Barbie

I'll be damned, it was just the remedy I needed!

After such a well, depressing end for Oppenheimer I was amazed at how Barbie was able to pull me out of this existential crisis by presenting an existential crisis on the screen. I am not telling you a thing about this plot, no way, I would be robbing you like taking candy away from a baby. The best way I can describe it is it takes bits of Toy Story 3, The Lego Movie, adds an awful lot of reality and a good dose of satire, and is precisely NOTHING like the movie you would expect. It keeps changing tracks, flipping and twisting ideas that would be incredibly predictable and cliche and makes something new. It is easily one of the most intelligent, introspective, and funny movies not of this year but just that I've ever seen in my time. It almost made me cry once with a scene right out of Pixar's Soul and then it absolutely made me shed a single tear at the end. Good God almighty no wonder the trailer barely shows anything cause how do you sell this movie? Cause on the surface there's a lot of poking at the patriarchy, how Barbieland functions, the identities of our characters but then....if you give just a little bit of thought to it you plunge deep under the surface and I mean deeeeep. Margot Robbie can you do no wrong? Flawless, heartfelt, a ray of hope and sunshine in my life. Ryan Gosling, man I'm almost jealous of you getting this part because what a wild ride it is this journey for Ken and even when he's kinda being an ass you can tell he's far from doing it intentionally which just makes it funny. This movie revels in the lavishly ludicrous and yet touches on life, identity, and changes in the most simplistic yet enlightened way. I'm not saying it's a film entirely for adults much akin to Soul, kids can watch and enjoy it but I feel we're more talking a teenage to adult range. It really just had no right being as good as it is, and I know people will howl "woke" (like it frigging means anything) but I did not find it pandering, insincere, or pushing for something. It kinda just lays it out like it is in reality without shouting for extremist change. I loved it, I thought it was amazing, buuuut do I give it a 10/10? Ohhh I don't know, I feel I need to watch it again and yeah we're gonna do a round two of this Barbinheimer phenomenon. So for now a 9/10, 4 golden stars, and two thumbs way way up! We shall see who truly wins this battle of wills and wits, and remember my friends future events such as these will affect you in the future.

Oppenheimer

I'm honestly not sure if I made the right decision.

Between this and Barbie....maybe I should have seen Barbie first. I just don't know what to write beyond go see it. There's just no other word to sum up my being, my thinking mind, my stance in this world except dissociating which is ironic because the term used in chemistry is the process of splitting things into atoms, quite appropriate for this piece of history. I don't think I truly have it in me to really go into the subject material of this film, it's too big, it's too heavy, I certainly am not the same after viewing it. So let's talk film technicals. For a 3 hour movie it moves at a very quick pace and doesn't tell the story in so much chronological order as Christopher Nolan often does in his pictures, splitting the narrative between the process of creating the most terrifying weapon ever conceived and a courtroom drama dealing with the tangled web of events and persons surrounding J. Robert Oppenheimer. It will take a brief moment to get used to the unique style, hopping between narratives and even color/black & white, but I feel it was handled excellently. The editing is nothing short of surgical in how cold and precise it is which sets up a tense atmosphere pretty much start to finish. There is brief moments of levity but it couldn't be more of a hard drama if it tried. Of course my love of Cillian Murphy gets him high praise and that man certainly nails down the thousand yard stare. Pretty star studded cast from major to minor players and there are indeed a good many names and actors but they definitely did fine work. Cinematography in such wide expanses to just a mere closeup looked outstanding. Sound design, mounting tension further to almost the point of anxiety. Visual effects, fascinating with a good dose of metaphor and mortifying in the best way possible. I hate to brush in the broadest of strokes but there is zero damn way to watch this movie vicariously. I'm not even slightly daunted discussing the political, ethical, and moral subjects presented but I just feel kinda numb after seeing it. The theater I went to, though sadly not in IMAX, the sound system rattled my bones, the movie made me jump, it made my heart pound in my chest, gripping the arm rests without realizing I was doing so, my hand covering my mouth in sheer horror, when I walked out the door of the theater I heard nothing no voices no noises while surrounded by a crowd just for a moment. This is not hyperbole, this is not an empassioned statement, it is the truth of the matter. The world looks more fragile than ever before and it could burn, turn into dust and rocks, before it's time. And if you walk out still believing and accepting of the continuing existence of war or nuclear weaponry, there is nothing I or anybody on the face of this Earth can do for you. Because you have no concept, nor knowledge, nor understanding of the grim meathook realities such forces possess. The blinding light, the deafening sound, the snow like fallout, nothing should cause more fear. And the story it tells and the discussions it creates make this film well worth multiple viewings I assure you. It's still difficult to compile and articulate myself but I suppose a final score is needed, 9/10 for me. It has potential to go higher and I do promise now we will talk about this again later down the road. I just dreadfully hope this won't impede or affect my viewing pleasure of Barbie, because I know a lot of people are going to want to see it, but I think my constant wardrobe of all black will never be more fitting.