Leave the World Behind

AMKC

https://youtu.be/cMVBi_e8o-Y?si=HzDUnUK9Hku5MR3U

This looks like it could be good. Drops this week sometime.

Edit: could a mod move this to films. I just realised it's a film lol not a series.

~Rebel~

One of my favorite books of the past few years - really hoping the movie doesn’t overdramatize the quiet understated dread of the story, as that’s what makes it so good.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121451327#Comment_121451327

A difficult thing to translate from the subtly of text to the visual emphaiss of film- and the trailer does seem to lean into the idea of these folk experiencing the apocalypse as it's happening.

I do like Sam Esmail though; I checked out of Mr. Robot at season 2 TBH but I do like the guy's slightly off-kilter style; and this is a reminder that somewhere in his slush pile of apparently active projects sits a sequel/reboot/nobody's-quite-sure of Battlestar Galactica!

Ryaller

It is shockingly bad, even by Netflix standards. So many plot points are introduced that go absolutely nowhere. I thought M Night Shyamalan's The Happening was donkey-brained codswallop, but this gives it a run for it's money.

flasher0030

Seems to have generally got very good reviews. I think that will be my Friday night treat.

aidanodr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121455416#Comment_121455416

RTE review is good

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2023/1207/1420428-leave-the-world-behind-is-catnip-for-doomsday-preppers/

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121471964#Comment_121471964

That's interesting. I saw Julia Roberts on Graham Norton and she sold the film well, but I read the empire review and, ummm...

"Leave The World Behind feels like a bad concatenation of Shyamalan’s last two features processed through ChatGPT."

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/leave-the-world-behind/

Dial Hard

The book left an awful lot unsaid and unresolved and that tends not to translate particularly well to film, which may explain why this doesn't quite seem to be working for people. I will give it a go tonight, though.

Dial Hard

Yeah this was like Jordan Peele on steroids compared to the book. Not an ounce of subtlety, really. Julia Roberts' character isn't nearly such an obviously hostile geebag in the book. The dread and second-guessing everything builds much more slowly. You never actually find out what's happening, there's no real conclusion or ending to speak of.

That said, this was perfectly enjoyable Friday night fodder, if nowhere near as clever as it would like to think.

Akrasia

I think I get what they were trying to do, but so ham fisted at times

I actually prefer 'the happening' because at least that was funny

pixelburp

Man this was a good example of how the craft of good, creeping tension can be undercut by eventual, underwhelming release.

The first hour was fantastic: the visuals really tight and formal (jesus Esmail likes the slow zooms in), the aural landscape constantly dissonant and unsettling, and the human aspect a naturally broiling oven of paranoia and suspicion. Little moments of the uncanny like with the deer were a touch cliché but I think they worked, just about.

Then when the wheels came off as more and more "things" happened and by the end I was just a bit underwhelmed by what was perhaps an excessive reveal of what was happening. Add to that the fact the script lost its nerve and proceeded to lampshade every single previously unsaid character trait, complete with clumsy exposition. The most glaring being how Julie Roberts' obvious prejudice was a nicely simmering bit of subtext til the last act bludgeoning of the audience.

Atlantic Dawn

Moral of the story is keep your hard copies of dvds and Blu-ray's 😁.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121481445#Comment_121481445

It was also ... amusing that Netflix produced a film that essentially warned of total reliance on a digital, online landscape.

Can't see Tesla happy either with their cars used in a set-piece to demonstrate the same.

Buddy Bubs

Was off sick from work today and watched this. I was hoping my own internet went down after about 30 mins. Just so dull and uneventful.

yerwanthere123

Watched this last night. A lot of build up for.... absolutely nothing. Imagine how bad this would've been without such a strong cast!

5/10.

yerwanthere123

Really annoyed annoyed me how they tried portraying Julia Roberts character as racist for her scepticism/distrust of two people who came knocking on their door in the middle of the night. Her reaction was a perfectly reasonable one, and particularly when the daughter had such a massive chip on her shoulder from the very outset.

