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prettyboysdontlookatexplosions · 9 months

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feel weird about this post, maybe because i think three films (one of which i liked a lot, one of which i thought was a surprisingly fun toy commercial with script problems, one of which i cannot make myself watch because it’s little fucking women) is kind of not a lot to hang this kind of “always” characterization on especially given that one of them is a toy commercial and the other one is about an eighteen year old and actually has nothing whatsoever to say about marriage, maybe because i cannot take seriously someone being like “this filmmaker conspicuously avoids queer desire and female sexuality entirely” based on a sample set of movies that are (1) about a high school student who brw fucks (2) an adaptation of a 19th century children’s novel which is, i promise you, so much more directly about protestantism than you remember, and (3) a toy commercial. like “over and over and over and over again” feels…. it just feels really strong. and it feels, idk, really weird to me to say that 2-3 movies about being a single woman necessarily have some kind of intentional absence rather than simply making a deliberate choice, like we are, like, just drowning culturally in positive depictions of women whose lives are about something else, lmao. like i don’t, um…. i just don’t think i am ever going to find it particularly feminist to criticize a particular depiction or even a particular body of work for omitting sex 🤷🏻‍♀️ i am saying all of this btw as a person who like, the number one genre of film i am instantly down to watch is “movies by lesbian filmmakers” and that was true when i identified as straight. but also i guess i am saying this as a person who more or less thinks of portrait as a lady on fire as having a happy ending because i see it as a story about a woman artist, which i actually think is the real consistency among gerwig’s three (3) movies even if i think barbie does not actually execute that theme with any success (and even if to be clear i don’t think she is anywhere near sciamma). anyway. maybe i also just think the snide “often, they don’t have sex at all” as “feminist” (lol) “critique” (lol) is, like, extremely 2012.

there was also a reblog OP did of some tags where someone was like “i read it as an aroace narrative” and they were like “that’s great but she wasn’t doing that on purpose!” and OP added this tag:

which like. i mean i did not feel reflected by barbie because i am not 14. but like as a bisexual woman who has been in a relationship for basically my entire adult life, there is a way in which i actually do tend to feel reflected by stories about women who walk away entirely from the domain of romance and sex. who - horrors! - “don’t fuck at all.” i find that narrative, when done well, compelling and personally salient. if gerwig made a movie that wasn’t little women or barbie about it, i would probably find some real value in it! and i find…. off-putting… the idea that one is supposed to prefer reflections in the form of “identity” rather than uh [checks notes] a human person behaving in ways that are resonant to me. that one in fact should desire movies that “purposefully” make narratives to “reflect me.” i think that assumption reveals some weird assumptions about how art gets made and a weird depressing narrow view of how to relate to art.

in conclusion i believe in equality and i think that if christopher nolan can make 11 movies in a row with zero sexual content at all before finally having his streak broken only by the immovable historical object of j robert oppenheimer’s sexual magnetism (i’m not being weird he literally said this) i think greta gerwig who with her toy commercial follow up slated to be a pair of narnia movies i think is pretty clearly angling to be girl christopher nolan should be allowed to keep making movies i think are Fine about ambitious unhorny women for years to come. or whatever the fuck she’s gonna make narnia about, i certainly will not be watching.

#idk man i am not like a major gerwig fan or anything but #this post rly bugged me!

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gisellelx · 5 months

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Twilight Advent Calendar, Day 3

Dec. 3 - Pick one deceased Twilight character to draw or tell us more about. How would the Twilight universe be different if they were still alive?

"Or Does It Sag"

(~2,000 words)

December 3, 2023 Ashland, Wisconsin

Bella had been the one to break this particular dam.

It was a problem they all suffered from, if Edward were honest. The world changed so quickly around them, and it was easy to lose track of new possibilities on offer, especially when they were personal. An advancement in engine mechanics; sure, Rosalie would keep on top of that. A contemporary pianist rising to new fame; Edward would be aware. And with his daughter, these days, it was simple to be aware of other things he would once have not noticed: memes and new phrases, fashion trends too pedestrian for his sister to pick up on, Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan opening polar opposite films on the same weekend.

They all would forget, often, that the world changing might mean that certain things they had taken for granted needed reconsideration. That over time, the arc of history bent toward making the impossible possible.

His wife was sitting with their daughter on the the piano bench, Renesmee’s hands aglow from the white Christmas lights his mother had strung on the banister in the foyer. The tree would come later—Christmas Eve, their tradition since that very first serious fire hazard Carlisle had lit in the room of an inn on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, trying to coax, if not joy out of Edward, at least something a bit more like delight—but the house was already filled with other greenery, the air thick with the scents of white pine, ripened pinecone, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Across the room, Alice and Esme discussed the tree’s placement, how big it would need to be, as they hung ten stockings on the mantle in order by their entrance to the family: J, R, B, J, A, E, R, E, E, C. Although Edward knew Carlisle and Esme always hung them all anyway, this would be the first Christmas since the pandemic had begun that all ten of them would be filled. Jasper and Emmett had taken their Christmas cheer outside on Esme’s orders, and Rose had followed them, the living embodiment of the saying that behind every great man was a woman rolling her eyes.

And then there was Carlisle, whose newest schedule thrust him into two weeks of boredom at a time, curled up into one of the wingback chairs in his socks, staring at a page dense with text in the smallest font on his Kindle, but only pretending to read.

It had been earlier this year. Seventeen years of marriage, nearly nineteen of a relationship, and somehow Edward had never mentioned this crucial fact to his wife. They had been at the Toulouse house, discussing their next visit to the States, when Edward had mentioned something about his sire’s past; the knowns and the unknowns, and had let slip a crucial bit of missing information, a basic fact everyone had always taken for granted would forever be irretrievable.

Bella had just blinked at him a few times, and then, in the cutting way she had, offered, “Edward, haven’t any of you ever heard of Ancestry dot com?”

It had taken Bella all of twenty-four hours. A new account. A deep dive into church registers in London, 1600-1650. The parish records of one Saint James Aldgate, kept from 1625-1668 in a cramped handwriting that looked for all the world like Carlisle’s, which, when remarked upon, had only earned him a large eyeroll from his wife. “Edward. I know you think Carlisle sprang fully formed from the head of Zeus”—this time it was his turn to roll his eyes—“but you do realize that at some point someone had to teach him to write?”

And so they had pored over the records of births and marriages, baptisms and deaths, until they found her. Married, just barely twenty-two. Dead, just shy of twenty-four. One child, baptized the day she died. And the name, lost to the centuries until now.

They had presented this information for Father’s Day. Printouts of the pages; the dates, the eerily matching handwriting. Carlisle had swallowed deeply, thanked them, and shortly thereafter, left the room.

He hadn’t spoken of it. Edward hadn’t been sure if it had been an offense.

The composition under his daughter’s nimble fingers was over forty years old now, otherwise sounding like any other contemporary piano piece except that something about it sounded wintery, a musical affectation of the rapid whooshing of the Wisconsin wind against windows Esme had insisted upon keeping single pane. And as Edward listened, he let his mind drift along with his family's. It will need to be shorter. Esme, contemplating the tree. An expensive pair of earrings, no a necklace, no earrings, and…goddamnit, Emmett as Jasper tried valiantly to hide his holiday thoughts from his wife.

Pride, in equal measures, Jacob and Bella, listening to Renesmee at the keyboard.

And then…a little girl. Well, no, Edward realized at once. Not a girl, a child. Blond hair hanging in ringlets down to thin shoulders, a hat in the child’s—his—hand. The hat, falling to the ground from an open fist, as the dress swung around the child’s ankles, the hair flying in the wind as the child—the boy—giggled, racing into a woman’s round, pregnant belly.

“Carlisle,” the woman scolded gently. “You’ll wake your sister. Quiet, child.” A glance across a room, firelight dancing from the hearth, where a cradle sat on the floor, a warm glow across the cheeks of a plump toddler. Then the warm laughter again, a hand caressing the swell that was to be the third child. A boy, Edward knew somehow, through that strange alchemy that was his own mind and the mind he knew almost every bit as intimately. Then the boy, scooped up, held tightly to the ample bosom even as he giggled and squirmed. The imagined scent—roses, fresh air, sweat, soot.

As quickly as it came, the whole scene vaporized, replaced with live piano music, the scent of resin, Esme’s gentle laughter, the glow of LED twinkle lights. Edward looked up, catching eyes from across the room. A muttered excuse, and the sound of denim on upholstery as his sire excused himself, nonchalantly, as though he’d forgotten something.

But when he hadn’t returned ten minutes later, Edward also made soft noises about needing to find something, pressed his lips to the crown of his daughter’s head, and said, “Keep it up, Sweet.” His wife, ever perceptive, looked up from the bench.

Carlisle? she mouthed, and Edward nodded.

