Oppenheimer (2023)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr.

Have I Seen it Before: Nope. Brand new. I’ll occasionally detour in this section of a review and talk about the movie going experience. I could take a moment (again) to extoll the virtues of seeing movies actually projected on film (Oppenheimer is shaping up to be the third film I have seen this year projected on 35mm), or wonder if I will make a second trip to a theater to try to take in the film on IMAX, as I live in one of those unluckily uncivilized parts of human civilization without a 70mm venue (more on that in a bit), but what I really would like to do is give a message to that guy with the two cokes. I won’t get into it too much, but the fact that it took you the better part of twenty minutes to realize you had intended to go see Barbie will be something many of us will never forget.

Did I Like It: Before, people might look at you a little sideways if you made a declaration like Christopher Nolan is the closest thing a generation like ours is going to get to a Stanley Kubrick. The idea that Kubrick would be found within 1000 miles of a Batman movie is equal parts insanely intriguing and just insane, and one usually had to ignore most of Tenet (2020) (which I probably need to give another shot), but that pure devotion to the camera as quite possibly the most important part of the film at hand gives them both the same ambition.

Now we can say—without getting those funny looks, mind you—that Nolan even succeeds in that ambition. All of the tools of a master filmmaker are put to use, and that use is not some genre entertainment. I have no beef with genre entertainment. Without it, I might cease to exist altogether. But the next time someone complains that movies aren’t real movies anymore, I think they are having the unfortunate inherent myopia of someone seeing things as they happen. One might long for the days of the New Hollywood, where Lucas was making THX 1138 (1971) and Coppola could nearly bring a studio to the brink of bankruptcy, but those days had their lauded turkeys and bland entertainments, too*. Oppenheimer will be one of those movies we remember.

It is intense. It is merciless. It runs through its material with no real need to graft a heroic arc onto J. Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy). I listened to the source material, American Prometheus, earlier this year and to my observations there appeared to not be much—if any—dramatic embellishment to bring the story to the screen. It’s a bold move that could have backfired and made the film frightfully boring. And yet, it isn’t. Oppenheimer is easily one of the best films of the year, and may yet take my top spot.

One other note I can’t help but make: I saw a comment—the source of which escapes me, tragically—which said that it is rare to see a film where there are easily close to a dozen career-best performances from bona fide movie stars. That’s true, but it would be hard to honestly engage with a review without dwelling on what Robert Downey Jr. has done here. For years he had been giving the best performances in tiny films, even when he wasn’t necessarily conscious of what he was doing. Then, surprising nearly everyone, he became the world’s biggest movie star. One might point to Dolittle (2020) as a sign that he couldn’t keep making franchises forever, but I imagine if he was committed to the idea of playing Iron Man forever, even in films which had nothing to do with Marvel Comics, he would have had more successes than failures in the long run. Instead, he tries now to surprise us all again and remind us why we all thought he was great in the first place.

*Granted, all of those trifles were shot on film, so even something like The Love Bug (1971), were it released today, would be in serious contention for a Best Cinematography Oscar.

Memento (2000)

Director: Christopher Nolan 

Cast: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Stephen Toblowsky

Have I Seen it Before: Yes, but it’s been years. My DVD case has a crack in it, and it’s entirely possible I’ve gone most of fifteen years without noticing it.

Did I Like It: Which was an integral part of the charm. The film’s plot is so carefully constructed, that unless you know the film backwards (and, I suppose, forwards), there are pleasures and surprises aplenty to rediscover. I’m sitting there vaguely remembering that both Natalie (Moss) and Teddy (Pantoliano) are not who they appear, but just how it all comes together remained beyond my memory until the very end. A movie built on surprises that holds up on multiple viewings is truly a thing to behold.

It almost makes me regret the success Nolan has enjoyed since this film. After Batman Begins (2005) he quickly became the world’s greatest purveyor of the now ubiquitous “trailer noise”*. I’ve enjoyed most of his work post-The Dark Knight (2008), but I can’t help but lament the smaller, deceptively simple work he could have produced had Warner Bros. not let him do whatever his wildest dreams would allow. 

It’s sort of a strange miracle that the film hasn’t become more influential, aside from introducing the idea that if Hollywood could halt its search for a filmmaker who could make a Batman movie which would be an actual detective story. A TV show with this idea could have worked, and been ever-green. I’m shocked it hasn’t become a procedural which somehow had been running on CBS for fifteen years without me noticing. A quick glance at the film’s Wikipedia page insists that a remake is in the works, which, why? Can we remake films which were released after Y2K? It’s seems like a crime.

