Don't Look Up

Liam Hall

Liam Hall

Veteran
I love a bit of satire and in a year of staggering mediocrity, in which I saw some of the worst films I've ever endured, (Yes Kong v Godzilla I'm looking at you), it was great to end the year with something witty, entertaining, well acted and well shot with a powerful message.

In years to come I'm sure this film will be looked back on with the same reverence as Dr Strangelove, Network and Wag the Dog.

The fact it's riled so many critics and climate change deniers is testament to how on the money it is. Bravo.
 
Hated it. Bailed out after 30 minutes. Dumb script. Hammy acting. Heavy handed direction. Felt like a a crappy SNL sketch but with better production values.
How dare you mention it in the same post as Strangelove and Network! :-)

( I did love the general selling snacks from the white house break room, though. That was funny. Felt a little like something you might see on Curb)
 
I also enjoy satire - and thought this hit the nail on the head for our strange times. I felt there were quite a few more allegory gems than just the climate change one.
And I would like to agree with you Liam that it will have more reverence in the years ahead... but guess I don't have the same positive outlook for our species at the moment.
 
I enjoyed it but certainly don't place it at that level. A lot of the laughs were rather cheap ones, it was a good 20 minutes too long and the overall allegory wasn't that strong. A comet with a clear crash date in a relatively short time isn't quite the same as the harder-to-perceive impact of global warming. I'm not a climate denier at all -- just stating that I didn't find the allegory to play so perfectly. I didn't like how the film bought into some inherent sexism without commenting on it when it commented on so much else -- Cate Blanchett's character glamming herself up while dumbing herself down and then seducing in order to get ahead could be interesting if it was actually explored in any way rather than just plopped there. Jennifer Lawrence's televised freakout turns her into "crazy woman internet meme" but the same impact doesn't occur when Leonardo DiCaprio does it. There's lots of stuff like that thrown out there by the movie and then just left hanging and unexplored. Lot's of "Hey look at that!" does not a comedy make, you need to actually do something with it.

Truly the best bit was the general charging for snacks. Not because he did it, which I guess could be read as some form of government exploiting the citizenry sort of metaphor, but because Jennifer Lawrence's character then spends the next six months obsessing over it. Left powerless to effect change, she instead can only struggle to comprehend the absurdity of such an ultimately pointless and petty act. That's probably the deepest the film goes in analyzing the society around us and our actions or lack thereof, and it does so in a genuinely funny way.

It's not that deep and it's not that incredible a piece of cinema. But I enjoyed it for what it was. He certainly did a lot better with The Big Short, but this was still entertaining. I can also see how his style of filmmaking could be offputting to some.
 
Mitch Gross said:
A lot of the laughs were rather cheap ones
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There's nothing wrong with that, even Shakespeare was happy to take a cheap shot every now again.

Mitch Gross said:
A comet with a clear crash date in a relatively short time isn't quite the same as the harder-to-perceive impact of global warming. I'm not a climate denier at all -- just stating that I didn't find the allegory to play so perfectly.
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I think that was the point of the allegory; to show something easier for people to grasp but where the outcome and the reaction of politicians, media and wider society is broadly the same. I was making climate change films calling for immediate action 25 years ago. No one listens, everyone makes excuses as they have their own short term agenda.

Mitch Gross said:
I didn't like how the film bought into some inherent sexism without commenting on it when it commented on so much else -- Cate Blanchett's character glamming herself up while dumbing herself down and then seducing in order to get ahead could be interesting if it was actually explored in any way rather than just plopped there. Jennifer Lawrence's televised freakout turns her into "crazy woman internet meme" but the same impact doesn't occur when Leonardo DiCaprio does it. There's lots of stuff like that thrown out there by the movie and then just left hanging and unexplored. Lot's of "Hey look at that!" does not a comedy make, you need to actually do something with it.
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I think that's a bit harsh, you can argue the sexism is a reflection of reality. I've worked with lots of attractive women who use their looks to their advantage, including news anchors who also use their position of power on young impressionable men (yes, I speak from experience). The crazy woman reaction is exactly how the media would react. Women are always portrayed as emotional and crazy when men in the same position get a free pass. Ultimately, it was Leo's character who was judged on his looks - again, maybe that was the point.

Mitch Gross said:
It's not that deep and it's not that incredible a piece of cinema. But I enjoyed it for what it was. He certainly did a lot better with The Big Short, but this was still entertaining. I can also see how his style of filmmaking could be offputting to some.
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It's a comedy about a tragedy. It is what it is. It is off-putting to some simply because they don't like the message.
 
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Liam Hall said:
I think that was the point of the allegory; to show something easier for people to grasp but where the outcome and the reaction of politicians, media and wider society is broadly the same. I was making climate change films calling for immediate action 25 years ago. No one listens, everyone makes excuses as they have their own short term agenda.