The house wasn’t large. The two of them had chosen it for themselves a hundred years ago, only later to share it with the woman Carlisle had, in all his impulsivity and to Edward’s initial dismay, saved from her own attempt at death. Following a scent—especially this most familiar one—was easy, and a moment later, Edward found himself in the study. His father’s chair was turned toward the wall, staring at a bookcase full of all manner of tomes organized in some system which after a century, still remained impenetrable even to Edward.

He didn’t say anything; it wasn’t as though he could sneak up. They both said nothing, the only sound in the stillness of the room their inhalations and exhalations.

“A sister?” Edward said finally. The head turned, and two pairs of golden eyes met.

“And a brother,” Edward added, and Carlisle shrugged.

It was the 1640s. Six would have been common.

“That’s not at all what I was commenting on, and you know it.”

Carlisle gulped. Edward came closer, perching himself on the perpetually messy desk.

“I wasn’t even sure you appreciated the gift,” he said quietly. “You’ve said so little about it.”

The blond head shook furiously. “I’m sorry. I’m grateful. It’s just—”

A flurry of images. The boy, giggling again. Older, hair shorter, wearing breeches this time. The sister, just as towheaded, her long ringlets dancing behind her as her brother pulled her through a small churchyard, scattering the handful of hens which lived there. The woman, a stern and wry look on her face, bouncing a toddler in her arms. Then blankness, again, the cutting off that Edward knew, like the slamming of a steel door, as Carlisle closed off his thinking to protect Edward from things he did not wish Edward to be privy to. Then came the sensations: the twist in the pit of the stomach, the raw, searing grief as fresh as it ever had been.

When this quiet had continued for several minutes, Edward spoke up. “You would’ve died, you know.”

A nod.

“And none of us would be here.”

Rosalie’s face swam suddenly in Carlisle’s mind. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Edward raised his eyebrows. “You’d trade us? Esme?” A pause. "Me?”

His father bit his lip, an uncannily human fidget that had once been put into his repertoire on purpose, but had now become so ingrained it was just part of him. The image shifted again: a series of flashes, rapid, one after another. The boy, school-aged, holding bravely still while the woman bandaged a knee. A teen, lifting a playful toddler out of the sacristy of the church—the sacristy remembered, the toddler imagined. A fourth child, Edward realized. The towheaded boy grown tall, his face the face of the young man Edward was used to. Clutching hands with a woman in white, anxiety and adrenaline and joy as he stood before an altar, the woman beaming at him from the first pew. And finally, the woman, older, her hair graying, as the young man placed a squashed-face infant into her arms.

Edward knew this part now, understood that Carlisle was so deeply content that he lacked the ability to imagine a family other than the one he had. That his dreams had a way of mixing the present with the past with the imagined, as though all of it were true. That if Edward had been able to lift the imaginary bride's veil, he would've seen the woman whose voice he could still hear floating down the hallway. That the infant being handed over in the memory now was the only infant Carlisle had ever imagined having: even though he had met Edward at age 17, he had a firm idea of what he would’ve looked like at six pounds. No hair—redheads were usually born bald—a grip surprisingly firm for a one-day-old infant. He saw the way the imaginary Carlisle beamed as he handed the bundle over to the woman. The way her eyes halfway closed in delight. Edward felt in the memory the way the baby felt in the hands, and recognized the way Carlisle’s mind was mixing this imagined baby and his imagined weight with a concrete memory from September, seventeen years before: Edward’s daughter; Carlisle’s palms.

I wish she could meet you.

Swinging his legs off the desk, Edward let out a bark of a laugh.

"Carlisle, you’re the one who believes in heaven. You really think she hasn’t?”

The image which surfaced this time was so similar, it was hard to tell if it was Edward’s alone or Carlisle’s, or both. The woman, fully gray haired now, her face wrinkled and her hands beginning to show liver spots. Sitting in their living room, laughing and giving tree advice to Esme, listening attentively to Renesmee, joking about Edward and Carlisle with Bella.

“Come on, Carlisle. If she’s anywhere, she’s here.” He hopped off the desk. “And you hiding in your office is probably not what she’d want.”

The nod came slowly. I suppose you’re right. He ran a hand through his hair and attempted a smile. Standing, he placed a hand on Edward’s shoulder. “I am glad you’re here. All of you. Even though the house is way too crowded.”

He chuckled. “We’ll leave before New Year’s.”

“Is that a promise?”

Edward punched Carlisle in the bicep, but they both laughed. Carlisle gestured to the door.

Come. Let’s see what your mother has figured out about the tree.

Edward nodded, and followed Carlisle’s steps. But at the door, his sire stopped, gazing back toward the desk where Edward still stood. The young boy resurfaced, lying against the woman, the girl, still asleep, the unborn infant a flutter under his brother's rib. Slowly, the boy's eyelids, too, grew heavy.

Carlisle blinked, snapping his mind abruptly back to the study. The boy was replaced by books. Thank you for giving her back to me.

And Edward saw it. Obscured by two pieces of mail, but still on top of the pile, the scent of Carlisle’s fingers still fresh, as though he’d rifled through it as recently as this morning. The envelope that he’d prepared, lettered in Bella’s handwriting, given for Father’s Day. The name, lost to time, resurfaced with technology, and with it, memory, imagination, grief, and somehow, love. As he moved, he brushed aside the bank statements on top, leaving the whole envelope visible as he exited the room.

Sarah

it read.

Closing the study door, Edward turned out the light and headed back toward his family.

Masterpost/Prompts Montage Masterpost

#twilightadvent23 #my fic #you knew this prompt was going to result in an addition to Montage #montage #carlisle cullen #edward cullen #sarah crawforth cullen #Music: Renesmee is playing George Winston's “Night” from the album December #and this piece was banged out to a band setting of O Magnum Mysterium on a loop

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mariacallous · 9 months

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Amid a desert landscape a visionary unveils an invention that will forever change the world as we know it.

That’s the climactic scene of the Christopher Nolan biopic Oppenheimer, about the eponymous J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb.” It’s also the opening scene of the Barbie movie, directed and co-written by indie auteur Greta Gerwig, which opened on the same day as Oppenheimer.

Despite the two films’ radically different subject matter and tone—one a dramatic examination of man’s hubris and the threat of nuclear apocalypse and the other a neon-drenched romp about Mattel’s iconic fashion doll—they have far more in common than just their release date. Both movies consider the complicated legacies of two American icons and how to grapple with and perhaps even atone for them.

In Oppenheimer, the desert scene depicts the Trinity test, the world’s first detonation of a nuclear bomb near Los Alamos, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. A brilliant but flawed theoretical physicist and the rest of his team work frantically to develop the weapon for the United States before the Nazis can beat them to the punch; they then gather on bleak, lunar-white sands near their secret laboratory to test the terrifying creation.

The countdown timer ticks to 00:00:00, the proverbial big red button is pushed, and a blast ignites the sky—a blinding white flash that quickly morphs into a towering inferno. Everything goes silent as Oppenheimer stares in awe from behind a makeshift protective barrier at what he has created.

Suddenly, he begins experiencing flashes of a different kind, premonitions of the human horror and suffering his weapon will wreak. Nolan is unambiguously signaling to the audience that this is a pivotal moment for the world, and for Oppenheimer personally, as what was once merely a theoretical idea has become monstrously real. The fallout, both literally and figuratively, will be out of Oppenheimer’s control.

Barbie’s critical desert scene comes not at the film’s climax but at its very beginning. The movie opens with a parody of the famous “The Dawn of Man” scene from Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1968 science fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. As a red-orange sunrise breaks across a rocky desert landscape, a voiceover (from none other than Dame Helen Mirren) begins: “Since the beginning of time, since the first little girl ever existed, there have been dolls. But the dolls were always and forever baby dolls.” On screen, underscored by the ominous notes of Richard Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” little girls sit amid dusty canyon walls playing with baby dolls.

“Until…” Mirren says. And then comes the reveal: The little girls look up to see a massive, monolith-sized Margot Robbie, dressed in the black and white-striped swimsuit of the very first Barbie doll. She lifts her sunglasses and winks. The little girls are stunned—and, like the apes in the classic sci-fi movie, they begin to angrily dash their baby dolls against the ground.

This is Barbie’s mythic origin story: Once upon a time, little girls could only play with baby dolls meant to socialize them into wanting to be good wives and, eventually, mothers. Then came Ruth Handler, who in 1959 decided to create a doll with an adult woman’s body, adult women’s fashions, and adult women’s careers so that little girls could dream of being more than just wives and mothers. And the rest is history. Thanks to such iterations as doctor Barbie, chef Barbie, scientist Barbie, professional violinist Barbie, and beyond, Barbie opened up young girls to a world of possibilities and, Mirren says, “All problems of feminism and equal rights [were] solved.”

Well, not so fast: Mirren adds one final, snarky beat: “At least,” she says, “that’s what the Barbies think.”

