Barbenheimer: best double feature movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer

We stay in unusual occasions. Elon Musk runs Twitter like it’s his personal private weblog. Actors and writers are hanging towards unfair working circumstances to an uncaring, streaming-obsessed studio system. And the phenomenon often called “Barbenheimer” is lastly upon us, threatening to overhaul all of social media and popular culture as we all know it.

Barbenheimer is the results of two films, Greta Gerwig’s feminist comedy Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s somber nuclear war drama Oppenheimer, fully totally different in subject material, fashion, and tone, being launched on the identical day. Whereas the fever pitch of Barbenheimer is a primary, the idea of counterprogramming is, after all, nothing new in Hollywood. The next record is a compilation of two wildly totally different films launched on the identical time that make nice double options to observe as nicely. These 5 film duos, from superheroes and musically-inclined marriage ceremony events to animated ape-men and post-modern techno-thrillers, are noteworthy antecedents to Barbenheimer and likewise a good way to cross the time.

The Darkish Knight and Mamma Mia! (July 18, 2008)

Earlier than Barbenheimer, there was ABBA Batman. Two films can’t be extra dissimilar than The Darkish Knight and Mamma Mia!, and like Barbie and Oppenheimer after it, that’s a part of the attraction of watching them back-to-back. Sufficient has been written about The Dark Knight to fill a small library. Let’s simply say the Christopher Nolan film nonetheless holds up in spite of everything these years, significantly in its depiction of a metropolis on the verge of chaos thanks to at least one particular person, Heath Ledger’s Joker, who’s keen to name out the ethical hypocrisies of the powers that be that hold it working.

Time has been sort to Mamma Mia! as nicely. When it was first launched, it was seen as one thing of a joke. Who desires to see Meryl Streep singing ABBA tunes in a small Greek village? But the sheer silliness of Mamma Mia!‘s plot, and certainly its very existence, is a big a part of its allure. It doesn’t matter that half the forged can’t dance or sing. (Poor Pierce Brosnan is a wonderful James Bond, however can’t carry a tune in any respect.) What does matter is that everybody is having a blast, and the sensation is infectious. Whereas The Darkish Knight compelled individuals to confront their fears and anxieties, Mamma Mia! is pure, sunny escapism, and a needed come-down from the Batman sequel’s unrelenting depth.

Superman Returns and The Satan Wears Prada (June 28, 2006)

One other superhero-and-Meryl Streep combo, though this time, it’s Meryl’s film that’s extra intense and alarming, particularly for individuals who’ve endured unhealthy bosses of their careers. Sure, I’m really recommending you watch The Satan Wears Prada first; positive, it’s enjoyable and frothy, however its comedic tackle the boss-from-hell trope nonetheless warrants the highest slot. Prada might be essentially the most easy film ever made; it hums alongside, and by no means will get too outdated even on the twentieth rewatch. (And sure, I’ve watched it that many occasions.)

Additionally, you may secretly exchange Kevin Spacey with Meryl as Superman villain Lex Luthor if you watch the deeply flawed Superman Returns. That film, one among DC’s many, many, many failed function makes an attempt to copy comedian e book magic, remains to be price watching, if just for Brandon Routh’s light portrayal of the Man of Metal and Parker Posey’s looney evil sidekick Kitty Kowalski. Each films collectively symbolize a Hollywood that doesn’t actually exist anymore, one which didn’t at all times concentrate on constructing cinematic worlds, stuffing gratuitous cameos in unhealthy movies, or male-centric films.

Mad Max: Fury Highway and Pitch Good 2 (Might 15, 2015)

Conflict boys and glee membership followers had been united for the primary and final time on Might 15, 2015, when Warner Bros. launched one of many best action movies ever made, Mad Max: Fury Highway, with Common’s superior sequel of their acapella franchise, Pitch Good 2. Fury Highway‘s legend is such that an oral historical past about its creation, Blood, Sweat, & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, was launched final yr, and reminded everybody simply how superior it’s. I don’t must repeat all of its deserves right here, besides to say Charlize Theron gave among the finest motion film performances since Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, and he or she’ll without end have a spot in cinematic Valhalla for her fierce Furiosa.

As for Pitch Good 2, it does what sequels ought to do: doubles down on what made the unique so good however with a much bigger finances and extra confidence from its forged and crew. Actress Elizabeth Banks made her directorial debut with this sequel, and it’s led her to make extra various and fascinating movies like this year’s Cocaine Bear. After roughing it in a post-apocalyptic panorama for a few hours, it’s good to spend a while with Pitch Good 2‘s warring singing teams who care extra about successful a contest quite than staying alive in a distant desert like Fury Highway‘s characters.

Tarzan and Run Lola Run (June 16, 1999)

1999 was a terrific yr for films of all types, and that features Disney animated movies and impartial international movies in regards to the fickle nature of life and future. Tarzan isn’t as well-known as different ’90s Disney favorites like The Lion King and even Mulan, but it surely’s simply nearly as good as them. The film options basic Disney parts like an orphaned hero, a captivating romance, a depraved villain, and a terrific pop rating by Phil Collins, who crafted the Oscar-winning music You’ll Be In My Coronary heart. Is it corny? Sure. However Tarzan nonetheless represents a interval when Disney might do no flawed and stays an exciting journey that captures the breathless fantastic thing about Edgar Rice Burroughs’s authentic story.

Run Lola Run is live-action, but it surely has the look, really feel, and fearlessness of an animated film; you’re feeling prefer it might break the legal guidelines of physics with its dynamic, virtuoso filmmaking. The film’s story is easy: Lola’s boyfriend is in bother, and he or she’s the one one that may bail him out of it. But the hook right here is that the alternatives Lola makes change the result of her story; in three separate sections, we see all the large and small selections that, if modified, can alter her life, and the lives of everybody round her, without end. Run Lola Run might appear to be an odd pairing with a Disney film, however each depart you feeling rushed and intoxicated and what extra are you able to ask from a double function like that?

Editor’s word: Run Lola Run’s launch date is america industrial launch date. It premiered on August 20, 1998 in Germany.

Sleepless in Seattle and What’s Love Obtained To Do With It (Might 25, 1993)

1993 was the second coming of the summer season of affection, each romantic and poisonous, with the discharge of Sleepless in Seattle and What’s Love Obtained to Go With It, two films that, whereas concentrating on the identical feminine demographic, couldn’t be any extra totally different from one another. Begin with Sleepless in Seattle; nothing about it has dated besides possibly Tom Hanks’ hair. The rom-com is really romantic and humorous, with nice supporting work from Rosie O’Donnell, Rob Reiner, Rita Wilson, and Invoice Pullman, and flawless star turns from Hanks and Meg Ryan. It’s a film that can make you imagine within the energy of affection at first sight and frequent flyer miles.

What’s Love Obtained to Do With It, then again, is a wake-up name, and a warning. In telling the true story of Tina Turner’s abusive marriage to Ike Turner, the film doesn’t sugarcoat the cruel realities Tina needed to undergo to win her freedom and achieve one of many biggest musical comebacks in historical past. What’s Love Obtained to Do With It is hard to take, accurately, but it surely’s in the end a triumphant and life-affirming film that gave Angela Bassett one of the best function of her spectacular profession. Each films stand the check of time for various causes, and each are nice to observe each paired or individually at any time of the yr.

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