Barbenheimer bonanza: how two films saved the summer box office

[Tommy Tainant]

Barbenheimer bonanza: how two films saved the summer box office

Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s vastly different summer offerings have opened to record-breaking numbers at a precarious time for the industry

www.theguardian.com

I was moaning about films not appealing to me these days.
But this us proof that there is still life in proper cinema yet.

I havent seen either film yet. Not sure if Barbie is my sort of film although clips Ive seen look quite funny.

But Oppenheimer looks grown up. Hopefully it will encourage the Moguls to make more films for adults.

 

[Rawley]

Barbenheimer bonanza: how two films saved the summer box office

Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s vastly different summer offerings have opened to record-breaking numbers at a precarious time for the industry

www.theguardian.com

I was moaning about films not appealing to me these days.
But this us proof that there is still life in proper cinema yet.

I havent seen either film yet. Not sure if Barbie is my sort of film although clips Ive seen look quite funny.

But Oppenheimer looks grown up. Hopefully it will encourage the Moguls to make more films for adults.

It's three hours long!

 

[Moonglow]

It's three hours long!

Take a book to read.

 

[theHawk]

Barbenheimer bonanza: how two films saved the summer box office

Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s vastly different summer offerings have opened to record-breaking numbers at a precarious time for the industry

www.theguardian.com

I was moaning about films not appealing to me these days.
But this us proof that there is still life in proper cinema yet.

I havent seen either film yet. Not sure if Barbie is my sort of film although clips Ive seen look quite funny.

But Oppenheimer looks grown up. Hopefully it will encourage the Moguls to make more films for adults.

I’m sure Barbie is right up your alley…Tammy…

 

[Tommy Tainant]

It's three hours long!

That sounds like value to me.

 

[Rawley]

That sounds like value to me.

We saw Indiana Jones last week. That was 2 1/2 hours. I could barely walk after getting up from sitting that long.

 

[Moonglow]

We saw Indiana Jones last week. That was 2 1/2 hours. I could barely walk after getting up from sitting that long.

Just think how Indiana felt at his age after the movie.

 

[Rawley]

Just think how Indiana felt at his age after the movie.

IMHO it's gotta be his last. The CGI making him look 40 was pretty cool, though.

 

[Moonglow]

IMHO it's gotta be his last. The CGI making him look 40 was pretty cool, though.

I want AI to make another Bonanza movie with the original cast.

 

[Flopper]

Barbenheimer bonanza: how two films saved the summer box office

Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s vastly different summer offerings have opened to record-breaking numbers at a precarious time for the industry

www.theguardian.com

I was moaning about films not appealing to me these days.
But this us proof that there is still life in proper cinema yet.

I havent seen either film yet. Not sure if Barbie is my sort of film although clips Ive seen look quite funny.

But Oppenheimer looks grown up. Hopefully it will encourage the Moguls to make more films for adults.

Having seen a movie years ago about Oppenheimer and a TV series, I know the story but I'll probably see it anyway. I am actually looking forward to seeing Barbie. It seems a lot of people think this is a silly kid move which it is not. It is rated PG13. The gist of story is Barbie enters the real world where things like Sex exist. With a fine cast lead by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, it has the potential to be a really funny movie.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

"go woke" to "not go broke"

 

[Tommy Tainant]

Having seen a movie years ago about Oppenheimer and a TV series, I know the story but I'll probably see it anyway. I am actually looking forward to seeing Barbie. It seems a lot of people think this is a silly kid move which it is not. It is rated PG13. The gist of story is Barbie enters the real world where things like Sex exist. With a fine cast lead by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, it has the potential to be a really funny movie.

We may not feel the same when Barbie 6 (Barbie Transitions ) comes around.

 

[lg325]

I hear the Barbie movie is well done with some fine writing. If you men do go take it from a guy with five older sisters, take a big box of KLEENEX with you from what I am told the girls will need it, and maybe you too.

 

[Papageorgio]

I quit movie going when Covid closed it all down, now we want to go but nothing has caught our interest.

 

[whitehall]

It looks like H'wood was counting on a blockbuster Barbie with half a dozen commercials related to the movie but it had terrible reviews.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Barbie has very good reviews, whereas Whitehall's ratings remain in the minus figures.

 

[lg325]

BARBIE
Sound of Freedom
Oppenheimer

All seem to be doing really well at the box office. I may just go back to a movie house after some years. The last movie I saw at a movie house was The Dark Hour .

 

[Flopper]

It looks like H'wood was counting on a blockbuster Barbie with half a dozen commercials related to the movie but it had terrible reviews.

Wrong. Rotten Tomatoes gave a 90% with Audience Score of 90%.
The critics consensus:
Barbie is a visually dazzling comedy whose meta humor is smartly complemented by subversive storytelling.

