#and they were talking about how they had seen Oppenheimer and barbie back to back

[florida3exclamationpoints]

Lol

[poeticpascal]

Trouble (Pedro Pascal x Rockstar!Reader)

Masterlist | Request here!

Summary: Pedro had never heard of (Y/N) (L/N) before his latest appearance on The Graham Norton Show. By the end, his assistant wishes it had stayed that way, and he wonders how it took him so long to find her.

Word count: 4.8k

Warnings: mentions of drug abuse (now recovered), allusions to but no specific mention of an overdose.

A/n: I am very nervous to post this! I've never written a fic about an actor like this before, so depending on how this one does lol, you may be able to expect more from me like this. Please let me know what you think, and don't forget my requests are open!

“And he used red this time! We were getting so worried that he wasn’t interested in all 3 primary colours-”

Pedro sighs, glancing towards the door to see if his assistant was coming back yet. No sign.

He turns back to the old lady who’s been talking now for what - 4 hours? 5? It felt like it. She was sweet, and he didn’t want to be rude, but god if he had to spend one more minute hearing about her grandson’s latest finger painting-

“So sorry I took so long! We’ll have to get going Pedro - your next interview is in 10.”

His assistant - Alicia - burst back into the room and Pedro was sure he could feel his eyes well in relief. He takes the lady’s hand, shaking it and giving her a warm smile. “Mrs Alderman, I’d love to hear all about Harvey, but I’ve gotta go. It was lovely to meet you!”

She smiles in understanding and clasps her own hand on top of his. “It was lovely to meet you too, Peter!”

Alicia snorts behind him, and Pedro gives up with a final, defeated smile before heading out of the cafe and back towards his car. He’d only wanted to nip in for a second, to grab coffee and a pastry, but then Alicia got a phone call, and Mrs Alderman started talking to him in the queue, and by the time they left his goddamn coffee had gone cold.

They clamber inside, Alicia pushing a few files onto the backseat as Pedro stares. “I almost died, you know,” he quips, half muffled as he takes a bite of his croissant. He hums at the taste, light and buttery; maybe it had been worth it.

Alicia rolls her eyes, used to his antics by now. “I was on the phone to the BBC. They’ve confirmed who you’ll be on The Graham Norton Show with.”

“They have? Who?” 

He generally felt nervous going on the big chat shows, especially with how in demand he'd been recently. But Graham had been so warm, especially for his first time on the show, that when they asked him to come back he'd accepted without hesitation.

And really, he was quite looking forward to it.

Alicia doesn't seem quite as excited though. She flips open her notepad, littered with delicate but hasty scribbles of various projects and dates, and begins to read out the names.

“Robert Downey Jr, he’s promoting Oppenheimer.”

“I'm gonna meet Iron Man?” Now he was nervous.

“Kate McKinnon. She's in the Barbie movie, I think.”

“Amazing.” He'd always wanted to meet her.

“And…” she sighs. “(Y/N) (L/N).”

“Who?” No seriously, who?

Alicia snaps her head up to look at him. Surely he didn’t not know who she was? “(Y/N) (L/N)? The singer?”

Pedro just shakes his head, unbothered. “Nah, never heard of her. She any good?”

“No, Pedro, that’s the point.” He cocks an eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue as she looks back and forth between him and her notes. “She’s a publicist’s worst nightmare. She’s the lead singer of this band, The Heartbreakers, they’re huge. Like, Taylor Swift-huge. But if Taylor Swift did heavy metal.”

“And why don't we like her?” he asks.

“Because she’s trouble. She’s had big drug problems, she argues with everyone, she goes on stage and pulls all these crazy stunts. She’s always in the news, Pedro.”

He can’t help but think she sounds like fun.

“Can’t be that bad, right? If she’s that famous?”

Alicia shakes her head, “she's famous, but that doesn’t mean she’s not dangerous. People love you right now, Pedro. I’m just concerned that if you’re seen to be… friendly with her, people will raise their eyebrows. It won’t look good.

He thinks for a second. It really wasn’t in his nature, this whole PR thing. He liked meeting new people, and listening to them, and connecting. Maybe not Mrs Alderman - and now he's thinking about that nightmare again - but, for the most part, yes; Pedro liked people.

And not giving someone a chance because of his public image didn’t feel right.

Alicia sees the cogs turning in his brain, so she flips the pad closed, giving him her full attention now. “I know it’s strange, but I mean it. It’s not a hole you want to get dragged into. Her fandom is huge, the media's obsessed with her, parents hate that their kids listen to her and kids love to piss off their parents by listening to her. I’m going to speak to them about getting you sat on the opposite end of the couch... I just want to make sure you’re not linked with her. Trust me.”

With that, he nods his head. He does trust her - at the end of the day, he didn’t even know who this (Y/N) person was. So what if he didn’t speak to her much on the show?

—------

“WHAT?!”

He had to pull the phone away as Bella’s near-screech pierced his ears. They yell again, something along the lines of “are you serious? Pedro, are you serious?!”

“Yes I’m serious, what’s the big-”

“Oh my god I can’t believe it! You’re going to meet (Y/N) (L/N)! Will you mention her to me? I saw her tweet once that she watched the show and oh my god I need her to follow me on Instagram-”

“Wait, Bella, wait,” Pedro rubs his thumb and forefinger between his brows, not exactly thrilled that what was supposed to be a call to calm his nerves the night before the show was now filled with so much rowdiness. “I don’t even know who she is! You listen to her?”

They gasp, and he just knew they were pulling a dramatic, jaw-dropped face on the other end of the line. “Come on man, I know you’re not the hippest guy around but you have to know who she is!”

He giggles, throwing his hands in the air. “‘Fraid not, Bella. I’ve no clue. I do know i’m not supposed to talk to her though.”

Now there was a real gasp, not the purposefully dramatic kind. “What? Pedro, you can’t not talk to her. You have to. She’s the coolest person, like, ever.”

Pedro scoffs, “what about me?”

“When you get sleeve tattoos and banned from performing at the VMAs, you might get considered dude.”

“She was banned from the VMAs?”

You know that feeling, when someone tells you not to do something, and you don’t want to do anything else?

Yeah, that.

“I’ll send you the link, it was so cool. She said she’ll be allowed back next year anyway 'cos they need her to stay relevant.” He giggles again at that, and yeah, he couldn’t deny his intrigue.

“So that’s why you like her? She's all rebellious and stuff?” Pedro chews on his thumb as he asks, the anxiety of tomorrow not quite forgotten, but listening intently as Bella rants on.

“Nah, I mean she is controversial, but I just think she’s amazing. She acts all tough and rock 'n' roll, but she's really great deep down. I went to see her band once a couple of years ago, and this girl fainted so she stopped the whole show to make sure she got water and was okay. She’s just misunderstood, man.”

“Is it true she’s a drug addict?” He's not sure why he felt the need to ask. Why he cared. Maybe it was just to build a better picture, or maybe because Bella loves her so much, and he cares about their interests. Maybe, he had a sort of… concern, for her. For this enigma.

They knew each other well, and Bella could sense Pedro’s interest. More than anything, they were just excited to tell him about their favourite singer. “She used to be, it was crazy. She’d go on stage high and everything, people really hated her then. But she’s been sober now for, like, a year? She talks about it a lot. This is what I mean dude - everyone remembers all those shitty things but I think she’s so strong.”

He hums in agreement, thinking back to Alicia’s warning a few days earlier.

“Do you think it’d be bad? If I talked to her?”

It was Bella taking a moment’s pause, now. “I mean… Alicia’s not wrong. She’s not exactly got the cleanest image a celebrity’s ever had. I guess it’s up to you to decide what matters most.”

It was quite profound really, and Pedro was reminded of just how mature they were for their age.

“The most important thing is that you give her my instagram handle.”

And just like that, the moment’s gone. He laughs, shaking his head and muttering “you’re a dick”, before falling into conversation about other things. He fully intended to look up (Y/N) (L/N) before he fell asleep, but the hours went by quick and soon enough he'd drifted off, phone in hand and tomorrow's nerves dispelled for now.

—------

Maybe this whole Graham Norton thing was a bad idea.

Pedro was tired.

It had been a long flight to London, a long drive from the airport to his hotel. And a long, long wait at the studio before they even thought about getting filming started.

He’d been in hair and makeup for a good while, and according to Alicia, it would still be another two hour’s wait until they got him sat on the big red couch.

Yeah, he was tired.

He steps out, the muddied skies of London painting a grey-cast shadow on his face, the frosty winds hitting his skin. It was nice. Different. Much harsher than the LA sun he was used to.

He looks around; it’s just him there in the car park, leant against the windowsill and letting his eyes drift shut. It’s peaceful, and if it weren’t for the rushing of the motorway that ran just beside him, he’d almost feel alone.

“Mind if I join?”

He jolts awake, startled out of his near-tranquility, facing the woman who’d crept outside through the same doors he did. She was casually dressed, far more so than the BBC staff he’d seen today; she must be a temp, or an intern or something. A heavy black hoodie swallows her frame, and he wished he had a similar one as his ice-cold breath fell into the air. His eyes draw upwards, and he thinks to himself just how pretty she is. (Y/H/C) hair is bundled in her hood, loose strands blowing messily in the wind. She has no makeup on, so he can see greyish bags hung under her eyes, her lips stained pink, a soft blush blooming over her cheeks from the frosty air. There’s a roughness to her, something harsh, and it makes her so utterly alluring.

“Yeah- yes, of course. Of course.” He offers a smile, and she smiles back, and his heart races.

He shuffles to the left, unsure of why he’s making room for her on the windowsill; they’re outside, he’s a stranger. There’s a bench not far from the door, perfectly fit for her to sit on. And yet she follows his movements, and leans against the porcelain outline of the large window, searching for something in her pockets.

