Don't Look Up Review

4.0 Stars

A comet the size of Mt. Everest has been discovered by a pair of astronomers and it's what they call a planet killer.  It will impact in just over six months.  Grad student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) found the comet and her Professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) charted its ominous, destructive course.  Now comes the challenge of alerting those who can do something about it.

With the help of NASA's Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), they first attempt to warn US President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her incompetent son, who also happens to be her Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill).  They are more concerned with political optics than the pending doom hurling their way.  The trio are forced to seek alternative methods for spreading the word.

They start with a morning talk show with cheery, sunshine hosts Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry) who try to give a positive spin to the whole gloomy tale of apocalyptic proportions.  Some believe that the future of the planet is in danger.  Others have decided to politicize the whole event to save face and encourage the population to just "Don't Look Up".   Because if you can't see it, it isn't real.

Don't Look Up is a dark but silly satire written and directed by Adam McKay and is nominated for the Best Picture Oscar category.  McKay is no stranger to absurd comedies having directed the Anchorman movies, Step Brothers, and The Other Guys.  He's also quite familiar with the political dramedy genre with The Big Short and Vice under his belt.  

Social media influencers begin to share their own thoughts on the matter and their followers regurgitate their opinions and create opposing hashtag wars between #dontlookup and #justlookup.  And, of course, as an added plot twist, billionaire tech mogul Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) and his team believe there to be trillions of dollars worth of important tech material.

Half a dozen years ago, this would have just been a smart, nonsensical satire like Mars Attacks meets Armageddon.  Instead of aliens coming to a planet of nitwit, incompetent leaders, it's a comet.  But considering recent political and global events, this one hits a little close to home.  Things that were once absurdly blown out of proportion for comedic effect are now seen as, "Oh yeah, that's actually how our government works."  

Don't Look Up is a smart, funny, poignant mirror of our own society that's almost difficult to watch because of how just on the nose it hits.  If you remove current political talking points like "the election was stolen" or "the Covid vaccines are not safe" or especially "Covid isn't real" and you replace them with a planet-killing comet, you have this movie.  President Orlean, who is more concerned about upcoming mid-term elections, encourages her base to just "don't look up."  It's very reminiscent of former President Trump saying that if you just don't test for Covid, there would be less cases.  For those in the future reading this, yes, that really happened.  

Without giving away the ending, everyone in the film ultimately has to make a decision on how they will spend their final hours on earth should the inevitable actually happen.  What I will say is the end is beautifully done; however, stick around as the credits start to roll for the official ending.  

I was excited to see this movie and gave it a 4.0 Star Prediction.  I was dead on with my prediction and I'm going to stick with my 4.0 Stars.  I thoroughly enjoy Don't Look Up.  The performances were spot on.  And it was original.  Yes, there have been political satires, there have been apocalyptic films.  But this was so well done.  I'll definitely want to watch it again and it has a good chance of owning it in my personal collection.  So, what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.

Don't Look Up Preview

A comet the size of Mt. Everest has been discovered by a pair of astronomers and it's what they call a planet killer.  It will impact in just over six months.  Grad student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) found the comet and her Professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) charted its ominous, destructive course.  Now comes the challenge of alerting those who can do something about it.

With the help of NASA's Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), they first attempt to warn US President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her incompetent son, who also happens to be her Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill).  They are more concerned with political optics than the pending doom hurling their way.  The trio are forced to seek alternative methods for spreading the word.

They start with a morning talk show with cheery, sunshine hosts Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry) who try to give a positive spin to the whole gloomy tale of apocalyptic proportions.  Some believe that the future of the planet is in danger.  Others have decided to politicize the whole event to save face and encourage the population to just "Don't Look Up".   Because if you can't see it, it isn't real.

Don't Look Up is a dark but silly satire written and directed by Adam McKay and is nominated for the Best Picture Oscar category.  McKay is no stranger to absurd comedies having directed the Anchorman movies, Step Brothers, and The Other Guys.  He's also quite familiar with the political dramedy genre with The Big Short and Vice under his belt.  

In the preview of this Netflix original movie, the trio of astronomers drop the bomb of the comet to end the world in the Oval Office to President Orlean.  Her inept decision is to "sit tight and assess".   The astronomers repeat the phrase, astounded by what she just said.  Chief of Staff Jason clarifies what she means.  "The sit tight part comes first.  And then you have to digest it.  That's the assessment period."

