The Couch Critic
The Couch Critic is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critic brings thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critic
Casting, Plot, and Visual Mastery in Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer"
Guess what happens when we dissect a three-hour history epic about the development of the atomic bomb? You get insights into Christopher Nolan's latest masterpiece, "Oppenheimer". Join us for a stimulating conversation as we delve into casting choices, the intricate plot, and the impact of the movie's length on the viewing experience. Our discussion goes beyond the usual review; we explore the humanity of the central character, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the immense pressure he faced, drawing parallels to today's world of AI.
Ever wondered how Nolan manages to find the perfect cast for his characters? We share our thoughts on stellar performances by Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, and Florence Pugh, and whether they should be considered for Oscar nominations. We also scrutinize the historical accuracy of the film, and we're not shy about addressing some of the criticism it has received. Among the highlights of this episode is our appreciation for Nolan's powerful visuals and sound design—an aspect of the film that truly amplifies the narrative.
But we don't just offer critiques. We also share our personal experiences watching this lengthy film. We discuss the film's rating and have a candid conversation about its impact. To wrap up, we'd love to hear from you. Share your thoughts on social media, send us your movie recommendations, or leave us a review. This episode is your ticket to a deeper understanding of "Oppenheimer", so sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
One's a movie buff, one watches movies, just enough. Together, fun will be had by all. This is Nady and Katie at the Movies. Hello everyone, and welcome to a brand new episode of Nady and Katie at the Movies. I am your host, nathan, aka Nady, of course, and with me this time is my good, good, good, good, good friend, katie. Hi, katie, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing so well because I'm eating a cookout milkshake. I'd like to give a quick shout out to cookout. You guys make the best milkshakes and, for anyone who wants a new order, the best cookout milkshake is a Oreo Mint Heath Toffee. Does that sound random? It does. Will you ever get another milkshake after you've tried this one? No, you won't, because I have learned about it six years ago and I've never looked back since. Thank you, cookout.
Speaker 1:Well, speaking of people that we should thank, let's thank Christopher Nolan for making magnificent movies, including the one we're going to review today. Well, I think it's magnificent. I guess I already told you what I think about it. We're talking about Oppenheimer, the three hour history epic about the atomic bomb. But before we can get right into the review, we got to go over the synopsis. So Oppenheimer is the story of American scientist J Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer stars Kylian Murphy, emily Blunt, matt Damon, robert Downey Jr and Florence Pugh, along with many other people. So let's get right into it. Katie, what did you think of Oppenheimer?
Speaker 2:I said, this is my quick reaction, but it was a long movie. I knew it was long because it's three hours, but gosh, it really felt long for me. I overall did like the movie. I just would, I think, if I was looking, if I couldn't do it everything the way I wanted, I would rather take this in parts and maybe have it be like a three part series, like a mini series, because it just felt like a really long movie. And I do understand, after having done some research, that three hours is actually impressive if you look at the amount of time and the content covered. So I get that that is very impressive that we showed that much information in three hours. But again, that does make you wonder did we need to have it all done in one movie?
Speaker 1:And my quick reaction video actually said the opposite. I said it didn't feel like three hours because I was just so invested in what I was watching. I thought the acting drew me in and allowed me not to feel like I was being bombarded with three hours of information. One thing I will say, though I, as you know if you've listened to the show before, I'm the type of person who does not like to get up to go to the bathroom at all.
Speaker 1:So number one rule if you go see a three hour movie, don't get concessions. I did not get concessions because if I had done that, I probably would have had to go to the bathroom. Number two if your leg starts to hurt, go stretch your leg. But I did not get up to do this. I like the aisle seats because they allow me to, of course. I make sure no one's coming down the stairs and I stretch my leg, and that's exactly what I had to do during this movie. Other than that, I thoroughly was invested in this film. So let's get right into our likes and dislikes.
Speaker 2:Nathan. I feel like the first thing would be there's a there's the first choice in making this movie is is this person and the story of who Oppenheimer is? So was this a worthwhile person to make a movie about? I would say yes. If you look at his personal life, his love life, his family life, the conflicted like who he was at the beginning maybe of his career versus who he was at the end, what he was able to achieve, how he managed people, what went on in his own mind, what an incredible story to tell.
