Oppenheimer (2023) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – A – Oppenheimer is a grand achievement and will be a major player come awards time. Director Christopher Nolan has crafted a beautiful film and I still can’t believe that he shot it in only 57 days. Also, it’s nice seeing Nolan back in Memento and The Prestige-esque storytelling mode as he focuses on character interactions and interweaving plotlines (and non-linear storytelling) that build to something great.
Nolan has described Oppenheimer as being ”part hero’s journey, part heist film and part courtroom drama, set against the imagery of a western.” The miracle is that it’s all of these things and it doesn’t feel bloated or unnecessary. I can’t really explain or fully articulate what an accomplishment this film is, but I can say that it feels like Nolan and everyone else involved came together and hit another level to create this three-hour beauty. In interviews, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema discussed his “very intuitive, no-nonsense, no-bulls*** shorthand” that he has with Nolan, and star Cillian Murphy, who has worked with Nolan six times (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Dunkirk, Oppenheimer), went to extreme lengths (weight loss, alienation from the rest of the cast) to put himself in the mindset of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer is a film that happens when a cast and crew totally dedicate themselves to a director’s vision, and they did all of this with only 12 weeks of prep!
Adapted from Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, Oppenheimer tells a non-linear story that focuses on the creation of the famous/infamous Manhattan Project, which led to the world’s first atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Since it’s a Christopher Nolan film, time is a major storytelling element as Oppenheimer and his team of scientists work around the clock, for years, in an attempt to get ahead of the Germans and Russians who were concurrently building their own atomic weapons. Adding more stress to the stressful situation is that Oppenheimer’s past associations with the Communist party hinder him at every step as his associations come back to haunt him during the following decades as he becomes a vocal advocate against the stockpiling of nuclear weapons. This leads to a trial inside a dingy boardroom that leaves Oppenheimer and his lawyer Lloyd Garrison (Macon Blair) up against hostile opposition in the form of prosecutor Roger Robb (Jason Clarke) and Gordon Gray (Tony Goldwyn). Adding even more stress is the fact that Oppenheimer and his team were building an explosive weapon that would inevitably lead to thousands dying and a chance that the world could be destroyed due to a chain reaction of explosions. Toss in subplots involving Lewis Strauss’s (Robert Downey Jr.) nomination for Secretary of Commerce, and the relationship between Oppenheimer and Kitty Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt), and you have a film that’s stuffed with dozens of characters, and multiple timelines. It seems like a lot, but Nolan and editor Jennifer Lame make everything easy to follow and absorb.
The acting is exceptional too, as Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Florence Pugh, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Robert Downey Jr., Josh Hartnett, Olivia Thrilby, Casey Affleck, Benny Safdie, Dane DeHaan, Gary Oldman, and Gustaf Skarsgard are all excellent, and I’m 98.5% certain the majority of the “Ensemble Acting” awards will go this film. I can’t think of the last time when seeing so many familiar faces didn’t feel distracting. Oppenheimer could’ve easily become “Hey! I know that actor,” but instead everyone feels like they belong and seeing Gary Oldman pop up as Harry Truman doesn’t feel distracting.
I deeply admire Oppenheimer and I hope that it goes on to make loads of money and gets the respect it deserves. Nolan is firing on all cylinders here, and I can’t wait to watch the film again.
Final thoughts – Watch Oppenheimer on the biggest screen possible.
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The Movies, Films and Flix tradition continues! Mark and Megan hand out random awards to their favorite moments and movies of 2023 (so far). In this episode, they celebrate movies like Fist of the Condor, Plane, Polite Society, Knock at the Cabin, Rye Lane, Scream 6, Blackberry, Asteroid City and many more. Enjoy!
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 509 (Godzilla: The Soundtrack, Roland Emmerich, and Giant Monsters
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Mark and Billy Patterson (@billyapatterson on Twitter) continue their 1990’s soundtrack series by picking their favorite songs from Godzilla: The Album. It’s a beautiful soundtrack featuring songs from Rage Against the Machine, Jamiroquai, The Wallflowers, Puff Diddy, Ben Folds Five, Silverchair, Foo Fighters, and several other bands who received loads of money for their contributions. In this episode, they also talk about Roland Emmerich, massive movie marketing and Taco Bell. Enjoy!
