Oppenheimer

Steve Carlton · 07-07-2023, 08:04 AM

I've been looking forward to seeing Christopher Nolan's movie Oppenheimer. It was being discussed on the news and it was mentioned that J. Robert Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder published a paper on Sept 1, 1939, considered the start of WWII, postulating the existence of black holes. It's thought that Oppenheimer could have won a Nobel Prize for that, had he not died. He never even thought or cared much about it, along with Albert Einstein. Wow.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/oppenheimer-8217-s-folly-on-black-holes-fundamental-laws-and-pure-and-applied-science/#

There's a special on MSNBC Sunday night To End All War Oppenhiemer & The Atomic Bomb that will stream on Peacock afterwards.

stevej37 · 07-07-2023, 09:03 AM

Oppenheimer and the Tom Cruise new movie are on my list to see when they open.

sc_rufctr · 07-07-2023, 05:14 PM

The movie looks fantastic and I will definitely see it in the theater.

Meanwhile this is Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss. I barely recognized him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Strauss

mjohnson · mjohnson's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevej37

Oppenheimer and the Tom Cruise new movie are on my list to see when they open.

Don't forget Barbie - also opening in the US on the 21st...

We had the American Prometheous author (most of the source for the Oppie movie) lecture the other week - It got pretty deep. Nolan's a complete geek on the whole project and he spent many weeks in our archives at Los Alamos. As they're doing pre-release publicity I see him pretty frequently coming and going with various news orgs. His joint is quite locked tight - I've opened up the Oppenheimer house for his publicity visits but once I get the door cracked I'm clearly sent on my way to go do something else.

I think it's kind of funny as LA (this one in New Mexico) is so blase w.r.t. hollywood that Nolan, Murphy, Damon et al. could be at the local brewpub (200 yds from the Oppie house) and beyond a "cool, hollywood folk" comment nobody would bother them or even really care.

Still it'll be fun to see our story and historical society properties feature in such a big thing. FYI, and it's not paywalled, today's Guardian has a pretty long article on Murphy. It's interesting...

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

I saw this on one of my film sites. Thought it was interesting. Would be a great venue to see this movie. Nolan is a huge "Film Geek"....

The 11 mile long IMAX print of Christopher Nolan’s ’Oppenheimer’ - it also weighs 600lbs.

Seahawk · 07-08-2023, 07:59 AM

I captured a still from the advanced copy I received:

Robert Coats · Robert Coats's Garage

Some local screens are having a double-feature, with a vintage Pink Floyd soundtrack:

Por_sha911 · Por_sha911's Garage

A few years back there was an awesome series about developing the bomb called "Manhattan". They took some artistic liberty to spice up the series (which I could have done without) but all in all it was very well done. It ran 2014-15

Steve Carlton · 07-08-2023, 06:24 PM

Thanks for the suggestion!

https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/manhattan

JackDidley · JackDidley's Garage

Anybody else remember the PBS series from the 70s with Sam Waterston playing Oppenheimer ? At the time I thought it was great.

Steve Carlton · 07-08-2023, 07:32 PM

I don't see it streaming anywhere. Looks available on eBay on DVD. Looks like it was good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_(TV_series)

JackDidley · JackDidley's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

I don't see it streaming anywhere. Looks available on eBay on DVD. Looks like it was good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_(TV_series)

That does not surprise me since it was on public TV. It was a damn good series for 1980. Pretty sure I watched it on a black and white TV.

mjohnson · mjohnson's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

A few years back there was an awesome series about developing the bomb called "Manhattan". They took some artistic liberty to spice up the series (which I could have done without) but all in all it was very well done. It ran 2014-15

"Artistic liberty" is an understatement - but it was fun anyway to watch as, being filmed in Santa Fe, a few of my hoarder/engineer colleagues contributed many of the vintage props and did all of the "chalkboard" work. The fractional-sized tower used at Trinity is now at the Atomic museum in ABQ near Sandia Labs and Kirtland AFB.

The part about the latebreaking discovery regarding the neutronics of their available grade of Pu and its unsuitability of use in a "gun" device (to be called "Thin Man" after FDR) was more or less true. They went from "wow we seem to have useless exceptionally expensive material" to the implosion device in (IIRC) under 18 months.

Fun fact on the implosion devices - the necessary timing had never been done before. George Kitsiakowski was the guy that made it work. As austere as life in LA was over those years there was a crude ski area. George was an explosives expert. He was also sort of in charge of the ski area. Just as "everything's a nail if you have a hammer" you can probably guess that chain saws were not used for removing the trees...

Cheers!

sc_rufctr · 07-11-2023, 03:31 AM

Featurette

cockerpunk · 07-11-2023, 06:33 AM

im excited, i hope they dont just cover the bomb, but also the fact that they tried to accuse oppenheimer of being a communist agent.

masraum · 07-11-2023, 06:49 AM

Matt Damon, Robert DJ, Emily Blunt, seems from a theatrical point of view, there's an excellent chance that this will be a good movie.

Por_sha911 · Por_sha911's Garage

Looks like an awesome movie but I am not a fan of full frontal nudity. I think they could have done it without the R rating. I'm sad to say that I'll wait till it hits cable.

Steve Carlton · 07-11-2023, 07:32 AM

What I'm hearing is that this is a must-see in IMAX.

Por_sha911 · Por_sha911's Garage

I think IMAX would make it an incredible experience.
That said, I refuse to fund the R rating that could have been done just as well as PG13. It is not a judgement on anyone else. Just my personal convictions.

Steve Carlton · 07-11-2023, 08:22 AM

I was surprised to find there was nudity in Oppenheimer. It's hard to see the relevance and appropriateness, honestly. I'm not going to let it stop me from seeing this one in IMAX. I virtually never see IMAX, actually. I think I'm going to see Dead Reckoning in IMAX, as well. I hardly go to movies anymore, streaming almost everything now. So, maybe save the special stuff for IMAX if I'm going to go out.