Oppenheimer - overrated

Can you name a few of them?

For me, The Wire and True Detective 1 beat almost any film I can think of.

I admit that’s hardly a fair comparison, because those long series have so much more time to develop depth, breadth and duration to their stories.

2 Likes

My two favourite films of all time have always been Apocalypse Now (original, not the Redeux) and Bladerunner Directors Cut

4 Likes

Yes, Apocalypse Now has to be up there in the top few for me too.

Ditto Taxi Driver and ‘drugstore cowboy’.

Probably the first 2 Godfather films as well.

Not unusual choices for men on this forum probably as we saw them when we were young, so they have built in nostalgia too.

1 Like

I watched it at home on my projection tv and loved it. I don’t go to movies at the theater anymore. Been once in the last 10 years and did not like the movie (Napoleon) or the experience.

1 Like

But, but….

An Irishman, and Corkonian to boot (but he is living in Dublin) ,won best actor Oscar for it on the day after England beat us in rugby and 2 days after a referendum was defeated.

If Cillian had not won the Oscar the karma of the universe would have been irreversibly shattered and no amount of brundie destressing would put it right.

.sjb

6 Likes

Aren’t atomic explosions meant to be painfully loud?

1 Like

I really can’t stand a lot of timeline shifts in a movie. From the sound of many of the posts here, I’m glad I saw Barbie instead that weekend. (At home with my wife and two of our daughters).

My main issue with modern movies (but not this one) is that they don’t seem to understand the constraints of the artform and try to cram in a story that is too complex for a 2-3hr format. As such the pacing is just abysmal quite often. Often the emotive and subtle layers are discarded because they have 120 minutes and 240 plot points to cram into them.

I take the classic film “The Conversation” as the gold standard of the correct pacing with the correct amount of complexity for the time frame of the tale.

2 Likes

I know what you mean… but I wouldn’t generalise the current Hollywood so called block buster films with all modern films… its just the generally more interesting films in my opinion are shorter, usually independent, cheaper budgets and far less promoted to the masses. Cinema does seem to be a media of very different styles. Perhaps not dissimilar to music.
At my local independent cinema, All of us Strangers is a film I am planning to see.

2 Likes

I, for one, appreciated Oppenheimer a lot. A key moment in history that changed things forever. And says a lot about what humans do when confronted with the power locked in the universe.

3 Likes

Sure, the history of Oppenheimer himself and his personal turmoils over what he contributed is fascinating, but the film to me didn’t really address this in a great way. I found the Oppenheimer TV series from 1980 a far better drama that seemed to address better his personal turmoils, conflicts with fellow scientists and symbiotic relationship with the military in a more poignant way.

5 Likes

If you haven’t seen Anatomy of a Fall or The Zone of Interest then I can highly recommend both of these

5 Likes

Yep the Zone of Interest is on my list… I was talking to a colleague only yesterday evening about that film.

I wish that Jonathan Glazer would make films more often than every 10 years! Deeply moving and unsettling film. If you can see on the big screen then you should, particularly for the soundscape and score by Mica Levi

Oh I did not know about this one yet. Will be looking out for it, thanks.

I’ve always found the British documentaries of that period to be top notch and generally not skewed towards a special agenda. It’s probably true of other periods too but seen a lot of WWII era ones. I mean, The World At War much be the pinnacle of all the documentaries of that time.

4 Likes

Yes our local independent has a cracking sound system, and upgraded digital projector. The screen is slightly set back on a stage, and sitting at the front in the comfy chairs is an absolute experience… helped by a gin and tonic from the adjacent bar that you can bring into the cinema of course :grinning:

1 Like

It is an American series and is definitely a drama, a fairly good one in my opinion … if you look on the usual streaming services you should find it… it’s in IMDb as well…
The topic of good and bad Second World War films deserves a whole new thread :grinning:

Ah, I googled best I could and saw BBC on the poster.

No jokes there! Should be inversely rated based on the gung-ho hero level.

1 Like

That would put “Where Eagles Dare” towards the very bottom of the list - which is simply wrong. And if they remade it scene for scene, Daniel Craig and Brad Pitt taking the leading roles, I’d be the happiest person alive.

Check out Past Lives. It was nominated for a few awards this year and has the terrific pacing and scope you seem to enjoy. Cheers.

2 Likes