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Canberra Today 8°/11° | Tuesday, April 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Oppenheimer doco a telling postscript to movie

Cate Blanchett in “Tár”… playing a psychologically disturbed conductor who is facing mounting allegations of misconduct.

Streaming columnist NICK OVERALL spots a Binge documentary offering a deeper dive on the subject of the movie “Oppenheimer”. 

IT’S no secret that Chris Nolan’s epic new biopic “Oppenheimer” has been dominating the box office.

Nick Overall.

That is, of course, second only to its plastic fantastic competitor “Barbie” (now tipped by some to gross more than a billion dollars worldwide).

But for those who indeed found themselves compelled by the story of the man called “the father of the atomic bomb”, a new documentary is now streaming on Binge which dives deeper into the famous physicist’s complex life.

Titled “To End All Wars”, it’s been released specifically to tie in with the film and even features an interview with Nolan himself, who refers to Oppenheimer as “the most important man to ever live”.

On top of that, there’s discussions with the authors of the book the movie was based on, as well as a fascinating roster of experts on all things war, physics and nuclear energy who break down just how much one man was able to change the world as we know it.

The documentary also reveals how accurate “Oppenheimer” is in its retelling of the titular scientist’s life. Many details from the movie are so incredible you’d think they were the work of creative liberty, but indeed did happen in reality.

The documentary also features a collection of archival footage of the Manhattan Project and those who worked on it. It’s remarkable just how much Cillian Murphy, cast as Oppenheimer in the film, looks like the real man. A credit to his performance.

While “To End All Wars” can be watched before seeing the blockbuster movie, I’d recommend checking it out afterwards. It makes for a captivating breakdown of a landmark piece of art that’s sure to entrench itself in the annals of film history.

Was disappointed that Ken didn’t make a cameo though.

LAST year Aussie film icon Cate Blanchett generated a heap of Hollywood buzz and scored herself an Oscar nomination with her performance in “Tár”.

In it, she’s Lydia Tár, a world-renowned and psychologically disturbed conductor who is facing mounting allegations of misconduct.

The hype is deserved. Blanchett delivers an impeccably committed performance in this dark and offbeat character study that is finally available to stream on Binge.

In “Tár”, the audience watches as this musical genius slowly unravels, sinking ever deeper into her creative reverie that she puts above all else.

A success of the script is that despite featuring so much technical language, those without a musical vocabulary will still be able to glean the rich subtext and meaning laced throughout the film’s politically charged dialogue. “Tár” makes for an enthralling exploration of the age-old question “can art be separated from the artist?”

MEANWHILE, Netflix’s newest political comedy flick “Long Shot” has glued together the stardom of Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron in a bid to get subscribers watching.

Rogen is Fred Flarsky, a zany, free-spirited journalist who scores a gig writing speeches for Charlotte Field – one of America’s most accomplished and respected politicians who’s about to launch a campaign for the presidency.

It turns out the two have quite the past, Charlotte being both Fred’s former babysitter and the apple of his eye.

It all makes for an enjoyable, if surface-level comedy affair that will easily kill a few hours on a Saturday night. This one’s a step up for Rogan, but perhaps a step down for Theron.

AND in one more interesting tidbit of streaming news, Netflix didn’t delay in capitalising on all this UFO craze that’s going on.

In the hours that followed a former intelligence official telling US congress that the government had been covering up a “multi-decade” program that studied aliens, the streaming giant took to Twitter to plug one of its shows:

“Have aliens visited earth – and has the government covered it up? ‘Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified’ is now on Netflix.”

The doco dropped two years ago but is now seeing a resurgence of interest in the wake of all the buzz around UFOs.

But for those who really want to go down the extra-terrestrial rabbit hole, it’s Disney Plus where the classic “X Files” can be found, a show that is also seeing renewed fanfare in wake of the bizarre claims currently coming out of the US. The truth is out there.

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Nick Overall

Nick Overall

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