102: Oppenheimer (2023)

All hail, Barbenheimer! Alex and Nick break down how Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” came to dominate pop culture. The guys give a spoiler-free review of “Oppenheimer,” before Alex shares his thoughts on “Barbie.” Related topics include practical effects, updated Nolan rankings, and Alex describes the “Oppenheimer” screening from hell.
Somewhat-related tangents include noticeable CGI in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1,” Nick’s review of “John Wick 4,” and Nick’s mom texts in her review of “Interstellar.”
Follow @WAYW_Podcast on Twitter and Instagram and Letterboxd.
Watch Alex's films at http://alexwithrow.com/
Watch Nick's films at https://www.nicholasdostal.com/
Send us mailbag questions at whatareyouwatchingpodcast@gmail.com

Transcript

0:09

Hey, everyone. Welcome to. What are you watching? I'm Alex. We're throwing. I'm joined by my best man, Nick Dostal. How are you doing there, Barbie girl? I'm you know, I'm. I'm very excited to be here today for a plethora of reasons. I'm excited as well because, you know, we recorded our Nolan podcast last weekend, which everyone's been a very good sport about listening to that podcast. I've gotten a lot of feedback on it. Okay, let me just start with that. I've gotten a lot of questions. If we recorded that out of order or how we did it, we recorded that how we normally do, which is in order. I was a little cute with putting the rankings first, so I knew what I was doing. I knew I was going to put it in reverse, which is why I kind of kept saying like things like, Are you watching closely and all that silly stuff? So it was a challenge to edit. I had to edit it very quickly because I wanted it to come out. The day that Oppenheimer hit theaters on July 20th, 2023. But yes, that was a lot of fun to put together and record with you and our longest Pod ever, which our longest had our longest pod at 3 hours and 39 minutes. We don't have it. Ed and I cut it down because we were at like I think four or five and I cut some stuff out, just some repetitive ness. So that's crazy. We did not intend for that to happen. Not at all. I don't know how it does, but I would cut it if I felt that it got stale. The conversation. But it just it just it moving in reverse. Now, let me ask, when you were editing, did you feel at any point like shit? I think I bit off more than I can chew. I got to just oh my God, Yeah, I, I had to do like if you look at look up Memento on Wikipedia, there's an actual like chart graph of how the narratives work, how one's going one direction, another's going the other direction, and they meet and that's when you know it crosses from black and white to color. It was a bit of that because I got confused. I was getting confused a few times. So I like literally had to do like a math equation and map it out and go, No, this is where you cut, this is. And then, of course, I was worried that people would get confused, but I figured, you know, it's just a one off. It's just for fun. Whatever. Yeah, no one's not worried. If people get confused, you just get to roll with it. You got to roll with it, baby. We recorded that one. It was a lot of fun. And then this OB and I were one is very different because we had seen all those Nolan films a bunch, or even if we had seen them once, we'd had days to think about them. Which was the case for you with Tenet? This is, you know, we're recording this on Saturday, July 22nd in the morning. Yep. And I saw this on Thursday. You saw this just last night. So I've had like a day to think about it. You saw it, went to bed, woke up, and now you're recording this. So we are brand new for I, we have not talked about how we felt. So let's just start there. What did we think? I fucking loved it. Oh, my God, I'm so fucking relieved. Dude. We talked on the phone for reasons while I will get into on Friday and it was very coy, you were like, just say, did you like it or not like it? And I was like, I liked it. This was fucking astounding. Dude. This thing is fucking miraculous. Like, very mature, very intelligent. Oppenheimer I'll just say right up front, this is not an action movie. No, this is not Dunkirk. This is not Tenet marvelously put together, not in a way that is going to confuse you. It might be like, Oh, okay, I see what he's doing here, but it's not a Dunkirk assembly. Everything flows so well, and a few times throughout it you get what he's doing based on construction, based on performance. And it yeah, my mind was blown so many times and I will I'll tease early on that you and I did not see this movie under the correct circumstances, not how we intended, but noting that the fact that the movie punched through and we still liked it this much. I love this, but please give me some reasons why you liked it. And I just want to say up top this one, we will not be doing spoilers at all. You know, it's it kind of says something about the movie that we all know where this is going. We all know what the outcome was, the probable outcome. But it has to depend more on micro as opposed to macro. We all know the Titanic is going to sink, but what's going to happen to Jack and Rose? So that's what we're not going to spoil. But yeah, let me have it. I want to hear it. And it's interesting that you even talk about spoilers because I actually wouldn't even know how to spoil this movie because. Well, that's what I mean. Yeah, that's, that's why I just don't want to reveal it has some real signature moments. Oh, yeah. Those guys don't want to reveal and of course, have a full conversation about this. We'd have to ruin all those things. But this has been in theaters for a day, so we're going to be we're going to be, you know, a little patient and we'll talk about it. It's not the last time we're going to talk about this movie. It's going to be nominated for a boatload of Oscars, I'm almost certain. So it'll be brought up again. And it was, you know, we they throw around that biopic word a lot. And I think this really was this this I mean, in but in a very unconventional way because you're talking about a guy and a time and what was going on and almost which one matters more. And I think that was something that the question movie the movie posed is this about this guy or is this about the situation? I mean, I loved it. But, you know, it was funny was that I remember about a half hour into the movie now, these people who showed up, which they showed up late, oh, people showed up a half hour late, a half hour late. And AMC crisis that ABC where they give you 20 minutes of previews Nicole Kidman, all that shit, all that. And so this guy, he crosses into my row and so we're a half hour in and he kind of jokingly but also at the same time kind of seriously goes, What did we miss to you? To me? Yeah. And I thought about it and what was insane was I go, you know, not much. Yeah, yeah, right. Kind of sums it up. I go, We're just following his life. I was I thought about that for a long time, and then about maybe like an hour into the movie, I kind of thought the same thing. Like the movie is just. It moves in such a specific type of way where everything and nothing is happening at the same time. In a way, I don't know. Yes, that makes sense. It's very cool. He's always been so confident with his editing in terms of how a film is constructed, but then how long or little he's holding scenes because this thing is just zipping by Zip, zip, zip. I would actually argue that Oppenheimer, despite being his longest movie, running it at 3 hours, this thing could. Yeah, because it is written by Christopher Nolan with much more of a social network sentiment, much more of a network sentiment, honestly, where it's just rat a tat tat tat. It has this rhythm where it's going and going. And with each cut you may be jumping around in time a little bit. Not in a way that's confusing because like you said, we're really focused on this one guy and how he got to where he is when the Manhattan Project starts and then, you know, the result of the Manhattan Project. So when you say, yeah, you didn't miss much, it's because like in those first 30 minutes, I just like, leaned back and went, Oh, we've gone like fool Malick here. We're like Tree of Life bouncing around. We're we're cutting in President Are you? I'm using present day with quotes let's say like post bomb Oppenheimer with young college Oppenheimer And then we're we're cutting in these like visions of how he views atomic energy, how it makes sense to him. And it which is really cool to see and we're just moving in the scores going and we're going and going. And it doesn't really let up in like this montage that goes on for I don't know how long, but it in, but it never gets like tiresome. It's not like a magnolia thing where he's really challenging those of us in those first 10 minutes and we're like, Oh my God, is the whole movie going to be like this? And then it slows down. Oppenheimer is not that crazy, but it has this pace. It's like boom, boom, boom. I mean, Paul Thomas Anderson was another director. I thought a lot watching this. The I love that you brought up Malick. That's such a good call. This is oh, got so much of that One thing I notice I know we're we're already jumping around so much. Hey, that's okay. So the score. Oh, my God. This score. I started to pay attention to it at one point because outside of a few moments, this score is nonstop. Yeah, It never lets up. It never lets up. And I thought about. I was like, Man, what a what an interesting challenge for I'm going to Butch to their name. Ludwig Goransson. Is that how you say Goranson? Yeah. Goransson. Yeah. Oscar winner for Black Panther and of course, score. TENNENT Yeah, this score is so much more about the storytelling