Mundo7976

Much like their film, how it ends. 2 hours of complete bo!!ox wasted. Don't care what intentions the ending had.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121495667#Comment_121495667

They didn't portray her as racist. They portrayed her as being perceived as racist, which is a bit different.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121495683#Comment_121495683

They kept it up to the audience to decide, which was a neat way of stirring the pot - til like everything else in the last act they spelled it out to the hard of thinking.

The daughter was way over-written and antagonistic. Her commentary on everything with unearned confidence got irritating.

AndrewJRenko

Not quite sure how letting the audience decide equates to stirring the pot?

And yes, the black daughter was antagonistic. Have you met many rich, entitled young women?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121495707#Comment_121495707

Sitting the pot of the tension of the story; nobody knowing or trusting each other, Roberts' unspoken prejudice(?) part of that, and letting the audience come to their own conclusions about who was who.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121496094#Comment_121496094

Fully agree

HalloweenJack

I really did not get this at all. I saw a lot of hype online and got sucked in.

There was some interesting camerawork and the score was great for setting the tension but it seemed to rely on a lot of cliches and the big reveal felt so simplistic that they even joked about it earlier in the film.

It promised a lot and technically it was mostly good but the plot was weak and seemed to start cranking up the odd imagery (fwiw, the CGI flamingos were painful) to compensate for what was ultimately an unoriginal conclusion.

I will admit I expected something different after the first twenty minutes and for the first hour or so, I had bought into it but it slammed on the brakes. That second hour really dragged. It seemed to overdo some points while hinting at others though never developing them in any depth. It tried to be too many different things when it probably would have done a decent job if it had just focused on one approach.

I wouldn't even say it was terribly original, like someone tried to capture the tension of Midsommar through the lens of Jordan Peele without any idea of how to do either.

Homelander

Honestly I thought it was really good. My only gripe is that the big "reveal" could've been far more impactful and horrifying, film kinda just dwindled to an end, but overall I thought it was very solid.

I think maybe it can be compared to something like "It Comes at Night" - another film I love but people do commonly say it's a complete nothing-burger of a movie.

I like these movies that are just a fleeting window into another reality when they're done well. Leave the World Behind is one of the better ones I've seen and I genuinely felt the runtime flew by, personally.

Not a masterpiece but I'd say a 7/10 is well deserved.

Carol25

Watched this last night and really enjoyed it. Very well done, good cast. Ending frustrating but that’s part of it.

Caquas

A great cast, an interesting set-up, top-notch special effects and design but ultimately.... nothing.

The movie didn't just leave us in the dark about the big issues it raised (End of the world!!!), it didn't even resolve the tensions among its characters. What did G.H. actually know? Was Amanda really a misanthrope or just weary of BS? Was anyone going to stand up to Ruth? Six characters in search of an ending.

No. 1 movie on Netflix with 41.7 million views. Anyone know what this thing cost? How many views before it is deemed a success?

crushproof

Watched tonight without not knowing much going into it, usually enjoy these types of movies despite their plotholes. This one however was littered with them.

I'm not going to bother going through them all, but if I was down in Brittas Bay and tanker crashed into the beach I'd be a bit more concerned. Everyone seemed to just shrug it off and go back to their cars. Oh our phones and radio don't work either, OH WELL! And two planes crashing into the eactly the same spot, despite it turning out that it's not some sort of magnetic disturbance or solar flare. Why would pilots just crash their planes instead of trying to land at an airport or attempt a landing on water to save lives?

Utter tripe and disappointed that the cast would be involved in this type of Netflix rubbish. It'll be as forgettable as Birdbox.