“D'you smoke?” She produces a pack of cigarettes, and digs out a lighter from her back jean pocket. Pedro watches as she slips one of them between her lips, covering the end with delicate hands as she lights it, revelling in the taste and taking a long drag. He notices then her long black nails, perfectly painted and delicately holding the cigarette in place, elegant and weapon-like at the same time.

There’s a nonchalance to everything she does, and it’s enticing. She doesn’t look at him when she asks, or when she expels the smoke from her lungs, keeping her eyes set forward and undoubtedly feeling the weight of Pedro’s on her face.

He forgets he’s supposed to answer.

“Er, no, thank you. I’m being good.” He offers her a smile, forced as he tries to remember his own whereabouts, too entranced by the beauty and the charisma that fell from this woman in droves.

The two are silent for a little while, he can’t be too sure how long. He smells the smoke from beside him, sees the wisps drawl from her tongue and into the cool air, and for someone who considered himself rather charming, he couldn’t for the life of him think of something to say.

He doesn’t have to.

“What're you doing out here, then?”

And this time she is looking at him. They’re sat close, and his eyes meet hers with ease, warm and welcoming. He feels a little more comfortable now, like she’s a friend; her warmness makes it hard to feel anything other than at peace.

He smiles, bashful. “I’m working.”

“Working?”

He looks down at his shoes, rubbing them against one another. It was always a strange conversation to have, explaining who he was to people who didn’t know. It felt like showing off a little; more than anything, he didn’t want to make a big deal of it.

“Yeah, I, uh… on the show.”

She giggles, and it sounds so sweet that his tummy heats up. “I’m only kidding. I know who you are. The Last Of Us, right?”

There’s a sincerity to her tone, nothing like this thick, false charm people try to use when they know he’s famous. It didn’t feel like she wanted anything from him in that moment. He nods, looking back up at her and his breath hitches when they immediately lock eyes again. Her lips are turned into a sly smile, cheeky almost, and he can’t help but grin back.

“I liked that show,” she says before taking another long drag.

“Thank you. That means a lot to me. Makes this fuckin’ huge press tour worth it.”

She laughs. Not the quiet giggle she gave him before, but a proper laugh, one that makes her eyes brighter and her nose scrunch up. Pedro laughs too, caught up in her, and when their chuckles die down they relax into a comfortable silence for a few moments before he turns to her again and asks, “how about you? Are you on the production team?”

She ponders her answer. It’s the first time - in the 10 minutes since they’d met - that she’d seemed to falter. Like she was unsure. “Yeah, you could say that.”

He didn’t push it. Maybe his fame was a problem. Did she feel overwhelmed? Or judged? He didn’t know - but a twang of sadness settled in his gut, and he wondered what to say next.

She recovers quickly, though. Stands back up a little straighter, puts the butt of her cigarette out against the wall, and faces him once again. “You seem nervous."

Pedro chuckles, nervously. “Am I that obvious?”

“Only when you scuff your shoes within an inch of their life and readjust your glasses every 10 seconds.”

“And here I thought I hid it well.” Cocking an eyebrow, the woman looks at him knowingly and tilts her head, encouraging him to go on.

“I always get nervous before these things... it feels worse this time, though. I just know Robert Downey Jr is gonna think I’m so weird, and then there’s this other lady I gotta avoid-”

“Who?”

She was abrupt, quickly apologising for interrupting him. He didn’t mind. “She’s like this... musician? I think. I’m sure you’ll know who she is. I’m awful at keeping up with whatever the kids are doing now. (Y/N)- (Y/N) something.”

There was a pause, awkwardly long. “My assistant says I gotta stay away from her” her continues, feeling a need to fill the gap. “Just doesn’t feel right to me, you know? To judge someone like that before you’ve even met them?”

He watches as she nods her head, deep in thought. She meets his eyes and nods again, faster, showing to him now that she agrees. She understands. He’s not quite sure how she understands, but he believes her; she didn’t strike him as the dishonest sort.

Pedro’s phone vibrates in his pocket, startling them both and they share another soft laugh. He grabs it, seeing Alicia's text flash on the screen - You’ve got a meeting with the producers to go over filming. 10 minutes. Ah shit.

“Everything okay?” There’s concern in her voice, and Pedro wonders if she knows he has to go. If she’s just as disappointed as he is.

“Yeah, yeah. I just - I gotta go.”

She’s definitely disappointed. He knows because her bright eyes fall the same way his did.

He’d never quite felt like this; like a magnet was drawing him to someone and like it would hurt in his soul to let her go. It occurred to him then, he didn’t even know her name, and he’d be damned if he was going to crawl back into the world of PR and publicity stunts and rehearsed answers without finding it out.

“It was nice to meet you. I don’t know if you- you want to get a coffee? Or something? After filming?”

The same harsh edge she had when they met, the one that had slipped and softened as they talked, seemed to have crept back as a once-sweet smile became that sly, cautious smirk. He couldn’t quite understand what she was thinking, what the cogs that so clearly turned in her mind were churning up, but he knew he didn’t care as long as he got to see her again.

“I’d like that.” Pedro sighs in relief, smiling again and sticking out an ice-bitten hand. “I’m Pedro.”

She giggles, offering her own hand and he stalled at the feeling of her fingers wrapped around his own. “I know.” She retorts, and he laughs, and just when she opens her mouth to tell him her own name-

“Pedro! We gotta go!”

Alicia shoves the door open, not even looking up from her phone which was presumably inundated with countless emails and phone calls, and Pedro sighs before looking desperately into the still nameless women’s eyes. She just smiles, dropping his hand and digging hers into her pockets. “Go on. I'll catch you later.”

He nods, swallowing and offering a small, regretful smile before pushing himself off the wall and following Alicia back inside. She huffs at him, speeding back off down the corridor and muttering something along the lines of “these goddamn producers”. He looks back a final time, to where the woman still sits in the windowsill. She waves, and he grins, unable to hide the childlike excitement her little gesture gave him before waving back and letting the door shut behind him.

—------

“We’ve got a fantastic show for you tonight, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s get some guests on!”

Pedro hears the roar of the audience, only a single wall between them and him as he waits to hear his name. He looks around the room; Robert and Kate are stood with him, chatting away at something he’d stopped listening to a little while ago. He felt better now he’d met them - they were lovely, so down to earth and genuinely happy to chat to him and hear what he had to say. It made him less nervous, and you might even say he was looking forward to this now.

There was no sign of her though. The singer - (Y/N). Alicia had scoffed, “typical,” just 10 minutes earlier, when there had been no sign. And she still wasn’t here.

“We’ve got the newly Emmy-nominated actor, best known for his amazing roles in The Mandalorian and HBO’s The Last Of us,” the audience’s roars got louder, “Mr. Pedro Pascal!”

It’s time.

He pulls his suit jacket a little tighter around himself, laying his palm flat against the bottom of his chest. With the other hand, he waves, smiling brightly at the crowd who cheered him on. Graham greets him, pulling him in for a hug and welcoming him back, before pointing him towards the end of the couch. Pedro gives the audience a final wave, mouthing ‘thank you’s and trying to express his gratitude for the love that filled the room.

Kate and Robert came next, shaking his hand and ‘introducing’ themselves again, despite the fact he’d already met them an hour earlier. A producer runs up to Graham, whispering something in his ear before darting off in the other direction. Graham rolls his eyes playfully, turning towards the audience and announcing, “we’ve got a late one!” The audience laugh, and Graham just organises his cue cards as producers usedthe extra time to prepare the camera angles and get the lighting right.

Graham looks at the couch, smiling with a wink. “Don’t worry - she’ll be here in a minute.”

“Is this (Y/N) again?” Robert asks, grinning.

“You’ve met her?” Pedro jumps in, falling into small talk among the four of them.

“A couple of times now yeah,” Robert replies. “I think she’s great, really funny. She's just… not the most put together person.”

They laugh, and Kate recounts her own story of having to wait on some celebrity or another, entertaining the crowd.

Graham parts from the conversation after around 10 minutes, holding a finger to his ear piece and nodding at whatever he was being told from the other end of the line. He stands up, smiling wide and turning to the audience, “she’s here! We have our rockstar ready.”

Cheers immediately erupt, and Graham turns to the guests to check they’re all ready to carry on with the show. Pedro nods, anticipation building as he spots Alicia from the corner of his eye, keeping watch.

“And don’t worry everyone, we’ll cut that little intermission out!” The room laughs. “Now I’m very glad introduce our last, but certainly not least, guest of the night. She’s the lead singer of Grammy-nominated band The Heartbreakers, she’s one of the most famous women in the world right now, and she’s only a tad terrifying. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome - (Y/N) (L/N)!

The audience becomes the loudest they’ve been all night, standing and yelling as the final guest takes the stage, and -

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

It’s her. The woman from outside, the one he’d been thinking about all afternoon. The one whose name he never learned. 

She looks different; she looks like the woman he’d been warned about. She looks dangerous. Where a black hoodie had hung from her shoulders, a black lace dress now clung to her figure and he could see the tattoos that littered her sleeveless arms. The bags under her eyes were gone, as was the pink on her cheeks; her skin was painted, perfected, sculpted with darker shades and glowing radiantly. Her lips were black and glossy, so neatly done that she almost looked like a doll. Thick eyeliner carried a smoky shadow across her eyelid and beyond, drowning the same (Y/E/C) eyes he’d memorised in black.

She was ethereal.

And she was his one, single instruction for the night. Don’t get involved in her.

She waves at the audience, smirking in the same sly way she’d done to him earlier; he saw more clearly that they were the same now. She has the same charm, same charisma, same allure and yet she seems all the more potent now as she strides across the stage in 6 inch heels and pulls Graham into a tight hug, like old friends. She whispers something in his ear, and he throws his head back with a laugh before she saunters to the couch, where the three guests stand up to greet her. She and Kate introduce one another with a kiss on the cheek and a warm smile, before she gives Robert another tight hug and they share a word that Pedro can hear now. “I have to stay here an extra 10 minutes ‘cos of you” Robert quips, causing (Y/N) to pull back and look at him with a cocked brow.

