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Poor Things (2023)
Uninspired and pretentious
In short, what Poor Things cyclically has to offer is:
1.) Extremely graphic gore or sex, over an atonal solo cello piece.
2.) Trite philosophical musings on life, ethics and science.
Discomfort is the undercurrent of Poor Things, yet it is rammed down your throat with the delicacy of a medieval surgeon. Gore is going to make me feel uncomfortable. Pornographic sex, with what is essentially a five year old, is going to make me feel uncomfortable. A dead baby in a ditch, accompanied by cacophonous orchestral noise, is going to make me feel uncomfortable.
But there is nothing here in terms of nuance or payoff. The film is an intellectualised jump scare. There are some self-proclaimed movie buffs that will pretend to enjoy this film. These are the same people that probably think free jazz sounds good because of its disharmony.
Honestly, don't watch this film. And don't pretend like it's good. It's commentary on society is uninspired and offers scant recourse, and interspersing these messages with lurid scenes doesn't make them any better.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Good, but somewhat overrated.
This is a thrilling movie. It is thrilling to see and hear explosions, to watch a person with profound talents create something in spite of its challenges, to watch them struggle with the gruesome results of their creation or genius.
But this film has its flaws. So much of it is shot "montage style". Essentially, just short conversations with no real buildups or pretext, with some music playing over what their saying to move the scene forwards and tell the audience whether it's happy or sad.
This type of film has also been done to death! Imitation Games, The Theory of Everything, A Beautiful Mind, The Man Wo Knew Infinity, etc. The troubled genius is a trope and this movie is part of that. Oppenheimer does it well - better than the movies I have listed above - but it broadly follows the same formula.