• Most Rewatchable Scene
As much as this movie is marked by epic scenes like the Trinity Test and the scene where he gives a speech in the gym, I’m not sure I can think of those as the most rewatchable scenes. I’m in love with the dialogue of this movie, so it has to be one of the talking scenes. Maybe Matt Damon first meeting Cillian Murphy to soft-offer him the job heading up the project? Emily Blunt toying with Jason Clarke during her testimony? I struggle to land on one, but maybe I’d go with the scene where Clarke ramps up his cross of Murphy, breaking into full-on yelling while Murphy bumps on his own trauma over the whole thing and Nolan uses the white-out effect beautifully.
(It feels like a credit to Murphy’s performance that I feel fine referring to other actors by name and I keep wanting to just refer to him as “Oppenheimer.” He disappears into his role more than anyone else by a fair amount.)
• The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie
“You shook his FUCKING hand?!”
Like most rewatchable scene, there’s just a ton of candidates here.
• What’s Aged the Best?
Well it mostly hasn’t aged, but it should be said that it’s impressive that this movie was just able to put Best Picture on lockdown from the middle of the summer and not face any significant threat despite a ridiculously strong year in film. Holding strong like that for 7.5 months is not a small thing.
• What’s Aged the Worst?
Perhaps it will be me talking like it’s already won Best Picture! But probably not. I mean, this isn’t a knock on the movie since I very much assume that this was accurate to the era, but tying your tie so that it only goes halfway down the front of your shirt looks so bad now.
More on the tip of actually criticizing the movie: turning the existence of JFK as a dissenting voter against Strauss into some dramatic name-drop like he’s being teased for entry into the goddamn Avengers is a truly silly moment.
• The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance
I sort of struggle with this one. My impulse is Jason Clarke, but I feel like a proper Rewatchables crew would tell me he’s in it too much to be eligible. This would have been tailor-made for Gary Oldman if his performance as Truman was actually good, but I can’t say I actually like it.
I’ll just go with Clarke and let the (rigged) jury overrule me.
• The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award
I think I’ve gotta give this to Tony Goldwyn. I knew that I knew him from somewhere. As I occasionally do, I eventually diagnosed him with the wrong answer, and stumbled out of the theater telling my friends how cool it was that they dusted the mothballs off of Aidan Quinn and put him on the administrative law judge panel. Even if my radar were better and I had identified the right person, all I would have been able to come up with was “villain from Ghost.”
• The “Ruffalo/Hanna/Rubinek/Partridge” Overacting Award
I mean…I guess I’ll process this in the dumb way that Simmons does while calling it “overacting”? This is not a bad moment by the actor, but I’ve gotta give it to Matt Damon’s, “Why? WHY?! Because it’s the most important fucking thing to ever happen in the history of the world!”
• Casting What Ifs
I’m not really finding much here. Looks like Murphy is just forever one of Nolan’s guys and Nolan picked him without much consideration to others.
• Half-Assed Internet Research
Not much here either. As Bill noted on a Rewatchables, newer movies don’t offer a lot of material because it tends to take some years for the stories to trickle out.
• Probably Unanswerable Questions
Well, the obvious one here is Downey’s assertion that if Oppenheimer could do it all over, he’d do it again. Whatever regrets he had, I can’t fault the line of “I don’t know if we can be trusted with this, but I know that Germany can’t.”
• Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All Black Remake
I mean…limited series is the only one that works here at all, and I don’t want it. Great three-hour movie >>> great limited series.
• Apex Mountain
Murphy for sure. I think I’d go with yes for Nolan? Massive commercial and critical success, and he’s going to ship the Oscar, but that’s a closer call because he’s had other big highs. Yes for Ludwig Goransson for composing this score. No for Downey (gotta go with his MCU run even though this might be his critical apex), Blunt, Damon, etc.
• Who Won the Movie?
It has to be Nolan IMO. While it’s Murphy apex to date, I don’t think it makes him some household name who can have his pick of any role in the way that some star turns like this do for some actors. Honestly I think RDJ would have more of a case than Murphy, since this is such a strong re-entry into the sorts of films that critics take seriously again (and I say that with all personal love for his Tony Stark work). But I think that Nolan is the one being lauded the most for this, and this is everything coming together for him.
• Picking Nits
I never would have known this, but apparently this is the case: Oppenheimer refers to black holes as “holes in space” in the script at a point in history before black holes were named.
• The “Den of Thieves Benihana” Award for Scene Stealing Location
• The “Great Shot Gordo” Award for Most Cinematic Shot
I suppose it has to be the Trinity Test, but there’s a disappointing dearth of YouTubes and stills readily available.
• The Vincent Chase Award: Are We Sure This Character Is Actually Good at Their Job?
Alden Ehrenreich’s character seems to be serving as an aide who is supposed to shepherd a cabinet nominee through to a successful confirmation, and by the end he’s so fucking pissed at Strauss that he’s not only actively displaying his contempt for him but seems to have completely dropped the ball on what he himself described as basically a sure thing at the start.
• The “Big Kahuna Burger” Award for Best Use of Food and Drink
I’ll go with the martinis from the scene where the Commie is casually hinting that Oppie should commit a bit of light treason.
• The “Butch’s Girlfriend” Award for the Weakest Link in the Film
Oldman as Truman. Look: Oldman is great, but c’mon with this caricature. Truman basically ends up looking like far and away the most unserious human being in the whole film.
• The “Ron Burgundy Flute” Award for the Best Time for a Pee Break
This isn’t going to be a very good strategic pee break since it happens so early in the film, but I’m inclined to point to the whole sequence with the injection into the apple.
• Is There a Better Title for this Movie?
Nope. Next question.
• The Steven A. Smith Hottest Take Award
I’ve got nothing.
• The Teddy KGB Award for the Actor in a Completely Different Movie
It’s Oldman again. I want to believe that Christopher Nolan just wandered off the set during that scene and then he was left with Oldman’s only take on how to play that character.
• Just One Oscar
I guess it’s Nolan. Even as much as I’m in the bag for this movie, it makes me bristle to think that I could be sounding like a member of the cult of Nolan at all. But this was an incredible achievement.
• Best Double Feature
I’m no good for this category. If I’m going to watch two movies in quick succession, I’m going to tend to pick something completely different stylistically in most cases. With Oppenheimer, I’m probably not dialing up another talking movie, and the nature of the movie kinda sorta makes an unrelated action movie feel smaller than it otherwise would? So probably I’d just bail out into a comedy. But perhaps I could double up on RDJ and make it Tropic Thunder.
• Best Race Horse Name from this Movie
Tatlock. I don’t know.
• What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?
Maybe it’s Murphy’s hat? I’ll go with that.
• The “Andy and Red – Zihuatanejo” Award for What Happens the Next Day?
Doesn’t really work with true stories, especially those that fast-forward to the later times in the lead’s life.
• The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson
When people are trying to atone for wronging you in the past, they’re doing it for themselves and not for you. Hat tip to Albert Einstein (movie rendition).
• The “Slow Ride” / “Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness” Award for Best Needle Drop
If there was actually a needle drop, I missed it.
