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Oppenheimer

Tom Brennan

Tom Brennan

AK Member
Subscriber
I saw the picture yesterday morning in digitally projected IMAX, in other words a giant television picture. The movie gained nothing by being in IMAX and would've worked as well shot in Academy ration 35mm with mono sound. The picture was inferior in quality to the 70mm projections I saw of Lawrence of Arabia and Spartacus and inferior to good Blurays of large format movies such as those just mentioned and The Searchers, Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments and South Pacific and I think once released on video it will look better on my TV than on the theater's. I assume those few theaters projecting the movie using the super large format IMAX film (which is VistaVision but using 70mm rather than 35mm film) have a superior picture. As for sound, the bombastic score and the sound effects were too loud and distracting and sometimes drowned out the dialogue; this movie could've worked better with a contemplative demeanor.

I was somewhat disappointed that the movie had little detail about the Manhattan Project and the development of the bombs, for that the movie Fat Man and Little Boy is better (though with large doses of fiction). No, this movie is a character study of Oppenheimer. That said it's a good story, well written and with superb acting by all. A very good movie but with distracting flaws.

For those interested I recommend two books by Richard Rhodes: The Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. The latter book tells the story of Oppenheimer's post war troubles and also that of the Soviet development of the A Bomb and the Soviet atomic spies.
 
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Nice report. You have validated our expected visit to our local non-IMAX theater.

And like so many movies these days (haven't been to one since before COVID) putting a pair of ear plugs in my pocket is not a bad idea...
 
Saw it last night. Overbaked, too many special effects, disjointed, too loud, poor mix. "How not to do A Beautiful Mind" was my first reaction.
I found the acting to be starchy, the dialog stilted, searching for dramatic impact. Similar to my review of Titanic, "There were two notable things in "Oppenheimer", unfortunately, Florence Pugh had both of them". It's certainly not the landmark film they alluded to. They could have cut the budget in half and had a better movie.
 
The other night I was opining on the fact that both respective governments went after the two people who basically won the war for the Allies. The guy who broke The Enigma Code for Britian and Oppenheimer.
I will wait until.it comes on cable.
 
I saw it on opening night with 3 colleagues -- all four of use have worked or still work at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. I also worked 6 years at Lawrence Livermore and communed and commuted regularly with weaponeers (as they are called) and one of my colleagues worked 35+ years at Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national years. We (and our wives) really enjoyed the movie and appreciated how many things they got right in terms of scientific theory, practice, personalities and the sense of urgency. We think they missed the mark on the intense acrimony Edward Teller stirred up (and still remains in some quarters) by his testimony against renewal of Oppenheimer's clearance. Were some of the characters starchy? Well, the joke at Livermore was that a chemist is a physicist with a personality, so starch is not a rare element.

We saw the move at a large theater also showing Barbie and I must say those attending the bigger show put much more effort into their appearance -- pinks, pastels, glitter and heels everywhere. The adjacent bar was serving cocktails such as Atomic Mules and Barbie Malibus. What's not to enjoy? All in all, quite and enjoyable night at the movies.
 
I haven't seen the movie but watched a good documentary on MSNBC:
"To end all war:Oppenheimer"

I thought it was excellent.
 
Tom Brennan said:
For those interested I recommend two books by Richard Rhodes: The Making of the Atomic Bomb and Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. The latter book tells the story of Oppenheimer's post war troubles and also that of the Soviet development of the A Bomb and the Soviet atomic spies.
Click to expand...

I enthusiastically second this recommendation!
 
Tom Brennan said:
As for sound, the bombastic score and the sound effects were too loud and distracting and sometimes drowned out the dialogue;
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I saw it last night, also in IMAX, and I had similar thoughts about the sound. I was wondering if it was just me but there were plenty of things that I absolutely didn't understand because it was drowned out by the score or some sound effect or whatever. This isn't the first movie or tv show I've had this issue with honestly. Regularly makes me wonder about my ears, but often when I talk to other people they say the same thing. Maybe it says something about the hearing of the people who mix this stuff but for me if I can't understand whats being said it really takes away from the experience. The sound effects and score are meant to reinforce the action on screen, not substitute for it.

Overall I liked it, but I could have done without several sequences of absolute silence and then suddenly getting a blast of sound.
 
gadget73 said:
I saw it last night, also in IMAX, and I had similar thoughts about the sound. I was wondering if it was just me but there were plenty of things that I absolutely didn't understand because it was drowned out by the score or some sound effect or whatever. This isn't the first movie or tv show I've had this issue with honestly. Regularly makes me wonder about my ears, but often when I talk to other people they say the same thing. Maybe it says something about the hearing of the people who mix this stuff but for me if I can't understand whats being said it really takes away from the experience. The sound effects and score are meant to reinforce the action on screen, not substitute for it.

Overall I liked it, but I could have done without several sequences of absolute silence and then suddenly getting a blast of sound.
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...several sequences of absolute silence and then suddenly getting a blast of sound...
That's exactly what happened at Trinity... absolutely silent (light travels faster than sound... duh)... and then the blast wave following... wow, what a scene.
 
hnash53 said:
...several sequences of absolute silence and then suddenly getting a blast of sound...
That's exactly what happened at Trinity... absolutely silent (light travels faster than sound... duh)... and then the blast wave following... wow, what a scene.
Click to expand...

There must be people alive who were there to witness it.
 
hnash53 said:
...several sequences of absolute silence and then suddenly getting a blast of sound...
That's exactly what happened at Trinity... absolutely silent (light travels faster than sound... duh)... and then the blast wave following... wow, what a scene.
Click to expand...
it made sense in some places like the Trinity test, but not all of them I don't think.
 
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