Thus Gerwig introduces the central tension that animates the movie: Handler set out to create a feminist toy to empower and inspire young girls. But we sitting in the audience in 2023 know that things worked out a little differently. In the intervening years, Barbie would come under fire from feminists and other critics for a whole host of sins: encouraging unrealistic and harmful beauty standards that contribute to negative body image issues, eating disorders, and depression among pre-adolescent girls; lacking diversity and perpetuating white supremacy, ableism, and heteronormativity; objectifying women; promoting consumerism and capitalism; and even contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

And here is the core parallel between Barbie and Oppenheimer: Two iconic American creators who ostensibly meant well but whose creations caused irreparable harm. And two iconic American directors (Nolan is British-American) who set out to tell their stories from a very modern perspective, humanizing them while also addressing their harmful legacies.

But while Nolan obviously had the much harder task—no matter how much harm you think Barbie has done to the psyches of young girls over the years, there’s simply no comparison to the human toll of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the environmental impact of decades of nuclear testing, or the cost of the nuclear arms race—oddly enough, it’s Gerwig who ends up taking her job of atonement far more seriously.

As its opening scene shows, the Barbie movie lets the audience know right from the start that it’s self-aware. It knows that Barbie is problematic. And it’s going to go there.

And it does—almost to the point of overkill. The basic plot of the movie is this: Barbie is living happily in Barbie Land, a perfect pink plastic world where she and her fellow Barbies run everything from the White House to the Supreme Court and have everything they could ever want, from dream houses to dream cars to dreamy boyfriends (Ken)—the last of which they treat as little more than accessories.

But suddenly, things start to go wrong in Barbie’s happy feminist utopia, and to fix it, she is forced to journey into the real world—our world—accompanied by Ken, who insists on going with her. When she does, she realizes that contrary to what she believed (as Mirren told us in the opening scene), the invention of Barbies didn’t solve gender inequality in the real world. In the real world, Barbie is confronted not only with the dominance of the patriarchy (she discovers, for instance, that Mattel’s CEO is a man, played by Will Ferrell), but also with the fact that young girls seem to hate her.

In a crucial early scene, Robbie’s Barbie encounters ultracool Gen-Z teen Sasha (played by Ariana Greenblatt), who delivers a scathing monologue about everything that’s wrong with Barbie, the doll and cultural symbol—basically a checklist of all the criticisms lobbed at Barbie over the years, from promoting unrealistic beauty standards to destroying the planet with rampant capitalism. Barbie is crestfallen.

Meanwhile, there’s a subplot involving Ken’s parallel discovery of patriarchy, and how awesome and different it seems to be from his subjugated life in Barbie Land. Ken proceeds to go full men’s rights, heading back to Barbie Land and seizing power. He transforms Barbie’s dream house into Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House, where Barbies serve men and “every night is boys’ night!”

Barbie enlists the help of Sasha and her mom (played by America Ferrera)—a Mattel employee who secretly dreams up ideas for new, more realistic Barbies such as anxiety Barbie—to unseat Ken and restore female power in Barbie Land. Along the way, Ferrera’s character delivers the film’s other major feminist monologue, about how hard it is being a woman in the real world.

The monologues are unsubtle, as are the repeated mentions of concepts like the patriarchy. In every scene and nearly every line, the movie hits the audience over the head with the pro-feminism message. Gerwig knows what her job is—to atone for Barbie’s sins (and, yes, help Mattel sell more dolls)—and she makes sure everyone knows that she has fully understood the assignment.

But it’s in the film’s quieter, more tender moments that Gerwig’s background as an indie filmmaker and her true talent shine through, and where she’s able to communicate the message in a subtler, but ultimately more impactful, way. The scene where Barbie in the real world sees an elderly woman for the first time (old people and wrinkles don’t exist in Barbie Land, obviously) and is stunned at how beautiful she is, wrinkles and all. Or the scenes where Barbie talks quietly with her deceased creator, an elderly Handler (played by Rhea Perlman), who explains that the name Barbie was an homage to Handler’s daughter, Barbara, who inspired her to make the doll.

The overall result is a movie that, even if a bit ham-fisted in its over-the-top messaging, doesn’t shy away from the uglier parts of Barbie’s legacy. It looks them right in the face, wrinkles and all.

I said above that the Trinity test scene is the climactic scene in Oppenheimer, but that’s not really the case. For a movie about the complicated life and legacy of the man credited with creating the world’s most destructive weapon, it should be the climax. You might imagine it would follow with a denouement of the inventor confronting the reality that his creation is used to kill tens of thousands of Japanese civilians and sparks an arms race that threatens to destroy all of humanity.

These scenes are in there, but they are given short shrift next to the other story Nolan wants to tell: that of how Oppenheimer, once considered an American hero, was mistreated by his country in the postwar years. As McCarthy-era fears of communist infiltration grip the country, Oppenheimer’s previous ties to the Communist Party (he never joined the party himself, but he had close family members and friends who were members, and he supported various left-wing causes) are mysteriously brought to the FBI’s attention despite already being well documented. His security clearance is revoked, and his career working with the U.S. government on nuclear issues ends.

It is this storyline—not the apocalyptic destruction of two Japanese cities—that is given the most pathos. Much of the movie’s three-hour run time—and nearly all of its third act—centers on what we are clearly meant to see as the great evil that was done to this man who did so much for his country. The real climax of the film is not the Trinity test, nor even the bombings of Japan (which are not even shown in the movie), but rather the moment we learn who betrayed Oppenheimer by handing over his security file to the FBI.

This is the shocking revelation that is meant to induce gasps in the audience, not the images of charred and irradiated bodies. In fact, those images aren’t even shown to us, the viewers. In the scene where Oppenheimer and his team are shown photos of the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the camera stays tight on Oppenheimer’s face as he reacts to the images—a reaction that consists of him putting his head down to avoid seeing them.

It is an act of cowardice on Oppenheimer’s part, yes, but also on Nolan’s. Indeed, the only glimpses we get of the macabre effects of the atom bomb take place in Oppenheimer’s fevered imagination, and even then, they are brief flashes used for shock value: skin flapping off the beautiful face of an admiring female colleague; the charred, faceless husk of a child’s body Oppenheimer accidentally steps on; a male colleague vomiting from the effects of radiation. Of the Japanese victims, there is nothing. They remain theoretical, faceless.

Nolan has said that he chose not to depict the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki not to sanitize them but because the film’s events are shown from Oppenheimer’s point of view. “We know so much more than he did at the time,” Nolan said at a screening of the movie in New York. “He learned about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the radio, the same as the rest of the world.”

But in reading the numerous interviews he’s given about the movie, it’s also clear that Nolan fundamentally sees Oppenheimer as a tragic hero—Nolan has repeatedly called Oppenheimer “the most important person who ever lived”—and Oppenheimer’s story as a distinctly American one. “I believe you see in the Oppenheimer story all that is great and all that is terrible about America’s uniquely modern power in the world,” he told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. “It’s a very, very American story.”

That Nolan’s film devotes so much runtime to Oppenheimer’s point of view and how he was tragically betrayed by his country is partly due to the fact that the film is not an original story but rather an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of the great scientist, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. That book also places Oppenheimer being stripped of his security clearance at its center. But that didn’t mean Nolan had to do the same in his adaptation. That was a choice. And the end result is what military technology writer Kelsey Atherton aptly described as “a 3 hour long argument that the greatest victim of atomic weaponry was Oppenheimer’s clearance.”

At a time when Americans are struggling to reckon with their country’s past and how it has shaped the present—from fights over how (or even whether) to teach children about the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow; to debates, including in these very pages, over the role (or lack thereof) of NATO expansion in Russia’s decision to wage war on Ukraine; to retrospectives on the myriad failures of the U.S. war in Afghanistan; and beyond—the fact that the two biggest films in theaters right now are attempting to confront the legacies of two American icons, the nuclear bomb and Barbie, is understandable and perhaps even impressive.

But the impulse to look away from the ugliest parts of those legacies remains strong, and Oppenheimer never fully faces them.

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denimbex1986 · 5 months

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'Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy — she the star of “Barbie,” he of “Oppenheimer” — have shared an experience, one unique in film history. On July 21, 2023, their two movies came out, and instead of cannibalizing one another during a time when box office receipts were sluggish, they actually boosted each other, creating the global phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer.”

On paper, the two movies couldn’t be more different. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” produced by Robbie’s company LuckyChap Entertainment, is the story of the world’s most popular doll, who, after going on a journey to recover from an existential crisis, becomes a woman; Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who oversaw the invention of the atomic bomb. What they have in common, though, is that their directors made wholly original films, ones guided by their inventiveness, and it was the innovative spirit of “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” that in turn inspired audiences to be creative and participatory in their fandom for both films. The memes, the double-feature TikToks, the costumes people wore to go out to theaters again and again to experience Barbenheimer — after COVID had nearly destroyed in-person moviegoing — “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” proved joy is still to be had (as well as profits, with the box office for “Barbie” at more than $1.4 billion worldwide, and “Oppenheimer” recently crossing $950 million).

