Why Oppenheimer Is The Must See Movie Of The Year

After waiting months to finally see it here's why I think Oppenheimer is the must see movie. By far.  I'm a pretty big history buff. Oppenheimer had  my interest from the day it was released last summer. It was a movie that I knew I would eventually see, but after hearing it's over 3 hours long (including credits) it seemed like something I could wait to see at home.

Let's face it, at movie theaters we know the start time of the movie is never the truth. You sit through dozens of commercials before the upcoming trailers start to roll. Sometimes there are 15 to 20 minutes of ads and trailers before the feature begins. Who wants to spend that much time in the summer in a dark theater watching a movie with the endless sounds of popcorn being munched and candy boxes being opened. Never mind the chit chat during the movie.

The idea of watching movies at home always sounds good and for most smaller movies that is fine, but one that is as big as Oppenheimer deserves to be seen on the big screen. That is my only regret about the film, it should be seen on the biggest screen possible.

Setting that aside, Oppenheimer is the most important movie I have seen since Unbroken the story of survivors of a Japanese Prisoner of War camps during World War 2. That movie was also based on a true story of the unbreakable spirit of one man in particular. It was awe inspiring. Oppenheimer is awe inspiring for different reasons. For one, the stakes were higher than just one man, this was about all mankind.

By now most everyone knows what the story is about, or more precisely, who it's about. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb who after it's invention (along with hundreds of scientists and math geniuses). The audience sees his obsession with the possibilities of what could be done by splitting the atom. He knew it would be unlike any weapon man has ever created, but he didn't know how colossal a weapon it would be.  That's what is fascinating about the movie, you are along with Oppie for the ride but, we knew how it ends even when he didn't

Cillian Murphy plays Oppenheimer amazingly well and is so deserving of the Best Actor at this year's Academy Awards. I can't think of anyone more deserving than him. Murphy is totally enveloped in the role and looks uncannily like him.

How Oppenheimer went from National and International hero to becoming a bust because he had the temerity to question what he and his cohorts had done. This is where Robert Downey comes in as Lewis Strauss the man that ultimately will betray Oppenheimer. Downey deserves the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his ability to hide his character's motivation till the bitter end.

Oppenheimer should win for Best Picture and Best Director for Christopher Nolan as well.

If you haven't seen it yet the good news is the movie is back on the big screen in select theaters for a limited time. As a matter of fact, there's a good chance you will see me there again, but please chew your popcorn quietly, we don't want to miss a word of this work of cinematic art.

The people at (Far Out) have come up with a list of the top 5 movies that were ruined by just one bad character (or actor). Let’s face it, we have all been disappointed while watching a movie in which just one character can ruin the whole movie for you. Perhaps the actor was not right for the role or maybe the character was unnecessarily annoying.

If the character is written in such a way to have the desired effect of being annoying or hated by the audience that’s one thing. It’s entirely a different thing if the actor plays the role so poorly or over the top that the character becomes annoying.

It’s one thing if the character is designed for us to despise them. Say, for instance, a character in a comedy that we think is way over the top and unrealistic. We understand it was written that way and you really can’t blame the actor for playing a role.

With these top five characters all have in common, they put them on top of the list if their character was so bad that the movie was ruined for the audience.

All but one of these actors are A Listers, meaning they are basically household names. They are all so successful that they should have known better than to take these roles.  Confidence is a by product of huge success and with that comes the mistaken notion that they can tackle any role. Oops!

For these big time stars, these roles are mostly blips on the screen and their careers didn’t suffer. Every actor has been part of a movie that they wish could be forgotten.  For these five, unfortunately these parts will never be forgotten but they can all be forgiven for their acting transgressions.

According to Looper a lot of people were pretty underwhelmed by his performance, and one consistent complaint has been that Leto’s portrayal was too over the top.

It is very hard for any actor to work alongside who many believe is the world‘s greatest actor, Daniel day, Lewis. Cameron Diaz came off as very wooden and was never really believable as the character Jenny. The chemistry between Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio was not great either. She has done many fine roles since and has moved on from this stiff performance.

People hated the character for a lot of reasons but mainly because they believed he was included only to attract children to the theater. Even the kids hated his voice and that was it for Jar Jar, thankfully!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC5RtcypOqE
Let's face it, there is no way this role would be played by middle aged Caucasian man today. Mickey Rooney played the way over the top stereotype of a Japanese business man as more of a caricature than a character. We have to believe in Mickey Rooney would not be very proud of this blatantly racist role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqhJFxI5nKI
This movie was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Austin Butler, but no nominations for Tom Hanks role as Colonel Parker and there is good reason for it. Hanks basically made the Parker role into a cartoon character with his bulbous nose and strange accent. It came off more like a homage to W.C. Fields, Tom Hanks in a fat suit is never a good look.