When the 2024 Academy Awards nominations came out last January, it was no surprise that Oppenheimer racked up the most noms of the year. The epic Christopher Nolan movie—a.k.a. one half of Barbenheimer—has been a frontrunner for the Oscars since it made its debut in theaters on July 21, 2023, with countless film fanatics heading to theaters in droves to see the nearly three-hour biopic of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb (played by Cillian Murphy). In that (admittedly vast) runtime, Nolan tells the story of Oppenheimer's life from his early days as a renowned scientist, to his complicated love life (featuring supporting performances from Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh), to his leadership of the Manhattan Project during World War II, to his public downfall in the years after the war, due to a private government hearing on his alleged communist ties spearheaded by Lewis L. Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.).
As shown by the many awards Oppenheimer has racked up this season, from the Golden Globes to countless critics' organizations, the film stands tall as one of the best drama movies of 2023. Murphy and Downey give career-best work in the film, with the former transforming over the course of the movie from a theoretical thinker on science and faith to a disillusioned man who has been forced to face the consequences of his involvement in the dawn of the nuclear arms race. If that subject doesn't sound like it would birth an entertaining story, then you're underestimating Nolan's ability to imbue even a closed-door legal hearing with impressive dramatic stakes. Also, the Trinity Test detonation sequence is a must-watch for anyone looking for a scene that will literally take their breath away.
