Obviously Christopher Nolan feels good about the state of movies after Oppenheimer
The guy who made Oppenheimer thinks movies are doing great, which makes sense
Aux News Oppenheimer
This may come as a shock, but Christopher Nolan—the guy who made a movie about science and existential terror and cheating on your wife and killing hundreds of thousands of people that made nearly $1 billion worldwide this year—feels “great” about the current state of the movie industry. Shocker! He probably also feels great about having that haircut, wearing a suit all the time, and never using a smartphone. Those are the things he loves most in the world!
This came up in a chat with Empire, which said that Nolan was “buoyant” about what the success of Oppenheimer and some other films this year means for the future of movies. He told Empire that “of course” he thinks movies are “doing great,” because he just made “a three-hour film about Robert Oppenheimer which is R-rated and half in black-and-white—and it made a billion dollars.” He seems to recognize that his experience is not the same as every filmmaker’s experience, since he did apparently say all of that with a laugh, but he also gave a general shoutout to “other movies” that got a big reception and helped bring audiences back.
He doesn’t specifically name those “other movies,” and while we’re all just going to naturally assume he’s talking about Barbie, the fact that he didn’t specifically say Barbie does kind of imply that he’s just happy his movie was a big hit—and that’s pretty darn funny. Nolan seems to take himself pretty seriously, so the idea of him being kind of petty and self-centered is a good gag. And why shouldn’t he be? The question was about how he feels about the state of movies, and his movie did well, so obviously he feels good. But if you were to ask, say, one of the people who made one of this year’s two Dracula movies, they might disagree. Those movies did not do so well.
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Am I just old (I’m 44) now? Because I don’t get the needlessly sarcastic tone I see injected into nearly everything I read on AVClub anymore.
I think most people would agree with you. Most of these writers are just regurgitating content from other sites and often what they choose to quote or comment on misrepresents the actual article for the sake of sarcasm that adds nothing of substance.
The snark of the AV Club’s glory days was always (or almost always) aimed at targets who earned it. Someone making a really good movie and being cool about it wouldn’t have gotten Sean O’Neal’s ire, because O’Neal wasn’t a fucking hack.
You’re not wrong. The AVClub used to intelligently skewer targets that deserved it. One might say they would “punch up”, in some perhaps out-of-fashion terminology. The current AVClub just punches wildly, with no reason behind it.
more flailing than punching.
Fair.
Forget it, Jake, it’s Barsanti town.
I’m almost as old as you are and it’s exhausting. If the delivery were good or interesting, or the target actually deserving, I could probably get behind it. But maybe not at this point. It’ll happen to you (points)
It’s just a hack imitation of a house style established by a much better writer than Barsanti. The difference being that the sarcasm back then was genuinely withering and always aimed at deserving targets. O’Neal was a surgeon; Barsanti is Jason Voorhees.I especially love that this piece is not just needlessly and confusingly sarcastic, it’s really just cribbing from Nolan’s own self-aware remarks. Supremely lazy even by the lax standards of nu-AV.
No, it’s obnoxious and always has been
I want someone to explain to me why anyone goes to movie theaters anyway. I stopped going about five years before COVID hit because of the: loud talkers, cell phone users, loud eaters, feet up everywhere, ringing phones, people who can’t stay sitting, and terrified children in scary movies. Now get off my lawn. You’re not getting your ball back.
Because my TV and soundbar aren’t comparable to a silver screen several feet tall and a theatrical sound system. Even the new reclining seats at my local theater are more comfortable than my shitty old couch. There are fewer distractions for me at a movie theater, because I actually shut my phone off (as opposed to now, where I’m literally typing this as I watch a movie at home). It’s a social experience; it’s nice to get out of the house every once in a while; some nicer theaters serve full meals delivered straight to your seat; it’s cheaper than going to a concert, a play, or a decent game. Etc etc etc.
That was my other beef that you just reminded of: fucking loud surround sound. When I watched one of the Harry Potter movies, I thought I was going to go deaf. I could also hear the movie next door! Why?!?!!
It’s a social experience; it’s nice to get out of the house every once in a while;Last time this conversation came up in these comments, a bunch of MCU fans all decided on behalf of all humanity that, surprise, surprise, the only films that should be shown in cinemas were MCU films, because – again, quelle surprise – MCU films are the only films they declared worth getting out of the house for……for the exact reasons you mentioned. Only MCU films are social occasions and worth getting out of the house for, because they don’t leave the house for anything else, and thus no one should leave the house for anything else.
It turns out that not every theater or community is exactly the same. The theaters I go to rarely have any of those things.
Next time you have the opportunity, go watch Jaws on a big screen and tell me its the same experience as it is in your living room.
That’s why I go to theaters.
2001 is one of my favorite movies even though I’ve never seen it in a theater.
If you get the chance, though, you should see 2001 on a big screen. Preferably in 70mm.
Next time you have the opportunity, go watch jaws while floating on an inner tube in the water.https://www.delish.com/food-news/news/a58598/jaws-open-water-viewing-this-summer/I remember reading that at at least one of them they had someone swimming around pretending to be the shark and “biting” people.
I once watched He Died With A Felafel In His Hand in a Brisbane sharehouse so, y’know. Same diff, really.
I just want to say that your posts often give me something to google that I have never heard of before.