“You know I’m worth it, Downey.”

With that, she turns to face Pedro, and his breath hitches the same way it did when they’d first met. Her grin falters slightly, and there it is again; that honesty. She almost seemed like she was putting on a show, with her slow saunter and cheeky remarks, but there was nothing false about the way she wrapped her arms around him and looked into his eyes.

“My name’s (Y/N).”

He just laughs. He can’t help it. She makes him feel giddy. “I know.”

The audience’s applause dies down, and (Y/N) takes her spot as the star guest, and the first on the couch closest the Graham. He talks between them and the crowd, commenting on what a great line up they had today, despite certain delays, which has the audience howling again. (Y/N) laughs with them, shaking her head and pretending to cover her face with her hand, before looking up at Graham and saying, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, okay? I got held up!”

“Well you have to tell us what happened,” Graham retorts, and they banter as (Y/N) recounts getting stuck in the backstage toilets. She has everyone wrapped around her finger, listening to everything she says and laughing at her jokes, and Pedro can’t find himself believing the warnings Alicia had given him. 

He remembers Bella, and how much praise they had for her, and he gets it. He sees what they see.

“Well you’re here now, that’s all that matters. We actually haven’t seen you for a while!” 

(Y/N) nods, her demeanour becoming slightly more serious. “No, it’s been a strange few months.” 

Graham continues, “the last time you were on the show was 2021. And obviously as most of us here know, you've had quite a difficult time since then, right? Tell me how you’ve been.”

She takes a sharp breath, and Pedro could’ve sworn she glanced up at him before she answers. “Well, yeah. I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that I was struggling with addiction for… most of my career, really.”

“‘No surprise’?” - Graham interjects - “you used to get high on stage!” It seemed judgemental, but it quickly became clear that he and (Y/N) had that sort of friendship, the kind where you can talk to one another so blatantly. She purses her lips at him, and he giggles, which makes her break the feigned offence and giggle too. 

“Look, man, that’s rock and roll.” The room laughs again. “No but seriously, yeah, it just got worse and worse until… well, you know what happened. it was hard. But I’ve gotten clean, I haven’t touched that shit in what, 8 months?” The crowd launch into cheers and applause, echoed by Graham and the other guests. Pedro could see how much it meant to her, how she tried to keep a stoic appearance despite the tears beginning to glisten in her eyes. She mouths a thank you, and he longs to skip right past Robert and Kate to be by her side, to hold her. She recovers quickly, something Pedro notes she seems to do a lot; cover her moments of weakness as soon as they start. Instead she sits up straighter and jokes, “I think everyone’s worried I’m gonna be boring now, without the drugs.”

Graham laughs, “I mean, you are known for being one of the more controversial artists out there.”

“If anything, I think being high slowed me down. I’m just gonna get worse, now.”

“Oh god, don’t say that,” Graham jokes, “you’re going on tour again soon, I’m not sure we can handle it.”

The audience cheer even louder at the mention of the tour, making (Y/N)’s smile grow wider. “Yep, new album, new tour. It’s all happening.”

Graham turns to Pedro suddenly, as if remembering he had three other guests to rope into the conversation. “Do you listen to this sort of music, Pedro? The Heartbreakers?”

And, shit. Pedro can feel Alicia’s eyes burning into him from off-stage, and he recalls her warnings about this very situation.

Don’t make friends with her

Don’t give the media something to talk about

Don’t ruin your reputation

And yet, her voice got quieter and quieter in his head, as the sound of (Y/N)’s laugh and the pierce of her eyes became all he could think about. The decision was pretty easy to make, really.

“I actually hadn’t heard of them, until today.” Graham chuckles at his reply. “But I think I’ll have to start listening.”

The crowd cheer, and the pair lock eyes for what could’ve only been a few seconds, but felt like so much longer. She tries to fight the way the corners of her mouth pull upwards, white teeth poking through painted black lips, but when she sees him smiling back at her she lets them go and drowns in the butterflies she’s so unused to feeling.

God, he was in so much trouble.

[meraki-yao]

I know we shouldn't compare them because it's not fair but when I think about how much criticism rwrb received as a film and how it was never enough for the audience but the first reviews of the idea of ​​you call it "film of the decade" (I really doubt it, please people watch more movies) or say that people were screaming in the theater during the sex scenes... As a queer person it makes me suffer that the projects made for us are never good enough for the public but for straight films literally is enough the bare minimum to make them scream masterpiece. Again, this isn't a comparison or hate for tioy but it makes me sad.

Honestly, I'm in the exact same place as you are. I was thinking about it a lot this morning.

I don't know how fair my judgement is because I am inherently biased towards RWRB but I also feel upset about how much TIOY is getting compared to RWRB. Granted TIOY has the advantage of star power, with Nick being more well-known after RWRB and M&G and Anne freaking Hatheway, and to a certain degree One Direction/ Harry Styles, but just from the premise... It's doesn't sound as groundbreaking or new as what RWRB or even M&G did. I can expect it to be a fun romantic movie, but I can't see it being something as... fresh and impactful/ meaningful to an audience as RWRB and M&G are.

I don't know how much right I have to say this as someone who currently identifies as cis-straight, but the double standards between queer media like RWRB and heterosexual media like TIOY is very frustrating, It's like there's so many more steps for queer media to climb to "catch up" with a straight media of a similar genre/premise. Even with the ratings, RWRB did not deserve R at all. But I do think we're gradually making steps towards improving this phenomenon. Slow steps, but steps nonetheless. So please don't loose hope.

As for "film of the decade"... I'm sorry but that's gotta be an exaggeration. Stuff like Barbie, Oppenheimer, Avenger Endgame, Spider-Verse being called "film of the decade", I can understand, but this is not it. Hell, as much as it's straight up part of my soul now, I don't think RWRB fits "film of the decade". If we're taking that title seriously, then that's gotta be something really creative and new, something that hits hard. So yeah, you're right. People need to watch more movies, or have better media literacy.

I don't think there's been a single day since the movie was released that I didn't agonize and grieve over what we could have had. RWRB had so many disadvantages: As upsetting as it is, queer media, especially rom-com is still inherently seen as something lesser, which is fucked up, but unfortunately it's where we're at right now. On top of that, the timing of the strike directly coincides with the promo period of RWRB. The strike was for a good cause and achieved great things for actors, it was necessary, but that doesn't stop the lost of what we could have from hurting. So compared to other movies and projects (and not even necessarily just the boys' projects, recent streaming media in general) RWRB had so many disadvantages. If this was a race, then our starting line was pulled back a couple of miles.

But on the bright side, you gotta think: even with nearly zero promo, even with so many disadvantages and setbacks, RWRB still managed to achieve a lot: Most streamed movie on the platform globally for (I think?) three weeks, top most-streamed three romcoms on the platform all time, PGA and Glaad award nomination (and hopefully more to come down the line) and look at us! We're still going strong, and a sequel is in talks. There's never a fair comparison when it comes to things like this, but I said we're pretty amazing, and that's something that can't be taken away.

[mariacallous]

“Barbenheimer”—the collective celebration around the release of the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies—has collided with the wedding industrial complex. That’s not a joke. According to a Variety story this week, people are planning on taking their friends and family, prenuptials, to see the two films as a double feature. People who aren’t getting married are planning similar movie-watching marathons. It’s the kind of viral cultural moment marketing teams dream of. It also feels like a sign of the end times.

This sense of dread doesn’t stem from the public’s collective yearning to absorb stories about a Mattel doll and the development of atomic weapons at the same time. It’s because this weekend promises the kind of “let’s all go to the movies!” hype (and box office haul) that cinemas haven’t seen since before the Covid-19 pandemic shut theaters down—and it’s happening as Hollywood is going on strike.

This week, WIRED rolled out a series of stories detailing what we believe the future of entertainment might entail. The purpose was to look at how all aspects of culture, from books to video games to YouTube, could be impacted by advancements in technology. As we worked on it, though, something happened: Contract talks between Hollywood studios and the writers and actors unions began to break down. One of the major sticking points in those negotiations was the use of artificial intelligence in movie- and TV-making. Suddenly, as Madeline Ashby wrote in her essay this week, the world was in the midst of Hot Strike Summer.

Then, Hot Strike Summer slammed into the Barbenheimer moment. Once the Screen Actors Guild—American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, called for a walkout, stars could no longer smile on red carpets without looking like scabs. The stars of Oppenheimer walked out of the film’s London premiere when the strike began. The cast and filmmakers behind Barbie, which premiered before SAG called for a strike, voiced their support. Soon, “This Barbie Is Now on Strike” became the headline, transforming one of the world’s most well-known figurines into Norma Rae. The marquee at my local theater in Brooklyn listed both movies alongside the phrase “Atomic Kenergy,” while The New York Times asked, “Can I Watch ‘Barbenheimer’ Despite the Hollywood Strikes?” (Short answer: Yes.)

To that end, the strikes will not affect Oppenheimer or Barbie’s opening weekend box office numbers. Earlier this week, AMC Entertainment reported that some 40,000 people had bought tickets for both films, and together they’re estimated to make around $150-200 million domestically, with Greta Gerwig’s send-up of the Mattel doll bringing in a bigger chunk than Christopher Nolan’s historical drama about the man behind the atomic bomb.  

But what matters is what happens after this weekend. By all accounts, Hot Strike Summer seems poised to last beyond one season. Even before SAG went on strike, studio sources were telling reporters that the plan was to let the strike “drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.” In response to that, actor Ron Perlman took to social media to say “listen to me, motherfucker—there’s a lot of ways to lose your house.” He later walked that back, but when Hellboy enters the chat, you know it’s not going to end gently.