Maybe if my memory takes a hit, it would be a good idea. Otherwise, I’ll pass.

Tenet (2020)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia

Have I Seen it Before: What a singularly loaded question. Someone might look back on this review in the years to come and wonder why it was such a chore. The only real theatrical-exclusive major release in the year of the bloody bug, it seemed foolish to go to the theater to experience it on the biggest screen possible. I might have even got it together to go to the Drive-in (kids, ask your parents), but by the time I decided I was over my mixed feelings regarding Interstellar (2014) to try and make the trip, even the Drive-ins had taken to screening movies I didn’t much care for, and could easily take in at home.

So now I watch the movie on my TV at home. It is not the way that Nolan would have intended it, but it is the best way available.

For the record, in case anyone was wondering, I would still like to go to the theater again at least once before I die.

Did I Like It: I suppose it is fitting that, even after viewing the film in its entirety, it’s possible I’m going to eventually have one of two different reactions to the film. On repeat viewings, I may finally be able to follow what at this point is a demonstrably convoluted plot, sort of like my reaction over the years to the first Mission: Impossible (1996). It’s also entirely possible that the film will never come together for me, and I will look up from my final screening of the film and see myself watching it for the first time in reverse.

At least, I think that’s how it works.

And even if the film never fully comes together for me, it’s hard to deny that the normal Nolan trappings have their charm. He works on film, which is unusual enough. He also brings to the screen exotic sights that are nonetheless real. If the man has ever used a green screen, he’s made damn sure to not let the rest of us know.

There is one element of the film I’ve become certain bug me now, and will continue to bug me for all time. I’ve grown pretty disenchanted with switching back and forth on aspect ratios in film. Time was, Nolan would film certain, more epic scenes in IMAX, and by the time it reaches my TV, we just had to cope with the changes in ratio. Here, it feels like he’s switching back and forth from shot to shot. Chris. Buddy. If you want to shoot your movie in IMAX, just shoot the whole thing that way. I have faith that you can overcome the limitations of the technology to shoot a movie through with one kind of format. 

And finally, a plea: Will somebody (Brocollis, one would imagine, or perhaps whichever fly-by-night studio which both owns the rights and will soon go bankrupt) please just let Nolan make a Bond movie? He’s been asking ever-so-politely for years now. If you can take a chance on Sam Mendes twice, I think Nolan’s due.

Dunkirk (2017)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles

Have I Seen it Before: Yes. It ran briefly here in town at the local arthouse theater, and in 35mm no less. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to be in any theater, that I can only dimly remember missing seeing films projected with actual film.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: This is a strange year.

Did I Like It: There are two categories, to my mind, of Nolan films. Those I admire, and those I enjoy (and admire).

It’s hard not to like his Batman movies, even the demonstrably wobbly <The Dark Knight Rises (2012)>. Inception (2010) allowed the director to scratch his James Bond itch when the Brocollies were not likely to let him take their livelihood out for a spin.

While Interstellar (2014) is hard to see as anything other than an attempt to channel Stanley Kubrick. It is admirable, but it’s never really on my active re-watch list. I remember thinking The Prestige (2006) was well made, but haven’t watched it since.

So where does Dunkirk rest on the Nolan spectrum? 

It certainly continues his unbroken streak* of producing epic, imminently believable big-budget films. The camera—and by extension, the audience—can be overwhelmed by the massive oceans and befuddling aerial photography. I mentioned earlier that Nolan is trying to channel Kubrick, and that may have seemed like a dig, but no one is more successful than he in their imitations. He understands the camera like Kubrick did. He makes big—and far more intelligent than we probably deserve—entertainments like Kubrick did. 

And, frankly, like Kubrick sometimes did, he’s made a film here that is impressive, but distressingly distant from its audience. I’ll admit perhaps that it’s distinctly English sensibility may be slightly alienating to this American, but that isn’t fair. A modern audience might look on it as a nearly silent film (Nolan reportedly wanted to shoot the sprawling epic with no script, but was talked out of such a bold gambit) and blanche. I wouldn’t, and if I did, that would be unfair, too.

But sometimes criticism isn’t fair, it is a snapshot of a feeling in that moment, and so Dunkirk is moved conclusively into the admirable, but not quite as enjoyable as one hopes when greeted by the Syncopy vanity card. 

*No, I haven’t seen Tenet (2020) yet, and until it hits home media or there is a widespread, proven vaccine, you shouldn’t either.

