'Oppenheimer:' A Breathtaking Dramatic Detonation

Bart and I just saw Oppenheimer, a staccato film composed of time-hopping vignettes that nevertheless maintains an absolutely clear narrative line. 

This is really an intellectual history, but exactly the reverse of the kind of dry didacticism that phrase suggests. Director Christopher Nolan covers the ethical, political and social implications of the creation of nuclear weapons, focused through the lens of a handful of top actors at the top of their game. 

Against the backdrop of a threat to human civilization that has never really diminished, Nolan even points us toward an ending that’s a mystery and a solution as satisfying as anything that Hercule Poirot ever showed us.

This is a movie like Chinatown, like Sunset Boulevard and a few others — a film that will live on and on.

Monkeys with Money and Guns

Those who confront lies with documented facts are branded as liars themselves by the corrupt, the know-nothings and the moral cowards who foolishly claim that truth is only a yellow line down the middle of the road.

I always hoped we might someday achieve something that we could refer to as "civilization" without laughing in derision.

When the Virgin Mary Appears in a Pancake...

Let’s give the science-vs-religion problem a shave with Occam's Razor, shall we? 

The world is chock full of claptrap religions making fantastic, contradictory, supernatural claims for which no credible witness ever sees any supporting evidence, unless you want to count the Virgin Mary appearing on pancakes and wall stains. 

What's the simplest answer? Is it more likely that all those fantastic, unseen miracles have happened, and that for example the universe actually does rest on the shell of a cosmic turtle, or that the people who make those claims are delusional and/or lying?

I'm afraid that once you let irrationality in the door — defined in this case as the ardent acceptance on "faith" of metaphysical assertions without visible evidence — you can hardly claim to be surprised about what comes in along with it. One person's "God" tells him to take communion, and the next person's "God" instructs him to kill everyone at an abortion clinic. 

'Across the Spider-Verse:' Kinetic Imagery

The kinetic imagery of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse feels like a natural 21st century evolution of the 20th century comic book — something as far beyond Snow White as a lunar lander is from a biplane.

Clearly someone has actually been thinking about what it would be like to have Spidey’s powers — for example, might you have a casual conversation while sitting around upside down?

The adventure element is a given, but this film contains a good deal more effective understated drama than a movie like The Flash, which is filled with “real people.” 

How ironic, as they used to say in the comic books.

But all these multiverses and mirror images, oh my… Can the multi-multiverse be far behind?

Science vs. Pseudoscience

As Jeffrey Martini observed, we’ve reached a pretty pass when science and education are described as “liberal scams.”

And as I’ve noted before, I think what is really under assault in the U.S. these days is the philosophical and scientific superstructure of the Enlightenment. 

The only part of that American right wingers don’t want to scrap is advanced weapons technology, which they plan to use to smite their millions of enemies.

Republicans may sneer at science in general, but they always remain eager to deploy its latest advances in service of those activities they truly value: Killing, torture, invasion, police intimidation and the mass surveillance of American citizens.

Oh, and they want to keep advanced medical technology for when they become seriously ill, revealing that they don't really believe in all the cant they spew about prayer.

It is reason itself that the Republicans really and finally oppose. They have met their enemy, and it is sanity.

Cover Your Eyes, Marjorie!

My idea of a liberal is someone who supports a regulated market economy with social programs to protect the vulnerable and civil liberties in order safeguard freedom. It's NOT some glory-hound gadfly who regards cooking a taco as "cultural appropriation."

Double the Flash and a Lot More Batman

So Bart and I went to see The Flash, a movie that does a 180 tonal shift from out-and-out comedy to muted tragedy. 

But it was good fun overall, with the wonderful Michael Keaton returning as “Batman Classic” (although I also appreciated seeing Ben Affleck again as the underplayed Batman, a good angle on the character).

Sasha Calle makes a badass Supergirl (in a world — oh no! — without Superman).

And the film has a laugh-out-loud finish that Lola Burnham will particularly appreciate.