We’re heading into Oscars weekend, and taking a look at all of the nominees, it is a stacked card this yr. One of many motion pictures I’ve bought an eye fixed on is One Battle After Another. Leonardo DiCaprio is the star of Paul Thomas Anderson’s tenth film. Total, the movie has racked up 13 nominations, together with Finest Image, Finest Director for Anderson and Finest Actor for DiCaprio.
These previous weeks, I have been inundated with Oscar-themed emails pitching totally different streaming strategies tied to the glitzy ceremony. I made a decision to house in right here and focus on one in all DiCaprio’s much less appreciated motion pictures. It is a movie that was the start of what I wish to discuss with as “DiCaprio’s Schlubby Period.”
This film options a completely stacked forged and delivers its message loud and clear. I rewatched it final night time, and I nonetheless discovered it totally entertaining. I am within the minority, although. You see, the movie I am speaking about was a sufferer of circumstance, because it lifted a mirror to society at a very fraught time.
If you have not figured it out but, I am speaking about Netflix’s Don’t Look Up. It was directed by Adam McKay, and whereas it’s completely a comedy, the catastrophe satire hit streaming on the mistaken time. For those who do not recall, the movie — which was meant as a dire warning about climate change and society’s apathetic response to it — hit the streamer on the peak of the pandemic.
Learn extra: Oscars Shift to YouTube-Only Streaming Starting in 2029
Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio star in Do not Look Up.
Everybody was caught inside, searching for light-hearted, feel-good leisure like Ted Lasso. A film a few pending disaster that may finish the world and its complete inhabitants was a tricky capsule to swallow. Maybe it nonetheless is? I am going to circle again to that thought in a bit.
Evidently, it was sharply panned by critics for its subject material and tone. Do not Look Up obtained 4 Oscar nominations, and even when you concentrate on the lackluster affair that was the 2022 Academy Awards, it confirmed there’s benefit to the polarizing comedy. And I will speak about it.
Do not Look Up follows scientist Dr. Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) and his PhD scholar Kate DiBiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) as they attempt to relay the urgency of their discovery of an enormous comet barrelling towards Earth. In roughly six months, an extinction-level occasion triggered by the comet’s influence will obliterate humanity and the planet.
Mindy and DiBiasky face an sudden uphill battle, although. Every particular person in energy they communicate to, from the information media to the President of the US, finally ends up downplaying the warning. As a substitute of specializing in the well-being of the American folks, they find yourself specializing in how the pending catastrophe can in the end profit them.
Meryl Streep stars in Do not Look Up.
In flip, the media and authorities find yourself mendacity to the populace. Sound acquainted?
As bleak as this reveal is, the film carries a kind of gallows humor married to a tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that’s each laugh-inducing and cringeworthy. The top is bleak, with no actual clear lesson other than the hammer-to-the-head message to, really, search for and be current. It is all nonetheless very a lot relatable practically half a decade later.
An enormous motive I discover Do not Look Up greater than watchable is the performances of DiCaprio and Lawrence, each stepping outdoors of their proverbial containers to play homely underdogs.
That is the start of DiCaprio’s exploration of unkempt characters, during which he has performed towards glamorous kind and proven new ranges of vary. It is commendable to see an actor of his stature stretch himself out of his consolation zone — which, in flip, checks the consolation ranges of the audiences tuning in.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars in Do not Look Up.
He would proceed this development in Killers of the Flower Moon and One Battle After One other.
Lawrence is implausible as his outspoken scholar, who takes everybody to process, together with the president. After which there’s the remainder of the superb forged, which incorporates (deep breath): Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Melanie Lynskey and Michael Chiklis.
I am not going to get misplaced within the trivialities of every little thing happening in as we speak’s world that Do not Look Up pertains to. Nevertheless it’s price noting that, whereas it is a film about local weather change, the story can apply to an entire mess of issues, from the battle within the Center East to the rise of AI and the proliferation of misinformation to the lots.
For the reason that film premiered on Netflix, different apocalyptic leisure has come alongside, like Fallout, Silo, Paradise and the later seasons of The Boys, which have tapped into comparable themes with better success.
You are going to see a variety of suggestions on-line pointing you to Leonardo DiCaprio’s greatest motion pictures, with steering to observe them due to his newest Oscar nomination. I may’ve performed that (heck, I practically did, however The Wolf of Wall Avenue is now not on Netflix).
As a substitute, it felt like the proper time to revisit Do not Look Up.
It is a film that does not coddle the viewers; as an alternative, it pokes enjoyable at us. We have all, at one level, fallen sufferer to fast dopamine fixes that distract from our day-to-day actuality.
Do not Look Up is a smack within the face, shouting at us to thwart that habits and take motion, and its darkish ending additional nails that message house. It could have missed the mark when it was initially launched, however this comedy has all of the elements of a style traditional that will get higher with age.
Learn extra: 44 of the Best Movies on Netflix You Should Stream Now