of the movie, and you're bouncing back and forth between so many different types of scenes that are cut so quickly and the music is jumping with it. Sometimes it's slowing down, some that it's picking up, it's building. Yeah, I'm one I really love to know. The process of this must have had to have been put together by the score after the movie. Like, because how could you put together a score and then use it like this? Well, you know, it's crazy. I will have to do more research on Oppenheimer specifically, but Nolan is extremely different with his composers, whether it's, you know, David Julian or Hans Zimmer or Lew and Goranson in which he tells them what an idea of what the movie's going to be about, and then they start scoring. Yeah. So he was sending him tracks for Tenet that were final cut tracks before they even filmed. Yeah, he gave Hans Zimmer a basically a one page description about what Interstellar was going to be. Yeah. And then he went off for several months, if not a year, fiddling with that score and coming up, oh, let's go with organs. Maybe doing that before they'd even shot a frame of it. I have to assume they followed that somewhat for Oppenheimer. But it is like I mean, we say this a lot, but it is like a character in this in the movie where Tenet ten it's like this that should have been nominated for an Oscar because that's like that's its own thing. And you're listening in right away with Tenet. My first viewing, I did not like that movie, but I was like, All right, this score is amazing. It's just so bombastic. It's like I listen to that when I'm working out, like I mentioned, like it's so I throw boxing combinations to it. Oppenheimer is not that. But coincidentally, I did listen to the Oppenheimer score during my workout this morning because I wanted to feel it like how lived in it was. And I'm listening to it and I'm like, Man, I could write to this. I could work out this like it has some real just swelling moments, but it's much more subtle. But still. Yeah, never lets up and it never gets annoying. Ever, ever, ever. And sometimes I feel like you notice it much more in TV, I think. Or bad movies where the score you start to feel manipulated by it. It's not when it's supposed to be intentional, it's just when all of a sudden, like you get taken out of everything and you realize you're looking at a at a scene on a box or a screen and this music is happening. It's like, Oh, they're trying to tell me how I want to feel right now. Yeah. And this now, Yeah, yeah. And that's true. And that's when it's all over. Like, that's the magic is cut out. And I notice that throughout this I did have that, that realization at one point. But I go, but this is just so good like this, like, this is all so intentional in this way. It would be it would be the rhythm of the movie would be thrown off if the score wasn't nonstop like this. It needs it. It needs that sort of propulsive ness. And like a lot of Nolan's best work, this movie relies very heavily on sound and where you get to kind of all the technical stuff a little Oh my God, a little later. But, you know, like I'm saying about the construction, there are there are jumps in time in Oppenheimer. But it was clear to me like 20 minutes in that he wasn't interested in confusing us. Like you'd have a little montage over here and you go, okay, now that thing's done. But he sets up not unlike the Social Network when we're just wait. Are we in this, like, conference room now? Like, what's going on? And they're talking about some case that we haven't seen. I got vibes of that. And he establishes very well your kind of home bases of where you can be grounded in two narratives. I'll say one narratives, one narratives running in muted color that looks gorgeous, and the other narrative is running in stark black and white, which looks gorgeous, both of which were shot on 65 millimeter IMAX film. They had to create a special type of black and white film stock just for this movie. The entire movie is captured in IMAX film. I believe it's the first two I've ever done that. That's really a technical achievement in and of itself. But moreover, then Oppenheimer, then all this structure, this is a movie about a real guy who figured out how to modernize warfare and the world hasn't had a world war since the creation of atomic or nuclear bombs. And we all sort of know the deal if award war, war, it's like I live 20 miles from Washington, D.C., I'm toast. You know, they'll hit L.A. a little later. They can they can wait a little bit on L.A. But I'm saying, like we all know what it would be. And what Oppenheimer the film taps into so well is that you're watching this and there's a little bit of Bridge on the River Kwai where they have this mission. They're like, okay, we've got to do this. We've got to build this fucking thing. That's our mission. We can't let the Nazis do this. But then when you realize what you have done and the literal power of what you have created can do and in all likelihood will do what then? And leaving us with those moments, having it just bounce off. Killian Murphy's face was truly breathtaking and and. And the absence of caring. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. That's a huge part of it. For the movie's purposes, to give us something to chew on was how basically the power side of things didn't care about what we had done. It was all about no yes and almost being proud of it. Yeah. Being proud of the destruction in the show of American military force. And I mean, this this should happen in real life. Yeah. This is crazy. Like this actually happens. Yeah. There is a detachment with some of the characters in the movie that is very frank, and you're like, Wow. And Oppenheimer is a movie about process. No one loves process like I do. So it's like, you know, we got to go make something. So we have this amount of time go. And it's also a movie about consequences like we're talking about. So as the narrative progresses, we see the weight of everything that's going on rests on Oppenheimer slash Killian murphy shoulders. And because he is the movie, like he's no separation even in the way they made it, which I'll get into that as we go. But as things go on and as it progresses with each passing day seemingly, he's like, Holy shit. Like, is this really going to happen? Like, I know we're building it just to prove that we can, but like, are we really going to use this thing? Is this really going to happen? It's it's fucking nuts that everything about this movie was effective. Everything about it was just so Wolfman getting chills. Yeah. And I'll be really brief with my plot description because this film is essentially about the Manhattan Project, which was a group of the brightest scientists in the world who isolated themselves in New Mexico with their families, which is really smart because it took them years to create the world's first atomic bomb. They're creating this bomb. This was such an interesting narrative that I just had no idea about. They're creating this bomb, of course, to defeat the Nazis, who apparently have up to two years of a head start on creating a similar weapon. That's like half the movie and then the other half or so are the consequences of such a creation, the emotional consequences, the human consequences, and of course, the political consequences. But this being Nolan, it's not like these hands are perfectly cut into 90 minutes. He's mixing them up and showing us cause and effect or effect and cause in real time, which is, which is really cool. So obviously, we really liked the movie we did, which is really great. But I kind of want to get to how we saw it as a way of thank God backing up that the movie is still good because we're giving it a positive review and that how we probably want to see it again in its intended presentation. So I don't know who wants to go first. I mean, I saw the movie first, so I can go first. Well, I'll go first because your story is way better. Well, yeah, I have to be careful details, but go ahead. Well, you go. You can. Yeah, you can decide how you want, but so. So basically mad. My mad movie buffs, I'm an idiot. I took for granted that I live in one of, if not the biggest movie city in the world. And I thought to myself, well, surely buying tickets a week before, you know, this movie opens in IMAX 70 millimeter, which there are only like 12 screens in the country, 12 screens in the whole country. And I think three or four of them are in Los Angeles. Yeah. And so I'm like, well, I need to see this on Friday night because we're recording the part on Saturday, so I don't have a weekend even option. I'm like, All right, well, I'll and then all of a sudden I'm like, Oh, there are no IMAX tickets at all. I mean, to be fair, to your credit, we have not had to do this in several years. Well, yeah, burying the fact. Yes, I honestly should have mentioned it up top of how fucking cool is that. We're actively living a weekend when the number one discussion is film. Yes, Yes. Barb and Heimer weekend. I shouldn't have waited 25 minutes to say this, but this is a celebration. Cool. Yeah, it is. It's a celebration. That's one of the main reasons we wanted to do this podcast, because it's like everyone's talking about movies this weekend, even if it's just to buy and is talking about movies. I'm doing Barb and Hammer with her tomorrow in the theater, boom, boom, one after the other. My dad's talking about movies. My wife is like every what I work with is it's great. So I have not had to buy a ticket more than a week out. It's certainly not pre-COVID. I mean, since pre-COVID, certainly not certainly. I know even when Top Gun came out, I was like, that was like a week before. Yeah, Yeah. I think I got IMAX tickets like a couple of like a day before, like prime time weekend spot. Like, it was crazy. I got to say, L.A. showed up to the movies. Yeah, big time. Like, I couldn't believe. I mean, granted, a lot of this was Barbie it, which is. Well, yeah, great. