What's the latest movie you've seen?

[Guybrush]

Saw Oppenheimer 🙂

Very good movie. It seems it did everything right.

Slight spoilers!!

For myself, I was more interested in the development of the bomb, the physics, the consequences for the Japanese people after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the heavy water sabotage ops, the demon core and Cecil Kelley accidents, etc. There was a little less of such things and more about a sorta prosecution of Oppenheimer and whether or not he was a traitor. So it was about the drama surrounding him more than those other interesting things related or connected to him, which is definitely understandable.

For me, it was a:

I'd be up for a 4 hours director's cut implementing some of the stuff I missed 😄

[jadis]

Not a fan of Nolan but might watch it, if only because I have a general interest in mid-century US history. A very smart historian told me he thought Dunkirk was good fwiw.

Not to be a cliché but my favorite film by him is the low budget debut, Following (1998). A very smart and memorable thriller. Even more than Memento imo.

After that he did a really bad remake of one of my favorite films, Insomnia (1997), a Norwegian masterpiece set in Tromsø. And the Dark Batman stuff was very silly imo, though I guess the one with Heath Ledger is a decent action film. The less said about Inception the better.

[DJChameleon]

Not a fan of Nolan but might watch it, if only because I have a general interest in mid-century US history. A very smart historian told me he thought Dunkirk was good fwiw.

Not to be a cliché but my favorite film by him is the low budget debut, Following (1998). A very smart and memorable thriller. Even more than Memento imo.

After that he did a really bad remake of one of my favorite films, Insomnia (1997), a Norwegian masterpiece set in Tromsø. And the Dark Batman stuff was very silly imo, though I guess the one with Heath Ledger is a decent action film. The less said about Inception the better.

Adding Following to my watch list but I highly doubt it will top Memento.

Nolan's batman trilogy is top notch the only thing I hated was Bale's batman voice lol.

What's your beef with Inception?

Go on a rant and be very specific.

[jadis]

Adding Following to my watch list but I highly doubt it will top Memento.

Nolan's batman trilogy is top notch the only thing I hated was Bale's batman voice lol.

What's your beef with Inception?

Go on a rant and be very specific.

I need to rewatch Memento, I saw it once with friends and was probably not super focused but remember I had a positive impression. I like the main actor, the other Australian guy from LA Confidential.

What I love about Following is the tone and look. Looks nothing like his other stuff.

All I remember of Inception is that I thought it was very silly and probably a tech bro's idea of an "art film."

In general, his films are not for me 


 

[DJChameleon]

I need to rewatch Memento, I saw it once with friends and was probably not super focused but remember I had a positive impression. I like the main actor, the other Australian guy from LA Confidential.

What I love about Following is the tone and look. Looks nothing like his other stuff.

All I remember of Inception is that I thought it was very silly and probably a tech bro's idea of an "art film."

In general, his films are not for me

I respect your opinion but woof.

Inception and TENET are so good from a cinematography standpoint alone not even touching on the plot itself which I actually love for various reasons.

Your Inception take just seems like a hot take to spit others but if that's how you feel then that's how you feel.


also Guy Pearce is the main actor in Memento. I also like Joey Pants' performance.

[jadis]

I don't do hot takes or adopt opinions based on how anyone would respond to them. I have my own preferences

[degrassi.knoll]

I walked out of "Oppie" I hated it so much. Such a dude movie imo, relentless pacing with no narrative threads, a slew of characters with which you're given no time to connect,  Florence Pugh plays a woman of significant influence and is reduced to 8 minutes of screen time as the naked crazy commie chick. Horrid. A gratuitous celebration of the western hero - each scene praises him as a playboy genius admired by his colleagues (except for that lil communism thing). Here is Oppenheimer, here's his current love interest, here's some quippy, shallow banter, here's his colleagues telling him what a genius he is, rinse & repeat. There's no time for nuance - we've got 30 years to cover in 3 hours!