That is exactly what I found out after finishing a film about aviation smog and contrails. No one cares. (And this smog holds back 2% of the sunlight equal to a week of total darkness. Costing billions on agriculture and solar power).
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Liam Hall said:
It's a comedy about a tragedy. It is what it is. It is off-putting to some simply because they don't like the message.
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Comedy? I didn't find it funny at all and I don't care what the "message" was supposed to be about. This was just a poorly written and poorly directed movie that fell flat. Don't blame the audience.
 
Publimix said:
That is exactly what I found out after finishing a film about aviation smog and contrails. No one cares. (And this smog holds back 2% of the sunlight equal to a week of total darkness. Costing billions on agriculture and solar power).
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Is this film online? I'd like to see it. It's strange you'd reference this topic because I was shooting birds in flight last week and, for some reason, I eventually found myself shooting high altitude jets and contrails instead. I found it challenging to see how close I could get, how steady I could track them, and predicting where they would emerge from clouds. And with the FlightRadar24 app on my iPad I could tell what kind of plane I was looking at, altitude, speed. destination, etc. It is truly amazing times we live in today. I'd love to see your film because I do care about the topic. One of my strongest memories about the days after 9/11 when I was working near ground zero is how beautiful the skies were with no contrails and no high altitude clouds that are usually the result of contrails. What a difference it made to have all the jets grounded.

Sorry for the hijack.
 
Doug Jensen said:
Comedy? I didn't find it funny at all and I don't care what the "message" was supposed to be about. This was just a poorly written and poorly directed movie that fell flat. Don't blame the audience.
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Seeing Meryl Streep eaten whole by a brontaroc was pretty funny but you wouldn't have seen that if you only watched the first 30 minutes...
 
Liam Hall said:
Seeing Meryl Streep eaten whole by a brontaroc was pretty funny but you wouldn't have seen that if you only watched the first 30 minutes...
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I did see that! I didn't mention that I fast forwarded to the last couple of minutes to see how the hell they wrapped up this mess. I found the dinner table seen not funny at all, and Streep getting eaten looked pretty bad by today's CGI standards.

BTW, If someone really wants to waste time watching some really bad science fiction, I highly recommend the series called Invasion on Apple TV. Awful. They suckered me in for four episodes before I wised up and realized it was never going to get better. I wouldn't be surprised to learn the script was "written" by AI that just wanted to cram in every cliche.

Mitch should have sold the producers some lights, because apparently they had none on set.
 
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Doug Jensen said:
Is this film online? I'd like to see it. It's strange you'd reference this topic because I was shooting birds in flight last week and, for some reason, I eventually found myself shooting high altitude jets and contrails instead. I found it challenging to see how close I could get, how steady I could track them, and predicting where they would emerge from clouds. And with the FlightRadar24 app on my iPad I could tell what kind of plane I was looking at, altitude, speed. destination, etc. It is truly amazing times we live in today. I'd love to see your film because I do care about the topic. One of my strongest memories about the days after 9/11 when I was working near ground zero is how beautiful the skies were with no contrails and no high altitude clouds that are usually the result of contrails. What a difference it made to have all the jets grounded.

Sorry for the hijack.
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Hi Doug,

6000 planes crossing our skies on a daily base in Europe has a huge effect on weather and climate. Contrail cirrus is recognized as cirrus Homogenitus. It is soot from the engines and water from the atmosphere that mix and freezes. These formed ice clouds are called contrails. But it is not condens like steam but soot and water.
Many scientists were very reluctant to speak on the subject. The aviation lobby is strong and many meteorologists work for airlines and airports.
In the Netherlands they often talk about veil clouds. Even if the sky is full of streaks.
Strangely enough, weather models do not take into account the conditions in which the stripes arise (temperature and humidity at altitudes above 7 kilometers.)

Light has a large impact on the yield of crops growing. One percent less (or more) light results in one percent less or more yield. This is a problem in the US too.

Not So Fun Fact, a lot of scientists were not to eager to talk with me, the subject is highjacked by conspiracy thinkers (chemtrails). I sometimes was difficult to convince them I was not one of them.

Here it is, it starts slow. Music is from the USA Airforce band (Air, Bach). Also with WW2 footage when these clouds were a huge problem for aircrew.

 
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Publimix said:
Here it is, it starts slow. Music is from the USA Airforce band (Air, Bach). Also with WW2 footage when these clouds were a huge problem for aircrew.
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Hi Peter,
That's a nice little film with a a lot of good information and an important message. Contrails are something I notice and think about all the time, so is nice to know I'm not the only one. Your film was successful in filling in some gaps in my knowledge about the subject. It was particularly interesting to see how well the trails are picked up on the satellite photos. I had no idea they were that visible from space. Your skies are a huge mess, far worse than ours in the USA, so I guess I should feel lucky, but I don't. Kudos to you for making the film. I think it's important to have our little pet projects to work on.
 
