DJariya

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey, Jr, Matt Damon, Kenneth Branagh, Florence Pugh

Running Time: 180 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92% (Certified Fresh)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oppenheimer_2023

You Tube

Seeing this in IMAX on Thursday night.

dex14

I see what you did there... no "spoiler" in the title so we can't come in and say SPOILER: they dropped the bomb!

TomOpus

Stuckmann saw it in IMAX and said it has the same audio issues. He got about 75% of the dialogue. Otherwise was a glowing review.

Draven

Just got back - overall, I really enjoyed it. I don’t know much about that history and it was pretty fascinating to see it play out.

The length didn’t bother me - it moved along at a good pace.

I wish there were more nuclear bomb effects - I went into it thinking that would be the highlight but it was a pretty short sequence. It’s a LOT more people in rooms talking.

Murphy is great - lots of different time jumps and he played every era well.

There were some interesting things like someone telling a story about something they saw and then Oppenheimer is inside the story observing. Can’t remember Nolan doing that kind of thing outside of the dreams in Inception.

Still has sound issues - chunks of dialogue I could not understand. I don’t know why no one involved can seem to tell Nolan that you just can’t hear parts and they should be mixed clearer.

Also, if you’ve want to see Florence Pugh’s boobs, have I got the movie for you….

bluetoast

Saw it in 70 mm, presentation was great. Still had some inaudible moments, but not a ton. Story was wel told, thanks to the poster recommending the recent doc for context.

I knew they had to show Feynman seeing the explosion without protection, he mentioned that in one of his books. Though I don’t think he started playing bongos until years later.

DJariya

4 1/2 stars from me. Riveting movie. I think Cillian Murphy deserves consideration for best actor and Robert Downey Jr. for best supporting actor come Oscar time. Both were really good in this. It’s super dialogue heavy, but the scenes were always filled with substance. The interrogation scenes, especially the last one with Oppenheimer and the committee were really intense and well filmed. I’m not a historian, so I also found the events being played out quite interesting.

Maybe a little slow in some parts and this is not the kind of movie that has a lot of replay value. I’ll probably watch it again down the road when it comes out on 4K. And I’m not sure July was the ideal time to release this. Feels like a Fall movie. Hope it manages to find an audience in a crowded field. But overall aside from that, this IMO is top tier Nolan. This blows away Tenet. This is some of his best work as a writer and director.

outcastja

It was a shit show at Irvine Spectrum IMAX 70mm.

Played up to the Universal Logo then projector overheated and shutdown. Manager came out asked if we wanted digital or wait to fix the projector. Everyone wanted film so we waited a hour. And when they ran it a second time it it didn't even last 5 seconds. They ended up playing it digital, felt like a third of the audience left to get their refund.

It's just shitty situation since majority of the good seats at IMAX 70mm are booked for the next two weeks.

CristonCole

A long, exhausting film but never less than compelling throughout. Oscar nominations for Murphy, Downey Jr., the Score, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, etc. are pretty much all a given imo. And thank fuck Nolan must’ve listened to complaints about the audio mixing in his past several films because here for the first time in a long time I could actually make out and understand every single line of dialogue spoken. For Tenet I still feel the need to turn on subtitles in order to decipher half the shit being said by characters there. Overall I don’t think it’s Nolan’s best film, it’s not without flaws, but it’s certainly top-tier and one any cinephile should appreciate.

One thing: Take out two quick F-bombs and one awkwardly staged and shot sex scene (which actually had some people in my theatre laughing over how odd it looked and felt) and this could very easily have been given a PG-13 rating. Kinda wish they had gone that route.

dex14

This seems to be a somewhat common issue going around. If you are doing an actual film screening, you really need to consider the idea that it could break down. Since this is a 3 hour film, who has the time to wait around or try and reschedule?

DJariya

$10.5M last night. Pretty impressive.

Draven

My theater last night at 5PM was almost completely full.

DJariya

My IMAX showing last night was also almost full except the neck breaker seats. And I saw maybe two people the entire three hours leave for a restroom break.

bluetoast

Local theater is giving out official 70 mm commemorative film strips today. But not to those who attended last night.

The Cow

Saw it this afternoon. I liked it well enough. The first half was a bit of a slog, but then really picked up. The score did a great job of keeping and upping the intensity.

I don't think it's really a movie that needs to be seen in IMAX that folks have been clamoring about (for visuals). Other than the bit with the bomb going off, I don't see much benefit. And even for that, it was the sound that pulled that scene together, the visual wasn't very spectacular. (all IMO, of course )

Between this and Barbie, I haven't seen our theaters this crowded in a looooong time.

Michael T Hudson

Just left a showing and said same thing about the nudity to my wife and child. It was pretty unnecessary. My 13 year old was pretty bored.

dex14

It's about image clarity and the aspect ratio not just big visual set pieces.