In other words, Robbie, sporting a “Barbie”-inspired pink polka-dot shirt with matching heels, and a darkly clad Murphy have a lot to discuss when they meet for Actors on Actors — a rendezvous during which Murphy professes he now knows what a meme is, after famously claiming ignorance about them in a 2017 interview.

CILLIAN MURPHY: Congratulations on your reasonably successful film. You’re a producer on the movie as well. How did you know a “Barbie” movie would connect with audiences in the manner that it did?

MARGOT ROBBIE: Yeah, 90% of me was certain that this would be a big deal and a massive hit, and 10% of me thought, “Oh, this could go so badly wrong.” It was all about Greta Gerwig. And it was like, “If it wasn’t going to be Greta, then, yeah, this could have been an absolute disaster.”

MURPHY: She was always your first choice?

ROBBIE: I just wasn’t going to let her say no. It was about six years ago we got the property. We got it out of Sony, set it up at Warner Bros., got Mattel’s blessing to let us produce, then went after Greta. Obviously, I didn’t know it was going to be the cultural phenomenon that it ended up being.

MURPHY: When did you realize that?

ROBBIE: It was all the way along. The fact that it’s Greta Gerwig, people are like, “Greta Gerwig and a ‘Barbie’ movie, what?” And then the pictures of Ryan Gosling and me Rollerblading on Venice Beach came out and went even wider than I was expecting. I’d been thinking big for it, and it still turned out bigger than I expected.

But what about you? Did you think so many people were going to watch a movie about the making of the atomic bomb?

MURPHY: No. I don’t think any of us did. Christopher Nolan was always determined that it would be released in the summer as a big tentpole movie. That was always his plan. And he has this superstition around that date, the 21st.

ROBBIE: Do all his movies come out on that date?

MURPHY: In and around the 21st of July — they always come out then.

ROBBIE: It’s a good date. We picked that day too!

MURPHY: Yeah, I know.

ROBBIE: One of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we worked together on some other projects. And he was like, “I think you guys should move your date.” And I was like, “We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date.” And he’s like, “We’re not moving our date. I just think it’d be better for you to move.” And I was like, “We’re not moving!” I think this is a really great pairing, actually. It’s a perfect double billing, “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie.”

MURPHY: That was a good instinct.

ROBBIE: Clearly the world agreed. Thank God. The fact that people were going and being like, “Oh, watch ‘Oppenheimer’ first, then ‘Barbie.’” I was like, “See? People like everything.” People are weird.

MURPHY: And they don’t like being told what to do. They will decide, and they will generate the interest themselves.

ROBBIE: I think they were also really excited by the filmmakers. People were itching for the next Chris Nolan film and itching for the next Greta Gerwig film. To get them at the same time was exciting. You’ve done five movies with Christopher Nolan now, right?

MURPHY: This is six, actually.

ROBBIE: So you like the guy? A big fan.

MURPHY: It seems to work. This is the first time playing a proper lead role for him. There’d always been supporting parts over the years — it’s 20 years we’re working together. Emma Thomas, his wife, the producer, she called me because Chris doesn’t have a phone. So she put me on to Chris, and he said in his very understated British way, “I’m making this movie of Oppenheimer — I’d like you to play the part.” I had just finished something; I wasn’t doing anything. I did realize then that it was different than the other jobs I’d done with him, because it was the story of Oppenheimer’s life. And then when he eventually gave me the script, it was written in the first person, which I’d never read before, and so I —

ROBBIE: The script was written in the first person? The big print would be like, “I’m going to put the cup down and walk towards the door”?

MURPHY: Exactly, exactly. Which I’d never read before. And so it was very clear that he wanted it to be truly subjective storytelling. And that did add to the feeling of “Oh, fuck, this is a biggie.”

ROBBIE: Why do you love working with him? And why do you think he loves working with you? I know you’re going to have to maybe be really humble and be like, “I don’t know, why does he like me? I can’t understand.” Take a guess.

MURPHY: With Chris, it’s just the work. He’s not interested in anything else other than the work and the filmmaking. And he’s incredibly focused, and it’s incredibly rigorous.

ROBBIE: When he called you and said, “Movie about Oppenheimer,” were you like, “Gotcha”? Or were you like, “Who’s that? I should go read a book.”

MURPHY: I knew the very basic Wikipedia level. I knew about the Trinity tests, and I knew about the Manhattan Project and then obviously what happened in ’45. But I didn’t know what happened afterwards or anything like that.

ROBBIE: So you read a lot to prep. What else did you do?

MURPHY: Walk around my basement talking to myself.

ROBBIE: Really? I prep like a psychopath as well. Did you have a thing that would get you into him?

MURPHY: Physically, there was loads of pictures of him, and he always stood with his hand on his hip. He was such a slight man, but he always stood with this very kind of jaunty angle. So I nicked that pretty early as a physical thing. And then Chris Nolan kept sending me pictures of David Bowie, like in the Thin White Duke era, with the big voluminous trousers.

And how about you? Such a difficult character. It’s this kind of 20th-century icon, but not a real person. How did you figure it out?

ROBBIE: It was so weird prepping Barbie as a character. All my usual tools didn’t apply for this character. I work with an acting coach, and I work with a dialect coach, and I work with a movement coach, and I read everything, and I watch all the things. I rely on animal work a lot. I was maybe 45 minutes into pretending to be a flamingo or whatever, and I was suddenly like, “It’s not working.”

I went to Greta, like, “Help me. I don’t know where to start with this character.” And she’s like, “OK, what are you scared of?” And I was like, “I don’t want her to seem dumb and ditzy, but she’s also not meant to know anything. She’s meant to be completely naive and ignorant.” And Greta found this episode on “This American Life,” where it was a woman who can’t introspect, who doesn’t have the voice in her head that’s constantly narrating life the way we all do. This woman’s got a Ph.D. and is extremely smart, but just doesn’t have that internal monologue.

MURPHY: Is she happy?

ROBBIE: Yeah, totally.

MURPHY: Is she happier, do you think?

ROBBIE: Oh God, I wondered about that. She kind of thinks about exactly what’s in front of her — a spotlight to what exactly is in front of her at the time.

MURPHY: Well, that’s perfect, right? We should talk about the costumes. So you’re clearly still not sick of pink then?

ROBBIE: No, I’m not done with pink yet. Yeah, the costumes were incredible. I mean, you just can’t have a “Barbie” movie without the color pink. And everyone really got on board with that. I’d make a “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” day. Do you know that reference from “Mean Girls”?

MURPHY: I had forgotten that reference.

ROBBIE: On Wednesdays, they wear pink. And so if you didn’t wear pink on set, you got a fine. And then I’d donate it to charity. It’s always the guys, I feel like, that are like, “Oh, finally I have permission to wear pink and get dressed up!” It would get crazier and crazier until Ryan would be like, “I think I need a mink.” It would just get insane.

In my opinion, there are two kinds of people in this world. There are the people who are obsessed with “Peaky Blinders,” and then there’s the people who haven’t seen “Peaky Blinders.” I obviously sit in the first category, so can we please talk about Tommy fucking Shelby for just one minute? I mean, that was years and years of your life.

MURPHY: Yeah, it’s like 10. That was also a 10-year adventure. We started shooting at the end of 2012.

ROBBIE: Is there going to be a spinoff movie?

MURPHY: I mean, I’m open to the idea. I’ve always thought that if there’s more story to tell …

ROBBIE: Please do it. Please! Obviously, I’ve now revealed that I am a big fan of yours, not just “Peaky Blinders.” I also love your sleep story on the Calm app. But because I’m a fan of yours, I have watched a lot of your things on YouTube, and it’s out there on the internet that you are not that aware of memes and things like that. First of all, is that true? And second of all, if that is true, were you even aware of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, or were you just blissfully unaware because you use a dial-up phone or something?

MURPHY: I have two teenage boys. I do know what a meme is. Now I know that there are memes about me not knowing what a meme is.

ROBBIE: It’s a great meme. It’s like the “Inception” of memes. A meme within a meme.

MURPHY: Genuinely at the time I did not know. But people forget that was a long time ago.

ROBBIE: I might not have known back then what a meme is. I’m not that tech-savvy.

MURPHY: Exactly. And I think children started that stuff, right? Now that it’s become this sort of meme that’s eating itself, I am aware. But it’s mostly because of people either sending it to me or showing me and saying, “Look, you gotta look at this.”

ROBBIE: You see any of the Barbenheimer fan art?

MURPHY: I mean, it was impossible to avoid any of that stuff.

ROBBIE: Weren’t there some great ones? People are so clever. People kept asking me, “So is each marketing department talking to each other?” And I was like, “No, this is the world doing this! This is not a part of the marketing campaign.”

MURPHY: And I think it happened because both movies were good. In fact, that summer, there was a huge diversity of stuff in the cinema, and I think it just connected in a way that you or I or the studios or anybody could never have predicted.

ROBBIE: You can’t force that or orchestrate that.