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 508: Episode 508 (Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Classic Action Films)
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Mark and John Leavengood (@MFFHorrorCorner on Twitter) discuss the 1987 action classic Predator. Directed by John McTiernan, and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke and an often discussed helicopter, the movie focuses on what happens when a group of elite soldiers are hunted by an intergalactic trophy hunter. In this episode, they also talk about creature design, giraffes, and mud fights. Enjoy
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MY CALL: Despite some over-the-top death scenes, this is much more of a crime thriller mystery than a death or gore-rich horror flick. While not so rewatchable, it offers an “off the beaten path” genre experience I found quite novel. MORE MOVIES LIKE Wolfen: For more Native American horror of the era, I’d recommend Scalps (1983), Poltergeist II (1986), Creepshow 2 (1987) or The Manitou (1978).
Okay, begin movie. So our wolf—and we know it’s a wolf because of the movie posters and title—sneaks up on a guy as we see through his POV predator vision. Guy pulls a gun and… THWOP! The wolf cleanly “chops off” the guy’s hand somehow? Whaaaaa? Did the wolf use… a sword? Well, however silly it may sound, the bloodletting is gruesomely heavy and the horror scenes offer a well-executed intensity as two more people are massacred. So there’s that. But be warned that this is not at all the silly 80s horror fare that my description of the opening scene may suggest. Quite to the contrary, this is a very serious, plotty, and humorless affair in the horror genre… with a rather over-the-top execution of horror effects.
Investigating this slaughter is New York cop Dewey Wilson (Albert Finney; Looker). With some insight from his stylish coroner (Gregory Hines; Eve of Destruction), Wilson comes to find there is no sign of a standard weapon use in these murders. A curious case indeed. And as Wilson digs deeper into a series of similar murders, these wolves slit throats (somehow) and then carefully hide the bodies to be later discovered enshrouded by maggots far from the murder scene. The “wolf bite decapitation” scene was a splendor, however silly. Delivered all with a very straight face. This is a very serious movie without much in the way of jokes or tongue-in-cheek horror humor.
Wilson is led to an animal specialist indicating wolf attacks, and even humorous radical hypotheses of Native American shapeshifters. And who could blame Wilson? He literally speaks to Native Americans claiming to be able to shift form and later has an interesting encounter with one such naked Native (Edward James Olmos; Blade Runner) frolicking and snarling around the beach like a wolf in the moonlight.
This is a well-made film. I’d say it’s pretty good. But I’d warn that the pacing leaves something to be desired in terms of blood and horror. Director Michael Wadleigh’s only horror movie is really more of a mystery crime thriller revolving around a horror theme. It’s not the kind of “fun rewatchable” horror movie to which most fans flock, and it lacks the quotables and visuals that would otherwise keep it regular in online conversations. But it offers an “off the beaten path” experience that I found quite satisfying.
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MY CALL: This goretastic 80s zombie movie is just what the discerning zombie fan needs. A variety of zombies and zombie attacks frequent the running time from start to finish with loads of pleasingly gross visual effects. There’s also ample nudity (for better or worse) and chonky monster make-up. A fun watch MORE MOVIES LIKE Burial Ground: Easily the best choices include Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), Dead & Buried (1981), Fulci’s Zombie (1979), and then City of the Living Dead (1980), The House by the Cemetery (1981) and The Beyond (1981)—the last three being Fulci’s Gates of Hell trilogy.
Several wealthy couples return to their seasonal countryside mansion. Based on the scenes following their arrival, this is a romantic retreat rich with sex scenes and nudity. But I mean, it’s nice to see these middle-aged couples are still so amorous. They can’t keep their hands off each other. There’s even a very off-putting bit of incest between preteen Michael (the tiny 26-yr old actor Pietro Barzocchini) and his mother Janet (Karin Well) that’ll take you by surprise.