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, awesome. The amount of people dressed up. Oh, yeah. I hadn't even seen the movie like, this is. This was like a cult following on something like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, where everyone knows the movie and they're dressed up as however they are. No one's even seen this thing yet. Right. And the photo ops that are there, like the theater I went to, had this giant Barbie box like you remember. Yeah, it and I saw it in Alamo last night, Barbie. But yeah, yeah. That same thing. Yeah. And all of this. And so I'm walking in and I, I went to, I went to go get a drink at the AMC bar. There's a name for them. They're all called the same thing. I forgot what they're called as they are. They called MacGuffin. It's like, it's like, it's a, it's a pun. Yeah. And everyone's doing the Barbie thing and they're like, Are you going to see Barbie? I'm like, No, I'm actually I'm going the other direction. I'm starting with Oppenheimer. And to your point, I was like this I can't remember the last time there was a unanimous feel good. I'm going to the movies. I am here for whatever's happening. And yeah, though what was crazy though, was that me being having a bladder of a 98 year old infant, I did have to get up a couple times, just twice during Oppenheimer. But fortunately, the bathroom was right near my theater, so I just, like, ran in, ran out. But each time I did, I'm in the emotional weight of whatever's happening. And Oppenheimer, I opened the doors and it is just pink and fun. Barbie Town, Baby Barbie and everyone, because I happened to apparently catch the screenings where everyone was either coming in or coming out. So the energy was just off the chart. And I'm just like, maybe everyone can chill a little bit. I had that almost exact same thing happened to me about like exit in the theater. But yeah, so your thing is that you didn't get to see it in IMAX. Yeah, I mean, I, you will have to fork out to Doe. I mean, you got to go to that Chinese theater and see an IMAX 70 millimeter. It's like and it'll be around for a while. But God, I would and I would love to do that. God, I would love to see it there. Yeah. The the only thing I can say is that I very much enjoyed my moviegoing experience, even with the theater that I was at. But in watching it, I could see and tell like I was like, I know how awesome this is going to be in that IMAX with that sound, because even the sound in our theater was very good. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And, and I was entranced. The whole entire time. Only kind of thinking about, Man, I can't wait to see this again the right way, which unfortunately, I don't think you can say that you didn't have a completely entranced experience. No, I did not. Yeah, this is. This is tough. This is tough. First, I have to start with, I suppose, an error like similar to what you made I myself and clearly most of the people in my theater were under the assumption that we had purchased tickets to an IMAX 70 millimeters screening. We had actually purchased tickets to a 70 millimeter screening, which is cool. So I got to watch it on film. I got to see the flicker of the film. That was cool, but it was in a regular sized AMC theater. The IMAX screening was playing right next door, so I was walking in a little bummed about that because I would have, yeah, you know, it's sold out everywhere in IMAX near me for the next two weeks. It is not sold out on 70 millimeters film. I could go right after this recording and see it on film. I have I cannot go see it in IMAX through the sold out. So that was a little bit of a bummer and then I got there before the movie started. It sold out and it it became clear, very clear to me, very quickly that there was one extremely disruptive person in the theater, extremely disruptive. And they, in effect, ruined the movie for most of the people in that theater. And they're this had to do with a lot of shouting out. And this is all happening like in the first 20 minutes of the movie, there were a number of walkouts because of this person, because it was clearly making people uncomfortable. There were quite a few people who went to tell the staff that they should kick this person out. The person wasn't kicked out. And I you know, I don't I don't work at the theater, so I couldn't tell you. I that's about all I can say. But it was very noticeable and it was distracting. And we were all offered refunds at the end. So because so many people had left like, yeah, it was, it was very strange and I really want people to go to the movies. But, you know, I don't want to like turn people off or go to the movies, but it was yeah, it was very it was an extremely strange experience. No one was pleased about it. I think we were all equally angry that the person was not asked or forced to leave, which was just a kind of a confusing thing. So that's going on for 3 hours now. That's that's, that's what's going on. And there was nothing I mean, no one's going to physically pick someone up and drag them out of the theater. So everything that could be done telling, asking the person to be quiet, telling them to be quiet, asking them to be escorted out like nothing was done. And, you know, we're all just like sitting there hoping that there's not another outburst. And so that's and I could see the person the whole time. So that's in the back of my head that things playing out. And when maybe you'd forget for a little bit that there is a distraction, he he would let you know he would let his presence be known and you go there it is. So it's weird. I've had some funky ass movie screenings in my day. A lot of them, you know, we've we've talked about memorable moviegoing experiences of our first ever episodes. I've had some weird ones. This was just a bummer because I'm watching the movie and I'm like, This is a really good movie and I'm taken out of it constantly. It would have been the same as watching it at home and having Ali be on her phone the whole time and like, ask me questions not related to the movie and I had to be forced to answer them for, you know, 30 seconds at a time. It was kind of like that. So thankfully, I am doing Barb and Heimer tomorrow with my aunt. It was her idea. You know, we're not doing an IMAX because they're not available, but we're doing all up.

And I were like 11: 25:43

10 a.m.

And then Barbie at 3: 25:44

30 p.m.. So I'm very excited about that. I'm just excited to see it again and hopefully a much more reserved setting because everyone who's stayed for the movie and who's in my screening was enjoying it. But it's this also isn't something that I'm I'm not exaggerating. If anything you know the full story. So I think, you know, I'm downplaying it quite significantly and a few areas but it it it did happen. And it's just something that happened. And honestly, I did consider even before the movie began, just leaving. And then I got on my phone and I'm like, this fucking thing isn't available in IMAX for weeks. Like, and I, I either want to see it first on film or on IMAX, so I'm going to duke it out and sit here. But that would have been that would've been the way I wanted to experience the movie for the first time the least. But it just happens. And that's the world we live in. And it's very interesting to me that just do your fucking job. People like I worked at a movie theater for years. I was a manager of movie theater when I was 18 years old, 18 years old. I'd kick out 45, 56 year olds. You got to do it. I mean, you at least got to try. That didn't even come in and try. Like, just so it was weird. It was weird. It was weirder than shit. It was weird. And I. I couldn't have stayed. Ali would have been like, I'm gone. I'm fucking gone. I don't know if this dude has a weapon. Like, I'm out. I'll. I'll see you. I was seeing it at a mall and she'd be like, I'll see you in 3 hours. Bye. She would not have been able to do it. And there were a few people, the people right next to him and the people in front of him, because he kept kicking their chairs. They left and got refunds. And so it was. Yeah, I mean, I thought about it, but I'm thankfully because I had a vantage point where I can, like, see him, I don't I don't really get like, intimidated in that way, you know? Yeah, annoyed and very frustrated. But it was a it was a distraction throughout. I remember I had the Banshees of inner Sharon movie experience ruined for me, all because of something not even remotely as extreme as what you had. But there was a giant gap in the seats from me to the end of the aisle where there was no one in between, though. And this dude just comes in with a backpack full of food and just startled me. This just starts having fucking lunch and just like he, he sets up a basically a buffet for himself. He's using all the chairs around him and, and the smell of the food because it's all different types of food. So. So you're getting like a whiff of, like, like various burgers. Burrito. Yeah, sushi, whatever the sauce, it's going to be popcorn, you know. And he's and he's just as if no one's there in and he's like, laughing up the storm, making all this noise. I couldn't even my focus was on him just, just watching just earth and Yeah. So that that's I can't for some reason, like I need conditions to be perfect in a movie for me to be able to, like, take off. Yeah. So to speak. I mean, yeah, like even how we saw Babylon. That was the same theater I saw Oppenheimer at same theater. So, you know, that was