The longer writers and actors are on strike, the bigger the hole next summer or the summer after that, when the movies that would be filming right now aren’t ready. (Deadpool 3 and the sequel to Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One, for example, are both currently on hold.) Cinemas have been bouncing back in the years since Covid restrictions were lifted and people began feeling comfortable in movie houses again. A lackluster year brought on by a dearth of films could prove detrimental.

Yesterday, Comic-Con International began in San Diego. Typically, or at least before the pandemic, the event has been full of panels with flashy stars promoting their next big movie or TV series. As long as SAG is on strike, those celebs won’t show. Some attendees will likely welcome the event’s return to its comics roots, rather than the Hollywood hype-fest it has become. But no matter what happens, it will be unlike any Comic-Con in recent memory. Maybe a little less plastic, but not fantastic.

[amywhereyouwant]

Some TOH HCs I wanted to share

There are a LOT of them, so They're under the read more for your scrolling convenience

Luz

-Uses She/They pronouns

-Would watch the entirety of Sword Art Online just to be able to shit on it properly

-Eats way too much Shredded Cheese even though she’s Lactose Intolerant

-Has made a Your mom joke to Willow only to remember she doesn’t have one

-Mains King in Tekken and made a custom attire trying to make it look like the other King

-Screenpeeks religiously in Split Screen Multiplayer

-Predicted Hecazura 2 books into the series, still won’t shut up about it

-Relatively known Digital Artist, her blog probably took off when she started making art of the Demon Realm 

-Hates baking

-Helps Amity bake out of the kindness of her heart(Also seeing Amity enjoying herself is really nice)

-Had a cold once, hasn’t had a Human Realm illness since

-Has SH scars from her depressed period back in the human realm(S3E1), still ashamed over them

-Quotes Memes constantly, only Hunter understands what she’s talking about

-Cracked a rib tripping on a rug on her way to bed

Amity

-Absolutely hates Bugs, like, genuinely despises them

-Does not know how computers work, but still tries to use Luz’s laptop to look up date ideas

-Can and will dress as the most stereotypical Witch ever

-Adopted(All 3 Blight Kids are in my HC)

-Likes to bake

-Does not know how to bake

-Gets sick constantly

-Works out a lot so she can help out with rebuilding the Isles(and also a little bit for Luz)

-Used to apologise a lot for minor things(Pre-timeskip)

-REALLY Bummed she didn’t get to see Titan Luz

-Watched the barbie movie the same day Gus watched Oppenheimer

Gus

-Goes nonverbal when stressed out, uses Illusions and his palisman to communicate

-Cried for hours when he finished the last Cosmic Frontier book, even though it was a happy ending

-Likes the idea of Professional Wrestling, but wishes the fights were to the death

-Quotes Cosmic Frontier as a Vocal Stim

-Dramatically perishes in Matt’s arms on the regular

-Headcanons O'Bayley to look exactly like Hunter just for the memes

-Thinks Human 2D Animation is the most beautiful thing to have ever been created

-Watched Across the Spider-Verse and Begged for Luz to draw a Spider-Suit for him, she did one for everyone

-Got really jealous when everyone else got flapjack tattoos, then he realised he could just make one of his own with an Illusion

-Got insanely mad when he learned about Human Discrimination(“How can you hate someone for something they can’t change? That’s ridiculous!”)

-Watched Oppenheimer the same day Amity and Hunter watched the Barbie Movie

Hunter

-LOVES Dino Nuggies

-Didn’t know Dinosaurs were real for a while until Luz showed them to him, Velociraptors are his favourite because “They’re like Wolves but Lizards!” (They’re not)

-Has a tumblr account where he posts about Wolves, Luz is his only follower

-Definitely has a Fursona

-Kicks Luz’s ass at most video games, except for Halo 2 specifically(I wonder why)

-”Will you go out with me?” “Hunter we’ve been dating for a year” “Oh.”

-Thinks Huggbees’ How it’s actually made videos are 100% Legit and honest

-Made Willow a Flower Shirt to match his Wolf Shirt

-Wears Willow’s Flower Shirt he made

-Imagine Dragons is his favourite band

-Has Epilepsy

-Steals Willow’s dresses sometimes

-Found Nicole Coenen on YouTube, showed her to luz “She looks kinda like Amity!”(Nobody else sees the resemblance)

-Probably plays a LOT of Roblox

-Watched the Barbie Movie with Amity(Luz forced him to)

-Has seen every single vine there is(Thank the Titan for Vine Compilations on YouTube)

-Any kind of facial hair he grows is really patchy so he just goes clean shaven for convenience

-Snuck food during TtT even though he was 100% allowed to eat normally

-Bananas do exist in the Demon Realm, Hunter has just never learned that they do

-Gets visits from the Spirits of the other Golden Guards in his dreams

Willow

-Tackled someone to the ground when they only slightly bumped into Hunter(We stan a protective queen)

-Feeds her palisman doggie treats, nobody knows why

-Filled Camila’s entire back garden with way too many plants during TtT, they’re still there despite not being watered for a while

-Made a Garland made of both Demon and Human Realm plants for Hunter on their anniversary

-Has no real idol/role model

-Happily Listens to everyone else ramble about their interests

-Wears Hunter’s Wolf Shirt

-Calls Hunter “Hun” as a short for his name, started doing it even more after she figured out what it actually meant

-Pranks people she doesn’t like by putting giant Grape Vines around their house

-Held a presentation about plant care for the Gravesfield Gardener Society

-Thinks most Human Sports are boring(Except for Hockey and Roller Derby)

Vee

-Pulls off some crazy ass cosplays

-Knows how to drive Camila’s car perfectly, still has no idea how it actually works though

-Laughed so hard she couldn’t breathe first time she heard Metal Pipe Fall Sound Effect

-Considers Luz to be her Sister, Camila burst into tears and hugged her when she called Luz “Big Sis” in front of her for the first time

-Plays Minecraft on Camila’s home PC, has spent tons of time on Hypixel and built a little shrine for the other basilisks on a private world

-Takes after Luz in a lot of ways

-Is way better at Spanish than Luz, flexes about it constantly(Nobody really cares)

-Had no idea how to tell Masha she was a Basilisk when they confessed to her(Masha knew long before she told them)

-Is really cuddly in Basilisk form, not so much when shapeshifted(“I don’t really feel like it’s myself”)

-Her first kiss with Masha was really awkward, she apologised like 45 times and cried because it wasn’t good

-Steven Universe is a canon IP in the universe, so she got really confused when Amethyst sounded EXACTLY like her

I have no idea why I made this

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

Barbie was so good?!? Fucking loved every minute of it, but special shout-out to some things...

(BARBIE SPOILERS below the cut)

This movie was so funny, I can't get over how fucking funny and camp it was, an actual masterpiece 11/10

"This movie is overly feminist and man-hating" - THIS MOVIE AIN'T FOR YOU, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GO WATCH THE SHITTY FLASH MOVIE THEN IF YOU'RE SO MAD

(haven't actually seen the flash, have seen a few clips on twitter and i'm glad i haven't, i don't want to, don't @ me)

I'll be honest, I had very few Barbie dolls growing up, I had a medium sized doll house that was not for Barbie-height-toys, and so most of my toys were random figurines collected over the years (shout-out to the McDonald's Happy Meal Narnia toys!), but I was still getting pumped at the beginning of this film when the narrator went into detail about how Barbie can have any career, any life she wants etc.

The attention to detail in Barbie-land, like the pools/sea are all flat and not actually wet, there’s no actual liquid in the cups when they drink, no water in the shower etc.

Look, I will fully admit that HOTD has fucked my brain and my taste in men up, and so I'm blaming that for me looking at Ryan Gosling as Ken and going "yes I would like to obliterate that twink" 🙈

There were a lot of kids in my screening who absolutely did NOT get the "beach you off" joke, meanwhile I was sitting there laughing embarrassingly loudly like an idiot

Why was Allan a whole ass mood, I'm sorry but he was so relatable, arguably the best character I fear-

I like that weird-Barbie is basically what a lot of girls go through with their Barbies at a certain age by cutting off their hair, drawing on them with pens, etc. Like that’s a mood, my sister and I used to wash our Barbies’ hair and draw fake tattoos on them with felt tips 💀

“Do you ever think about dying? 😃” took me out oh my fucking god 💀 I already had one existential crisis this weekend watching Oppenheimer, I don’t need another one from Barbie of all things 😭

The way Ken says “because we’re boyfriend girlfriend” has the most random place in my heart and I don’t know why lol

The sheer horror over Barbie having flat feet LMFAO

Weird-Barbie having the dog where you feed it pellets and then use the tail so it shits the pellets back out?!? Me and my sister were like "oh my fucking god" because we literally had that fucking toy lmfao

Weird-Barbie talking about Ken's smooth plastic bulge, I literally CHOKED-

Honestly just... Barbie entering the real world and being confused that men treat her like a sex object, being super uncomfortable, meanwhile Ken's like "they're looking at me appreciatively!"... oof

I nearly choked on my drink when Barbie loudly declared "I don't have a vagina and he doesn't have a penis!" like?!?!?

Barbie and Ken getting arrested not only once but TWICE... oh that's the content I'm living for lmao

I’m so so SO glad that the scene with Barbie and the elderly lady was kept in, I shed a tear because it was so beautiful and simple. When Barbie said that the lady was beautiful?!?! I’m a mess just thinking about it 😭❤️

Pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of horsey content in this film like yes, that's 100% what the patriarchy should be, it should be about Kens riding horsies :D (I’m aware this is NOT the only thing that happened lmao I’m just saying that the world would be a better place with more horses)

America Ferrera is a fucking QUEEN and I adore her, I know HTTYD is over but she will always be MY Astrid, aka Chieftess Queen and Dragon-Rider

Not gonna lie, I felt Sasha’s little monologue where she rants about the unrealistic standards set by Barbie like I see both sides of what Barbie represents and how she can be viewed and I get it. Like on the one hand, hooray for girls growing up having a doll that can show them they can be Presidents, Nobel Piece winners, doctors etc., hooray for all the feminism to come from Barbie. But also you could argue that there’s unreal expectations in regards to Barbie’s body shape, and that when we girls grow up into women, we realise that the Real World is not as simple as what we dreamt of while playing with Barbies, that our world doesn’t revolve around having women in positions of power, that we still very much live in a society where women are viewed as being there solely for men, as home makers and wives and mothers, that we can have a certain amount of freedom and power but not too much etc.

