The Olive Opinion

It’s pretty common to have a biopic about musicians these days but Christopher Nolan decides to make one based on a monster. Oppenheimer is a bombastic (in every sense of the word) telling of a belittled Jewish scientist turned Father of the Atomic Bomb. With a star-studded cast, Nolan returns to tell yet another tragic story of our past with his rules of filmmaking and the exceptions of having scene-by-scene shot by IMAX cameras.  The film follows J.Robert Oppenheimer, of course, when his capabablity is finally seen to be put into good use but I can safely say even if Nolan or anyone else seems to dismiss it, it also follows Lewis Strauss's involvement in finding him and secretly allowing the Manhattan Project. The film separates these points of view by simply calling them Fusion and Fission with Oppenheimer representing the former and Strauss the latter. This can be seen by how Oppenheimer has the idea and combines his intellect with his students and colleagues to bring about an ...

Let’s delve into the pink of it all, shall we? Nobody thought anyone had the capability or the right mind to make a movie about Barbie in this day and age. Greta Gerwig attempts to do the impossible by being allowed to make a movie as campy and over the top as ever while invoking messages that could improve the ideals of Barbie. In this film, Margot Robbie plays one of the many variations of Barbie that lives in Barbieland where everything is just right while the Kens are around only to be yet another accessory to the collection. Every night is perfect and the same until Barbie questions the idea of mortality. Due to these intrusive thoughts and changes within her perfect body, she is forced to go to the real world to find the solution and become the perfect Barbie again. In the real world, she finds out that Barbie hasn't changed the world for women as all the Barbies thought and Ken is dumbstruck by the idea that there is a world run by men and opportunities for him to be the sup...

  I feel a little late to the party with this review but I could not help but take it to myself to talk about this movie. Considering to be part of Netflix's roster of new releases, it is hard to wonder if anyone is taking a chance with this animated feature. Based on a graphic novel by ND Stevenson, Nimona is set in a hyper-futuristic imagining of a culture where knights roam and monsters loom with the inclusion of flying cars and touchphones. Nimona is more than just its creative world-building but also a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community in its subtle yet clearly understandable allegories towards prejudice and acceptance of others and within.  Nimona centers around, well, Nimona, a shapeshifting teen that enjoys mischief and being a sidekick to a notorious criminal that is wanted by the kingdom. The criminal is Sir Ballister who has allegedly murdered the queen during his knighting ceremony but all is not what it seems. As the two work together to prove the truth of the I...

The Mission Impossible film franchise has always been known to one up each other with each film and Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning continues that trend, bulldozing the notion that the previous film, Fallout could not be topped. With Tom Cruise and our favorite familiar faces returning, along with some newcomers, Dead Reckoning is part one of two. Unlike recent films this year that seem to be teasing unfinished story meant to be resolved in a year or so, Dead Reckoning Part One does feel like a finished story that is resolved. However, there is more to the mission and audiences will have to wait a year before we see it accomplished.  Dead Reckoning Part One, sets our hero Ethan Hunt, played by one of the few movie stars that has star quality in the industry, on a mission (and of course he chooses to accept it) that will be much different but also most timely to current issues. With the help of Benji, Luther and Ilsa, Ethan has to acquire the main macguffin of the film in order to...

A love child project between iconic filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas would be a dream back then but Raiders of the Lost Ark was made and introduced the adventurer that will become a household name of his own franchise, Indiana Jones. In this all-new installment and supposed final entry of the titular character, Indy returns on an adventure to find the Dial of Destiny alongside his goddaughter played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.  In this film, we see a broken-down, old Indy. He doesn’t have the energy he once did and does not gain the respect he once had as he lives in a lonely apartment, not looking forward to his retirement. When his goddaughter, Helena resurfaces curious about the Dial of Destiny, Indy once again sweeps into his old habits against Nazi's racing to get the allusive device. Unlike previous movies, it is pretty clear that they are playing with a new era of Indy's life. Like Harrison Ford, Indy is at an age where everything around him doesn’t seem fa...

  After years of Pixar being shunned as Disney Plus releases, they return to the big screen with Elemental. Directed by a lesser-known Pixar veteran, this feature focuses on a story between polar opposites... literally. In a city where inanimate elements roam as sentient beings, Pixar introduces another original world that proves itself that it is still the animation studio to beat. They might have little competition with the ambitions of Spider-Verse and the juggernaut that is Super Mario Bros, but the one thing Pixar never loses, no matter the project, it is the ability to strum heartstrings.  Elemental was (barely) marketed as the romance between Ember, made of fire, and Wade, made of water. A kind of Romeo and Juliet-like story where the two are not meant to be together because they are not only different elements but elements that cancel each other out. Going past the surface of what audiences thought they were watching, Elemental is mostly an immigrant story, where the F...

  Is the DCU so far from saving that no matter how hard James Gunn attempts to, it sinks lower and lower to irrelevance even if a movie is good? Despite the new leadership at the new sub-studio at Warner Bros, The Flash was made almost 3 years ago when DC was at its most controversial and it finally gets its time on the silver screen after many delays and successful test screenings.  This iteration of the fastest man alive releases at a time when the Grant Gustin-led iconic show comes to an end with the hopes of this film being the Flash of a new generation. Despite Ezra Miller's abuse cases, this adaptation of one of DC Comics' most famous events lives up to its intention. Being a clear-cut play-by-play of the original comic with twists that pay homage to the SnyderVerse, we say goodbye to an unappreciated vision of the franchise. With that much pressure packed into a 2-and-a-half-hour movie, The Flash manages to still be compelling and relatable as we see Barry Allen deal wi...