I haven't been this excited since I was a kid to see a movie. Oppenheimer finally comes this weekend.

[Yogiman71]

We thoroughly enjoyed the movie yesterday. It seemed historically accurate and a lot of good actors and dialogue. 3 hours moved quickly and nice to see a movie without all the comic book super heroes and special effects that so many films are all about these days.

 

[MrTailgate]

I'll have to wait on the movie until i can stream it. Because of my hearing problem, The only way I can watch anything on the screen is with head phones & subtitled.

The XXX genre might be a perfect match. I’m with you in that I really have to concentrate for dialog and if there are any notable accents or speed in the dialog, I miss stuff and am the one always saying “what did they say”.

 

[LionJim]

We thoroughly enjoyed the movie yesterday. It seemed historically accurate and a lot of good actors and dialogue. 3 hours moved quickly and nice to see a movie without all the comic book super heroes and special effects that so many films are all about these days.

One of the challenges Nolan faced is that the story of JRO is one familiar to many people. Compare JRO with Nash in A Beautiful Mind, or Turing in The Imitation Game.The way I see it, Nolan has to hit the historical and personal facts of JRO just right, while ABM and TIG can make a lot of stuff up. (The real Alan Turing was nothing like what is in TIG, and the movie contains shoddy history.) So, yeah, in the movie we meet Oppenheimer’s tutor, the one he tried to poison.

 

[rudedude]

Nice article on the film

https://www.vulture.com/article/opp...Q8A6QH2LtSYCnzkc7NdN3P8p_h8PDw2SinSfQOWd3phMo

 

[Mr. Potter]

I'll have to wait on the movie until i can stream it. Because of my hearing problem, The only way I can watch anything on the screen is with head phones & subtitled.

I need subtitles on everything I watch as well

 

[LionJim]

I'll have to wait on the movie until i can stream it. Because of my hearing problem, The only way I can watch anything on the screen is with head phones & subtitled.

@step.eng69 you should look into open captioned showings or use a closed-caption box. I was going to go to an open captioned showing of Oppenheimer, but the times just didn’t work, so I’m going to an IMAX showing with a caption box.

 

[hohmadw1978]

Was blown away last night on the quality of this film. Wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

It made flashback to April 1978 when I went to Oakridge for a job interview with Union Carbide who ran part of the facility at the time. During the interview I was checked out by their security and medical staff. I had to give blood, have fingerprints taken and they started a background check on me.

Was not allowed to see the facility by only photographs of it. I was told that they referred to what they produced was not nuclear bombs but devices. Two weeks later they made be my best offer ($25,000 per year) to work on metals and nuclear materials. This was by far my best job offer in terms of salary.

During the interview. one of the people asked me if I could work with nuclear devices knowing that they could be used in the future. I told him that I did have qualms about it and ultimately turned the job.

Seven years later I ended up working for a company in Illinois that made aluminum and magnesium products. One of those products was a magnesium alloy containing thorium which went into satellite material for Lockheed. I was informed at the time by a representative from Lockheed that I had established a security clearance with the government for defense work due to my interview at Oakridge. I went on to work on several other key defense projects with aluminum up to by retirement from Alcoa in 2016.

 

[EricStratton-RushChairman]

This is a great book written by the only man that was on both bombing missions. Written about 25 years ago. Just reread it. Excellent

 

[PSUSignore]

Saw it Saturday in dual laser IMAX projection since my city doesn't have a 70mm IMAX option. It was incredible. Dare I say many will consider it Nolan's finest to date. There will be a slew of Oscar nominations coming for this film. Cillian was tremendous. I had lower expectations for Robert Downey Jr and he was great. The only casting I didn't like was Casey Affleck but that's more personal because I find his recognizable and unique voice distracting, but he did fine playing the part. The score was amazing. The first third of the movie was the most challenging because of the quick scenes introducing many, many characters. Those of you that are history buffs with a better familiarity with the names of these historical figures will pick it up better than I did. But beyond that, I have few criticisms. The 3 hour runtime didn't feel like it dragged at all. There were moments of incredible edge of your seat suspense and tension which for a biopic is quite an accomplishment. He was already my favorite director but Nolan is extending his lead on the field, he never seems to miss with each release despite enormous expectations. I can't wait to see what he does next.

 

[Midnighter]

@LionJim How is Margot Robbie’s sign language?

 

[LionJim]

@LionJim How is Margot Robbie’s sign language?

Lol, no idea. That’s BSL, British. Every sign is two-handed, that’s the giveaway it’s British. Her signing did look as if she’s put time into it, I will say.

Edit: American Sign Language is an offshoot of French SL. Just saying.

