Back again, for a Lars Ulrich report. Yes, he was at OPPENHEIMER, but he did not sit next to me.

As for the film, it's very good, although I don't think it works as well as it could. I had a similar reaction to DUNKIRK and I think it mostly comes down to directorial choices that I'm not on board with or don't see the point of (format, sound design, etc.). I think DUNKIRK is more successful in living up to its ambition than this one. Note: I found the actual bomb scene underwhelming and I'm not the only one in my group who thought so, although otherwise we all had very different opinions on which parts of the film worked and which didn't.

The Lars Ulrich Barbenheimer report is pleasing me.

I was already on the fence about Oppenheimer and super excited about Barbie, so no change I guess? More of both, maybe? Can I be more intensely on the fence, does that make sense, because I think that might be the case.

I was already on the fence about Oppenheimer

This is where I was going into the whole thing. When it was announced they would screen the same night and my critic friend had already committed to Oppenheimer (and another friend of his had "called" that one long ago, as I had with the Barbie +1), I wasn't even sure I wanted him to pursue a +2 for the former. But, in the end, I'm glad he did, though I'm even happier that they added another screening for Barbie. It was actually good to see them close together because they share a similar ambitious nature and both explore existential crises of a sort; however, I might reverse the viewing order if I was getting tickets myself.

The 1988 film Tokyo Pop is being shown in theaters for the first time in over 30 years. It's the first movie directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, who went on to direct another film you might have heard of.

Blue Beetle was fun! Best DC movie in a long time.

Blue Beetle was fun! Best DC movie in a long time.

Right on! I think I'm taking myself to a matinee on Sunday. I keep hearing good stuff about it.

Blue Beetle was fun! Best DC movie in a long time.

Glad to hear it. We had to cancel our tickets because my wife got COVID. Hopefully we'll all be healthy by next weekend so we can try again.

I finally saw the Barbie movie. First there was some work travel and then COVID, so this was pretty much my first chance. I was a little worried it was overhyped, but that was not the case. I really like it.

Blue Beetle was seriously really good.

I appreciated that even though they didn’t directly copy the plot from the comics, all the visuals were spot-on. I especially geeked-out when George Lopez lowered himself from the bug on a rope, exactly like Ted Kord.