Finally saw it last night in an almost sold out theatre.

Don't think Benny or I were expecting how amazing this movie was.

Whoever did the sound for this should win all movie awards.

Benny leaned over at one point and whispered, "that's the sounds of the bombs being dropped. But we aren't going to see that because this is about his moral wrestling with the audience celebrating the deaths of thousands and thousands."

I agreed.

Everyone knows CM and RDJ are locks for Oscar noms, but I would not be surprised if Matt Damon and Emily Blunt got ones as well.

I learned a lot about Los Alamos in this movie. It was briefly touched on in school, but I didn't know they built houses for families to be there.

One of the best movies I have seen in ages.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Watched it for the second time tonight. I enjoyed it even more now that I had a firm grasp of the three timelines, knew all the characters, and was able to engage more in the nuances and dialogue throughout.

This movie is only going to get better with age.

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Same. Saw it again last night, this time with the family, and it's a straight up masterpiece. The structure and engine of the whole thing is so much more apparent on second viewing. I went from thinking I'd never rewatch it to now wanting to rewatch it yet again.

are you saying we push that button…there's a chance we buy a zoo? pic.twitter.com/IxWgRhUH34

— Le Cinéphiles (@LeCinephiles) July 28, 2023

Until somebody buys a bigger zoo pic.twitter.com/LofbeeyJdD

— Jared (@Name3309) July 25, 2023

in the beginning he’s asked why he won’t commit to the communist party and he says “I like a little wiggle room.” The rest of the movie shows him operating in that wiggle room and becoming undone by it

— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) July 28, 2023

I think the movie's perspective on Opp is that he is a man capable of moral thought, but morality doesn't guide his actions. The poison apple sequence is a microcosm of the movie. He acts and then reflects on the morality of that choice later.

— Robert Rider (@DudeRandomNums) July 28, 2023

Feynman: "The glass stops the UV"
Other Scientist: "What stops the glass?"

Haven't checked in on this thread since I didn't get a chance to watch it until today. Also, didn't get a chance to watch it in IMAX, but I'm not sure that really mattered all that much (although I'm sure the few shots of the Trinity Test were awesome in that format).

I thought it was really good. But not great. Given the amount they covered, I understand why large parts of it were quick cuts and explanations. But man, it was long and it was confusing for my wife who didn't know any of this story aside from the fact that they made a bomb.

I was hoping this would be a story primarily about the race against Nazi Germany to create a bomb, because I think that's a very interesting story to tell. They decided to go the Russian route, obviously. It's also intriguing but was a disappointing direction to me.

Overall, a really well done and good movie. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't think I'll ever watch it again.

KidDoc said:

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Hated it. I should have known since it was a Nolan flick but I like the subject matter and lead actors so went anyway. Way too pretentious and adhd between the choppy ADHD dialogue, time jumps, etc. I would.love to see this edited into a linear non Nolan movie because the performances were great.

Also what was the budget to make.everyone looks constantly sweaty? That was distracting.

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This is the movie version of a grown up that asks for their "sauce on the side" when they order at a restaurant.

Ol_Ag_02 said:

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BassCowboy33 said:

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G.I.Bro said:

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Has anyone mentioned that Josh Hartnett has aged like a fine wine? Hatchie matchie

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I wonder if this is that film that will jump start the second era of his acting career. I thought he was great.

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He was fantastic in the most recent season of Dark Mirror as an astronaut. Worth a watch.

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Also quite funny in the action comedy Operation Fortune earlier this year.

https://collider.com/josh-hartnett-oppenheimer-black-mirror/

OldArmy71 said:

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Very well said indeed, and I agree completely.

I wish we had had a nuke to drop early enough to save my Marine uncle.

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Unless you had the opportunity to speak with a WWII Pacific Theatre Vet, I don't think people can really comprehend the level of hatred for the enemy.

In recent years, I don't think we ever hated the Taliban, ISIS, Iraq, even Vietnam or the Soviets in the same way that we hated Japan in 1945.

HollywoodBQ said:

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OldArmy71 said:

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Very well said indeed, and I agree completely.

I wish we had had a nuke to drop early enough to save my Marine uncle.

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Unless you had the opportunity to speak with a WWII Pacific Theatre Vet, I don't think people can really comprehend the level of hatred for the enemy.

