#but fr why did we need hughie the boys rami malek josh peck dane dehaan etc. those roles could've gone to anyone

[doux-amer]

I watched Barbie and Oppenheimer and they were just...okay. :/ I think I already talked about Barbie a bit. Tl;dr: it was aesthetically pleasing, but pacing and writing were horrific, Barbie's arc was all over the place and expected, and it was really dated and tried to do like three different things that didn't end up doing any of those three things well).

With regard to Oppenheimer, I didn't hate it, but I feel like it, more than any of his movies I've seen (and enjoyed or was neutral about), highlighted Christopher Nolan's limitations and inexperience with certain things.

It felt like it was two movies squeezed into one unsuccessfully, and I'd rather it have picked one. I actually think it might've been better as a limited series, but they would have never made one for lots of reasons. The pacing and editing were odd, distracting, and confusing and same goes for some cinematographic choices; the narrative choices were sooooo rudimentary to the point of being a bit childish (omg please...I wanted to take a red pen and start slashing away at the script and writing notes); and I don't know if it was just my theater, but the sound was awful. This isn't unique to Oppenheimer as we've all been aware of for several years now, but I was straining to hear a lot of the dialogue and when there was loud music, it was virtually inaudible.

The star-studded cast prevented me from immersing myself in the movie too because it screamed "BIG STUDIO MOVIE BY BIG DIRECTOR ABOUT BIG PROJECT EVERYONE IS DYING TO BE IN!" It became a game of "who's who" for me at some point. We could've gotten away with casting newbies, guys, especially for the bit roles.

And some of the actors didn't impress me; Florence and Robert were okay which is disappointing because I'm very fond of them. I'm not sure why everyone was raving that this is a RDJ Oscar nom; tbh, I thought he slipped into his usual mannerisms and RDJ-ness in the second half/last third of the movie. Still good of course because he knows how to act, but it felt like he was treading familiar territory for me despite the very different character he's playing. But he's also such a unique actor and person that it's hard to ignore all the things that make him him; it can be hard for me to forget he's RDJ. :/ Still excited that he's taking on projects like this and The Sympathizer!

But I guess...the reason why I didn't hate it was because I at least like the fact that Nolan's trying something new and I'm giving him some grace because of that? And there are still things he does that I like and the talent is there. AND OF COURSE Cillian. He made the movie. I understand wanting to put your blorbo in everything you do (this is like Bong Joonho and Song Kangho for me lakdfjsa), and what a great blorbo to have. He was SO SO SO good and I forgot how much I love watching him act and how much I missed seeing him. Everything he did was *chef's kiss *mwah.