I recently watched the new “Napoleon” movie and made some new friends. To the dismay of my fellow movie watchers, I made any confusion or disappointment I felt audible.
When Napoleon was rather forward with his wife about his heir, I turned to my row and said,
“Get a load of this guy!”
When the Duke of Wellington expressed his confidence ahead of Waterloo, I said, “Oh yeah pal, you and what army? Oh, that army!”
It’s safe to say I didn’t think “Napoleon” was Oscar-worthy, so here are some of the other movies that didn’t pass the test.
“Barbie”
“Barbie” had some pretty funny jokes, a catchy song and strong commitment from its actors in playing dolls, but all in all I thought it was just a decent movie. It’s a shame that so much of the critique of this movie has become politicized but allow me to put it like this. I watched Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” a movie that also surrounds the relationship of a mother and daughter, a couple of weeks ago and I thought that movie blew “Barbie” out of the water.
I have no huge complaints with “Barbie,” it just didn’t move the needle for me. I absolutely think the film could’ve used some more subtlety — some people will say the point of it was its lack of subtlety — but I truthfully don’t care what the point was. At the end of the day, the film’s message didn’t resonate with me.
In the end, I thought this was nothing more than a decent movie. The prevailing thought is that this movie wasn’t made for me. The truth is there have been plenty of movies that I’ve enjoyed in which I’m not the target audience, Lady Bird among them. I don’t think this movie was made for me clearly, but I also don’t think this movie holds up against Oppenheimer.
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
Full disclosure: my movie-going experience was at least partially disrupted because someone took their shoes and socks off in the row in front of me. The smell and sight were a little distracting, but frankly, it's easy to be distracted in a three-and-a-half-hour movie. I’m sure Martin Scorcese’s adaptation was fairly realistic, but I don’t read books so I don’t really care. I did need to go to the bathroom (I have a small bladder) so I sadly had to miss parts of this film. In other words, leave the 220-minute film for the director’s cut, Scorcese!
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Everyone loves these movies. As for me? This is a solid movie but I’m not going to pretend like it changed the world because they put a lot of work into the animation. So many Marvel movies with their inclusion of the multiverse seem to come to the issue of fate versus free will. I actually didn’t mind this movie’s take on it, but I’m ready to be done with multiverses and the breaking of fourth walls every five scenes.
“Oppenheimer”
My views on this topic have been widely discussed, and ever since I saw this Christopher Nolan film I haven’t stopped thinking about it. The cast rallied around an incredibly dramatic story and complex central character to deliver one of the best films of the millennium. “Oppenheimer” deserves best picture.
Bobby Gorbett is a senior studying journalism. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Bobby know by tweeting him @GorbettBobby.
