Today is the opening day for two extremely different summer blockbusters: Greta Gerwig’s frothy, bubbly, extremely pink Barbie and art-house wunderkind Christopher Nolan’s stunning (but slightly po-faced), Oppenheimer.
Wags all over the world are delighted with this juxtaposition and humorists have been having a field day. The memes are alive with the sound of mashups.
Barbenheimer lives!
Have any of seen any of these that have tickled you funny bone?
And more importantly for the film industry: are you planning to see either of the films?
Needless to say, both Christopher and Greta must be vey pleased about all the extra publicity these mash-ups have generated.
My pal DuCool and I are great fans of Greta Gerwig, so it should be a fairly easy choice…….
Here’s another mash up for you.
If you don’t know Greta, she has impeccable indie credentials.
She is best known for acting in Frances Ha
And directing Ladybird
Two films I can warmly recommend.
Look up Baghead as well from 2008.
A strange but fulfilling film.
As more of an Oppenbarbie person, I’m not falling for this
media-fueled Barbieheimer frenzy
A frenzy that must be dream for the PR people.
But I’m just a sucker for a good parody.
Oddly enough, the only Nolan film I’ve see is Inception.
I’m surprised I’ve not see any of his Batman movies. I think that Rob and Steve put me off a little.
You’re missing out, K man – some really interesting early stuff which established the essential Christopher Non-linearisms like Memento, Insomnia and The Prestige and, more recently, the more mature copper-bottomed classic Dunkirk, all, I would have thought, right up your street..
You are quite right, Sewer! I really ought to give him a chance. I suspect I will enjoy his movies.
The Prestige is a fantastic film. And *that* appearance… incredible!
@black-type Bowie as Tesla? When we first see him? Definitely up there as one of those moments. I didn’t realise he was even in it until that point. Squeal!
SPOILERS! 😉
Not really. There’s entrances and there’s *entrances*.
Moose told me about lots of films that are worth watching for that reason alone.
Nolan – a bit style over substance isn’t he? The fact that I write this clearly indicates I think so. Well this is based on Inception (tedious CGI overload cliche) and Dunkirk (impressive sustained suspense but isn’t the real story lost? It’s detached from those real events in it’s own cinematic bubble). It feels like he’s showing off. That’s only 2 films but 2 of the most celebrated.
Memento is an out-and-out five star unmissable classic, imho.
Not the one you’d put forward as a refutation to someone who believes his weakness is “showing off”, though..😉
Diddles, movies are *all about* showing off.
Well, who can forget Barbie holding forth with ‘ I hope they cannot see the limitless potential inside of me to murder everything’ – I always presumed she was referring to her pink Jeep.
Maybe with all the plastic landfill she has generated over the years, Barbie is indeed the true Destroyer Of Worlds…
And destroyer of Labour’s hopes in the Uxbridge by-election too. The evil Sadiq’s ULEZ plans* would have meant that the pink gas-guzzler wouldn’t have been allowed in Uxbridge, according to more than usually demented Tory campaigning.
*Actually cooked up by Boris Johnson and imposed on Khan by Grant Shapps in return for government funding.
Thank you for that. Reactions from the panel? No? Anyone else with a question? You, sir, at the back?
Will go see Oppenheimer, will not see Barbie
Why is open-mouthed surprise not in my reaction video to this comment?
The marketing team for Barbie deserve their bonuses for a massively successful campaign apparently largely based on linking it to film with which it couldn’t have less in common.
I am become Barbie Girl, the destroyer of Barbie Worlds.
Well, we’ll see if it’s actually been a success in a few weeks.
I’m sure I will enjoy it. But do hope that Greta then goes back to making slightly lower-budget, more indie films and does not go on to do ……Action Man- The Movie!
Given the character’s, um, physical shortcomings, it would take real balls to film Action Man
Not sure Barbie is totally anatomically accurate, herself, TBH.
Maybe? Was the doll not based on a German prostitute? Busty I think.
Based on this.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild_Lilli_doll
I was talking about the trouser area…
I think you’ll find Ken hasn’t the wherewithal there either.
You speak with some authority on this.
It’s Dylan with his electric guitar all over again!
I suspect there are than a few cineastes shouting Judas right now.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/19/barbie-indie-director-film-maker-greta-gerwig
Interesting to look back on when Danish-Norwegian popsters released Barbie Girl.