 

[EricStratton-RushChairman]

Lol, no idea. That’s BSL, British. Every sign is two-handed, that’s the giveaway it’s British. Her signing did look as if she’s put time into it, I will say.

Edit: American Sign Language is an offshoot of French SL. Just saying.

I have to be honest, always thought there was a universal sign language.

 

[wbcbus]

Lol, no idea. That’s BSL, British. Every sign is two-handed, that’s the giveaway it’s British. Her signing did look as if she’s put time into it, I will say.

Edit: American Sign Language is an offshoot of French SL. Just saying.

Really interesting, I was not aware of that.

I'm sorry if you've answered this before, but was CODA offensive to you for how it portrayed the family is incapable without her, or pleased to see the representation regardless?

 

[LionJim]

Really interesting, I was not aware of that.

I'm sorry if you've answered this before, but was CODA offensive to you for how it portrayed the family is incapable without her, or pleased to see the representation regardless?

Yeah, the “we need our hearing daughter with us to help us survive in this world” theme is fantasy. To think that the family, after so many years, still couldn’t manage to communicate with the people they work with every day, that’s total bs, laughable. Deaf people adapt, and they have their coping mechanisms. Great acting, though.

 

[LionJim]

I have to be honest, always thought there was a universal sign language.

There are regional dialects, Southern ASL, Black ASL, it’s all very cool.

Apparently German SL takes off on French SL as well. I once ran into some deaf teens in Munich, we communicated fine. (As a rule, if you see someone signing, you go up and introduce yourself.)

 

[NoSoup4U]

As a part-time Chemistry Professor in retirement who teaches a bit of Nuclear Chemistry, this is a movie that I have been waiting four.

Ironically, I did work with Thorium as an additive in a Magnesium Alloy in a Metals Plant during the mid 1980's. A lot of people do not realize the precautions that have to be put in place when working around radioactive materials.

Is that the 'Colbalt Thorium G' variety.......german eastern euro accent for effect????

 

[LionJim]

Lol, no idea. That’s BSL, British. Every sign is two-handed, that’s the giveaway it’s British. Her signing did look as if she’s put time into it, I will say.

Edit: American Sign Language is an offshoot of French SL. Just saying.

More likely Australian SL. I noticed a few one-handed signs and this tracks. Well, I can tell you that MR’s deaf fan was overwhelmed, that’s for sure.

 

[LionJim]

There are regional dialects, Southern ASL, Black ASL, it’s all very cool.

Apparently German SL takes off on French SL as well. I once ran into some deaf teens in Munich, we communicated fine. (As a rule, if you see someone signing, you go up and introduce yourself.)

Oh, I completely forgot. Jane and I were in Dublin last September and there was this deaf/ hearing German couple in our tour of Kilmainham Jail. You know me and Yeats and Irish history, we had a lot to talk about! We communicated fine.

 

[rudedude]

 

[Midnighter]

More likely Australian SL. I noticed a few one-handed signs and this tracks. Well, I can tell you that MR’s deaf fan was overwhelmed, that’s for sure.

Another angle of the clip shows her saying ‘Oh - I know it!’ and signs the alphabet. Not sure what is more impressive - Robbie’s skill with her fans or that she can hold a plank position for over 4 minutes (Ryan Gosling by comparison can do one for a little over 3…).

 

[Midnighter]

We’re actually en route to Hawaii and will be visiting Pearl Harbor this weekend. Will certainly reframe and refresh my perspective when I do get to see Oppenheimer.

Me the next two weeks:

 

[LionJim]

We’re actually en route to Hawaii and will be visiting Pearl Harbor this weekend. Will certainly reframe and refresh my perspective when I do get to see Oppenheimer.

Me the next two weeks:

Go for it.

 

[LionJim]

Just caught the movie. (Pro tip from my wife: if you’re seeing it in IMAX, and you’re hearing, bring earplugs.)

Spoilers follow.

It really works. There were a few tweaks here and there (did JRO actually visit Einstein in Princeton during the war? Bohr never picked up the poisoned apple.), but the history is good. Kitty and Strauss are two wonderfully designed roles. Rabi, too (kudos to David Krumholtz). Very little effort was put into displaying the phenomenal intellect of the Manhattan Project scientists, which was disappointing. (I can tell a dozen 45-second stories of are-you-freaking-kidding-me mathematical smarts.) We have the funny little true-to-life scene of Feynman in the car and Teller putting on sunscreen, which is cool, but not the scene of Fermi tossing up a handful of paper scraps and determining the Trinity yield by measuring how far these scraps were displaced. Seeing that would have been cool.