Cheers!All else I can say is read the book before you see the movie. The movie’s…ok…but it’s very much a case of some guy from NIDA liking the the title and the blurb on the back of the book and got a grant from the Australian Film Finance Corp and went nuts. The book’s a classic. The film’s rather forgettable, but it’s got Noah Taylor doing his best, Sophie “The Reason Why Dad’s Didn’t Mind Watching Afternoon Cartoons With Their Kids In The 90s” Lee, that plain clothes cop from Blue Heelers, and an accurate representation of cane toad control.However, note what Sir Terry Pratchett said of the book, Sir Terry Pratchett being the only Sir Terry John Birmingham would ever take a compliment from. (I’ve never actually seen that cover; I’m assuming it’s the UK print – I need to get a copy, because it is just so gloriously nineties – the over-saturation, the solid colours, the layered text, the fact there’s like five fuckin’ typefaces on the damn thing because the 90s were the first decade of desktop publishing and according to the that absolutely gorgeous retired 90s magazine cover graphic designer from the next town over they did, admittedly, go a little nuts. The only cover I’ve seen down here is multicoloured text one, pure flat design.)It’s not just Birmo’s recollections of sharehousing, he tracked down his old flatmates (the one he was still on speaking terms with, anyway) and interviewed them for little asides:There’s a Graphic Novel version, too, which is worth tracking down.
Seriously. Read the book. Prepared me for a decade of sharehousing in Brisneyland. There’s the starter chapters here: https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780008192136/he-died-with-a-felafel-in-his-hand/
I saw Point Break on mute at a noisy bar (the closed captions were on). It’s really a testament to that movie that I was deeply engrossed despite sitting at a crowded table getting mean glares from my girlfriend for not engaging in the conversation.
Still the greatest film wherein a criminal’s chief pastime was identified via arse tanlines. Also, one of the rare cinematic appearances of a powered reel mower. Can’t say VicPol ever used Uzis, but, but it was the 90s.
Were you also verbally engaging with the film, to the annoyance of your party? Because that’s what I do.
I do want to try that.
I stopped too, and I certainly don’t have anything fancy at home. I watch everything on my desktop (guess I don’t want to get too comfortble, lol). But the cinemas are even more uncomfortable. I don’t want to drive to see a movie. Also non-participant for the reasons you listed. The age of VHS and home movies stole my heart. Discs are even handier and streaming solves any storage problems. I can pause and do whatever I need or want to, stop and have a brief discussion. Only one of our remaining theatres even has IMAX. Anything else is nearly indicipherable. I didn’t expect there to be any cinemas remaining by now. Of seven we’re down to two. Now that everything ends up streaming I don’t care one way or another; however, as long as only ‘blockbusters’ continue to be the goal of every studio, I don’t expect the quality of movies dedicated to the cinema will get much better.
I watched Saltburn a couple weeks ago. I liked the movie, though I’m not sure I’m comfortable saying it was great or maybe even good. But it was definitely fun to realize what kind of movie it was in a big theater on a big screen with loud music surrounded by a bunch of other people I don’t know having that exact same realization.
I tend to go during the week and that addresses almost every issue you talk about because most people don’t go then.
The simple answer to this question is because you are not there.
This is the quote from Nolan:“The crazy thing is that it’s literally the most successful film I’ve ever made. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and in the United Kingdom it’s my highest-grossing film. So I feel great about the state of the movie business, based on my own experience. But also based on seeing other movies break out, seeing audiences come back.”It’s hard to see that as some kind of pettiness about Barbie. There were actually other movies that were very successful this year, and the topic is the state of moviegoing overall, so it’s natural for him to think about how multiple movies performed. The Barbenheimer thing was fun, and would up being good for both movies, but I don’t get the sense it’s a real competition that the people involved care about. Why would Nolan have a particular investment in the box office of a single, completely different movie?
“I don’t care if it made a bajillion dollars, Barbie was fucking stupid and anyone who liked it is an idiot. Oppenheimer rules! Whooooooo!!”
[Looks for 10 other people willing to spell out Oppenheimer on their chests]
Nah, bro.We are looking for 9 other other people.
Don’t look at me. I’ve got more than enough on my plate trying to get 25 people to help me root for Killers of the Flower Moon. Three of them get to be spaces, so they don’t have to do shit, but still.
You son of a bitch, I’m in. I haven’t even seen KOTFM yet, but that makes my role as a space guy all the better probably.
I haven’t had a smart phone all that long myself and am fairly new to facebook. I just… didn’t want to go there. But even though I live in a capital city our ‘newspaper’ is down to one sheet of local news. No statehouse news, no nothing, so facebook it is if I want to have a clue what’s going on in my community.Anyway, I haven’t found these things to have adverse effects on my creativity. The opposite: every day I learn something new and it isn’t always happy news. It seems as though Nolan wants to stay in his sheltered place. That’s fine but there may come a day when people no longer relate to his material.And if he isn’t getting phone, text or email messages, someone is being paid (I hope) to gather and curate all of the information he would need helming huge projects like these. I kind of hoped the days of the Precious creatives were over, but…
And if he isn’t getting phone, text or email messages, someone is being paid (I hope) to gather and curate all of the information he would need helming huge projects like these. I kind of hoped the days of the Precious creatives were over, but…Exactly. Not everyone with a smartphone uses it to scroll through Tik Tok. I am able to manage family and work without being overwhelmed because I offload a lot of overhead to that computer in my pocket.I pretty sure he has a staff that handles a lot things my phone does for me.