MURPHY: No, and it may never happen again.'

youtube

#Cillian Murphy #Margot Robbie #Barbenheimer #Barbie #Oppenheimer #Christopher Nolan #Inception #Meme #Greta Gerwig #Chuck Roven #Mean Girls #Peaky Blinders #Sleep Story #Calm App #David Bowie #Thin White Duke #Youtube #Emma Thomas

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tortoisebore · 9 months

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IDK IF YOU’RE STILL DOING THIS BUT!

How would wolfstar act during Barbenheimer? Who wants to see what? How are they dressed?

EEEEEEE i am ALWAYS doing these ALWAYS i love them so much 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶 ((i have some unanswered ones in my inbox i promise im getting to don’t worry 💕💓💞💖))

okay first off we’ve established that they’re both insufferable wanna-be film critics & everyone hates them for it. so keep that in the background. they’re annoying as hell.

so they get wind of oppenheimer first. the teaser plays at a midnight screening of “nope” ((sirius is a jordan peele stan)) and it’s just a bunch of fire and black and white shots of cillian murphy so they’re both like “🙂 huh okay fun.” but then christopher nolan’s name is on the screen and sirius is nearly flying out of his seat bc he’s potentially the world’s biggest chris nolan stan. and he’s hitting remus on the arm and he’s all “👹 FUC K! !!!” and remus is like “oh good another nolan movie that’ll be fun love that” and enduring sirius’ semi-quiet fangirl moment but then he catches on to what the trailer is actually about and “oppenheimer” comes on the end card and then he’s ALSO having a freakout moment & he’s all “oh fuck 😧😧😧 oh fuck it’s oppenheimer 🫢 oh fuck 😵 oh fuck cheistopher nolan’s doing oppenheimer 😵‍💫😵‍ oh god.”

so for the next couple of months they’re both telling all their friends “yes so we’ve heard the inside scoop about nolan’s new film, very ambitious, word on the street is that it’s all practical & the b*mb isn’t CGI” and “did u know that christopher nolan himself created an atom b*mb on set to 1/36th scale” like they’re just making shit up from these random reddit threads & illegitimate news sites and everyone’s like “yeah great okay sure no one cares 🙄”

but then fall rolls around & remus overhears someone on the actual street talking on the phone about a barbie movie. and he does a little google and there it is, greta gerwig is doing a barbie movie with margot robbie, and holy shit sirius is going to freak ((he’s also a greta gerwig stan, they both are, obvi. sirius’ favorite of hers is ladybird and remus’ fav is little women, also obvi)). remus makes the mistake of sending sirius the article ab the movie in a text instead of in person where he could have done some damage control and he immediately gets a facetime where sirius just screeches at him for a good three and a half minutes before a single coherent word comes out of his mouth. so yes, he’s very excited for barbie, and remus is excited for greta gerwig to make everyone cry over a doll.

so they know about the movies separately and then the barbenheimer phenomenon takes over, and they become aware that not only are both movies coming out in july, they’re coming out on the same fucking day. and when they find this out they’re at home on separate sides of the apartment and marlene texts in the gc like “are we doing barbenheimer weekend orrrr” and they both take a minute to catch up but then they’re meeting in the living room like WHATTTTT😵😵😵😵😵😵

they plan a whole weekend. on saturday morning remus gets up early and makes waffles in the heart-shaped waffle maker sirius found months ago specifically for barbenheimer weekend breakfast and even puts red food coloring in the batter so they’re pink hearts with whipped cream and cherries to top it all off. and they do black coffee to drink because it gives oppenheimer vibes & they couldn’t think of anything else appetizing to go with it in a breakfast scenario.

they’re going comfort over style for the premiere bc they’re ab to be at the theater for like seven or eight hours, but sirius is wearing a hot pink malibu barbie baby tee for the occasion. remus is ✨not✨ wearing hot pink bc he’s a ✨warm autumn✨ & it’s ✨not✨ his color but he made sure sirius took one of his sweaters bc he always gets cold at movies and complains he’s freezing until remus gives him his own & that is “not happening this time, sirius, get your own fucking sweater.”

they’re doing barbie first. they got the tickets the second they went on sale, two seats in the middle of the row ⅔ of the way back into the theater bc that’s where sound designers sit for screenings & it’s a perfect view. they get their giant sodas and a big popcorn to share, plus some m&ms they snuck in to do an m&m/popcorn mix ((god tier movie snack fr)). they’re enraptured from the very first scene. giant barbie on a desert background. barbieland. the dream house. ryan gosling. all of it. it’s a masterpiece. they both cry at the end & they’re caught off guard bc wtf this wasn’t supposed to be about mothers??? what the hell???

they have a forty-five minute break between movies where they recover in the lobby for a while & refill the popcorn, but they’re getting one water bottle to share this time bc bathroom breaks are not an option & oppenheimer has like a three and a half hour fucking runtime. like they’re doing bathroom breaks twenty seconds before the movie starts bc missing part of this film would actually destroy them psychologically

they do it in IMAX, obvi, ⅔ back in the middle of the row. it’s an out of body experience. they don’t speak or move the entire time. they don’t speak or move while the credits play. they leave the theater in silence. they go home and sit on the couch and stare at the wall and remus goes “we……we should have seen barbie last.” and then they both look at each other like 😐👀? and then they’re getting up and rushing back to the theater and seeing barbie again

the next day they’re getting together with all their friends to do barbenheimer day 2 and trying not to spoil it but they’ve already talked to each other about the individual movies too much, like they laid in bed and talked about the fucking movies like idiots for multiple hours, so they need new feedback to talk over & correct everyone’s wrong opinions

and like obviously everyone hates them

#u ask tortoise answers #anon #tortoise writes a novel ab an ask for no reason #i just saw barbie today #cried my fuckin head off

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buttherainbowhadabeard · 9 months

Text

The Beauty of Barbenheimer

A combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and a surge in streaming platform content has made life very difficult for cinemas in recent times. Why venture out, find a parking spot, queue for snacks and sit with strangers in the dark when you can watch whatever you like from the comfort of home, right?

But convenience can come at a cost. Our at-home screens and digital devices have been dominated by superheroes, seasons and remakes of late, and fatigue is starting to set in. Franchises have ballooned so much that even die-hard fans are finding it hard to keep engaged, let alone keep up. This bombardment of unimaginative content has left many lovers of cinema bored.

Enter the Barbenheimer phenomenon.

Dubbed Barbenheimer due to the dual release date (July 20th here in Australia) of Warner Bros. and Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ and Universal Pictures and Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’, these films have been smashing it at the box office, persuading people to return to their local cinemas in droves.

Sure, a saturation of ads, interviews, trailers and exclusive clips have had something to do with their success so far, but it’s mostly been fuelled by a desire for fresh stories and a contagious case of FOMO.

The notion that both movies are best experienced in the cinema surfaced organically with the hype, and a healthy dose of cross-promotion from the creatives of both sides has been yet another driver for record ticket sales.

Nolan is known for his large-scale epics of practical effects, big sights and even bigger sounds, so it was only natural that ‘Oppenheimer’ was going to be promoted as a must-see on the big screen.

Veteran Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy (who plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb”) is mesmerising is his first, proper leading role in Hollywood, and is backed by an all-star ensemble cast that includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett and Kenneth Branagh. And Ludwig Goransaon’s suspenseful score acts like a character of its own.

Although most of us knew a bit about The Manhattan Project, the Trinity test and the subsequent (and horrific) bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, very few of us knew about the man behind the story.

‘Oppenheimer’ is an explosive, 3-hour look at his early life, his work and relationships, his obsession with quantum physics and his eventual role as the face of the Atomic Age. It’s about the biggest, global gamble to date (the bomb was either going to exacerbate all wars, end all wars or end the world), and it plays out in typical Nolan fashion with staggering IMAX camera visuals, going from the dusty desert vistas of Los Alamos, to the black and white colour gradings of claustrophobic courtrooms.

Gerwig on the other hand, is best known for acting in mumblecore movies and directing arthouse style, female-led films like ‘Little Women’ and ‘Lady Bird’.

‘Barbie’ is her first turn at a blockbuster, with an ensemble cast that is yes, mostly women, but has some stellar supporting male actors in the mix. With a picture-perfect Margot Robbie at the helm, ‘Barbie’ follows the titular Mattel doll’s journey from Barbieland into the real world, where she is confronted with an existence that is wildly different to her own.

Hilarity (and some heartfelt moments) ensue, with Ryan Gosling stealing every scene he’s in as her peroxide blonde, lovesick sidekick Ken, plus some fun supporting performances from the likes of America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir.

Gerwig’s plastic fantastic, feminist world gives off serious summer vacay vibes, all technicolor blue skies, hot pink dreamhouses, glittery dancefloors and sunny beaches - with a super catchy soundtrack to boot!

With one movie about a bomb and the other about a bombshell, on the surface, it looked like they were going to appeal to two very different types of moviegoers. But we couldn’t have been more wrong, and hallelujah for that!