Social media influencers share their own thoughts on the matter and their followers regurgitate their opinions and create opposing hashtag wars between #dontlookup and #justlookup.  And, of course, as an added plot twist, billionaire tech mogul Peter Isherwell (Mark Rylance) and his team believe there to be trillions of dollars worth of important tech material.

Half a dozen years ago, this would have just been a smart, nonsensical satire like Mars Attacks meets Armageddon.  Instead of aliens coming to a planet of nitwit, incompetent leaders, it's a comet.  But considering recent political and global events, this one hits a little close to home.  Things that were once absurdly blown out of proportion for comedic effect are now seen as, "Oh yeah, that's actually how our government works."  

Don't Look Up looks to be a clever, poignant,  dark satire with a wonderful cast that delivers a smart and funny performance in this film that would be ridiculously silly if it wasn't so plausible.  I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest Leo fan.  I didn't really care for him in any of his earlier works until The Departed, Inception and Django.  Again, didn't care for him in Gatsby or Wolf of Wall Street or even Revenant.  Here's the thing: I couldn't even really tell you why.  I don't have anything against him, I just never really got the hype.  But I really can't wait to watch Don't Look Up.  And not in spite of Leo being in it, because of his performance in the previews.  The story sounds smart and fun, the performances look spot on.  I'm excited to see this movie and giving it a 4.0 Star Prediction.  I think I'll thoroughly enjoy it and want to watch it again with a good chance of owning it in my personal collection.  Am I right?  We shall see.

Oscars Results

Well, the Oscars Awards Ceremony is over and the trophies have been given.  So how did I do in my predictions?  Below are all the nominees.  My predictions are in Bold and Underlined.  The actual winners are colored red.

BEST PICTURE:

• Amour
• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

BEST DIRECTOR:

• Amour – Michael Haneke
• Beasts of the Southern Wild – Benh Zeitlin
• Life of Pi – Ang Lee
• Lincoln – Stephen Spielberg
• Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

• Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
• Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
• Denzel Washington – Flight

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

• Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
• Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
• Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
• Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Naomi Watts – The Impossible

 BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

• Alan Arkin – Argo
• Robert DeNiro – Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

• Amy Adams – The Master
• Sally Field – Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
• Helen Hunt – The Sessions
• Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

WRITING ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

• Amour
• Django Unchained
• Flight
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Zero Dark Thirty

WRITING ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

Not too bad, six out of eight correct.  As my friends will attest, though I believed Lincoln to deserve Best Picture and Director awards, I told them not to count Argo out of the race, especially after taking home first place at nearly every other awards ceremony that exists for motion pictures.  Many have felt that Director Ben Affleck was actually snubbed by the Academy for not being nominated for Best Director.  That could be one of the downfalls of expanding the Best Picture category to nine nominees and keeping the Director category at only five. In fact, over the last 25 years, only 5 times has the Best Picture not guaranteed the Best Director awards.  2013 marks the 6th historic time this has occurred, and it certainly won't be the last.  

Silver Linings Playbook Review

3.5 Stars

Silver Linings Playbook is the story of Pat Solatano Jr. (Bradley Cooper) who was just released from a court ordered stint at a mental institution. He was placed there as a result of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder which was decided after he beat up his wife Nikki's (Brea Bee) lover. Pat was released after eight months of treatment on the condition that he move back in with his parents in Philadelphia.  Pat has lost his house, his job and his wife (who also has a restraining order against him), he's a newly released mental patient, and supposed to be taking medications to help with his disorder.  Against all odds, Pat is determined to set things right and is convinced he can do it all by making healthy life choices rather than through self-medication.  On his journey, he finds he's not the only one with problems: his father Pat Solatano Sr. (Robert DeNiro) has become a bookie to pay the bills, his best friend Ronnie (John Ortiz) is quietly seething inside over his controlling wife Veronica (Julia Stiles), and Veronica's widowed sister Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) is a recovering sex addict.  But it's Tiffany who throws the biggest wrench into Pat's plan to get his job, his wife and his life back as they develop a love / hate relationship stemming from the help they find they can offer each other in their journeys.