Also, about Bethe’s calculations that the Trinity ignition wouldn’t work. True story but what isn’t said is that Bethe re-did the calculations and they worked. Hollywood. Not a big deal but I noticed.

 

[PSU87]

Just caught the movie. (Pro tip from my wife: if you’re seeing it in IMAX, and you’re hearing, bring earplugs.)

Spoilers follow.

It really works. There were a few tweaks here and there (did JRO actually visit Einstein in Princeton during the war? Bohr never picked up the poisoned apple.), but the history is good. Kitty and Strauss are two wonderfully designed roles. Rabi, too (kudos to David Krumholtz). Very little effort was put into displaying the phenomenal intellect of the Manhattan Project scientists, which was disappointing. (I can tell a dozen 45-second stories of are-you-freaking-kidding-me mathematical smarts.) We have the funny little true-to-life scene of Feynman in the car and Teller putting on sunscreen, which is cool, but not the scene of Fermi tossing up a handful of paper scraps and determining the Trinity yield by measuring how far these scraps were displaced. Seeing that would have been cool.

Also, about Bethe’s calculations that the Trinity ignition wouldn’t work. True story but what isn’t said is that Bethe re-did the calculations and they worked. Hollywood. Not a big deal but I noticed.

As a fellow STEM guy, I too was hoping for more of the science and less of the political maneuvering, but overall I liked it.

 

[LionJim]

Just caught the movie. (Pro tip from my wife: if you’re seeing it in IMAX, and you’re hearing, bring earplugs.)

Spoilers follow.

It really works. There were a few tweaks here and there (did JRO actually visit Einstein in Princeton during the war? Bohr never picked up the poisoned apple.), but the history is good. Kitty and Strauss are two wonderfully designed roles. Rabi, too (kudos to David Krumholtz). Very little effort was put into displaying the phenomenal intellect of the Manhattan Project scientists, which was disappointing. (I can tell a dozen 45-second stories of are-you-freaking-kidding-me mathematical smarts.) We have the funny little true-to-life scene of Feynman in the car and Teller putting on sunscreen, which is cool, but not the scene of Fermi tossing up a handful of paper scraps and determining the Trinity yield by measuring how far these scraps were displaced. Seeing that would have been cool.

Also, about Bethe’s calculations that the Trinity ignition wouldn’t work. True story but what isn’t said is that Bethe re-did the calculations and they worked. Hollywood. Not a big deal but I noticed.

Also, the role of Lawrence was bigger than might be expected, and this was a very good choice on Nolan’s part, it works very well.

Jane thought the music worked very well.

 

[LionJim]

As a fellow STEM guy, I too was hoping for more of the science and less of the political maneuvering, but overall I liked it.

Yeah, people think that because I have a doctorate I must be smart. F no, I ain’t smart. I’ve seen smart. The guys we saw in the movie, those guys are smart. My God, were they ever smart.

 

[PSU87]

Yeah, people think that because I have a doctorate I must be smart. F no, I ain’t smart. I’ve seen smart. The guys we saw in the movie, those guys are smart. My God, were they ever smart.

You sell yourself short. Walk around the grocery store. You're top 10 percent.

Those guys were top 1%. Heck, probably top 0.1%. To compare yourself to them and say you aren't smart....

 

[LionJim]

You sell yourself short. Walk around the grocery store. You're top 10 percent.

Those guys were top 1%. Heck, probably top 0.1%. To compare yourself to them and say you aren't smart....

Every time I visited my advisor at Maryland, I’d say to myself: “Now, Jim, don’t be afraid of sounding like an idiot.” Then I’d knock. So my favorite line in the movie was, of course, Oppenheimer saying, “I was an idiot.”

Thanks for your kind words.

 

[LionJim]

Big time spoiler.






I thought the scene of JRO reading “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds,” from the Bhagavad-Gita, to Jean Tatlock was inane. Oppenheimer did think of these lines, he said, immediately after Trinity, but he didn’t say them out loud. So Nolan has him say these lines years before Trinity, to Jean Tatlock, the first night they were together? So we need to ask, who or what is the destroyer of worlds? Jean herself, as a prediction of Oppenheimer’s downfall? Communism? Sex? Oppenheimer himself, in relation to Jean’s world? Or Oppenheimer himself, as a prediction of his involvement in Trinity and its aftermath? Boy, that was a really badly designed scene, I thought.

 

[bbrown]

Just caught the movie. (Pro tip from my wife: if you’re seeing it in IMAX, and you’re hearing, bring earplugs.)

Spoilers follow.

