In ‘Oppenheimer,’ Christopher Nolan builds a thrilling, serious blockbuster for adults

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Christopher Nolan has never been one to take the easy or straightforward route while making a movie. He prefers practical effects over computer generated ones and real locations over soundstages. He shoots on large format film with large, cumbersome, and sometimes impractical cameras to get the best possible cinematic image. And in the matter of the J. Robert Oppenheimer biography that provided the inspiration for his new film, in theaters July 21, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s “American Prometheus,” a riveting linear narrative in itself, was simply a starting point to make a beguiling labyrinth of emotion, suspense and drama.