Karlos77

This film is so bad if i had 2 choices,

A watch the film

Or b

Commit suicide

I would choose b ..commit suicide

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121507834#Comment_121507834

No. 1 movie on Netflix with 41.7 million views. Anyone know what this thing cost? How many views before it is deemed a success

Impossible to say cos we don't know how Netflix rates success. They recently did their stats dump and they noted that raw eyeballs weren't the only measure of success; that the "virality" of the thing also counts & no doubt whether it drives new subscribers also helps?

As to the budget, not sure though I'd probably guess about 25-50 million? The stars probably got a healthy pay cheque but otherwise it was a relatively single location drama with a splash of CGI.

Zero-Cool

Saw the tagline on Netflix that some crowd called it the best film of the year, hhmm better than Oppenheimer?? might be worth a look. Tried watching this over 2 nights but turned it off with 30 minutes left, awful film. Not one likeable character, bad acting, a neutered Ethan Hawke was a waste of casting, stupid arty camera shots that were just annoying to look at. I don't know how it ended but I'm hoping they all got wiped out.

Caquas

My guess is >€50 Million but you’re right - the single location, limited cast and (impressive) CGI should have kept this closer to €20 Million

Why do big names get these parts when others could give equal or better performances for a fraction of the cost? Perhaps we need “stars” to convince us to watch. But then we see the star, not the character. Do we see Amanda the misanthrope or Julia Roberts cast against type?

Not even sure how to describe Ethan Hawke’s character. A professor of media studies but he says almost nothing original and seems weak in the face of disaster until suddenly he steps into the middle of the fight.

This kind of expensive nothingness suggests that the Hollywood strikes were not the product of hard-pressed workers demanding justice. There are a lot of very privileged people in Hollywood and the streamers are flushing money through the system so that quantity is swamping quality.

Remember when there was a big fuss because a movie that went straight to streaming was nominated for an Oscar? Oh, what a terrible blow to the artistic values of the big screen film-makers! Funny how we hear no more about this, now that the Hollywood royalty are getting lucrative gigs long after they were able to open a movie.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121510089#Comment_121510089

Why do big names get these parts when others could give equal or better performances for a fraction of the cost? Perhaps we need “stars” to convince us to watch. But then we see the star, not the character. Do we see Amanda the misanthrope or Julia Roberts cast against type?

Answered your own question there: as long as Hollywood has been a thing there have been "star driven" pictures; this film's not remotely unique in this respect. And it often depends on the actor; the great actors can trick your brain into thinking "oh, that's So-And-So"

This kind of expensive nothingness suggests that the Hollywood strikes were not the product of hard-pressed workers demanding justice. There are a lot of very privileged people in Hollywood and the streamers are flushing money through the system so that quantity is swamping quality.

Not sure I understand this logic at all: there are a lot of privileged people in Hollywood but the vast majority of those making the things are not privileged - quite the opposite and working off low rates, and minimal profit sharing (if at all); and the strike was born from the fact streamers like Netflix were trying to shrink or destroy even those basic commission options and dues owed to the majority that aren't Julia Roberts. (part of the logistics of the Strike was a war-chest & financial fund, built through Union Fees, that was given out to the striking actors who were jobbing and taking the financial hit). Maybe let a film's credits run to the end to get a sense of how large the iceberg goes. Unless I'm misreading your comments?

homerun_homer

The film feels like it is more worthy of a Black Mirror episode than it's own movie. I think it would have served it better if presented that way than as the big new Netflix film. It would still rub people up the wrong way but at least you can let the next episode play and move on.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121510369#Comment_121510369

I didn't answer my own question - I posed a couple of alternative possibilities.

The era of "star driven" pictures is long gone in cinemas and it won't last much longer on the streaming platforms if this show is typical.

There are only a handful of mega-stars (Di Caprio, Cruise,...) who can reliably "open" a movie these days (without a franchise). Julia Roberts hasn't had that power for 20 years, Ethan Hawke never had. Netflix may pay them big bucks to get a buzz about their production and they might drive clicks in the first week but what matters is attracting/retaining subscribers. Glossy productions that fizzle out like this one are a sure-fire way to lose subscribers who are already squeezed by the surfeit of alternative platforms.

