Oppenheimer - 2023 Christopher Nolan & Cillian Murphy (birth of the Atom Bomb).

Dunkirk is one of my favourite films of recent years

I saw it on a big big screen and the whole thing was an exceptional experience in the cinema

I get peoples complaints about it, but I don't care

I even bought the soundtrack!

I just love it, the cinematography, the acting, the storyline, the structure (of the different intercut timelines)

Tenet was a bit rubbish though
 
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gettothechopper said:
Dunkirk is one of my favourite films of recent years

I saw it on a big big screen and the whole thing was an exceptional experience in the cinema

I get peoples complaints about it, but I don't care

I even bought the soundtrack!

I just love it, the cinematography, the acting, the storyline, the structure (of the different intercut timelines)

Tenet was a bit rubbish though
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Exactly how I feel about both.
 
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People make the mistake of thinking Nolan makes popcorn action movies, partly because of how his stuff is marketed, but he is definitely a serious film maker.

If I recall people on here were saying Dunkirk would have been better with loads copy / paste CGI soldiers, boats and planes - literally WTF - when has a film ever been made better with more CGI. The only bad thing with Dunkirk is Harry Styles who cant act and was such a bizarre choice.

Tenet is also a really clever film but again making a film about time travel will always set off nerd rage unless it conforms to the BTTF rules.

Oppenheimer looks to be another classic. For anyone who has seen it - is it a linear narrative or more like Dunkirk?
 
I enjoyed Tenet but it was hard going understanding the sequence of events, so I can see why Mr & Mrs General Public would also have had less fun watching it as they effectively took what would've felt like a MENSA test whilst watching it if they tried to unravel what's happening.

Dunkirk on the other hand complete sailed past me into obscurity, with nothing other than "WTF is Harry Styles doing here" remaining afterwards, and even terrific actors like Hardy and Branagh gave fairly "bland" performances to me. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, but it almost felt like a MaccyD's compared to Nolan's usual Wagyu Fillet Mignon offerings.
 
GlitterBalls said:
Nolan is overrated imo. Tenet and Dunkirk were crap.

But Oppenheimer does sound good.
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I was not a fan of Dunkirk, the whole ticking clock thing and the same scene playing out from each POV just didn't work for me, I found it annoying in the end. I thought Tenet was ok but you had to work. Inception, Interstellar, The Dark Knight were incredible.

Oppenheimer will have me booking BFI IMAX and riding into London to watch it, it looks that good.
 
Yeah i was really disappointed with Dunkirk. Ill say no more than that.
Tenet was better the second time but still a lot of style over substance.

Oppenheimer, got tickets for saturday, and i'm expecting a slog..... It either gonna be love or hate... :P
 
I'm booked in at the IMAX in Manchester on Saturday, really looking forward to this one. I watched Dunkirk again at the weekend to get in the mood and forgot how good it was. I haven't seem it since release when I saw it in the IMAX and was blown away by it!
 
Booked tickets for Saturday at my local Odeon iSense. They are only doing one iSense a day and for less than a week.

I did consider travelling to Manchester for a genuine film projected IMAX showing.
 
Not sure how some people can say he’s overrated, his catalogue of films is incredible, at worst they are innovative, well shot and contain some cool ideas. A couple have some short comings but I would still rather watch them any day than most of the films Hollywood churns out.

When he hits the nail on the head you get films like Interstellar, Inception, Dark Knight, The Prestige…

I’m really interested to see how he puts his twist on this story, look forward to watching it.
 
n111ck said:
People make the mistake of thinking Nolan makes popcorn action movies, partly because of how his stuff is marketed, but he is definitely a serious film maker.

If I recall people on here were saying Dunkirk would have been better with loads copy / paste CGI soldiers, boats and planes - literally WTF - when has a film ever been made better with more CGI. The only bad thing with Dunkirk is Harry Styles who cant act and was such a bizarre choice.

Tenet is also a really clever film but again making a film about time travel will always set off nerd rage unless it conforms to the BTTF rules.

Oppenheimer looks to be another classic. For anyone who has seen it - is it a linear narrative or more like Dunkirk?
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I think the opposite to be honest. He certainly has more rabid defenders then he does people who dismiss his films as regular blockbusters. I think his defenders make the mistake of comparing him to someone like Kubrick, which he almost certainly is not. The only similarity between the two is that they both share an obsession with the practical, that's where it ends for me.

I would never say that Nolan is a poor Director. He just isn't. He's a fantastic Director. But he's not an auteur filmmaker in the way his peers were. Kubricks famous for saying “The truth of a thing is in the feel of it, not the think of it”, which is the opposite of how Nolan directs. He's a 'details' director first, everything else is secondary to that, often to the detriment of the films themselves ie. Tenet (which I personally like, though it's fraught with issues). I've said it on here before, but the way he writes conflict and emotional story beats looks, feels and sounds like a really proficient AI's translation of how humans see those things. It never feels authentic to me and is either overblown by his directorial tropes or underwritten because he can't quite sell it. Whenever I mention that someone always points to that scene in Interstellar where he sees the Murph tapes for the first time, but that moment is a by product of the narrative, not the filmmaking. McConaugheys acting sells that scene and the simplicity of the shot composition keeps it real. It's the OPPOSITE of what he usually does.

To be honest he has a lot more in common with Spielberg or Cameron. He's the perfect example of a Director who's re-established what a modern Blockbuster looks like.
 
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n111ck said:
Well hopefully Nolan continues his wining streak and doesn't go off the boil like both Spielberg and Cameron.
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He probably will at some point and to some he already has. I certainly prefer his earlier crop of stuff. Doesn't make him a poor Director either way though. Even with the stuff I haven't enjoyed as much I still see the great in it. Aside from DKR, that movie is just APOS.
 
ArcticHeron said:
He's a fantastic Director. But he's not an auteur filmmaker in the way his peers were. Kubricks famous for saying “The truth of a thing is in the feel of it, not the think of it”, which is the opposite of how Nolan directs.
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I'd be interested to know what you think after seeing Oppenheimer.

Paul Schrader has called Oppenheimer "The Best, Most Important Film Of This Century" https://deadline.com/2023/07/paul-schrader-praises-christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-1235441186/
 
I've got a wife and child free weekend and an IMAX 5 minutes away, the wife would have absolutely no interest in watching this so it might be a good way to spend a soaking wet Saturday.
 
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