like literally i laughed in the theater
1. i'm thankful that last night we got to see oppenheimer, the movie i was most excited to see this summer, even though in the end i was disappointed to find the movie to be heartbreakingly staggeringly mid. i love very much some of christopher nolan's other movies (even in spite of (sometimes because of) their limitations) and have watched some of them many times over and as previously established in this newsletter i also love cillian murphy (and in particular love looking at cillian murphy 🥵), so this seemed like it was going to be exactly what i wanted, but it was just so obvious and straightforward (ec who we saw the movie with immediately mentioned a beautiful mind afterward) and never surprising or challenging or interesting. there was never anything so very wrong with oppenheimer*, just also never really much that was right with it. it was beautifully shot and nailed the production design and had many wonderful performances and ultimately felt like a movie anyone could have made if they had all that money and imax cameras and stuff and i was ready for it to be over about two thirds of the way through and it just kept going for what felt like forever.
2. new issue of coffee and tv (!!!) which inherits a form from darcie (!!!!) and includes a shoutout of me (!!!!!!) (also make sure to read footnote #2). new issue of tender times which includes deborah's story of filling our fridge with pickled watermelon rind.
3. running late to the movie but accepting it rather than feeling anxious about it and sitting down at literally the end of the last trailer (which, even though i love trailers, was probably a blessing given the length of the movie). also reese's pieces (which i don't think of myself liking as much as either full or fun size reese's cups (i have a certain ambivalence about candy shell which would take more words to explore)) but which i bought as a movie snack and which turned out to be a great movie snack. also thankful that the coke freestyle machine at the theater has lemon lime seltzer and i fill up a large cup of it and am never thirsty but also somehow managed to avoid needing to go to the bathroom during the movie (thankful that ec sent us a screenshot before we arrived listing the best times to pee during the movie and i was looking at it while waiting for deborah to pee before the movie and thinking "well i'm not going to start a timer on my phone but could i maybe memorize one of these" but also i wasn't going to memorize one and then fast forward an hour into the movie as oppenheimer and his wife drive to the new town in los alamos i saw in my periphal vision ec got up and i was immediately like "oh yeah, that's the checkpoint, oppenheimer and his wife in their car in the desert!").
* (okay except, to pick up on a previous letter's thread, the sex scenes, which were laughable like literally i laughed in the theater when (spoiler alert) florence pugh is grimly riding murphy dick and we hear voiceover of him intoning the money line about destroyer of worlds (don't worry (spoiler alert) the line will get repeated later over slow-mo explosion porn))
3. running late to the movie but accepting it rather than feeling anxious about it and sitting down at literally the end of the last trailer (which, even though i love trailers, was probably a blessing given the length of the movie). also reese's pieces (which i don't think of myself liking as much as either full or fun size reese's cups (i have a certain ambivalence about candy shell which would take more words to explore)) but which i bought as a movie snack and which turned out to be a great movie snack. also thankful that the coke freestyle machine at the theater has lemon lime seltzer and i fill up a large cup of it and am never thirsty but also somehow managed to avoid needing to go to the bathroom during the movie (thankful that ec sent us a screenshot before we arrived listing the best times to pee during the movie and i was looking at it while waiting for deborah to pee before the movie and thinking "well i'm not going to start a timer on my phone but could i maybe memorize one of these" but also i wasn't going to memorize one and then fast forward an hour into the movie as oppenheimer and his wife drive to the new town in los alamos i saw in my periphal vision ec got up and i was immediately like "oh yeah, that's the checkpoint, oppenheimer and his wife in their car in the desert!").
* (okay except, to pick up on a previous letter's thread, the sex scenes, which were laughable like literally i laughed in the theater when (spoiler alert) florence pugh is grimly riding murphy dick and we hear voiceover of him intoning the money line about destroyer of worlds (don't worry (spoiler alert) the line will get repeated later over slow-mo explosion porn))
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