The preview for Silver Linings Playbook is pretty spot on in it's representation of the movie.  I said that it looks like a cute, smart, sweet, heart-felt story of pain, recovery and growth.  It's exactly that.   I did think it was an original story: Pat Solatano Jr (Cooper) gets out of a court-ordered mental facility after beating the man his wife was cheating with. He moves in with his parents as part of the condition for his release.  His father (DeNiro) has turned to gambling to pay the bills which gets interesting with his OCD paired with severe superstition.  His best friend Ronnie (Ortiz) has lost the love and passion in his marriage and feels whipped by his wife Veronica (Stiles).  Veronica's sister Tiffany (Lawrence) has her own issues getting over her husband's death and being labeled as the town slut, a title she earned by sleeping with all of her co-workers.  Somehow, Pat and Tiffany find they just might have the ability to positively affect each other, help each other grow and heal, and somehow actually find they are perfect for each other.

My biggest concern was Bradley Cooper and his ability to pull off the lead role in a movie like this.  I thought he was funny as part of an ensemble in the Hangover movies, and I thought he was also good as part of an ensemble in the romantic comedy He's Just Not That Into You.  And he did a really good job in Silver Linings; but ultimately, it was basically taking his ensemble part in Not Into You and expanding it to a sole lead.  And the movie was on par with a movie like Not Into You as well.  And I thoroughly enjoyed that movie, as I did this one.  I thought DeNiro was great, as is to be expected.  I thought Jennifer Lawrence was smart and sharp and sexy and love her more and more with every role I see.  But I just don't see why this was nominated for 8 Oscars.  Again, I really enjoyed it, I give it 3.5 stars.  I'll probably watch it again, but doubt it will make it to my collection.  But Best Picture? Best Director? Best Actor?  I didn't see it.  Maybe best screenplay.  But I could be wrong.  We'll find out in a few weeks.  So what movie will be on my mind next?  We shall see.

Silver Linings Playbook Preview

Silver Linings Playbook is the story of Pat Solatano Jr. (Bradley Cooper) who was just released from a court ordered stint at a mental institution. He was placed there as a result of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder which was decided after he beat up his wife Nikki's (Brea Bee) lover. Pat was released after eight months of treatment on the condition that he move back in with his parents in Philadelphia.  Pat has lost his house, his job and his wife (who also has a restraining order against him), he's a newly released mental patient, and supposed to be taking medications to help with his disorder.  Against all odds, Pat is determined to set things right and is convinced he can do it all by making healthy life choices rather than through self-medication.  On his journey, he finds he's not the only one with problems: his father Pat Solatano Sr. (Robert DeNiro) has become a bookie to pay the bills, his best friend Ronnie (John Ortiz) is quietly seething inside over his controlling wife Veronica (Julia Stiles), and Veronica's widowed sister Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) is a recovering sex addict.  But it's Tiffany who throws the biggest wrench into Pat's plan to get his job, his wife and his life back as they develop a love / hate relationship stemming from the help they find they can offer each other in their journeys.

The preview makes Silver Linings Playbook as a cute, smart, sweet, heart-felt story of pain, recovery and growth in Pat Solatano Jr (Cooper) and those around him including his father (DeNiro), best friend (Ortiz) and friend / love interest (Lawrence).  Jennifer Lawrence is quickly making a name for herself with such movies as The Hunger Games and X-Men: First Class and looks to be on the rise to becoming one of the greats.  And what can you say about Robert DeNiro? He looks as sharp as ever.  My biggest concerns are Chris Tucker and Bradley Cooper in this movie.  I liked Cooper in the Hangover movies and think he's great as part of an ensemble cast like He's Just Not That Into You, but I'm not sure about him taking on the sole responsibility of leading man putting out an Oscar worthy performance.  And I just don't see Chris Tucker being a part of any Oscar worthy film.  But perhaps Director David Russell has what it takes to bring out Oscar performances from these men.  He certainly did in his last directing project with The Fighter, earning him an Oscar Nomination and Oscar wins for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo in their supporting roles.

So I'm optimistic but not getting my hopes up too much about Silver Linings Playbook.  It looks like a movie I'll enjoy.  I'm sure I'll laugh and even well up at some points.  Ultimately, though, it looks like it will be a 3 star movie that most likely won't be finding a home in my personal collection.  But I could be wrong.  Am I right?  We shall see.