Not only is it getting better than expected reviews but it is exceeding box office projections. Warner Bros projected only 75 million due to poor showings of other summer films. However. Barbie raked in 155 million in its opening weekend, 10 million more than the cost of the movie. Further ticket saLes, streaming revenue , and foreign box office is expected to bring total revenues in range of 250 to 300 million.

 

[Stryder50]

So I've just got back from seeing "Barbie" a few hours ago and saw "Oppenheimer" a few days ago. So here are my reviews and comments on both.

BARBIE;
You know you may be in for something Good~Entertaining when the film starts with a parody/satire of the opening scenes from "2001 - A Space Odyssey" (first spoiler alert). And yes, things get better from there. Those of us who are long in the tooth and grew of age over the past 60+ years of "Barbie" will relate to the ethos of 'Barbie' and the cultural influence cast upon the USA and Western Civ. of that time to the present from this seemingly innocent "toy". "Barbie" quickly became an icon of Western/North American Civ. and subsequent cultural developments via the image and message it conveyed to girls and young women over the decades since her intro("invention") of 1959.

It's been said "That blonde bitch has everything!" and to some degree that was/is true. This movie conveys that with it's concept of a fantasy world/realm of "Barbie-land"; versus the "Real World". Yet we start out where the "Barbie's" see their realm of existence as Normal, and are clueless to the alternate Reality of the "Real World". The theme of the movie centers around the MAIN BARBIE experiencing dysfuntions, mostly physical, that can only be fixed by a journey to the Real World and connecting with a perpetrator there that is the source/cause of those dysfunctions. That's all I'll reveal for now other than to mention this is a comedy with some serious, metaphysical moments, and also a musical with several song and dance elements. Most of which are very amusing and humorous.

Overall, I'd recommend this movie if you want a balance that is mostly fun and enjoyable while giving you a couple/few concepts to ponder regarding life in general and those "existential issues/questions".

OPPENHEIMER;
Here is where we return to Reality, and a very serious one at that.

The creation of atomic weapons/bombs is a very complex and involved process spanning decades in the early part of the 20th Century. It starts early on with new knowledge of science/physics that shows potentials on the edge of human imaginations. During the 1920-30s this basic knowledge grows and it's potentials become more expansive, yet still most can't see the full destiny it is unfolding. Into this melee of expanding science~knowledge we find R.J.Oppenheimer as a rather obscure and 'second string' physicist making connections with fellow physicists in the same avenues of research. As international politics and relations begin to shape into factions and eventual conflict/war, Oppenheimer finds that he is drawn into the evolving science/technology that will shape the weapons and devices of the growing conflict/war.

His position within the international scientific community eventually results in his connections and linkages being essential to focusing the new realms of science potential in the weapons development programs of the Allies against the Axis and this eventually shapes into the use of atomic/nuclear energy in making destructive devices; "a bomb". While initially he is for this sort of project, over time, as the extrapolations of this course in science become more clear, he begins to have wrestle with conscious on the direction evolving. Unfortunately the "Genie is out of the Bottle" ~ "Pandora's Box has Opened" and the unwanted results can not be jammed back in.

The development of atomic bomb/weapons started as a race in early 1940s against Nazi Germany which had a similar program in play, but eventually this development program gained an inertia of it's own. An inertia that seems to have been unstoppable despite the regrets of any principle developers such as Oppenheimer. By the time the Hydrogen Bomb appears on the near horizon, the fact that the Atomic Bomb will be it's catalyst makes Oppenheimer's regrets anticlimactic, in effectual.

Another key aspect of this movie is how despite claims that Oppenheimer "couldn't manage a hamburger stand" he did mange to collect and organize an effective and productive team of scientists, engineers, technicians, and others under the umbrella of the "Manhattan Project" that despite hurdles and challenges and seemingly "behind schedule" activity did manage to produce two types of atomic weapons (uranium and plutonium) that could be applied to use before World War Two ended. In fact, which seem to have hastened the end of that War by months to a year or more.

This is a very engaging and fascinating movie on a personality whom didn't start out thinking he would be major~key person to winning a war and would find out by the end that he was the one whom was key to making it happen. And having a role in shaping the future world after. The deeper and hidden subtext here is that while there are key personalities in major historical events, there are factors that seem inevitable and will come into play despite whom is the one dealt the hand to play.

Another entertaining and informative movie to see. Despite it's three hour length, it seemed to me to pass rather quickly and I didn't feel the numbness in 'seat of pants' I would have expected.

 

[petro]

We may not feel the same when Barbie 6 (Barbie Transitions ) comes around.

To be fair, she has always had the same lack of genitala as Ken.