Oppenheimer (2023) Universal Pictures 📢 Director: Christopher Nolan. 💰 Producers: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan. 👫 Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh. 🏆 Awards ceremony: -96th Academy Awards: March 10, 2024. Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. 🎭 Other films nominated for Best Picture this year: -American Fiction. -Anatomy Of A Fall. -Barbie. -The Holdovers. -Killers Of The Flower Moon. -Maestro. -Past Lives. -Poor Things. -The Zone Of Interest. 📕 Plot summary: Robert Oppenheimer is a Quantum physicist professor who wants to beat the Nazis to creating an atom bomb. After several setbacks he and his team accomplish their mission but in the aftermath of the weapon's destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII, Oppenheimer begins to feel guilt. 💥 Standout scene(s): -The build up to the big test in the desert where they set off the bomb. -When Oppenheimer is giving his victory speech and begins to realize the ramifications of his actions and the guilt he later feels. 🔑 Facts: -The 96th Academy Awards. -Nominated for 13 Academy Awards, it won 7: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Cillian Murphy), Supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Original score, Cinematography, Editing. -Second Best Picture appearance from Matt Damon (THE DEPARTED). 🙂 Personal opinion: One of the things that bugged me was the way it starts. For a first-time viewing, the audience is in at the deep end straight away like it is assumed we know what is going on? A tighter, simplified version of the film with at least a third of it cut out would have made for a much more watchable movie. Instead, we have a 3-hour bore-fest which is so far up its own arse just for the sake of it. Badly explained and excruciatingly boring for the first two hours. Poorly edited and a convoluted mess of back-and-forth storylines interchanging between colour and black & which sequences and a fucking musical soundtrack that just doesn't ever STOP! The music is so distracting and totally unnecessary, to the point where it was actually making me angry. It's only there to distract the viewer from the blandness on the screen! Matt Damon looks far too young to be a General, and Cillian Murphy's performance was awarded a generous Oscar. It infuriated me also to see that both the director and the music also won Oscars. People talk about this film as though it was the latest best big thing, and it bloody well AIN'T! Too long, too loud, too boring. Admittedly there are a couple of good scenes, but as for the other 90% of the film..... well.... Did it deserve the Oscar? ❌NO. So overrated. 4½/10

Review date: 23 August 2025