You're right, I should have looked at the closing credits. Even by today's bloated standards, they are outlandish for a production of modest scope - a full 10 minutes worth and that's without any of the big names from the opening credits (where the Obamas get a separate screen from the ordinary "Executive Producers", who are not to be confused with the Associate Producers or even the actual Producers, who include Julia Roberts, a sure sign of a vanity project). There's a squad of assistants to the producers, plus gangs of "production assistants" and a battalion of "Production Support". The platoon of "Grips" is dwarfed by the army of visual effects.

But not a single person to shout Stop!

Normally, strikes are the workers' response to hard times - pay-cuts, layoffs - but money has been flooding into Hollywood. I don't blame the writers and actors looking for a bigger slice but they should look in the rear-view mirror. A reality-check will come sooner rather than later. But before then, is there any chance I could get an Executive Producer gig on one of these shows. I'd love to shoot the breeze with Julia or Meryl and they'd love me 'cos I'd get them the big bucks and top billing, just like old times.

When money floods Hollywood, this is the kind of BS that ensues

https://screenrant.com/who-is-carl-rinsch-netflix-55-million-conquest-show/

nomoedoe

You’d think the kid would of noticed her mother was Chandlers girlfriend in friend's

aidanodr

Watched it last night, here is my review of sorts / thoughts the following day:

Yes plot holes abound BUT we watched it accepting these and taking a wider view of any message it was offering. Things like how people might react to this new reality. Human selfishness. Look after no. 1 / family .. obvious, interacting with others when thrown together unwittingly.

Certain apocolypse type scene later ( a skyline scene, after this scene watch out for TV screen messages as to what this could be ) gave indication of what the new reality is to be ( another movie perhaps? or that movie is left in your own imagination to direct? ) .. no going back now type thing.

I found the scenes with daughter throughout film interesting. ( Maybe its where the name of the book/film came from? LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND? ) Sheldon from big bang theory came to mind .. needing closure at all costs, even in frivolous things and this closure as a sort of familiar comfort with the up and coming turmoil & uncertainty all around. Again a form of Selfishness?

WE, the viewer also did get closure, I think anyway, we could see with the many hints on screens and what certain people talked of .. this all was only going one way.

You really have to WATCH this film, every minute of it. Concentrate. What is said, the unsaid, even unspoken scenes give hints. Not a movie you could just go out of room for a minute & come back missing nothing.

I liked the cinematography - nod to Hitchcock me thinks. I liked the build up of & the constant dread, threat mood of the film and for us it still hangs around after in the mind, even today. A disconcerting feeling.

Re the Tesla scene + the mention of cuba / Havana Syndrome .. I thought these were interesting nods to actual events that did happen and injected into the film to acentuate its reality as our real reality right now. They ended up playing a part in the creation of the new reality we face at the end of the film.

This film and the upcoming CIVIL WAR film - interesting that the apocolytic / dystopian genre here is especially concentrating around war, societal breakdown and the world order breaking down when we are potentially sort of living the beginning of this at the moment. Certainly those in Ukraine and Gaza are living this reality now BUT the film is showing what this reality could be like when it comes to our front door ... Are these films prescient?

Do things in this film chime with YOU and how YOU may react to such a new reality, not of your choosing?

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121525853#Comment_121525853

WE, the viewer also did get closure, I think anyway, we could see with the many hints on screens and what certain people talked of .. this all was only going one way.

You really have to WATCH this film, every minute of it. Concentrate. What is said, the unsaid, even unspoken scenes give hints. Not a movie you could just go out of room for a minute & come back missing nothing.

I got no closure.

There were lots of heavy-handed warnings of a coming apocalypse and a series of major crashes, loud noises and animal weirdness. We got Islamic terrorists, the North Koreans, a massive cyber-hack. These were not subtle hints. A massive leaflet drop of “Death to America”. Planes crashing out of the sky.