Mattel took them to court but lost.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattel,_Inc._v._MCA_Records,_Inc.
Artist Tom Forsythe also had a run in with the company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Forsythe
This article has a few of his Food Chai Barbie photos.
https://emilybordon.wordpress.com/essays/a-remix-the-question-of-perfections-existence-dealing-with-tom-forsythes-food-chain-barbie-and-the-role-women-assume-in-the-21st-century/
And these Tubers are having a lot of fun with their stop motion Barbie sketches.
Surely Todd Hayne’s Karen Carpenter biopic, Superstar is the ne plus ultra of Barbiezation
If only it had a Doll By Doll soundtrack
Doll by Doll. Now we are talking! In my wild imaginings i’m thinking up a radically rebooted Barbie film with the late great Jackie Leven as Ken. And Lizzo as Barbie!
Lizzo is on Barbie: The Album, which – for older readers – also features a sprinkling of the genius of Chinnichap..
I believe the Lizzie track on the Barrie OST is by
Double-chinnichap
Not sure that Oppenheimer needs to be anything other than ‘po-faced’… can’t really imagine a scene with ol’ J Rob telling his homies “We da BOMB!”
And frankly I don’t think it would work as a bantz-filled slapstick comedy movie either.
@black-type
That’s why they call him MC Squared
(with apologies to Super Furry Animals)..
Not absolutely convinced about that. Just think about the gallows humour the medical profession need to keep sane. Why wouldn’t scientists also be glad of a little light relief?
Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove was certainly not short of the blackest of humour.
Oppenheimer was famously no one’s Uncle Chuckletrousers though. In lieu of seeing the film this article filled in some biographical detail I didn’t know.
https://unherd.com/2023/07/we-wouldnt-want-oppenheimer-today/
What do you think to unherd, Gatz? A bit of an agent provocateur to the wokerati, but not exclusively Spectator/ Guido Fawkes in content, is my reading
I’ve liked Tom Chivers since he was the voice of reason on the Telegraph comment pages, which can’t have been an easy gig. I follow it on Twitter where every story is flagged up at least half a dozen times, but probably only read an article or two a week. I rarely nod along with those articles, but find they usually attempt to be reasonable.
Thanks a lot @Gatz.
What a stupendous piece of writing.
Oppenheimer sounds like a real piece of work. But clearly a genius who inspired other extremely talented colleagues to achieve wonders.
The article really gets across quite ginormous the Manhattan Project was:
“The Manhattan Project was perhaps the greatest weapons project in history. At its peak, it employed 125,000 people; half a million people worked on it at one point or another. It spent $2.2 billion, equivalent to somewhere between $30 billion and $50 billion today — six or 10 times the cost of the Large Hadron Collider. It was conducted in utmost secrecy: the German, Japanese and Soviet governments all knew that the US or Britain were themselves conducting nuclear research, as they all were, to a greater or lesser degree — the theoretical possibility had been known for years, and nuclear fission was discovered in Berlin.”
The Wikipedia article is the length of a short book, but extremely interesting. So many different locations!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project
The Wiki page on Oppenheimer is excellent too. Not least on his reaction
“Among those present with Oppenheimer in the control bunker at the site were his brother Frank and Brigadier General Thomas Farrell. When Jeremy Bernstein asked Frank what Robert’s first words after the test had been, the answer was “I guess it worked.”[134] Farrell summarized Robert’s reaction as follows:
Dr. Oppenheimer, on whom had rested a very heavy burden, grew tenser as the last seconds ticked off. He scarcely breathed. He held on to a post to steady himself. For the last few seconds, he stared directly ahead and then when the announcer shouted “Now!” and there came this tremendous burst of light followed shortly thereafter by the deep growling roar of the explosion, his face relaxed into an expression of tremendous relief.[135]
Rabi noticed Oppenheimer’s disconcerting triumphalism: “I’ll never forget his walk; I’ll never forget the way he stepped out of the car … his walk was like High Noon … this kind of strut. He had done it.”[136] At an assembly at Los Alamos on August 6 (the evening of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima), Oppenheimer took to the stage and clasped his hands together “like a prize-winning boxer” while the crowd cheered. He noted his regret the weapon had not been available in time to use against Nazi Germany.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer
Just read about this link.
Thought it worth a share.
