To start, I’ve been putting this review off as it took my a while to put my thoughts together on this film. With that in mind, thank you for your patience my loyal followers.

A quick aside before I get started. I had the privilege of going to Los Alamos in May of this year, right before this movie was released. The natheal beauty of that area cannot be understated, the deserts of New Mexico are quickly becoming one of my favorite places on the planet. Therefore, if renowned genius Dr. Oppenheimer and I both share a favorite place, does that make me a genius as well? Food for thought.

I’ve always though Christopher Nolan was an extremely overrated director. I’ve always felt that he gets in his own way, most of his movies are incredible visually, usually with unique set pieces and story concepts. Sometimes it works, as with his earlier works. Sometimes it doesn’t, the back act of Interstellar, Tenant, and Dunkirk for example.

With that in mind, this is the kind of film that Nolan really should be making. This movie is less a movie about the creation of the Atom bomb, and more about the scientist that birthed it.

Oppenheimer the scientist was a deeply interesting man, a charismatic, almost rakish man. A bone thin scientist turned cowboy turned celebrity. If anything this 3 hour movie could have shown us more of what he did after the bomb’s creation.

That’s the magic of Oppenheimer, at 3 hours long it is a marathon, but still you want to dive deeper into the Manhattan project, the scientists that made it possible and the politicians that controlled our nuclear program after its inception. Nolan did a great job of showing us a slew of interesting characters that we, the audience want to get to know.

I can’t call this movie perfect as Nolan is not without his usual flaws. Namely, I’m not sure a period piece about a scientist needs three different timelines. But this is in my opinion Christopher Nolan’s best work since the first half of Interstellar. My only serious complaint comes from the fact that I was promised full frontal from both Florence Pugh and Cilian Murphy and I received only the normal level of nudity allowed in theaters today.

Oppenheimer gets 4.5 stars from me. A great movie and the best new release I’ve seen this year. #releasethedongcut

This week I went to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. To start this review off, I never thought Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was as bad as people act like it is. A far cry from the original 3, yes, but a solid 5/10 adventure movie. I feel like this is worth mentioning since it seems like this movie has been doomed to fail since it’s announcement, paying for the sins of its predecessor and unfairly compared to some of the most entertaining movies of all time.

I saw this movie in IMAX, and while I don’t think IMAX really adds a ton to this movie in particular, the more epic scenes were very enjoyable on the extra large screen.

The movie opens with a flashback action scene of our titular character taking on the Nazis during the end of their reign in 1945. While I have never really gotten over the use of de-aging technology, I have to admit it was fairly well done here. A classic Indiana Jones action scene with a modern spin to start the movie off, nice. As the movie begins in earnest, in 1960’s America, we see our hero at his lowest, a brief reference to the 4th movie should allow all of its detractors to enjoy the rest of this film. We meet the rest of Indy’s companions (and adversaries) over the next few scenes and I think that everyone involved did a very good job bringing their characters to life (except the kid, I understand why the character was added but I think they could have picked a better actor)

The story was in my opinion great, the McMuffin in this movie is perfect for Indiana Jones. The action was tight, fun and as believable as you could expect from an Indiana Jones movie. Some surprise cameos and some well placed jokes keep you interested the whole time. With an epic conclusion, this movie keeps you watching the whole time.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a solid 7/10 for me, not as great as the originals but a good movie and send off to one of the most beloved characters we’ve ever known

Wow what a ride. I have to admit I hardly remembered the first film in this series going in so I didn’t know what to expect. All I really remembered was crazy visuals and a soundtrack that had the whole world singing “Sunflower” by Post Malone. With that in mind, I was hoping for the same from this one.

Absolutely blown away by the art direction and music for this movie. They nailed it again. The way each of the universes had their own styles and how each matched the individual spider-people that resided in the universe worked flawlessly. To go along with the variety of world and Spiders we saw was an incredible soundtrack. That while missing a hit as renowned as “Sunflower” really hit on all cylinders. I found myself listening to the music the next morning during my commute and will no doubt add many of the sounds to my daily playlists.

I’m going to keep this review spoiler free but I want to hit the main story beats. This was a movie on the longer end of the spectrum (over 2 hours) but I found myself wishing for more when it ended. I cannot wait to see how the conflicts involving Miles and the other Spider-people close out in the next chapter. I thought they did a great job making this movie feel like it could stand on its own two feet while also keeping the tension for its inevitable sequel.

Final rating 4.5/5 stars. The story, comedy and writing are worth the price of admission alone. The music and visuals make you come back for more.

Link to soundtrack on Spotify