The characters were shape-shifters. Was the ownner’s daughter the most obnoxious woman or a truth-teller? What was Ethan Hawke’s character, a clueless academic or the man of true courage? Julia Roberts went from closet racist to inter-racial seductress in one dance.

And after all that drama and terror, we got what?….Friends!!!

I could go on but, like this movie, I will cut it here.

Carol25

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121528757#Comment_121528757

Somebody just doesn’t get it…

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121511538#Comment_121511538

Normally, strikes are the workers' response to hard times - pay-cuts, layoffs - but money has been flooding into Hollywood. I don't blame the writers and actors looking for a bigger slice but they should look in the rear-view mirror.

That's a misunderstanding of what the Actors and Writers were striking over. Money might be flooding into Hollywood, but it wasn't going near the lower tier of actors and writing staff who were being routinely jipped out of their fair dues. Which only got worse with streaming upending the old model of royalties and residuals generated from repeat broadcasts (as an example, the creator of successful TV show Supernatural has never got a single dollar from Netflix - despite the show routinely being one of the most watched on the service in the US). Many actors and writers earn their regular subsistence income from these "residuals " albeit the amounts can be tiny. It was also why Netflix are so cancel happy; certain renumeration didn't kick in til after a 3rd season of something IIRC - so shít got cancelled before people got paid more.

This was "crumbs on the table" stuff that Netflix etc were trying to avoid payment for. And with shít like AI there was a real sense that the value of a jobbing background actor would be eroded completely (reports of actors getting facial scans so studios could just reuse CGI versions of said actors without paying them or contractual consent). Media outlets are already trying to sneak AI written articles into their publications - you can guarantee Hollywood was gonna do same with their scripts. These strikes were pro-active towards cuts that were coming.

These were people whose power does not afford the ability to look in the "rear view mirror" in any case, by dint of the fact they're jobbing staff. And this film is far from the worst thing Hollywood ever produced so a little perspective is useful here. Maybe nobody shouted "stop!" because nobody thought they were making crap. Few studios intentionally make rubbish - even Tommy Wiseau thought he was making pearls.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121528769#Comment_121528769

And someone else has nothing

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121515177#Comment_121515177

That’s it! Julia Robert wasn’t just Chandeler’s girlfriend, she and Mathew Perry had a thing until he dumped her - 12 years ago! No, only messing.

Still, here’s a good rule of thumb - nothing good comes from giving the star an “Executive Producer” credit.

It’s a bit like “player/manager” (are there any left?)

johnny_ultimate

A star having an ‘executive producer’ credit is common and fairly routine, I’d have thought. Just means they played a key role in getting the film made / financed, but maybe not quite as hands on as a full producer credit.

Cate Blanchett has one for Tár, for example, and that was a widely celebrated film and performance. Ditto Di Caprio and Killers of the Flower Moon. That’s two recent high-profile ones, but countless other examples.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121528857#Comment_121528857

Yeah, it’s seems to be standard operating procedure now and there’s bound to be some good amongst all the dross. But does it actually ever help improve the film? It is a clear conflict of interest. The Executive Producer’s job is to deliver the show on time and in budget. The star’s job is to be the biggest star they can be.

I suppose the plethora of Producers (Executive, Assistant or Otherwise) should keep this conflict in check but what if the Obamas are also on board? In any event, no one could shout stop and Netflix is landed with a high-profile bomb.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121529050#Comment_121529050

If a good film gets made because or partially because a star is on board as executive producer, then yes I would say it does help improve the film.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121529050#Comment_121529050

Executive Producers in film are often nominal roles with minimal impact on production; TV show executive producers would tend to be more involved. Some execs are more integral than others but it's not a rule; In film it'd be producers who might wield power or influence more directly.

And as far as it can be ascertained, this hasn't been a bomb. Far from it by the looks of things though we might know for sure when the half yearly stats roll around again.