Kate Bush about ‘Heads We’re Dancing’
That’s a very dark song, not funny at all! (…) I wrote the song two years ago, and in lots of ways I wouldn’t write a song like it now. I’d really hate it if people were offended by this…But it was all started by a family friend, years ago, who’d been to dinner and sat next to this guy who was really fascinating, so charming. They sat all night chatting and joking. And next day he found out it was Oppenheimer. And this friend was horrified because he really despised what the guy stood for. I understood the reaction, but I felt a bit sorry for Oppenheimer. He tried to live with what he’d done, and actually, I think, committed suicide. But I was so intrigued by this idea of my friend being so taken by this person until they knew who they were, and then it completely changing their attitude. So I was thinking, what if you met the Devil? The Ultimate One: charming, elegant, well spoken. Then it turned into this whole idea of a girl being at a dance and this guy coming up, cocky and charming, and she dances with him. Then a couple of days later she sees in the paper that it was Hitler. Complete horror: she was that close, perhaps could’ve changed history. Hitler was very attractive to women because he was such a powerful figure, yet such an evil guy. I’d hate to feel I was glorifying the situation, but I do know that whereas in a piece of film it would be quite acceptable, in a song it’s a little bit sensitive. (Len Brown, ‘In the Realm of the Senses’. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)
Thanks Hubert. A remarkable anecdote.
It is a interesting story, though according to his Wiki page (I confess to knowing little about him; we’re going to see the film later today) he died of natural causes as a result of smoking.
I think you are right, Gatz,
If it had been suicide it would be more widely known.
Here’s a review of an exhibition on Barbie in Rome a few years back using dolls from Italian collections.
I loved the photo of Barbie based on Tippi Hedrin in The Birds. What a seriously creepy idea! What twisted mind came up with that?
Not least, in the light of some of the stories about Hitchcock’s obsession with Hedren.
https://romethesecondtime.blogspot.com/2016/07/barbie-has-no-knees-and-superman-has-no.html?fbclid=IwAR2n2h3PTYp03CL_LDOpFyuB8C7850AuXCuZUDFuVbaquqf6yroUurjrawU
Hitchcock was a very peculiar cove.
https://people.com/movies/dakota-johnson-alfred-hitchcock-grandmother/
There are 2 illuminating recent episodes of the generally decent ‘The Rest Is History’ podcast ( Eps.343 & 344) that draw on Nolan’s main source material, the ‘American Prometheus’ biography for anyone that’s interested.
IIRC , Oppenheimer was pretty messed up- we’d call him very emotionally immature today, especially concerning women – way before the Manhattan Project.
The significance of what his work had enabled & a series of very unwise relationship ‘choices’ – (perhaps the commencement of the Cold War not the best time to have a crush on a Commie femme fatale for example), pretty much guaranteed a *very* bumpy ride after WW2.
Thanks @Junglejim. Those TRIH podcast look very interesting.
https://www.goalhangerpodcasts.com/lineker-and-baker-copy
They even do live shows!
The podcast is wonderfully user- friendly. They know a lot but don’t alienate the listener but make me at least, keen to know more.
It’’s very bingeworthy, as the hosts’ chemistry is excellent (particularly Sandbrook’s gentle teasing of Tom Holland rather Vicar- like sensibilities).
They can be a tad too small c conservative/ reactionary for me on some topics, but I find that like reading a broadsheet – good work is still good, even if the editorial slant isn’t one’s own.
That sounds fine by me, JJ. It’s dull to listen to people who I agree with about everything.
A podcast I’ve only recently started listening to. Very good indeed. Their discussion about the causes of WW1 was fascinating and illuminating. Not a subject I thought I was interested in…
Here’s a treat.
An interview with Greta Gerwig where she talks about all the movies that influenced Barbie. No surprise to discover that she is a real film nerd in the best possible way.
There are 29 films on her list including..
The Wizard of Oz, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Wings of Desire, His Girl Friday, The Truman Show…..
Not forgetting AMOLAD, the one I always say is my favourite film ever, based on the first poster in that still.
What a cinephile she is!