not that screening sucked because the women behind us were not into the movie and we very much were in the movie. And that crowd down in front of us were on their fucking phones the whole time, 3 hours and 10 minutes. And I was like, And people ask them to get off and they just didn't care. I'm like, Movies cost money. Why are you here? But all this stuff, I mean, it's staffing issues with the food eating thing. Come in and be like, Yo, you're not. You can't do that here. No outside food or drink. Pack it up or leave like, you know, with my thing, like, come in and check the theater and be like, Whoa, whoa. That's one thing I'll say about Alamo. They know how to kick people out if you're on your phone or talking. But anyway, it's like I knew watching it. I'm back to Oppenheimer now. My screening. I'm like, Hey, if the movie punches through, then this is a hell of a movie because I already have my IMAX Air and Space Museum ticket, which is like, those are those sold out like months in advance. So I'm minus for August 4th, which is Friday, and they do not have assigned seating. So I'm literally getting there 2 hours early. I have a pod. I'm just going to like stand in line. That's what you do. Like I have my ticket, but you stand in line and that's I've never really seen a movie under better circumstances in that it's astounding. The screens like 86 feet tall and I've seen Dark Knight there, Dunkirk, all of his movies since Dark Night. So I'm very, very extremely fucking looking forward to that. And I would not be if I did not like the movie. And I really love this movie. So yeah. Oh, by way of saying like, we're just sharing our screenings, we like to talk about movie screenings. Oh, and I mean, to wrap that up, when we all got out, we're all like kind of morose because, you know, Oppenheimer is not like really a feel good movie of the year, But it was also like a weird screening. And then we were in theater two and theater one and theater three were both Barbie, and they both were letting out at about the same time. And it was just, yeah, the pink and honestly got to put me in a good mood. I was like, Well, they had a lot of fun. Jesus. Oh my God, I can't. And I already had my Friday 6 p.m. ticket, so I saw Barbie last night. I'm going to get into that and just, you know, polar opposite screening experience. Everyone, including myself, had a fucking ball the entire time. All races, all ages, all shapes and sizes. It was great. And everyone I mean, we were all locked in and Oppenheimer, like people were locked in. I was in the back fucking row in the far left seat. I could see everyone we were locked in, just not one person. And that's just not what this week is. Yeah, there was due to a testament of how locked in you get with that movie. I had a sold out screening myself in. In L.A. Crowds are usually pretty good like we need we we know to shut up when the movie starts. There were a few people in like a couple of rows behind me that were just I think they were trying to keep up with the movie when it first started because you could just hear them still, like just whispering, but whispering loudly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the pacing of the movie does just start and it starts. It throws you and it is not a horse race beginning, you know, like the first second of the horse race. Catch up, baby. Exactly. And that pacing does not let up the entire movie. It just starts there and goes. But about 20 minutes in, everyone is quiet as a fucking church mouse. Goddamn. Just really, really in it. And. And I was very glad, except for that one guy who came in late with what he missed. I had a lot of lay people, too. It was weird. I was. I'm like, Yeah, a lot of late people. But then also, like I saw we both seen Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part one got my ticket. I'm seeing it again tonight after we record this. You know what I'm doing? I'm going to a gorgeous movie theater to see Dial M for Murder, the Hitchcock film in three D in. Oh, so when it comes out it you're like the that that's going to grab it. Yeah yeah. And then I'm going straight to a different theater to see Mission Possible Dead Reckoning part one again, because I want to know I'm looking forward to that. My point, getting a little off track here. My point is that Mission Impossible with previews is 3 hours. You know, John Wick, four with previews is 3 hours. Those movies do not have popcorn refills, bathroom breaks, at least not in large. In my screenings, Oppenheimer had a lot because that one fucking guy, it was just taking people out the whole goddamn time. Anyway, I tell you, I saw John Wick four. No. When? Where? Hell on the plane. So? So not that I fucking loved it. Jesus Christ, man. You. I asked you if you wanted to go see in the theater. You said no because you. You told me that you did not like the way one ended. And I swear to God, you've told. You told me that you had never seen any of the other one. So that's why I did that. Oh, that's not true. I've seen two and three. I had no fucking clue that you had seen two and three. No, I saw both. It's two and three with Dan because Dan made me go he loves because I didn't want to see two and three. Because the first one I loved and then was so pissed because it would have been a perfect ending if he had just died in a perfect revenge story. But no, he gets up and gets in their dog and I go, Well, now here we go. And I didn't like to because what I thought was so cool about one was like, how? Like you don't know about the world that is like a really cool part of it. Yeah, it's a cool part. But then too, they did the thing. I go, I go, They're going to do it. They're going to open up the whole thing to them. Yeah. And it's going to be done and you know what? I thought it was dumb, but it's still they're fun movies. I didn't, I didn't hate my experience with two and three, but like, I remember three, I go and now we're in the desert. Like, like this was just a story about a man who was avenging his dead dog. And now we're in the frickin desert. But, yeah. What did you think before? What did you think for? Give it to me. I love four from top to bottom, like I, I, I had a couple of cocktails on the plane, and. And I think it was easier for me to forgive all of my things with it, because I already knew what this was. I wasn't expecting anything. I was like, All right, let's just sit down, have a good time and forget that. Like at one time, this could have been very cool. Oh, God. And, and and I was kind of locked in, in the very beginning when it. Suzy's, like, punching the bag. Well, and then. And then Laura's best friends is like, basically, Are you ready? Ready goes. Yeah. And I go, Okay. All right. You you pretty much so. Me just Keanu, just being Keanu. Because let's face it, I guess at the end of the day, that's all we want to see. We just want to see Keanu Reeves in fights with fucking numb chucks kickin ass, just kicking ass. And but yes, I really like for if I had to do an order, it would be one for three into Cool. Cool. You had a couple of cocktails the first time you watched that, I apparently had a fucking horse tranquilizer because that's where I fainted. My first feeling that. Yeah, that was. It was. It was when he was his fucking. I don't know. It's funny. It's hilarious. It's when he put his that knife through his hand and he was like, I could you could pull the knife out or you could take your hand out. That's when I started feeling a little fuzzy, was he? And oh, boy, boy. I don't know why this is terrible to me. Every time I've referred to this incident of you have. Okay, you can laugh. Everyone laughs. My wife thinks it's fucking hilarious. I so, like, I remember the first time, like, Well, once I knew you were okay, Like, that was that. That was when it was changed. Once I knew you were okay and everything was fine. So I remember I talked to someone. I go. I go. My, my best friend just fainted, is in the hospital and I would just start laughing. They're like, Why are you laughing about this? Like, I don't know. You don't know because it's fucking funny. It's fucking hilarious. Just like because it happened for no reason. Yeah, it happened for no reason. It just happened. That's also also. But that is where I saw the screening of Oppenheimer's. Well, it's all the same theaters, so maybe there's a dread, no glasses anymore, though. I got Lasik, no glasses, so I wouldn't. It'd be a different phone now because the glasses punctured my face. The glasses puncture my face. So I don't know if they help things. If they hurt things without the glasses there, I probably wouldn't have had because I had like I had a really bad cut under. I mean, that sucker could have gone into my eye. We're talking selling a doctor is like, you could legitimately be blind right now. And I'm like, Thanks, doc, I didn't do this on purpose and fucking face plant. It was rough, but yeah, that'd be interesting. With no glasses. Yeah, no glasses. Lasik. What's up? In fact, Oppenheimer folks listen to some Oppenheimer movie trivia here. Let's let's it folks some non spoiler stuff about it because I found out some baffling shit about this movie after I saw it. Jesus Christ, I'm going to drop the can't even talk. I'm going to drop the biggest one right up front. Some people might know this. I'm only talking about it on the podcast because it is a part of the marketing. It's something Christopher Nolan is very keen on us knowing. When Oppenheimer ended, when the movie ended, I sat through all the credits mostly to see with that guy I would do, but I also wanted to see the credits. And the Oppenheimer End credits are very short, which usually means they had a very small visual effects team. And then I came to