Oppenheimer Review: One of Christopher Nolan’s Best.

Christopher Nolan is one of my and many other’s favourite directors working today.
His name attached to a project alone is enough to get my butt in a set.
I have even liked some of his films which have received criticism, like most recently Tenet.
Nolan’s Oppenheimer, however, has been getting mostly non-stop praise and, after seeing the film in Xtremescreen, I can say that this praise is entirely deserved.
Oppenheimer is a biographical film following the life of the titular J. Robert Oppenheimer, called the father of the atomic bomb.
Cillian Murphy plays Oppenheimer in his first leading role in a Christopher Nolan movie, and he does so flawlessly, conveying so much emotion with just his eyes.

This is Murphy’s best performance to date.

His performance is masterful, as we watch Oppenheimer go from studying abroad, to eventually leading the Manhattan Project, to his downfall during the shameful years of the McCarthy Era.
I would not be surprised if we saw Murphy get at least an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
He should not be alone in getting a nomination, however, for there are other actors whose roles in Oppenheimer make them deserving as well.
There is Emily Blunt as Kitty Openheimer, who steals the scene in an interrogation with Jason Clarke’s Roger Robb, which makes her deserving of a Best Supporting Actress nod.
As for Best Supporting Actor, the nomination without a doubt has to go to Robert Downey Jr, who delivers what is one of the best performances of his career as Lewis Strauss.

I will be upset if Robert Downey Jr. does not at least get nominated for his role in *Oppenheimer.*

Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, and Casey Affleck are some of the many, many big name actors who makes appearances in this film and they all do excellent.
But what is good performances without good direction, and Christopher Nolan delivers that in spades with a stunning look into Oppenheimer’s mind in all of its beauty and terror.
This terror especially comes into play with the Trinity Test, the first test of a nuclear bomb, which is the most intense moment I have seen on screen all year.

The build up to the blast had my heart pounding.

The way the cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema), the editing (Jennifer Lame) and score (Ludwig Göransson) all combine during the Trinity Test creates such a beautifully haunting moment.
This moment is maybe even matched by Oppenehimer’s reaction to the aftermath of the successful bomb drops on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed hundreds of thousands.
Nolan and Murphy portray the effect these horrible events had on Oppenheimer perfectly, leading an ending scene which gave me goosebumps.
I think the last time a movie’s ending left me feeling so haunted was when I saw the ending to Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder.

The ending of *Oppenheimer* will stick with me for a while.

After seeing Oppenheimer I would go as far to say that it is not just an excellent film but one of Christopher Nolan’s best, right up there with the likes of Inception and The Dark Knight.
The film is three hours long and when it was over it felt like barely any time had passed and that may be the highest praise I can give it.
I cannot recommend Oppenheimer enough.
It not only provides a haunting look at the creation of nuclear weapons but a look at the flawed yet sympathetic man who fathered them.

A Quiet Place Part 2, Review: An Intense Theater Experience.

I loved A Quiet Place when I first saw it in theaters and my appreciation for it has only increased as the years have gone by.
So, obviously, I was very excited for the sequel, once again directed by John Krasinski.
But then, of course, COVID hit and the film was delayed, until recently.
Well, I just saw A Quiet Place Part 2 and can say that it is a worthy sequel, which I quite enjoyed.
I do prefer the original, but Part 2 is still a great follow up that provided an intense experience that needs to be seen in theaters.
As the trailers revealed, the film begins by cutting to day one of the alien attack, where it is interesting to see how the Abbott family survived the invasion.
From here, Part 2 moves to the present, right after the events of the first film as Evelyn (Emily Blunt), Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe), and the newly born baby, are forced to leave their home, now armed with the knowledge of how to kill the aliens.
Coming across another survivor named Emmett (Cillian Murphy), the family come to realize that the aliens are not the only threat, but people are as well.

Murphy does an excellent job as the isolated and traumatised Emmett.

A Quiet Place Part 2 has stellar acting across the board, with each of the cast providing a standout moment.
Blunt portrays her character’s grief of recently losing her husband excellently, and Jupe delivers a harrowing moment during the first act of the film expertly.
The standouts, though, are definitely Simmonds and Murphy.
I would actually argue that Regan is the main character of this film, as she tries to live up to her father Lee’s legacy, following his tragic sacrifice at the end of the first film.
As for Murphy, he also does a fantastic job as Emmett, portraying his trauma well, and I really liked the slow bond that grew between his character and Regan.

I would have preferred to see a bit more of Emmett, though.
We get to see how the Abbott’s experienced day one and I kind of wanted to see Emmett’s story, leading up to him meeting the Abbott’s in Part 2.
Along with the great acting, the feeling of intensity from the original film is, thankfully, still present here.
I found myself often gripping the chair I was sitting on in scenes where the characters desperately tried to stay quiet to keep away the aliens.
This involved various scenes with intercutting, as each of the separated characters found themselves in mortal danger where the slightest noise could mean their inevitable deaths.
It was amazingly edited togethor.

Just when you think one character is done for, the scene cuts to another character in a situation somehow even more dangerous that the other one’s.

As for the ending, it ends abruptly, like the first, only I would say more so.
Even though the ending to the first film felt abrupt, it was satisfying enough to the point that it didn’t feel like a sequel was necessary.
This ending, on the other hand, definitely needs to be followed up on with a Part 3.
Maybe they could give us more of Emmett’s backstory in this potential sequel.
Either way, I do find A Quiet Place Part 2 to be a worthy sequel.
It has great acting and delivers many intense scenes that are best viewed in theaters to deliver their full effect.

A Quiet Place: Set Ups, Payoffs and Jump Scares.

A Quiet Place, directed by John Krasinski, feels like a lot like 2018’s version of Get Out.
A smart horror movie with brilliant setup and payoffs.
Set in a post apocalyptic world where monsters that look like the Demogorgon from Stranger Things hunt humans who make any sound.
The Abbott family has learned to survive by being quiet though, most likely due to the deaf daughter of the family, Regan, played by Millicent Simmonds.
Right from the get-go, A Quiet Place is filled to the brim with tension.
The fact that the slightest sound could mean certain death for the characters is set up brilliantly in the opening minutes and really sets the stage for the pure, adrenaline fueled terror that is to follow.

This terror is further amplified by how much you come to care for the Abbott family, which is a success in of itself because they mostly talk through sign language.
The father, Lee, played by Krasinski himself, is especially likeable and so was his pregnant wife, Evelyn, played by Emily Blunt, who is actually Kransinski’s wife (although why their characters decided to have a baby in a world where any sound means an immanent and painful death is beyond me).
I also liked Regan and the other child, Marcus, played by Noah Jupe.
Coming to care about these characters over the course of the film really made it scarier because I feared for their safety.
This was proven for me when I found myself crying near the end of the film, you will know what scene I am talking about when you see it.
However, even though this film was a terrifying and intense ride, its scare factor was dulled by one thing.
The constant use of jump scares.
Jump scares can work for some films, like with IT last year, but A Quiet Place did not need them.
A Quiet Place uses sound brilliantly so it would have sense and been more unsettling had there not been a resounding boom of noise every time one of the monsters appeared.
Even worse, a lot of these were false jump scares where nothing bad was happening.
Jump scares are fine in some instances but false jump scares never are.
No one is impressed by them and I counted at least four instances of them.

It really is a shame because without the jump scares A Quiet Place would have been a five star film for me.
It is a non-stop, intense thrill ride with likeable characters and brilliant set ups and payoffs.