Happy Barbenheimer Week! It’s the year’s biggest clash of blockbuster movies. With people taking sides and pledging allegiance to either Barbie or Oppenheimer, our writing team is very much of the “Why not both?” mindset. If you love big screen entertainment, there’s really no need to choose only one. On that note, look out for our reviews of the two films over the next few days.
From toy stores to the big screen, in live-action for the very first time. In all-star comedy Barbie, a Barbie (Margot Robbie) experiences an existential crisis that leads her to leave perfect Barbieland and enter the real world. Clueless boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) joins in the adventure. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Greta Gerwig writes and directs this colourful wish-fulfilment fantasy, that also includes the likes of America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu, and Will Ferrell in its mammoth cast.
Read our spoiler-free Barbie review here.
Oppenheimer is acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s next highly anticipated effort, a three-hour historical epic and biopic that explores the development of the atomic bomb through the story of its scientist creator J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) – who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. Shot for IMAX, and placing its emphasis on practical over CGI special effects, Oppenheimer also stars Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey, Jr., Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, and many more.
Read our full review of Oppenheimer here.
If you haven’t been sucked into the Barbenheimer hype, there actually is a third movie option for you this week. Ster Kinekor cinemas will be screening CGI-animated feature film Resident Evil: Death Island. In this horror survival actioner, based on the Resident Evil game franchise, fan-favourite characters Leon S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine, and siblings Chris and Claire Redfield all team up to head to Alcatraz Island, which is evidently the source of a new mysterious zombie outbreak. There, a new evil awaits.