learn that the motion picture Oppenheimer, which costs $100 million to make, which was shot fully on IMAX, does not contain a single computer graphic shot. There is not a single shot of CGI in this film. They blew up a test atomic bomb, like not like a real one, of course. But they they convinced us that they did that without using computer imagery. I love movies. I love this art form. I cannot ever I tried to look this up. I can't think of a movie with this size budget that has not used visual effects. It's baffling that most of what you see in Oppenheimer, if not all of it, was filmed in front of that IMAX camera. He uses one camera to shoot. They shoot with one IMAX camera. It's insane. I don't know. I this is this is the a level of filmmaking that goes back to the dawn of cinema. I mean, this is like Chaplin with John Ford with it's crazy. So whether you like the movie or not, that's up to you. But the way in which this is made is this is this is going to be an old timer in terms of how this was made. It will go down in the annals of history for me as a legendary film achievement. I want to know what he used to show those insert cuts of like the neurons and neutrons and like all the all all of that really the atoms stuff. I mean, you can, you can put a camera on a fucking microscope, like you can do that or on a telescope or something. Those are actual things in science that we're seeing that were not manipulated with a computer. Oh, it's baffling. I mean, Kubrick didn't have computer imagery, you know, for 12, it's like, you know, you use miniatures, you use all that. You, you do these practical, actual visual effects. Visual effects does not just mean computer graphics. It doesn't mean that a visual effect can be what Chaplin did with like forcing our perspective and making it look like the hallway is infinite, but it just goes to the wall because the way it's painted, you know, goes in tended to that too. Like when he's meeting with that scientists and she's explaining how all works. It looks like those hallways go back and back and back. You watch the making of they don't it's just an old school trick where someone went in and painted a wall, a 3D painting of a hallway. So it looks like it goes back. That's a visual effect that is not achieved with a computer. Oppenheimer has. And when I was watching it, I kind of wondered, I was like, All of this looks real to me. Yeah, Does a real like, you know, you can do stuff with when the in on the day you can do stuff with dust. But I'm like this doesn't look cheap or artificial or too clean because visual computer imagery, Yeah, that's what it is sometimes. So issue I have with modern cinematography a lot is that these cinematographer guys are literally typing in their camera movements into a computer. They're computers hooked up to a stabilizing rig and that's how the camera moves. So it's like, quote unquote perfect. But we're not feeling that that shaky element of it. I'm just talking too much because I'm so fucking excited by this. It was the complete difference and now I'm shambling. I'm switching gears again. But to go for Mission Impossible, Sure. Dead Reckoning Part one. I loved it so much. I really, really glad you liked it too. I'm glad you liked it. Yeah, I did. It was a lot of fun, but I really was taken out because I think, like all of us, we all know that big stunt that Tom Cruise does. And it is the big stunt of the movie. It's the you know, there is a whole entire ten, 15 minute, you know, making of that stunt that when they showed like a five minute making up before. Yeah. Or two in December we all we all knew so we all knew it right now come to like the movie time to show the final product of what we're about to see. I'll be honest all I noticed was the CGI. There was no this is CGI grass that he's going on because I saw them film it on a white ramp and that press did not look believable to me. No, that's the thing. Like, I get like you can't show like, okay, yeah, this actual ramp, you know, because that of course, of course you can't do that. Everything surrounding the stunt to me looked so fake, so fake that I'm like, Oh, man, like, this really sucks because I'm actually getting taken out of this awesome stunt. Well, what's weird is that we all know Cruz fucking did it, so why not make it look more realistic? And and they didn't really show it for that long? No, I could cut out of it. I thought really quickly. And I went, and that was the first thing I texted you about it. I said, Is it an issue that making a feature about that stunt was way more impressive than the stunt than the study? Yeah, and I think it is an issue. I do. But yeah, right. I, I think the guy in the tour, like the last 30 minutes of that movie, I don't want to say even that like the final set piece because that stunt isn't the final set piece. Final set piece is like really cool by 2023 movie standards, it was all on the computer and you could tell like, it's just in a computer. Yeah. And I ended up finding that whole bit to be more impressive in terms me being a filmgoer and watching it, because I know this is all CGI, you know what I mean? Like, I'm like, okay, you guys are. You guys aren't trying to pull the wool over my eyes here, right? But what I guess what I'm saying is when you've got something practical, there was nothing practical about that final set piece. So I'm able to go along with it. But when you're given me a true practical stunt, don't take me out layering it with so much fluff. Yeah. That now I don't appreciate the practicality. How can you not appreciate a man who's jumping out of off of a motorcycle, going off a ramp and then parachuting? Yeah. All of a sudden I'm like, Oh, I mean, when he jumped out of the plane in Fallout, which I don't think you've even seen, I don't think that was. I never saw that he actually jumped out of a plane. And that's like, you're with him and it's this long shot and it's long taken Dead reckoning part one. I was like, Wow, you really you chopped into this like, a lot like I would have if they never showed us that making up stunt. And they were like, Oh, yeah, no one actually did. That was all like just a computer graphic guy on the motorcycle. I probably would have believed that it. Yeah, they didn't sell that, I thought except for the making of feature, which came out eight months ago. We are choice. I still did like the movie. It's like I'm seeing it again in a few hours. I did like it. But back to Oppenheimer. Yeah, I mean, no CGI, There's none of that in Oppenheimer. There's no conversation to have got like, Oh, that kind of took me out a little bit. Yeah, there's just none of that. It's all in-camera really quick. I have to say this because you're going to appreciate it. I just saw texts fly across my computer screen from my mom that saying that due to her. Listen to our Christopher Nolan podcast. She just watched Interstellar for the first time and said, This is the best sci fi movie I've seen in the longest time. God damn right God. See what we're doing here? And then what are you watching? Podcast. We're reaching out to your hearts and minds, changing opinions, hot off the presses. Nick's mom loves Interstellar, loves it. What do you what do you have to say to that? That's like your second least favorite of his My second favorite novel. And we're going to we're going to get to our re re rankings. We're going to see where Oppenheimer in here. Oh, no, that's great. Hey, it's you know, I mean, it is it's a great sci fi movie. Just, you know, now she's got to listen to our Scorsese Z pod and watch a Scorsese movie because I know she doesn't like it. She still needs to see Wolfe. Well, I don't know. We'll see. Well, that's a that's a that's a tough one. The Irishman and the Irishman parable about getting old. What else? What else for Oppenheimer? No, CGI mentioned that enough. Marveled at that. They filmed Oppenheimer in 56 days. 50 watts days. You get the hell out of here. Well, I don't know. You do these things. That's like saying I thought this would have gone on for, like, hundreds of days or something. That's wild. Killian's like, No, he. Because it's all in camera. Like we move really, really fast and he just keeps going. Get this, get this. The man doesn't do ADR, which means you rerecord your dialog in post-production. He uses production. ADR. Killian Murphy's made six movies with him. He said he thinks he's done five lines of ADR. Total. Total. Some performers redo their entire performance. In ADR, you have to rerecord everything. I is a really old school film maker. Chris. I stole ADR. I it's the worse. It's the worst. Oh, it's yuks. You can tell when it. I've even gotten Allie trained where she's like, Oh, that's ADR, isn't it? I'm like, Yeah, yeah, you can. You can hear it. You can tell it's crazy the emotion that you get on the day from the performance. It just can't be matched. No. The same way when you try. I mean, you can. I almost feel like you just have to do an imitation. You like yours. You can't. Oh, my God. I appreciate that so much. That's so cool. I mentioned earlier that they film with one camera. Unless there's like some huge action set piece, like when they crash a 747 into a Freeport, they had about six, you know, they had more cameras for that. But for the most part, for Oppenheimer Hoyt, the Van Hoytema, the cinematographer, films it all himself. He just puts the son of a bitch on his right shoulder and just goes, These cameras are huge. They use one camera operator. Chris Nolan stands next to him. They have one boom. Operator That's it. There are no monitors on his set. There's no video village, there's no playback. There's no everyone gathering around and watching stuff. That's how you film it. In 56 states, not