Mike86

Saw it last night in a packed theater. I enjoyed it overall. It was long in spots but I agree that it also felt like it moved at a fairly brisk pace. One of Nolan’s best films in a while to me. Not sure how much replay value it’ll have though.

Shannon Nutt

Very good movie. Probably could have been trimmed a bit, but a really good film. The only "complaint" about it was the fact that it was hard to keep track of all the various characters, but that should clear up on multiple viewings. Once again, Nolan makes great use of sound throughout the film.

IDrinkMolson

Overall I really enjoyed it. Wife was out of town and she wasn't interested in seeing it anyway, so went by myself to the IMAX around 40 miles away. Went to the first showing Friday, about 3/4 full or so. A lot of old codgers that couldn't see the numbers on the seats (I couldn't either, but I was smart and used the glow from phone screen).

I had watched the WGN show Manhattan so had some knowledge of it, but I did not remember much of the "after" (The Day After??) stuff.

My only nitpick is the amount of cuts and length of the shots between the cuts. It was dizzying at times, add in people talking off camera to come in shot then out while still talking. One of the longer ones seemed to be Flo sitting in the chair topless. Or, maybe time just slowed down?

I don't remember any problems with the volume drowning out dialog, but there were a few times I could feel it reverberating really hard in my chest that it felt like my heart skipped a beat. But, the rando next to me at the end goes, 'What did he say? What did he say at the end?!' I wasn't expecting a pop quiz and could only think about making it to the bathroom. Took me a minute, because I wasn't sure how much he missed, and just went with the last few sentences. Paraphrased because I already couldn't remember exactly what was said. (that's a "me" thing, not anything about the movie). I said, basically he's alluding to the bomb didn't melt the atmosphere but he might have inadvertently, because of the arms race.

I was definitely getting a little antsy in the last 30-45 minutes. Checked the watch a couple of times.

There are times I cannot recognize actors anymore. I knew Oldman was in this movie going in, but on my way home it dawned on me, who did Oldman play? Then I figured it out. He was the guy leading the meeting to pick the target. But, I could've sworn that was the guy from Black Lightning [James Remar, had to look it up...] Get home, look it up, SHIT, that was the guy from Black Lightning, who did Oldman play?! Look it up, oh OK, now I see why I didn't recognize him.
Jason Clarke character, thought for sure that was the same guy that played a Congressman in the last season of Blacklist.
I don't remember seeing Scott Grimes at all.

I'm going to give it 4.5. Extra for the sound and cinematography especially the B&W, which might also be because I saw it in IMAX. I'm sure Kodak was pretty excited.

There's a couple of posts in the other thread for a couple of documentaries, I'm going to watch them soon. I'm wondering how much has been dramatized for the screen. I have a hold on the American Prometheus audiobook from the library I'm waiting on.

bluetoast

Fun account from Feynman about patents at Los Alamos and getting his money’s worth.

sherm42

My reaction is pretty much opposite of everyone else. I was bored. This movie was emotionless. I didn’t feel anything the entire time. No sadness, no excitement, no terror, no thrills or even frustration. It was mostly three hours of people talking to each other in rooms, and the main story framing the whole film was about a guy who destroyed Oppenheimer because he got embarrassed by him six years before at a hearing.

Definitely my least favorite Nolan film and one I have no interest in ever revisiting.

Throwing Copper

It was good. Very well made, great sound and performances. Cillian was terrific.

But the reviewers who said it’s basically just 3 hours of people talking and close ups of Cillian’s face really weren’t kidding. 😂

I enjoyed it. It will be nominated for a bunch of Oscars, but I am shocked this is doing so well.

and yeah, 3 hours was unnecessary.

Josh-da-man

This describes, like, every Nolan movie. His style is very clinical and detached. If the subject matter interests you, you go with it, if it doesn't, then it's like watching accountants work.

sherm42

I don’t agree at all. Tenet may have been confusing, but it was action packed and thrilling and the villain was kind of terrifying. Dunkirk was so tense I had white knuckles from gripping my seat. Interstellar was thrilling and very sad in connection with him leaving his family. This movie just had nothing.

And what a waste of IMAX. Thank god I paid so much to see those grand vistas of a claustrophobic conference room and a Congressional hearing.

Great performances, but otherwise meh.

Josh-da-man

I did enjoy Tenet; it mined similar territory to Inception, but I thought it was a superior movie even with the wonky physics that probably don't hold up. The dreams-within-dreams stuff from Inception was too much work for not enough reward. Interstellar was kind of in-between for me; the wonky physics in that one were rooted in actual real-world science (relativity), but I found it kind of meandering and bloodless.

Batman Begins and Dark Knight Rises were good, The Dark Knight was great.

Dunkirk bored me. Couldn't finish it; nothing clicked for me.