Don't Look Up (Adam McKay) [Netflix]

Homelander

I thought it was surprisingly excellent. Obviously the charicature's were extreme, but that's the whole point, it's absolutely not trying to be subtle by design so I'm not sure where this whole backlash comes from, as if it's masquerading as some high flying piece of art.

It's not, it's an extremely simple and open dig at climate change indifference, unchecked capitalism, the inherent ridiculousness of the political system and vested interests complex in the United States, regardless of what side, or none, you fall on.

I mean even the bit with the three-star General charging them for the snacks near the start. It's just a humorous nod, not meant to be taken 100% literally.

I really, really enjoyed it and I didn't expect much given the weak reception.

Still stihl waters 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118405372#Comment_118405372

What was the nod towards regarding the general charging snacks, was it a reference to something

RandomViewer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118407113#Comment_118407113

I was guessing pay rates in the military

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118407218#Comment_118407218

Generals in the US are often ridiculed for the high lifestyles they have not to mention they easy transition into military companies if they leave, whatever they were going for it wasnt that

completedit

One thing about the film I just don't get is why the solution to blow up the asteroid was depicted in such unfavourable terms? Given the timescale involved this would be the only way to deal with such an impending disaster.

McGrath5

I really enjoyed this and am surprised by the mixed reaction its getting, I'll watch it again over the next few weeks as I'm sure there were a few gags that went over my head. John Rylance I think stole the show with his performance.

Newbie20

I haven’t seen this yet but I will watch it soon based on comments here. It doesn’t surprise me that it is getting mixed reviews from “professionals”. I’ve lost count of the amount of comedies over the years that I nearly didn’t see because of crap reviews only to really enjoy them. These critics take everything so seriously and have to analyse every bloody thing rather than just taking something as it is and having a laugh.

Man Vs ManUre

So if this does happen in real life will we only have 6 months before we spot it?? And how exactly do we stop it??

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118408568#Comment_118408568

Because the Musk character saw it as an opportunity to make money.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410010#Comment_118410010

It is happening in real life.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118407113#Comment_118407113

I think it's just about how so many people who may have joined the military or politics for honourable and altrusitic reasons can end up just being in it for the money. Even high-ranking, well-paid, "honourable" people like the army general will sell out that honour for a quick buck if they see the chance and thought they can get away with it.

completedit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410074#Comment_118410074

It's not. This was a civilisation ending event, climate change will be hugely disruptive but like everything it will be the south that suffers disproportionately. I thought that's where they were going with blowing up the comet, that the global north would avoid the fallout but it would impact somewhere south of the equator.

I honestly think some people just equate climate change with polar bears extinction(I don't want Polar Bears to go extinct but many species have gone extinct in the history of our planet) and not the real human tragedy that will unfold.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410097#Comment_118410097

Do you think the people in the south are just going to say "oh dear, that's a shame "? They're going to move north, regardless of what walls and borders are in place.

And have a look at the flood projections for Dublin and Cork before you conclude that the north isn't going to be impacted

Manic Moran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118405372#Comment_118405372

I submit there are two problems. It's fine to be not subtle, but if you're going to be not subtle, at least make it funny if you're marketing it as a comedy. Team America is as subtle a political commentary as a tower block being demolished, but the jokes came fast enough that if you didn't laugh at one, you'll probably be laughing in a minute anyway at the next one, regardless of if you 'prefer' to laugh at the left or the right sides of the political spectrum. It's a memeable movie we were quoting humorously at each other in Iraq. Idiocracy didn't just do away with being subtle, it put it in a ten-ton-press, ran it through a shredder, doused it with petrol and lit it off with a flamethrower, completely detaching the environment from anything akin to 'the real world' and reveling in the ludicrousness of the world in which it was set. Sortof like the similarly premised Demolition Man, which didn't try to take itself seriously at all, despite the very obvious poking at certain concepts and having an at-first-glance 'normal' tone. DLU made me chuckle a few times, but it wasn't what I would call 'funny.' Honestly, I thought the best bits were the serious bits, such as the from minute #1 to the first presentation at the oval office (Jason notwithstanding), or the dinner table at the end.

DLU tries to mix unsubtle caricature with seriousness, and it just doesn't work for me. Subtle caricature, that's another matter, but it's not what DLU tries for. It was two hours and a quarter, way too long than it needed to be for the message it was trying to send, and it got tiring.

It may just very much be a matter of sense of humour. My wife (who didn't much like DLU either) also, for some reason I cannot fathom, does not find Monty Python amusing, and I'm no fan of some of her 'comedies'. All I can do is accept that what she likes isn't what I like.

Spudmonkey

From a film POV it was good, not brilliant.

Some of the jokes were a bit hit and miss at times, overall it was too long and some of the performances seemed a bit forced (Streep, Hill, who I'd both have time for normally). Thought Leo was his usual solid self and really enjoyed Rylance's Bash CEO, for some reason he kept reminding me of a puppet from Team America, not sure if it was the hair. His un-nerving laugh (Bezos), his general woodenness (Zuckerberg), his slight overbite (Musk), his un-willingness to make eye contact. He was a mashed-up parody off all the guys he was trying to take the piss off and I thought he stole every scene he was in.