much. Every scene they watch dailies at the end of every day. Actual film dailies. It's. It. Yeah. It's a really old school way of filming filmmaking that lends itself to how Oppenheimer does not feel like a 2023 movie. It has the propulsive ness of today. It has some action scenes that will blow you the fuck away, but for the most part, it's much more grounded in just real human storytelling. And I loved all those little bits of trivia. Now we can up move on to the cast a little bit. Yeah. Let's start with Killian Murphy. I think, like everyone loves this guy. He's just great. Like I came to know him because of 28 days later and then I've really followed his career ever since. And yeah, What did you think of him here before? I give my full opinion. It's it's honestly, it's a tour de force performance. Yeah. You've got the actual person that he's playing, you know, like you can go back and you can watch the interviews with Oppenheimer, the real guy. I did that a lot this morning before we recorded, which was really interesting. Yeah, you can see what Killian Murphy You can see like that, that representation, that essence he carries, but moreover, the emotional weight of the movie falls in his eyes entirely. Entirely too, to carry the weight of a movie like this so fluidly and so. And it's not like I'm like, amazed because, like, the dude is such a good actor. Yes. I think I'm just so happy that, you know, through all of this time of working with Nolan, he's finally got that lead, right? Know every other you know, he was even up for Batman at one point. You know, it was just testing. And so to be able to see him get like with his guy, you know, like they've been friends forever, too. Yeah. Like, hey, you're there's no one else that I want helming this lead other than you and him just knocking it out of the park like that. I'm so happy for him. I'm just so happy. He's such a good actor. And I listened to a few interviews. He's so, like, humble about it. And yeah, he is a great actor and I think this is his best work. I think an Oscar nomination has to be forthcoming. A win is it's way too early to call that stuff, and that will all be well-deserved. I think we're going to see a lot of people involved with Oppenheimer come January. February. Yeah, I loved him in the the whole movie rests on his shoulders to the point where that's not that's not just evident to the audience, that was evident to everyone involved in the film. So much so that Chris Nolan wrote this script in the first person. And Matt Damon has said in all of his years in Hollywood he's never seen a script written in the first person. So it wasn't Oppenheimer goes in, opens a door, it's I go over and open the door. And Nolan said the reason why I did that is because every other person who comes on board in this movie has to be in service of Killian. This is here. The book this movie is based on is called American Prometheus and won the Pulitzer. I'm going to start reading it very soon. I'm very excited. Nolan did not want to call it that because he said this movie is about this guy. What he made the impact it had on him. It's all about this guy. And every actor was in service for that like this is. Yet a lot of actors have really outstanding scenes, but they are all in support of the man playing Oppenheimer, butit's true beautifully. There's not a bad cast member in here. No, no. And I want to talk about some of them now. Okay. One thing I want to say about a lot of the actors, almost everyone as far as I could, Klock has some sort of accent and they are all very subtle and they all really work. Even Josh Hartnett is not talking in his real voice. And I really appreciate that. Just appreciate the little fine accent everyone had on it. Just kind of sounding more of the time. I really like that. But Robert Downey Jr as Louis Strauss, my Oscar big Oscar Oppenheimer's theory is that r J is going to be the Jamie Lee Curtis of this Oscar season. I think he's going to be out there because I think he wants an Oscar very badly. And I think he's going to be campaigning like crazy for supporting actor. Yeah. Yeah. I thought he was very good. I need to see it again for him. Honestly. Yeah. Yeah. When I see it again, I'm going to be paying very close attention to him. But there is a lot more going on to what he was doing than I initially realized. Yeah, and I think that's just the nature of the structure of the movie, is that, yes, you're by the time you actually realize what's going on, there's so much that happens beforehand that I would love to kind of sit back and like, okay, I know where this is going to go now. Let me see where he's coming from, because he was he was very, very good. You felt like, oh, yeah, it was compelling to to watch him. Every little every facial gesture that he made. It was just he was so broiled. It was it was wild. Oh, great, great. I loved him. Matt Damon as Leslie GROSS, who's just as hard as military general. I love to. He said that, you know, no one liked him in real life and he just own that like that character. He just had to get a job done, build this fucking bomb. That's what we're doing. And I thought I thought he played it so well. I loved him and the thing is, is like, you still like him? Yeah. I don't think it's possible to hate Matt Damon. Like that guy. Like, Oh, my God. He just always, always, just does it, right? Absolutely. To love and trust in the film. I love Matt Damon as well. Two love interests in the film played by Florence Pugh and then later Emily Blunt. Both just blew me away. I couldn't yeah, I couldn't believe it for different reasons. I thought what Florence Pugh was doing. I haven't seen Nolan do anything like that before. And I went, Yeah, Oh, this is. I really just fucking dig this. I know why you made this choice. I know why all the actors made the choice. It felt very raw by design. Yeah. And I just fucking loved it again. An old school, an old school style of filmmaking. And then Emily Blunt was like, Yeah, she knew what the assignment was. She had this fucking heater in her back pocket and she was just waiting to throw it. She knew what it was and she knocked me out. I could feasibly see Oscar nominations for potentially both of them. Emily Blunt If it comes down to one to the other, she'll be out there. But I yeah, there is not a bad performance in the movie. The thing is stacked into oblivion, but we're not going to go through all of them. But they're all good. But yeah, I thought these two women were fantastic. Emily Blunt did so much with with not a lot to be obvious. Like again, everyone is in service of Oppenheimer in this movie, but every scene she's in, we need to understand something about her or where she's at. And she's not given a lot of time or a lot of attention. And so she makes something out of nothing every time. And that's not saying like there's a bad script. It's just like, okay, we need you to get across this. And she gets it across beautifully. It's really, really special watching her performance in this. Yeah, I love that she her character is a boozer and is pretty unapologetic about it. And there's no arc in it, like no talk, like how, you know, she gets looked at to take care of like there's a suitcase and they only if she's six to it. I just appreciate that. I'm like, All right, it's not what the movie's not about her. It's about her very tortured husband, a miserable life she has. Well, yeah. I mean, yeah. Nothing, nothing. Nothing is good for her, ever. I don't know if Oppenheimer had a very good life once. 45 was done. You know what I mean? Yeah, Yeah, but she did not. She not have it easy. But her, you know, they have that moment outside when he admits something to her and her response. So it was just, wow, It was a doozy. Oh, I loved it. I'm going to rapid Fire. Some of these supporting performances stop if you want to call out anyone specifically. Josh Hartnett always loved the scene. So good to see him. He kills it in a new episode of Black Mirror. It was so fun to see him in this as well. Rami Malik loved him. A lot of these people are popping into like a scene or two and just putting their stamp and then getting out, not unlike, you know, JFK or Nixon, where they're bringing in these huge, heavy actors for like a scene and then they leave. Rami Malik is a best Oscar. Like, he just comes in for like two scenes and he's gone. Benny Safdie Great. See him. So convincing is so always great to see him. Got the role because he was in Liquors Pizza and Chris Nolan and pizza their friends and while they were filming that you know, they kind of they talked. And that's how we arrived at Oppenheimer. Kenneth brought a now a nice staple love seeing him. Jason Clarke is an asshole lawyer. Always good. Oh, he's Scotty. Oh, he was. Tom Conti is Albert Einstein. A few scenes he thought he really, really owned it all. And Rick, who took a lot of shit, like around solo, all that stuff. Yeah. I thought he crushed this again. Not a lot of scenes, but I thought he did so great. I mean, Tony Goldwyn, Matthew Modine, Jack Quaid, Olivia. Thirdly, I love Olivia. Thirdly, you're missing one huge one. I know the one you're thinking of. I honestly didn't want to reveal it. I hope we're talking about the same guy you're talking about who plays the president in the film, right? No. Oh, who are you talking about? I'm talking about David fucking Krumholtz, man. Oh, my God. I know from God's love, dude, crumble like you. Like I got it. If you're from our generation, this is a guy that we basically grew up with in. In certain ways. Yeah, but I didn't know you were this big of a fan. Dude, you got to go watch The Deuce on HBO. He's like one of the leads in that. And the dude went from like£220 in the first season, and they clearly had