First, we take on Barbie,
the highly anticipated feature film by THE Greta Gerwig. The cast and marketing alone are to die for, the question is, is the movie?
Friday at 5 pm, I joined the swarm of pink-clad humans filing into the movie theater. Going into the movie, I expected overt themes of feminism and an insane Barbie dream house set. From many Instagram reels diving into theories about the movie, I also knew there was a Wizard of Oz plot line with Barbie entering the real world.
Without giving away any spoilers, it was exactly what I expected. I loved the viewing experience, but I had two criticisms. One was regarding the opening scene, and one was the second to last scene. Both scenes felt reminiscent of other films, specifically (in my opinion) the opening scene felt like an odd ode to the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey while the closing scene reminded me of Harry Potter’s close-to-death experience where he meets Dumbledore in an interim realm before returning to the chaotic reality of Deathly Hollows Part 2. While I love and appreciate the nods to those two scenes (if those were even influential to Gerwig, both of my references are very different to Barbie), but both were a bit heavy-handed and long, in my opinion. Each of those scenes I am referring to should have been cut in half, because halfway through I was like, ok let’s move on now.
Other than that, Barbie was a theatrical camp masterpiece. I greatly appreciated Barbie’s disillusionment with the real world, which led to the discussion of feminism and the patriarchy within herself and her fellow Barbies in Barbie-land. The cultural nouns the film referenced when depicting Barbieland and then in contrast the real world and the patriarchy were hilarious. 10/10, definitely take your male partner or friend to see if he’s a real one, Jack is and even wore a “Keepin’ it real” unicorn t-shirt (given to him by a friend, but still. He brought the KENergy).
Does Ryan Gosling aka Ken deserve the Oscar Twitter is calling for?
Before viewing the film, I saw a lot of comments on social media about Ryan Gosling’s imminent Oscar for this film. Yes, Gosling was hilarious and very well-cast for this role. He really brought back his inner theater kid for this role.
Isn’t it funny that all of us girlies want one of the only male main characters to get an Oscar for his performance over the numerous talented female actors who carried the movie? I don’t disagree with the praise for his performance, but if Gosling gets an Oscar, so should America Ferrera and Margot Robbie.
And now… Oppenheimer,
the 3-hour saga by Christopher Nolan with an equally amazing cast, but a very different vibe…
I saw Oppenheimer in theaters at 12 pm the next day (Saturday) after Barbie. Going into this film, I had few expectations. Knowing it is a Christopher Nolan film, I knew to expect stunning visuals and mind-opening themes regarding the atomic bomb. I knew very little about Robert J. Oppenheimer himself.
Many people have been asking which movie is better and I would argue that they are incomparable. First of all, they could not feature more different themes and film elements (fantastical, feminism, musical vs. historical, moral questioning, epic). Second of all, why compare these two great films? They’re simply great on their own. Compare Oppenheimer to the rest of Nolan’s films if anything. Many are saying this movie is the culmination of his film career (so far).
The cast was incredible, giving life and humanity to these larger-than-life historical figures. The cast, crew, and Nolan also managed to keep me (and the 8 friends I saw it with) engaged for the entirety of the 3 hours. In addition to this movie being 3 hours, which I typically oppose as a standard film length unless you’re Christopher Nolan, it cut between two realities: Oppenheimer’s subjective, first-person experience of the creation of the atomic bomb to his prosecution post the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. AND ON TOP OF THAT, Nolan layers a third layer of storytelling using black and white film of the objective Oppenheimer experience…I’ll leave it at that to let the film guide you through that experience. As you can see, there’s a lot going on in the film, but Nolan guides you through it all expertly.
Speaking of Oscars, someone give one to Cillian Murphy.
What an amazing performance. As a longtime fan, I am so happy to see him lead such a huge movie. He really slayed the performance and gave the audience so much to work with in regard to figuring out Oppenheimer’s internal state throughout his journey.
The movies are poppin’, but let’s not forget, SAG-AFTRA and WGA are STILL on strike.
The TV & Movie studios in Hollywood have not given the WGA or SAG-AFTRA any of their demands and to make matters worse, they are actively sabotaging their workers’ right to strike (allegedly, but like it’s true).
The excitement of the release of two huge box-office hits hides the current state of Hollywood as audiences do not feel the repercussions of actors’ and writers’ strike, but we will soon. SAG negotiators are saying the strike could go into 2024!!!! Time to get back into animation & foreign-made content because soon there will be nothing new on the screen.
Here’s a link to how to support the writers and actors on strike.
That’s all from me on the current film scene. Let me know what y’all think about these movies in the comments!