Batman Begins (2005)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, man. Summer of 2005. The eventual release of this film and the abatement of the era of Schumacher were the only things getting me out of bed in the morning.

Did I Like It: It’s a strange thing from some different angles, but this movie is often overshadowed by the juggernaut that was The Dark Knight (2008). In some ways, that’s fair, as Nolan so succeeded with this freshman effort that he was subsequently given the same freedom to flex his creative muscles in the sequel that Tim Burton was given in Batman Returns (1992) and Schumacher (I guess) got in Batman & Robin (1997).

And it’s fair primarily in the sense that this film is somewhat mired in very basic film writing tools. There’s a big set piece at the end, featuring the monorail built by the Wayne family and Wayne Tower that is seeded in the films early minutes. There are a few call backs to early sections of the film that feel a little jokey. The dialogue for Ra’s Al Ghul (Neeson) that is far too on-the-nose villain speak. And there’s a moment that causes regular audiences—and even myself—enjoy, but in the verisimilitude Nolan is going out of his way to try to achieve, doesn’t make any sense. Why does Batman (Bale) use his first appearance to say “I’m Batman” when that seems like something that the media would attach to him after he begins to terrorize the underworld? Even the Zack Snyder films—a complete drag as they mostly are—manage to give the Dark Knight more of an urban legend quality. It is one of the few things that those films got right.

There’s also that sense, and I think it mainly comes from the Star Trek series, that if the second film in the series is the absolute best-case scenario for a film series, then it must be because there is something wrong with the first film. This really isn’t case, other than those nitpicks I indicated above. The film is interested in character development (even if some of the characters drift into archetypes, see above) and moving those characters forward. The toys, to borrow a term from Jack Nicholson, Batman uses are given origins that may not be realistic, but have a certain James Bondian logic.

The film would have scratched all of my various bat-itches by the end, and then there’s that final scene. I remember in the theater when Gordon (Oldman) turns over that playing card, I had an expression of pure joy. He was out there. And at that moment, he was all potential. The imagination tingled. It’s a great way to leave a film. Even now, when the rise of the Clown Prince of Crime in this series had been fully and delightfully realized (and had become the rallying cry of every idiot with a blu ray player until Joaquin Phoenix gave them something else to fixate on), it still sends a shiver down my spine.

It’s still a pretty great way to make a movie.

Interstellar (2014)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine

Have I Seen It Before?: I’ve finally gotten around to see my big blind spot in the Nolan catalog.

Did I like it?: One needs to open any review of a Nolan movie by reminding oneself that there are few better craftsman working today than Nolan in terms of pure cinema. Only one man could pull Batman out of the cinematic depths, and his craft makes his one of the few films that managed to play in this rinky-dink town in 35mm.

So why does this movie not work for me as well as some of his other entries? The most obvious reason would be that I neglected to see it in the theaters, the venue for which Nolan ideally intended it. He’s steeped this film so firm the tradition of Kubrick, and if there is one thing I’ve learned from these reviews, it is that all things Kubrickian are best enjoyed on the largest screen possible.

Then again, my less than thorough acceptance of the film may have something to do with the fact that—as I write this review—we’re all spending at least some part of our day contemplating wearing masks and wondering how long our food supplies will last.

It may be the wrong time to take the film in, but it is a testament to the skills of Nolan that I think another chance is warranted. And the film itself does recommend itself to that second viewing. It’s meticulously designed, often visually stunning (if, again, derivative of Kubrick and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and acted with a far greater range of emotion than most movies that involve space travel and (spoilers) a magic bookshelf, and the sheer amount of surprises in the cast kept things lively throughout.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy

Have I Seen it Before: Sure.

Did I Like It: Look it’s a Batman movie that doesn’t rely on certain characters mother’s being named Martha. What’s not to like? I’ll tell you.

I ultimately don’t think Nolan had a plan going into this one. Maybe he didn’t really want to make a third film in his series, but he really really didn’t want to make any more movies, so he scrambled for a rousing conclusion. It forges together some of the bigger Batman comic plot lines that weren’t covered by Nolan’s two previous movies, Knightfall, No Man’s Land, and The Dark Knight Returns, but the blending doesn’t quite come together. It all fits together not as smoothly as it did in the previous entry, 2008’s The Dark Knight. In the attempt, to many plot lines rise to the top.

Too many plots. How did Bruce Wayne get back into Gotham after escaping Bane’s prison, especially when it is well-established that he’s broke by this point in the movie? And where and with whom is Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul at various points in the third act?

