Movie review: Oppenheimer (2023)

[Post published by Liviu, on Liviu's [Personal] Blog]

Nota bene: for other movie reviews, click for the dedicated page with movie reviews.

Oppenheimer (2023)

[IMDB; en.wikipedia]

It’s an... epic biographical thriller drama film... not an action movie, ok? :D

Great script and great movie directing...
It slowly and thoroughly develops the story and patiently builds the tension... through minor plots and twists... and by playing with the narrative threads... and by focusing on changes in characters’ feelings... and by letting the passing of time itself have its own impact on the characters...

I’ve been misled by the trailer to think there would be more focus on the science part or the atomic bomb part...
Truth is there’s very little focus on the science part or the atomic bomb...

Admittedly, the movie feels more like (and is :D) a soap opera :D with respect to its approach to characters’ love life & work life and politics in general... an excellent & expensive soap opera if you ask me, but a soap opera nevertheless! :D

Science in general and the atomic bomb in particular only serve as plots & twists to keep this beautiful & excellent & expensive soap opera going and basically sell/market it to moviegoers...

Entertaining for 3 hours straight.
Never drags.

Really good cinematography.

Interesting soundtrack & sounds - there's not much music to it, but rather an intense & deep & low noise, sort of an uncomfortable continuous noise at times... which makes perfect sense!

Great acting.
Lots of actors, some famous, some not famous - yet, all of them deliver a perfect performance! Congratulations to all of them!

There's just a bit of explicit sexual content perfectly timed, just to make the point and keep the story going.
They could have inserted more, but I guess they tried to avoid hurting their rating or something.

The cinema experience is a must.
TV and/or streaming would ruin the movie experience.
IMAX?! What for?! I don't see the point to it with respect to this movie.

Oppenheimer is gonna earn a lot of Academy Awards nominations, that’s for sure...
Later edit: it has, it deserves them.

Conclusions

Time & Money well spent.

I just wish the trailer would have been more honest:
(i) Truth is there’s very little focus on the science part or the atomic bomb...
(ii) Science in general and the atomic bomb in particular only serve as plots & twists to keep this beautiful & excellent & expensive soap opera going and basically sell/market it to moviegoers...

Movie review: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

[Post published by Liviu, on Liviu's [Personal] Blog]

Nota bene: for other movie reviews, click for the dedicated page with movie reviews.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

[IMDB; en.wikipedia]

Pure action.
Lots of action.
Old school type of action.
There certainly is some cgi there - there must be some cgi, right?! :D - but I can't see it: D I suspect there is some cgi but can't quite put my finger on it : D
I think I got a bit of a headache at times :) due to the rapid scenes of old school action :)... but I don't mind :) since I'm both an action fan and a Tom Cruise fan!

The story is... complex... lots of twists and turns... it's complicated...
Admittedly, I couldn't make a summary of what happens and what each character does at a certain time... that's how complicated it is :))
All I can tell you is "everyone wants to put their hands on both halves of the key and I'm not sure who's in control, the A.I. or some human?!"

Entertaining, be sure about that!

They keep a fast pace throughout the movie, all those 160 something minutes!
The movie never drags.

It's dense... lots of twists... lots of details... carefully delivered confusion/ambiguity...
In order to keep track of everything during the creation process - i.e. write the script and/or direct such a movie - one requires discipline, being incredibly organized... and also being a bit crazy :)... which is exactly the kind of people I admire & enjoy following!

Tom Cruise delivers a really good performance as always.
...but each of all the 4 supporting female actors deliver an even better performance, I'd say - Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff - congratulations to whoever handled the casting!

The cinema experience is a must.
IMAX probably delivers more than regular cinema (which I've watched) with respect to this movie.
TV and/or streaming would ruin the movie experience.

Conclusions

Great movie. Time & Money well spent.

Looking forward to part 2 :)

You know what's the real Mission Impossible?!

Releasing Oppenheimer (2023) [Liviu review] and Barbie (2023) [Liviu review] - right after _this MI movie_ in order to bite into its earnings, which they've succeeded...
...and then marketing those 2 movies as 1, i.e. Barbenheimer [en.wikipedia], in order to bite even more into MI's earnings, which they've succeeded...
...and also have Oppenheimer compete against MI for IMAX screens, which they've succeeded... yet it's unfair since MI certainly benefits from (and needs more) IMAX while Oppenheimer can do just fine in regular cinema :))

These 3 victories against MI are the most real life _Mission Impossibles_!!! :D