People have turned Barbenheimer into an event, getting big groups together, dressing up and booking back-to-back screenings. There’s even merch and memes, but more importantly, there’s hope. Hope that Hollywood still has more to offer than CGI, stunts and sequels.

In their first three days in the theatre, Barbenheimer generated a whopping $244.5 million dollars combined. If that’s not the definition of going off with a bang, I don’t know what is…

‘Oppenheimer’ 4/5 stars. ‘Barbie’ 4.5/5 stars.

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quantumfizz · 9 months

Text

Completely Uneducated Internet Opinion after seeing Oppenheimer and Barbie

The Barbie Movie focuses on a very specific lens of misogyny that doesn't show just how pervasive and horrific it really is, and it's painfully obvious that it's selling a brand of feminism that isn't too alienating to the status quo and is very "Oh well! The Kens will have as much power as us girls do in the real world ig. Get it? 😜" It just leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but it's about as politically aware and active a multimillion dollar Warner Brothers film based on a Mattel IP can really be. I appreciate it more as a celebration of embracing all the terrible flaws and aspects of being a woman in a misogynistic world, and an abstract being deciding that it's all worth it because of the joyful and meaningful experience of being a woman and not just an idea.

It's also funny that Ken as a character eclipses and overshadows a lot of the film, since the whole thing is about feminism and the name of the film IS Barbie. But much like feminist causes in the real world, the audience focuses more on the men involved lol. A lot of that comes down to Ryan Gosling's fantastic performance though. This man understood the assignment like no actor ever has before.

Also, the costuming and set design are god tier and exactly what we need to see more of in a media landscape dominated by shitty looking CGI from un-unionized and poorly treated sweatshop artists. If you like good looking movies, watch this movie.

Ken does take over the screen whenever he's there, but Margot Robbie shines in this thing. The comparison can't NOT be made between Barbie and The Truman Show (Gerwig iirc says it was one of her main inspirations and it shows), and her performance as Barbie discovers the world she's lived in and her existence itself is a flimsy ideal is so moving. Because like Truman, she chooses personhood and freedom over certainty and safety. She chooses to become a real woman not despite the many disadvantages and pain that comes with it, but BECAUSE of the experience. She learns that there is beauty in cellulite and stretch marks and wrinkles, there is beauty in aging, there's an entire world of experiences and emotions that as a doll she could never achieve and truly feel. And seeing someone CHOOSE humanity is such a wonderful thing.

The film also indulges in the kind of campy silly shit we expected, and I can see how some viewers view it as inconsistent and jarring when it's juxtaposed with moments like America's speech. But despite how half-stepped and steeped in a very specific advertiser friendly brand of Hollywood/corporate liberal feminism this film is, I appreciate Greta Gerwig even trying to do this in the first place. If even one woman or girl comes out of this being more critical of the world around them and the ways misogyny affects us, then I'm happy. If even one man or boy comes out of this being more critical of the world around them and the ways misogyny and patriarchy affects THEM and how they view and treat others, I'm happy. You are Ken-ough (sweater now available via Mattel for $86.99 while supplies last btw).

Oppenheimer is...what you'd expect of a Christopher Nolan biopic of Oppenheimer. It looked nice on 35mm film but it's also got the sound quality issue every fucking Nolan film has, where if you don't have the exact setup he wanted for the film then so many bits of dialogue will be drowned out by music or be otherwise unintelligible. The effects showing one woman with radiation burns were so laughably bad, it was like she let a bunch of Elmer's glue dry on her face and it looked so goofy that it ruined the weight of the scene.

For a film that really tries to show how paradoxical and complicated Oppenheimer was, it doesn't exactly sympathize with him to the extent I've seen people say it does. The film shows he's a dramatic, dismissive, egotistical asshole that refuses to explain his convictions and at times you (and other characters) wonder if he even has any. And his hypocrisy is constantly pointed out by many characters. The prosecutor in the security hearing asks how and why he suddenly decided to have moral qualms about nuclear bombs when he was eager on the Manhattan Project and outright helped decide which city to drop the first bomb on. Strauss's belief that Oppenheimer wants to be a martyr seems true, whether it's (as Strauss believes) out of pure ego or (as his wife says) that he honestly believes that receiving every punishment possible will somehow lead to him atoning and being forgived.

Also if you're watching a Nolan film you're already coming in with low expectations for women characters and this is no exception. Florence Pugh's character exists to show tits, talk briefly about communist ideals only to be talked down to by the more well-read Oppenheimer, fulfill a "methinks she doth protest too much" shtick with her always tossing his flowers, show tits again, break down when he says he can't see her anymore, and then kill herself to add to his sorrow. I do like that his wife immediately looks at him and says that he can't do things like have an affair out of selfishness, disregard other peoples' feelings, and then be surprised when his behavior ruins peoples' lives and fucks him over. His wife is incredibly based and Nolan does a good job portraying how miserable she was as Oppenheimer's wife.

The film showcases his lack of empathy or regard for others until it comes back to fuck him over outside of the affair. He builds Los Alamos knowing that local indigenous tribes come up there for burial rites because they're less important to him than The Big Picture and building the bomb. The civilian lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are something he's prepared to destroy for the sake of this experiment and usher in a new era of scientific discovery (again, nothing is more important than that Big Picture). The lack of regard for the Japanese people, the indigenous tribes of New Mexico and the other civilians in the area is (imo) intentional because the film is about Oppenheimer. It's about how he put them, his family, and everyone around him aside to follow what he's worked in his entire life: theory. Real tangible lives were something he did weigh, and ultimately decided were worth the cost if it meant a) proving this theory b) furthering scientific knowledge and c) ushering humanity into a new era of understanding. And as disgusting as it is, it's interesting to see a film trying to dissect why and how one human being made that decision and seemingly came to regret it.

Anyway while both films are completely different animals in different universes, I think I prefer Barbie because when I cringed, it was during parts I was meant to cringe. And Oppenheimer has the scene where Floremce Pugh (naked obviously) asks him to read the Bhagavad Gita and they start fucking as he says the "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" line and thus robs it of its actual historical context AND cheapens not just Oppenheimer as he originally quoted it...as well as cheapened the Bhagavad Gita as a whole bc. Dude. Now I want a Bollywood movie where a character reads the Bible while a woman rides him and shows tiddy for superfluous bullshit reasons.

#oppenheimer spoilers #barbie spoilers #barbie movie #oppenheimer

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zendyval · 9 months

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From my understanding, the striking unions want people to continue to go to the movies and stream, and that as a strategy is very confusing to me. Why can't the unions support a boycott of going to the movies or streaming by consumers? The studios say they will wait them out because they technically have most of the advantages because, in the end, they will always be financially secure. Unlike most union members, their loss does not mean starving or becoming homeless. To me, the only way the board members and studio heads feel the sting of the strike is for them to lose enough money, and to do so, consumers need to boycott what makes them money. It's not like we can't pirate shit, so it would not be that challenging of an endeavor for most of us. The optics of the enormous successes of Barbie and Oppenheimer and the streaming successes of The Bear and Suits just seems strategically counterintuitive. I won't even go into how Greta, Margot, and Nolan worked around or manipulated the climate or how the unions are seemingly giving out weavers left and right when everyone needs to move as one to show a strong, forceful front, on matter if circumstances are different. How can the studios feel anything or want to get back to the negotiating table, like they refused to do this week, with the financial successes they had given to them on a silver platter by people who polling shows are with the unions. The strategy cant just be protecting, having people make donations or post/express support. Right now, the unions have people's attention and support, and it will not always be the case if it goes on for months because people can be fickle and will lose interest quickly.

To be honest I have a problem with this because while on the surface it seems good faith, it feels like there is an undercurrent of I know better than the striking unions what is needed and therefore I am going to disregard everything they have said about it and the reasons behind the directives being given because I am smarter. Trust that they are all using people skilled in negotiations to give them advice and etc. on how to proceed.

If you want to boycott streamers, do you. But there are a few things. First of all the only way any boycott is going to cause streamers or producers to lose money is if it's done on a massive organizing scale. 1,000 randoms on the internet here and there boycotting does nothing to the deep pockets of the studios.

But more importantly, at the same time by boycotting you are telling the studios that actors and writers are not important since the public doesn't care about their products and can survive without them and then when the strike does essentially end, none of these writers and actors have jobs to come back to at all. Shows that were previously renewed will be cancelled. Shows that were on the bubble and that actors and others were fighting to be picked up again will be cancelled. Many already done deals for both writers and on air talent will be reversed. You will be costing all these people that you supposedly care about that are fighting the good fight their jobs (for the ones that had current jobs). Of course the Abbot Elementary hit shows will be fine, but most working actors are not on runaway hit sows.

I also need more on how you think Nolan, Greta and specifically Margot manipulated the climate. The first two are in the DGA (amongst other unions) but the DGA have a deal and in some cases are required to do promotion in their roles as directors and I'm particularly curious what power you think Margot holds over anything.

