Disposable Media

Art, Music, Games, Life

You are here: Home / Archives for Christopher Nolan

Late to the party: Barbenheimer

By Leave a Comment

In my end of year round up for 2023, I covered my thoughts and feelings surrounding the more notable entertainment releases of the year, as well as outlining some of my broad plans for 2024. And in terms of recent cinema, I mentioned that in 2024 I would belatedly get around to the cinematic event of the previous year – “Barbenheimer”. I would make the time to watch Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023) and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023) when home releases (whether those were physical releases or digital rentals) were available. I didn’t have any concrete plans for watching the two films, but the choice to give myself a year at least meant that I could afford a little wiggle room in case something else came up. At the start of this year I had already been keeping myself busy with music releases on streaming services, as well as getting wrapped up in the latest new games such as Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but later on in February I decided that I would start doing my homework with one of the films, and then when another opportunity presents itself I’d make room to take a look at the other. At the time of writing, this article is a bit of a scramble of various collected thoughts, and it might end up being a few days in the making before it’s published (depending on when I’m able to complete both of my viewings), but what follows are brief summaries of my experience with Barbenheimer.

Barbenheimer: starting with a bang

Oppenheimer image for Disposable Media Barbenheimer feature

My Barbenheimer journey began with Oppenheimer, the Nolan film covering the life of the man who worked on the first atomic bomb. It’s a fascinating tale of the growth of scientific ambition and moralising around the impact of the bomb’s development, intertwined with complex relationships and the conflicts of political beliefs. The story itself has its moments of spectacle and drama – obviously the build up to the drop is what viewers will be waiting for, and this moment succeeds in a pretty astounding sequence. Outside of that event, however, there are still some brilliant shots and suitably moody lighting and camera work. (Also, my meagre audio setup was generally able to survive the sound mix without one thing drowning out another, which is always a bonus.) And I did like the hand-wringing and the moralising and the “how can one man have so much power and responsibility” feeling of some of it. So many of the best moments are “just” conversations in quiet rooms where the tension is almost palpable.

That being said, I did find that even with a three hour runtime it was a little too keen to hit a wide variety of plot points and emotional beats. The density of the subject matter is supported by an insistence to shoehorn an attempt at “nonlinear” delivery of its overall narrative – where the film initially appears to be starting at the end, and then proceeds to hop between events and timelines in the build-up to its conclusion. It was obviously an attempt to create an ambitious overall tapestry and emphasise the shifts in drama and tension between different events, but I felt as though it didn’t always offer enough room for the viewer to spend quality time with one moment or another. Moreover, I can’t help but imagine that some people will only appreciate the bombast, others will only care about the accuracy of the science, and so on. It’s an insane katamari of storytelling, but not all of it may be of interest to everyone. Maybe it could have reduced its scope and ambition and still delivered a compelling story. Overall, however, I can’t say that I disliked the film either and I would still recommend it if you can spare the time.

Barbenheimer: let’s go party

Barbie image for Disposable Media Barbenheimer feature

The day after watching Nolan’s film, I rented Barbie online to complete my Barbenheimer tour. After all, a certain series from the likes of Disney and Pixar proved a long time ago that there is mileage in the “toys to life” movie pitch (as well as potential for a story that resonates with all ages and genders.) What begins as a knowingly silly acknowledgement of Barbie’s many incarnations elevating her to an iconic status – whilst the Kens are too busy trying to one-up each other – ends up going on a fairly wild ride of self-discovery that crosses boundaries of the toy world and the real world and calls out the patriarchy, the male gaze, the obvious stereotypes. However, amongst this messaging is a sense that the film never forgets to enjoy itself at the same time – there are lots of knowingly silly scenes with boardrooms of (male) directors trying to manage the potential chaos that could come from this real-world crossover – and there are also plenty of more tender moments that explore themes of identity, and the ridiculous ideals of trying to be the most perfect archetype of everything. It casts a light on how people shouldn’t be defined by status, wealth, or material possessions and should find and define their own identity for themselves – at their own pace, in a way that they’re comfortable with. It identifies the struggle of those who are continually under pressure throughout their lives – those who always feel that as though they can never do enough. And I have to respect that kind of messaging.

Oppenheimer tries to paint a picture of a unique individual by crafting an elaborate tale that jumps across timelines and events; meanwhile, Barbie celebrates the blank canvas of identity and sense of self that everyone starts with. I feel like Gerwig’s film can be watched by anyone and they can take something positive or meaningful from it – but really, both of the films I’ve covered here give viewers some nice bits and pieces to chew on after the credits have rolled. Regardless of whether or not their themes are as complimentary as social media trends would have you believe, they’re both good fun.