In recent years, I don't think we ever hated the Taliban, ISIS, Iraq, even Vietnam or the Soviets in the same way that we hated Japan in 1945.

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This.

Some earlier posts talking about the foot stomping, how the scientists felt at knowing their work had resulted in the deaths of thousands, I think there might have been some with those feelings, sure, but generally, there was an abject hatred of all things Japanese in 1945.

I personally observed this in 1991 while talking with my grandfather, a Pacific vet who survived two ships being sunk from beneath him. It was clear his hatred of the Japanese remained those many years later when I parked my brand new Toyota in his driveway. He told me that I was never to do that again. Which I did not.

Saw the 70mm IMAX this morning. Very immersive that way, although sometimes felt a little silly being THAT immersed in what is often long stretches of boardroom/congress hearings.

Either way, enjoyed it, very well made.

HollywoodBQ said:

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OldArmy71 said:

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Very well said indeed, and I agree completely.

I wish we had had a nuke to drop early enough to save my Marine uncle.

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Unless you had the opportunity to speak with a WWII Pacific Theatre Vet, I don't think people can really comprehend the level of hatred for the enemy.

In recent years, I don't think we ever hated the Taliban, ISIS, Iraq, even Vietnam or the Soviets in the same way that we hated Japan in 1945.

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My grandmother refused to by anything Japanese until her dying day.

Good to hear that you had a different experience on a second viewing. I'm going to have to watch it again and see how I feel

I was blown away by the performances and the audio. The story for me was just too disjointed. (I knew very little about the bomb construction or the politics surrounding Oppenheimer going in).

I found myself sitting in the theatre trying to figure out what the movie was about.

My wife compared it to me telling her a story. I have a tendency to add multiple supporting stories in the middle of the main story...(all of which I feel are vital for the main story and will make the main story so much better). There is definitely an art to it, and if I take too long, don't properly connect the stories for her, then I lose her.

Obviously there was Oppenheimer and his internal moral battle, which I expected. I thought Nolan conveyed that incredibly. But that alone is not a three hour movie.

I left the film feeling that the movie was more about his battle with Strauss. Once again, incredible performance by RDJ, but I felt like I missed some background info. Who is he? Why does he hate Oppenheimer so much that he wants to destroy him all movie with interrogations and denial of his security clearance? Why was Oppenheimer's security clearance his holy grail, defining his self worth?

On the way home, we looked up the Strauss/Oppenheimer story and it made more sense...but would have been incredibly useful going into the movie.

I'll watch it again and see if it all makes more sense this time. But not sure how I feel about a movie that you have to watch, then dissect, study, and watch again to really appreciate.

Latrobe said:

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Good to hear that you had a different experience on a second viewing. I'm going to have to watch it again and see how I feel

I was blown away by the performances and the audio. The story for me was just too disjointed. (I knew very little about the bomb construction or the politics surrounding Oppenheimer going in).

I found myself sitting in the theatre trying to figure out what the movie was about.

My wife compared it to me telling her a story. I have a tendency to add multiple supporting stories in the middle of the main story...(all of which I feel are vital for the main story and will make the main story so much better). There is definitely an art to it, and if I take too long, don't properly connect the stories for her, then I lose her.

Obviously there was Oppenheimer and his internal moral battle, which I expected. I thought Nolan conveyed that incredibly. But that alone is not a three hour movie.

I left the film feeling that the movie was more about his battle with Strauss. Once again, incredible performance by RDJ, but I felt like I missed some background info. Who is he? Why does he hate Oppenheimer so much that he wants to destroy him all movie with interrogations and denial of his security clearance? Why was Oppenheimer's security clearance his holy grail, defining his self worth?

On the way home, we looked up the Strauss/Oppenheimer story and it made more sense...but would have been incredibly useful going into the movie.

I'll watch it again and see if it all makes more sense this time. But not sure how I feel about a movie that you have to watch, then dissect, study, and watch again to really appreciate.

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I went into it knowing nothing about Strauss, so I was stunned at the twist 2/3 the way through the film. I think that actually made it more enjoyable for me.