I was truly looking forward to it from the perspective of a Vonnegut fan girl who's spent considerable time pondering Oppenheimer the human, and I'm truly angered by how badly Nolan botched what could have been and instead made a feature length feel-good film for the history bros. I wish I would've just watched Barbie twice.

[Guybrush]

Nolan's movie is based on the book American Prometheus and although I haven't read it, just the title already seems kinda like worship.

At least it didn't glorify the heinous bombings and murdering of thousands of civilians in the most horrific ways at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[jadis]

It seems like everyone I know is recording stories on Instagram about how much they hated it

Feels like a U2 album drop to itunes moment, except people are mad at themselves for taking the bait and going to see it 

[Guybrush]

It seems like everyone I know is recording stories on Instagram about how much they hated it

Feels like a U2 album drop to itunes moment, except people are mad at themselves for taking the bait and going to see it 

I think the movie is fine. To some extent it is a hero worship story from way back in the days of the patriarchy. Its cast is mostly dudes playing scientists. Is it going to change your mind about sexuality or feminism or racism etc? Probably not. Is it going to change your mind about Oppenheimer and the Manhattan project? Possibly.

I can see it doesn't bring up the issues people might want to discuss, but expecting that it would also seems like an unfair expectation. The minds and movers of the Manhattan project were mostly white, adult male persons, unfortunately.

And although I haven't seen Barbie (which would have to address at least one of those issues), I assume a lot of people watch them back to back and judge Oppenheimer thusly.

[robhr]

Following was a good one.

I saw The French Dispatch.

I liked it.

Wes Anderson is becoming a parody of himself.

But I liked it.

[degrassi.knoll]

I think the movie is fine. To some extent it is a hero worship story from way back in the days of the patriarchy. Its cast is mostly dudes playing scientists. Is it going to change your mind about sexuality or feminism or racism etc? Probably not. Is it going to change your mind about Oppenheimer and the Manhattan project? Possibly.

I can see it doesn't bring up the issues people might want to discuss, but expecting that it would also seems like an unfair expectation. The minds and movers of the Manhattan project were mostly white, adult male persons, unfortunately.

And although I haven't seen Barbie (which would have to address at least one of those issues), I assume a lot of people watch them back to back and judge Oppenheimer thusly.

I don't think anyone's concerned about the film not being diverse or touching on social issues - that wouldn't make any sense.

The problem is that it's ONLY hero worship. It doesn't go deeper than that.

I don't think watching Barbie first influenced my opinion other than one being a movie I thoroughly enjoyed and was immersed in and the other was bland, stale, and underwhelming. Different levels of enjoyment in terms of the watching experience.

[Guybrush]

We finished this a couple of days ago.



Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun which follows a young boy from a wealthy British family Shanghai during the second world War. The Japanese invade and he becomes a prisoner at a Japanese internment camp.

The boy is played by a very young Christian Bale who does a very good job as Jamie Graham. He's supported by a cast that includes John Malkovich and others.

I liked the movie and the performances, although the story wasn't quite my thing. It was interesting to see Bale so young as he'd play in American Psycho ten years later.

[Guybrush]

Yesterday, we watched Tumbbad



It's a Bollywood fantasy/horror film that made a splash when it came out in 2018.

The movie has a fairly original story that reminds me of Clive Barker's short stories. It is decently acted, never boring and features some great location and cool imagery.

A slight downside is occasional goofs, weird CGI, but nothing too bad. I'll say the parents also beat their kids a lot and it's a little weird committing so much domestic, casual violence to celluloid.

I couldn't quite get behind all the hype, but I was entertained.

[jadis]

We finished this a couple of days ago.



Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun which follows a young boy from a wealthy British family Shanghai during the second world War. The Japanese invade and he becomes a prisoner at a Japanese internment camp.

The boy is played by a very young Christian Bale who does a very good job as Jamie Graham. He's supported by a cast that includes John Malkovich and others.

I liked the movie and the performances, although the story wasn't quite my thing. It was interesting to see Bale so young as he'd play in American Psycho ten years later.

JG Ballard's book is a masterpiece, Spielberg's film is the very definition of "mid"