OPPENHEIMER
(2023)
Christopher Nolan, even with “Memento,” the
“Batman” trilogy, “Inception” and “Interstellar” on his resume, scales new
heights as a filmmaker with this fast-paced, succinctly written and brilliantly
edited psychological profile of the man most responsible for creating the
atomic bomb.
While the three-hour picture touches on the
important events of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life and, plot-wise,
spends most of its time on his work during the Manhattan Project, which
resulted in the bombs that ended World War II when dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the film is most interested in the volatile relationship between
science and politics and the way hysteria over communism altered lives.
Irish actor Cillian Murphy, best known as
Scarecrow in the “Dark Knight” series, seems an unlikely choice to anchor a
very expensive, high-profile picture, but he nails this conflicted, prickly
man, making good use of his hypnotic eyes and quiet manner.
Like most of the director’s pictures,
“Oppenheimer” is a technical marvel, with world-class work by editor Jennifer Lame
(“Tenet,” “Manchester by the Sea”) and cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema
(“Dunkirk,” “Interstellar”).
The centerpiece of the film—and
Oppenheimer’s life—begins when Gen. Groves (a no-nonsense Matt Damon) convinces
him to take charge of the bomb-making aspect of the Manhattan Project. Using
the tension created by the time-sensitive nature of an existential world war
and the gradual process of science, Nolan creates what seems like a believable
tale of how the atomic bomb came to be, culminating in the first test in Los
Alamos, New Mexico on July 16, 1945, just weeks before the bombs were used to
expedite Japan’s surrender.
Beyond Murphy’s superb portrayal of this
low-key, but egoistical man of science, the film overflows with small,
memorable performances, including Damon; Emily Blunt, as Oppenheimer’s
long-suffering but loyal wife; Tom Conti as Albert Einstein; Josh Harnett as
fellow Cal prof, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Ernest Lawrence; Benny Safdie as
hydrogen bomb inventor Edward Teller and Florence Pugh as Oppenheimer’s
longtime mistress.
In the second half of this epic, Robert
Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a key member of the Atomic Energy Commission,
dominates as he maneuvers to cancel Oppenheimer’s influence over post-war
nuclear policy. Behind the scenes, he uses the era’s suspicions of even the
slightest connection to communism and, underlying everything, Oppenheimer’s
Jewishness to tarnish his reputation. It’s one of Downey’s finest performances.
In addition to the questions of loyalty to
the U.S., the film examines the moral questions faced by scientists working on
the bomb (it’s terrible, but better us than the Germans, right?) and the even
more destructive hydrogen bomb that was developed after the war. Oppenheimer’s
idea that an international board should control weapons is seen as more proof
that he was being swayed by Soviet influence.
I’m sure the film doesn’t perfectly align
with all the facts of these mid-Century events, but it’s not meant to be a
documentary. “Oppenheimer” is an exceptionally crafted feature that manages to
be both a grand work of entertainment and an insightful look at a crucial event
in American history. Not only is this Nolan’s greatest achievement, but it
ranks as one of the best films of this century.
MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE---DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE (2023)
Is there no end to the existential threats
to mankind Hollywood screenwriters can invent that require heroes to save us?
In the latest chapter of the Ethan Hunt
(Tom Cruise) story, he and his IMF unit (Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are back
along with Rebecca Ferguson) are tasked with obtaining a key that manages the
all-powerful, but poorly explained “Entity.”
Though all the nations in the world are
after it, the rogue players, as always, seem to beat them at every turn,
requiring Hunt and team to once again, this is film No. 7, stand as the only
hope to avert the apocalypse.
Two women are the picture’s most
interesting characters. From 2018’s “Fallout,” Vanessa Kirby’s White Widow
returns, bringing an amoral Eurotrash duplicitousness, playing off Hunt’s
unimpeachable righteousness. Meanwhile, Grace (Hayley Atwell), a slick
pickpocket, injects some street-level crookedness into this battle of genius
operatives, becoming both foil and friend to Hunt’s efforts.
Atwell, Peggy in various Marvel
adventures, finally has a role worthy of her skills as she matches Ethan’s
spy-craft despite her character being an amateur. Previously, she gave
impressive performances in British TV miniseries, as Julia in “Brideshead
Revisited” (2008) and as Margaret in “Howards End” (2017).
Returning to the series is the memorable
Henry Czerny as Kittridge, Hunt’s distrusting controller from the first, and
best film of the franchise. He’s the perfect government go-between, playing
both sides but never completely committing to either. You never knew what he
was thinking in the 1996 actioner, which hewed closer to the TV original than
any of the sequels. But images of Hunt pulling off a mask, dangling in the
middle of a Langley computer room and dodging a helicopter chasing a train in a
tunnel are essential in development of the modern action picture.