It really works. There were a few tweaks here and there (did JRO actually visit Einstein in Princeton during the war? Bohr never picked up the poisoned apple.), but the history is good. Kitty and Strauss are two wonderfully designed roles. Rabi, too (kudos to David Krumholtz). Very little effort was put into displaying the phenomenal intellect of the Manhattan Project scientists, which was disappointing. (I can tell a dozen 45-second stories of are-you-freaking-kidding-me mathematical smarts.) We have the funny little true-to-life scene of Feynman in the car and Teller putting on sunscreen, which is cool, but not the scene of Fermi tossing up a handful of paper scraps and determining the Trinity yield by measuring how far these scraps were displaced. Seeing that would have been cool.

Also, about Bethe’s calculations that the Trinity ignition wouldn’t work. True story but what isn’t said is that Bethe re-did the calculations and they worked. Hollywood. Not a big deal but I noticed.

I didn't know they had sunscreen then.
Looking forward to seeing this.

 

[bbrown]

You sell yourself short. Walk around the grocery store. You're top 10 percent.

Those guys were top 1%. Heck, probably top 0.1%. To compare yourself to them and say you aren't smart....

That's why I shop at Walmart.

 

[LionJim]

Big time spoiler.






I So we need to ask, who or what is the destroyer of worlds? Jean herself, as a prediction of Oppenheimer’s downfall? Communism? Sex? Oppenheimer himself, in relation to Jean’s world? Or Oppenheimer himself, as a prediction of his involvement in Trinity and its aftermath? Boy, that was a really badly designed scene, I thought.

And is Nolan giving us his answer by the way he has the people in the hearing room, including Kitty, envision JRO’s and JT’s relationship? Why else would he do it this way? This is very frustrating and unsatisfying to me, currently.

 

[Midnighter]

And is Nolan giving us his answer by the way he has the people in the hearing room, including Kitty, envision JRO’s and JT’s relationship? Why else would he do it this way? This is very frustrating and unsatisfying to me, currently.

It’s likely because most movie goers aren’t historians and having him say it before and after - despite being untrue - reinforces the quote and his familiarity with it (and that it sort of informs his thought processes). It’s to help frame the narrative for those unfamiliar.

 

[LionJim]

It’s likely because most movie goers aren’t historians and having him say it before and after - despite being untrue - reinforces the quote and his familiarity with it (and that it sort of informs his thought processes). It’s to help frame the narrative for those unfamiliar.

The one and only time he says this quote is his first night with JT. It was Nolan’s choice to involve JT with the quote, and have this quote placed years before Trinity. I don’t particularly mind Nolan moving the quote around in time, artistic license. But we got to ask why he made the choices he did.

 

[LionJim]

Oh, this is absolutely on brand for me, I suppose.

Oppenheimer was 10,000 yards from the Trinity shot tower at denotation. The sound of the blast would then have reached them between 26 and 27 seconds after denotation. Did Nolan time it to the second? Lol.

 

[LionJim]

A lot of good articles in this.

July 2023 - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

thebulletin.org

 

[troutrus]

DELETE​

 

[olelion]

I like the movie but didn't feel it lived up to the hype. So what. I had read American Prometheus recently in anticipation of the movie so it was quite easy for me to follow the various timelines. The guy I went with was totally lost and it was a similar response from others I've talked to as well. Don't get me wrong please. This is a good movie but a bit overhyped. Acting was superb and I give my nod to Robert Downey as totally dominant in his scenes. But it was obvious to me the the actors were "into" this movie, everyone of them no matter how big or how small their respective roles

 

[PSU87]

A lot of good articles in this.

July 2023 - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

thebulletin.org

Some good stuff in there, thanks for posting.

A common theme in a lot of the interviews is how so many of the scientists wish they hadn't proceeded because the result was a weapon. As intelligent as they all are, it surprises me that they fail to grasp a simple fact: someone was going to develop that technology. You cannot put an idea back in the bottle. So the thought that if they hadn't done it no one else would have is fantasy.

 

[LionJim]

I like the movie but didn't feel it lived up to the hype. So what. I had read American Prometheus recently in anticipation of the movie so it was quite easy for me to follow the various timelines. The guy I went with was totally lost and it was a similar response from others I've talked to as well. Don't get me wrong please. This is a good movie but a bit overhyped. Acting was superb and I give my nod to Robert Downey as totally dominant in his scenes. But it was obvious to me the the actors were "into" this movie, everyone of them no matter how big or how small their respective roles

Yeah, I got the same take. It’s a very fine movie but I am not sure what makes it the best movie of the century, as some have called it. Downey is incredible, though, that much must be said.