Stoked how bad Oppenheimer was

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

and not just because of the shock and awe to the ears from the sound mixing which often drown out the dialogue. While I enjoyed Dunkirk it suffered from this as well. I wonder what the rational behind what seems like a deliberate choice, in volumes?

While I feel like throwing shade on this film will be taken as a “hot take” by someone who can’t enjoy a universally praised film, or whatever but… speaking for myself, I really enjoyed Top Gun Maverick and was pleasantly surprised by it.

Oppenheimer did have some decent performances and such but it felt like he was trying to cram a six volume biography into 3hrs…

Anyone else out there see it and feel similar?

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#2

I’ve heard enough already. Pass.

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#3

Well to be honest, it really only felt like 2hrs and 55mins.

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#4

That’s too bad, I’m hoping to catch it. No luck catching a 70mm showing near me, which would be cool. Any time I can experience film in a big new way I’m kind of psyched about it, but a biopic is an odd choice all around. I wish I’d have seen Dunkirk in IMAX, but I didn’t think much of the plot of either that or Tenet to be honest.
I didn’t see Top Gun Maverick in the theater and I really wish I had because it was a lot of fun.

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#5

Yeah, I’m consistently underwhelmed by Nolan’s films. I feel like Michael Mann in the 90’s succeeded with some of the things I believe Nolan is trying to do, but Mann managed to use actors, cinematography, pacing and sound design in a subtle and unsentimental way. Nolan to me feels like watching action movies without the carefreeness of good action movies.

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#7

Oh I see it’s a Christopher Nolan joint. Double pass.

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#8

Barbie it is, then!

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#9

There is another way!

I watched Blade Runner last night and it was awesome as ever.

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#10

didn’t see it yet, but I too feel that Nolan is losing it for the sake of making “analog blockbuster”, but will hold judgement until I see it…

the original or 2049?

#11

The original (final director’s cut) but I dig both.

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#12

One last critical thing I will say about this film is that it suffers from the now overused “Keyser Söze” effect where towards the end during the big reveal the director rushes to tie up all the loose ends via a series of flashbacks from previous scenes to show the audience how he cleverly planted not so subtle clues to certain “mysteries”. I think I’d rather watch 3hrs of Blues Clues rather than another film like this.

And a positive thing I just discovered about the film- Robert Downey Jr. was in it… I had no idea while I was watching it which is pretty amazing. He did a fantastic job! Love ya RDJ!

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#13

yee me too, imo Villeneuve films are good example of balance between practical effects and cgi with a good taste, script not always good but I’d watch his movies over Nolan’s every day of the week.

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#14

I actually loved the movie, and especially the score. This was the first Nolan move for me where I could understand what everyone said, so maybe it depends on the theater. That being said I kind of agree about the “Söze” stuff toward the end.

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#15

I only like the good movies but I’m not really a cinema buff (who has the time?) so I had to go look up Villeneuve. On the one hand he did Blade Runner. Brilliant. But otherwise I’ve only seen Dune and Sicario. Dune was okay but all that Hans Zimmer bullshit was annoying and then of course the last 30 or 60 seconds just ruined the whole thing. I kinda don’t even want to see the sequel. The less said about the turd called Sicario the better. So, since I did like Inception and the Scarecrow parts of the Batman movies were pretty cool, I’d have to rank Nolan and Villeneuve about the same at this point.

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#16

Sicario not my cup of tea as well but it’s a decent made movie compared to all over hyped action movies. personally I liked Dune score and the world building, yeah some holywood drama ruins stuff but overall it’s pretty good. (I cannot not like a movie with Brolin and Bardem)

I LOVED Arrival, imo it’s his best one.

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#17

I do want to see that!

#18

Yeah Dune got me to read the book, and now I can’t wait for the sequel. Loved the score on that one, too. Arrival is incredible!

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#19

I think sometimes Nolan uses certain techniques and tools just to say that he’s using them.

Contrast this with someone like Kubrick, who used all sorts of crazy tools and techniques, but all of them in service to the end goal.

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#21

Not sure If Im misremembering but isn’t one of the reasons for the bad audio Dolby Atmos?

Basically every movie is mixed to this new hi tech system and if you visit a cinema which doesn’t have this new hi-tech system then the audio is gonna suck donkey butt.

Case in point me watching the Mario movie with my kids in the local cinema, which was basically the worst movie experience I’ve ever had.

Of course Nolan is renowned for his bad audio mixes, but maybe this time it’s not just one issue, but two!?

Edit: sorry @Fin25 didn’t mean to reply to you :blush:

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#22

My partner characterizes Nolan’s oeuvre this way: “Brooding men, World War II, and fucking with time.” She watched the trailer of Oppenheimer and paused it to say, “This Manhattan Project readout uses Nixie tubes, which weren’t developed until the 1950’s.” I said, “I guess that’s the fucking-with-time part.”

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