Regarding the message behind it and the heavy handed way it was delivered, I actually found it bang on. I'm normally not a fan of movies heavily edited with moments of pop-culture/social media etc. but I actually thought there was some moments which absolutely hit the nail on the head; the American love island being interrupted for a presidential announcement on a shuttle mission to save the world. Ironically it was something like love island which was trending highest on twitter in Ireland last November the week COP26 was happening. Earlier on in the year when the IPCC report was released, it made it way top for a day only to be replaced with Premier League transfers. While not subtle, I thought the message it was trying to convey of the complete indifference the general population have to the climate crisis was fairly close to reality.

TheIrishGrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118415416#Comment_118415416

From a film POV it was good, not brilliant.

Some of the jokes were a bit hit and miss at times, overall it was too long and some of the performances seemed a bit forced (Streep, Hill, who I'd both have time for normally). Thought Leo was his usual solid self and really enjoyed Rylance's Bash CEO, for some reason he kept reminding me of a puppet from Team America, not sure if it was the hair. His un-nerving laugh (Bezos), his general woodenness (Zuckerberg), his slight overbite (Musk), his un-willingness to make eye contact. He was a mashed-up parody off all the guys he was trying to take the piss off and I thought he stole every scene he was in.

Yeah, this exactly for me too. Thought it was OK but not amazing. I pretty much agree totally with the actor/character opinions above. Hill/Streep too OTT even for a black comedy. Too much of a caricature (In a movie FULL of caricatures). Rylance's Tech billionaire was both terrifyingly OTT and yet accurate. The psychopathic nature of these tech billionaires (Singular lack of empathy. Inability to take any form of criticism/questioning) and the cult-like reverence from their most ardent fans is everywhere to be seen. Look at the worship of that horror of a person like Steve Jobs and Bezos in particular.

But it didn't really pull together well. Too long. Too many characters. Each one played by someone famous. It actually became distracting (Reminded me of the latest remake of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. EVERY part was a huge actor). It actually took you out of it a bit. You were never looking at Astronomers or a president and her COS. Or a new anchor or random kid. You were looking at DiCaprio and Lawrence. At Streep and Hill. At Perry and Blanchet. At Chalmaine.

As for the message, well, it was all more than a bit smug. Was all ...... "Oh look, Climate Change is a real thing now that Hollywood is parodying it. See? It's not really about a comet. It's about Climate Change. See. SEE?!!!??? Look. Hollywood is telling you.... SEE? Aren't we clever? Climate Change is real you know. See. SEE? Have you gotten it yet? Huh? See???!!!"

So, yeah, at least it was on Netflix. I know I would be p1ssed if I'd paid money to go to the cinema and have a bunch of celebrities who have HUGE carbon footprints chastise me for preferring a plastic straw over a paper one.

So yeah, now I think about it. The biggest problem I had with this is that it was basically "Smug: The Movie"

RandomViewer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118410010#Comment_118410010

Steve Buscemi and Bruce Willis

daheff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118353981#Comment_118353981

Not a fan. Wasn't a great story (imo), and not a lot to keep you engaged in it.

Le Bruise

Just got around to seeing this, and I really enjoyed it. Had mixed feelings going in, as some friends had said it was brilliant and others said it was sh1te (much like the polarising views on this thread).

I can get both sides of the argument and why people dislike it, but I just like McKay as a director, felt it was a top cast, a decent bit of satire (so what if it was obvious) and pretty funny at times.

Top humorous bits for me:

Ron Perlman as the racist/homophobic hero (particularly his 'from a different era' rant as they launched).

The general charging for free snacks

The shovels constantly going up in price (silly and throwaway, but I like that kind of humour)

Stopped watching an hour in, it’s rubbish.

charlie_says

First half entertaining.

Second half awful.

igCorcaigh

I quite liked this. Meryl Streep was great as always.

Not to be taken too seriously, but an obvious parody of serious events like the current political landscape and the challenge of communicating the serious of climate change to society.

Worth a watch, without too much expectations.

Greyfox

Turned it off after an hour, absolute condesending garbage. This film is not satire or entertainment, its basically someone just hitting you on the head every 20 seconds with a stick and shouting global warming at you. I'm genuinely shocked that some people have given it good reviews

BattleCorp1

It struck the bullseye when it came to identifying how society is behaving right now.

That said, I'd have to be paid to watch it again. It's not a great movie.

wylo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118489298#Comment_118489298

Yep it nailed the current state of Western society and probably a good bit of non Western society, so much so that I felt things that were pointed out to me that I probably subconsciously noticed but not genuinely had it spelt out to me so clearly.

I felt it also did a great job of showing us how we're dealing with climate change, again probably even moreso than I realised.

But as a movie in itself I didn't love it, when it was doing straight up comedy it felt more like something in a Will Ferrell movie. I love Jonah Hill and his style, but again, not sure if it suited this type of movie.

Would love to have seen a more subtle parody and a little less comedy for the sake of comedy, but to be fair that would have probably slashed views in half.

Id still watch it again, but its not superb, when I think of how much I enjoyed DiCaprio in things like Wolf of Wall Street and Django Unchained I don't get that same buzz from this.