Oppenheimer, an eventual Best Picture Oscar winner, opens in theaters

Oppenheimer Released: July 11, 2023 Studio: Universal Pictures Genre: drama/biopic Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 329.86 Worldwide: 976.80 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Directing: Christopher Nolan Screenwriting: Christopher Nolan Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr. Review: Oppenheimer is a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who led the research effort to develop the first atomic bomb. It is based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus. Even at a three-hour running time, director Christopher Nolan’s “skill in telling the story is such that it never seems to drag.” AT “Nolan has gifted us a truly unique, unflinching, nuanced portrait of the enigmatic, complicated man who spearheaded the Manhattan Project.” AT The bombs developed by the project and dropped on Japan “killed between 100,000 and 200,000 people,” AT an act for which “Oppenheimer never publicly expressed regret for.” AT “As he says in the film, his thinking was that it would be better to make dropping the first nuclear weapon so horrifying that nobody would ever want to use them again.” AT The movie shows Oppenheimer’s early years as a graduate student and college professor and his subsequent role in leading the Manhattan project. However, the movie also shows his downfall when his early Communist connections make him a victim of the McCarthy era. Robert Downey Jr. plays Lewis Strauss who, as the former chair of the Atomic Energy Commission, was instrumental in stripping Oppenheimer of his security clearance. His controversial role in taking down Oppenheimer led to the Senate rejected his nomination for Secretary of Commerce under Eisenhower. Emily Blunt “shines in a relatively small role as Kitty Oppenheimer, who suffered from depression and had a volatile relationship with her philandering husband, but remained fiercely loyal to him.” AT It became both the highest-grossing World War II-related film and highest-grossing biographical film of all time. WK It garnered thirteen Oscar nominations (winning 7), won five Golden Globe Awards, and seven British Academy Film Awards. Sources: AT ArsTechnica.com (8/5/2023). “Review: Oppenheimer is pure visual poetry” by Jennifer Ouellette WK Wikipedia.org

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 7: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Downey Jr.), Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score Nominations: 13: Best Supporting Actress (Blunt), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Sound First posted 2/26/2025.

Avengers: Endgame caps off the first phase of the Marvel Universe

Avengers: Endgame Released: April 26, 2019 Studio: Disney Genre: super hero Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 858.30 Worldwide: 2799.44 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 934.68 Worldwide: 3165.00

Directing: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Screenwriting: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin Review: This is a movie that was “designed to be the most blockbuster of all the blockbusters.” BT “It’s an epic cultural event” BT about “rewarding commitment, fandom, and expectations.” BT It features “familiar faces from over 20 other movies.” BT It “elevates its most iconic heroes to the legendary status they deserve.” BT “It’s hard to see serious MCU fans walking away from this disappointed…It’s a satisfying end to a chapter…that will be hard to top for pure spectacle.” BT The story picks up where 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War left off: the villain Thanos got all six of the Infinity Stones and used them to “wipe out half of existence, including beloved heroes like Black Panther, Star-Lord, and Spider-Man.” BT The remaining heroes are left to find a way to reverse the destruction wrought by Thanos. This is “a more focused piece than Infinity War…It’s a more patient, focused film, even as its plot draws in elements of a dozen other movies.” BT There is “a sense of looking back instead of merely tring to set the table for something to come.” BT It revisits the charm of the first Avengers movie “in which strong personalities were allowed to bounce off each other instead of just feeling like they were strapped into a rollercoaster headed in the same direction.” BT “It also allows space for some of the best acting work in the franchise, particularly from Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr.” BT as Captain America and Iron Man respectively. Endgame “provides the MCU’s two most popular heroes the story arc they deserve instead of just drowning them in a sea of cameos.” BT Sources: BT Brian Tallerico (4/24/2019)

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Box Office: Oscars: Wins: 0 Nominations: 1 – Best Visual Effects First posted 5/26/2023.

 

The Avengers opened in theaters

The Avengers Released: May 4, 2012 Studio: Disney Genre: super hero Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 623.40 Worldwide: 1520.54 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 754.28 Worldwide: 1750.00

Directing: Joss Whedon Screenwriting: Joss Whedon, Zak Penn Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston Review: Critic Roger Ebert called this “the Westminster Dog Show of superheroes.” RE Starting with Iron Man (Downey) in 2008, Marvel introduced a slate of their famed comic book heroes to the big screen including Hulk (Ruffalo), Thor (Hemsworth), and Captain America (Evans) via freestanding movies. This brings them all together, as well as Black Widow (Johansson) and Hawkeye (Renner), for all-star conclusion to Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Avengers must band together to stave off a threat from Thor’s adopted brother, Loki (Hiddleston). He plans to open a gateway to the universe via a pulsing cube of energy known as the Tesseract. He’ll then attack Earth “with his fleet of reptile-looking monster-machines.” RE Of course, bringing these super egos together makes for some reopened rivalries until they do what Ebert says “was so highly valued on my first-grade report card: the concept of Working Well With Others.” RE The film traverses familiar territory. “There must be a threat. The heroes must be enlisted. The villain must be dramatized. Some personality defects are probed. And then the last hour or so consists of special effects in which large mechanical objects engage in combat that results in deafening crashes and explosions and great balls of fire.” RE Still, it is “done well by Joss Whedon, with style and energy.” RE He “not only pulled off a colossal character-juggling act, he also pushed the studio’s commercial success to a much higher level. It’s still one of the best-scripted Marvels, and we’ve yet to see a villain on more entertainingly nefarious form than Tom Hiddleston’s Loki was here.” EM Sources: RE Roger Ebert EM: Empire

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Box Office: Oscars: Wins: 0 Nominations: 1: Best Achievement in Visual Effects First posted 5/25/2023.