Did I kind of guess "hey maybe it's not the daughter who has triggered Barbie's crisis, maybe it's the mother"? Yes, I guessed that early on but I still loved it anyway

I have no idea how Greta Gerwig got Mattel to agree to this script but holy shit, she must be magical or something

The spirit of Ruth Handler, aka THE creator of Barbie who named the doll after her daughter?!? Played by Rhea Perlman?!?!

Also I've only just learnt, after looking at Ruth Handler's wikipedia page, that Ken was named after her son?!?! Barbie and Ken are siblings?!?!

JOHN CENA AS MERMAN KEN?!?!

My sister was so delighted by the amount of Sylvester Stallone references in this film omg

DEPRESSION-BARBIE I WAS IN LITERAL FUCKING TEARS I COULDN'T STOP LAUGHING, AND SHE WAS WATCHING BBC'S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE?!? WHILE EATING SWEETS?!? I CANT STOP CACKLING AND CRYING

Depression-Barbie also comes in other variations, including an anxiety one?!?! 🤣

I shit you not, I NEED America Ferrera to be nominated for supporting actress for all the awards because holy fUCK, her monologue?!?! That monologue?!?!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN ROB BRYDON AKA UNCLE BRYNN FROM GAVIN AND STACEY IS SUGAR DADDY KEN?!?!

“We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back and see how far they have come.” - STOP I WAS ALREADY SOBBING

The Helen Mirren fourth wall break where she says that if the filmmakers wanted us to believe that Barbie was no longer pretty, "they shouldn't have cast Margot Robbie in this part", literally ICONIC

KEN’S FLUFFY TIE DYE HOODIE THING THAT SAYS “I AM KENOUGH” ASDFGHJKL I WANT ONE

Ridiculously glad that Ken and Barbie didn’t get together to be honest, yes I get it that Ken is designed as a boyfriend for Barbie but also it would have sucked to have this whole film play out as it did and then have them end up together 💀

The soundtrack of this film was IMMACULATE, 10/10, five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There’s a definite message and commentary here but I’m too stupid and tired to write it out, so I’ll reblog it from the people who are smarter and more eloquent than me instead but oh my good this film was such an amazing piece of cinema

This isn't everything about the film obviously, there was a lot going on and I'm still mentally processing it so I might add more to the post later but wow, just… wow.

[pinkeoni]

click for pretentious film bro ranting

Why do I see some barbie fans (especially on here) create this fake feud between oppenheimer and "film bros" that is honestly only happening from their side. Yes on the most extreme end there people like Ben Shapiro who say wild stuff about barbie and try to detract from it, but I see those kinds of people as not even having a voice in this conversation. Why are you trying to give them legitimacy? And furthermore, why are you grouping other film bros in with that crowd anyway?

It's the alleged "film bros" on twitter who were the ones that was championing barbie the hardest before most current fans even knew that there was a barbie film in the first place. It's because they keep up with film news and were excited that a new Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbauch feature. The film bros that these barbie fans so staunchly hate are the ones that created barbenheimer in the first place as a way to uplift cinema and to encourage more people to go to the theater. Now obviously barbie did better numbers because it's much easier to market a 90 minute film based on a famous toy line rather than a 3 hour historical film. I'm not saying that you had to have seen oppenheimer to appreciate cinema, and there are plenty of film bros who loved barbie and didn't want to see oppenheimer (I was actually just talking to my old film prof about this, who HATES christopher nolan) and there are plenty of film bros who saw oppenheimer and disliked/didn't want to see barbie, but from what I saw film bros were still encouraging seeing both regardless of how they felt because the point was to get more people back in movie theaters.

When any criticism (fair or unfair) is levied against the barbie movie it's fans will use the "cinema created by women for women should be seen as a important" as an argument against these criticisms, and while I agree with that statement, what angers me about their usage of it is that these specific fans do not actually give a shit about cinema created by women unless it is a multi-billion dollar blockbuster. I do think that Greta Gerwig grossing over a billion at the box office is a huge accomplishment, and I think it's a great film (I gave it 5 stars on Letterboxd and cried three times) but Barbie is far from the only female led project this year, and not even the only oscar contender led by a women. Tell me, did you see Past Lives? Are you going to see Bottoms? Did you know that Molly Gordon made her directorial debut this year? I saw a post that alluded to Barbie and Oppenheimer being the oscar leads this year 💀 I'm sorry, but as much as I love both of these films, if you think the only two oscar contenders of the year are barbie and oppenheimer then I'm going to safely assume that you do not watch movies. Let's wait until the new Martin Scorsese film drops before we start making our oscar predictions, shall we.

If these fans really cared about film then they would not be picking imaginary fights with oppenheimer fans. If these fans really cared about women in film then they would actually recognize and champion some of the many other films made by women this year that does not include multi-billion dollar blockbusters.

[the-technicolor-whiscash]

I think what I found most interesting about Oppenheimer other than obviously the plot was the fact it was broken into such a defined three-act story structure like it was buildup, Los Alamos, and then aftermath and I think it would almost benefit from being a three part miniseries (with each part being an hour long) because of that. The length of the film lends itself to being broken up for viewing even though seeing it all in one sitting is definitely valuable as you put all the parts together to create this whole story.

I feel like the beginning was more almost experimental than the end with the like quick cuts to imagery of atoms I actually really liked that and I wished they’d kept it up because it added a lot to the visuals, rather than it just being a bunch of guys in grey suits talking. It also added to the like ideas of quantum physics and made it feel more tangible to the viewer cause like, I know basic stuff about quantum physics because I had to take physics for geology but most people won’t because they have no need for it, so providing a visual however abstract helps to bridge that understanding for the viewer and helps you to understand the scientific weight of what was being discussed here.

I think the cast was exceptional, Cillian Murphy was obviously the headliner and did a phenomenal job (I think he’s just a good actor in general) but the other actors also did very well and I was surprised how much I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr’s performance given that I had only ever seen him as iron man which is uh. Perhaps not representative of his proper acting talent.

Some of the film was slightly confusing if you didn’t comprehend why certain things were happening like the fact they were flip-flopping between the hearing, the other hearing (in black and white), and the actual story of his career was jarring at the beginning and it felt like at times they forgot about it, particularly during the second act.

Frankly I wish they had shown real footage of the aftermath of the bombs. It was a real, horrific thing that destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people that America should feel guilty about. We should see it and wonder how on earth it was thought justified in the first place. All acts of war are terrible, but these bombs were the worst weapons of mass destruction ever created, and they were used on civilians. Everyone who took part in creating and administering them has blood on their hands. The viewer should know what we did. Should understand it through more than just words. Words only go so far.

Anyway I also liked the sound design because like ok. I’ve seen a rocket launch before. There’s a moment where you see it, you watch it lift off, and then a time later comes the sound. It rolls in like thunder after the crack of lightning, waves of force passing through the molecules of the air. You can feel it in your sternum, in your lungs. You’re waiting for it. You don’t know exactly when it will come, but you know you will feel it. They did a good job representing that with the explosions. You see the blast, you see the fireball consume the air around it. And you wait. There is a moment of deadly silence. Then a deafening roar.

All in all I’m glad I saw it in theaters because watching it at home truly doesn’t do it justice. I do not think it should have had the media circus connecting it with Barbie I think especially looking back on it it was tone-deaf to the lives lost in the tragedy of the atomic bombs. But it was a good movie, well made. It reminds you of what a good movie can be, how it can make you feel, good or bad. 9/10.

[talkingandwatching]

Halloween special: Cobweb, a.k.a why the hell did I waste two hours of my life watching this garbage

Happy Halloween everyone and welcome back! Today I would like to talk about a movie I watched back in september which is called Cobweb. I'm not gonna blame you if you havent heard of this movie, since its marketing was almost nonexistent, also it came out two days before Barbie and Oppenheimer, but Cobweb is a horror movie, starring Antony Starr and Lizzy Caplan, and let me tell you, I did not enjoy it a lot.

I'm gonna be brutally honeest, I had no idea what this movie was about when I went to watch it with my boyfriend, I just saw that there is a new horror movie that came out and I was in the mood for going to the cinema, so we just went with it. And let me tell you something, I did not like it AT ALL. Its actually criminal how much I disliked it.

The story is about a family and the movie starts as every haunted house horror you've ever seen, kid hears noises and the parents are like "You are imagining things son, go back to bed already", so it was nothing special, not to mention that the movie plays on the Halloween theme a lot, which is pretty important though, because at some point in the movie, the parents tell the kid a story that years ago, a girl in their neighbourhood was murdered, and thats why they dont let him out trick or treating.

This takes a good 1/3 of the movie, until we get to know that the voice in the kid's (Peter) walls can talk and interact with him. This becomes important as soon as in school, when the kids have to make a Halloween themed drawing, while everyone is drawing bats and witches and skeletons, Peter draws himself in his bedroom and a talk bubble to the wall that says HELP ME. This obviously worries Miss Divine, his substitute teacher (who was probably the only valuable character but WE GET THERE-) and tries to contact the parents about it. She goes to their house and the mom opens the door and thats when the parents start to act out of character, since they were very calm and collected at the start of the movie, and she says that everything is okay with Peter, he just has a an overacting imagination and takes the drawing. Later we find out Peter is bullied in school and it escalates very quickly into Peter getting suspended because he pushed his bully down the stairs and break his lack very brutally (which is honestly a slay from me but you know).