Unfortunately for this family, their archaeology professor houseguest/friend has recently awakened the living dead in the nearby catacombs. So as the affluent begin their vacation, the dead begin stirring. Some rise from their crypts and begin to pilgrimage toward the mansion, others rise from beneath only inches of soil and grass on the grounds, and some even rise from sarcophagi covered in plants in the garden! And like all Italian zombies we’ve scene, these undead want to eat the living and they can only be stopped with fire or severe head trauma. Where these zombies differ is their intelligence. While not particularly clever, these zombies know when to retreat, they arm themselves, they chop their way into the barricaded mansion with axes, and they climb up the walls to reach windows.
A fine quality in this classic is its pacing. From the opening scenes, we get a steady presentation of a variety of zombie scenes with a wide range of make-up styles. There are loads of zombies, clearly having died in different traumatic ways.
These zombies are pretty gnarly, both in terms of clunky lower(ish) budget effects and general chonky disposition. Many zombies are very lacerated, covered in gross skin flaps and lipless toothy maws. Some are as basic as crude papier-mâché whereas others exhibit carefully detailed latex work. The major value here is how many different zombies there are and how frequently we see them. A lot of zombies grace the screen and there is a lot of action in this movie.
The gore is likewise very satisfying. Zombie mobs tear open abdomens and pull out whole organs, there’s a cheeky scythe decapitation gag, a woman (Antonella Antinori; Maya) has her face pulled through broken glass, and a boy even bites off his mother’s nipple all on-screen! Yup, this is a must-see for 80s zombie fans and fans of wild Italian horror for sure. Director Andrea Bianchi (Maniac Killer) has served genre fans well! Such a shame he didn’t make more horror films.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 507: The Last of the Mohicans, Wes Studi, and Michael Mann
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Mark and Erik discuss the 1992 historical epic The Last of the Mohicans. Directed by Michael Mann, and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Wes Studi and Russell Means, the book adaptation took Mann out of his comfort zone and the end result is a thrilling experience. In this episode they also talk about waterfalls, massive battle scenes and the excellent soundtrack. Enjoy!
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 506: Our Favorite Moments From the Mission: Impossible Franchise
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Mark and DJ Valentine (@TryingToBeDJV on Twitter) talk about their favorite moments from the six Mission: Impossible films that have been released since 1996. They also discuss exploding gum, massive stunts, and Tom Cruise’s excellent running. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
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MY CALL: Dear Lord, these movies just keep finding ways to be worse than the “worst sequel” that came before it. Don’t watch this drivel! MORE MOVIES LIKE Children of the Corn VII: Children of the Corn (1984)spawned many video-era sequels over the years (1992, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2011, 2018) leading to the most recent remake (2020/23). Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992) was dumber but funner, and Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995) seems to follow this yet dumber and yet wildly funner pattern to delightful “bad movie hidden gem” perfection. It’s not totally awful, but I’d skip Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996). However, Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998) and Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return (1999) are both definite hard pass recommendations.
TIMELINE: CotC 1 ended with the cornfields of Gatlin burning with the defeat of an ancient Corn God. But of course, many of Isaac’s still living disciples remained devout to “He who walks behind the rows.” So yeah, sequels. CotC 2 transpired in the week following Vicky and Bert’s escape from the town and Micah is the new child Messiah. Similar to CotC 2, CotC 3 ends when Eli and his corn Bible are destroyed. However, his urban harvest would then be spread around the world in the commodities market. CotC 3 largely ignored the fact that it was a sequel, feeling more like a standalone story. But that doesn’t matter since CotC 4 and CotC 5 likewise ignored all of its predecessors as well, feeling more like stories “based on” CotC. In truth, no CotC sequel acknowledges any other previous sequel except for CotC 2 and CotC 6, which brought Isaac back along with some trumped-up prophecy. They are all either standalone movies of related story content or direct sequels to the original. As far as franchise continuity goes, this is a shame. Since there basically is no continuity at all.
