Don’t Look Up had an amazing cast (quite a few talented actors). IMO it wasn’t great political satire–too obvious. Plot was OK, but not totally believeable. Isn’t one characteristic of a good movie or novel the suspension of disbelief? I’d give it a 75 on Rotten Tomatoes.
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We shut Don’t Look Up off about halfway through. If the movie had been edited down more we probably would have stuck it out. I’m guessing the all-star cast must have been excited by the satire, but it all seemed pretty obvious to us.
As I said, if you liked (or appreciated) Dr . Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, you will probably like this one. Both are dark comedy, ludicrous, obvious, and show how politicians put politics above everything.
I liked Jennifer Lawrence’s character (it was written specifically for her) but I enjoy her everywhere. I believe this was her return to movies after a two year hiatus. Also appreciated how Leonardo DiCaprio looked more and more like Leo as the movie went on. They worked with him for months on the script before he signed on. Didn’t even realize it was Cate Blanchett as the morning anchor because she was so in character (and it reminded me of the anchors in The Morning Show).
Remember this was planned and written before the presidential election. I gather the actors respected the director and felt the theme promoted the dangers of climate change, which was a major factor for some deciding to sign on.
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Nah, just like the present administration, not the previous. And the previous at some parts–depends on where you were at any point in time in the movie.
But that’s why I liked the movie.
What I liked and what seemed funny (but not really) was the media portrayal. And asking the public if the meteor was coming in a poll pretty well tells what’s wrong in the world. Much was tongue in cheek (gotta watch through the credits especially).
No great special effects but that wasn’t the point of the movie.
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Think it’s interesting what people take from “Don’t Look Up”.
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We enjoyed Don’t Look Up. Not a great movie as the satire was rather broad brush but quite enjoyable nonetheless. I thought a lot of it was a play on our current situation – not climate change as much as Covid. For political reasons, the conservative party decided to tell their constituents to ignore basic science and their own powers of observation (“Don’t Look Up” at the huge asteroid visible in the sky) and to believe that it didn’t exist. Then when it was politically prudent to stop pretending the asteroid didn’t exist, to spin the response to benefit the administration (cue Operation Warp Speed) but then to torque it to the benefit of wealthy private actors (modeled in part on Bezos/Musk) and the destruction of everyone else. On the latter point, this is, after all a Hollywood film so corporations have to be evil (rather than barely competent), but if I’m not mistaken, Jared Kushner was at one point trying to arrange for Covid-related contracts for his various largely unqualified friends so the point is not wholly missed.
The writer/producer for this film started as an SNL writer and then worked on several Will Ferrell films. He then directed The Big Short, which I thought was a sensational adaptation of a terrific book that I would have thought was impossible to turn into a good move. As far as I am concerned, it was an order of magnitude better than the other movies made from Michael Lewis books (I think he is a terrific writer – thoughtful, very observant, wry). He also directed the film about Dick Cheney (Vice). His background gives you a bit of a sense of style – broad brush rather than refined comedy.
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DH and I watched Don’t Look Up yesterday because we needed a break from our current binge. It is not the kind of movie we would usually enjoy–the “satire” made us cringe–but we did get few laughs. He was ready to turn it off as soon as the credits came on, but I told him to wait, and he thought the endings were the best part.
I wonder if those big names saw more in the script than there was, or are there just fewer juicy parts these days and they just want to work.
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The big names probably did see more in the script than there was. I think more though that the viewer saw things from THEIR point of view. So overall it could resonate across political lines. I’m hoping that was the point–probably not but maybe happened anyway.
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If you’ve seen Don’t Look Up and want to discuss it, I started a thread.
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I saw The Lobster yesterday. I didn’t especially enjoy it, but it’s unique and interesting enough that I am interested in discussing it, and I think it meets the thread criteria of “good movie.”
The movie takes place is a world that appears similar to ours on the surface, but the people in this world have very different views about romantic relationships. The vast majority of the world seems to believe that romantical relationships are of vital importance, and romantic compatibility is closely tied to sharing physical traits or psychological disorders, such as both both partners being prone to nose bleeds or both having a limp. Single persons are treated as outcasts from society. Some single persons live in hiding in the woods, where they may be hunted and killed. Upon becoming widowed or having a partner leave, newly single persons may attend a coupling boot camp where guests have 45 days to find a partner. If hotel guests are not successful within 45 days, the hotel claims that they will turned in to an animal of their choosing. The protagonist stays in such a hotel and chooses to become a lobster, if he is not successful.