No time wasted

I’m sure somebody is already writing in the comments to tell me that I’ve missed the point of one thing or another in one (or both) of the Barbenheimer films – in honesty, I feel like each of these movies is stuffed with enough material to grant viewers the freedom to consider their own impressions… and then self-examine if they feel like it, taking away the messages that resonated with them. I know it probably looks like I’ve given Oppenheimer a bit of a hard time for its format and delivery, but I admire how ridiculously ambitious it is in its efforts to cover so much in such a brave nonlinear manner. And I may have been quick to gush over Barbie’s themes and morals, but there’s nothing stopping you from having a fun time with the characters as well. As I mentioned at the start of this article, I began pulling together some random thoughts that I thought I would stick together when I had finished watching both movies, but I actually ended up watching them over two consecutive evenings. I don’t know how I’d really rate them in an end-of-year round up if I had actually watched them last year, but I don’t feel like my time was wasted with either of the films (even with Oppenheimer’s lengthy runtime.) I’ll hopefully be back with some scrambled thoughts on new games and music in the future, but in the meantime I hope that some of you have enjoyed my rambling about these two films. Maybe they’ll both get sequels and there will be a Barbenheimer 2 trend on social media in the future, but for now I think the existing films have been worthwhile viewings.

The Dark Knight trilogy – late impressions

By Leave a Comment

The Dark Knight trilogy was something that I always wanted to avoid acknowledging, because I had a very specific image of Batman burned into my subconscious as I grew up – not the edgy, grimdark character but the weird camp chap seen in the live-action TV series and the excellent animated cartoons. And I knew that I was at fault and that the Dark Knight trilogy would do nothing for me, right? I mean, how can you go from a daytime kids’ cartoon where nothing gruesome can be shown and no foul language can warp the minds of the young to… well, these films? For so long, I held this preconception that the films would have zero sense of fun because they’re to be taken seriously by dedicated followers of the comic books – sorry, graphic novels. That said, I decided to put my predujices aside and take out online rentals of each of the three films over the past few weeks (I watched Begins on February 24th, TDK on February 28th, and Rises on March 6th.)

The grit of the Dark Knight trilogy

Dark Knight trilogy

And, to be honest, a lot of the stuff in the films is quite gritty and violent. The bad guys truly seem unstoppable at times, and even outside of the headline villains there are people who seem unspeakably corrupt – people who will lower themselves to all manner of misdeeds. However, the films all share one common theme that stops them from being too edgy – they revel in absurdity. You see, the Dark Knight trilogy indulges in darkness and corruption and violence and death, but the scale and spectacle of what goes on creates some distance – away from a disturbing portrayal of intimate violence, and closer towards an excessive fireworks display of explosions, with crowds of people running riot. The excess isn’t limited to chaos either; every time Batman descends into the Bat-Cave you’re hoping for a display of the brand new toys that he might get to play with later on in the film – shiny gadgets that nobody questions because, well, they’re watching a Batman film. Meanwhile the villainy on display is closer to something like Robocop, where crime is carried out in such extreme ways that you can’t help but raise an eyebrow.

Edgy but silly

Dark Knight trilogy

In embracing the fantastical characters and extreme corruption, the Dark Knight trilogy treads the line between morose bleakness and silly escapism, and I expected it to stray much more towards the former throughout the three films. Then again, how can you be completely bleak and straight-faced when you see things like the Batmobile soaring from a parking garage to land on a rooftop? I spent some time offline talking to a colleague about my recent ongoing journey through the Dark Knight trilogy and I mentioned that I expected it to be more edgy and grim – she told me not to worry, and that I would get more grimness (is that a word?) in the latter films. However, I think she missed my point: I expected a sullen and dull atmosphere but got something a lot better. I’d probably still prefer to watch the live-action TV show or the animated series because they take the silliness to a whole new level, but the three films seem to get the balance between silly and edgy just about right.

The Dark Knight Trilogy: moody fun

Dark Knight trilogy

Would I watch them again? Probably – now that I know that they don’t take themselves too seriously I’m kind of relieved.  (Then again, that would involve multiple permanent purchases after I already made multiple rental purchases, so… ouch.) The point is, I expected the trilogy to offer at least one moody detective thriller that was too concerned about being grounded in an authentic criminal underworld to have any fun. This never ended up happening, and I’m glad it didn’t. If you have any recommendations for movies outside of this trilogy that I can look into, let me know in the comments below.

If you want to read more of our Batman-related ramblings, click here. All of my viewings were made possible through Prime Video rentals.

Dunkirk Review

By Leave a Comment

In Adventures in the Screen Trade, an essential book for anyone interested in the writing and making of films, William Goldman describes the challenge of adapting A Bridge Too Far into a screenplay as being what to leave out. For Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan focuses on a soldier, two pilots and one little ship as they go from moment to moment during the evacuation of more than 300,000 soldiers from an isolated and surrounded harbour.