For the second week in a row, “Leave the World Behind” was the most-watched title on Netflix. The apocalyptic thriller starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali and Myha’la reached 44.9 million views from Dec. 11-17, its first full week of availability after its Dec. 8 premiere. That’s a slight increase from the week before, when it racked up 41.7 million views in its first three days on Netflix.

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/netflix-top-10-streaming-ratings-1235697082/

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121528776#Comment_121528776

I don’t have any expertise regarding show biz contracts but my point remains: money is flooding into Hollywood and the strike was about sharing out a larger pie. It was not about promoting excellence in film-making.

If the streamers keep insulting their audience with stinkers like this, the pie will shrink very rapidly.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121529187#Comment_121529187

Your point is confusing. When is a strike ever about "promoting excellence"? Of course it was about financial equity - it's a Union, not an arts council. You're putting at the feet something for which the union and its members have no responsibility for. You might as well criticise the Strike for not solving climate change for the relevance it might have.

I've watched plenty of shíte movies with great performances, and vice versa; actors have a job to do, they do the job - it's not on them to "fix" broken scripts, FX, budgets or films. They'd not have much work if they walked from everything that offended their sensibilities! And when actors have dictated films it has tended to be a disaster through rampaging ego.

And in any case, the film has had lots of eyeballs as far as stats say, and the reviews skew middling on Letterboxd; if you didn't like the film then fair enough - you clearly hated it? - but I don't see any indication this has been a derided "bomb" or widely hated either. I doubt in 6 months anyone will remember having watched it. It's far from emblematic of any problems with Hollywood.

If you wanna criticise waste at netflix, there's plenty of ammunition with Red Notice, The Adam Project, The Grey Man and all the other over-budgeter blockbusters and open paycheques written to Ryan Reynolds or Zack Synder.

AyeGer

This and banshees of inish..whatever you call it are the two worst films I’ve watched this year.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121529221#Comment_121529221

My point is very simple and you now agree with the first half - that the strike was about sharing out the pie ('financial equity"), not improving quality (although there was a lot of media chatter about that, especially how AI would degrade script quality).

The other half of my argument is that the flood of streamers' money will stop very suddenly if Hollywood keeps producing stinkers like this one or the others you mention (I stopped watching Rebel Moon after a half-hour when the evil Empire's soldiers engaged in absurd mind-games with the defenceless villagers about food supplies).

Like most industries in boom times, Hollywood bosses (top execs., stars) are getting rich while the factory hires more workers at the same pay and some old hands actually lose money (because overtime/fringe benefits/residuals/whatever are spread more thinly). Now the workers have got a pay rise (fair enough!) but I say it won't last. Subscribers are already cutting back. AI will disrupt the industry in unpredictable ways. In 10 years time, everyone in Hollywood will be complaining about this deal (just like they complained this time about their 2007 deal).

If Hollywood doesn't produce more consistent quality, Hollywood's dominant role will be challenged by countries who can produce quality cinema for a fraction of the cost. Even Europe can compete, not by lower pay of course, but simply by cutting the outlandish pay roll at every level but especially at the very top where big bucks are paid to people who, judging by this movie, may actually be detrimental to the movie.

Final thought - in a novel, it is not unusual to conclude with an open-ended reflection on the novel's narrative but that is difficult (impossible?) to replicate in a movie without some substantial visual action to underpin the final scene. That should have been uppermost in the minds of anyone trying to turn this novel into a movie but no one shouted stop.

Caquas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121529116#Comment_121529116

My point is that views are a very poor metric of success for streamers. Subscribers will always watch the next big thing on any given platform.

The real test is attracting/retaining subscribers. Viewers on Rotten Tomatoes hate it (some critics love it, natch)

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_the_world_behind_2023/reviews?type=user&intcmp=rt-what-to-know_read-audience-reviews

Agent Coulson

I won't be buying a Tesla after that.