Martin's Musings

You had to be sleeping under a rock to not have heard about Barbenheimer, the portmanteau made by combining the names of this summer’s two most eagerly anticipated movies: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. 

Other than ambitious filmmakers taking large swings and huge ensemble casts full of recognizable faces, the two films do not have much in common; one is a candy-colored comedy based on a popular toy, and the other is a drama about one of the darkest chapters in American history. But the hype over the last few months turned their release on the same day into a legitimate event. Just check out the memes and social media chatter — not to mention the brand partnerships. In response, fans showed up in droves; the two movies together earned more than $235 million at the box office on opening weekend in the United States and Canada.

If you’re someone who’s still on the fence about seeing one or both of these movies, or you’ve somehow managed to avoid all the buzz, let me cut to the chase and share the good news that they’re both worthy of the hype and worth seeing. That’s a bit of a modern-day miracle given we’re living in times when hyperbole and (undeserved) overpromotion are the norm.

What more do you need to know? Here are my thoughts about both films, in reverse alphabetical order.

The new Apple TV+ documentary Stephen Curry: Underrated may not be what fans of the Golden State Warriors’ point guard are expecting.

Despite an opening sequence set on December 14, 2021 — the night Curry broke the record for 3-pointers in a career — the film is not a highlight reel of #30’s time in the NBA. Nor is it a hagiography filled with adoring talking-head interviews. Heck, while it celebrates Curry’s skill as a player and the seeming ease with which he takes shots from outside the paint, that Curry’s style of play has been at the forefront of how the game of basketball has changed in recent years is not the film’s focus.

Instead, Underrated functions more as an origin story for one of the game’s current superstars, a smaller-than-average player who’s had an outsized impact on his teams — and the NBA overall. That’s a good and a bad thing.