Of course, the new film features some
incredible chases, including a dizzying and very funny race through the narrow
streets of Rome with Hunt and Grace handcuffed to each other, squeezed into a
mini-Fiat and, of course, the epic motorcycle jump off a cliff that’s thrilling
even though I’d seen part of it in the trailer about 20 times.
This film, coming just a year after “Top
Gun Maverick,” cements Cruise’s status as the most important movie star in
Hollywood, a seemingly ageless icon (he’s 61) who is equally believable doing
an impossible stunt and mourning a colleague’s death. His continuingly evolving
Hunt grows more human, more fragile and more introspective about his place in
the world with every film (I’m hoping for a final film showing him enjoying
retirement, coaching Little League and battling with irritating neighbors.) He’s
100 times a better actor than he was when the series began 27 years ago.
Though the film is “Part One,” I didn’t
feel cheated at the end; writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, working on his
third “Mission: Impossible” (he’s also written four other Cruise pictures),
gives viewers a real ending while keeping the mystery of The Entity unfinished
business that will require more impossibilities from Hunt next year.
711
OCEAN DRIVE (1950)
This B-movie, released amidst the wave of
mid-century film noirs, has more connection with the rise-and-fall gangster
tales from the early 1930s. If Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney or Humphrey
Bogart starred instead of Edmond O’Brien, this would be a highly admired
picture airing regularly on TCM. (Instead, I found it on YouTube.)
O’Brien, who followed his years as a solid
supporting player with a series of hard-nose cops and criminals in postwar
crime movies, plays Mal Granger, a discontent telephone company tech. After
being introduced to the illegal off-track-betting operation run by tough guy
Vince Walter (Barry Kelley), Mal quits his legit gig and begins updating the
technology used by the gambling house. (At the time, it was illegal to place horse
racing bets outside the track.)
Mal quickly falls for the lifestyle,
seeing the boss’ girl (Dorothy Patrick) and pining for more power. Then, right
on cue, Walter is killed and Mal takes over the business. But trouble is
brewing behind the scenes as a special police crime unit starts probing Los
Angeles gambling and a powerful mobster from the Midwest (the deceptively
grandfather-like Otto Kruger) wants a piece of Mal’s action.
What makes this film stand out from a
hundred others from the era is a smartly written, multilayered plot along with
the care director Joseph M. Newman takes with even the briefest of scenes. A
sequence in which Mal talks to a restaurant owner who knows a tailor (the
underrate character actor Robert Osterloh) who could do a job involving a
killing could have fit nicely into “The Godfather.”
Adding to its believability, the picture
places the characters in numerous classic Southern California locations,
including Hollywood Park racetrack; Gilmore Field, the old minor league
baseball field; the Sunset Strip; one-time LA nightclub the Doll House and Palm
Springs. (Oddly, the title address is Mal’s Malibu house but it doesn’t play
much of a role in the film.)
Like too many crime films, the ending falls
short of the first 90 minutes. Here, it’s a complicated chase through the
insides of Nevada’s Hoover Dam. Then, to make matters worse, the picture
concludes with a short propaganda lecture on the evils of gambling.
Director Newman, who spent many years as an
assistant director (earning two nominations when that was an Oscar category)
and part of MGM’s short film division, spent the 1950s and early ‘60s working
in every genre, but mostly crime pictures. His best-known films are “The
Gunfight at Dodge City” (1959) with Joel McCrea, the sci-fi adventure “This
Island Earth” (1955), “The Big Circus” (1959) with Victor Mature and the
Hollywood tale, “The George Raft Story” (1961). But “711 Ocean Drive” stands
out, a low-budget gem worth seeking out.
BARBIE
(2023)
In a shrewd piece of marketing, filmmaker
Greta Gerwig has combined the enduring popularity of Mattel’s young adult doll
with a heavy-handed message of female empowerment in a world run by
dunderheaded males. After two Oscar-nominated films both grounded in the very
real lives of young women—“Lady Bird” (2017) and “Little Women” (2019)—her new
film seems an odd turn toward the fantasy, computerized constructs of 21st
Century blockbusters. Then again, maybe that’s the point.
Without much explanation, the film
introduces Barbieland, a cartoonish, mostly pink community—imagine Palm Springs
meets Newport Beach—run by the full gamut of Barbies (apparently, the dolls
come in all shapes and sizes and career aspirations) with the Kens standing
around trying to look good for the gals. How and why this world exists, with
talking and walking, human-sized Barbies and Kens (yet without the need for
food or drink and lacking genitalia) is never addressed. Like a Marvel film,
you either accept the ridiculousness of the premise or move on.