KidDoc said:

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Jack Thauer said:

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Claude! said:

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KidDoc said:

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Also what was the budget to make.everyone looks constantly sweaty? That was distracting.

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People were sweatier back then. Air conditioning wasn't widely available.

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And they were in the freaking desert

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I noticed it most in the DC scenes.

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As someone who lives in DC, even today with plenty of AC the moment I go anywhere in the summer I sweat. it is muggy AF here and usually pretty warm. I've also lived in NM and I am way sweatier here than in NM.

I finally saw this yesterday and I absolutely loved it. I think it was incredibly well acted, well written, and well shot. I also think the score was phenomenal.

The ending is probably the best ending of any Nolan film ever in how powerful it is. I definitely need more viewings to unpack how I feel about how Oppenheimer was presented, but Nolan did a great job making him complex and multi dimensional. As a scientist, I really enjoyed how much ego played a huge role in this film (even so much as getting an explicit line of dialogue about it).

Groves - A Nobel prize for making a bomb?

Oppenheimer - Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.

I lol'd.

Finally saw it Saturday afternoon.

Casting was amazingly done.

RDJ and Jason Clarke both should be up for supporting actor noms in my opinion. Clarke's character's interrogation of Oppenheimer and the other witnesses was almost a more polished version of his characters interrogations in Zero Dark Thirty (minus the waterboarding). Absolute gem. RDJ really nailed his performance as well and the change in intensity of the character with each passing part of the movie was astounding.

Murphy gets into character a lot like DDL. Really immersive and deeply convincing.


Loved the movie. My only complaint, and I may very well be in the minority about it, is the first 20 minutes. Felt a little too jumpy between sequences. Not a huge fan of the live action to cgi cutaway of particles/etc mixed with the over the top sounding in those cgi cutaways.

TXTransplant said:

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I agree…he did himself no favors given who he associated with and the causes he chose to support. But communism was a very different thing pre-WWII. I think people were more worried about being accused of being a Nazi than accused of being a communist.

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I'm late to the party but this isn't really true. Fascism was seen as being in opposition to communism. Communism was rolled up with union membership and as an opposing view to capitalism, it had many many very wealthy and powerful enemies... A fair number of those enemies of communism embraced fascism.

Communism was demonized from the start in a way that fascism wasn't. Wealthy capitalists were shaking in their boots at the idea of a communist uprising in the US starting in 1918, whereas they were doing business with fascist regimes pretty much up until the point that we declared war with German.

We see that Nazis were the enemy in WWII and assume that as a country, we were always on the right side,... but we weren't.

TMoney2007 said:

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TXTransplant said:

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I agree…he did himself no favors given who he associated with and the causes he chose to support. But communism was a very different thing pre-WWII. I think people were more worried about being accused of being a Nazi than accused of being a communist.

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I'm late to the party but this isn't really true. Fascism was seen as being in opposition to communism. Communism was rolled up with union membership and as an opposing view to capitalism, it had many many very wealthy and powerful enemies... A fair number of those enemies of communism embraced fascism.

Communism was demonized from the start in a way that fascism wasn't. Wealthy capitalists were shaking in their boots at the idea of a communist uprising in the US starting in 1918, whereas they were doing business with fascist regimes pretty much up until the point that we declared war with German.

We see that Nazis were the enemy in WWII and assume that as a country, we were always on the right side,... but we weren't.

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The Bolshevik Revolution including the murder of the Tsar's family in such a ruthless way made waves that freaked people out, and rightly so. Anywhere that they existed or exist today, true Marxists should be regarded as an existential threat to a free, liberal nation. As of the late 30's fascism hadn't had a chance to show its true colors in a way that most Americans would have taken notice of. Mussolini's March on Rome, Hitler's failed Putsch, the Night of Long Knives...I'm not sure how seriously most Americans took those things. I believe most Americans viewed Hitler and the Nazis as a unifying, patriotic party that merely wanted to regain some of Germany's losses and build up sufficient military strength -- they just didn't realize yet that fascism is a cancer and cannot be dealt with peacefully. Two absolutely evil ideologies which I'm glad fewer people today suffer under.

Good movie. Wish I could have understood more than about 50% of the dialogue. I presume that the sucky sound was the fault of the theater in which I saw the movie, but if not, the film's sound engineer should have been fired.