Speaker 2:First of all and I think my other, my, my biggest positive would be the choices that Christopher Nolan made in his actors Was spot-on. Oftentimes people compliment him on that, on being very good at choosing people for roles and Maybe I'm just biased because I saw Peaky Blinders. But wow, he made the movie and I think you're making a movie about a person, so your Number one choice has to be who's gonna play that person, and I thought he did an incredible job and Christopher Nolan has used Killin Killian, I think, is the name is.
Speaker 1:He's used him in multiple of his movies before. He's always been like the background character. He was scarecrow and Batman. He was a soldier in Dunkirk. He's been in all these Christopher Nolan movies and this is the first one I think that he's been in the spotlight and, like you said, he knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 1:That's one of my number one likes of this movie is the acting. I think every single person Did a phenomenal job with the people that they portrayed. Robert Downey Jr, boom blew my mind. Emily Blunt blew my mind. Florence Pugh blew my mind. Like every single person in this film does a great job with the characters based on real people that they play, and so Christopher Nolan, to me, like you said, does a really good job at finding the perfect people to play these roles. And if Killian Murphy doesn't get an Oscar for this, if Robert Downey Jr Doesn't get an Oscar for this, I Will say what I always say about the Oscars anyway that their pieces a poop, because these performances were just Just stunning to watch.
Speaker 1:Before I watched this movie, I made sure to do a lot of research about Oppenheimer, so I knew going in, how true to the person they were portraying and From what I saw before watching this movie, they were spot-on, like every little nuance, every little background story with with the character Florence Pugh played.
Speaker 1:I mean just everything. They did such a good job and I know this is based on a book about Oppenheimer so they included a lot of the stuff that's inside that book and Apparently the grandson of Oppenheimer Did not like one scene in this movie and it was the scene where he goes to try to poison his professor, because the grandson said there's no evidence that it ever happened, but it was in the book that was written about Oppenheimer. So I don't know where that information came from, if it actually happened. But I also think it plays into that he was conflicted about doing it after he did the deed and so it kind of goes into Hand in hand with his creation of the atom bomb, like he helped create it, he helped bring it to, to come to pass and then it, right after it happened, he regretted it and I think having that scene in the movie with the apple it helps foreshadow a little bit of what this person's going to go through when they have a much bigger thing that they're going to have to deal with.
Speaker 2:I think that it's just so fascinating. There's really two things to review here. One is just how interesting the story itself is, but also how Christopher Nolan brought that story to life Because, like you said, every character was portrayed so well and the acting was fantastic. But I think what really sells you is just the humanity of understanding that a person, a real person, could get so involved and so pigeonholed and just blind to the greater picture in the pursuance of science, and you could even maybe liken this to today's AI that we're so excited about science. Scientists are just chomping at the bit, very, very excited to make some big strides, and it's very rarely that we can look up and say, oh man, did we just create something? That's going to be a problem.
Speaker 2:I absolutely loved I don't know if this is history or Christopher Nolan, but I loved when they circle back. There was this moment in the movie where there's this like point zero chance, like point zero one chance that when they invent the bomb it might destroy the atmosphere. And then it circles back at the end of the movie and you hear Robert Oppenheimer kind of insinuate that like maybe it is going to destroy the world, but not in the way we initially thought that the invention of this bomb, although chemically it's not going to destroy the world, it is going to open that door to where we will eventually, in some time, destroy ourselves. I thought that was so poetic.
Speaker 1:I think this movie does a really good job at showing the regret, even though he may not have verbally said it himself. You can see that, something like that, you can't create something like that and not have some doubt about it. Another like with this movie is the visuals and I'm not just meaning visually with my eyes. I saw this movie in IMAX. Giant screen, humongous speakers. This movie you have to go see it in IMAX. If you get to go see it, it immerses you not just visually but with the sound and not just even the atomic bomb. I love how they portrayed Oppenheimer's overwhelming pressure that was on his shoulders Even after the atom bomb was successful. They have that scene where he goes into a rally of people and their cheers become almost as loud as the bomb itself.