But even if you buy into it, the inane
dialogue is hard to endure. Each day in Barbieland begins with stereotypical
(original?) Barbie (the shiny, exuberance Margot Robbie) repeating “Hi, Barbie”
to dozens of her friends before more childish conversations take place. While I
understand the cleverness of the dialogue, as Gerwig and Noah Baumbach are
writing for inanimate objects, it doesn’t make it any easier on the ears.
It turns out that all these dolls are
still somehow connected to a real human whose thoughts influence the dolls.
Strangely, no other Barbie has experienced this except the one played by
Robbie. Anyway, she’s off to find an answer to various mental and physical
changes by taking a long journey, with Ken (Ryan Gosling) onboard, to the real
world.
The film’s big dramatic irony, of course,
comes when Barbie discovers our world that hasn’t been forever changed by the
feminist power of the Barbie doll. In fact, it’s Ken who is empowered when he
witnesses a society primarily run by men. (How that translates back in Barbieland
is the film’s most problematic plot turn.)
While the film makes legitimate points
about identity and sexual politics, the script alternates between mini-lectures
and sophomoric sarcasm, making the message difficult to take seriously. There
is just about enough material here to sustain an episode of “Stranger
Things.”
This film offers too many obstacles for
someone who sees Barbie as an outdated, borderline harmful (like the overly
realistic guns boys play with) influence on children; a far cry from the
heroine of a feminist-themed movie.
FREEBIE
AND THE BEAN (1974)
Alan Arkin, who died in June at age 89,
was both the most underrated and underused actor of the 1970s and ‘80s,
following his hilarious and heartbreaking performance in “Catch-22.”
In Mike Nichols’ adaptation of Joseph
Heller’s acclaimed World War II satire (scripted by Buck Henry), Arkin plays
Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Force pilot based in the Mediterranean who serves as
the calm amid a comically dysfunctional military unit. His dream of being
grounded because he’s crazy is thwarted by the so-called “Catch-22,” which
stipulates (at least according to the brass) that anyone who asks to be
grounded can’t be crazy and thus should keep flying.
Up to that point, it looked like Arkin was
destined for major stardom, having earned two best actor Oscar nominations in
the 1960s, with his comic turn as a Soviet sub commander in “The Russians Are
Coming, the Russians Are Coming” (1966) and a thoughtful turn as an empathic
deaf-mute in “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” (1968). He was also memorable as a drug dealer
terrorizing a blind Audrey Hepburn in “Wait Until Dark” (1967).
After “Catch-22,” he continued his quirky
characterizations: As a trucker experiencing America in “Deadhead Miles”
(1972), a lonely restaurateur in Neil Simon’s “Last of the Red Hot Lovers”
(1972) and as another loner on the road in “Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins”
(1975). Those films all failed at the box office.
His two successes in the 1970s were “The
In-Laws” (1979), a cult comedy in which he plays the innocent in-law of a
mobster on the run and “Freebie and the Bean” (1974), a very dated police buddy
movie co-starring James Caan.
The nonstop comic dialogue between Caan’s Freebie and Arkin’s Bean (he plays a Latino, which gives you an idea of the script’s racism) as they keep tabs on a mobster is the only aspect of the film that saves it from being a complete disaster. Much of the film, set on Super Bowl weekend in San Francisco, is unwatchable, especially a long, pointless rant by Bean when he thinks his wife (Valerie Harper) has cheated on him. Director Richard Rush (“Psych Out,” “The Stunt Man”), seems to thrive on chaos and improvisation, giving the frenetic Arkin plenty of room to rift.
In the 1980s, Arkin worked in television
and on low budget pictures seen by few before he found his niche as a
supporting player, starting with “Edward Scissorhands” (1990), “Glengarry Glen
Ross” (1992) and “Grosse Point Blank” (1997), eventually earning that
long-deserved comeback Oscar playing the blunt speaking grandfather of a very
wacky family in “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006). He was even better as the
B-movie producer enthusiastically aiding the scheme to free the American
hostages in Iran in “Argo” (2012), earning another Oscar nomination.
He capped off his career with a sarcastic
yet touching performance as a successful Hollywood agent, Norman Newlander,
best friend to actor turned acting teacher, Sandy Kominsky (Michael Douglas) in
the Netflix series “The Kominsky Method.” Their leisurely lunches at Musso and
Frank, Hollywood’s most legendary restaurant, where they ruminated on life’s
tragedies and the importance of carrying on, were a virtually Acting 101 class.
Arkin, who reportedly could be prickly on
the set, was, as an actor, probably a bit too human—a mumbler with a few too
many nervous tics—to become a movie star.
Yet he inevitably brought something original to any film he was cast,
even in recent dogs like “Stand Up Guys” and “Going in Style,” mirroring those
who fight doubts and inadequacies to get along in an unforgiving world.
INDIANA
JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (2023)
Hollywood’s ultimate power duo—Steven
Spielberg and George Lucas—have created some of the most memorable motion
pictures of the past 40 years, but they seemingly can never leave well-enough
alone.
