Oppenheimer (2023)

My Review

The Best Picture of 2023 is…..”Oppenheimer.” Producer-director-screenwriter Christopher Nolan (“Tenet” 2020) has put together quite a cinematic extravaganza about the life and times of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, from his running the Manhattan Project in the early 1940’s to a subsequent fall from grace in the 1950’s. Nolan took the unusual course of filming parts of the movie in black-and-white, and other parts in color, depending on what part of Oppenheimer’s life was presented.

Actor Cillian Murphy delivered nothing short of a tour-de-force in the title role, dominating most scenes of the three hour film. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The supporting cast included many familiar actors, some who are almost unrecognizable, in heavy makeup. They include Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, Tom Conti, James D’Arcy, Tony Goldwyn, Matthew Modine, Gustaf Skarsgard, Christopher Denham, Louise Lombard, James Remar, Jack Quaid, and Gary Oldman as President Harry S Truman.

Probably one of the best films ever made by Christopher Nolan, the very watchable “Oppenheimer,” was the third highest grossing film of the year for Syncopy Inc., Atlas Entertainment, and Universal Studios. Nolan’s project benefitted at being release the same weekend as fellow blockbuster “Barbie,” July 21, 2023, from Warner Bros. Pictures. This timing of the release of the two films of quite different subject mater created the “Barbieheimer” phenomenon on the internet and on social media, resulting in historic box office sales which lasted much of the summer.

“Oppenheimer” was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, winning seven: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Downey), Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema), and Best Original Score (Ludwig Goransson). The non-winners include Best Supporting Actress (Blunt), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, and Best Sound. It was primarily filmed in New Mexico with additional scenes in California, New Jersey, and Switzerland.