Because of the suspension and the drawing, his parents take him out of school and become homeschooled and we find out, the father, Mark, also found out about the drawing (which the mom tried to actively avoid) and thats when the movie started to get some enjoyment out of me, because Mark just straight up puts Peter into the basement and tells him he's grounded. This is the point when I thought this movie is about abuse, which made me think "You know what? I'm gonna give this movie that chance, this looks amazing". Miss Divine meets the parents in their house (while Peter is still in the basement) and its just so surreal seeing Peter trying to be as loud as possible when he heard Miss Divine's voice, trying to kick the door and scream but the washing mashine fades his voice and she doesnt have a clue whats going on. At some point they let him out anyways and we find out, the voice in his walls is actually his sister and shes actually a ghost and they killed her since Peter found her skull at the pumpkin patch in the backyard? but at the same time she's physically in the walls? and shes also the girl who was killed at Halloween, so the parents not letting him go trick or treating didnt even make sense? Okay lets move on. She manipulates him into killing his parents with rat poison and until that moment, I enjoyed the movie and then it just got ruined, but there was still some story left so I couldnt be just a little bit unsatisfied. Peter's bully and some of his friends came to Peter's house to get revenge, thats when Peter find the key at his mom's belt, to let his sister out and that time, the mother was alive and said DO NOT LET HER OUT but it was too late. When Peter lets her out, probably the worst CGI monster in 2023 comes out and starts to act hostile towards Peter and at some point his bullies too. After a very brutal chase and slaughter scene, Miss Divine goes to save the day and honestly the last ten minutes of this movie is so unnecessarily messy yet so pointless that I dont even want to write it down, so I'm just gonna put the monster's CGI face here because I almost audibly cringed when I saw it:

At the end, the sister gives a monolouge before Peter and Miss Divine could escape, that she will always be there with him, wherever he is, because theyre family and this is how the movie ends. Let me tell you, I never would've thought I'd get so angry at such an underwhelming movie ending, but here I am.

Characterwise, no character was willing to put more than maximum two dimensions onto the bigscreen, but I have to give a shotout to Lizzy Caplan and especially Antony Starr. Every single minute they were on screen would've been perfect if the movie had enough runtime to explore them as well, their acting talent was aced here and its such a shame they had to be killed, they didnt have enough screentime AT ALL. Cleopatra Coleman was also great as Miss Divine, she was the only likeable character in this movie and the only one we can root for, Woody Norman was also okay as Peter, even though he wasnt an interesting protagonist at all, but hey, homie has an acting job at 14 and I dont at 18 so I better shut up. Ellen Dublin as the girl in the walls, well, I dont want to say it was hideous, because its not the actress's fault, its the fact that her character was the weakest out of all, it wasnt scary in the slightest.

This movie''s biggest flaw is the fact that nothing made sense. First of all, if the sister was the girl who was killed at halloween, why didnt the parents let Peter out trick or treating? Why did they keep her in the walls if they knew she was hostile and dangerous? Why did she manipulate and punish Peter for it, even though he didnt do anything against her? Why did the parents say the voices in the walls arent real if they knew their daughter is in there and did they even think about how their extremely hostile and supernatural daughter could eventually try and go after the son? and honestly even more questions.

But honestly, my biggest question is, what this movie tried to tell? It feels like the movie isnt sure what to be about because there is about three storylines and none of them works together. I was extremely dissapointed about this movie, I think a movie about childhood trauma and abuse would've worked so much better and the timing was also the worst.

Thank you for reading this, if you agree/disagree, write it down in the comment section and until next time, see ya, happy Halloween

[s-n-o-w-p-i-e-r-c-e-r]

Have you seen Oppenheimer??

OMG YES i literally forgot to talk about it but i saw barbie and oppenheimer back to back HAHAH! I also had my first ever imax experience with oppenheimer, living in london now in a place that imax exists! (my aussie hometown didn’t have any imax cinemas, so still haven’t seen dunkirk in all it’s glory, but I digress).

so i actually didn’t really know about the actual history of oppenheimer, and my partner encouraged me not to research it until after i saw the film so i could go in like those in history did, without knowing the end result (obvs i knew the end result but you know what i mean). if you ever get the chance to watch a historical you don’t know much about, i recommend doing what i did- it made things more surprising and suspenseful not to know the details that history would have taught me!

thoughts on oppenheimer under the cut:

masterpiece. nolan delivered again, obviously.

the opening scene with the quote and the explosion behind it gave me the most goosebumps/chills I have EVER experienced consuming media.

I loved the suspense that built up over time, I loved that it ebbed and flowed, unlike Dunkirk which only built. Uncharacteristically of me, I didn’t even really research the cast, so when it literally had half of hollywood in it, I kept thinking ‘oh there’s them!’ which made me happy lol.

Also my faceclaim for Peter’s brother played Heisenberg, which I didn’t know would happen, so that was a really nice surprise. (younger pics of him are the inspo I use for faceclaims of the older Dawson brother if you ever want to google Matthias!)

I thought the way they built the group of people around Oppenheimer was brilliant and that the film took the time to make us understand them all as their own people with their own lives was good, especially those who disagreed with Oppenheimer made it interesting.

When they detonated the test it was such a tense moment, and I was so glad to have a good cinema audience that was silent. I kinda forgot that they wouldn’t hear the blast immediately so when there was the audio delay I got chills. I loved that they waited almost enough time to make you think that maybe they just won’t include the audio at all, but then it hits you. hard.

The drawn out ‘not a court’ that Oppenheimer was put through I think really was a testament to all the actors’ skills, and did history justice in showing us a glimpse into how unfairly he was treated by the system.

I especially liked the little details in scenes at the start, like when Oppenheimer watched the raindrops and was thinking of atoms, and those litte details of his visions of science. Found those fascinating and actually really related to how he saw and processed things that way.

I also found the way they found out they had been dropped on japan to be shown very well. i didn’t know how they found out, as i said i went in pretty blind, so it was quite jarring to see that they found out the bombs were dropped from the news.

I feel like all my film reviews are sprawling and have no real structure, but those are the main points that come to my mind about just a few reasons I loved the film!! I think the mark of a good film is that if it’s a 3 hour one, it doesn’t feel that long- and Oppenheimer was just like that. It was gripping until the end and there was so much of its rich plot that it was not dull at all.

so yeah, did see oppenheimer, loved it, i give it 8.5/10 (dunkirk is a 9.5 in my books ((because i wish it was a bit longer)) i found oppenheimer maybe a teeeeny bit slow/laborious in some scenes).

[diematrosen]

Barbenheimer: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Moviegoing Again

When I first heard that Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer were being released on the same day - July 21, 2023 - I didn't think much of it. After all, wildly disparate movies have been released on the same date before, and in an era before MCU/Disney dominated theaters, cineplexes had a variety of films that catered to many different audiences. The smash superhero sequel The Dark Knight and the ABBA-inspired musical comedy Mamma Mia! were both released on July 18, 2008, but social media was much less of a thing back then. (I've never seen Mamma Mia!, but my Dad and I did see TDK opening weekend.) Honestly? Initially, I didn't think people were really going to see both films on the same day, I thought people were joking. Boy was I wrong.

On their own, both films would have been hits with built-in audiences (love him or hate him, Nolan sure has dedicated fans). But by July 2023, the hype around the Barbenheimer phenomenon had gone nuclear. There were memes, T-shirts, and people bought tickets to see both movies in theaters on the same day, or at least the same weekend. The two have little in common, besides being high-profile studio films starring non-American actors as very American subjects, but that didn't matter.

On opening weekend, my friend and I saw a 70mm print of Oppenheimer on Saturday and a sold-out screening of Barbie on Sunday at the Village East theater in Manhattan, with a day break in-between. We had initially only planned to see the former, but even I was swept up by Barbie mania (I also enjoyed Gerwig's two previous films). There was an energy at the movie theater that I had not felt in a very long time outside of repertory cinema - people were genuinely excited to be there. When I was in line for the bathroom, a woman in front of me joked that you could tell who was there to see which movie. Lots of people in pink, Barbies and Kens abound, and even a few men (and one woman) dressed like J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb. I did not dress up and I don't care much for the color pink, but it was still fun! It was a record-breaking box office weekend for both films - one a fantasy comedy about the world's most famous doll, the other a 3-hour doomy historical drama showing in premium large formats including IMAX. After a decade and a half of Marvel fare dominating theaters, this was a game-changer. Were superhero movies in their early '90s hair metal era?

I worked at a few movie theaters in suburban New Jersey in the 2000s, and this felt like a return to an era when word of mouth reigned supreme and people got dressed up for midnight screenings (people did this at a screening for one of the Harry Potter films, no lie). The hype also reminded me a bit of Titanic, which dominated the box office in 1997-98 when I was in 8th grade and everyone talked about it (weirdly enough, I did not see it until it was in a second run theater for some reason). But three years after the beginning of the pandemic, I was ready to go back to the movies - one of my favorite pastimes. I had seen a few films in theaters since 2022, once I was fully vaccinated and boosted, but this felt like a new beginning.

I enjoyed both movies and have now seen them twice (including an IMAX 70mm screening of Oppenheimer - if you have the opportunity to see it in this format, do it!). Barbie is charming and fun, with eye-popping production design and costumes and nods to directors like Jacques Demy. Margot Robbie (bringing humanity to a plastic doll) and Ryan Gosling are fantastic, and the film is a genuine crowd-pleaser. Oppenheimer is an intense, well-crafted drama with a few jaw-dropping sequences and a great, controlled performance by Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer and a stacked cast. The editing by Jennifer Lame is phenomenal, and this might be the best work of Nolan's career. To date, Barbie has crossed the billion dollar mark worldwide, and Oppenheimer has made over $500 million globally - a huge deal for an R-rated talky period piece. Is this the beginning of better, more diverse movies in multiplexes across the world? Or just a weird fluke? Possibly the latter, but we'll see.

