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We’re heading to Oscars WeekendAnd, looking at all the candidates, it’s a stacked card this year. One of the movies I watch is… Battle after battle. Leonardo DiCaprio is the star of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 10th film. Overall, the film received 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Anderson, and Best Actor for DiCaprio.
In the past weeks, I’ve been inundated with Oscar-themed emails asking for different ideas My neighbor Suggestions related to the attractive party. I decided to come home here and discuss one of DiCaprio’s most underrated films. It’s the film that marked the beginning of what I like to refer to as the “DiCaprio Schlubby Era.”
This film features an absolutely stacked cast and delivers its message loud and clear. I watched it again last night, and still found it quite enjoyable. I’m in the minority, though. You see, the film I’m talking about was a victim of circumstance, holding up a mirror to society at a very fraught time.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m talking about Netflix Don’t look up. It was directed by Adam McKay, and despite being quite a comedy, the satirical disaster arrived on broadcast at the wrong time. If you don’t remember, the movie — which was meant to be a stark warning about… Climate change And society Indifferent response To her – she hit the streaming device at the height of the pandemic.
Read more: The Oscars are switching to live streaming only on YouTube starting in 2029
Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio star in Don’t Look Up.
Everyone was stuck inside, looking for light, feel-good entertainment Ted Lasso. A film about an impending catastrophe that would end the world and its entire population was a tough pill to swallow. Maybe it still is? I will return to this thought in a moment.
Needless to say, it was harshly panned by critics for its subject matter and tone. Don’t Look Up received four Oscar nominations, and even if you think about what a lackluster affair that was Oscars 2022He showed that there is merit to polarizing comedy. And I will talk about that.
Don’t Look Up follows scientist Dr. Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) and doctoral student Kate DiBiaski (Jennifer Lawrence) as they try to convey the urgency of their discovery of a giant comet heading toward Earth. In about six months, an extinction-level event caused by a comet’s impact will wipe out humanity and the planet.
However, Mendy and DeBiaski face an unexpected uphill battle. And everyone in power they talk to, from the media to the President of the United States, ends up downplaying this warning. Instead of focusing on the well-being of the American people, they end up focusing on how the impending disaster might ultimately benefit them.
Meryl Streep stars in Don’t Look Up.
In return, the media and government end up lying to the people. Sound familiar?
As bleak as this revelation is, the film has a kind of gallows humor married to a tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that’s both laugh-out-loud and repulsive. The ending is bleak, with no real clear lesson other than the message of a hammer to the head, in effect, a search for the highest and presence. All of this is still very relatable almost half a decade later.
One of the main reasons I find Don’t Look Up to be more than a watchable performance is because of the performances of DiCaprio and Lawrence, both of whom step outside the proverbial box to play domestic underdogs.
This is the beginning of DiCaprio’s exploration of unkempt characters, where he played against flamboyant characters and showed new levels of range. It’s commendable to see an actor of his stature step out of his comfort zone – which in turn tests the comfort levels of the audience listening to him.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars in Don’t Look Up.
This trend would continue in Moonflower Assassins, battle after battle.
Lawrence is great as his straight-talking protégé, who takes everyone to task, including the boss. Then there’s the rest of the excellent cast, which includes (deep breath): Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Melanie Lynskey and Michael Chiklis.
I won’t get lost in the details of everything going on in today’s world that Don’t Look For It relates to. But it’s worth noting that although this is a film about climate change, the story could apply to a whole range of things, from war in the Middle East to the rise of artificial intelligence and the spread of misinformation to the masses.
Since the film premiered on Netflix, other shocking entertainment has emerged, e.g He fallssilo, heaven And subsequent seasons of Boyswhich exploited similar themes more successfully.
You’ll see plenty of recommendations online directing you to the top Leonardo DiCaprio movies, with instructions to watch them due to his recent Oscar nomination. I could have done it (I almost did), but the Wolf of Wall Street is no more Netflix).
Instead, it seemed like the perfect time to revisit Don’t Look For.
This is a film that does not pamper the audience. Instead, it mocks us. We have all, at some point, fallen victim to quick dopamine fixes that distract us from our daily reality.
Don’t Look Up is a slap in the face, screaming at us to discourage this behavior and take action, and its dark ending proves this message even further. It may have missed the mark when it was initially released, but this comedy has all the ingredients of a genre classic that gets better with age.
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