“Barbieheimer” weekend went off with a $235.5 million bang. Or did it go up in a fiery mushroom cloud? Well, that depends on who you are and which of the blockbuster movies you saw.
The “Barbie” reviews were a mixed bag. Critics loved it. Most viewers apparently loved it too — except conservatives. While some didn’t hate it, others described it as “a flaming piece of dogsh-t.” As Federalist senior contributor Rich Cromwell wrote in these pages, the “Barbie” movie is “more lectures than laughs” and a total letdown: “‘Barbie’ is a two-hour grind through a litany of complaints about how the patriarchy is keeping the ladies down.” Among other complaints, the much-anticipated “life in plastic” feature pretended a man was a woman, pitted the sexes against each other, and told audiences full of girls that it’s “literally impossible to be a woman.” In other words, it left no doubt about who the “bad guy” is: the patriarchy.
There’s apparently little dispute about the quality of “Oppenheimer.” Boasting 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and audiences alike, the Christopher Nolan masterpiece is, in a word, magnificent. Made for an immersive Imax experience, the World War II biopic about the “father of the atomic bomb” wows with stunning microscopic visuals, compelling characters, remarkable costumes and cosmetics, meticulous pacing, believable sin and secrecy, a moving score, and a star-studded cast. Even in sold-out theaters, you could hear a pin drop in the wind-up to the Trinity test — a beautiful scene