something done and it's down to like 120 by the last season. And it's it's like that's one of the best he's ever had as an actors in The Deuce. So I got to go watch that. All right. Okay. So I've never seen that. So I kind of just like I remember him from a certain time and a certain era is this He pops in the screen. I lost my mind because I knew a reasonable bunch. Oh, yeah. Okay. I'm not I'm not. Well, then, you know. Well, I'm glad that you know, you know. Oh, man, he's great. I mean, all the way back. Yeah, he's. Yes. Yeah. What are some of your, like, favorite early performances from him? I mean. Oh, Jesus. Now I can't think of any. Well, that's good. I didn't know you were that big of a fan. We could have talked about it more. It just took under two episodes. Third, you had this hyper looks at that big of a thing. It's. It was more of like, I hadn't seen him in years. I didn't even know he was an actor. But like, yeah, like, like so, like, so for me, seeing him, it was just sort of like, Oh my God, it's David Krumholtz, the editing. I want to talk about Jennifer Lame, the editor. She also edited ten inch, did a great job. I think there were some clear Malick influences on Oppenheimer, and I mean, there were just some montages that I thought were beautiful and the pace of it really want to, you know, didn't want to end an Oppenheimer podcast without talking about how it was assembled. Yeah. Jennifer Lane Anything but lame. She done punch, nailed that one. The sound as good as ever for a Nolan movie. I want to say that when a movie is this good with sound, also using silence can be so damn effective. And it is. And wow, he stole it from there I go. Yeah, yeah. He stole it from your short film made in 2016. You're right. You're right. It's exactly what he took it from. Never been done on film before. Okay, Joker, let's move on to some props. We got a few here. Prompt one. Give me some good pairings with Oppenheimer. I kind of rattled some off in the beginning, but you know what? Just one or two of something that if you did a double feature and it wasn't Barbie or something that like because I immediately would say what I've been telling people is I'm like, You want to get ready for Oppenheimer, don't it? This is not Dunkirk, it's not Inception. Do it with some movies that I have to list here. But you want to go first? I would go, Well, I think the one immediately that goes to my mind is Dr. Strangelove. Yes, I think. I think I think that's a very natural sort of a easy pairing to get some lightheartedness in there, too, but also kind of staying around the same subject. Oppenheimer Or how I learned to never stop worrying and hate the bomb. Yeah, there you go. It's like, that's a good one. Yeah, Yeah, that's a good one. Naturally. And then, I don't know, there's something about the absorb the absorption of this movie as a biopic that, that I'm trying to think of another movie that really kind of hones in on something so singular like this. Well, maybe that's why I have the Social Network, which is a biopic, but a very unconventional one. Yeah, the Social Network is great. All the President's Men as well. To me, it felt very akin to that. Like people just like sitting in rooms talking about a huge global event in America. Yeah, those are ones I had. I think it's a perfect movie for him to make right now. People have gotten to know him for being the huge blockbuster director that he is for all of this action stuff. But to ground this in a person, a real event is real events, plural. I think this was the best move he could have made. And and it is it it's Nolan all the way. But it's so contained into something so much more effective. Oh, All right. Next, where does Oppenheimer rank in our Nolan rankings, which we just did in our previous episode? Let me rattle yours off really quick. 11 Dark Knight Rises ten Interstellar nine Dunkirk eight Tenet seven Batman Begins six. The Dark Knight five. The Prestige four Following three Insomnia two Memento one Inception. Where's Oppenheimer going? So it's break in the top five. And what's kicking out? Yeah, it's kicking out the prestige. Wow, That's crazy. So you. Yeah. You liked it a lot? I fucking said wow. Yep. An unbelievably well-made piece of business. You want me to read yours? I'll read you, case. You read my mind. Yeah. Yeah. Let me do a little bit. All right. For Alex 11 The Dark Knight Rises. We both agree. Shit movie. No, it's not. No, it's not. Ten Batman begins, of course. Nine following eight. The Prestige, seven Tenet, six, six, Inception five. Dunkirk four. The Dark Knight three Insomnia two Interstellar one Memento Where Does It Fall? Eight Oppenheimer And I like that. I like the movie. Let what I guarantee I'm calling this right now that it'll go up. You're going to you're going to go up for you. Oh, yeah, I you're going to see it in IMAX and it's going to break your top five. Yeah, I hedge my bets. When a movie is this early, you tend to do the opposite. It's okay. It's just a difference. You tend to have recency bias, which is that's fine. I need. The main thing for me with rankings is time. It is. I have to see how repeat viewings are going to do. I have to hold it up. But yeah, could it be above ten? It will get above Inception even. Or The Dark Knight mean it could very well could. I really loved it again. I love all the movies this guy is made. I would give Oppenheimer an A because I would give Tenet and the prestige A's. But that's what it's going right in the middle of. And I love this movie. Yeah. I did not think it would hit your top five. That's wild. I can't believe it either. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Awesome Oh, my next prompts we've already answered. Are we going to go back and see this thing in IMAX? Oh, you better believe it. I'm really excited. I can't wait. I have not read any reviews. This movie. I haven't done any box office reports, nothing. So the final prompt I have is how do we think this is going to do on the culture? How's the impact in terms of critics, audiences, Oscars? I think it's going to do well. Again, this is the R-rated movie. This thing isn't going to like financially. I don't know. I think this is going to appeal, maybe not necessarily to the diehard action fans, but to people who just want a smart, mature movie that looks awesome, sounds awesome, has acted immensely. And yeah, Oscars, you know, will it break eight? Will it be Nolan's most nominated film? I think it has a distinct possibility, but I don't I don't think this is the last we've seen of it. I don't think it's going to receive some of the hate that Nolan's films have. But yeah, I think it's going to do well. No, I hope so. I hope so for a number of reasons. This one is because this is such like when you say it, it kind of harkens back to like a seventies type of political thriller in some ways. It definitely leaves a lot to chew on. I hope I hope audiences like that. I could. I could. Absolutely. A one hand. I hope that happens. But I could see people being like, not this movie because I just think we're in a regression when it comes to sensibility. But that's my business. I hope it does really well. I really do. I think it'll do. And when it comes time for Oscars as well, I think I think it has to. It's such a well-made movie. Yeah, the craft of it, just all the technical aspects have to be honored. I mean, I would I would assume Universal will do a huge push behind it. Okay. So that was fun for Oppenheimer. We're going to switch gears here. We're going to move it quickly, I promise. Do it. You have not seen it. I think you're going to see it. But last I'm going to see it at 6 p.m. at an Alamo Drafthouse. I saw Greta Gerwig's Barbie, and I will say that it was more or less what I thought it was going to be, but a better version. It it was. Oh, good. Yeah. There wasn't like, you know, everyone was there to have a good time. Like I said, all shapes and sizes. I was sitting next to an older couple who laughed and smiled for the majority as I did on my left was a younger couple who also laughed. They were young kids in there. It's PG 13. You can you can take younger kids to it, you know, like people are dressed up. It's event ties. This is the first event ties movie that we've had in ages, ages where people there are so many people going to Barbie and or Oppenheimer this weekend who have not been to a theater since COVID, who probably haven't even been to a theater for years before that. I just loved that. I love that everyone's talking about movies, even if it's to movies, even if it's for a weekend. Barb and Hammer's always going to be a narrative at the end of the Nolan pod, which was kind of the beginning. I talked about why Barb and Heimer is happening in terms of the relationship that Chris Nolan had with Warner Brothers that lasted for 20 years. They had a fall out, they had a falling out because Warner Brothers released all their movies on HBO in theaters in the COVID era. Chris Nolan did not like that. So he switches to Universal for four Oppenheimer. Warner Brothers very deliberately releases Barbie on the same day as Nolan's movie, and the wheel goes round and round. I actually think it helps Oppenheimer. Nothing was going to hurt Barbie, but I actually think it's going to send more people to Oppenheimer as an event. Maybe like, you know, the ladies want to go see Barbie, not to generalize, and then the guys want to go see Oppenheimer. So they go see both together. I know there's all sorts of shit going on, but yes I like the movie a lot. I liked a lot that it knows how to be very genuine about, quote unquote woke culture, feminism. And it did not in a way that wasn't in a way that was not didactic. But then, moreover, it knows how to take the piss out