to satisfy Nolan’s narcissistic tendencies.
And while we’re on the subject of continually shifting the timeline I made the mistake of buying the 4k of Nolan’s previous load of old cobblers ‘Tenet’ which must be the most confusing and pointless 2 hours of tripe I have ever seen in my life. It makes Barbie look like Shakespeare…
It seems to me that Nolan has made one utterly brilliant film - ‘Interstellar’ and since then he’s done nothing with any more substance or gravitas than a crisp packet.
As a film lover it’s profoundly depressing when judges spend so much time fawning over a single film, especially when in my view that film doesn’t warrant the hype. When you look back at previous years one can see so many worthy movies which fully deserved their Oscar, but this year it seems to me that the judges have lost the plot…
I realise that this clearly isn’t a universal view but am interested in other views.
I liked the fact that it focused on THIS character in the story.
we could have made a film about any of the other characters.
I liked the different parts. the back-and-forth with the trial.
in short, superb.
Best costume design and best make-up and hairstyling went to Poor Things.
I found Oppenheimer utterly gripping and enjoyed it immensely, though at three hours long I’m glad we watched it at home. We all like different things and it seems a bit odd to slag it off so vehemently, especially when you haven’t got your facts right.
I don’t go to the cinema any more. The last film I saw was Bladerunner 2049. I really don’t get tempted by anything I hear about. Too much formula and very little original thought. You may not like Oppenheimer, but at least it’s not Out of Africa.
I think there’s a pretty good film in there, just that it would only be 2 hours long. The shifting timelines added little for me, and the Florence Pugh storyline was pretty unnecessary.
I might watch it again, but for me it badly needed pruning. I actually found the less ‘action’ scenes most interesting, the debates and hand-wringing, rather than the early origins stuff. Each to their own.
I can take or leave Interstellar but never managed to finish Tenet. Utter bonkers.
Can Nolan actually tell a story without overcomplicating it now?
Bruce
As for the Oscars, Anatomy of a Fall didn’t win any , but deserves your time if you can find it IMHO
I watched Oppenheimer in two parts over a weekend. Unless it’s a movie like Dune 2, there is no way I’m sitting through a 3 hour movie comprised mostly of dialogue .
Having said that, I enjoyed Oppenheimer.
As to all the awards, maybe it’s because of a lack of competition.
Jean Tatlock was the love of Oppenheimer’s life so it would have been odd not to include it, and it helps make the film more than a geekfest. The three hours was a bit of challenge but to edit it down significantly would have lost a lot of the depth. But I’m pleased we stopped for wine halfway through.
I’ve not seen it but will. It’s a bit of history that that needs to be taken into context with all the despots around now. It also makes you think of the consequences if someone was mad enough and push the button.
It’s interesting that around 50% of us seem to have found it a bore too. I think Andreas you may indeed be on to something with the lack of competition.
Disappointed to hear that Dune and Dune 2 were also disappointing DanielH, I haven’t seen either despite being a science fiction fan but I’m not sure it’s really my kind of science fiction. I’m more of an Aliens/2001/2010/Terminator/Star Trek kind of guy…
I guess other films I found noteworthy in 2023/4 were: Guy Ritchie’s ‘the Covenant’, ‘One Life’ with Anthony Hopkins, Sam Mendes masterful ‘Empire of Light’ and ‘The Great Escaper’ with Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson in her final role. It’s not a long list though and far too many movies made this year were either sequels aiming to cash in or highly derivative.
It seems to me that a lot of the money is now flowing into the coffers of the streaming services who are producing higher and higher quality output. Perhaps this is to some degree to the detriment of cinemas because there’s only so much money to go around.
It will be interesting to see what emerges later this year, I for one hope that the movie industry will remain vibrant and viable and I just hope that the overwhelming success of Oppenheimer doesn’t smother the next generation of great film makers before they even start. I think that’s what worries me most really - that the judges of these things are only looking one way…
The biggest disappointment for me in the Dune series was at the very end of Dune 2 where Paul threatened the Landsraad with destroying all spice on Arrakis. It was so much more interesting in the books where Paul threatened the Spacing Guild by ceasing all spice production thus ending space travel by folding space.