“Jaws,” “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and
“Jurassic Park,” landmark films of varying degrees have all been tainted by the
pursuit of more money through lesser and lesser sequels.
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull,” released 15 years ago, pretty much left the beloved character
in the dust, without a modicum of relevance. In fact, all indications were that
Shia LeBeouf, who plays Indy’s son in the 2008 film, would take over the
franchise. For various reasons, that wasn’t to be.
So here we are again: Harrison Ford, made
to appear sprightly at age 81, flies all over the world (travelling looks so painless
in movies) in pursuit of an invention of Greek mathematician Archimedes.
The picture opens with a flashback to
Indy’s younger days—the digital de-aging works well here---in the midst of the
retreat of the Nazis and his encounter with Jurgen Voller (the great Danish
actor Mads Mikkelsen), who wants the ancient device for the Fuhrer.
A fantastic pursuit inside and on-top-of a
train filled with stolen artifacts offers the promise of a thrilling movie. But
it’s all downhill from there as the chase for the mysterious dial moves ahead
to 1969 and eventually sinks to Marvel-like fantasy.
Jones has given up his archeological
adventures as he looks like he can barely climb out of bed—until Helena (Phoebe
Waller-Bridge), the daughter of an old colleague, comes looking for the Greek
antique.
Their love-hate relationship is about all
the film offers in the way of character development. Instead, we are left to be
amazed by one ridiculous vehicle chase after another, during which no one seems
to get injured despite how many walls they end up being hurled against.
The bad guys, Dr. Voller (now a NASA
scientist!) and his henchmen, always are right behind Indy and Helena as they
race around the world, defying logic in an era before tracking devices and GPS.
Ford grimaces with his usual aplomb, while
Waller-Bridge comes off as an amateur, lacking much in the way of screen
presence. (Though, much to my surprise, she’s an accomplished TV actress and
writer in the series “Fleabag” and “Killing Eve”) But here, essentially, her
character is an inconsistent moveable piece used to create tension when there
is none. To connect with veteran fans—the original movie is 42-years old—Karen
Allen and John Rhys-Davies make appearances.
For those looking for mindless action,
director James Mangold doesn’t disappoint but the set-pieces grow less
believable as they pile up on one another. Unfortunately, there is nothing here
that matches the combination of intense action and intelligence the director
brough to previous films, “3:10 to Yuma” (2007) and “Ford v Ferrari”
(2019).
“Indiana Jones” Part V isn’t a complete
waste of time, but I would have thought that a more inventive script could have
been cobbled together if the Spielberg-Lucas entertainment cabal were going to
bring this famous character back for this encore.
CHESS
STORY (2023)
Despite the title, this story of Nazi
cruelty has less to do with rooks and pawns than the psychological games the
mind plays on prisoners.
As a sport, or even as a metaphor, chess
isn’t the most cinematic contest; even for viewers who understand the strategy,
until someone calls checkmate, it’s hard to tell who’s winning. The best-known
American movie about chess is the surprise 1993 box-office hit “Searching for
Bobby Fischer,” about a young chess prodigy.
Chess is at the center of the popular
Netflix series “The Queen’s Gambit,” an adaption of Walter Tevis’ novel. At
least two pictures have used chess matches to explore the intensity of the Cold
War, “Dangerous Moves,” the 1984 foreign film Oscar winner, and the more recent
“The Coldest Game” (2019) with Bill Pullman.
“Chess Story,” a German film based on a
1941 novel by Stefan Zweig, finds yet another study of Third Reich oppression.
Josef Bartok (Oliver Masucci) ignores the warnings about a Nazi crackdown and
remains in Vienna one day too long. Before he knows it, he’s been arrested,
becoming a focus of the Gestapo because he serves as an investor for rich
Austrians and knows the bank numbers of foreign accounts.
He’s held in a hotel room for months,
given bread and water and little else in the way of human comfort. He does
sneak a book into the room—a collection of chess matches and from that his
imagination runs wild.
The centerpiece of the picture is an
impromptu chess match between Bartok and a European champ (Albrecht Schuch, who
also plays a Nazi interrogator, and was one of the stars of “All Quite on the
Western Front”), while both are aboard an ocean liner headed to American and
freedom, at least in Bartok’s mind.
Director Philipp Stölzl might have done a
better job of delineating fantasy from reality, but he guides Masucci to an
emotionally draining performance as his character fights day by day to remain
sane.
PHOTOS:
Cillian Murphy in "Oppenheimer" (Universal Pictures)
Edmond O'Brien and Barry Kelley in "711 Ocean Drive" (Frank Seltzer Productions)
Alan Arkin with James Caan in "Freebie and the Bean" (Warner Bros.)
