Don’t Look Up (Netflix)

[Cornettoninja]

I watched this last night and can’t stop mulling it over.

It’s received mixed reviews but I loved it. Apparently it was written before the pandemic and was originally an allegory about global warming but they made edits based on recent times during the pandemic. Some of it hits quite close to home tbh.

Just finished watching it and I thought it was brilliant. Depressingly accurate at times.

Great film. Loved it. Would definitely recommend and I’d watch it again. My favourite part was the scene at the end around the table. ‘We really had it all didn’t we?’ That and when there’s clearly a party going on in the Oval Office so the president is too ‘busy’ to hear about the urgent crisis… how apt.

almost everyone i know who watched it hated it so i think reviews were spot on

personally i think its been the worst film i've seen - i think ever! It was so so awful!!

I cant beleive the cast signed up to it

Not gripped so far but haven't finished yet , bored enough to post here , definite references to the pandemic - the part where they don't let JL in the house because they say they want the jobs the comet will bring and don't want to hear her opinion then it's directly followed by the advert with leo where the woman says "I want to take the jobs the comet offers but I don't know if it's safe " something like that - made me think vaccines straight away

@Medievalist Yes we put ourselves through "Power of The Dog", too! Not sure I can really trust a Guardian review now knowing they suggested that was film of the year... It was awful!

Absolutely loved "Don't Look Up" though and was gripped throughout. Best film I've watched in a really long time, definitely this year!

I loved it.

Was not expecting much as the reviews had been scathing but it was funny, biting and poignant.

Think the critics have lambasted it partly because it had such a stellar A list cast so knocking it down was more of an iconoclastic/ contrary position to take but I still thought it was excellent.

We often find the Guardian reviews to be totally wrong. They lauded The Royal Tenanbaums for example which we then saw at the cinema and was the shittest film Dh and I have ever seen. Likewise an Officer and a spy so boring I felt like crying. They also slammed Annie which we thought was fab - easy to sneer if you’re a trendy guardian beardy man if you have two little little girls it’s great. Likewise with this film totally disagreed with the Guardian reviews again. They should give the job to me definitely 😁

Thought it was very good and promising at the start but deteriorated.
I stopped watching and fell asleep after a while

I stopped watching and fell asleep after a while
You missed the best bit then, you should fast forward to about 40 mins before the end then keep watching even when you think it's finished.

Really struggle to understand how anyone could describe this film is “boring”! It’s probably the least boring film I have ever watched! An officer and a spy lots of men in grey suits whispering to each other now that’s boring

@apinions

I watched it today and enjoyed it. Was anyone else surprised by the age of Leonard diCaprio's sons? I guess we're so used to watching films with men in their late 40's married to younger women and with small children.

Yes and I was also struck to see how unusual it was to see Leo with a wife (and an affair partner) broadly the same age as him. I'm not used to seeing this in films at all.

Leo Dan only be my age (mid 40s) so sons in their twenties was a bit far fetched (mine are young primary!) as having kids young surely isn’t a good idea if you’re an academic!

Can not dan

Anyone know how far into the credits the hidden social media bit is please?

I too didn't recognise Cate until quite a way through the film.

Tamworth is proving himself to be a very versatile actor.

I did wake up very late in the night shouting "HES FLOP IN BING" to DH

I didn't think it was solely about climate change, more any scientific issue that is ignored until you can actually see it, by which time it's too late.

@KenAdams
There is a segment at the very very end

I'm not sure how I feel about this movie. I've never seen a more depressing comedy but I think it hits the nail on the head very well about how the media represent things, about our mistrust of science about how the exceptionally rich will always have an escape plan (Elon musk and Jeff Bezos' space travel experiments) about how those who are least culpable will suffer the most.

I thought it was a bit heavy handed in some parts but overall worth seeing.

To be fair the Guardian did rate It's a Sin the best tv series of 2021 - which I wholeheartedly agree with. Maybe it's just their film critic they need to sack!

We watched The Power of the Dog with our adult dcs. I kept telling everyone it was bound to pick up soon as the Guardian rated it so highly. Also that apparently there was an unexpected twist at the end..... but when the main character became ill, we called it straight away. And that was that. None of us could find anything at all redeeming in the film.

Don't Look Up on the other hand, had everyone's full attention and generated lots of lively discussion. We all thought it was great!

I didn’t expect The Guardian to be so scathing. I didn’t feel that strongly about it, but didn’t think it great.

Maybe the critic has quite a lot of freedom to say what they think - the rest of the paper feels like it follows a line most of the time

I also found the Mark Rylance character absolutely terrifying. I think he did a fantastic job of showing the dangers of somebody who is clearly intelligent and rich but has no care for humanity having so much power and influence. I think he was a mix of a few Silicon Valley key players but I immediately thought of Zuckerberg and Musk the way he turned when he was questioned combined with the obvious social awkwardness.

Leo Dan only be my age (mid 40s) so sons in their twenties was a bit far fetched (mine are young primary!) as having kids young surely isn’t a good idea if you’re an academic!

Actors can portray people older (or younger) than their real age! I presumed Leo was acting the part of someone in his 50s.

But I wonder if they gave him grown up sons to try and make his affair more palatable than it would be if he had young children?

Yes fair point. He didn’t look grey enough to be in his 50s though. And wasn’t the kind of character to dye his hair!

I was really relieved to see Leo not paired up with Jennifer Lawrence as could have easily happened in a different film.

I listened to the audiobook of The Power of the Dog first.
It's a pretty good book - as with all books it covers much more than the film and has a much longer build up so you are more engage with the characters. And I didn't see the ending coming in that.

I've been to 'the Wild West' and remember seeing crumbling chimney stacks in the middle of nowhere - like that house would have been after it had been abandoned.

@ohfook

I also found the Mark Rylance character absolutely terrifying. I think he did a fantastic job of showing the dangers of somebody who is clearly intelligent and rich but has no care for humanity having so much power and influence. I think he was a mix of a few Silicon Valley key players but I immediately thought of Zuckerberg and Musk the way he turned when he was questioned combined with the obvious social awkwardness.

It does throw a spotlight on whether we’ve fully considered the boundaries of humanity in conjunction with technology.

I think it’s interesting that the Rylane’s character was so blasé about knowing peoples death date and the cause. I suppose there’s more to dive into there about the effect on someone’s psyche having access to that kind of knowledge; did it break his empathy to be able to live with that kind of information about anyone at any time?

It’s also notable that he predicted Decaprio would die alone, but his choices meant that didn’t happen and ‘beat’ the algorithm.

Leo’s sons age - I assumed he’d been with his wife since very young. To show it was a first love type of marriage.