That said, the films aren't for everyone. I know people who have seen Barbie but have no interest in Oppenheimer, and that's okay! And if you don't care about either, I would recommend the documentary The Day After Trinity followed by Todd Haynes' Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story as an alternative, at-home Barbenheimer. It's just nice to see people excited about going to the movies again.

[denimbex1986]

'Coming to the end of Barbenheimer weekend, here are my stats. I have seen Barbie, but I have not seen Oppenheimer. This is not a feminist or aesthetic decision. It’s because Barbie is one hour and 54 minutes long, while Oppenheimer is just over three hours long.

I’m not alone in being perturbed by the length of the movie; over the weekend on TikTok and Twitter people posted the exact time that it was safe to go to the bathroom during Christopher Nolan’s epic. Others shared the app RunPee which is specifically created for this purpose (if you’re interested, it’s when Oppenheimer’s brother first comes on screen, apparently). These people are well practised at the art of knowing what parts of a cinematic epic can be missed because, lately, it seems filmmakers are well practised in the art of making movies and flat out refusing to cut them down to non-epic length.

James Cameron’s original Avatar came in at two hours 42 minutes. A decade later, Avatar: The Way of the Water, comes in at three hours and 12 minutes. The original Dune (1984) came in at two hours 17 minutes. Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming sequel to his reboot is slated to be three hours and 15 minutes. Even non-cinematic releases have embraced epic length; Netflix’s Blonde, released last year, was two hours and 46 minutes long, which felt reasonable given that three years before The Irishman ran for three hours 29 minutes. Ari Aster’s breakout horror, Hereditary, was a reasonable two hours and seven minutes. His follow up a year later, Midsommar, came in at two hours 28 minutes. Beau Is Afraid, released earlier this year, was two hours 59 minutes. Then there is Zac Snyder’s extended cut of Justice League that comes in at a criminally long four hours and two minutes.

Back in 2019 when Martin Scorsese released The Irishman, a long run-time was seen as a problem rather than what it is now; a thing to be endured or a badge of honour. “Meanwhile, traditional Hollywood studios beholden to box office sales have become progressively risk-averse in recent years (producing a three and a half hours-long film definitely counts as a risk, no matter how esteemed Scorsese is),” one article reported at the time. “A fact the filmmaker recently lamented when he argued that ‘cinema is gone.’ Perhaps The Irishman will help bring it back, if audiences can gear up for the long haul.”

It seems that the long movie is now a badge of honour for directors, screeners and filmmakers. Longer is more theatrical, more expensive, more intrinsically artistic. Compare this to previous cult movies that a generation before were noted both for their impact and for their short runtime; La Haine is only one hour 38 minutes long, Gummo is only 89 minutes long, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Pink Flamingos, Kids, Trainspotting — all really very short! But nowadays the ‘kill your darlings’ editing method has been inverted. “Most long films could be promoted as special and prestigious,” Dana Polan, a cinema studies professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, told Variety. “There was an assumption that length equaled quality. It’s almost to say, we’ve spent the money — let’s flaunt it.”

I had a theory that, given these lengthy blockbuster examples, the 90 minute movie was simply gone, done, over. But then I looked back at the past year’s releases and was proved sadly wrong. Rye Lane was one hour and 22 minutes long. Aftersun also ran at just over 90 minutes. As did Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, and Sydney Sweeney’s Reality. Even Infinity Pool and A24’s The Whale were both under two hours long. Clearly 90 minute films still are around, but why does it feel like films are getting longer then. Why do we spend so much time talking about the long ones?

“These days, there’s a lot of talk about long running times,” Sarah Atkinson, professor of screen media at King’s College London, told The Guardian last year following the release of Tenet (which somehow didn’t even reach three hours). It’s all part of incentivising people to go out and pay for a ticket, which they won’t do unless it’s for something special – a big, epic film. Just look at the Marvel franchise: almost every one is well over two hours.” Film length isn’t going up, she concluded, but we think it is. Why? Sarah believed it was simply down to good, savvy marketing.

One other answer could be that our attention span is just worse now. That our attention span is destroyed, actually, by short form social media video and constantly having access to information chopped up to be digested as quickly as possible. We watch TV at double speed or 1.5 speed with the subtitles on. We can look up the plot on Wikipedia and even if we can’t be bothered to go to the cinema and figure out when it’s safe to pee, in six months or a year’s time we can watch whatever film we missed on TikTok anyway, chopped up into parts in a post-123 Movies age of piracy. Even if this doesn’t captivate us enough, someone will have edited those cut-up clips further, and put them above or alongside clips from Subway Surfer or Temple Run or people making cakes or pushing vodka bottles down flights of stairs to see if they break. We don’t ever have to concentrate long enough to take anything in. We can always be distracted.

It’s true also that longer movies always did exist, especially for vast historical epics like Oppenheimer. Lawrence of Arabia, released in 1962, ran at three hours and 42 minutes originally (it was cut down by both 20 and 35 minutes in later releases before being extended to three hours 48 minutes in 1980). Further back, 1939’s Gone with the Wind was three hours and 44 minutes long. Cleopatra, one of the world’s longest cinematic commercial films ever, was released in 1963 and is three hours and 53 minutes long. But a generation later, longer films made headlines when they tried to embrace the epic-runtime set by their predecessors. James Cameron’s Titanic – three hours 14 minutes – was originally released for home media in a two VHS bundle to account for its length. All of the Harry Potter movies were just under or over three hours long; Chris Columbus and later directors knew that the franchise’s rabid fan-base would watch, no matter the length, and so studios would pay for big, lengthy productions too. Even accounting for the amount of lore creators had to include, the length is frequently cited as one of the flaws of the series, which is now being remade into more easily digestible TV sized chunks.

For Oppenheimer though – Christopher Nolan’s longest movie to date – the length doesn’t seem to be off-putting, even with the fact the movie’s 70mm film reels are clocking in at over 600lbs (I did actually try to see it, but every cinema close enough to make is sold out even today). Perhaps we’re just more used to a modern lengthy epic than we used to be. It made just over $80 million in opening weekend takings, making it the director’s biggest non-Batman box office hit to date. Barbie, for transparency’s sake, did take $150 million in the same weekend. Despite its three hour length people still embraced Barbenheimer weekend, going to one movie and then the other, spending an entire day at the cinema, unfatigued and impressed. Maybe Barbenheimer weekend is not just what we needed to reinvigorate movie theatres, but what we needed to fix our broken attention spans. We have become death, destroyer of short films.'

[claireandacat]

Barbenheimer weekend!

It’s Barbenheimer weekend and as a cinephile, I of course participated. Today was Barbie with my brother and yesterday I went to Oppenheimer. I bought shirts to wear to each one and went to my favorite theatre (I will never ever step into a chain theater with the exception of B&B bc it did start in MO where I am from)

This is a year for movies as a Wes Anderson movie and Chris Nolan movie came out this year. My two favorite directors. I know kinda contrasting. One makes serious, science-y movies and the other quirky indie films. I love them.

I got the guy’s name tattooed on my upper back, how super fan can one get? Next I just need a Chris Nolan tattoo and my super fan status will be extended 😂

I’ll start by talking about Barbie, now I’m not much of a fan of chick flicks, they’ve never really appealed to me but hey I’ve played with a Barbie or 10 in my childhood so this movie should be fun.

It was a fun movie. Margot Robbie was amazing as Barbie. The 2001 beginning scene was an awesome touch. I love that Will Farrell is the Mattel CEO. He is always so funny and dramatic with roles such as that.

I still liked Oppenheimer more.

I’m a HUGE fan of Cillian Murphy and have been waiting for Oppenheimer since I heard Cillian would be the star of the movie. Cillian is also in my top hot actors list, I’ve been in love with the guy since I saw 28 Days Later when I was 16.

I mean, have you seen the guy? He is up there with Sebastian Stan and Daniel Brühl in my opinion. 😍😍😍

Maybe I should make a post about my favorite hot actors?

Back to the subject at hand, Oppenheimer was a MASTERPIECE. Nolan never fails to disappoint. It is 3 hours long to do get a quiet fidget toy. I was pretty focused on the movie so it wasn’t too much of a problem. My favorite theater has a bar so I often saw people getting up for a 2nd and third drink based on the amount of cans I heard opening.

That’s what I hate about ASD you get in the focus of something and then you hear some measly background noise and the focus is gone.

Y’all Josh Peck makes an appearance.

I want to point out the scenes where Oppenheimer is overwhelmed/getting a sensory overload. I read another article that Nolan wanted to really capture what it’s really like to be in that situation. Like really really be in that situation. As someone that often (well not as often now that I left a stressful job) experiences being overwhelmed or a sensory overload Nolan was spot on. Especially with the amount of stress and trauma Oppie endured, the sounds and cinematography of it really had you feeling it. Heck for a minute I was feeling the feels of stress, anxiety and burnout I was feeling at my previous job.

I would definitely recommend doing some reading on the Manhattan Project before seeing. There is lots of awesome videos explaining the whole story. It will definitely give you a better understanding of the events unfolding.

Also, want to give a shout out to Gary Oldman (like he would see this post 😅) for playing president Truman the president from my home state and I even live half an hour away from his hometown 😂 and went to a school named after him. Oldman def got that Midwestern accent down 😂

I always forget that it was Truman that signed off on the big kaboom boom to go down. Makes me wanna say, way to go MO! We got buildings, streets, and schools named after this guy 😂 *I’m joking, the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were tragic*

I am definitely looking forward to seeing Oppenheimer again. I’ve yet to see it with my dad who is also a fan of Chris Nolan’s work. Heck the guy had not one but two professors that were involved in the Manhattan Project when he was at KU back in the early to mid eighties.