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lemonhemlock · 3 months

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omg thank you for saying the oppenheimer bit. it’s literally a marvel movie repackaged, which is very noticeable in some one-liners. wasn’t a fan of barbie at all, but there’s been a lot of dishonesty surrounding this whole situation as per usual

at this point i'm honestly thinking that people are just pretending to have liked and understood this movie because it was on a "serious" topic and they don't want to lose face and have convinced themselves only unintelligent people don't "get it".

it is jumbled, it is 3 movies crammed into 1 (which makes it way too long), it is incoherent in its message because of that. there are no interesting or unique filmmaking techniques nolan is using? and, before anyone mentions it, the explosion was just supremely mid. it was slightly interesting to see how everyone was protecting themselves while viewing it, but it ultimately felt flat because, as always, nolan is not good when it comes to creating an emotional core.

the movie prioritizes white male voices once again, the perspective of the actual victims of the bombings and the native americans whose land was used to design a weapon of mass destruction is sorely lacking, the female characters are laughable stereotypes! emily blunt is one of my favourite actresses, the role of kitty oppenheimer is absolute shit. what is she doing in the supporting actress bracket? ditto for florence pugh (ik she didn't get nominated but her role was equally infuriating)

and, sure, you could say that's not the film nolan set out to make, he wanted to tell the story of oppenheimer and just him. but... why? in this economy? in 2023? and we're fawning over that? he didn't even posit a thought-provoking thesis about the man! cillian murphy is one of my favourite actors but i felt completely underwhelmed watching him work with that script, which was ultimately unconducive to anything

not saying barbie is the be-all-and-end-all-of-cinema, but there's a very distinct whiff of debbie downers that just want to party poop whenever they see people having fun and enjoying something just for the sake of it. and, for a movie that's supposed be 101 feminism that everyone claims to know already, the fact that they chose to nominate the MALE lead and not the female lead or director................. sure, there is the argument to be made that best actress may have been stacked and there simply wasn't room for margot there (shoutout to lily gladstone for her historic nomination), but i'd be lying if i weren't pointing out the annoying tendency of audiences to overwhelmingly sympathize with the kens' plight in this movie. a ton of haters came out of the theatre thinking that greta gerwig is telling them feminism means that men are inferior and should be subjugated, while boohoohooing the poor kens. understanding the male perspective comes automatically, but when it comes to understanding the satire and parody elements, it's crickets! and, idk, acting like that's not the case for large swaths of the population is just disingenuous.

this chorus of "we know this already".... who's we? is the "we" you speak of in the room with us right now? there are so, so many viewers out there for whom just sidelining the male POV is groundbreaking, who go nuts at the slight "woke-ification" of media. and, again, i'm not saying we should be content with the bare minimum in cinema either, but i have to side-eye when this argument comes from the mouths of people who think the oppenheimer nominations are deserved

.............and now it's time for me to shamelessly plug my reviews for oppenheimer and barbie here so that i won't end up repeating myself like a broken record :))

#ask #anon #film awards #barbie #i honestly don't think barbie not getting nominations is that deep but i guess i am an oppenheimer hater to my core ✌#when it comes to mediocrity being rewarded that's where we should start the conversation lol #'making money for a toy company' - as if making money for universal pictures or other hot shot film production companies is morally superio

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forzasedici · 9 months

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i love it that you reblogged the “get to know the blogger” post bc i saw you reblog a lot of “le belle et la bete” gifs and was curious about your general taste/favourite films 👁️👁️

this is going to be so long i'm sorry but i just love talking about it so let's start!

i'm going to highlight some of the movies from my favourites list on letterboxd aka the movies that butter my bun:

— Skyfall (2012) and 1917 (2019) both directed by Sam Mendes are honestly great movies with Skyfall for me being the best Bond movie and 1917 as one of the best war movies. What made 1917 one of my favourites was the watching it at cinema experience plus the reveal in the end is just *chef's kiss*

— Tarantino movies. Like that's it. I know a lot of ppl don't like him but for me he's one of the best writers and sure has his problems but you cannot deny his work is great. Inglorious Basterds for me take the cake as his best movie with Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill: Part I being up there as well. One of his underrated movies is definitely Jackie Brown which I've loved.

— Period dramas. Another one of my fave genres. Emma. (2020) being one of my favourite movies. Emma (2009) is also a great adaptation albeit it is a series. Pride and Prejudice (2005) and (1995) are great as well. Little Women has recently grown on me way more and remains my favourite Greta Gerwig movie. Another underrated movie for me is Ophelia which as the title says focuses more on Ophelia from the play Hamlet. It's really well done and I've enjoyed watching it.

— This one is also a period drama but it is a bollywood movie so I wanted to highlight it. Jodhaa Akbar is a MUST watch such a good movie it's insane like I'm sorry you have a sword fight sequence between two lovers and you have won me over.

— Let's get franchises out of the way. Obviously Marvel movies are some of my favourites with Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: Ragnarok which are in my top 3. Both Black Panther movies and Spider-man: No Way Home are taking honourable mentions. For their series my favourite has been Moon Knight. (Sony gets their cookies for Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse and obviously Venom because come on now eddie and venom are otp y'all don't get it like i do)

— Next big franchise is Star Wars. Original trilogy: Empire Strikes Back. Prequel trilogy: Revenge of the Sith (I'm an Anakin girlie unfortunately) and Sequel trilogy: The Last Jedi (Rian Johnson supremacy). Series: Obi-wan Kenobi (i cried). Honourable mention to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (i also cried).

— Since I mentioned Rian Johnson let's expand on that because the man just gets movies and everyone should watch Looper and Knives Out!!

— Denis Villeneuve. MY MAN!!!! Arrival and Dune *chef's kiss* if you can bear longer movies also Blade Runner 2049 but it isn't one of my favorites exactly because it was long and boring. And since probably someone will say the same for Dune at least Dune has you looking at Oscar Isaac and Timothee Chalamet sure they look miserable but that's when men look the best.

— Spy movies? like idk how to call this but let me list them all. Anna (2019) they succeeded where The Red Sparrow failed like if you're looking for anything similar to Black Widow Anna is the one I would recommend a thousand times. The Nice Guys and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. great comedies I just love them. It's not really a spy but assassin I guess but John Wick franchise is the shit and the best movie is obviously John Wick 2.

— Another director that has me is unfortunately Christopher Nolan. Can I get more basic than that? I do admit his faults and that's sound mixing is fucking awful, I don't understand his movies while I am watching them most of the time and this man cannot write a female character for the life of him BUT 🎶 shapes and colours 🎶. His ideas are what draw me in and it's just visual masterpieces doesn't matter if I can't hear the dialogue if it looks good am I right?

— Smashing musicals and animation together because this is already becoming too long. Singin' In The Rain and The Sound of Music are a MUST watch and also I'm a Phantom of the Opera girlie so if you're going to watch anything watch the 25th anniversary version. I am also unfortunately a Hamilton girlie and the damage to my life caused by that damn musical is irreparable. For animation musical Hercules, The Emperor's New Groove, Anastasia, The Lion King and Tangled and purely animation Howl's Moving Castle, Lilo and Stitch, The Incredibles and Inside Out.

— Now it's time for a quick fire: Ford v Ferrari and Rush are two best movies for my motorsport girlies, Gone Girl and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire for my book girlies, Death at a Funeral and Hot Fuzz for the british comedy girlies, i'm also unfortunately a Titanic girlie probably the movie i've watched most in my life, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS!!! A. MUST. WATCH. Monty Python movies are great if you ignore some of the outdated jokes. Jackie is one of my favorites just because it's one of Natalie's Portman's best performances and that's also including Black Swan but both movies are also visually stunning.

— The Death of Stalin is one of the best comedies as well. Ready Player One is one of my weirder favourites since many ppl see it as an average movie but i'd recommend it to anyone (literally can't believe it's my favourite Spielberg movie 😭😭). Also add to the video game genre Tron: Legacy because I will also recommend that movie to anyone. The Grand Budapest Hotel is also a must watch like if anyone made the world go through a pink paint shortage before Barbie did then it's this movie and finally The Batman (2022). Let's end on a battinson note just because.

— Crazy to think I haven't even mentioned all of my favourites but I guess this is kinda the jist of it all. Basically my taste is anything as long as I like it I guess jsbsjsbsjs. (I forgot to mention the horror genre but that's just because I don't really have a favourite movie like if I had to say anything it would be The Conjuring movies.)

— As for Le Belle Et La Bête it's one of my new favourites and honestly got me into a french cinema mood so I'll probably find more favourites there. One of my goals has always been to watch more foreign movies but not many have entered my favourites club unfortunately. Also fuck disney live-action remakes (except you cinderella (2015)).

get to know the blogger

#.ask #anonymous #i'm so sorry for how long this is i just get excited talking about this smsbsmnsns #so if you'd like to talk about this more my DMs are always open

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seeingthestarsmakesmedream · 9 months

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Barbenheimer.