While people moan and wail about the deep, unforgiving chasm that separates Bale's Batman voice from his Bruce Wayne voice, he seems utterly restrained* when compared with the Sean Connery and Darth Vader forged in a blender that is Bane (Hardy). Several years have separated this particular screening from its premiere, but the first moment he speaks on that airplane, it’s one of the most bizarre sounding things that has ever been committed to film, compounded by the deep realization that Bane’s words clearly were modified deep into postproduction, as he didn’t sound quite so ridiculous in the early trailers for the film released in 2011 and 2012. 

Speaking of that airplane sequence, let’s get into what absolutely, unassailably works about the movie. The stunt work is legit. Nolan—although he couldn’t possibly have had the screenplay he hoped for—is one of the last great filmmakers working in studio films these days. I can’t imagine that there is not a single frame of 

Also, where Bane leaves one wanting, Anne Hathaway never fails to impress as Selina Kyle/Cat Burglar who is never explicitly referred to as Catwoman. The role has had so many distinct portrayals over the years, but Hathaway manages to tap into a realistic cat burglar vibe, while also embracing the soul of the character. As it’s always a little bit shocking how strange of a creation Bane is, it’s equally impressive how good she is, when there was plenty of room to be mediocre.

One might be tempted to be more forgiving of the film, viewing it through the same prism as Return of the Jedi (1983) or The Search for Spock (1984), thinking it suffers only because it follows the best-ever movie in the series. Tragically, while there are some things to truly like, and by no means do I think Christopher Nolan’s reputation as a shaper of popular entertainments will have ended up suffering because of it, The Dark Knight Rises ultimately has too many glaring flaws to work on it’s own account.

And I might feel pretty bad about that, but somewhere lurking in the future of this franchise is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), which accomplished the herculean task of making even Joel Schumacher look like Akira Kurosawa.

*Except of course when he’s talking to himself on a rooftop after Selina Kyle departs. I don’t know who he thinks he’s doing that for, but it certainly isn’t part of maintaining his secret identity.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, yes.

Did I Like It: While my love for Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) is a pure love that can never be diminished or destroyed, it’s pretty hard to argue that this isn’t a superior film on every measurable level.

I’ve damned with faint praise some movies as being the best possible version of the material. Saban’s Power Rangers (2017) is the best possible film about Power Rangers. Halloween II (2009) is the best possible Halloween film directed by Rob Zombie. And—although I haven’t seen it yet—Bumblebee (2018) is likely the best possible film about Transformers.

So it is, too, that the middle-entry of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is the best possible Batman movie. Thing is, I love Batman, and therefore this film is instantly propelled into contention for one of the best movies of all time.

It’s odd having a verified classic that’s this new. There is the awkward period where every douchebag of woman born ran around yelling “Why So Serious?” like it was a symptom of Tourettes. It also illuminates how truly bad some of its contemporaries are. I remember that summer of 2008 being more positive about Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull than I had any right to be because I truly believed that it would age better with time. It didn’t, and now The Dark Knight was also a transcendent experience on first viewing and holds up under continued scrutiny.

Equal parts James Bondian adventure and epic Michael Mann crime drama, Nolan is not just imitating these forms, but can stand toe-to-toe with them. Gotham is always a city, and never a soundstage. Every character has a thoroughly and elegantly designed motivation and a scheme to accomplish their goal, until they run headlong into the one person who never met a plan he didn’t like to destroy. 

I love every inch of this film. But, my goal here is to provide some measure of criticism. I reach desperately for some flaw, and come up tragically short. All right, all right, there are two little editing things that never quite make sense to me, and that’s to be expected as somehow editing can become the one glaring flaw in Nolan’s body of work. 

First, I have no clue how Batman (Bale) arrives at Harvey’s (Eckhart) fundraiser to battle the Joker (Ledger). The camera turns, and all of a sudden, he’s there. Sure, The World’s Greatest Detective is a master of the disappearing act, but this particular stealthy entrance happens in the middle of a well-lit, heavily populated penthouse apartment. There isn’t even some kind of air vent he could have popped out of?

Second, it’s not at all clear if Sal Maroni (Eric Roberts) survived the wreck caused by Two-Face, or, if he didn’t survive, how Two-Face managed to walk away from the wreck.

Oh well. Given how the rest of the movie runs like the most exquisitely designed machine ever created, I don’t want to dwell on those nitpicks too much. I love this movie, and I’m glad I live in a world where it exists.