I see, now you are doomed, once you start noticing them stripes you see them everywhere. I also see them in movies (westerns and historical movies). :-)
 
Liam Hall said:
I think that's a bit harsh, you can argue the sexism is a reflection of reality. I've worked with lots of attractive women who use their looks to their advantage, including news anchors who also use their position of power on young impressionable men (yes, I speak from experience). The crazy woman reaction is exactly how the media would react. Women are always portrayed as emotional and crazy when men in the same position get a free pass. Ultimately, it was Leo's character who was judged on his looks - again, maybe that was the point.
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I just think he could have explored it more and made something deeper of the point. The opportunity was there.

To me what made The Big Short so successful was it limited itself to a fairly narrow subject and then explored it in some depth. The result was not only an appreciation for the situation but a royal skewering of the people who put us there. While I enjoyed Don't Look Up for what it was, I felt it was more surface level. Not a totally terrible thing, just not as satisfying to me.
 
The first half hour was OK. But I was glad Netflix has a fast forward button. I got bored. But the message was OK
 
Mitch Gross said:
I just think he could have explored it more and made something deeper of the point. The opportunity was there.

To me what made The Big Short so successful was it limited itself to a fairly narrow subject and then explored it in some depth. The result was not only an appreciation for the situation but a royal skewering of the people who put us there. While I enjoyed Don't Look Up for what it was, I felt it was more surface level. Not a totally terrible thing, just not as satisfying to me.
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For me, the point is the shallowness. I think I know what you mean about going deeper - but this material was wading in the shallows of humanity and I thought it skewered pretty well. Granted much of this were poking at stereotypes, but then I think we all know people like those in the film. Certainly political rallies or group demonstrations of people in the "Don't Look Up" belief system hits a rather poignant point here at home.
I did prefer the Big Short to this, but there were some laugh out loud moments in this one for me. And I don't ever remember laughing as much during the Big Short - but rather having my eyes opened.
 
Publimix said:
The first half hour was OK. But I was glad Netflix has a fast forward button. I got bored. But the message was OK
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It got worse after the first half hour?? I'm so glad I bailed out at that point because it was already some pretty boring stuff. There's more laughs in any 5 minute chunk of any Family Guy episode than this turd of a movie.
 
markfpv said:
For me, the point is the shallowness. I think I know what you mean about going deeper - but this material was wading in the shallows of humanity and I thought it skewered pretty well. Granted much of this were poking at stereotypes, but then I think we all know people like those in the film. Certainly political rallies or group demonstrations of people in the "Don't Look Up" belief system hits a rather poignant point here at home.
I did prefer the Big Short to this, but there were some laugh out loud moments in this one for me. And I don't ever remember laughing as much during the Big Short - but rather having my eyes opened.
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Exactly right Mark. It doesn’t need to be a subtle film.
 
I’m generally not a fan of propaganda or “message” films (of any ideology), because I find that they’re usually very badly done insofar as they sacrifice the art for the message. However, for the rare occasion where the “message” film is well made, I’ll appreciate it even if I don’t agree with the ideology.

In this case, I think they laid it on a bit thick, but it was generally well made… and btw. I actully think the footage that came after the credits (Meryl Streep’s death) was the worst part of this, as it completely muddied the message, so that was a self-goal. But apart from those objections, I thought it was a pretty well made movie, and the acting was outstanding, especially from Leo. So I thought it was time well spent watching it.

For those who think it’s unrealistic - well, I might have thought so too, were it not for the last couple of years. I can not believe what is essentially a medical issue has been politicized. I don’t care if you are red, blue or green, if you base your opinions about things like pandemics or global warming or other cataclismic events in even a small part of politics, you are the problem. There are objective scientific facts, and we should discuss them rationally without either denying or exaggerating/lying - and I think both sides here are guilty. Just the facts, ma’m.

So, yeah, “don’t look up” may sound like an insane writer’s idea, but I do believe it’s realistic as to how humans behave. Practically every single day there’s some prominent denier who dies as a result of what they’re denying, but yet, it does nothing to change the minds of the rest of deniers. Meanwhile, on the other side, nobody wants to talk about why such views exist, nobody wants to talk about the culpability of those whose consistent lies and exaggerations and insane political mandates have so completely eroded the trust in “science”, that it’s hard to blame the folks who turn to conspiracy theories and denialism. Both sides are wrong.

I don’t know how you get out of this situation, my only half-measure is to demand that we ban politics from science, and in general attempt to have as little of political discussions as possible in most settings… in other words, the DVXuser “ban on politics” - my Thanksgiving and 4th of July and other occasions go much better once I get everyone to agree to “no politics”… people are actually nice to each other and can see the humanity in the other, which vanishes the moment you bring in politics (or religion), and we all fall into camps of partisans. It’s far from a perfect solution - in fact I know it’s barely a half-measure - but I personally found it useful. YMMV.
 
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