Speaker 2:You just hear it, you feel it, it's just so good.
Speaker 1:I think again, that goes back to Killian Murphy's performance as Oppenheimer. You can just see it in his face, in his eyes, just the stress and just the overwhelming feeling that he's portraying. I just, I loved it. I just I really, really, really like this movie.
Speaker 2:I think it really does speak to the what you're saying, that the music score and the visual and when we say visual we're not talking about Mission Impossible or Fast and Furious, where there's boom visual. I mean the visuals are a close up of someone's face and the expression they're making. So it truly is amazing and incredible that although it was a long movie for me, I was still so invested in the same way you were and to have no real major action. There is no action scenes. A predominant amount of this movie is people talking to each other and that could very easily be an absolute snorefest, but I do believe the script writing really, truly allowed you to be invested in those conversations.
Speaker 2:You know there's a lot of portion of the movie where you're sitting in on a courtroom scene, so you get a little bit of romance, a little bit of like kind of court drama, but there's not major action scenes. You get only maybe one moment where you see that first atomic bomb explode and other than that it's a bunch of white dudes talking in the room, which was just kind of a bummer. This is a silly dislike, but you know we're living in a world where it's a lot more diverse in science. So it is kind of like oh, you're just watching a movie with like all just a bunch of white dudes. You know there's only two ladies who have very minor roles in the movie, but I do believe I understand it's a timepiece, it's just kind of interesting. You're sitting watching a room, 10 white dudes sitting in there. But again, it's a silly critique and I do appreciate that they tried to stick to historically accurate.
Speaker 1:Since you kind of gave it a little critique, I'll go straight into my one only dislike and that is and Christopher Nolan has addressed this he says it's an artistic choice as a director.
Speaker 1:But sometimes the audio, like vocally, it was kind of hard to hear, especially in the scenes where there's like a lot of people in a room and, as I guess it's like a party scene, and you have Oppenheimer and someone else having a conversation and you can't really hear them that well.
Speaker 1:But Christopher Nolan has actually come out and said it's because he wants to just have the original portrayal of the lines being spoken. He doesn't like having his actors having to come in and rerecord, because he likes the natural sound of the person just saying it the first time, which I can totally understand and get, and I totally get it with this movie in particular. But people have complained that he's done this in the past, which is why he has come out and said something about it. But the reason I think it makes sense for this film is because of just again going back to the visual sound of just everything coming around Oppenheimer and being so loud that he wanted the audience to kind of feel that too, in a way, the rush of everything and having to lean in and actually have to listen and get everything that's being said. That's what I took it as and I didn't think of it as a negative. But, katie, did you notice that, like the audio sometimes was kind of lower in some scenes?
Speaker 2:That was not a problem. That was not a problem for me.
Speaker 1:No, no, you're too busy worrying about all the white dudes.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly if I had to give it a critique. I already mentioned a little bit. I think one critique was just that it was very long. I was, I was entertained, but I still just don't want to go see a 3-hour movie. It makes it difficult, I think it's. It's a barrier, to be honest, a barrier for a lot of people that they don't have three hours to go to the movie because that's also a 20-minute preview. Then you got to drive there. So for someone like me who has to get childcare, that's asking for hours of childcare, just like pop in and say a movie.
Speaker 2:That being said, that was really my only big critique. It's not a movie that I necessarily need to see again immediately. However, I and this is different than like Barbie or a lot of movies I've seen I will say this movie is gonna get a pretty high rating from me because it has inspired me to want to learn more about that person. I immediately wanted to go to my phone and do some research on who Oppenheimer was, and I think, after doing some more Research and maybe even watching a few documentaries, I would love to go back and see the movie again, and there's not been a ton of movies that have come out lately that I've immediately wanted to watch a second time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like how they incorporated and again, that's why the movies three hours but it did incorporate almost every single aspect of this guy's life, including the Florence Pugh, beyonce, which I don't know how much you want to touch on the nudity in this film because there is nudity. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I mean, obviously it's still full, you know, full nudity. There's one scene in particular where there's nudity, but I thought it was done in a brilliant way and I know that kind of sounds weird. It's the scene where Oppenheimer is being interrogated and and Oppenheimer's wife is sitting in the interrogation room and you see Florence Pugh's character full nude and so is Oppenheimer. But I think it was.