In search of her missing grandmother, Jamie (Claudette Mink; Tamara) visits her apartment in Omaha Nebraska to discover the building has been condemned and is weirdly populated by weird creepy kids. Jamie moves into her grandma’s place during her search. The grandmother’s building address is 666 and the edifice is besieged by overgrown corn… in the middle of the city… how quaint. The kids in this building look like low budget theater ghost kids from a stage play—blank faces and pale. This movie instantly feels regrettably awful.
The tagline for this movie is “the all-new, terror-filled chapter.” Someone should be liable for this injustice in misrepresentation. Director Guy Magar (Retribution) seems to think placing creepy kids in scenes will make the movie for him. It doesn’t. This vapid flick sucks.
The spiderwebs are shiny plastic, no doubt from a Halloween Spirit store. The corn bleeds when you bite into it; there’s a horrendously bad CGI scene of a girl with maggots pouring from her mouth; and corn wreaths on apartment doors seem to harbinger death. The kids throw a guy off the roof and push a man in a wheelchair down the stairs. Frankly, this should have been hilarious. But this was awful.
Jamie’s ‘stripper with a heart of gold’ neighbor (Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe; Black Christmas, Final Destination 3, Wrong Turn 2) flashes the viewers, runs a bath, and is drowned by killer cornstalks (in her bathtub) after a kid drops in some magic corn kernels that act like Jack’s murderous Beanstalk Beans. Michael Ironside (The Vagrant, Prom Night II, Still/Born, Extraterrestrial, Scanners, Turbo Kid) is in this movie and I still don’t care! Again, this movie is awful.
Turns out her grandmother survived an evangelical tent fire as a child. It was a religious cult congregation of kids led by a boy preacher—unfortunately, his name is not Isaac. Clearly, this movie is in no way a sequel. Rather this is another reimagining (and squandering) of King’s classic and beloved source material. And it sucks for it.
Truly terribly executed is the arrival (out of nowhere) of Job, the boy preacher. Even at first glance I cannot take this kid seriously. But really, none of these creepy kid actors are carrying their weight for convincingly creepy kid performances. It’s all garbage.
The finale of this drivel is just a bunch of burnt-faced kids chasing Jamie around the building. An ineptly managed neighborhood haunted house attraction would be far more effective than this movie. Corn attacks her, it bleeds when cut, and this leads to nothing interesting. Then the building explodes, and no one cares. The evil corn creatures from CotC 3 really could have breathed some life into this limp finale. But alas, I guess the best of these sequels remain in Corn Hell with He Who Walks Behind the Rows. This is so bad.
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MY CALL: Ugh… just another empty CotC sequel really. In fact, it’s a direct sequel to the original, ignoring the other sequels much as, well, many of the other sequels. MORE MOVIES LIKE Children of the Corn 666: Children of the Corn (1984)spawned many video-era sequels over the years (1992, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2011, 2018) leading to the most recent remake (2020). Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (1992) was dumber but funner, and Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995) seems to follow this yet dumber and yet wildly funner pattern to delightful “bad movie hidden gem” perfection. It’s not totally awful, but I’d skip Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering (1996). However, Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998) is a definite hard pass recommendation.
TIMELINE: CotC 1 ended with the cornfields of Gatlin burning with the defeat of an ancient Corn God. But of course, many of Isaac’s still living disciples remained devout to “He who walks behind the rows.” So yeah, sequels. CotC 2 transpired in the week following Vicky and Bert’s escape from the town and Micah is the new child Messiah. Similar to CotC 2, CotC 3 ends when Eli and his corn Bible are destroyed. However, his urban harvest would then be spread around the world in the commodities market. CotC 3 largely ignored the fact that it was a sequel, feeling more like a standalone story. But that doesn’t matter since CotC 4 and CotC 5 likewise ignored all of its predecessors as well, feeling more like stories “based on” CotC. In truth, no CotC sequel acknowledges any other previous sequel except for CotC 2. They are all either standalone movies of related story content or direct sequels to the original. As far as franchise continuity goes, this is a shame. Since there basically is no continuity at all.
