Oppenheimer (2023)

I knew my dad and I would have to see this while it was still in theaters. Not only is it popular, but it loses something on a smaller screen. Not that nuclear explosions, "real" or imagined, make up much of the three hours.

The story covers the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) from his doctoral student days in 1926 to his receipt of the Enrico Fermi Award in '63. His key work on the Manhattan Project and reactions to its aftermath tend to dominate the focus, but there's more to it than that. He hangs out with communists too much for the comfort of authorities, and two party members, eventual wife Kitty Puening (Emily Blunt) and codependent Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), become his love interests.

No Time to Die (2021)

So much for my prior perception that Spectre would be Daniel Craig's last turn as James Bond. Well, it makes sense that an agent like him wouldn't stop having adventures just because he had resigned from MI6 after capturing Spectre leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz). Spectre holds a grudge, for one thing.

Bond's long-time CIA buddy, Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), first asks his help to locate abducted MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik), whose work with nanobots could make it way too easy for terrorists to kill everyone with a genome sufficiently similar to a given target. Bond doesn't sign on until hearing from the new Agent 007, Nomi (Lashana Lynch). Blofeld is indeed still a player from within his prison, but there are more than two sides in play here....

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

I picked this almost at random among the many theater offerings on Monday evening. Queen is one of my favorite bands, but I'd been putting it off because of the highly mixed reviews, with far more positive vibes from the general public than from critics. Then I remembered that Get on Up demonstrated that I could enjoy a reputedly middling musician biopic, and Pitch Perfect 2 taught me that good music alone can make a viewing worth my while.

The story begins shortly before Farrokh Bulsara (Adam Rauf), the man who would become Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek), joins the band that would become Queen. The titular song comes together about 40 minutes into the 154. After that, the focus is less on the band's rise and more on its trouble staying together, particularly with Freddie being such a prima donna. And a hot mess.