I know, I know, it seems like I'm a late bloomer, but we have actually seen BARBENHEIMER on the premier day. (It was fucking awesome, but let's get back to this later.) But then came a week long hiking holiday, than a rush with work to make it according to the schedule etc etc. Plus I wanted to see Barbie one more time with other friends too (which happened last week), so I only sat down now to reflect about these two movies.

One of the most important thing with this whole shenanigan, that this was a peak cinematic experience. I knew at the time that I'm gonna take a flight in two-days and spending a whole week with my best friend in Portugal and I didn't even give a shit about that :D On the premier day I was so friggin excited about the evening that I couldn't work. I don't remember when was the last time I was THIS HYPED about cinema. Maybe Avengers: Endgame? I'm not sure. Probably way before.

I felt the same excitement I felt when I was 4 year old and I was only at the cinema once a year. (Only with a little bit more knowledge and movie buff attitude now ;) ). And sharing and experiencing it with others.... Standing in the mass, large groups in pink, one group of guys (around 15 of them) in black suits? They had a photoshoot after Barbie during the credits :D The anticipation, the knowing smiles, the whole 'yeah, this is something BIG'. It was awesome. And this was two "independent" film, not part of any franchise. So yeah, as a cinema lover, it was beautiful and worthed every minute of seven month of waiting since they dropped the atombomb ( ;) ) on us with the 2001: space odyssey-styled trailer (I don't even need to explain that I waited for Oppenheimer. It's a Nolan movie. He directs something, I'm going to the cinema. It's that simple. :D )

Are they the greatest movies of all time? No. Are they really-really great? Yes. Was seeing them together epic? Absolutely. One of my friends said that the fact that we saw not one but TWO extremely good movies in one day at the cinema is the rarest experience ever.

I don't want to go deeply in details, because everyone else did it before me. and it would be a little novel at the end, but some comments here:

For first watch Barbie was good but a little bit cheesy and over the top with its messages. I was plot-oriented here focusing mainly on the story.

For second watch it was hilarious. My best friend and I were cracking up the whole time. Greta Gerwig is sooo smart (Noah Baumbach is also great. Two of the greatest contemporary screenwriters... and they are married. I love this fact for years now.) So many fantastic one-liners with extreme amount of subtle or not so subtle critics on society... hell yeah. It is perfectly balanced how it takes itself seriously and how makes itself a parody. The I'm Just Ken fight sequence with the 80s music/90s boyband look, how it is in the same time a silly little musical parody and a proper message about incel-culture, growing-up, manhood, believing in yourself and in your community (it doesn't matter if it's a friend group, a family, anything just be a group of people you can trust).... and they are literally fighting on a plastic beach with plastic toys.... incredible.

The barbies are empowering each other, without jelousy without any hidden reason. They are just nice and happy for each other? During the story they listen to each other and help everyone? Group together, making plans, executing it, and at the end reflect on their previous behavior and mistakes and learn from it??? That's what we want to see! Thanks Greta ;)

3. On premier day we had 25 minutes between the two movies. Rewire our mindsets and let's go.

4. Oppenheimer was good. Far from the best Nolan movies but still masterly crafted. It isn't a classic Nolan-movie in the way that here he doesn't really play with time. (Yes-yes there are multiple episodes in time waved together, but come on, this narrative method is not uncommon in other movies too, and our Chris here usually does ten times crazier tricks with times in his films.) It's a great biopic, you are curious even if you know that the bomb exploded (three times....), because the method and the precision how it is told is professional. Always nice to watch movies where the director clearly knows their craft. (I mean it for both of these movies). And honestly what made it even better for me that the final take of the movie (in my opinion) is that we as humanity and Oppenheimer with the Manhattan-project fucked up. They did something huge in scientific sense and something unbelievebly terrible with CONSEQUENCES. He may be the protagonist but I don't think he is a hero. Regarding their achievements.

5. Also hey, hungarian scientists, good to see you guys! Leó Szilárd and Ede Teller. Yay!!! Whatever were their life-choices, it makes my heart proud to see them in a big budget movie.

So yeah. That's it. Go, see these movies if you haven't before! They are worth it.

#barbenheimer #barbie #oppenheimer #gemma goes to cinema

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rantsandsparkles · 1 year

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My Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

Honorable mentions that didn’t make my list in no particular order : Killers of the Flower Moon (if it actually comes about this year. how many years have we been saying this is coming out?!), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Napoleon, John Wick 4, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. And now to my top 10!

10) Barbie

A lot of people are losing their shit over Barbie. I didn’t really care until I saw the photos of Ryan Gosling as Ken. I’m not the biggest fan of Greta Gerwig, I mostly enjoyed Little Women (although I am still BAFFLED at her decision to make it seem like Jo decided to be with Laurie and then got rejected like umm what ?!) , wasn’t too crazy about Lady Bird. And I won’t get into her non-performance in White Noise lol, but she is a competent director so I’m intrigued. I think Blake Lively would have made a better “Barbie” but Margot Robbie is always delightful so I’m looking forward to this one.

9) Creed III

I’ve never seen any of the Rocky movies, but for some reason I watched the first two Creeds, and I liked them both. Jonathan Majors looks isancely ripped in this trailer and yes i’m shallow enough to let that be enough to get my butt in the seat lol. But more seriously, this is Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut and I’m very excited to see his directing chops.

8) Wonka

I am still scratching my head over who at Warner Brothers decided to cast Timothlee Chalamet as a Wonka, and make by default a Wonka that fucks. But here we are. When I heard about this casting news a couple years ago I literally said ‘wtf’ out loud, but when I saw the pictures I was sold. He has that mischevious Wonka smirk down pat. I am a little nervous about this after hearing the reaction to the footage that played at CinemaCon , and I’m like one of the few people on earth that didn’t love the Paddington movies, so the Paul King element isn’t comforting to me. But I’m excited to see Timmy in a musical. And the goddess Olivia Colman gushed about his performance, so I have faith. Although if the rumors are true that it was between him and Tom Holland , and Timmy isn’t good in this I will be so upset.

7) Oppenheimer

This cast list is insane, and the fact that he allegedly got to set of an actual nuke is absurd and suck a yep Christopher Nolan still a jackass thing to do lol. Don’t know much about the plot, and haven’t read the book, but looking forward to this one for sure.

Its also fun that this movie is coming out same day as Barbie. That is going to be a wild double feature day

6) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

James Gunn’s first Guardians of the Galaxy is probably my favorite of the MCU movies. The second one , was uh , definitely not. I’m hoping that the trilogy ends on a high note and this one captures more of the charm from the first. Even if its bad, I know at least it will have a killer soundtrack.

5) The Super Mario Bros. Movie

I know the internet hates Chris Pratt , but I still like him. I think if he was truly a trash person then his co-stars wouldn’t speak of him so highly, and I’ll take the word of people that actually know someone over the opinion of the internet any day. But with that being said , I think it is almost INSANE that he was cast as Mario. Like it makes me laugh every time I think about it. I think its hilarious that multiple studio execs agreed , “yep, he’s our Mario.” I have no idea what this movie is going to be about and I don’t care, just going in with zero exception

4) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Ant Man’s Scott Lang is one of my favorite of the marvel characters and I really enjoyed Jonathan Majors’ Kang in Loki. I’m excited to see what’ll happen in this one and hopefully it’ll have better muliverse content than DS Multiverse of Madness. I have to admit however that the trailers have been disappointing in terms of visuals - I’m not paticialry looking forward to an entire movie essentially filmed in the volume.

3) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsFs2615gw

The fact that this movie’s title is Mission colon Impossible dash Dead Reckoning Part One is ridiulous , and I hope the movie is just as ridiculous lol Tom Cruise is a freak of nature , and seeing this clip in Imax last month got me hyped. And anything with Rebecca Ferguson? Absolutely.

2) Challengers

Zendaya as a milf in a love triangle with Josh O’Connor and Mike Fiast? Ummmm Sign me the fuck up. I will admit though I am nervous about this movie though because I didn’t love the script that was posted online, and although I know he’s widely known and respected as a great auteur filmmaker , I can’t say that I’ve ever really loved any of the Luca Guadagnino’s films that I’ve seen. I’m hoping that Zendaya gets to play this as a femme fatale kind of sex bomb character, and that it cements her as a movie star that can open a big movie.

1) Dune Part 2

I have truly have no idea why, but I have become almost obsessed with Dune over the past year. I watched it when it came out in 2021 and I thought it was fine , but I didn’t have an urge to revisit it. Then all of a sudden I got an urge to to watch Dune and after seeing it again I got really into the story. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Denis has planned for the second part of this adaptation, particialuar how he’s going to handle the trippy spice /water of life stuff, how they’re going to do Alia, ect. And everything the cast had crew has said about part 2 , that its bigger more cinematic etc has me so excited. And it seems like ever day we are getting another 🤯 cast announcment. I’m counting down the days for this one - November can’t get hear soon enough :)

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