I expect that the hotel is not really turning people in to animals and is instead killing unsuccessful guests, then releasing a random animal in to the nearby woods that matches their guests’ choosing. It’s been established that killing single persons is normal and accepted in this world, and the hotel has no qualms doing so. The hotel also seems big on propaganda and indoctrination, so lying about being turned in to animals seems right up their alley. The world also doesn’t appear to be technologically more advanced than our world, certainly not advanced enough to turn people in to animals. And the people that have supposedly been turned in to animals don’t show signs of intelligence, aside from the protagonist’s brother making a barking noise at portions of his interview, which I’m guessing is a coincidence.
It’s an interesting concept with a lot of metaphors about relationships in our world, and problems with our world and way of choosing partners. It feels kind of like a book I might have read for English class in high school, rather than something I’d choose to watch/read for fun. It’s hammering in a message over and over, but not particularly fun to watch. The movie is sometimes classified as a “comedy”, yet I did not find anything about the movie funny.
I was captivated enough to keep my attention throughout the story, but it often kept my attention for the wrong reasons. An example, is a scene with the dog/brother. I won’t spoil what happened, but I wish that scene had been kept out of the movie. I have a similar problem with the ending, which was unsatisfying for me. Or the protagonist (didn’t care about him enough to remember his name or names of most anyone else in film) repeatedly ignoring biscuit lady and instead pursuing the cruel and unfeeling woman. Or several things the leader of the single persons in the woods did. The intentional emotional flatness made it more difficult to connect with characters.
The Vault (201)
Data, as a single person, the theme would upset me terribly. Thx for letting me know NOT to watch.
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Not sure if the The Alpinist has been mentioned - just watched this amazing Netflix movie/documentary about incredible, boundary-pushing climber Marc-Andre Leclerc. Breath-taking mountain/climbing scenes; fascinating and touching.
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Just watched Don’t Look Up and give it a thumbs up overall, but will look for the thread to comment more on it. Well worth our time providing a bit of discussion, but would have toned down the language and sex to have enjoyed it more.
Otherwise, hoping to catch West Side Story at the theater later this week. I expect we’ll have the theater to ourselves at this point in time or we’d skip it since our county was the 2nd worst in our state for new cases of Covid last I checked.
I’m assuming WSS is still playing. I probably should check.
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We watched it yesterday too - excellent true story - wow !
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H and I watched the Matrix on HBO Max. We both thought it was ok.
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Last night we made our movie choice based on what will be leaving Netflix (ie “last chance”) What's Leaving Netflix in January 2022 - What's on Netflix
We picked From Paris with Love because we’ve been to Paris and love seeing the sights. Alas, not enough Paris sights and way, way too much gun violence. There was an interesting story, and it was fun to see a bald 1993 John Travolta …. but when done we gladly switched over the the newly release Season 2 of Emily in Paris.
We also noticed that Magnolia will be leaving Netflix. No temptation to watch that. It holds our prize for most regretted movie choice ever. (Just shows how movie tastes can vary. Many critics and viewers loved it. Perhaps we are just not artsy enough to appreciate). After watching the first VHS tape years ago we considered giving up. But based on all the hype we decided to watch a 2nd night, in hopes the story would somehow come together for us. Nope.
We just watched The Grizzlies on Netflix. It is based upon a true story. It is a heart-warming story about a new college graduate who goes to teach in an Inuit community high school, where the life he sees seems relatively hopeless: the kids are not really in school, committing suicide, drinking etc. He starts teaching them lacrosse and they form a team (and intramural teams) and gets them working, not drinking, attending classes, etc. It has all the heart-stringing tugging that you expect in such a film, but it is well-done.
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With Covid out there as much as it is locally and with us wanting to travel to USVI for Feb and the “kids” moving to Puerto Rico mid January, we’ve nixed going to the theater today. (sigh)
Hopefully WSS will be as good when it comes out on Netflix sometime down the road.
I’m also canceling a routine dental appt. We don’t want to get exposed, catch it, then test positive when we need to test to travel. Our timeline would still work, but the kids need to be able to go in a couple of weeks.
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Daughter, her boyfriend, (home for the holiday) and I watched Being the Ricardos last night. All of us are big Aaron Sorkin fans, so we loved the political part of the movie, i.e., Ball was accused of being a Communist. I never realized the HUAC called on her to testify in the 1950s. Nicole Kidman and Javiar Bardem as Lucy and Desi were spot on! Don’t want to be a spoiler–so won’t say more, except that I’d recommend watching the film. It’s on Amazon Prime.
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