The triptych begins with young British private Tommy heading towards the Dunkirk beach with several other soldiers. And switches in a non-linear fashion between his attempts to leave France with the other characters journeying towards it. As The Mole covers the events of the East Mole pier itself, The Sea concerns itself with the little ship owned by Mr Dawson and crewed by son Peter and deckhand George. Meanwhile The Air is the story of two Spitfire pilots flying towards the oncoming Luftwaffe fighters and bombers.

Dunkirk Review

It makes sense to focus on the immediacy of the evacuation and aerial battles. Dunkirk was a triumph of spirit and courage, but the events leading to it were described as a ‘colossal military disaster’ by Churchill as the Germans drove across Europe in just a couple of months. Unlike Operation Market Garden, however, the evacuation efforts are still celebrated today, particularly in the main little ships port of Ramsgate.

And Dunkirk is a successful film in many ways. The realism has been praised by many, including Dunkirk veterans. The cinematography by Hoyte van Hotema looks incredible, and helps to portray the horror of the events without the use of blood. Despite the Luftwaffe and U-Boat attacks on the beach and ships, the film manages to convey the chaos and deadliness of the situation whilst still falling into a 12A rating.

Both the Hans Zimmer score and the sound effects work wonderfully to provide a backdrop which captures the wonderous sound of the Rolls Royce Merlin engines of the Spitfires, the terrible foreboding of a dive bomber attack and the various explosions and crunching metal which occur.

But it’s not perfect. The decision to use a non-linear structure which stretches and plays around with time is something associated with Christopher Nolan since his breakthrough with Memento. And it’s harder to follow in the chaos of war. Cillian Murphy first appears as a shivering, shell-shocked soldier huddled on a mid-channel wreck, but later appears as a forceful boat commander earlier in proceedings elsewhere. And the sacrifice of one leading character is dragged out long enough for boats to have journeyed back from Dunkirk to England by the time it ends, which makes it feel much less climactic than it might have done.

The time motif also interferes slightly with the soundtrack. The script was written to include an auditory illusion known as a Shephard tone, which Nolan has used in The Prestige, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Returns. And while that works, it was coupled with the sound of Nolan’s own pocket watch, which occasionally appears as if the characters are on some kind of timer. It’s not only irritating, but given that the actual evacuation lasted from May 27th to June 4th, 1940, it also doesn’t really make much sense.

While the decision to focus on the immediate situation also makes sense to avoid bogging the film down in back story or the political and military decisions in London, it also risks making the characters too enigmatic to really care about. The casting of Harry Styles made the headlines, but none of the soldiers are required to portray much emotion in their roles, while pilots Collins and Farrier are mostly hidden behind their oxygen masks. As a result it’s Scottish actor Jack Lowden as Collins who the audience can sympathise with more than Tom Hardy as Farrier.

None of the actors turn in a bad performance, and there’s a hidden cameo by Michael Caine as the RAF officer on the radio to the Spitfire pilots. It’s just that you never really get much opportunity to know the likes of Fionn Whitehead as Tommy or Aneurin Barnard as Gibson. Which puts them at a bit of a disadvantage compared to the likes of Mark Rylance as Mr Dawson. And particularly Kenneth Branagh, who spends his time standing stoically at the end of the East Mole as Navy Commander Bolton, the pier-master of the evacuation.

One criticism that does seem valid is the portrayal of non-British forces. Nolan insisted on an almost entirely British cast, and the film obviously takes that perspective. The French are seen being refused access to British evacuation ships, or as a character pretending to be English, and there’s one lone Dutchman attempting a rescue. In reality, there were ships from Belgium, Holland, France and other European countries. And while many of the 100,000 Frenchmen eventually evacuated were redeployed to face battle a few weeks later  before the surrender of France, there’s no mention of the French forces who fought a delaying action to allow the evacuation to take place.

Overall, there’s a lot to praise about Dunkirk. It doesn’t use the war to convey a political message or risk becoming cloying with emotion. Instead, it has probably the best aerial dogfights captured since the 1930 Howard Hughes film Hell’s Angels. And rather than bloodshed or imposing a narrative, it relies on moments inspired by real experiences, such as men deciding to wade hopelessly into the sea, as some of the main characters look on impassively. It’s a wartime event delivered as an Impressionist study rather than a Boy’s Own tale of derring-do. And while it’s admirable for the range of technical brilliance on show, it still doesn’t distract you from the tragedy and horror at the core of Dunkirk.

Save

Join Us…


Privacy Policy

Cookie Policy