Doing the Barbenheimer

Within a twenty-four hour period over Sunday and Monday, I took in the two most hyped movies of 2023, Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolen's "Oppenheimer."  I didn't do it in one calendar day, but, yes, I did The Barbenheimer.

 Barbie

When I first heard that there was to be a movie based on Barbie, the Mattel baby doll, I had little interest in seeing it until I heard that the movie was to be directed (and written) by Greta Gerwig.  After her two previous films, "Lady Bird" and "Little Women", I figure that anything to which Gerwig attaches herself is worth seeing.  Okay, the fact that Margot Robbie would be playing Barbie might also have been a big selling point for this one.

As the movie opens, we see Barbie awaken in Barbie Land.  In Barbie Land, Barbies can be anything that they want to be - an astronaut, President, a Supreme Court Justice, a doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, absolutely anything.  Kens, on the other hand, are merely vapid creatures who want nothing more than to spend time on the beach, and, of course, serve the needs of the various Barbies, in an asexual way, of course.

Through some rip in the continuum between Barbie Land and the Real World, Robbie's Barbie finds herself thinking thoughts of death, having flat feet, and, worst of all, getting cellulite.  To fix this, Barbie needs to journey to the Real World and find the little girl who is playing with her. Yes, "Barbie" could be called another multi-verse movie.  Ken, played by Ryan Gosling, stows away for the trip.  In the Real World, of course, Barbie discovers that while it's possible that women can be anything that they want to be, it isn't all that easy to do so in what is still a man's world.  And Ken discovers that it's not so bad if men get the chance to run things, a concept that he brings back with him to Barbie Land with disastrous results.

Don't ask me to explain how all this worked in the movie, but do go see it and enjoy it.  The movie has a lot of laughs, is beautiful to look at in all of it's pink-ified splendor, and the acting is terrific with Robbie and Gosling and in significant supporting roles, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Will Farrell, and Michael Cera.  

I did think that the movie's message got a bit tied up in knots towards the end, but that's a minor quibble on my part.  The movie also delivers a terrific final line.  It might not rank up there with "Nobody's perfect", "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn", or "Louis, I think that this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship", but it's a real zinger nonetheless.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

Oppenheimer

Without question, the most highly anticipated movie thus far in 2023 has been Christopher Nolen's "Oppenheimer", the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist tapped to lead the Manhattan Project during WW II and develop the atomic bomb before the Germans (and the Russians) can.

This movie has a three hour running time.  Too long for a movie?  In most cases, yes, but not here.  Every minute of this movie is integral to the story being told.  I never looked at my watch once while watching this one.   The movie is told from  couple of points of view, one part in black and white,  but most of the movie in color.  That took a bit to get used to in keeping track of the story, but you catch on fairly quickly.  Me, I love the use of black and white in this one.

All elements of mid-twentieth century America can be seen in Oppenheimer's story.   From the heroic war effort of the Americans working on the project to the Communist witch hunts of the McCarthy Era.    It is one terrific story, and Nolan's movie making skills are on full display in this fabulous movie.  Even one of the most cliched items in any movie - a countdown clock - is anything but a cliche in this one.  And when the test bomb is fired in the New Mexico desert?  Well, I won't give a spoiler here, but it's a Wow Moment.

A salute to all of the actors in this one, mainly Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer, but also the always terrific Emily Blunt as his wife Kitty, Matt Damon as Army General Leslie Groves, and a hardly recognizable Robert Downey Jr as Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Lewis Strauss.  There are a multitude of other actors in this one who you will recognize like Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, and Florence Pugh.   There is also a brief screen appearance by Gary Oldman as President Harry S Truman.  Oldman has now played, among other people, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Lee Harvey Oswald.  What a resume.

I predict that there will be a slew of Oscar animations for the one.  Best Picture, of course, and Nolan for both Director and Screenplay, and acting nominations for Murphy, Blunt, Downey, and, possibly, Damon.  I also hope that it gets some nomination or other for Costuming, if for no other reason that the very cool hat that Murphy/Oppenheimer wore (I want one!):

Shoutouts to Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Robert Downey Jr.

And Murphy and the real J. Robert Oppenheimer....

A Full and Enthusiastic Four Stars from The Grandstander.

And a final salute to the Hats....

"Little Women"

I'll cut right to the chase here:

"Little Women" is one of the best movies, maybe even THE best,  that I have seen in 2019.

No, I had never read the Louisa May Alcott classic upon which the movie is based, and I wasn't even at all familiar with the story itself.  This admission comes much to the chagrin of Mrs. Grandstander, who counts "Little Women" as one of her all time favorite books.

Be that as it may, I was looking forward to seeing this movie for several reasons.  Foremost among them was the chance to see Saoirse Ronan on screen once again.  Also, the screenwriter and director of this one is Greta Gerwig, who last year gave us the wonderful "Lady Bird" (which also starred Miss Ronan).  Finally, the reviews for this movie have been universal in their praise.  Sometimes such a build up can lead to a letdown, but not so in the case of "Little Women".  It is a marvelous movie, and great story, gorgeously filmed, and smartly written and wonderfully directed by Gerwig, who at the age of 36 is quickly becoming one of the current days' great filmmakers.  Any movie that she now makes becomes one that I want to see.

Ronan and Gerwig

She makes the interesting choice of telling the story of the March Sisters during two different points in time, set seven years apart in the story.  It seems a bit disorienting at first, but you catch on pretty quickly and it turns out to have been a great way to present the story.

Scanlon, Ronan, Watson, and Pugh

The March Sisters, the "little women" of the title are played by Emma Watson (Meg), Saoirse Ronan (Jo), Florence Pugh (Amy), and Eliza Scanlon (Beth).  All are great, but the first among equals is Ronan.  Ever since seeing her in the great movie "Brooklyn" a few years back, she has become one of my favorite actresses. She alone makes any movie that she is in worth seeing (if they filmed her reading the telephone book, I think that I'd pay to see it), and she is absolutely mesmerizing as Jo March in this one.  You really just can't take your eyes off of her as you watch her perform on screen.  I have said previously on this Blog and will restate it once more, she is becoming the next great actress of her generation, and she will be, I believe, the "next Meryl Streep."

Also appearing in this movie are Timothee Chalamet (another veteran from "Lady Bird"), Laura Dern, Chris Cooper, Bob Odenkirk, and the aforementioned Meryl Streep.  How great to have both Streep and Ronan appear in the same movie, although they have few scenes together.  Most of Streep's interactions in the movie are with Miss Pugh's Amy.  

I simply cannot recommend this movie highly enough.  Some terrifically staged scenes, particularly of sequences where there is dancing involved.  Sounds crazy since this is NOT a musical, but when you see the scenes, you'll know what I mean. Also, terrific dialog, particularly from Streep's character Aunt March when talking about the sisters, the necessity of marriage in the nineteenth century, and her feelings towards Jo, who may be more like her than she realizes or cares to admit. 

Simply put, don't miss "Little Women".  I can't wait to see it again.

Four Stars from The Grandstander.

Oh, and one more thing.  We saw this yesterday in a theater that was close to being filled to capacity, and I was one of three or four men in the audience.  So my message to all you guys out there, don't pass this one up because you think this one is strictly for women, or more specifically, young girls.  To do so will cause you to miss out on a terrific movie.  Trust me on that.