Can we please just all agree that more 90s CotC sequels is not necessarily a good thing? Well, here we go with the 5th 90s sequel of Children of the Corn (1984).
Heading back to Gatlin where she was born, teenager Hanna (Natalie Ramsey; Cherry Falls, Cruel Intentions 3) seeks her biological father. After a quick stop in Gatlin General to check her head after a car accident, we learn that Hannah’s birthday is Halloween, the only doctor (Stacy Keach; Escape from New York, Body Bags, Class of 1999) in town is not very welcoming, and all the kids in the hospital feel like denizens of a mental ward dream from a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel. Oh, and our original 1984 Messiah Isaac (John Franklin) awakens in the hospital that very day from his nineteen-year coma—where he lay presumably since we last saw him in the final scenes of Children of the Corn (1984), when we saw him killed and returned as a zombie of sorts to drag Malachi to Corn Hell… and then fell into a coma?
The movie lets us know right away that the locals have been waiting for Hannah for a long time, because it was prophesied. It seems that most of the young locals are “the children of the children” of the corn. And that little nugget is perhaps the most interesting thing about this otherwise completely unengaging story.
At the hospital, the sheriff (Alix Koromzay; The Haunting, Mimic 1-2), doctor and a local literally have a conversation including the phrase “the prophesy says…” So this is written like a Horror for Dummies screenplay. And dare I say that even after the mediocrity of CotC 5, this CotC 6 is definitely the most video-drivel of the series.
This is all incredibly contrived, even for a CotC sequel. People talk about obvious details way too much as if the “characters” were actively concerned that the “audience” won’t be able to keep up with the very simple plot. We’re beaten over the head with it. “The prophecy. The prophecy. She came back in time for the prophecy. It’s her. It’s really her—from the prophecy! We’ve been waiting for 19 years.” It’s a bit much. But I guess it falls right in line with the likes of the 90s video-era mediocrity surrounding its release (e.g., Warlock 3, Pumpkinhead 2-3, Leprechaun 4-5, Wishmaster 2-4).
So Isaac has a child…? When did he have this kid? I mean, it had to have been during or before the events of Children of the Corn (1984). It’s just that his character seemed so… asexual. And Hannah’s mother (Nancy Allen; RoboCop 1-3, Dressed to Kill, Poltergeist III, Strange Invaders, Carrie) is sort of in on the whole prophecy… yet sort of not. Proper explanations of this parenthood go totally unexplained.
As for the bad 90s-ness, there’s a lot of that. A machete-wielding teen invites Hannah to a party in the cornfields called The Harvest; creepy chanting kids are brandished on screen ineffectively; and the death scenes are hot garbage. Not that an after-the-fact literally smoking Stacy Keach isn’t amusing. But… worst electrocution death ever. There is one decently visceral death scene in which a teenager is vertically scythed in half (momentarily on screen). We don’t see it all. But we see enough for it to be satisfying. This was easily the best horror visual in the movie, and the only visual worth mentioning other than Keach’s hokey Tales from the Crypt death.
When the ritual to realize the prophecy finally comes about, the delivery is so upsettingly weak. There’s just zero gravity, and no satisfaction of tension or anticipation because, well, there was none. This ritual hasn’t been earned at all. This is where some over-the-top-ness and bad CGI would be so welcome to embrace the bad of this movie. But the budget couldn’t even handle that. The ending falls completely flat on its face.
Better than CotC 5 and probably CotC 4, CotC 6 is essentially the best of the worst three. Even with Isaac back as the evil leader, this sequel is completely empty. Valueless. The very idea of Isaac is squandered in the awful writing. Its greatest saving grace is that, like CotC 2, this is one of the only sequels that is truly a sequel to the original story! This movie is lame 90s drivel.
Movies, Films & Flix 