Audiences love a double feature, but the pairing of Barbie and Oppenheimer is something else altogether. The two films couldn’t be more different, but they’ve become the must-see match of the summer. Both have gotten off to a great start at the box-office, with Barbie taking $20 million in preview screenings and Oppenheimer following with $9 million.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie features a star-studded cast which includes Margot Robbie as the title character and Ryan Gosling as Ken. When Barbie suddenly begins to worry about her own mortality, she goes on a journey of self-discovery to the real-world, accompanied by a love-lorn Ken.
Our own Chris Bumbray found plenty to like about Barbie, but the standout was Ryan Gosling’s performance as Ken. “It’s ironic that in a movie called Barbie, everyone, inevitably, is going to walk out of this raving about Ken,” Bumbray wrote in his review. “Ryan Gosling gets one of the best roles of his career here. If the Academy ever wises up and embraces comedy, he’s a lock for a best supporting actor nod. He’s hilarious, showing off a killer comic sensibility while never losing sight of Ken’s sweet side, even if, for a while anyway, he becomes a bit of an antagonist. He also gets a jaw-dropping musical number/ dance sequence towards the end of the film, which is one of the most dazzling cinematic sequences in recent memory.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here.
Much like Barbie, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer also features an all-star cast which includes Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it, Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss.
“Oppenheimer is a startling, mesmerizing experience, not one easy to explain or sum up,” Our own Eric Walkuski wrote in his review. “Of course, it wouldn’t be a Nolan movie if it were, but the film sees the writer-director at the height of his powers as filmmaker and storyteller – not to mention nimble time-jumper. Perhaps the most important film of the director’s career thus far, Oppenheimer is an old fashioned Hollywood biopic/historical epic in the way it’s filled with great actors giving their very all in showy roles while an undeniably crucial chapter in our history is told with no expenses spared.” You can check out the rest of Walkuski’s review right here.
Barbie is currently sitting at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes with Oppenheimer just a few points above at 94%. Let us know what you thought of Barbie and/or Oppenheimer in the comments below!