Unashamedly keen on popular US musicals but also enthusiastic about European film-makers
Powell & Pressburger, Jacques Demy, Almodovar, Jacques Tati,
A guy on YT
@javiereduardojuarez2107
has made a list
00:30 The Wizard of Oz (1939)
1:42 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
2:43 The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
2:57 Model Shop (1969)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064679/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_model%2520shop
3:41 An American in Paris (1951)
4:22 Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
5:15 6:44 The Red Shoes (1948)
5:24 A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
7:32 All that jazz (1979)
8:28 Heaven Can Wait (1978)
9:10 Oklahoma! (1955)
9:18 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
9:22 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
9:25 His Girl Friday (1940)
9:30 The Philadelphia Story (1939)
10:18 Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
10:32 Twentieth Century (1934)
10:56 The Ladies Man (1961)
11:18 Rear Window (1954)
11:21 And the Ship Sails On (1983)
11:26 Wings of desire (1987)
11:33 The Earrings of Madame de… (1953) (A new name for me. Max Ophuls)
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0649097/?ref_=tt_ov_dr
11:50 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
12:05 Modern Times (1936)
12:08 Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
12:26 Grease (1978)
12:37 The Truman Show (1998)
13:14 Mon oncle (1958)
13:18 Playtime (1967)
13:38 Splash (1984)
14:10 Saturday Night Fever (1977)
14:22 The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020)
15:09 The Godfather (1972)
Watching it yesterday I noticed another one. When Barbie sits at a bus stop there’s an old lady sitting a few feet from her and they have a short conversation – an obvious nod to Forrest Gump.
Some background about how the book, prizewinning biography, “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” by Martin Sherwin and Kai Bird , was made into the film.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-07-18/epic-backstory-of-oppenheimer-the-film-and-american-prometheus-the-book
Hollywood sometimes works very slowly on projects. And sometimes very fast indeed.
In 1984 I published a novel called America’s Children, by James Thackara, which tells the Oppenheimer story in fiction. It’s a challenging read, despite my best efforts – I actually tried to turn it down, but the author wouldn’t let me – but from memory it tackles the same themes and preoccupations as American Prometheus.
“…his imaginative portrait of Oppenheimer as the unique bearer of the moral tensions of our civilisation takes on mythic force.”
We went to see Barbie this afternoon. The audience, 80% women and girls, seemed to love it. So did I. It appears to have had a hugely successful opening weekend, which is I think is very encouraging for those folk who like somwthing more subversive than the usual blockbuster fare.
“American Prometheus” is a genuinely excellent biography, and remarkably clear eyed about its subject.
I did a class at University some *cough* years ago on the History and Development of the Atom Bomb (thank you Dr Keller) which prompted a long term fascination about the early C20 physicists, up to and including Bongos Feynmann.
So I went into Oppenheimer with some trepidation.
About the only quibble I have is with the music, which at some key points felt a bit intrusive. Some great performances, including RDJr reminding us that he can Act as well as be a movie star. I thought Murphy was superb and captured almost everything I’d read about Oppenheimer.
Glad you enjoyed the movie, Ernie. They are showing it at the local cinema here in Löttorp and I am looking forward to seeing it. Completely agree about how refreshing it is to have a summer blockbuster than is not a stunt-packed and spectacular.
Incidnetally, what is Tom Cruise up to? He is such a great actor but judging by the new Mission Impossible film, he now also wants to be the world’s greatest stunt man.
Bongos! What an unexpected name for a physicist! Maybe his parents hoped he’d be a musician?
Sadly, it seems to have just been a typo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
I see in the Guardian that Barbie has had the biggest opening weekend ever for a film by a woman director. And that Mark Kermode likes it.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/23/barbie-review-greta-gerwig-margot-robbie-ryan-riotous-candy-coloured-feminist-fable
The soundtrack album which features Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Charlie XCX, Haim, Tame Impala, Nicki Minaj, Sam Smith etc also gets a thumbs up:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/23/barbie-the-album-review-mark-ronson-dua-lipa-charli-xcx-nicki-minaj-ice-spice-billie-eilish
Not every day Nicki Minaj makes an appearance on the AW!
How many of us here can relate to Ken’s heart-breaking destiny? Life as an eternal second fiddle,
“Bongos” was in case people didn’t know who the drum-playing scientist was, as he went unnamed in the film.
They also missed the chance to show him breaking into Oppenheimer’s safe to show that security was Not Good.
I thinbk he’s also the reason I got a first date with my now-wife
Seeing Oppenheimer yesterday lead me to research* a variety of subjects related to the film and the events which inspired it. Fun fact – Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark’s Enola Gay was released 35 years after the eponymous plane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It is now over 42 years since Enola Gay was released. Time has a way of accelerating which physics doesn’t cover.