of itself and take the piss out of those very things as well. And it does that often. Barbie is a type of movie where every single person who made it is in on the joke, and that's basically where my review can end. Mattel is in on the joke, Warner Brothers is in on the joke. Everyone is. Everyone's in on it. Ryan Gosling is a blast. And it just it just worked. It just fit. It's a really fun movie that doesn't try to be more than what it is. And I you know, I enjoyed my time with it. Absolutely. I'm seeing it again with my ad tomorrow and excited for it. It's just fun. So you're saying that the goose is on the loose? Yeah, he is with some talk about CGI guy. So what I have to imagine are great CGI abs some fashion because. Hey there. Oh, that's all him, baby. No, it's all him. DOUTHAT No, there's something to Google. What you can do with CGI nowadays, don't you? Don't you job when we're watching a dead wreck, a part one that's not really Tom Cruise's actual face. There's they could do a lot with kind of touch ups nowadays. I'll say, well, I'm just going to forget you said any of that. And yes, the goose is all the loose. You'll love him in it. You'll love him. He clearly had a bald doing this. He knew exactly what he was doing. The music is very fun. Very fun. Yeah, it was just fun. You leave feeling like in a good mood. It was like, All right, that was a lot fun. It's cool. Everyone's talking about movies. The song for the movie from Dua LIPA Dance. Yeah, I mean, there's there's that, but there are some. I love Dua LIPA. There's some I do, too. Sure. Yeah. Okay. That was weird. There. Some of what? I like your music. There are some throwback songs in the movie that you're really going to appreciate very much. Very much. All right. So a good time. So you'll have to report back when you watch it. But that was fun. Barbie Oppenheimer. Barb and Heimer liked both. Both exceeded my expectations, didn't have a good screening in one, but I'm excited to go back rave reviews all around. No shit. Talking on this episode lets you recommend some bullshit here for what are you watching? You have gone first an inordinate amount of times. I'll say. I bet you go first like nine or ten times in a row. Finally, I'm happy to take it on if you want. I'm pleasantly revealing something that I am actively watching. It is a large one you watching. So it's up to you first. Second. Oh, you're actively watching this is something you're pulling a page out of my book. I'm watching it right now. That's what I've been doing the entire time we've been recording. I believe it. Every time you talk, I hit play on it and I. Wow. Wow. You're target. I waited. I waited for the ad to touch. Shit. What an asshole. Okay, well, I'll continue carrying the weight of this team, and I will sacrifice myself and go first. Okay. As I always do. Once more into the breach. Dear mad movie buffs. So I think I actually referenced this movie before some point on the pod, but I don't remember if it was a What are you watching recommendation? But I do want to do it again for this one because the movie freaks me out. Oh boy. And is Johnny got a gun? Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if he did it for what? He watch him recommendation, but you definitely mentioned it. Yeah The the, the realities and just awfulness of that movie. I, I appreciate, but it affects me on such a level that it's so emotionally stressing If you want to get a little bit of everything could throw that movie in there. Do you want to tell people at all anything of like what it's about or anything? Because this is not like this is a cut movie and I love that you're doing this. So Johnny Got a Gun is all about this soldier who went to war, who goes into battle and wakes up in a cast covered in what's left of his body. He has no arms, he has no legs, he can't talk. And he communicate outside of banging his head in Morse code. And so he's just trapped in this shell of a life. It's if anyone is actually familiar with the Metallica music video one, they actually just use clips from this movie. Oh, that's that whole entire song is about this. So I think it's actually probably more famous because of Metallica than you probably know. The movie. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But all of that music video footage was taken from this movie, but this the whole entire movie is this. And like where it goes and the sadness and desperation and helplessness of it all is just a very, very palpable feeling in the movie. It's not an easy watch at all, but I mean, it. Yeah, I have not seen this. I mean, you you're taking me back. This is 1971. And this is the writer Dalton Trumbo, whose first movie he directed. And he based on a novel of his and Timothy Bottoms, plays the soldier. But you have Jason Robards. Donald Sutherland. Like this is I'm literally sometimes your recommendations do this for me. I'm going to go put this on either later tonight after my double feature or tomorrow morning. What? Oh, I don't care. I'll put it out right now for you. So you will put I'll do right now. That's great. That's a really good one. That's a really good one. Yeah. Love that. I love that. Okay, cool. I mean, what am I watching? As soon as we're done recording, like I said, Dial M for murder. One of my mom's favorite, Hitchcock's. I love Ray Milland. I love Ray Milland. The actor. He's. He's like, right up there with the Monte Clift level of love. I don't love that, but I have a huge love. Ray Milland That's, you know, Lost Weekend. It's like one of the towering performances of someone playing an alcoholic and they made it in 1945. Oh, I love Ray Milland Lover Him Land got that from my dad too, because my dad loves him anyway very excited to see that in 3-D and seeing dead Reckoning part one again. But I am watching a bruiser of a mini series on HBO right now, or Max or whatever the fuck it's called The Idle No, not the Idle. I finished The Idle. The Idle was that that was that was a thing that was weird. The last 15 minutes made no sense and very, very bad. And I'm. This is a shared opinion, stupid. No, this is called Full Circle. Oh. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, who also is shooting it and editing it. Ed Solomon wrote the six episode series. He also wrote Mosaic and no Sudden Move for Soderbergh. You know what else Ed Solomon wrote? Do you want to know every single Bill and Ted movie Men in Black, Charlie's Angels, great guy. Ed Sullivan. This guy knows what's up. Oh, yeah. This is going to be six episodes. They're releasing them in two episode batches. I've seen the first four because that's all that's aired. The last two will come out on Thursday. And this is a twisty, really compelling, interwoven web, just like no sudden movies where you're weaving in all these things and like a crime and all of these criminals takes place in modern day New York. I really, really like it. It's got a killer. Soderbergh cast Zazie Beetz who's like, just remarkable. It. Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Dennis Quaid, CCH Pounder Love her. William Sadler Oh, she's great. William Sadler Jim Gaffigan is in this fan tastic and then a very young, diverse cast of actors who I have not seen in anything before. And Soderbergh is so good at casting these young talent, too. They just feel like the real people. They feel that, yeah, it doesn't feel like there's any acting. And like Dennis Quaid is having a lot of fun with his character part. So yeah, actively, very much enjoying that. And like Mosaic, like no sudden move. This is something when I watch the last two episodes of Full Circle Know I Will and then I'll set off like I'll set aside like five and a half, 6 hours to watch the whole thing in one go, because there's so many twists and turns and beats. I love it. And and my first ever film that I ever made was a short film called Full Circle. So that's just kind of cool. I love it. That's all coming around and you know, it all comes full circle. Yeah. Just like how Oppenheimer took silence. And there I go. Soderbergh obviously took full circle from my short film 2008, which like 14 people saw. I mean, tribute has tribute has been shown. Yeah. And we crave and we gratefully everyone who made it through our entire Christopher Nolan podcast, we've tried to keep this one just a little bit shorter because we have shit to do and everyone needs to go out and see this movie. Go see Barbie. Let us know what you think. I'm on Letterboxd I log it all w y w underscore podcasts. Also us on Instagram, of course. Also find us on Twitter. Love everyone that's been chatting us up on there. As always, thank you for listening and happy watching. It was needed to put an end to the war and had a chance of so doing. We thought that was the right thing to do. We knew, the world would not be the same. Few people laughed. A few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture of the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi armed form and says, Now I am become death, The destroyer of worlds. I suppose we all thought that one way or another. Hey everyone, thanks again for listening. You can watch my films and read movie blog at Alex Withrow dot com Nicholas Dose Dotcom is where you can find all of Nick's film work. Send us mailbag questions at What are you watching podcast at gmail.com or find us on Twitter, Instagram and letterboxd at WUKY w underscore podcast Next time is something fun and different. Similar to how I brought my friend Cat on for the succession finale pod. Next time it's just going to be Dan and I talking about our favorite movie together. Joe Dante's 1990 masterpiece, Gremlins two. The new batch. We kind of keep it together. We mostly stay on track, but I promise it's a lot of fun. Stay tuned.