RIP my bank account buying all these movie tickets and snacks 😅

I hope you all can get a chance to participate in Barbenheimer fun this weekend.

Happy Friday!

[smokeybrandreviews]

Speed Run V: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

I actually participated in Barbenheimer when it originally happened but found that i had way to much to say and the entire energy surrounding that event just kind of drowned out my analysis. I wanted to give that phenomena room to breathe because it absolutely deserved it. Barbenheimer will go down as a legit cultural flash point and it deserves every bit of that adulation. It's rare something so weirdly attractive, brings all form of society together in an effort to just enjoy. Barbie is set to hit streaming on September 5th so i figure now is as good a time as any to dig into what turned out to be two of the best films i have seen in years.

Barbie

If you would have told me that the Barbie movie would be the one to deal with existential dead, i would have laughed in your face. Yet, here we are, talking about a film that has done more for the feminine experience than any third wave feminist podcast to date. When i was watching Ben Shapiro burning Barbies in protest to this excellent film, i just couldn't help but laugh because that type of sh*t was the point. As a film, Barbie is easily one of the best. It has great direction, a brisk pace, fantastic performances, and a clear vision. It's messaging is never bogged down by shallow identity politics, as much as terms like "patriarchy" are thrown around but, let's be honest, of course a film about Barbie is going to focus on the female perspective. It's Barbie. What else would this film be about? Whether you like to hear about the realities of our world or not, the messaging in Barbie has rang true to the tune of a billion dollars at the box office and a number one spot for four weeks straight. Barbie clearly resonated with people across the gender spectrum and party lines so it's always odd to see people bash it for it's "feminist" messaging. Seriously, telling me you hate Barbie at this point is basically telling me you hate women without telling me you hate women. The weakest part of this film was Will Ferrell and his weird Mattel cabal of goons. You could have cut that sh*t right out of this film and nothing would have changed but whatever. Barbie is much, much, better than it has any right to be and it's weird people hate it for being exactly what Barbie has represented herself to be since the goddamn Sixties.

Oppenheimer

So the enheimer half of Barbenheimer was what got me into the theaters. Barbie had to grow on me but i was on board for Oppenheimer last year after that teaser. It was gorgeous and haunting and everything i never knew i wanted in a biopic of the man who created the Atomic Age. This film did not disappoint. Obviously, the cast as exceptional and weird that Best Supporting Actor can very legitimately come down to RDJ versus Ryan Gosling, but that speaks to the quality of both these films. That said, between Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy for best lead performance of their respective films, I'd give the edge to Cillian. This man kills this performance, acting his ass off. You get a real sense of who Oppenheimer was during each phase of his life; A Stark contrast between before and after those bombs were dropped on Japan. Seriously, that ending was haunting. I've always subscribed to Oppenheimer knowing exactly what he had done. He knew exactly what it meant to drop that bomb. He saw what was coming and that exchange with Einstein at the end of the film was haunting. And he was right. I remember seeing the old footage of Oppy quoting the Mahabharata about how it felt to see his work succeed. The way his face dropped and his eyes glazed over, pulling that locked away memory forward. The say he very methodically spoke those words “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” J. Robert Oppenheimer believed that of himself and Cillian Murphy absolutely embodies that energy in the back end of this film. Absolutely stunning performance and i cannot wait to watch it again.

[smokeybrand]

Speed Run V: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

I actually participated in Barbenheimer when it originally happened but found that i had way to much to say and the entire energy surrounding that event just kind of drowned out my analysis. I wanted to give that phenomena room to breathe because it absolutely deserved it. Barbenheimer will go down as a legit cultural flash point and it deserves every bit of that adulation. It's rare something so weirdly attractive, brings all form of society together in an effort to just enjoy. Barbie is set to hit streaming on September 5th so i figure now is as good a time as any to dig into what turned out to be two of the best films i have seen in years.

Barbie

If you would have told me that the Barbie movie would be the one to deal with existential dead, i would have laughed in your face. Yet, here we are, talking about a film that has done more for the feminine experience than any third wave feminist podcast to date. When i was watching Ben Shapiro burning Barbies in protest to this excellent film, i just couldn't help but laugh because that type of sh*t was the point. As a film, Barbie is easily one of the best. It has great direction, a brisk pace, fantastic performances, and a clear vision. It's messaging is never bogged down by shallow identity politics, as much as terms like "patriarchy" are thrown around but, let's be honest, of course a film about Barbie is going to focus on the female perspective. It's Barbie. What else would this film be about? Whether you like to hear about the realities of our world or not, the messaging in Barbie has rang true to the tune of a billion dollars at the box office and a number one spot for four weeks straight. Barbie clearly resonated with people across the gender spectrum and party lines so it's always odd to see people bash it for it's "feminist" messaging. Seriously, telling me you hate Barbie at this point is basically telling me you hate women without telling me you hate women. The weakest part of this film was Will Ferrell and his weird Mattel cabal of goons. You could have cut that sh*t right out of this film and nothing would have changed but whatever. Barbie is much, much, better than it has any right to be and it's weird people hate it for being exactly what Barbie has represented herself to be since the goddamn Sixties.

Oppenheimer

So the enheimer half of Barbenheimer was what got me into the theaters. Barbie had to grow on me but i was on board for Oppenheimer last year after that teaser. It was gorgeous and haunting and everything i never knew i wanted in a biopic of the man who created the Atomic Age. This film did not disappoint. Obviously, the cast as exceptional and weird that Best Supporting Actor can very legitimately come down to RDJ versus Ryan Gosling, but that speaks to the quality of both these films. That said, between Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy for best lead performance of their respective films, I'd give the edge to Cillian. This man kills this performance, acting his ass off. You get a real sense of who Oppenheimer was during each phase of his life; A Stark contrast between before and after those bombs were dropped on Japan. Seriously, that ending was haunting. I've always subscribed to Oppenheimer knowing exactly what he had done. He knew exactly what it meant to drop that bomb. He saw what was coming and that exchange with Einstein at the end of the film was haunting. And he was right. I remember seeing the old footage of Oppy quoting the Mahabharata about how it felt to see his work succeed. The way his face dropped and his eyes glazed over, pulling that locked away memory forward. The say he very methodically spoke those words “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” J. Robert Oppenheimer believed that of himself and Cillian Murphy absolutely embodies that energy in the back end of this film. Absolutely stunning performance and i cannot wait to watch it again.

[denimbex1986]

'Picture the scene, if you will: It’s sometime in the Before Time, in the blissful ignorance of the late 2010s, and I tell you about two new summer movies that are about to premiere. One is a superhero flick featuring the long-awaited return of an iconic actor in the role that made his career. The other is a prestige, 3-hour-long biopic that consists almost entirely of a bunch of guys sitting in rooms talking. Which one would you expect to flop, and which one would you bet on to bring in almost a billion dollars worldwide? Yes, that’s purely rhetorical.

It’s a funny thing to think about, though, because earlier this year I was excited about two summer releases that fit those exact descriptions. But it seems that in our topsy-turvy, post-pandemic world, the box office really has been turned upside down because Oppenheimer became a worldwide sensation just about a month after The Flash crashed and burned. (Yes, this is me admitting I was excited for The Flash. Just roll with it.) What the heck happened?

As a movie lover generally and a champion of the theatrical experience more specifically, I will admit to being particularly anxious about the fate of the cinema as an institution after the pandemic. We all spent the better part of two years cooped up in our apartments, avoiding any semblance of crowded public spaces, and learned to just stream the latest blockbusters from the comfort of our living rooms. It’s only logical that after getting so comfortable with couch viewing, it would take more than a little coaxing to get us all back in line for the popcorn. My fear is that, when push comes to shove, not enough of us will be lured back to keep the cinema as we know it alive. And there’s good reason for me to feel that way, as the aggregate box office numbers are still significantly below where they were in 2019.

Do the shocking financial performances of The Flash and Oppenheimer offer us some clues as to the secrets of the weird post-COVID box office? Maybe, but first and foremost they tell us a great deal about those two movies. Context is everything, after all. The Flash is a long-delayed movie starring an actor who is more famous for assaulting people than for their filmography, all set in a cinematic universe that was announced by the studio (itself suffering the growing pains of a recent merger) to be defunct about 6 months before the film’s release. Oppenheimer, on the other hand, is the passion project of one of the most recognizable big-movie directors of our time—himself a significant box office draw—starring a murderer’s row of A-list actors that benefitted from a viral social media association with Barbie, the summer’s biggest movie in the lead up to its release. So yeah, there’s that.

But I do think these two movies tell us a little more than that. They are the perfect illustration of the truth of the current box office, which is that people won’t just go to the movies reflexively anymore. Gone are the days of paying to see absolute schlock because you’re at least out of the house. Indoor activities simply aren’t anyone’s first idea of a good time these days. (As a side note, I’ll point out that there’s evidence, at least in places like my home base of Richmond, that people are turning to outdoor entertainment like minor league baseball instead.) If people are going to leave the cushy, inviting embrace of their couches, you’re going to have to show them something new and enticing.

And as The Flash can attest, we’ve all seen plenty of superhero movies already. But it’s been a while since we all had a chance to see something directed by Christopher Nolan (Tenet doesn’t count because, you know, COVID), and even longer since we’ve seen anything with Josh Hartnett in it. That probably has something to do with why Oppenheimer is likely to outgross four of the last six MCU releases by the end of its run...

I do strongly believe that the movie theater business will have to adapt to our post-COVID environment, where people won’t show up to the cinema quite like they used to. That could be a good thing too, as lower attendance will likely force filmmakers to lower their budgets. I’d love nothing more than to see the demise of the bloated, behemothic, in favor of more mid-budget and independent films. You heard me right: Give me less Fast X. Bring on the Cocaine Bear.'