* Flicked through a variety of articles on Wiki and IMDB.
42 years ago, Gatz! I’m not sure that’s a Fun Fact. That makes me feel as ancient as Lonesome George in the Galapagos Islands.
How rapidly the world forgets stuff. I wonder how many people, like me, had no idea at all about what Enola Gay was.
Incidentally, the music for Oppenheimer was composed by a Swede, Ludwig Göransson born and bred in Linköping, who has lived in LA for many years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_G%C3%B6ransson
Eat your heart out, Graham Norton! Your sofas aren’t big enough for this many guests. I don’t know what Fandango is, but they really got themselves a studio full of stars here to discuss Oppenheimer.
This may be common knowledge, but the Enola Gay was named after Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of its pilot.
And in a neat piece of circularity for your post, the irony of naming the most lethal aircraft in history after one’s mother is discussed at some length in Kurt Vonnegut’s underrated novel, Galapagos.
Bonus fact I assume we all also know, but which is always worth repeating – the USS Indianapolis, the doomed cruiser the fate of whose crew was the subject of Robert Shaw’s immortal shark attack speech in Jaws, was sunk while returning from having delivered the uranium which was deployed in Little Boy, the bomb carried on the Enola Gay.
I see a few recommendations above for American Prometheus. One of my favourite biographies of all time, cannot recommend strongly enough. Also good on this subject; Brighter Than A Thousand Suns by Robert Jungk.
Thanks @Bingo Little.
Mrs Tibbets, Vonnegut, Jaws and the USS Indianopolis: all new to me!
Tibbets sounds like a real piece of work!
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/paul-tibbets-the-man-who-piloted-the-enola-gay/
https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/modern-ships/indianapolis.html
The BBC did a miniseries “Oppenheimer” back in 1980 which was well-regarded at the time…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqQAMwWly94&list=PL7TuA9EPF1p8k2Yc6tHYPPQLkylOCyGUq
There was also a documentary “The Day After Trinity” which is well worth watching…
Two real finds @Sniffity!
All seven episodes of the series are on YouTube too. As you say, it was very highly praised.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078037/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_5_nm_3_q_oppenheimer
Here’s Oppenheimer himself interviewed in 1965. A man with a great weight on his shoulders.
Fat Boy and Little Man starring Paul Newman as Groves and Dwight Schultz – yes, FaceMan from the A Team – is an…interesting take on Los Alamos.
Thanks @Sitheref! Another nugget! A.k.a, Shadow makers. Directed by Roland Joffe and with quite a stellar cast.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097336/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_Fat%2520boy%2520and%2520little%2520man
This is my favourite song from the soundtrack. I’m not sure if it comes before or after they test the nuke.
A few horror stories from Barbie’s history.
https://omgfacts.com/article/27264
Happy Family Midge and Growing Up Skipper left me speechless.
They both make cameos in the film.
Classical pianist, Josep Castanyer Alonso, is a very witty chap. Here he plays “Barbie girl” in the style of 6 classical composers. His comments about what he is doing that appear as he plays are extremely amusing.
It was recorded at Konserthuset in Stockholm.
In the YT notes he writes: “the primary inspiration for this project came from Dudley Moore’s timeless parody of a Beethoven piano sonata.”
Our local independent Öland cinema, Bio Centrum on Löttorp, is having a bumper summer: Indiana Jones, Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible and now Barbie which sold out yesterday for the third time.
But I did finally get a ticket and enjoyed it a lot. It’s all done with a great deal of panache and it has a very witty, literate script.
Lots of different Barbies are referred to, some of which actually existed (like Growing Up Skipper and her expanding boobs!) and some which are invented like Depressed Barbie who watches the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice again and again. I laughed out loud at that.
Here’s an Australian interview with Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig where they talk about how the film about. And how they persuaded Mattel to accept a very feminist film.
We did Barbenheimer yesterday.
Two very good films.
Oppenheimer: The three hours flew by. Nolan’s usual trick of switching timelines works really well and serves to focus your attention on the story rather than confuse. Cillian Murphy is excellent as are all the cast especially Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. Statuettes all round…
Barbie: Also very enjoyable and more than a little subversive for a kid’s movie. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are both great as are Kate McKinnon (as ‘weird’ Barbie) and Rhea Perlman in a small but very significant part. Michael Cera is quite good as well, playing Ken’s friend Allan.