Speaker 1:It was done for two reasons Number one, because his wife is there having to hear him recount all these things that he did while he was with her, so she was seeing this, his mistress there in the room. But also the fact that he was fully, you know, whatever it was, the fact that he was having to be stripped down and having to recount all this stuff in his personal life, and so he was both literally and figuratively, make it in front of these people, having to reveal all, almost everything when he's being interrogated, and so for that I think that moment made sense to have that and it wasn't a super long scene, but I just thought it was done in a way that made sense, because usually when these things happen it's there just to be there and it has no real reason. But I think Christopher Nolan did a really good job, especially for the fact that this is his first radar, first movie with nudity, and so there had to have been a reason for him to make it that way.
Speaker 2:I kind of forgot about the nudity. I would put that as a negative. It's a bummer, because I think there's a lot of people that I would say, hey, I want you to go see this, but they might be like very much that would offend them to see that. But I do agree with you. I think it was done artistically. Of course it was definitely not in any way raunchy not raunchy, but in some parts not necessary. But I do agree with you. I did appreciate that they made him naked in that way that it's kind of saying like, hey, you are being stripped down. There's a lot of things I think in the movie you would do better at understanding if you researched ahead rather than having to look it all up afterwards.
Speaker 1:Agree, you know I'm trying to be better at doing research before I go see movies, so I have that background information going into it and, yeah, it totally helped me understand what was going on. And it also kind of helped me understand where they change some stuff a little bit too. It is Hollywood. They're going to embellish some things, they're going to change some things for artistic reasons, but it still didn't take away from the fact that majority of everything else, from what I saw and heard, was pretty much historically accurate of what actually happened with both the atomic bomb and Oppenheimer himself. So I thought Christopher Nolan did a fantastic job. I thought it should have been three hours and it was. I just think it was a fantastic film and a lot of people are saying that Christopher Nolan is one of the few classic directors living nowadays, because everyone else is just doing whatever stupid stuff, and he's actually making films.
Speaker 1:So I applaud him for that 100 percent.
Speaker 2:I would agree with that. Are you giving this a perfect six out of six, or do you have to make some docs?
Speaker 1:No, I'm giving this a perfect six. I even put in my notes that I considered this a modern day classic and I also watched Dunkirk before I went to go see this, because you know I've seen all the Batman, christopher Nolan movies, I've seen all that. But I really wanted to see Dunkirk because I felt like that movie kind of had the same feel a little bit, even though I hadn't seen it yet. But then I watched it and that, I think, is a modern day classic as well. Christopher Nolan is just a fantastic director. He needs to direct all the things and he's just, he's just great. So, yes, this gets a perfect six out of six for me. Katie, I'm going to guess your pride. I'm going to give her a perfect six, but probably close, close.
Speaker 2:I'll give it a close. I'm going to give it a five. It's not my typical genre. I you know I love comedy. You know I love some good rom-com romance. So it's just not my style. But it totally nailed the category that it's in.
Speaker 1:And with that, that is Oppenheimer, and our next homework assignment is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem. That's right, it's the newest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles going away from you know. The one offs, the, the not tied to anything. The not remakes, not reboots. We're going right back to a reboot with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem. I've already seen it and so you can go on our YouTube channel or you can also go to our Instagram. We're also on the TikTok now. Nadie and Katie at the movies. You can watch my quick reaction review with my good friend Maddie, who might be on our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode as well, just to get a quick reaction of what he and I thought Katie will also be seeing it and giving her quick reactions as soon as possible so we can get right into that. Katie, what do you have for us with Oppenheimer to end this episode Three?
Speaker 2:two one.
Speaker 1:I love you guys. Thanks for listening to Nadie and Katie at the Movies. Feel free to leave us a review so people can find the show. Follow us on all our social media platforms and if there's a movie that you want us to watch, feel free to contact us at nadieandkateyatgmailcom. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
